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P olitical rhetoric touched a new low in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh with Samajwadi Party chief and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav asking mega star Amitabh Bachchan “to stop appearing in the advertisement pro- moting donkeys of Gujarat.” Akhilesh was speaking at an election rally at Raebareli on Monday. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tenure as Gujarat Chief Minister, the star was appointed as the brand ambassador of the State by its Government. The advertisements promoting the State as a tourism des- tination featured the actor inviting people to visit the State with the famous tagline “Kuch din to gujaro Gujarat mein.(Come and spend a few days in Gujarat).” Kamal hai, gadhon kaa vigyapan hone lagaa! Socho desh kis disha mein jaa rahaa hai. (It’s surprising that donkeys are being advertised. Which raises a big question over the direction the country is headed),” said Akhilesh at the election meeting. “I would like to appeal to the mahanayak of the millennium to stop promoting the donkeys of Gujarat. You all must have seen the promo- tional advertisement on TV. The donkey is a domesticated animal and people, particularly the rural folks are aware of the utility of the animal,’’ said the Chief Minister. Posing a question to the people, Akhilesh said, “Tell me, do donkeys need publicity? Yet, the Government of Gujarat is promoting donkeys.” Akhilesh read the whole text of Gujarat Government’s advertisement with the focus on one line, “Yah sha- har wala gadha nahi hai, jo sadak par khada koi gahree baat sochta ho. Iske paas sochne, samajhne ki fursat kahan. (It’s not an urban donkey with the time and ability to think deep thoughts. This donkey has no time to think about anything).” Reading out another line, Akhilesh said, “Yah janaab duniya mein sirf yahi milenge. Ahmedabad se 150 km dur. Maheeno ho gaye nahaaye huye, lekin dikhte hain bilkul Continued on Page 4 P rime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday stuck to the development agenda in water-scarce Bundelkhand, rapping the SP and the BSP for back- wardness of the region and promised to transform it like Kutch in Gujarat. “SP and BSP have ignored Bundelkhand over the years and these elections are crucial for Bundelkhand... It has to decide whether it has to get rid of SP, BSP,” Modi said at an election rally in Orai region of Jalaun in Bundelkhand region. “In five years, we will transform Bundelkhand, which has not seen any development in the last 70 years...Mineral-rich Bundelkhand can change the fate of Uttar Pradesh, ille- gal mining has to be stopped and the satellite launched by India can be used to check the clandestine activi- ties… Some believe nothing can be done in Bundelkhand...It can be made No.1 in the state...There is Kutch dis- trict in Gujarat...20 years ago if any gov- ernment staff was posted there, it was considered ‘kala pani’ (Andaman’s Cellular Jail),” he said. Modi exuded confidence that the BJP-Apna Dal alliance would form the next Government in UP. Addressing a rally in Andhawa, 40 kms from the city, Modi also mocked at the SP- Congress alliance, recalling the “27 saal, UP behaalModi also mocked at Mayawati’s opposition to note ban, saying the BSP is no longer Bahujan Samaj Party but Behenji Sampatti Party’. The PM said those who deposit wealth for themselves can never solve the problems of people. “Where has Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) reached today...When I announced note ban on November 8 last year, arch-rivals SP and BSP, who never see eye-to-eye, came together...I was amazed when I launched war against corruption and asked for the details of black money. Continued on Page 4 B SP supremo Mayawati on Monday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for calling her BSP as ‘Behenji Sampatti Party’. She retorted with a clever pun on his name as “Mr Negative Dalit Man”. “Narendra Damodardas Modi means Mr Negative Dalit Man, he is anti-Dalit... This negative Dalit man does not like that common people give small contributions in run- ning the move- ment which is also run through dona- tions,” Mayawati said. “Perturbed at the ris- ing popularity of the BSP, the Prime Minister is indulging in cheap things and indulging in petty talk about its supreme leader and has termed BSP as ‘ Behenji Sampatti Party’,” she said at an election rally in Sultanpur. Mayawati is popularly known as ‘Behenji’. “He (Modi) is an expert in jumlebaazi (rhetoric) but when he will get a tit-for-tat reply he will forget all about it and today I have been com- pelled to do the same for him,” she said. The BSP chief said, “He (Modi) does not know that the BSP is a movement first and then a political party ....I have dedicated my entire life for making members of Dalit, deprived and weaker sections and Muslims stand on their feet.” Continued on Page 4 A gang of three women, arrested recently for steal- ing cash and jewellery from high-end weddings in the national capital, had a double existence. Most of the time they led ordinary lives in their village in Rajgarh district of Madhya Pradesh, but come wedding season and they would swoop down on Delhi and tar- get opulent weddings at five star hotels and banquet halls. In one such strike on February 2, they decamped with cash and jewellery worth 7 lakh from a wedding at Hotel Lalit. Soft spoken and dressed in wedding finery, these women would mix easily with the guests and nobody ever sus- pected them as they had taken special training in etiquettes and spoke perfect English. These deadly beauties committed more than 100 thefts before they were unmasked by the Delhi Police Crime Branch along with their partner in crime. "Dressed in expensive wed- ding clothes, the Madhya Pradesh-based Rano gang would target weddings in posh areas and at five star hotels. The gang consisted of the leader Rano (35), Varsha (25), Manisha (22) and one auto rickshaw driver, Satish Yadav (30). The police team has recovered expensive wedding outfits from their possession in Delhi" said Joint Commissioner of Police Crime, RS Yadav. "The women have dis- closed that they bought pricey wedding outfits from malls in West Delhi. They would spend the whole day shopping or sleeping. Late in the evening, they would call the auto rick- shaw driver, whom they paid 2,000 a night, and set to work. They would scout upscale areas of the national Capital looking for high-end weddings. Once they found the right place they would gate crash and mingle with the crowd and keep close to the family members. However, they never got pho- tos clicked with the bride and groom in order to avoid getting caught," said a senior police officer. The police have recovered 32,000, one auto rickshaw, two bags and new branded clothes purchased specially for wed- dings from the gang. Police said there are sever- al gangs like the Rano gang which specialize in theft of valuables during weddings. The Rano gang, that was oper- ating for the last five years came to Delhi a month before the wedding season started. "Once they reached Delhi they would take a room on rent in Pratap Nagar. At the wed- ding venue they would stick close to the family members in charge of the bag containing cash and jewellery," said a senior police officer. "Once the attention of the family members looking after the cash and jewellery was diverted by the wedding rituals in the wee hours, the women stole the bag and made their getaway in the auto," he added. After the February 2 theft, there was another such theft on February 20 from Royal Palace in Ashok Vihar area. In light of the rising num- ber of such thefts, the cases were given to a Crime Branch team under DCP Madhur Verma. Based on the CCTV footage from the crime scene, police identified the women and the Crime Branch traced the accused to their native place Rajgarh. A senior police officer said that when the team reached Rajgarh, they faced a lot of resistance from the vil- lagers who refused to disclose the whereabouts of the women to the police. S enior BJP leader and Union Minister Dharmendra PradhanMonday suspected that the final results of the Zilla Parishad member elections scheduled to be officially announced by the State Election Commission (SEC) onFebruary 25 might be tam- pered with. Pradhan alleged that a sec- tion of senior bureaucrats are conspiring to tamper with some poll results that have gone in the BJP’s favour as per media reports. “After the fifth and final phase poll (on Tuesday), I sus- pect that the poll results may be tampered with. Some senior bureaucrats have been working on it,” alleged Pradhan. He said, “We have reiterat- ed our concern to the State Election Commission that some senior bureaucrats are conspiring to tamper with the poll results. We hope the com- mission will intervene and take action accordingly.” Pradhan also expressed his gratitude to the people of Odisha for their unprecedent- ed support to the BJP, which is now closely chasing the BJD in term of electoral success. In fact, the BJP has dealt a severe blow to the BJD by wresting a large number of ZP seats from the ruling party. With the last phase of the polls left, the BJP has already won at least more than 250 ZP seats unofficially and is all set to form eight ZP councils while it had no ZP in its kitty after the 2012 elections. Bhubaneswar: Elaborate arrangements have been made for the fifth and final phase of the three-tier panchayat elec- tions to be held on Tuesday. State Election Commission (SEC) Secretary Rabindranath Sahu said polling for 1,173 sarpanches, 16,148 Samiti members and 149 Zilla Parishad (ZP) members would be held in 26 districts. “Barring Angul, Boudh, Jharsuguda and Malkangiri, elections will be held in the remaining 26 districts in which a total of 44,50,893 voters will exercise their franchise,” he said. Meanwhile, re-polling was held amid tight security in several places where incidents of violence had been reported in the previous phases of the elections. The fresh polling was held in Dhenkanal district’s Bhuban, Puri’s Krushnaprasad and Brahmagiri and Balliguda area and K Nuagaon block in Kandhamal district. Four blocks of Kirtanpur of Bhuban Zilla Parishad zone 3 in Dhenkanal district also went for re-polling. S enior BJD leader and former Minister Sarada Nayak was detained by a group of agitat- ed locals for about three hours on Monday afternoon, while he was allegedly distributing cash, hand bags and umbrel- las to voters in Jarda village under Gurundia police sta- tion of Sundargarh district for panchayat elections. A police team and Bonei Sub-Collector reached the spot getting the information and rescued Nayak from the spot. Police seized Rs 8,200 cash, about 52 umbrellas with BJD symbol, hand bags with BJD symbol and two liquor bottles from the vehicle of Nayak. A case has been registered in Gurundia police station and Nayak was released on personal bond. The investigation was on. Nayak along with five asso- ciates from Gurundia block was detained at Jarda village by another group of locals, claim- ing that they were distributing cash and other items among the villagers ahead of the fifth phase of election. Although Nayak and his associates denied the charge and tried to escape from the spot, the locals did not let them do so. Meanwhile, Bonei Sub Collector Swadha Dev Singh was informed about the inci- dent. Accordingly, Bonei Sub- Collector Swadha Dev Singh along with a police mobile team reached the spot. SDPO, Bonei and IIC Gurundia police station also reached there. Nayaak was rescued. “A case has been registered against Sarada Nayak under Sections 171, 188 of IPC for violation of model code of conduct and bribing,” said Gurundia police station IIC NK Sarangi. P rime Minister Narendra Modi Government’s ambi- tious scheme ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ to end gender-based violence and campaign to change societal norms seems to be a misnomer for this well- educated 25-year-old Muslim girl Amreen Zafer of Cuttack. With an MBA degree and good English education, getting a corporate job with a fat pay packet was not difficult for Amreen. But a mismatch mar- riage has ruined her ambi- tious career for she is now a domestic violence victim served with an “impugned” talaqnama by post. Alleging an attempt on her life by none other than her hus- band, tortured by her in-laws for more dowry and rape attempts by another relative, Amreen has filed an FIR at the Cuttack Mahila police station in July 2015 after umpteen attempts for reconciliation by relatives and religious priests failed. “The police are yet to act on my FIR. During this one and a half years, all the accused named in the FIR have report- edly managed to obtain antic- ipatory bail from courts,” said Amreen to reporters here on Monday in the presence of her relatives, including father Sk Jafurlla, a Doordarshan news reporter. Amreen said that after her marriage to Gulam Mustafa Khan of the city in January 2013, her father was forced to pay dowry of Rs 4 lakh and gold ornaments of 100 gram. A few days after the marriage when they moved to their workplace in Hyderabad, Mustafa’s parents demanded Rs 3 lakh more. “When my father refused expressing his inability to meet their demand, my husband and other members of his fam- ily started abusing me and assaulted me physically. My husband’s elder brother-in-law even tried to keep illicit rela- tionship with me,” Amreen said, adding that an attempt was made to immolate her in the kitchen. Seeking justice, Amreen said, she had written about her plight to the Prime Minister on December 11, 2016, and the PMO promptly within a week on December 17, 2016 for- warded her representation to an Undersecretary of the Public Grievances Department of the Odisha Government for nec- essary action. “But two months have already passed in the meantime and no action has yet been taken by any of the Governments to redress the grievances of my daughter,” rued Sk Jafurlla, saying that the talaqnama sent to her daugh- ter appears to be legally void as it was signed three months before it was sent and doesn’t bear the mandatory signatures of her witnesses. A Special (Vigilance) Court here on Monday allowed the Vigilance police to take arrested IAS officer Partha Sarathi Mishra on a two-day remand to interrogate him in custody. In view of the voluminous documents seized from Mishra’s houses and consider- ing the lavish lifestyle he was leading by visiting foreign countries several times, the Vigilance had moved the court seeking to take him on remand for five days. On the other hand, a Vigilance SP refused to com- ment on the alleged vindic- tiveness of the Government against Mishra apparently due to his recent fallout with a State Cabinet Minister, with whom he had a cozy rela- tionship in the past. A technical team led by an irrigation engineer appointed by the East Zone Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Monday visited the city and examined the controversial land on which the historic Baliyatra was observed in November last year. The week-long annual fes- tival had run into trouble when the NGT while adjudicating a petition had ordered not to hold the festival on the desig- nated grounds on the banks of river Mahanadi as it was per- ceived to be a riverbed. The festival was, however, allowed to happen when the district administration informed the NGT that the fes- tival was being organised on the adjacent alluvial soil and not in the riverbed. On subsequent hearing of the petition, the NGT appoint- ed a technical committee to visit the spot and report after studying the landform. “We will submit our report within a month,” informed team leader Sudhakar Patri.

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Political rhetoric touched a new lowin poll-bound Uttar Pradesh with

Samajwadi Party chief and ChiefMinister Akhilesh Yadav asking megastar Amitabh Bachchan “to stopappearing in the advertisement pro-moting donkeys of Gujarat.” Akhileshwas speaking at an election rally atRaebareli on Monday.

During Prime Minister NarendraModi’s tenure as Gujarat ChiefMinister, the star was appointed as thebrand ambassador of the State by itsGovernment. The advertisementspromoting the State as a tourism des-tination featured the actor invitingpeople to visit the State with thefamous tagline “Kuch din to gujaroGujarat mein.(Come and spend a fewdays in Gujarat).”

“Kamal hai, gadhon kaa vigyapanhone lagaa! Socho desh kis dishamein jaa rahaa hai. (It’s surprisingthat donkeys are being advertised.Which raises a big question over thedirection the country is headed),” saidAkhilesh at the election meeting.

“I would like to appeal to themahanayak of the millennium to stoppromoting the donkeys of Gujarat.You all must have seen the promo-tional advertisement on TV. Thedonkey is a domesticated animaland people, particularly the rural folksare aware of the utility of the animal,’’said the Chief Minister.

Posing a question to the people,Akhilesh said, “Tell me, do donkeysneed publicity? Yet, the Governmentof Gujarat is promoting donkeys.”

Akhilesh read the whole text of

Gujarat Government’s advertisementwith the focus on one line, “Yah sha-har wala gadha nahi hai, jo sadak parkhada koi gahree baat sochta ho. Iskepaas sochne, samajhne ki fursat kahan.(It’s not an urban donkey with thetime and ability to think deepthoughts. This donkey has no time tothink about anything).”

Reading out another line,Akhilesh said, “Yah janaab duniyamein sirf yahi milenge. Ahmedabad se150 km dur. Maheeno ho gayenahaaye huye, lekin dikhte hain bilkul

Continued on Page 4

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi onMonday stuck to the development

agenda in water-scarce Bundelkhand,rapping the SP and the BSP for back-wardness of the region and promisedto transform it like Kutch in Gujarat.“SP and BSP have ignoredBundelkhand over the years and theseelections are crucial for Bundelkhand...It has to decide whether it has to getrid of SP, BSP,” Modi said at an electionrally in Orai region of Jalaun inBundelkhand region.

“In five years, we will transformBundelkhand, which has not seen anydevelopment in the last 70years...Mineral-rich Bundelkhand canchange the fate of Uttar Pradesh, ille-gal mining has to be stopped and thesatellite launched by India can beused to check the clandestine activi-ties… Some believe nothing can bedone in Bundelkhand...It can be madeNo.1 in the state...There is Kutch dis-trict in Gujarat...20 years ago if any gov-ernment staff was posted there, it wasconsidered ‘kala pani’ (Andaman’sCellular Jail),” he said.

Modi exuded confidence that theBJP-Apna Dal alliance would form thenext Government in UP. Addressinga rally in Andhawa, 40 kms from thecity, Modi also mocked at the SP-Congress alliance, recalling the “27 saal,UP behaal”

Modi also mocked at Mayawati’sopposition to note ban, saying the BSPis no longer Bahujan Samaj Party but‘Behenji Sampatti Party’. The PM saidthose who deposit wealth for themselvescan never solve the problems of people.“Where has Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)reached today...When I announced noteban on November 8 last year, arch-rivalsSP and BSP, who never see eye-to-eye,came together...I was amazed when Ilaunched war against corruption andasked for the details of black money.

Continued on Page 4

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BSP supremo Mayawati onMonday hit back at Prime

Minister Narendra Modi forcalling her BSP as ‘BehenjiSampatti Party’. She retortedwith a clever pun on his nameas “Mr Negative Dalit Man”.“Narendra Damodardas Modimeans Mr Negative DalitMan, he is anti-Dalit... Thisnegative Dalit man does notlike that common people givesmall contributions in run-ning the move-ment which isalso runthrough dona-tions,” Mayawatisaid.

“Perturbed at the ris-ing popularity of the BSP,the Prime Minister isindulging in cheap things andindulging in petty talk aboutits supreme leader and hastermed BSP as ‘BehenjiSampatti Party’,” she said at anelection rally in Sultanpur.

Mayawati is popularly knownas ‘Behenji’.

“He (Modi) is an expert injumlebaazi (rhetoric) butwhen he will get a tit-for-tatreply he will forget all aboutit and today I have been com-pelled to do the same for him,”she said.

The BSP chief said, “He(Modi) does not know thatthe BSP is a movement firstand then a political party....Ihave dedicated my entire lifefor making members of Dalit,deprived and weaker sectionsand Muslims stand on their feet.”

Continuedon Page 4

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Agang of three women,arrested recently for steal-

ing cash and jewellery fromhigh-end weddings in thenational capital, had a doubleexistence. Most of the timethey led ordinary lives in theirvillage in Rajgarh district ofMadhya Pradesh, but comewedding season and they wouldswoop down on Delhi and tar-get opulent weddings at five starhotels and banquet halls.

In one such strike onFebruary 2, they decampedwith cash and jewellery worth�7 lakh from a wedding atHotel Lalit.

Soft spoken and dressed inwedding finery, these womenwould mix easily with theguests and nobody ever sus-pected them as they had takenspecial training in etiquettesand spoke perfect English.

These deadly beautiescommitted more than 100

thefts before they wereunmasked by the Delhi PoliceCrime Branch along with theirpartner in crime.

"Dressed in expensive wed-ding clothes, the MadhyaPradesh-based Rano gangwould target weddings in poshareas and at five star hotels. Thegang consisted of the leaderRano (35), Varsha (25),Manisha (22) and one autorickshaw driver, Satish Yadav(30). The police team hasrecovered expensive weddingoutfits from their possession inDelhi" said Joint Commissionerof Police Crime, RS Yadav.

"The women have dis-closed that they bought priceywedding outfits from malls inWest Delhi. They would spendthe whole day shopping orsleeping. Late in the evening,they would call the auto rick-shaw driver, whom they paid�2,000 a night, and set to work.They would scout upscale areasof the national Capital looking

for high-end weddings. Oncethey found the right place theywould gate crash and minglewith the crowd and keep closeto the family members.However, they never got pho-tos clicked with the bride andgroom in order to avoid gettingcaught," said a senior policeofficer.

The police have recovered�32,000, one auto rickshaw, twobags and new branded clothespurchased specially for wed-dings from the gang.

Police said there are sever-al gangs like the Rano gangwhich specialize in theft ofvaluables during weddings.The Rano gang, that was oper-ating for the last five years cameto Delhi a month before thewedding season started.

"Once they reached Delhithey would take a room on rentin Pratap Nagar. At the wed-ding venue they would stickclose to the family members incharge of the bag containing

cash and jewellery," said asenior police officer.

"Once the attention of thefamily members looking afterthe cash and jewellery wasdiverted by the wedding ritualsin the wee hours, the womenstole the bag and made theirgetaway in the auto," he added.

After the February 2 theft,there was another such theft onFebruary 20 from Royal Palacein Ashok Vihar area.

In light of the rising num-ber of such thefts, the cases weregiven to a Crime Branch teamunder DCP Madhur Verma.

Based on the CCTVfootage from the crime scene,police identified the womenand the Crime Branch tracedthe accused to their nativeplace Rajgarh. A senior policeofficer said that when the teamreached Rajgarh, they faced alot of resistance from the vil-lagers who refused to disclosethe whereabouts of the womento the police.

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Senior BJP leader and UnionMinister Dharmendra

PradhanMonday suspectedthat the final results of the ZillaParishad member electionsscheduled to be officiallyannounced by the StateElection Commission (SEC)onFebruary 25 might be tam-pered with.

Pradhan alleged that a sec-tion of senior bureaucrats areconspiring to tamper withsome poll results that havegone in the BJP’s favour as permedia reports.

“After the fifth and finalphase poll (on Tuesday), I sus-pect that the poll results may betampered with. Some seniorbureaucrats have been workingon it,” alleged Pradhan.

He said, “We have reiterat-ed our concern to the StateElection Commission thatsome senior bureaucrats are

conspiring to tamper with thepoll results. We hope the com-mission will intervene and takeaction accordingly.”

Pradhan also expressed hisgratitude to the people ofOdisha for their unprecedent-ed support to the BJP, which isnow closely chasing the BJD interm of electoral success.

In fact, the BJP has dealt asevere blow to the BJD bywresting a large number of ZPseats from the ruling party.With the last phase of the pollsleft, the BJP has already won atleast more than 250 ZP seatsunofficially and is all set toform eight ZP councils while ithad no ZP in its kitty after the2012 elections.

Bhubaneswar: Elaboratearrangements have been madefor the fifth and final phase ofthe three-tier panchayat elec-tions to be held on Tuesday.

State Election Commission(SEC) Secretary RabindranathSahu said polling for 1,173sarpanches, 16,148 Samitimembers and 149 ZillaParishad (ZP) members wouldbe held in 26 districts.

“Barring Angul, Boudh,Jharsuguda and Malkangiri,elections will be held in theremaining 26 districts in whicha total of 44,50,893 voters willexercise their franchise,” he said.

Meanwhile, re-polling washeld amid tight security inseveral places where incidentsof violence had been reportedin the previous phases of theelections.

The fresh polling was heldin Dhenkanal district’s Bhuban,Puri’s Krushnaprasad andBrahmagiri and Balliguda areaand K Nuagaon block inKandhamal district. Fourblocks of Kirtanpur of BhubanZilla Parishad zone 3 inDhenkanal district also wentfor re-polling.

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Senior BJD leader and formerMinister Sarada Nayak was

detained by a group of agitat-ed locals for about three hourson Monday afternoon, whilehe was allegedly distributingcash, hand bags and umbrel-las to voters in Jarda villageunder Gurundia police sta-tion of Sundargarh district forpanchayat elections.

A police team and BoneiSub-Collector reached the spotgetting the information andrescued Nayak from the spot.Police seized Rs 8,200 cash,about 52 umbrellas with BJDsymbol, hand bags with BJDsymbol and two liquor bottlesfrom the vehicle of Nayak. Acase has been registered inGurundia police station andNayak was released on personalbond. The investigation was on.

Nayak along with five asso-ciates from Gurundia blockwas detained at Jarda village byanother group of locals, claim-ing that they were distributing

cash and other items amongthe villagers ahead of the fifthphase of election. AlthoughNayak and his associatesdenied the charge and tried toescape from the spot, the localsdid not let them do so.Meanwhile, Bonei SubCollector Swadha Dev Singhwas informed about the inci-dent.

Accordingly, Bonei Sub-Collector Swadha Dev Singhalong with a police mobileteam reached the spot. SDPO,Bonei and IIC Gurundia policestation also reached there.Nayaak was rescued. “A casehas been registered againstSarada Nayak under Sections171, 188 of IPC for violation ofmodel code of conduct andbribing,” said Gurundia policestation IIC NK Sarangi.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi Government’s ambi-

tious scheme ‘Beti Bachao, BetiPadhao’ to end gender-basedviolence and campaign tochange societal norms seems tobe a misnomer for this well-educated 25-year-old Muslimgirl Amreen Zafer of Cuttack.

With an MBA degree andgood English education, gettinga corporate job with a fat paypacket was not difficult forAmreen. But a mismatch mar-riage has ruined her ambi-tious career for she is now adomestic violence victimserved with an “impugned”talaqnama by post.

Alleging an attempt on herlife by none other than her hus-band, tortured by her in-lawsfor more dowry and rapeattempts by another relative,Amreen has filed an FIR at theCuttack Mahila police station

in July 2015 after umpteenattempts for reconciliation byrelatives and religious priestsfailed.

“The police are yet to acton my FIR. During this oneand a half years, all the accusednamed in the FIR have report-edly managed to obtain antic-ipatory bail from courts,” saidAmreen to reporters here onMonday in the presence ofher relatives, including fatherSk Jafurlla, a Doordarshannews reporter.

Amreen said that after hermarriage to Gulam Mustafa

Khan of the city in January2013, her father was forced topay dowry of Rs 4 lakh andgold ornaments of 100 gram. Afew days after the marriagewhen they moved to theirworkplace in Hyderabad,Mustafa’s parents demandedRs 3 lakh more.

“When my father refusedexpressing his inability to meettheir demand, my husbandand other members of his fam-ily started abusing me andassaulted me physically. Myhusband’s elder brother-in-laweven tried to keep illicit rela-

tionship with me,” Amreensaid, adding that an attemptwas made to immolate her inthe kitchen.

Seeking justice, Amreensaid, she had written about herplight to the Prime Minister onDecember 11, 2016, and thePMO promptly within a weekon December 17, 2016 for-warded her representation toan Undersecretary of the PublicGrievances Department of theOdisha Government for nec-essary action.

“But two months havealready passed in the meantimeand no action has yet beentaken by any of theGovernments to redress thegrievances of my daughter,”rued Sk Jafurlla, saying that thetalaqnama sent to her daugh-ter appears to be legally void asit was signed three monthsbefore it was sent and doesn’tbear the mandatory signaturesof her witnesses.

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ASpecial (Vigilance) Courthere on Monday allowed

the Vigilancepolice to takearrested IASo f f i c e rP a r t h aS a r a t h iMishra on at w o - d a yremand tointerrogatehim in custody.

In view of the voluminousdocuments seized fromMishra’s houses and consider-ing the lavish lifestyle he wasleading by visiting foreigncountries several times, theVigilance had moved the courtseeking to take him on remandfor five days.

On the other hand, aVigilance SP refused to com-ment on the alleged vindic-tiveness of the Governmentagainst Mishra apparently dueto his recent fallout with aState Cabinet Minister, withwhom he had a cozy rela-tionship in the past.

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Atechnical team led by anirrigation engineer

appointed by the East ZoneBench of the National GreenTribunal (NGT) on Mondayvisited the city and examinedthe controversial land on whichthe historic Baliyatra wasobserved in November lastyear.

The week-long annual fes-tival had run into trouble whenthe NGT while adjudicating apetition had ordered not tohold the festival on the desig-nated grounds on the banks ofriver Mahanadi as it was per-ceived to be a riverbed.

The festival was, however,allowed to happen when thedistrict administrationinformed the NGT that the fes-tival was being organised onthe adjacent alluvial soil andnot in the riverbed.

On subsequent hearing ofthe petition, the NGT appoint-ed a technical committee tovisit the spot and report afterstudying the landform. “Wewill submit our report withina month,” informed teamleader Sudhakar Patri.

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Anoted scientist, a former Professor and HODof Laser and Plasma Technology Division

of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, DrAshok Kumar Das has taken over as Vice-Chancellor of the Utkal University since June2014. He has presented 130 papers in variousconferences at national and international level.He is a member of the Advisory Committee ofthe Union Department of Science andTechnology. He combines in him the vision andvitality of an accomplished scientist and thewholesome attitude of a liberal educationist.During his tenure as the VC of a veritableMethuselah-like university as the Utkal, he hasstruck an ideal balance between development ofa scientific ambience and studies in humanitiesontogenesis in this age-old temple of learning.He has taken a holistic approach for physical,mental, vital, scientific and aesthetic improve-ment of his students under his watchful eyes andis confident that this university will one day findits coveted place in the international sphere aswell. He is of the opinion that the student unrestin the university campus is certainly due to amyopic vision in our political set-up and a dan-gerous degradation of value system. As a scientistof repute, Das is proud of India’s achievementin scientific sphere and dismisses the old alientaboo that Indian science is a fun. In an inter-view to The Pioneer, Dr Das spoke to SugyanChoudhury from his office at the UtkalUniversity campus, Vani Vihar, in Bhubaneswar.

What plans are there in your agenda to toneup the academic environ of this age-old uni-versity?

Utkal is the oldest and premier universityof Odisha with 27 departments, 18 SFS cours-es and a very strong academic heritage. It alsohas been transforming itself keeping pace withtime. The following steps are being taken to keepit on the path of academic excellence:� Choice-based credit system being introducedin UG and PG courses� Recruitment of faculty strictly following UGCguideline� Introduction of a large number of innova-tive PG and certificate courses to improve high-er-level skill and employability� Upgradation of Central Library with mas-sive digital resources� Use of field laboratories, museums, experi-ential programmes and earn while you learn pro-grammes to improve understanding and valuesystem� Upgradation of computer centre, network-ing, WIFI, instrumentation as learning andresearch infrastructure� Massive boost to research through seed fund-ing, innovation funding, proposal banks andproposal generation schemes� MoUs with orgasnisations like CIPET,NALCO, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre,department of higher education, etc., as knowl-edge and outreach partners� Intensification of International exchange pro-grams and collaborative research with other uni-versities�Developing and instituting virtual tutorials asan equity initiative to provide video-recordedtutorials in Under Graduate (BA, B Com, BSc)in remote tribal areas during 2017

What plans are there to galvanise the admin-istrative setup of the university?

Our aim is to transform the administrativesetup to a more sensitive and responsive admin-istration. The following steps are being taken:� Online admission and payment� Automation of account system� Computerised examination managementsystem�Plans are afloat to computerize student enroll-ment and services�A full-fledged internal quality assessment cellis being operational. Similarly a college devel-opment council is facilitating affiliated colleges� The university has adopted a number of bestpractices like solar energy in campus, watershedmanagement, mega organ donation and blooddonation campaigns and student mediclaimfacilities� Every department runs a student feedback,parental feedback and alumni interaction fordevelopment�An institutional development plan with newcentres of excellence are being developed forWorld Bank support

Our students are not coming up at a par withother universities like the JNU and others onCivil Services Examinations results. Whatremedial measures are you adopting for the

same?It is true that our students are not same as

students from JNU or CUHyd in CIVIL serviceresults. However, it cannot be denied that stu-dents from Utkal are very good at fundamen-tals and core areas particularly in science sub-jects. Also, being obsessed with civil serviceexamination as the be all and end all of our stu-dents’ life is not a correct view. However, keep-ing this sentiments in view, the following stepsare being taken:� A career counselling and placement servicecentre is being opened with State Governmentsupport.�A civil service and net coaching centre is beingopened with State Government support.� A net/civil service coaching is being doneunder the auspices of the Ambedkar StudyCentre� The PG Council is also starting a civil ser-vice coaching activity in collaboration with theVikash Educational Trust solely for Vani Viharstudents� The university is also initiating personalitydevelopment and articulation training for stu-dents

Should elections of Students’ Union be bannedfor restoring normalcy in the university cam-pus?

Students are the major stakeholder in everyuniversity and they are important to us.Inculcation of political awareness and democ-

ratic values is very essential. It is true that dueto myopic vision in our political system and ter-rible degradation of value system Students’Union elections have become a cause for worry.I believe that there should be serious brain-storming amongst our society leaders about howto inculcate student representation in a mannerto encourage correct value system.

Students obtaining 1st class first rank andbeing IAS toppers are also in top of the cor-ruption list, which shows that something iswrong somewhere in our education system. Asan educationist, what remedial measures doyou suggest to arrest such an untowardgrowth?

I do not subscribe to the view that all firstrank and IAS toppers behave in the manner thatthe question seems to indicate. A careful anddetailed survey would show that most of our top-pers are creams of the society and tend to remainso. The apparent degeneration is due to thedegeneration of value system in our educationalprocess. I believe incorporation of a value sys-tem which encourages experiential learning ofsustainable values would be one way. Forexample, let students of agriculture work in thefield; students of physics innovate for societalgood and learn to respect openness, toleranceand honesty.

You are a noted scientist. Are we in a positionto banish the misnomer that ‘Indian Scienceis a fun’?

The misnomer referred to is farthest fromtruth and can only come out of an ignorantmind. Considering India’s teeming millionsneeding to go above the poverty line, theachievements of atomic energy, space, Defenceresearch and agriculture in making us self-suf-ficient is admirable. India’s IT industry, pharmaindustry, metal and automotive sector illustratethe power of science. Our research has bothwidth and depth that very few nations have.Where we have failed is the delivery of scienceto the common man. India is the fourth largestscience and technology power. Resource isanother lacuna.

What are your vision plans for putting thisuniversity on a higher growth trajectory?

Utkal is already an A+ accredited universi-ty; that is very rare for a state university. So, itis already in the growth path. Currently, we arein the process of developing an InstitutionalDevelopment Plan (IDP) that would chart ourroadmap and implementation protocols for next5, 10 and 15 years. It would include centres ofexcellence, social outreach programmes, devel-opment of a second campus at Chandikhol asa centre of excellence in skill and rural devel-opment, new courses, new student facilities, astate-of-art auditorium, alumni centres, centresof linguistics and strategic studies, a departmentof physical education as well as pedagogic stud-ies. We plan to develop new remote deliverycourses, an international exchange programmeand, possibly, reach “Times best university list”.We need blessings of all stakeholders.

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interview of the weekpioneer

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Even as panchayat electionsshow a trend of bigger

turnout of voters and higherpercentage of polling across theState signalling that people at thegrassroots have become increas-ingly conscious of their demo-cratic rights, lack of knowledgeon ballot papers and wrongcasting of vote by the ignorantrural voters has led to a risingnumber of invalid votes.

The four phases of electionsalready held on February 13 and15, 17 and 19 have brought thisgrave fact to the fore. Many vot-ers, ignorant of the ballot papersand process of voting, went tocast their votes with great dealof interest, but finally they votedthe wrong way. As a result, a big-ger chunk of votes cast was con-sidered invalid as either thevoters just dropped the ballotpapers blank in the ballot box orused thumb impression insteadof pressing the seal on the bal-lot papers. In several cases, thevoters pressed the seal on thewrong spaces or on more thanone symbol in the ballot paperrendering the votes invalid.

“Maximum number of peo-ple in our panchayats had turnedout and stood on the queues forcasting vote. So, it was quitepleasing. But finally, when thecounting was held, it was foundthat around 10-15 per cent voteswere cancelled on count ofwrong voting,” said an agent whowas present at the counting ofvotes on February 13 poll heldat Kantiokateni village inDhenkanal district.

“I did not know what a bal-lot paper is and what to do withit. I just came to the pollingbooth as other women in ourneghbourhood have come hereto cast their votes. Besides, thecandidates have approached us

at our doorstep several times,”said Minati Khamari (42), whocame to cast her vote in the PRIelection held in a booth atKusumjodi Panchayat underKamakhyanagar constituencyon February 13.

Sujata Behera (50) of Kundavillage under Bhuban block saidshe dropped her ballot papersstraight in the ballot box out ofnervousness and as she did notknow what to do with them. Sheconfided that she waited for afew minutes shuffling the ballotpapers inside the voting com-partment confused over how tovote and then dropped them inthe box.

Not just the women, butmany old persons who came tothe booth to cast their votes alsodid it wrongly leading to can-cellation of the votes.

Since rural elections areheld for grassroots level postsbeginning from Ward member,the candidates campaign door-to- door and request their vil-lagers to cast their votes in theirfavour. So on the day of election,they transport the women andold persons from every homes,notwithstanding if they are capa-ble enough to wait for long hoursunder the sun at the booth.

Even instances of old per-sons who are unable to walk arebrought to the polling stationsin vehicles. Consequently, theseold and infirm people cannotvote properly, leading to thecancellation of their votes.

“Awareness on the entirevoting system among the ruralvoters is the need of the hour.When the candidates areapproaching them for votes theyshould show them a demo as tohow to cast votes. Even the offi-cials also should undertake adrive to educate the voters onthis front,” said an intellectualhere.

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Villagers of Anantapur andBramhapur under

Athagarh block in Cuttackdistrict on Monday demand-ed the State ElectionCommission (SEC) for re-polling at various boothsalleging booth capture bygoons of local BJD MLARanendra Pratap Swain on

Sunday.The villagers alleged that

supporters of the local MLAforced voters out of the boothnos. 1, 2 and 4 at Anantapurvillage and booth nos. 7 and8 in Berhampur village underDhurusia panchayat andthemselves cast all the votes.

They demanded that theSEC conduct re-polling atthese booths.

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The State Government hasdecided to establish 112

new cold storages under thePotao Mission in order to cre-ate additional storage capacityto 5.60 lakh metric tonne.

The mission authoritiesare believed to be in touch withthe investors and bankers forthe purpose.

Chief Secretary AP Padhirecently took stock of the activ-ities of the mission, which isaimed at increasing potato pro-duction, storage capacity andseed production.

While the State’s currentproduction now stands at 2.78

LMT, the mission has targetedto increase the production to 11LMT by March 2018 to meetthe State’s requirement.

An assessment carried outby the National Centre ForCold Chain Development(NCCD) and NabardConsultancy Services (NAB-CONS), the cold store capaci-ty requirement for the State isnow 2.88 lakh MT. In April2015, when the Potato Missionwas launched, cold store capac-ity was 1.33 LMT with 27functional cold storages.

About 15 new cold storageswould be operational byMarch, 2017.

With this, the total numberof functional cold storages willincrease to 42.

Meanwhile, an analysis ofcold storage facilities revealedthat nearly 60 per cent of

capacity is being utilized roundthe year involving all the com-modities.

Taking this into account,the Government has taken upthe matter of establishment ofnew cold storages to ensuresynergy between productionand storage, said a senior offi-cial in Department ofAgriculture and Farmers’Empowerment.

It was revealed that privateplayers are being roped in tostep up seeds production unitsas Odisha is a deficit Stateboth in potato and potatoseeds.

The interested privateplayers would be providedland for seed production andsimilar steps are being takenup to set up a tissue culturelaboratory near the capitalcity, officials said.

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The BJP on Mondaydemanded a judicial probe

into the alleged violation ofmodel code of conduct bypolitical leaders and topbureaucrats and incidences ofviolence during the panchayatpolls.

BJP national secretary

Suresh Pujari told reportershere that a judicial inquiry isimperative since the BJP andthe BJD have levelled the samecharges.

“We demand that the StateGovernment order a judicialprobe into the matter by a sit-ting judge with prior permissionof the Supreme Court so that theproper action will be takenagainst all offenders,” he said.

Reiterating that four seniorbureaucrats of the ChiefMinister’s Officer (CMO) havegrossly violated the model codeof conduct, he to alleged thatthe ADG, Law and Order, andthe district Collectors have

also grossly violated the modelcode.

The BJP leader alsoinformed that these aforesaidofficials were pressurising thesubordinate staff to work forthe ruling party.

“If the chief minister hasthe guts, let him ask the policeto verify the call records andthe WhatsApp messages in themobile phones of these afore-said officials to ascertain theveracity,” Pujari said.

He said his party has sub-mitted the WhatsApp mes-sages of several officers to theSEC and urged for action as perrules.

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The All Odisha Kinner andThirdgender Association on

Monday knocked at the door ofthe Odisha State Human RightsCommission (OSHRC) toprotest against the alleged mis-behaviour and abuse of aeunuch, Maneka, by RailwayProtection Force (RPF) person-nel in the Rajdhani Express.

The association requestedthe OSHRC to take stringentaction against the guilty RPF per-sonnel.It might be mentionedhere that, on February 16, 2017

Maneka had reserved a berth inthe Rajdhani Express and trav-elling to New Delhi.

While she was going to thetoilet, RPF ASI UK Mohan Raoallegedly misbehaved with herand asked her to get down fromthe train. When she protested,Rao allegedly abused her infilthy language and slapped her.Following which, the other co-passengers protested and an FIRwas filed with the TravellingTicket Examiner (TTE).Theassociation alleging violation ofhuman rights approached theOSHRC.

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While availability of andaccess to energy are very

important for development ofa country, these factors remaina major problem in many partsof the globe now.

Chicago University ProfMichel Greenstone viewed thiswhile delivering the EighthOdisha Knowledge Hub (OKH)Lecture on ‘Energy Security andInnovative solutions to EnergyEnvironmental challenges” heldat the State Secretariat here onMonday.

He opined that develop-ment in Odisha during the last10 years has been visible andimpressive.

He further pointed thatthere is a big variation in ener-gy access and consumptionpattern in various parts of theworld. In USA per capita ener-gy consumption is around13,000 KW/hour per year. Inmany parts of Europe andGermany, the per capita con-sumption is between 5,000 and7,000 KW/hour.

On the other side there arecountries with lower energyconsumption. In China percapita consumption is around2700 KW hour per year and in

India is around 1400 KW hour.In Odisha, electricity accessand consumption is compara-tively higher in comparison tomany Indian States. The percapita electricity consumptionin Odisha is around 1,200KW/hour per year.

He maintained that fossilfuels used for production ofenergy causes climate changes.Those are major the cause ofrising pollution level whichhas direct impact on longevityof life and life expectancy, hesaid.

Prof Michael suggestedthree solutions to get access toclean energy with affordableexpenses. He said rationalpricing of conventional energy,increasing investment in inno-vations, research and develop-ment activities and identifyingeffective policy tools throughcollaborative efforts amongUniversities and Government

departments would yield agood. He also focused on theneed for better pollution auditand research policy partnership.

Responding to a mediaquery, Michael said, “There isa large scope for collaborationbetween the OdishaGovernment and Universityof Chicago. The Governmenthas taken the right step in ini-tiating the process through themethods of knowledge sharing.We will work together in futurespecially in the areas of ener-gy and environment chal-lenges”.

Chief Secretary AP Padhihonored Michael by presentinghim a OKH memento.Development Secretary RBalkrishnan, PrincipalSecretaries and Secretaries ofvarious departments andresearch scholars from variouseducational institutions par-ticipated in the deliberations.

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Ajoint eviction team of theBDA, the BMC and the

GA Department on Mondayfreed 1.5 acre of Governmentland, around which a boundarywall was constructed, in frontof the Gopabandhu Academyin Jaydev Vihar area here.

BDA AdditionalEnforcement CommissionerBhabani Sankar Chayani,

Enforcement OfficerPramod Kumar Patra, BMCZDC (North) SubhransuMishra, BDA Liasion OfficerSubhransu Sekhar Mohantyand ACP RN Satpathy were

present. Similarly, another teamconducted an eviction drive inBDA plotted scheme area atPatrapada and freed 4.000 Sq Ftof Government land fromencroachment.

In yet another such drive,the BDA SJS removed 10 streetvendors and 30 bamboo shedsfrom the footpath and cyclepath between the New AirportSquare and Patia.

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Adelegation of theConsumer Lawyers’

Association on Sunday metGanjam district CollectorPrem Chandra Chaudhuryand requested him to solve thestalemate in the DistrictConsumer Redressal Forum.

The delegation besidessubmitting a memorandumto the Collector held discus-sions regarding the impasseand dispute in the ConsumerRedressal Forum.

The delegation said theforum was set up to solve theproblems and disputes of con-sumers and protect theirrights. But for the last fewdays, the forum’s presidentand the members are at log-gerheads. Due to this the con-sumers are being put intogreat inconvenience. Last weekthe situation turned volatile,which was strongly protestedby them.

The Collector assured thedelegation that he would takethe necessar y s teps .President of lawyers’ forumSiva Prasad Mishra, secretarySatish Panigrahi, formerpresident Kailash Mishra andmembers L axminarayanDash were present.

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Even as the Government hasissued directions that stu-

dents can’t be carried in auto-rickshaws and small vans forsafety reasons, college andschool students in Koraputrural pockets are seen travel-ling dangerously everyday dueto lack of proper communica-tion and transportation facil-ities.

It is marked that studentstravel dangerously in hangingposition on the sides and backof small vans for more than 10km every day.

A bright example has beenseen at Badel village underLamtaput block.

The Government is spend-ing a lot of funds for educationand setting up offices in dif-ferent blocks but it has hardlytaken steps for safety trans-portation of students. In manyvillages in Koraput district,schools are far away and, dueto lack of communication facil-ities, students are forced tocross rivers and travel in vehi-cles dangerously, alleged par-ents of Badel village.

“We are interested to go tothe school daily. But as there isno movement of buses or othermeans of transport, we aretravelling dangerously insmaller vans and autos. Wehave also no school in our vil-lage,” lamented DineshMahanadia, a Class IX studentof the Lamtaput High School.

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The forest personnel ofGahirmatha Marine

Sanctuary in the last two dayshave been waiting eagerly forthe mass nesting of Olive Ridleyturtles at the golden beach ofNasi -2 as it could take place atany time.

The environment is con-ducive for the turtles to lay eggsen masse, said Gahirmathamarine sanctuary ranger SubratKumar Patra.

According to Patra, thesouthern wind that isfavourable for the turtle to layeggs has started blowing thoughthe intensity is slow.

So, at any moment, thesouthern wind would intensifyits speed which would make theturtles to come to the goldenbeach of Gahirmatha.

Last year, the beach condi-tion was not conducive. Besides,a km-long sand bar was formedin front of the coast becominga major problem for the sea tur-tles to reach at the beach. Butthis time, the sand bar has van-ished which would facilitate thesmooth sailing of the sea turtlestoward the beach. Thoughabout 50/60 feet long sand barhas formed this time at theNasi-2 beach ,but it would notcreate any problem for turtle’sto reach at the golden beach,

said the Ranger.But this time Nasi-2 beach

has got reduced a lot than lastyear due to beach erosion.About 20- 30 per cent of Nasi2 beach space has eroded thisyear.

Meanwhile, the sea sur-veillance has been intensifiedfor restricting the trawler’sentry to Gahirmatha for catch-

ing fish. This time too, thenumber of turtle carcasses hasgot reduced.

As many as 57 fishingtrawlers were intercepted and390 fishermen were arrested bythe Gahirmatha MarineSanctuary personnel for illegallycatching fish since the forestpersonnel have imposed ban ontrawler fishing on November 1.

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Aday after former Bantablock Congress president

Suresh Chandra Rout died in aroad accident, irate Congressworkers and leaders resorted toagitation keeping the deadbody in front of theSuperintendent of Police (SP)here on Monday alleging thathe was murdered by rivals anddemanding immediate arrest ofthe culprits.

The protest was led by for-mer PCC president JayadevJena and senior Congressleader Ananta Sethy.

They alleged that Rout(55) was killed by his oppo-nents in Palasa gram panchay-at under Bant block in the dis-trict. Rout’s family membershave pointed fingers at theBJD.

As per reports, an uniden-tified vehicle dashed against themotorbike of Rout, a formersarpanch, at around 9.30 pm atBarhampur Chhak on Sundaynight. He was declared broughtdead at the Bhadrak DistrictHeadquarters Hospital (DHH).

Another Congress workerof Mahulgadia village,Sankashan Rout, the pillion

rider, was seriously injured inthe incident. He was alsoadmitted to the DHH in a crit-ical condition.

On the fateful night, SureshRout was returning to his vil-lage Manguli along withSankarshan fromChhayalasingh Bazaar.

“The BJD has been target-ing Congress leaders and work-ers. The Bhadrak case is not anisolated one. Everywhere in theState, our workers are being tar-geted,” said Jayadev Jena.

However, following theassurance of the SP, the pro-testors called off the strike.

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The three-tier panchayatelectionS in the tribals-

dominated Gajapati district havegiven massive success to manyminority community candidateswho had contested for variousposts by getting support or tick-ets from all major political par-ties, including the BJD, theCongress and the CPI(M) andas Independents.

Gajapati district consists ofseven blocks such as Mohana,Gosani, Kasinagar, Nuagada,Rayagada and R Udaygiri. Theminority communities are large-ly found in five blocks, especiallyin Mohana, Rayagada, RUdaygiri, Nuagada and Gummablocks which are a Congress bas-tion since a decade.

Total Gram Panchayats inthe district is 149. Interestingly,

in this election, the minoritygroups which used to be faraway from politics, have showninterest in it and are contestingfor various posts.

The minority groupsdemanded party ticket for ZillaParishad seats and successfullyproved their mettle.

As per sources, HemanshuLimma won from Zilla ParishadZone 4 in Gumma block as aCongress candidate. He belongsto a minority group and is adirector of a NGO run for theminority.

The reason behind of hissuccess is he had earlier foughtfor the people due to the rationcard irregularities in the block.In the same manner, JacobMajhi, a minority leader of RUdaygiri block Zone 11, won asa Congress candidate. ArunMajhi, a Congress ZP candidateof Rayagda block, also a minor-

ity leader, however, could notturn the tide in his favour sincethe Rayagada block is a BJPstronghold.

Premika Raita won fromZone 3 Zilla Parishad as aminority leader on Congressticket due to her strong leader-ship quality and people -orient-ed agenda.

Many Samiti Members ofminority group have also wonelection. Mafiyal Swalsingh, asocial worker who won theSamiti Member seat, is a minor-ity member.

He conducted a road showin Rayagada block, where thou-sands of people gathered toextend him the support to casttheir votes. Notably, he is wellknown in the Rayagada blockfor his helping attitude. In thesame way Gyana Ranjan Jena, aminority leader supported byBJD party, won.

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Maintaining its winningspree in the Zilla Parishad

(ZP) zones in the district, theBJP grabbed seven seats out ofthe nine, for which polling washeld on Sunday.

Significantly, it has regis-tered a clean sweep in Remunaby winning all the four seats. InNilgiri block also, the partybagged all the three seats.

However, it failed inOupada block as both the ZPseats went in favour of the rul-ing BJD.

While Remuna con-stituency is represented by thelone BJP MLA of the district,Gobinda Das, Nilgiri is thehome turf of the former MLAand senior party leader PratapSarangi.

The BJD’s defeat in all thethree seats of Niligiri is a severe

jolt to the ruling party. Notably,the incumbent MLA SukantaNayak is of the BJD.With thewin in seven more seats, theBJP which failed to open itsaccount even after first twophases has taken its total tallyto 12.

Notably, the BJP, in thethird phase had won five seatsout of seven under Sadar andBahanaga block. The magicnumber to grab the coveted ZPpresident post is 23 out of thetotal 45 ZP seats in the district.Both the BJD and BJP aspire toachieve the number and arefighting with their backs to thewall. While the BJD has 22seats in its kitty, the BJP haswon 12 seats till now.

While the polling in thelast phase would be held onTuesday for Simulia, Soro andKhaira blocks, the contestwould be keen between thesetwo parties for 10 seats includ-ing three each in Soro andSimulia and four in Khairablock respectively.

The Congress, which hasso far got only one seat, is try-ing hard to increase its tally asthe party has still has a strongbase in Soro and Simulia.

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With over 3,55,000 eggs laidby Olive Ridley sea turtles

within a week of mass nesting inthe Ganjam coast, the endan-gered species is all set to beat all-time records in the district thisyear.Till the wee hours onSunday, the Olive Ridley turtleslaid this massive number ofeggs along the Ganjam coast,said Brahmapur Divisional

Forest Officer (DFO) AshishKumar Behera.

The number of the turtleshad declined last year due tounknown reasons. But the num-ber has increased this year at theGokharkuda and Podampeta-Rushikulya river mouths.

While 3,09,000 eggs hadbeen recorded last year, it isexpected to cross a four-lakhmark this year. The ForestDepartment has taken highsecurity measures for smoothand safe egg laying of the turtles,the DFO said.

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Members of the EkamraWalks, the heritage walk

of the city, on Monday, weretreated with two wonderfulrecitals of Odishi by the stu-dents of Art Vision, the insti-tute run by renowned Odishiand Chhow exponent GuruIleana Citaristi.

More than 20 members ofthe Ekamra Walks team notonly received the warm wel-come of the famous danseuse,who is also a Padma awardee,but they saw the way, she haskept her house with a blend oftraditional Odishan architec-ture and style. They got mes-merised by the performancesDasamahavidya andMangalacharan, two items inOdishi on an open stage in thebuilding by her disciples girls.

The tour included fourforeigners, two from Franceand two from the United States,and nearly 10 from outsideStates in the country. Duringthe Odishi recital, the girlsperformed powerful dancedrama under the supervision oftheir Guru Ileana, who hasbuilt her nice institute ArtVision, on the western banks ofthe holy Bindusagar and justopposite the famous medicinalplant garden, Ekamra Van.

While in Dasamahavidya,the dance students performeda dance drama on the 10 incar-nations of Shakti, i.e.Kali, Tara,Sodoshi, Bhubaneswari,Chinnamasta, Vairavi,Dhumavati, Matangi,Bagalamukhi and Kamala, inMangalacharan, they includedSthita Kamala, a dramaticadaptation of Gitagovinda,relating to Lord Krishna’s Leela.

Earlier, Director TourismNitin B Jawle welcomed the vis-itors at Mukteswar. He alsoadded that there is a plan toinclude the visit to Art Vision,an element in the route map ofthe Ekamra Walks, as it hasalready become one of themajor heritage spots and learn-ing centres with more than 60girls getting the tutelage inOdishi dance from their Guru.In fact, decades ago after get-ting her training in Odishifrom the legendary GuruKelucharan Mohapatra, Italy-born Ileana has made her beau-tiful home Art Vision perma-nent residence and remainsbusy round the year and criss-crossing the globe with pro-moting Odishi dance and cul-ture.

Earlier, at around 7 am asusual, the Ekamra Walks start-ed from Mukteswar Templeand covered Parasurameswar,Swarnajaleswar, Kotitirtheswar,Bindusagar, Ananta Vasudev,Lingaraj, Chitrakarini, Suka-

Sari Deula, BindusagarParikrama encircling the holylake, Vaitaal Temple, Art Visioncampus and ending at EkamraVan to see the wonderful med-icinal plant garden.

While the foreigners weredelighted to know such anevent to promote heritage existsin the city and learnt how thecity has got the largest densityof ancient monuments acrossthe Old Bhubaneswar heart-land, they also promised to passon their nice memories tofriends and others to attractmore visitors.

Meanwhile, De Tour, theagency conducting the her-itage walk under the guidanceand support fromBhubaneswar DevelopmentAut h or i t y, B hu b a n e s w a rMunicipal Corporation andOdisha Tourism, has come outwith a teaser on the weekly her-itage walk and it has generat-ed a great response among thepublic, and mainly among theyoung mass.

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Press Council of India (PCI)Chairman Justice

Chandramauli Kumar Prasadcalled on Governor Dr SCJamir at the Raj Bhawan hereon Sunday.

PCI members SN Sinha,Krishna Prasad, Rajeev RanjanNag, Kosuri Amarnath,Prabhat Dash, Prakash DubeyChhaya Kanta Nayak andBipin Newar were also present.

Prasad apprised theGovernor about powers, func-tions and responsibilities ofthe PCI and discussed aboutvarious issues relating to theprint media of nationalimportance.

The Governor suggestedthe Chairman to take steps forchecking negative journalismfor interest of the country.

Prasad presented a PCIgolden jubilee memento, acommemorative coin and asouvenir to Jamir. TheGovernor’s Principal SecretaryCJ Venugopal was present.

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Due to faulty injections, ayouth here will lose fingersof his right hand, which

need to be amputated through anoperation.

If sources are to be believed,Sanotsh Kumar Mallick (28),who is the father of three chil-dren, of Nagaripada villageunder Sanaodhanga gram pan-chayat in Garadapur block, is atractor driver.

While he was driving trac-tor on a day, his abdomen start-ed aching. As a result, he went tothe Korua –based PHC. But asthe doctor was absent, he laterwent to a private dental hospitalfor treatment with the help oflocals. The dentist allegedlyadministered a couple of injec-tions to Santosh’s right hand vein.

Soon, his right hand palmstarted swelling and he sufferedpain. But, the dentist informedSantosh that the pain would berelieved after some hours. But hishand swelling did not stop.

A couple of days later, theright hand fingers became inac-tive and the skin started decay-ing from his hand. The familymembers took Santosh to theDistrict Headquarters Hospitalat Kendrapada and subsequentlyto SCB MCH, Cuttack in a crit-ical condition.

At SCB, Santosh under-went treatment for some days.The doctor advised the familymembers to amputate Santosh’sfingers through surgery as thelone way to save him. The doc-tor told that due to faulty injec-

tions in vein, Santosh was fac-ing the situation.

But �50,000 will be neededfor the surgery. Santosh’s fami-ly members being poor, it hasbeen a rude shock for them.

“We have spent all ourmoney for Santosh’s treatment sofar and I do not know fromwhere I would get the money,”said Santosh’s father HemantMallick.

Meanwhile, Hemant onFebruary 15 lodged an FIRagainst the doctor at Patkurapolice station, who allegedlymisbehaved with him when hewent to ask why he administeredfaulty injections.

When contacted,Kendrapada SDPO KedarnathSahu stated that police havereceived an FIR in this regardand an inquiry was on.

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The war of words between theBJD and the BJP over

alleged use of money powerand administrative machineryduring the panchayat electionsalso continued on Monday.

BJD spokesperson PratapKeshari Deb claimed that hisparty’ allegation against the BJPbringing money from neigh-bouring Chhattisgarh for dis-tribution to woo voters in theirfavour has been proved.

“Following the seizure oftwo vehicles bearingChhattisgarh numbers inThuamula Rampur inKalahandi and Papdahandi inNabarangpur along with cashtoday proved that our appre-hension of use of money wastrue,” Deb told reporters here.

Countering Deb, BJPspokesperson Sajjan Sharma hitback questioning whether theChhattisgarh Government hadgiven money to BJD leaderSarada Nayak, who was caughtred-handed distributing moneyin his Sundargarh district onMonday.

In another development, ateam of the BJP led by Sharmamet State ElectionCommissioner (SEC) RabiNarayan Senapaty urging himto ask BJD vice-presidentSurjya Narayan Patro to clari-fy his claim that the BJD wouldform 26 Zilla Parishads.

“The polls are yet to beover and the results are still notknown. How could SurjyaNarayan Patro know that theBJD will form 26 ZPs? It rais-es many questions,” saidSharma.

“We urged the SEC to askPatro to clarify his projectionon forming 26 ZPs,” Sharmatold reporters.

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Superintendent of CentralExcise, Customs and Service

Tax in RourkelaCommissionerate headquar-ters Gobind Chandra Nath hasbeen recommended for gettingthe commendation certificateon all India basis.

As per the recommen-dations of the CommissionerSatyendra Kumar Singh, thehigh power committee ofCentral Board of Excise andCustoms, New Delhi, hasdecided to give this nationalrecognition in favour of Nath.He is the only officer ofOdisha to get this prestigiousnational award for excellence.

With his versatility andcontributions in the field ofACES system, man- manage-ment, coordinating abilitieswith trade and stakeholders,different Government agen-cies of the Commissionerate,Rourkela Commissionerate,

which was languishing in bot-tom three of the country,became the top three per-formers in the country. Nathhas displayed his dynamism inthe areas of infrastructure,return scrutiny in ACES, auditand it is only for his efforts theMahanandi Coalfields Limited,Sambalpur, paid voluntarily Rs190 crore to the national exche-quer. Coming to infrastructure,he has coordinated with the

State Government and SAILauthorities for acquisition ofseven acres of land from M/sSAIL, Rourkela. He has alsobeen instrumental in explain-ing the legal positions to thegold traders on excise levy,attending regular seminars andworkshops on Goods andService Tax(GST), impartingtraining on GST to bothCentral and State officials andreducing pendency of all out-standing works of theCommissionerate.

Taking into account therole played by Nath, he hasbeen selected as the only offi-cer of the State and Rourkela inparticular, along with 32 offi-cers of the country in differentgrades to get the most covetedaward.

According to sources, theaward will be presented to theselected officers on February23 at New Delhi, while thecountry will observe theCentral Excise Day 2017.

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Atwo-day internationalc o n f e r e n c e

‘Contemporary Issues inScience, Engineering andManagement’ was held inGIFT Engineering Collegefrom February 18 to 19 inassociation with BPUT andIIRAJ, Bhubaneswar.

Eminent Professors ofIndia and abroad from differ-ent famous IITs, NITs andUniversities participated.

Around 120 technicalpapers from Singapur, UK,Thailand, Sri Lanka, Pakistan,Nepal and different places ofIndia were presented.

Director ISRO Dr HSVenkatesh attended as chiefguest, while special guests

were Dr H M Doung fromNational University ofSingapore, Dr Teena Baggfrom Amity University, Noida,Dr Ajaya Chakrabarty fromIIT, Kharagpur, Dr MotilalDas Director, I and P, BPUT,Dr Chandra Narayan Badefrom IIT, Bhubaneswar and DrLN Panda from CET,Bhubaneswar. Chairman ofGandhi Group Dr SatyaPrakash Panda, vice chair-man Er Patitapaban Panda,secretary Biranchi NarayanPanda, principal Dr S KrishnaMohan Rao, Dr P K Subudhi,Dr AK Swain, Dr NabnitPanigrahi (convener) , Col MK Rout, Prof PL Mohanty,Prof Tapan Kumar Panda, ProfKailash Chandra Rout gaveactive guidance and support.

Co-conveners were ProfAnil Kumar Nayak, ProfRajesh Kumar Ojha and ProfBikash Ranjan Moharana.

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Several BJD leaders ofSambalpur have started vent-

ing their ire and passing blameson the local MLA and partysupremo and Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik for the poor pollresults through social media.

While these leaders haveposted comments in socialmedia blaming local MLAReseswari Panigrahi’s poll strat-egy, Siddhartha Das, who is aparty State executive member,has gone a step ahead. In hissocial media posting, Das hasdirectly blamed the MLAs andtheir team for the miserabledefeat of the party in the pan-chayat polls though the partyhas done many good things fordevelopment of the entire dis-trict.

He held MLA Panigrahiand her team responsible for themiserable defeat. He said seniorleaders of the district weredeliberately sent to other dis-tricts as observers since theMLA was over confident thatshe could bring good results tothe party, but that didn’t happenand is not going to happen infuture, he said.

He further posted ‘that theparty has virtually turned to bea platform for outsiders andencroachers from anti-BJDgroups, who had not any con-tribution for the party.

“Fixing of tender, negli-gence to party workers, involv-ing mafias in the party, landgrabbers, exploiters and crimi-nals are now in the party. It hasbeen clearly reflected in results,and the voters have given rightverdict,” a social media post ofDas read.

While a section of people inBJD have protested such post-ings, the other section termed itto be appropriate. After suchpostings in social media, therehas been turmoil in the party.

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The special designated courtfor Odisha Protection of

Investors Deposits (OPID) onMonday ordered attachmentof property of chit fund com-pany Ashore InfrastructureLimited under Section 4(3) ofOPID Act, 2011.

The court pronounced theorder on the mis-case filed onJune 1, 2014 by the then ADMAkshay Mohanty. The prop-erty included immovable landof about 27.96 acre, whichwere in patches in Betnoti ofMayurbhanj district andRemuna worth nearly �1.64crore and cash of � 84 lakh,which were deposited in 16accounts in different banksand frozen.

The prayer of attachment

of property was made by thenADM in the special court.“The petitioner is permitted tosell the property by public auc-tion and realize the sell pro-ceed thereof for equitable dis-tribution among the deposi-tors of the company,” the ordersaid.

After the attachmentorder, the property can beauctioned and further movefor sell proceed can be made.The Ponzi Company hadallegedly duped several croresof rupees in the name of giv-ing high returns.

A case was registeredagainst the company and CEODipak Pothal and project offi-cer Manas Ranjan Sahu andMD of the company VivekChaudhary were made partiesto the case.

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The Vigilance Special Judge,Berhampur has sentenced

Aska Cooperative CentralBank, Pattapur BranchManager (BM) Suresh ChandraMohanty to undergo one year ofrigorous imprisonment (RI) andpay a fine of Rs 1,000 and indefault to undergo three monthsof RI, in a corruption case.

Earlier, Mohanty haddemanded an illegal gratifica-

tion of Rs 2,500 from oneBalkrishna Panda to issue acheque of Rs 65,000 for pur-chasing a thresher machine.One completion of investiga-tion, the case was chargesheet-ed against Mohanty to face thetrial of law in the court.

Vigilance DSP, BerhampurDN Das investigated the caseand Special Vigilance Court PPTapan Kumar Das conductedthe case on behalf of the pros-ecution.

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The State Government hasdecided to make available

smart phones to theAnganwadi workers.Around8500 workers will be provid-ed with smart phones in thedistricts of Raipur,Gariyabandh, Durg,Bemetara, Balod andKabirdham , off icialsinformed.

The mobile phones will beprovided under the ISNIPproject. These Anganwadiworkers will be trained for thispurpose.

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The CBI on Monday carriedout searches at the resi-

dence of its former chief AmarPratap Singh after registeringan FIR against him for alleged-ly favouring controversial meatexporter Moin Qureshi.

CBI sources said they haveregistered a case against Singh,Qureshi, his employee AdityaSharma, owner of Trimaxgroup of companies PradeepKoneru and other unknown

persons.The FIR was lodged on

a complaint from theEnforcement Directorate,on the probe againstQureshi for money laun-dering charges. CBI con-ducted searches in fourcities — New Delhi,

Ghaziabad, Chennai andHyderabad after registeringFIR, which accused Qureshifor accepting money from sev-eral people for securing favoursfrom public servants.

Qureshi’s one office oper-ated in the building rentedfrom former CBI Director’sclose relatives. The premisessearched included those of anemployee of Qureshi, his com-pany, Singh’s residence andthat of Pradeep Koneru inHyderabad. Koneru is also

being probed by theCBI in connectionwith the dispropor-tionate assets caseagainst YSR Congressleader Jagan MohanReddy.

Singh, a 1974-batch IPS officer,headed the agencybetween November30, 2010 and November 30,2012. The CBI has based itsFIR on the complaint for-warded by the EnforcementDirectorate chief Karnal Singh,who alleged that in the courseof investigation in a ForeignExchange Management Act(FEMA) case against AMQGroup of companies owned byQureshi, it transpired that thebusinessman was acting as amiddleman for some public

servants.In his letter, the ED chief,

attached records of Blackberrychat messages exchangedbetween Singh and Qureshi toallege that cognizable offenceswere committed by the two incollusion with each other.Another former CBI DirectorRanjit Sinha’s name was alsocropped in the communica-tions of Qureshi.

ED Assistant Director

Arun Kumar, whose complaintwas also attached with Singh’sletter, alleged that Qureshitook “huge money” from dif-ferent persons for obtainingundue favours from publicservants and politicians hold-ing high offices. The ED hasappended 22 BBM messageswhich were exchangedbetween AP Singh and MoinQureshi even after the retire-ment of the IPS officer.

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In a significant decision, theRussian Government has

decided not to hold any morebilateral military exerciseswith Pakistan. The decisionwas taken by Moscow giventhe strong reactions fromIndia after Russia conducteda counter-terrorism militaryexercise with Pakistan in thatcountry just about the timewhen India conducted surgi-cal strikes along the Line ofControl. Russian sources alsoclarified that they believePakistan is a breeding groundfor terrorism and Moscowwill strongly support India inits fight against terrorism.

“For better trust andunderstanding we do not planto repeat such exercises withPakistan as it was not receivedwell in India,” highly-placedsources in the RussianGovernment told The Pioneer.

Russia conducted its first-ever military exercise withPakistan called Druzhba 2016.Pakistani media claimed thatthe exercise was to be held inRattu in Gilgit Baltistan areaof Pakistan OccupiedKashmir, which was prompt-ly denied by Russia, saying themilitary exercise was plannedin advance to be held atSpecial Forces Academy inCherat which was nowhereclose to POK. Russia claimedthe exercise was meant toimprove efficiency of its ownsecurity forces in mountain-ous areas and counter-terroroperations, apart from mak-

ing an assessment of the sit-uation in Pakistan.

“The Russia-Pak jointmilitary exercise coincidedwith an attack in Uri, whichof course was not good. Butwho knew that this barbaricattack would be happeningaround the same time,” said aR u s s i a nofficial.

“From our side this mil-itary exercise was directed tosee how Pakistan can tackleterror problems and theirlevel of preparedness. Weknow several terrorists live inPakistan who attempt to harmIndia from time to time. Wedo not want Pakistan to be abreeding ground for terror-ism. We wanted to be on thespot to assess the situationand correct it if possible,” thesource added.

At the same time, ISIS isa big concern for Russiawhich believes that it cantake help from Taliban orother terror groups in theregion. “We do not wantAfghanistan to have terrorlaunch pads against Russia,”

sources said. hey pointed out that late

Russian AmbassadorAlexander M Kadakin was thefirst to react against theheinous terror attacks in Indiaand support surgical strikes.

However, the exercisetook place shortly after theterror attack on India’s mili-tary camp in Uri in Jammu &Kashmir and its timing wasalso close to surgical strikesby Indian Special Forcesagainst Pakistan-based ter-rorist launching pads alongthe LoC.

Ahead of India-Russiaannual bilateral Summit inGoa last year, India conveyedits opposition to Russia overthe joint exercises withPakistan. “We have conveyedour views to the Russian sidethat military cooperation withPakistan which is a State thatsponsors and practices ter-rorism as a matter of State pol-icy is a wrong approach and itwill only create further prob-lems,” Indian Ambassador toMoscow Pankaj Saran report-edly told Russian authorities

while apprising them ofIndian sensitivities.

The Russian side alsoexpressed displeasure overthe stories “planted” inPakistani media to create fis-sures in India-Russia rela-tionship. “Our relationshipwith India has been histori-cally special and it will remainspecial. Nothing can come inbetween the two nations.There should be no doubtanywhere about this. Our pri-orities are clear and we willwork for the interest of India,”said the source adding thetime-tested relationship willstand the test of time.

Meanwhile, defendingRussia’s move to supply fourtransport helicopters toPakistan, sources said theseare for humanitarian pur-pose and Russia will keep aneye if they are used in offen-sive operations.

Officials also dismissedreports about Russia supply-ing Su-35 fighter planes toPakistan or having anyinvolvement in China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

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Bengaluru: England all-rounder Ben Stokes became themost expensive overseas buyever, going to Rising PuneSupergiants for a whopping�14.50 crore, even as someunheralded Indian playerstrumped seasoned names toland lucrative deals at the IPLplayers’ auction in Bengaluruon Monday.

The uncapped Indian play-ers had a field day too with lit-tle-known Tamil Nadu left-armseamer T Natarajan going for�3 crore to Kings XI Punjab, a30-fold hike over his base price.

For senior Test playerslike Cheteshwar Pujara andIshant Sharma, it turned out tobe an embarrassment as bothwent unsold at their baseprices of �50 lakh and �2crore respectively. Irfan Pathantoo went unsold at his �� 50lakh base price.

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Haryana Government hasdecided to open agri-busi-

ness school in the State toeducate the farmers about mar-ket strategies as per the chang-ing scenario of informationtechnology.

The step will also enablethe farmers to directly selltheir produce to the con-sumers, said Agriculture andFarmers’ Welfare Minister, OPDhankar while speaking at aprogramme organised byHaryana Regional Office ofNational Bank for Agricultureand Rural Development(NABARD) here.

He also released the statefocus paper for various schemesof the State Government for theyear 2017-18.The State focuspaper 2017-18 presented byNABARD envisaged bankablecredit potential estimates of Rs1,18,875 crore with a provisionof crop loan of Rs 52,274 crorethus projecting a growth of 12per cent over the projectionsfor the year 2016-17.

From Page 1Launching a personal

attack on the PM, Mayawatisaid, “Unlike him I have notgot married... He had got mar-ried and later left his wife,which is another thing... AndI have only worked for thedeprived sections of society…It is because of this dedicationthat people among the weak-er sections do not consider meonly as a leader but a big ‘sam-patti’ (asset) for the move-ment.”

“He is giving a wrong def-inition of the BSP...He does notknow that deprived and weak-er sections consider me as a bigwealth of bahujan samaj whohas given up her entire life fortheir progress,” she said.

“This Dalit ke beti doesnot lack in anything and if hedefined the BSP wrongfully,she is two steps ahead of him,”she said.

Explaining the moneydeposited in her party’s bankaccount, the BSP chief said,“Three months ago, a mem-bership drive was run in thecountry when there was noban on �500 and �1,000 notes.

Party men converted smalldonations into big notes forbringing it to Delhi for deposit-ing in banks. It was that moneywhich was deposited in thebank.”

“BJP did not know that�100 crore collected from allover the country was deposit-ed and suddenly their eyespopped out and they askedfrom where it has come. Hadit been black money, whywould it have been depositedin banks?” she asked.

“They (BJP) do not likethat the BSP is fighting theelections with the help of smalldonations. They do not likethat Dalit ke beti campaigns inhelicopter. Their intention wasto make BSP turn bankrupt,”Mayawati said.

“You consider me as yourleader, devi, bhagwan, asset...there is no difference betweendevi and asset,” she said. “InOrai, what the Prime Ministersaid was very sad.

She said that the polling ofthree phases have made Modiso nervous that he was makingall sorts of allegations againstthe political opponents.

From Page 1They came together and

all including the Congressstarted speaking the same lan-guage,” Modi said.

The main concern of theparties in Uttar Pradesh wasnot note ban but that they didnot get enough time to stashaway the ill-gotten money.“Behenji (Mayawati) allegesthat Government was ill-pre-pared. . . Was it theGovernment or it was youwho was not prepared...Shesaid one week should havebeen given (before imple-

menting note ban)...Mulayamalso said the same,” he said.

“Money started beingdeposited in banks all of asudden (after note ban) and(Mayawati) started shoutingas why is it only at electiontime that the account of herbrother has been made pub-lic...Why is it being discussedthat �100 crore have beendeposited,” he said.

“I have said SCAM stoodfor SP, Congress, Akhileshand Mayawati...There is aleader who is seeing honestyand service in scam and hadsaid for us scam is ‘seva’ doyou need such service? Youhave an opportunity in thiselection to throw out SCAMfrom Bundelkhand,” he said,without naming RahulGandhi.

From Page 1neat and clean (this animal

is found only in Gujarat, 150 kmaway from Ahmedabad. Theyhave not bathed for months butstill look how neat and cleanthey are).”

Incidentally, Jaya Bachchan,wife of Amitabh Bachchan is atwo-term Rajya Sabha MP of SP.She is also campaigning for theparty along with Chief MinisterAkhilesh’s MP wife Dimple.

Later, Akhilesh alsoaddressed an election meeting inAmethi in favour of controver-sial Minister Gayatri Prajapati.

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The Congress on Mondayaccused Prime Minister

Narendra Modi of vitiating theatmosphere in Uttar Pradesh topolarise the society and asked theElection Commission to takeappropriate action against him.

Former Union Minister andsenior Congress spokespersonAnand Sharma said that Modihas been making objectionableremarks at election rallies and hisstatement on Sunday that ifthere was a ‘kabaristaan’ (grave-

yard), there should be a‘shamshaan’ (cremation ground)too was aimed at creating polar-isation.

“Our Constitution does notallow anyone to divide thenation, be it on caste or religionbasis. The Prime Minister is notabove the Constitution or thelaw. We expect the ElectionCommission to take appropriateaction on this,” Sharma said.

He said that the ElectionCommission has given strictdirections not to evoke passionand divide the society on the

basis of religion or caste, and itis expected of the EC that it issuesa notice to the Prime Ministerand the BJP.

The Congress leader said thePrime Minister was makingsuch statements as his partywas staring at an imminentdefeat in the State. “In doing do,he is disrespecting theConstitution and violating theoath of his office,"” he said.

"They wear masks and in ahurry, this mask seems to havefallen. Prime Minister Modi,true to his form, is vitiating the

atmosphere during another elec-tion time. He has tried to stircommunal tension and topolarise the society. The PrimeMinister's speech where he spokeof graveyards and crematoriumsshows his mindset,” he said.

Asked if the Congress wouldtake it up with the poll body,Sharma said, “The ElectionCommission should do its ownwork. It has a Constitutionalmandate... The ElectionCommission had said earlier thatit would not allow such kind ofcampaign, which is divisive.”

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India has termed Pakistan'saction to put Jamatt-ud-

Dawa chief Hafiz MohammadSaeed on the terror list as thefirst logical step in bringinghim to justice. However, Indiaexpects more action on groundfrom Islamabad.

“Hafiz Saeed is an interna-tional terrorist, the master-mind of the Mumbai terroristattack and responsible forunleashing a wave of terroragainst Pakistan’s neighboursthrough LeT/JuD and theiraffiliates,” External AffairsMinistry Spokesman VikasSwarup said on Monday.

“Effective action mandatedinternationally against him andhis terrorist organisations andcolleagues is a logical first stepin bringing them to justice, andin ridding our region of thetwin menaces of terrorism andviolent extremism," he added.

Saeed is currently underhouse arrest in Pakistan.Islamabad last week announcedthat it has put Saeed on the list

of internationally proscribedterrorists under the Anti-Terrorism Act which empow-ers the Pakistan Government tomark a person as “proscribed”and to place him on the fourthschedule on an ex-parte basis.Any violation of the provisionof the fourth schedule mayresult in imprisonment of up tothree years and fine or both.

Pakistan had earlier thismonth imposed put Saeed and38 others on its Exit Control

List and imposed internation-al travel ban them. All of thesemen are believed to be affiliat-ed with JuD or Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Meanwhile, India andPakistan have decided toextend their agreement onReducing the Risk of AccidentsRelating to Nuclear Weaponsfor another five years. Thevalidity of the existing agree-ment was up to 20 February2017.

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Senior BJP leaderSubramanian Swamy on

Monday alleged that investiga-tive agencies have been pro-vided information about 21undisclosed foreign bankaccounts of former FinanceMinister P Chidambaram’s sonKarthi or his companies andaccused them of not actingagainst him.

Releasing the details ofKarti’s 21 foreign bankaccounts here, Swamy saidsenior officials of FinanceMinistry were not allowingIncome Tax's Chennai unit toact against Karti and his firms.

Karti, however, rubbishedSwamy's allegation as "outra-geous" and emphasised that allhis "assets are duly reflected inIT filings".

Swamy alleged that there isno "political sanction" to actagainst Karti even after threesummons by the EnforcementDirectorate (ED). "These for-eign bank accounts were not

declared to Income Tax author-ities by Karti or his parentIndian companies. Theseaccounts are at various foreignbanks like Barclays Bank inMonaco, Metro Bank in UK,

Standard Chartered Bank inSingapore, OCBC in Singapore,HSBC in UK, Deustche Bankin France, UBS in Switzerland,Wells Fargo Bank in California,etc.," Swamy said.

"The attached list shows allbank account numbers of Karticontrolled companies. For pasteight months, Income Taxoffice in Chennai has not takenany action due to the pressureexerted by Chidambaram'sfriends in Finance Ministry,"Swamy added producing the 21foreign bank accounts of Kartiand his companies in variouscountries.

Swamy said that this listswas given to him by a whistle-blower officer from Income Taxoffice in Chennai last week,explaining the amount of pres-sure put on them by corruptelements in Chennai and Delhi.

“Karti's companyAdvantage StrategicConsulting, involved in receiv-ing kickbacks in Aircel-Maxisscam is having four accounts ina Bank in Singapore, namelyOCBC for many years.Enforcement Directorate (ED)has already found that Karti'scompany Chess Managementreceived two lakh dollars fromthree Maxis Group subsidiaries

after father Chidambaram ille-gally approved FIPB clear-ance," said Swamy.

Karthi was quick to denySwamy's allegations in posts ontwitter. "Some outrageousclaims have been made aboutme. My filings are up to date ncompletely in compliance withregulatory/statutory require-ments," Karthi tweeted.

"My family's n my assetsare duly reflected in our IT fil-ings. My companies have madeall declarations as required bystatutory requirements," headded.

Swamy said he has alreadyfiled complaints to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onthese "secret" foreign bankdetails, urging for immediateprobe. He also said FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley shoulddirect IT officials to speed upthe probe. "These documentsare with Income Tax and theyhave reported to FinanceMinistry. But no action istaken. So I decided to take thismatter to public," said Swamy.

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The Ministry of Housingand Urban Poverty

Alleviation on Mondayapproved construction of90,095 more affordable hous-es for the benefit of urban poorunder Pradhan Mantri AwasYojana (Urban) with an invest-ment of �5,590 crore and cen-tral assistance of �1,188 crore.

Madhya Pradesh has beensanctioned 82,262 houses in 49cities and towns with an invest-ment of �5,260 crore withcentral assistance of �1,071crore. Jammu & Kashmir got4,915 houses in 24 cities andtowns with an investment of�240 crore and Central assis-tance of �74 crore.

In Jammu & Kashmir,Srinagar has been approved663 affordable houses,Handwara-602, Badgam-476,Baramulla-393, Doda-306,Pulwama-270, Kargil-261,Sopore-205, Ganderbal-185,

Bhaderwah-176, Shopian-159,RS Pura-143, Samba-121,Kishtwar-113, Leh-99 andPoonch-96.

The approval accorded onMonday was for constructionof 46,823 new houses underthe Beneficiary LedConstruction (BLC) compo-nent of PMAY (Urban),enhancement of 773 houses inJammu & Kashmir under BLCand building 42,499 new hous-es in Madhya Pradesh underAffordable Housing in

Partnership (AHP) compo-nent. Dadra and Nagar Haveli'scapital Silvassa has been sanc-tioned 803 affordable houseswith an investment of �26crore and central assistance of�12 crore.

According to an official, inMP, another 39,763 new hous-es will be built under BLCcomponent under which aneligible beneficiary is assistedto build a house on the landowned by him/her. City-wiseapprovals in Madhya Pradesh

include: Indore-30,789 houses,Ratlam-6,419, Sagar-3,156,Ujjain-2,884, Katni-2,800,Shivpuri-2,625, Chindwara-2,508, Nagda-2,073, Jabalpur-2,012, Datia-1,726, Singrauli-1,716, Dabra-1,720, Vidisha-1,513, Damoh-1,480, Sehore-1,200, Sidhi-1,057, Astha-1,000and Unchehara-1,000.

With this, total number ofaffordable houses approvedfor MP under PMAY (Urban)has increased to 1,87,135 andfor Jammu & Kashmir to 5,864.

With this approvals, con-struction of a total number of16,51,687 affordable housesfor the benefit of urban poorhas been sanctioned so farunder PMAY (Urban) with atotal investment of �89,072 crwith Central assistance of�25,819 crore.

Under BLC and AHPcomponents of PMAY(Urban), central assistance of�1.50 lakh is provided for eachbeneficiary.

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In a first ever move, bureau-crats will be honoured by

Prime Minister Narendra Modifor their good work in pro-moting key programmes andschemes of the CentralGovernment.

Five priority pro-grammes—Pradhan MantriKrishi Sinchayee Yojana(PMKSY), Pradhan MantriFasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY),Deen Dayal Upadhyaya GramJyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), e-National Agriculture Market(e-NAM) and StandupIndia/Startup India-have beenidentified for this purpose bythe Government.

Those found performingwith excellence in promotingthese programmes will be giventhe ‘Prime Minister’s Awardsfor Excellence in Public

Administration’ on the occa-sion of Civil Services Day onApril 21.

The award has been insti-tuted to acknowledge, recog-nise and reward extraordinaryand innovative work done bydistricts or organisations ofthe Central and StateGovernments.

There shall be a maximumof 15 awards under the prior-ity programme category andtwo awards under the innova-tion category, according to aDoPT press release.

“There has been an over-whelming participation of dis-tricts and State and CentralGovernment organisations.1,515 applications have beenreceived from about 600 dis-tricts across States and UnionTerritories under the priorityprogrammes category.

“830 applications have

been received from organisa-tions of Central or StateGovernment or district underthe innovation category. Theapplications received will beevaluated on a holistic basis byhigh-level committees at threelevels. Shortlisted candidatesshall make presentations andcitizen feedback will also beobtained through a call centre.Spot studies will be conductedto verify implementation of theprogramme or initiative,” itsaid.

In addition to the awards inpriority programmes, awardswill be given to organisationsof Central and StateGovernments or district forinnovations in environmentconservation, disaster man-agement, water conservation,energy, education and health,women and child centric ini-tiatives, etc.

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The National Green Tribunalrapped the Himachal

Pradesh Government onMonday, over inordinate delayin finalising a report on therapid construction activity andits adverse affect on the ecolo-gy of Shimla.

A Bench headed by NGTChief Justice Swatanter Kumarsaid that although an expertcommittee was constituted tostudy forests, sewage system,water supply and carryingcapacity strength of the hillsway back in 2015, the reporthas not yet been duly signed byall its members.

It also pulled up the eight-member expert committee anddirected all its members,including its chairman, toappear before it on February22.

The green panel said theexpert panel members wereexpected to provide properassistance to the tribunal but bydelaying the report and raisingobjections with regard to itscontents, they have shown aconduct which is least expect-ed from the State and the high-power committee.

Members of the committeewere expected to provide prop-er assistance to the tribunal toarrive at a decision on the prin-ciples of precautionary sus-tainable development as per theprovisions of the NationalGreen Tribunal Act, 2010.

It is also pointed out thatwith reference to some objec-tions raised by some of themembers, suitable amend-ments have been made in thereport. However, it is not clearas to who has raised objections,the basis there of besides con-clusions arrived at by the com-mittee.

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Three carnivores-tigers, leop-ards, and dholes (Asian wild

dog)-seemingly in direct com-petition against one other, havebeen found to be living side byside with surprisingly little con-flicts. This was found in a recentstudy by the WildlifeConservation society (WCS).

The study called “Spatio-temporal interactions facilitatelarge carnivore sympatry acrossa resource gradient” has beenauthored by Ullas Karanth,Arjun Srivathsa, DivyaVasudev,Mahi Puri,RavishankarParameshwaran andSamba Kumar

Usually, big cats and wildcanids live in different locationsto avoid each other. Yet in fourrelatively small reserves in coun-try’s wildlife-rich Western Ghatsregion, researchers found thatthey co-exist, despite competingfor much of the same prey,including sambar deer, chital,and pigs.

The study used dozens ofnon-invasive camera traps forsampling entire populations,

recording about 2,500 images ofthe three predators in action.

The authors found that inreserves with an abundance ofprey, dholes, which are activeduring the day, did not come inmuch contact with the morenocturnal tigers and leopards.But in Bhadra Reserve whereprey was oscarcer, their activehours overlapped, yet dholesstill managed to avoid the bigcats. In Nagarahole, a park teem-ing with all three carnivoresand their prey, leopards werefound to actively avoid tigers.

According to the study, thesecarnivores have developed smart

adaptations to coexist, evenwhile they exploit the same preybase. However, these mecha-nisms vary depending on den-sity of prey resources and possi-bly other habitat features.

"Tigers, leopards, and dholesare doing a delicate dance inthese protected areas, and all aremanaging to survive," said UllasKaranth, Director WCS (Asia)and lead author of the study. Thestudy noted how each speciessurviving on various prey sizes,uses different habitat types andare active at different time of theday. Because of small and isolatednature of these high prey densi-

ties in these reserves, such adap-tions are helpful for conserva-tionists trying to save all three."

Understanding these sepa-rate yet overlapping needs of thespecies is critical in managingpredators and prey in smallreserves, which is increasinglybecoming the scenario of thefuture, sad Dr. Vasudev. Theauthors say that by managingpopulations of flagship predatorsas tigers, carefully, the overall bio-diversity can also be conserved.

Both tigers and dholes areclassified as Endangered as perIUCN red list, while leopards areconsidered Vulnerable.

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Kids suffering from tha-lassemia, a genetic blood

disorder, can now hope for anew lease of life with UnionHealth Ministry roping inPSU giant Coal India Ltd(CIL) to provide free bone-marrow transplant (BMT), theonly permanent cure for theirlife-threatening disease.

Under the project span-ning three years, some 200kids below 10 years age withthalassemia will be pickedannually for the BMT. TheCIL, under its CorporateSocial Responsibility (CSR)activities, will dole out �10lakh per patient for treatment.

Only those kids from thefamilies having annual incomebelow �5 lakhs will be identi-fied for treatment by theMinistry in consultation withthe States and the NGOs in thesector across the country.

Four hospitals--TataMedical Centre in Kolkata,Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Instituteand Research Centre, andAIIMS, both in Delhi andCMC Vellore in Hyderabad-have been identified for con-ducting the BMT.

A senior Health Ministryofficial explained that mostpatients undergo blood trans-fusions as the cost of a trans-plant is high. However, due torepeated blood transfusion,iron gets accumulated in the

body which in turn can dam-age the liver, kidneys, heartand other vital organs.Therefore, they have to usedrugs or iron chelators, tobring down the iron level inthe body.

A bone-marrow transplantis the only long-term cure forthalassemia. No doubt, a trans-plant is expensive, but its cost

equals that of ten years ofblood transfusion. BMTinvolves replacing the entirehematopoietic(blood) systemin an affected person throughguided chemotherapy andsubsequently, substituting itwith a healthy donorhematopoietic stem cells(HSC), the official added. TheCIL aid is a ray of hope for

such kids and their families, hesaid.

Satish Agnihotri, inde-pendent director with CILsaid, "This is probably thefirst of its kind initiative fromthe PSU. Timely BMT canhelp such children lead a nor-mal life. If CIL is able to bringa smile on the face of the kids,it will be a great achievementfor us. We hope the HealthMinistry in a long run providetreatment to such kids free ofcost under its national pro-grammes. "

However, not all patientsare eligible for BMT. Theprocess of finding a donormatch for bone marrow is noteasy as there are very few reg-istered donors in India. Whilethe Ministry has now startedthe process of setting up theregistry, there are a very fewplayers in the private sector.

For instance, Chennai-based NGO, DATRI is work-ing towards creating a diversedatabase of potential bloodstem cell donors that can beaccessed by any patient, livinganywhere in the world, inneed of a blood stem celltransplant.

Of the total world tha-lassemics, 10 per cent are bornin India annually. As perWHO, there are around1,00,000 children affected withthalassemia major, a blooddisorder in which repeatedblood transfusion is required.

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Banda: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhion Monday claimed thatthe coming together ofSamajwadi Party andCongress for the UttarPradesh Assembly pollshas taken the smile offPrime Minister NarendraModi’s face.

Rahul also took a digat Modi’s “adopted son ofUttar Pradesh” remark.“In 2014 Modi said‘Ganga maiya has calledher son to Varanasi’. Hesaid Varanasi was hismother and he was the sonof Varanasi...Modiji, relationsare nurtured and not claimed,” hesaid at an election meeting here.

“Modiji if you have maderelations with the people of UPyou will also have to maintainthem,” he said.

The Congress leader alsoalleged that the Prime Ministerhad been rattled by the SP-Congress alliance. “Earlier

Prime Minister used to be in agood mood but ever sinceCongress and SP have formedan alliance, he has lost the smileon his face,” he said.

Referring to waiving offarmers’ loans worth Rs 7,000crores by the UPA Governmentled by Manmohan Singh,Rahul said, “If Modi has to take

a similar step, he shouldconvene a Cabinet meetingand can do it in five min-utes. But his intentionsare not noble.” Continuinghis tirade against thePrime Minister, Rahulsaid, “Whenever Modi getsafraid, he starts spreadinghatred.”

“Elections keep com-ing and it is for the peopleto decide whom they wantto vote ...UP does notwant to get divided... it ismade to fight each other...UP wants employmentand development,” he said

at Raebareli.The Congress leader also

hit out at the PM for “goingback on his promise as none ofthe poor have got the promisedRs 15 lakh in their accounts.”

“Instead, he made the com-mon people stand in queues bybringing note ban and putting them to hardships,” headded. PTI

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With election toAmethi Assemblyconstituency lessthan a week away,

the rape charges against SP can-didate and Minister GayatriPrajapati took political hue afterPrajapati accused BJP chief AmitShah for conspiring against himand perceived threat to his life.

“It is a political conspiracyto tarnish my image at thebehest of the BJP. My life is indanger,” asserted Prajapatiwhile addressing a rally atGauriganj of Amethi just beforethe arrival of Chief MinisterAkhilesh Yadav on Monday.

To prove his innocence andensure the rape charges did nothamper his electoral prospects,Prajapati even broke down afterreferring to a conspiracy.

Interestingly, just before thearrival of the CM, Prajapati wasasked to leave the dais to keepAkhilesh Yadav away from anycontroversy. Prajapati was seenwiping his tears.

Addressing the same elec-tion rally, Akhilesh rerfrainedfrom refering to his controver-sial Minister. Prajapati is lockedin a three-corner contest withCongress fielding MP SanjaySingh’s wife Ameeta Singh andthe BJP fielding Sanjay Singh’sestrange wife Garima Singh.

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The ruling Samajwadi Party alleged that ‘two magicians’ fromGujarat are trying to hijack democracy in UP elections andwere indulging in ‘political terrorism’. Samajwadi Partyspokesperson and Cabinet Minister Rajendra Chaudhary

alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president AmitShah were trying to hijack democracy in the state by indulgingin communal politics. “ These ‘two magicians’ from Gujarat aretrying to hyptonise the voters of UP,” he alleged.

Addressing a Press conference in Lucknow on Monday,Chaudhary said that people would give befitting reply to the“political terrorism” unleashed by the BJP.

“How can the country accept such a party which has ignoredthe minority community and promoting one community and wastrying to hijack democracy,” he alleged.

Alleging that the BJP leaders, Union ministers and ChiefMinisters of other states were on ‘political tourism’ in the stateduring the Assembly elections, Chaudhary said that the PM wasmaking false statements about UP and was hatching a conspir-acy to defame the SP Government.

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Youth no more wanthollow promises. Theywant development,employment and

empowerment. “So, we wouldselect the right candidate whocould provide more opportu-nities and deliver results,” is theopinion of the majority of theyouth surveyed by the stu-dents of Journalism and MassCommunication Institute,Allahabad University.

More than 70 per cent ofthe youth who were surveyedsaid the “right to recall” a pub-lic representative would go along way in inculcating a senseof responsibility among publicrepresentatives. Also, majorityof the youth was vocal thatpoliticians neither have anyagenda nor any vision for devel-opment. They have only onevision — to win the election,grab power and create wealth atthe cost of the public.

Almost 100 per cent voicedopinion against tainted candi-dates having criminal back-ground. The youth clearly saidthat “before election, every

party condemns entry of crim-inals in politics, but at the timeof distribution of tickets, theygleefully declare them as theirparty candidate”. One youthpointed out that over a 100tainted candidates fielded bydifferent political parties wouldtry their luck in the fourthround of UP polls.

Rajeev Pathak, a youthfrom City South, said if politi-cians had followed the conceptof democracy honestly, thecountry would have beenamong the great world eco-nomic powers. Om Prakash, ayoung teacher, opined thatevery politician knew how tomake false promises and howto befool public by juicypledges. Dileep Kumar andArvind Shukla, both post-grad-uate students, said that therewas a need to create awarenessamong the politicians that timefor making hollow promiseswas over and delivering resultswas a must.

“Now public want workand result,” he added. MohdAyub said if a problem persistsin any constituency where aparticular person was winning

in successive elections, then hemust be held responsible forneglecting the people who hadsent him to the legislature. Forsuch situation, right to recallwould be a perfect tool. KailashAgarwal, a resident of CityWest said: “It is very strangethat not a single political partyis serious about removing cor-ruption. Instead of talkingabout development, they werebusy wooing various commu-nities.” He suggested rejectingthe liars, power hungry andparty-hopping candidates.

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Since the emergence ofChandra Shekhar as‘Yuva Turk’ afterEmergency in 1970s,

flood-prone Ballia, surroundedby three big rivers and adjacentto Bihar on two sides, hasbecome the stronghold of thesocialists, as it is also the land ofgreat ‘JP’ (Jaiprakash Narayan)who hailed from Sitabdiyara,second biggest village of thecountry and parts of it is alsofallen in adjoining Saran( C h apr a )district ofBihar.

Though it was alsoJanambhoomi of ‘Chote Lohia’Janeshwar Mishra, it rarelyremained his ‘karmbhoomi’ astill his death, former PrimeMinister Chandra Shekhar hadruled the roost, thoughSamajvadi Party (SP) hadstrengthened its organisationthere. During his last yearswhen the party led by ChandraShekhar was weakened a lot,thanks to Mulayam SinghYadav, the SP had always leftBallia parliamentary seat forChandra Shekhar withoutfielding its candidates.

In many areas of Ballia,Bihar leaders have also playedsome influential roles as themajority of villages have ‘roti-beti ka sambandh’ (family rela-

tions) as huge number ofgirls of Bihar districts aremarried in Ballia.

In last Assemblyelections in 2012, thedistrict had seen thedomination of SPclaiming five out of

seven seats while thetwo were shared by BJP

and BSP. Since thenthe political trackshave seen a lot ofups and downs.

Out of three Ballia menwho got berths in the AkhileshMinistry, two have rebelledrecently and both AmbikaChaudhary and Narad Rai arenow contesting as BSP candi-dates from Phephana and BalliaSadar while veteran leader RamGovind Chaudhary, former closeassociate of Chandra Shekhar, iscontesting from Bansdih.

Once Ambika Chaudharywas known as very faithful toMulayam and it was the reasonwhy even after losing poll in2012 from Phephna by BJP’sUpendra Tiwari, he was induct-ed as a Cabinet Minister in theAkhilesh Government.

Now, the rebel from a sec-tion of Yadavs led by Ambikaand Bhumihars by Narad Raihas made the roads rocky onefor cycle ride. Besides, it wasBallia where on May 1 last yearPrime Minister Narendra Modihad addressed a big rallylaunching Ujjwala Yojna. In

last Lok Sabha polls like otherparts, Ballia also saw Modiwave and in that wave, BharatSingh who lost Assembly pollsfrom Bairia in 2012 won Balliaparliamentary seat comfortably,defeating Chandra Shekhar’s

son Niraj Shekhar. This time, SPis strongly challenged fromboth BJP and BSP. While BJP isfighting on a changed track withenthusiast supporters, BSP hasstrengthened with the joining ofSP’s heavyweight rebels.

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The pre-poll alliancebetween the rulingSamajwadi Party andthe Congress may find

it difficult to cast an adverseeffect on the prospects of theBJP in Uttar Pradesh. In thepolitically vibrant district ofAllahabad, this ‘stop BJP’alliance may not be able todamage the prospects of saffronbrigade which has nothing to

lose here. Out of 12 Assemblyseats of Allahabad, nine arerepresented at present by theSP, two by the BSP, and one bythe Congress. Now if the seatsof the SP and the Congress arecombined together, it comes to10 out of total 12, so there isevery chance that this ‘Tipu-Pappu’ (Akhilesh Yadav-RahulGandhi) alliance could loseseats in Allahabad in case theBJP opened its account.

Though the BJP inAllahabad is totally absentfrom the Assembly tally of2012, the saffron brigadegained in 2014 Parliamentaryelections by winning both theseats of Allahabad and Phulpur.If the results of theParliamentary elections castany impact on the Assemblypolls, the BJP will strengthen itsposition having both theParliamentary seats in itsaccount in shape of KeshavPrasad Maurya (State BJPchief ) from Phulpur, andindustrialist Shyama CharanGupta from the Allahabad seat.

On the issue of Assemblyticket distribution, Keshav

Prasad Maurya had to face a lotof opposition within the partyinitially, and even ShyamaCharan Gupta had blown thebugle of revolt after the denial ofparty ticket to his son and wife,but a patch work was done todefuse tension, and also to paveway for the BJP-Apna Dal(S)alliance to change the Assemblysegment scenario in Allahabadwhere ‘cycle’ was enjoying anover-whelming superiority withnine seats on its carrier. Now the‘hand’ of the Congress is readyto push the cycle whenever itloses its speed owing to anti-incumbency.

In the urban Assembly seatsof Allahabad North, AllahabadSouth, and Allahabad West, theBJP had consolidated its positioneither by opening doors for theparty hoppers or by fieldingleaders of national stature, butthe combined vote bank of theSP and the Congress is preparedto give a tough fight to the Moditeam. Analysts say that at someseats, the BSP may gain owing to this tug of war betweenthe BJP and the SP-Congresscombine.

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In a shocking incident a biker has reportedly molested andharassed an air hostess and her friend in a posh locality on the

outskirts of Bengaluru recently. According to police an air host-ess and her friend were walking home around 10 pm at HRBRlayout as a biker approached them and harassed them.

An FIR has been registered against an unknown biker whoallegedly molested and injured an air hostess on February 12 ina posh locality in Bengaluru’s northeast. The biker began mis-behaving with the air hostess but fled from the spot when thetwo women raised an alarm. The biker also reportedly rippedthe air hostess’s clothes.

Recently, Bengaluru was in news when, on New Year’s Eveof 2017, many women were molested who were celebrating theevening at Bengaluru’s Brigade road. The area, one of the posh-est localities of the city and among the busiest on New Year’s Eve,had police presence as well.

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Ending speculation, the NagaPeoples’ Front (NPF) on

Monday elected party chiefShurhozelie Liezietsu as thenew NPF legislature party evenas the tribal groups, demand-ing resignation of former ChiefMinister TR Zeliang, calledoff their indefinite bandh.

NPF sources said theswearing in ceremony ofLiezietsu will take place onWednesday.

Chief Minister-designateLiezietsu lauded TR Zeliang’s‘supreme sacrifice’ of vacatinghis chair to save Naga peoplefrom going into further tur-moil. “He has done this with abig heart and I want all to rec-ognize this sacrifice,” the ChiefMinister designate said in hisacceptance speech after beenunanimously elected as theLeader of the DAN legislatureparty this morning.

The development tookplace after former ChiefMinister TR Zeliang tenderedhis resignation to the NagalandGovernor PB Acharya onSunday night, paving way for

smooth transition of powers inthe state. Zeliang had called ameeting of the NPF legislatorson Monday morning.

“We have met theGovernor and intimated tohim about the development,”said the NPF leader.

Although 38 of the NPFlegislators had decided to sup-port Liezietsu as the next chiefminister of the state, over 40legislators of NPF andIndependents had met at aresort in Kaziranga late Fridaynight and extended their sup-port to Lok Sabha MP NeiphuRio as the next Chief Minister.

The resignation of ChiefMinister Zeliang necessitatedafter two prominent organiza-tions of the state—NagalandTribes Action Committee(NTAC) and JointCoordination Committee(JCC) launched a campaign inthe state demanding his resig-nation owing moral responsi-bility for chaos that followedover the 33 percent reservationof urban local body polls in thestate and subsequent death oftwo youth in police firing onJanuary 31.

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In a major war of wordsbetween the ruling Congress

and the Opposition BJP aheadof ensuing 2018 Assembly elec-tions in Karnataka, BJP onMonday said they will jail cor-rupt Congress Ministers with-in 48 hours of returning topower. Lingayat strongmanand State BJP president BSYeddyurappa declared that cor-rupt Ministers in the CongressGovernment will be sent to jailif BJP returned to power.

He said, “an enquiry will beheld into the corrupt practicesof the ministers and within 48

hours of the BJP coming topower they will be sent to jail,”he added.

Addressing party workers aspart of a statewide agitationagainst the ruling CongressGovernment headed by ChiefMinister Siddaramaiah, Yeddy-urappa alleged that corruptionhas become rampant in variousdepartments, includingIrrigation, Rural Developmentand other important depart-ments. He said, “I have suffi-cient documents to prove thisand will release to the public atappropriate time. I will quitpolitics if Siddaramaiah provesI am wrong.”

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After a fortnight long polit-ical turmoil which saw the

resignation and rebellion of aChief Minister, conviction andsentencing of a Chief Minister-designate, election and swear-ing-in of another leader asChief Minister and a tumul-tuous floor test in the legisla-tive Assembly where the MLAscame to almost blows, life hasbecome normal in Tamil Nadu.

Monday saw EdappadiPalaniswamy beginning hisinnings as the 13th ChiefMinister of the State by taking

charge at Fort Saint George(Tamil Nadu’s Secretariat atChennai) by signing fiveGovernment orders, all promis-es made in the manifesto of theAIADMK during the May 2016Assembly election.

The first office order signedby the Chief Minister was theclosure of 500 liquor outletsowned by the public sectorTASMAC. This is in addition tothe 500 liquor outlets closeddown by late Chief Minister JJayalalithaa in May 2016.Jayalalithaa who had lead theAIADMK in the 2016 Assemblyelection had assured the peoplethat she would bring in total

prohibition in a phased manner.The second order issued by

Palaniswamy on Monday wasthe granting of 50 per cent sub-sidy or �20,000 to workingwomen for buying two-wheel-ers under the Amma Two-Wheeler Scheme . In anotherwomen- centric order, the chiefminister increased the financialassistance for pregnant womenfrom the present �12,000 to�18,000. The financial sup-port for pregnant women wasan initiative by late Jayalalithaa.

The Tamil Nadu govern-ment also launched an ambitioushousing scheme meant for fish-ermen. The new scheme envis-

ages construction of 5,000 inde-pendent houses for fisherfolk ata cost of �85 crore. The dole forthe unemployed in the State hasbeen doubled with immediateeffect. This will benefit 55, 228unemployed youths in the State.The monthly pocket money forunemployed post graduate youthswill jump from �300 to �600.

In a Kabaali like state-ment, the Chief Minister said,“This is Amma’s Government”.He told reporters that lateJayalalithaa had fulfilled 11poll promises during her tenureas Chief Minister and the restwere being implemented oneby one.

Imphal: Once a force to reckon with inManipur politics, the CPI and CPI(M) arefighting the Assembly election to regaintheir lost ground in the State.

Manipur has a long history of Leftmovement, under the leadership of leg-endary Left leader like Hijam Irabot Singhcommonly known as “jana neta Hijam” butthis time the Left parties are fighting hardto make their presence felt in the State.

The on-going insurgency and ethnicdriven conflict seems to have taken a heavytoll on the communist parties of Manipur,which believe in the ideology of class strug-gle. The CPI, CPI(M) along with other sec-ular and like minded parties have formeda front called Left and Democratic Front(LDF). It also has an electoral adjustmentwith National People’s Party. Altogetherthey are fighting in 50 seats in the 60-member Manipur Assembly. PTI

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Lucknow: The healthypolling percentage in thefirst three phases of the ongo-ing Uttar Pradesh Assemblyelections and the peoples’bent of mind have categori-cally endorsed the policies ofthe Narendra ModiGovernment, UnionMinister Prakash Javadekarclaimed on Monday.

“People of Uttar Pradeshhave reposed their faith in thegood governance of PrimeMinister Modi and variouswelfare measures initiated bythe Central government. Thewave is clearly in favour of theBJP, which has delivered a cor-ruption-free Government,”Javadekar said. PTI

Lucknow: In a bid to forgestronger ties with the elec-torate of the poll-boundUttar Pradesh, the BJP hasstarted sending them “per-sonalised letters” to seek theirsupport. The letters, whichthe saffron party calls “fam-ily voter slip” are duly signedby the candidate of theAssembly constituency con-cerned in a bid to impart it apersonalised touch.

In all, 3.5 crore ‘person-alised’ letters are being sent tothe voters highlighting cor-ruption and the Government’sapathy towards farmers. “Theonus of sending the letter is onthe sector and booth levelworkers,” said BJP spokesper-son Harish Srivastava. PTI

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As expected, the 45-day-long Budget Session of

Gujarat Assembly began onstormy note on Monday asOpposition Congress MLAsdidn’t allow Governor OPKohli to complete his custom-ary speech by creating ruckusover much talked about Kutchsex scandal in which four BJPleaders are allegedly involved.

The Congress MLAentered inside the House wear-ing black cloths as part ofprotest over sexual exploitationof females in Nalia town of bor-dering Kutch district. As gov-ernor Kohli came inside theHouse and started his speechthe Congress MLAs initiatedshouting slogans — Dikari neBachao Balatkario thi (Savedaughters from rapists). Despitethe fact, the Governor contin-ued his speech, but the oppo-sition party members kept onshouting slogans which forcedKohli to cut short his speech.

Soon after the Governordecided to leave the House, rul-ing party members also jumpedinto fray and started counter

sloganeering. Some membersbelonging to BJP as well asCongress were also seenexchanging heated arguments.

Somehow intervention ofAssembly speaker RamanlalVora brought the situationunder control and proceedingcould be initiated with payingcondolence to former mem-bers of the House, who passedaway after the last session ofGujarat assembly. As the con-dolences were paid, againCongress MLAs came intoaction and started shoutingslogans which forced thespeaker to adjourn the Housefor half an hour. As the Housebegin after the break, CongressMLAs resumed to sloganshouting and the speaker hadto adjourn the House for thesecond time.

When the proceeding wasabout to start after twoadjournments, Parliamentaryaffair minister PradipsinhJadeja’s comment overCongress MLA again worsenthe situation. Jadeja calledCongress MLAs as “Choro kiBarat” (Group of thieves),which provoked them to start

shouting slogans against thegovernment. As the situationwent out of the control, theSpeaker suspended CongressMLAs for a day.

Basti: Achchhe din will knockthe doors of Uttar Pradesh onMarch 11 when BJP forms itsGovernment in the State,party president Amit Shahsaid on Monday.

Addressing an electionmeeting in KaptanganjAssembly constituency here,he said, “Once BJP forms theGovernment in the state, itwill immediately ban allslaughterhouses. It will formanti-Romeo squads and takesteps to curb growing clout ofland grabbers.”

In an apparent dig atsenior SP leader and UPCabinet Minister Azam Khan,

he said, “When a person com-plained that his bull had dis-appeared, I suggested him tolodge a complaint with thepolice. After all the buffaloesof Azam Khan were tracedeventually. The person toldme that his bull would prob-ably be languishing at aslaughterhouse.”

Uttar Pradesh police hadgone into a tizzy after sevenbuffaloes were stolen from abarn owned by Khan inRampur on January 31, 2014,following which dog squads,crime branch sleuths andpolice personnel were put onthe job to find them.

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In crucial local body electionsthat may have an indirect

bearing on the stability of theBJP-led saffron alliance inMaharashtra, 10 municipalcorporations, including theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC), 11 Zilla Parishads and 118Panchayat Samitis will go topolls on Tuesday.

After weeks of unprece-dented exchange of barbs andtrading of corruption chargesand counter charges witnessedbetween the ruling BJP andShiv Sena, more than 3.77crore voters across the state onMonday prepared themselvesto exercise their right in thepolls in a most confused state– over the prospect of the con-tinuance or otherwise of thesaffron alliance in the State.

In Tuesday’s polls, the stakesare extremely high for the BJP ingeneral and Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis in particular.With its long-time alliance part-ner Shiv Sena having snapped its

electoral ties with it ahead of thelocal body polls, the BJP will haveto contend with a more aggres-sive Shiv Sena after the polls. Willthe Shiv Sena carry out its oft-repeated threat of pulling the plugon the Devendra Fadnavis-ledgovernment is a moot questionthat will beg answer after the localbody polls.

Though Fadnavis has saidthat he does not see any threatto the stability of his governmentfrom the Shiv Sena, the relationsbetween the two saffron partners

will never be the same — espe-cially after the leaders of the twoparties indulged in a murkiest-ever campaign against eachother during the electioneering.

So much so that both theShiv Sena and BJP will beunder extreme pressure to jus-tify their continuance in poweras alliance, after the polls.Ironically enough, both theBJP and Shiv Sena have alreadybegun the transparency in gov-ernance as an agenda to con-tinue in power in the State.

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Feeling let down by the tallpromises made by the politi-

cians, including MoS PMOJitendra Singh of developing a‘smart village’, members of at least50 families from Saddal villagein Udhampur took out a protestmarch to highlight their plight inJammu on Monday.

At least 40 villagers wereburied alive in landslide inSeptember 2014 after which130 families were uprootedfrom their homes and hearths.

Though announcementswere made by the local MemberParliament Jitendra Singh that hehas adopted Saddal village andwould develop the same as statesfirst ‘smart village’ on ground, thedisplaced villagers alleged noth-ing much has changed.

All these families have beencamping in a temporary shelterin Sui near Udhampur town.Some families are putting up ina community hall and othershave been living with their rela-tives ever since.”

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Under-19 cricketer Harmeet Singh landed introuble, after he brazenly drove his car onto

a platform of the Andheri station on the WesternRailway on Monday morning.

In an incident that created a scare amongcommuters, Harmeet — an Under-19 player —drove his car onto platform number one of theAndheri railway station, which is at the level ofthe road with a slope. The platform is mostlyused by commuters travelling between Andheri-Churchgate suburban railway stations.

The incident took place between 7.15 to7.30 am when the platform was packed to thehilt. The arrival of the car onto the platformresulted in a total chaos. The Railway ProtectionForce (RPF) personnel had a tough time con-trolling the angry crowds.

The irate crowds confronted Harmreet whoseemed to be blissfully unaware that he had cre-ated a major faux pas by driving onto the platform.

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Maintaining that the allegations of moneylaundering made by BJP MP Kirit Somaiya

against Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeraywas indeed “serious” in nature, Maharashtra ChiefMinister Devendra Fadfnavis on Monday advisedSomaiya to lodge a complaint against Uddhavwith the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

In an interview with a leading Marathi tele-vision channel here, Fadnavis said: “My adviceto Somaiya is: instead of trying to make politi-cal capital out of the allegations, Somaiyashould lodge a complaint with the ED. The alle-gation made by Somaiya against UddhavThackeray is serious. If there is merit in it, theED will definitely look into the complaint”.

Somaiya had on Thursday last turned up theheat on Uddhav, by demanding to know if thelatter had any links with seven shell companiesallegedly involved in money laundering.

Daring Uddhav to declare his assets, Somaiyahad tweeted: “I have disclosed my assets thenwhy @uddhavthackeray not disclosing assets? Ishe afraid of connection with 7 shell companiesinvolved in money laundering?”

Naming seven shell companies linked toMaharashtra’s former deputy chief ministerand incarcerated senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal who is being investigated bythe Enforcement Directorate (ED) in two moneylaundering cases, Somaiya had demanded toknow if these companies had indulged inmoney laundering transactions with the Uddhav-linked companies.

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JJayalalithaa loomed so largein the psyche of her support-ers that she was destined to bethe irreplaceable leader; henceunfolding events in Tamil

Nadu are not surprising. A fiercepower struggle which can tear theAll India Anna Dravida MunnetraKazhagam (AIADMK) apart hasbegun, and the controversial voteof confidence for Chief MinisterEdappadi K Palaniswami is onlythe first battle. The new regime issafe from challenge for the next sixmonths, but the animosity betweenthe AIADMK camps hints at a dif-ficult road ahead.

Unlike MG Ramachandran,who had made her the party pro-paganda secretary (the ‘successor’post), the late Tamil Nadu ChiefMinister did not designate a polit-ical heir, but did indicate that OPanneerselvam enjoyed her com-plete trust. Twice appointed ChiefMinister in her lifetime, he was thenatural choice to be entrustedwith her portfolios during her lastand fatal illness.

Although Panneerselvam wasunanimously elected ChiefMinister in Jayalalithaa’s final hour,and the Centre (via Union MinisterM Venkaiah Naidu) had expressedinterest in continuity and stability,the challenge from VK Sasikala wasinevitable. As many MLAs owedtheir tickets to her influence, cali-brating their defection was easy.

Yet it was Sasikala’s haste tomonopolise power in the partyand the Government that trig-gered her fall. Perhaps she didnot expect the Supreme Court toindict Jayalalithaa after herdemise, and so hoped to beexonerated as well. Perhaps shethought she would be entitled tobetter facilities in jail if arrestedas a sitting Chief Minister. Orperhaps her husband, MNatarajan, believed to be thebrain behind her, was in a hurryto consolidate his power.Certainly Natarajan and his fam-ily — exiled by Jayalalithaa in herlifetime — lost no time takingcentre-stage at her funeral.

That the confidence vote hadto be postponed twice on Saturdaymorning hints at the rough jour-ney ahead. It was only after twoadjournments, eviction of theDMK members and walkout by theCongress and the Indian UnionMuslim League, that SpeakerDhanapal declared Palaniswami ashaving won with 122 votes for and11 against. The media was deniedaccess throughout; even the audiofeed was cut off, and the proceed-ings rushed through.

This is a poor beginning and

reveals the fragility of the regime.The united anti-AIADMK campincludes DMK 98, Congress eightand the IUML one (total 107). If weadd 11 MLAs of the Panneerselvamcamp and Arun Kumar(AIADMK, Coimbatore North),who abstained, then Palaniswamihas a slender majority of three. Thiscould easily change when theMLAs (who were kept in a privateresort with security provided by theSasikala camp, and herded to theAssembly in small batches underprivate security cover) return totheir constituencies and receivepublic feedback.

Intra-fighting could take a tollon governance. The Panneerselvamcamp has challenged the legality ofSasikala taking over as AIADMKinterim general secretary before theElection Commission of India, asthe party constitution stipulates thatno one can hold any party officewithout an unbroken membershipfor five years. Undaunted, Sasikalaappointed her nephew, TTVDinakaran, as acting deputy gen-eral secretary before leaving forBangalore to surrender; he hadbeen expelled by Jayalalithaa in2011. Now, amidst mutual recrim-

inations, both sides have expelledeach other’s leaders from the party.

But the more momentousdevelopment is Sasikala’s decisionto accord primacy to the power-ful Gounder community, asopposed to the hitherto preemi-nent Thevars. Both Sasikala andPanneerselvam belong to differ-ent sub-castes of the Thevar com-munity; their quarrel has split thegroup. The rise of the Goundersunder Palaniswami could fracturethe AIADMK vote base, unlessequity is assured to all vote-banks. The Gounder community,led by Lok Sabha Deputy SpeakerM Thambidurai, had lobbied formore power after Jayalalithaa’sdemise. The new presidium chair-man, KA Sengottaiayan, also hailsfrom this community. All of thisis likely to create uneasiness inother groups.

Other prominent groups inthe State include Vanniyar, Nadarand Vellalar (Mudaliar, Pillai).While both Dravidian partieshave support across castes, theThevar and Gounder communi-ties have mainly voted for theAIADMK; the Nadar for theDMK; while the Vanniyar are

divided among smaller caste par-ties and the DMK. Now, withJayalalithaa gone and Karunanidhiseriously ill, both Dravidian par-ties may be in a meltdown mode.As the DMK has a clear leader inStalin, it is keen to precipitate amid-term poll to encash the grow-ing disarray in the AIADMK.Among national parties, theCongress seems on firmer grounddue to its alliance with the DMK.However, the caste-based partiescould also make some gains.

Chief Minister Palaniswamihas a hard task ahead. He has towin public trust and legitimacythrough governance. Public confi-dence in his mentor, Sasikala, is lowand, had she managed to be sworn-in as Chief Minister and stood forelections from RK Nagar(Jayalalithaa's constituency), itwould have been an uphill battle.

The public reaction to theswearing-in of the newGovernment in Chennai can begauged from the fact that theMLAs were booed as theyemerged from the resort to visitRaj Bhavan on Thursday,February 16. It remains to beseen how the people will acceptbeing governed by a puppetChief Minister controlled fromjail by Sasikala, and her proxies.

There are other complica-tions. Palaniswami has reported-ly been mentioned as a partner incrime in an affidavit filed byinvestigating agencies in a caseconcerning raids in the residencesand business establishments ofShekhar Reddy and ChandrakantRamalingam, across three cities.Reddy and Ramalingam are PWDcontractors, and when two topbureaucrats were arrested inBangalore on charges related toroad projects, the nexus betweenthe contractors and Palaniswamireportedly came to light.

The new Government is alsotainted by a case of kidnapping filedagainst Sasikala and Palaniswami bySS Saravanan, MLA of MaduraiSouth, who had managed to escapefrom the Golden Bay resort wherethe MLAs were segregated prior tothe swearing-in.

As the new Government tack-les the agrarian crisis amidst theworst drought in a century,Panneerselvam can bask in the suc-cessful handling of the Jallikattuissue. He is also free to tour the Stateand muster public support againstVK Sasikala and her family rule.The by-election to RK Nagar con-stituency may give some indicationof the public disposition.

(The writer is a political analystand an independent researcher)B

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Travesty of democracy” (February20). Though newly-elected TamilNadu Chief Minister Edappadi KPalaniswami said he would berunning ‘Amma’s Government’ inthe State, in actual terms he will berunning a Government ofChinnamma, a lethal combinationof two convicts, one dead and theother in prison. Can democracydescend to deeper depths of deprav-ity? The Election Commission ofIndia has maintained an eeriesilence; the Supreme Court may notintervene and the Prime Ministerwill continue to make noises with-out addressing the real issue. Thisis democracy in practice in theworld’s largest democracy.

P ArihanthSecunderabad

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Sir — Frankly speaking, theCongress became subservient to thewill of a regional party leader,Akhilesh Yadav, impervious to itsideology , programme and nation-al status. It acutely manifests that theparty has been desperate and itsbarest desire is to win someAssembly seats to avoid shame. It

is now well-known that theCongress is a cast-off political partyand rejected by the people of thecountry contemptuously. During 10years rule of the UPA dispensation,it exploited the people and thenation through scams, misgover-nance and corruption. Has theCongress realised its folly?

Nimai Charan SwainBhubaneswar

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Travesty of democracy” (February20). The first round in the battle ofthe throne in Tamil Nadu has goneto VK Sasikala, with her appointeeEdappadi K Palaniswami becomingthe Chief Minister. The Speaker’srefusal to accede to the Opposition’splea for a secret ballot ruled out anychance rebel O Panneerselvam hadof staging a come-back, by invok-ing the MLAs ‘conscience’.

The reason why the DMK cre-ated a ruckus in the Assembly wasto camouflage its humiliation andpolitical failure and divert publicattention. The strong-arm tacticsresorted to by the DMK leaders inthe House heralded a new low inthe State’s recent political history.

Md Hasshim Kanpur

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Travesty of democracy” (February20). While Tamil Nadu heaved asigh of relief when the SupremeCourt verdict on the disproportion-ate assets appeal case came just intime, it is also regrettable that theincumbent Chief Minister is allegedto be a proxy of the now convictedVK Sasikala in a Bangalore jail. Itis also alleged that the StateGovernment is going to be remote-controlled by the powers-that-be,now languishing in prison.

Moreover, the confidence voteconducted in the Tamil NaduAssembly also looks like a farce,given that the AIADMK Legislatorssaid to have allegiance to the newChief Minister were held captive ina resort for more than 10 days andherded like sheep into the Assemblyto vote on dotted lines.

Under the circumstances, itbecomes paramount that the newChief Minister disproves this appre-hension by his acts and deeds, anddemonstrates that decisions takenare his own and not tutored by anyextra-constitutional elements.

Tharcius S Fernando Chennai

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According to the 2011Census, around 3.3crore households did

not own a house. This meansthat roughly 16 crore individ-uals, which is close to the totalpopulation of Bangladesh, donot have a house of theirown. The situation gets trick-ier in urban areas, with 31 percent households still waitingto own a house. With therapid pace of urbanisationIndia is witnessing, pressurein urban areas is only going toincrease. The fact that even 70years after independence sucha large group of people do nothave a roof, speaks volumes ofthe priorities and prepared-ness of our past Governments.

The Modi Governmenthas embarked on a mission of‘housing for all’; to provide twocrore houses in India. Such aninitiative is not only a globalfirst, but also had multiplepositive externalities. It has

the potential to massively spurthe economy, provide employ-ment, revive demand amongother things. To make sure thatthe benefits of this initiativereaches quickly to the peoplewho need it, the Governmentis enabling various mecha-nisms for this scheme.

As a part of Pradhan MantriAwas Yojana (PMAY-U), a grantof one lakh rupees per house isgiven for all houses built for eli-gible slum-dwellers under insitu slum re-development. Thebeneficiaries of the economical-ly weaker sections (EWS), lowincome group and middleincome group seeking housingloans from banks, housingfinance companies and othersuch institutions, are eligible foran interest subsidy of three percent to 6.5 per cent. For a pro-ject which has at least 35 percent of the houses for the EWScategory, assistance of �1.5 lakhper EWS house has been pro-

vided by the UnionGovernment. Central assistanceof �1.5 lakh is also available toindividual EWS families bene-ficiary-led individual house construction.

The use of technology isbeing done to make thescheme efficient and effective.Web based MIS and mobilebased Geo-tagging are beingused to monitor the progressand release of funds accord-ing to the stages of construc-tion.The release of funds fromthe Centre till the last leg oftransfer are being donethrough the direct benefittransfers (DBT) regime.

Houses are registered inthe name of adult femalemember or joint name. Allhousing units will have toiletfacility, drinking water andpower supply. As many as3,888 cities proposed byStates/Union Territories areincluded in this mission. The

total investment is pegged at�82,532 crore.

The difference in approachis also reflected in a difference inoutcomes. While the UPAGovernment sanctioned 12.41lakh houses in its entire tenureunder Jawaharlal NehruNational Urban RenewalMission (JNNURM), the NDAGovernment has already sanc-tioned 15.6 lakh houses in one-and-a-half years: From July2015-January 2017.

The bold and disruptivemove of demonetisation haspositively impacted the housingsector for the consumer. It hasrestored a new normal in thissector, which has been longplagued by exorbitant pricesand focus only on the top sec-tor. According to media reports,housing prices are seen to bedecreasing by 30 per cent. Thisis indeed a welcome relief for themiddle class, for owning a housewas an elusive dream.

With demonetisation,banks are now flush withfunds and there has been arate reduction of around 100bps. Thus, borrowing rates(and home loan rates) are attheir lowest for a long time.Thus, transmission of interestrate reduction, which was nothappening after the ReserveBank of India’s rate cuts, hap-pened instantly after demon-etisation. This has ensured asignificant reduction in EMIs.

Another aspect of demon-etisation and rising less cashtransactions is that there will bea massive record of transactions.Transaction trails will enableevaluating credit worthiness ofa large mass of hitherto uncov-ered population. Consider avegetable whole-seller who iscurrently denied a home loan onthe basis of ‘no credit’ history.

With cashless transac-tions, not only will his creditworthiness will be established,

but also of people who buyproduce from him and sellproduce to him!

With such interventions,housing prices have beenimpacted in three ways. A per-son for whom a house worth�20 lakh is out of reach, getsthe first reprieve with priceslikely to fall by around five lakhrupees after demonetisation.With the reduction in interestrates, his EMI gets reduced andthe effective cost touches �14lakh. Now with the interestsubvention scheme under thePMAY, his EMIs get furtherreduced and the his final costcomes close to �12 lakh.

Thus, a person for whombuying his own house was justa dream, is now able to fulfillhis dream too, due to the sig-nificant reduction of pricesand assistance from the Government.

(The writer is UnionMinister for Urban Development)

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US President Donald Trump’sfirst few days in office havewitnessed a profusion ofapocalyptic predictions forthe world economy. His

unabashed move to encourage protec-tionism in the world economy does notaugur well for the future of the tradingregime. The contours of the worldtrade may have suffered damage. Insome cases, this is irreparable, such asthe fate of the Trans-Pacific Partnershipagreement after the US withdrawal.Going by his recent conversations withPrime Minister Malcolm Turnbull ofAustralia or his Mexican counterpartPena Nieto, citizens around the worldappear disgruntled and anxious. Powerin the vagaries of international relationsis a complicated subject, since it is theoutcome of a labyrinth of diplomatic tiesand bilateral issues.

President Trump’s moves have willhave a lingering impact on global tradewhich will cause wrenching changes inthe structure and pattern of trade. Butthe United States will continue toremain the dominant power.

The US enjoys a unique position inthe world because of the ideologicalleverage it commands and the unswerv-ing faith people have in its systems. It’sthe beacon of liberal values whichcountries around the world hope toemulate. America may not be straddlingthe global economy as it did in the past,but it is unarguably the preeminentpower of today. It has a rich historywhich extends beyond the immediate.

America’s economic fate is inextri-cably linked to a globalised world whichunderpins growth and development.The US would not have thrived econom-ically had it engaged in protectionistpolicies in the decades post the Second

World War. Sooner or later the world’sonly superpower and its commander-in-chief will understand the benefits of aliberal international world order. Thesehawkish policies are bound to be toneddown in the months to come.

America is a land of immigrants.Educated and ambitious immigrants,who believed in innovation, fuelled thetechnology boom in Silicon Valley.American universities are also institu-tions where thousands of internationalstudents aspire to enroll in, and they alsocontribute a substantial amount to therevenue stream. An inward looking pol-icy stance is simply not feasible.

The power vacuum, if it emerges,will not be filled by the likes of China,Russia or the European Union (EU).China simply does not command therespect and support to provide a sem-blance of support to countries in theworld economy. It may have maderemarkable strides in recent decadesbut its economy is no match for thebehemoth. China’s legal system is inshambles, its institutions are opaqueand not subjected to public scrutiny,and it is highly unlikely its currencywill ever be accepted as a global onelike the US dollar.

Vladimir Putin’s Russia also doesnot enjoy the credibility and the ideaof a world led by a suspicious Russiasounds. Memories of an aggressiveSoviet Union propagating its failedcommunist agenda are still etched inthe collective consciousness of coun-tries around the globe. The EU is afractured union today and its longevi-ty is debatable in a post Brexit world.

A world where global powers arevying for supremacy will be chaotic.President Trump must recognise thisreality. Charles Kindleberger, an emi-

nent economic historian, postulatedthe Hegemonic Stability Theory. Quitesimply, it says that a vital prerequisitefor stability in the international finan-cial regime and trade regime is a hege-mon (superpower) which induces sta-bility and balance in a world fraughtwith national self-interest. It guides thetenor of international relation.Without the existence of a hegemonthe world would plunge into a rudder-less era fraught with diverging concernand inherent conflict.

Prior to the First World War, theUnited Kingdom played the role of ahegemon and dominated the econom-ic sphere. It also proved to be a ballastin a fragile international arena. But thewar left its economy crippled. Theensuing political instability and econom-ic disruptions in the inter-war years, andAmerica’s reluctance to assume themantle of leadership during this period,led to financial chaos; the greatDepression and two failed WorldEconomic Conferences (1927 and 1933)which intended to mitigate the extent ofwildly fluctuating exchange rates. TheSmoot Hawley Act of 1930, raised USduties to historic highs. When othernations retaliated, world trade fell by analarming two-third by the mid-1930s.

It was only when America assertingitself on a global scale after the secondwar that the international politicaleconomy resumed to a degree of nor-malcy. The Bretton Woods Conferenceof 1944 firmly entrenched the liberal val-ues in the international trading andfinancial system. The InternationalBank for Reconstruction andDevelopment (World Bank) and theInternational Monetary Fund (IMF)promoted stability in an uncertainworld. Countries relied on the General

Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (Gatt)in place of the International TradeOrganisation because the US Congressdid not ratify the agreement.

In every step of the way, the US pro-vided support to the global system — beit the trading system or acting like theglobal police of the world by launchingproxy wars at the height of the Cold Warto promote democracy in an environ-ment where the Soviet threat could haveeasily swallowed the newly independentcountries. The Marshal Plan was part ofits strategy to resuscitate Europe fromthe ruins of war, destruction and preventit from being swallowed by the specterof communism. Security concerns wererife during the Cold War and othercountries knew that is was in their bestinterest to adopt a liberal system andalign with the US.

America has continued to be a vitalcornerstone in international politicssince then. It has always assumed themoral responsibility of conforming toand promoting a liberal ideology.Abdicating this crucial responsibility iscertainly going to vitiate and bruise theinternational system it played a para-mount role in enforcing. PresidentTrump will take some time to realise thathis actions cannot revamp a systemwhich is so intimately related to his owncountry. His meteoric rise from apompous — some may call it imperious— social personality to the most impor-tant office in the free world was aston-ishing but he must not forget thatrevoking agreements and enforcingcontroversial bans belie what Americahas historically stood for and what its cit-izen will relentlessly continue to advo-cate in the decades to come.

(The writer is a freelance politicalcommentator)

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Tata Consultancy ServicesLtd (TCS) on Monday

announced ��6,000 croreshare buyback -- biggest in theIndian capital market, as itlooks to return surplus cash toshareholders.

The decision comes at atime when India's largest soft-ware services provider isunder pressure of losing rev-enue from its clients in the US,which accounts for 65 per centof of the $155 billion industry,under President DonaldTrump's protectionist mea-sures.

TCS said in a stockexchange filing that its boardapproved buyback of up to5.61 crore shares, or 2.85 percent of its share capital, at�2,850 apiece.

The share buyback, if suc-cessful, will be India's biggest,surpassing RelianceIndustries' 2012 share repur-chase of Rs 10,400 crore.

TCS shares rallied 4.08per cent to close at �2,506.50on the BSE, the highest clos-ing price in five months.

"TCS Board ofDirectors has approved a pro-posal to buyback up to 5.61

crore equity shares of thecompany for an aggregateamount not exceeding �16,000crore," the company said inthe filing.

The board meeting is thelast for N Chandrasekaran asTCS chief executive before hetakes over as chairman ofparent Tata Sons Ltd, whichcontrols 73.3 per cent of thesoftware developer, tomor-row.

Chandrasekaran had lastweek stated the company hadreceived suggestions frominvestors over the need forcertainty on dividend policyalong with share buyback todistribute large amount ofcash to its shareholders.

TCS has a cash pile of�43,169 crore, which is near-ly 10 per cent of the compa-ny's market capitalisation.

Earlier this monthCognizant TechnologySolutions Corp announced$3.4 billion share buy back,bowing to pressure fromactivist investor El l iottManagement Corp.

Share buybacks typicallyimprove earnings per shareand return surplus cash toshareholders while also sup-porting share price during

periods of sluggish marketcondition.

Infosys too is being

pressed with a demand forshare buyback. Infosys is amida bitter spat between a clutch

of high-profile founders andthe management primarilyover utilisation of cash surplusfor enhancing shareholdervalue rather than paying heftypay hikes to the chief execu-tive and severance package todeparting employees.

Infosys' former CFO VBalakrishnan had demandedshare buyback to protectshareholders' interest. Infosys,which is India's second largestsoftware services firm, is sit-ting on a cash pile of �35,697crore or $5.25 billion (as onDecember 31, 2016).

Balakrishnan, along withformer colleague TVMohandas Pai, had sought a$1.8 billion buyback in 2014as well, just as its CEO VishalSikka was taking over.

TCS said the buyback isproposed to be made from theshareholders of the companyon a proportionate basisunder the tender offer routeusing the stock exchangemechanism.

The buyback is subject toapproval of the members bymeans of a special resolutionthrough a postal ballot, itsaid.

The public announcementsetting out the process, time-

lines and other requisitedetails will be released in duecourse in accordance with theBuyback Regulations.

Following Cognizant's$3.4 bi l l ion buybackannouncement, industr ywatchers had warned thatfloodgates for Indian IT firmscould open with investorsdemanding similar actionfrom domestic firms that aresitting on large amounts ofunutilised cash on the books.

TCS' outgoing chief NChandrasekaran had said thatthe company had receivedsuggestions from investorsover the need for certainty ondividend policy along withshare buyback to distributethe cash.

While there are reportsthat Infosys may consider a Rs12,000 crore share buyback,the company said it will takea decision on buyback at an"appropriate time".

Wipro -- which had a grosscash position at �33,155.3 crore(USD 4.9 billion) as on December31, 2016 -- completed a buybackworth �2,500 crore last year.

The call for buyback byinvestors comes at a time whengrowth in the Indian IT sector hasbeen slowing down amid multi-

ple headwinds like changingtechnology landscape, globalevents like Brexit and concerns

over tightening of H-1B visaregime by the Donald Trumpadministration in the US.

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'(:� )(/4*! � Tata SonsC h a i r m a n - d e s i g n a t eNatarajan Chandrasekaranwill also hold the chair-manship of the group'scrown jewel TataConsultancy Services fromTuesday.

The country's largestsoftware services providerhas a lso named VRamakrishnan as its ChiefFinancial Officer to succeedRajesh Gopinathan, who willtake over as the CEO andMD of the Tata Group com-pany.

"TCS has received a let-ter from Tata Sons, in exer-cise of the powers underArticle 90 of the Articles ofAssociation of the Company,nominating NChandrasekaran as theChairman of the Board ofDirectors of the company in

place of Ishaat Hussain, witheffect from February 21,2017," it said in a BSE filing.

The nomination wasduly noted by the directorsat its meeting held onFebruary 20, 2017, it added.

Chandrasekaran, cur-rently Chief Executive andManaging Director of TCS,will take charge as the Non-Executive Chairman of theboard of directors of TCSwith effect from tomorrow.

In a separate filing, TCSsaid its board of directorsappointed V Ramakrishnanas the Chief FinancialOfficer with effect fromFebruary 21.

Ramakrishnan, orRamki as he is popularlyknown, joined TCS Financein 1999, and served as theFinance Head of TCS NorthAmerica for seven years.�2*

'(:� )(/4*!� India's largestsoftware services firm TataC onsultanc y S er v ices(TCS) today appointed VRamakrishnan as ChiefFinancial Officer.

He succeeds RajeshGopinathan, who will takeover as the CEO and MD ofthe Tata Group companyfrom Tuesday.

" . . .The B oard ofDirectors at its meetingheld on February 20, 2017appointed V Ramakrishnanas the Chief FinancialOfficer of the companywith effect from February21, 2017," the Mumbai-headquartered companysaid in a BSE filing.

R amakr ishnan, orRamki as he is popularlyknown, joined TCS Financein 1999, and served as theFinance Head of TCS NorthAmerica for seven years.

"Ramki closely part-nered with business in therapid growth of TCS' oper-

ations in the region. Mostrecent ly, he has b eenresponsible for the financialcontrollership of TCS sub-sidiaries and branches glob-ally and various mergerand acquisitions integra-tion initiatives," the filingsaid.

Gopinathan will takeover the reins of the $16.5billion-company from NChandrasekaran, who hasbeen appointed as theChairman of Tata Sons.

Earlier in the day, TCSannounced a �16,000 crorebuyback, the largest till datein the Indian corporate his-tory.

"Ramki has been a keymember of the TCS Financeteam for more than 17 yearsand has worked closely withme over the last nine years.I am confident that underRamki's leadership, TCSFinance will continue toextend its leadership posi-tion," Gopinathan said. �2*

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�����*!�Tata group will entera new era on Tuesday as NChandrasekaran takes over aschief, hoping to put behind anacrimonious boardroom battlethat saw the ouster of CyrusMistry as Tata Sons Chairman.

Popularly known as'Chandra', the 54-year-old willbe the first non-Parsi chairmanof the 150-year old Tata Group.

A man known for makingIndia's largest softwareexporter TCS what it is today,Chandrasekaran has his taskcut out as the new Chairmanof Tata Sons -- the promoterfirm of many of the operatingTata group firms.

Last week,Chandrasekaran had describedhis new assignment as "a verybig job" with a large canvas,where there were "challengesand opportunities" .He hadhoped that he could "make animpact and make a differ-ence".

As he steps into the role ofthe head of the $103 billionconglomerate, many immedi-ate pressing issues will greethim.

One of his major focusareas will be the European

operations of Tata Steel, par-ticularly in the UK which hasbecome a drag to the groupafter the unsuccessful acquisi-tion of Corus.

While Tata Steel hasalready started selling assets inthe UK, Chandra will have todecide how much assets are tobe put on the block and howmuch could be turned around,especially keeping in mind theimplications of Brexit.

Chandrasekaran, however,had hinted at what he'll dowhen he said on the evening ofhis appointment in Januarythat Tata Sons did pioneeringbusinesses and stood by theoperating businesses in "good

times and more importantly, inbad times."

Another problem thatawaits him is Ratan Tata'sdream project Nano, whichhas been responsible for bleed-ing Tata Motors. While hispredecessor Mistry wanted toend the road for the doomed'People' s car', Chandrasekaranwill have to take a call how longits journey could be continuedas it has accumulated lossesexceeding �1,000 crore.

As such, Tata Motors hasset a target of making all itsbusiness units profitable. Hewill have to address how thegroup can help in making thecompany's passenger vehicles

business unit with or withoutthe Nano.

Group observers will bekeenly watchingChandrasekaran's relationshipwith Tata Trusts and theirtrustees considering howMistry accused them of inter-ference and developing alter-nate power centre making hima "lame duck" Chairman.

Interestingly, his predeces-sor Mistry was sacked for"growing and untenable trustdeficit between Tata Sons andthe Tata Trusts."

On January 12, the TCSchief was named as theChairman of Tata Sons, cappingtwo months of the most bitterboardroom battle in corporatehistory that followed the uncer-emonious sacking of CyrusMistry and letting of bad bloodever since.

An avid photographer anda passionate long-distance run-ner having completed severalmarathons around the worldincluding Amsterdam, Boston,Chicago, Berlin, Mumbai, NewYork, Prague, Stockholm,Salzburg and Tokyo, all eyes arenow on Chandrasekaran onhow he tackles the course. �2*

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'(:�)(/4*! Infosys chief exec-utive Vishal Sikka on Mondayhit out at detractors for "falseand malicious" stories aboutthe company saying they were"designed" to target him to thepoint of harassment.

In a strongly wordedemail to Infosys employees,Sikka said reports questioningthe company's acquisition ofUS-based Panaya are "orches-trated by people who are hell-bent on harming the reputa-tion of the company and itsemployees."

"We have categoricallydenied the allegations in thesestories, but they still get pub-lished," he wrote.

In February 2015, Infosyshad announced buying NewJersey-based automation tech-nology company Panaya -- itssecond largest acquisition deal-- for $200 million or �1,250crore in cash.

Sikka termed the reportsas "false and malicious" andsaid the "speculations andfabrications are clearlydesigned to tarnish our rep-utation, and they specificallytarget our employees, includ-ing myself, to the point ofharassment."

"We cannot let these standunchallenged, and we willtake every step and pursueevery avenue to stronglydefend the company in theface of these unfair andunwarranted attacks," he said.

Sikka -- who is pittedagainst a clutch of co-founders led by NR NarayanaMurthy voicing concerns over

a spike in his remunerationand hefty severance packagesfor two former executives --said fresh allegations onPanaya acquisition were dis-tractions that are "expensive,draining and time-consum-ing." Stating that the compa-ny has "far bigger battlesahead", Sikka urged employ-ees to "rise above the distrac-tions, focus on what reallymatters, and deliver".

"I am, as always, countingon your faith and unwaveringattention to what really mat-ters. Change is never easy, andchange at the scale that we areundertaking may be unprece-dented, and perhaps it is thischange that has so inflamedsome into trying to drag us allinto the mud," he said.

Sikka reiterated that thecompany takes every whistle-blower complaint very seri-ously and that there is dueprocess to investigate anycomplaint that comes to it.

A section of mediareported about a whistle-

blower's letter to market reg-ulator SEBI, alleging irregu-larities in the acquisition ofPanaya.

"They create a false alter-nate-reality out of events anddates, with embellishmentsthat are calculated to misleadand sensationalise," he added.

Sikka said though these"distractions are expensive,draining and time-consum-ing", it is Infosys' burden toensure that the company'sbusiness continues "unflinch-ingly".

Emphasising that the yearahead will decisively separatethe "has-beens" in the indus-try from the "to-bes", Sikkasaid, "Our success will be asuccess for all of us, includingthose whose ample shoulderswe stand on. Our failure willbe more than a failure of acompany - it will be a failureof an industry, and a dream.We cannot let that happen."

Mentioning about his visitto a very old Buddhist temple,Sikka said, "It was a fleeting

peaceful moment in an unnec-essarily difficult week. But therow of Buddhas there, in amoment of clarity, indicated tome that with compassion andunflinching resolve, we will getthere. We must, and we will."

Over the last few weeks,Infosys has come under firefrom some of the co-founderswho have alleged corporategovernance lapses.

Some former employeesalso called for re-constitutionof the Board and demandedthat Chairman R Seshasayeestep down taking moralresponsibility over issues likesteep compensation hike ofSikka and hefty severancepackages to ex-CFO RajivBansal and David Kennedy, itsformer General Counsel.

Infosys Board and man-agement have, however, stoodtheir ground denying thesecharges.

On an investor call, Sikkahad also stated that the com-pany's large clients have comeout in its support. �2*

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'(:�)(/4*!�The I-T depart-ment is likely to launch thesecond phase of 'OperationClean Money' next monthto close in on unaccount-ed money making its wayinto banks but may ignorestandalone deposits below�5 lakh for now.

The Income Taxdepartment will appointtwo data analytics firms innext 10 days to analyse thedeposits in bank accountsbefore and after November8 last year -- the day thegovernment decided tojunk 86 per cent of the cur-rency in circulation.

The exercise willattempt to link individualswith multiple accounts orPAN numbers who havedeposited large sums ofmoney, officials said.

The I-T Departmenthas begun analysingaccounts which show apattern of deposits or havesome common linkage likecommon address, PAN,telephone number, emailaddress or name.

"Standalone lowamount of deposits is notunder scrutiny," an officialsaid. "The Tax Departmentmay ignore deposits below�5 lakh on a standalonebasis for the time being,"the official added. �2*

�('$�/���!�India is probably oneof the places in the world wherethe entrepreneurial energy isable to scale up, not just start,Microsoft’s India-born chief SatyaNadella on Monday said.

He said the entrepreneurialenergy in the country is "tremen-dous" and Microsoft is "enthusedabout it. "Every time I come backto India, the thing that grabs youis the entrepreneurial spirit of theplace. There are a whole bunchof startups doing really exitingwork," Nadella said.

Center of entrepreneurialenergy at least for us right nowin India is all around our cloud.It is fantastic, the quality of theentrepreneurs, the ideas... The

Indian market itself is huge, butalso going beyond that, it isamazing to see (the growth)", hesaid in response to Nilekani’squestion regarding entrepre-neurial energy in India.

Nadella today kick-startedhis three-day visit to India here,where he participated in a dis-cussion organised by Microsoft

on cloud-first, mobile-first worldalong with Indian IT veteranNandan Nilekani.

Stating that India has somebrands that have already wellestablished, Nadella said therewere stunning cross section ofstarts ups in the country.

He said building on IndiaStack, the transaction analytics,the very idea of a presence wherea payments infrastructure gettingbuilt on top of Aadhar by usingthe cloud, the diagnostic appli-cations that are getting built,world class AI. It was very fasci-nating to come here and learnabout. "I think that the entrepre-neurial energy of the place is justtremendous," he said. �2*

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State-owned IOC hasthreatened to reconsider

plans to invest �52,000 croreon expansion of Paradiprefinery in Odisha and settingup a petrochem project as theState Government is with-drawing tax sops. Indian OilCorporation (IOC) plans toexpand the 15 million tonne ayear Paradip refinery by 5 MT aswell as set up a PolypropylenePlant and a monoethylene glycolproduction facility at the site ofthe one-year old refinery.

Following BJD-led StateGovernment decision to rollback tax sops because the projectwas delayed by six years, thecompany is now threatening toreconsider future investmentplans, sources privy to the devel-

opment said. The project iscaught in a political cross-fire asOil Minister DharmendraPradhan, who hails from theOdisha, and the StateGovernment are involved in ahigh pitched political battle.

BJP is looking to capturepower in State in 2019 assemblyelections. Sources said IOC islling the Odisha Governmentthat it is reconsidering its invest-ment plans because of the with-drawal of 11-year deferral of VATon petroleum products sold inthe state.Investment plans alsoincluded projects to improvepetrol and diesel quality to Euro-

VI standards by 2020. If theinvestment does not take place,IOC will have to look for a mar-ket for fuel outside India as nopetrol and diesel of lower qual-ity can be sold within the coun-try. Also, the �3,500 crorepolypropylene plant is alreadyunder construction withSeptember 2017 as the target datefor commissioning. It remains tobe seen if IOC can stop the pro-ject midway. In the December 29,2016 notice, Odisha Governmenthas asked why the fiscal incen-tives like 11-year deferment ofsales tax on petroleum productssold in the state should not be

withdrawn considering that the�34,555 crore refinery wasdelayed by over six years.

Sources said the StateGovernment had in February2004 signed an agreement withIOC to give fiscal incentives forsetting up a 9 million tonnes ayear oil refinery at Paradip by2009-10. However, the projectwas delayed and started only inearly 2016.The delay is nowbeing cited by Odisha to seekwithdrawal of the incentives,sources said, adding that the StateGovernment feels the delay haspushed back the payback time ofdeferred taxes by few years.

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NEW DELHI: India’s expertise intaking affordable technologies toremote corners can be leveraged byASEAN countries in their rolloutof digital connectivity initiatives,Union Minister Manoj Sinha saidon Monday. “We look forwardto being your preferred partnerin your digital connectivity ini-tiatives...I can assure you, we willdo whatever is required, forIndian productsand services tobecome the firstchoice for yourtelecom needs,” hesaid at a gatheringof telecom repre-sentatives from ASEAN coun-tries organised by TelecomEquipment and Services ExportPromotion Council (TEPC).

Citing flagship programs suchas Digital India, Make in India andBharat Net broadband project, theMinister of Communications said,“...The experience of taking tech-nology to remote corners ataffordable price, can be leveragedby you to provide cost-effectivecommunications solutions in yourhome countries. With our expe-rience and expertise it will be easyfor you to achieve targets,” he said.

Sinha further pointed outthat as announced earlier, Indiais also willing to provide long-term financing to ASEANmembers for buying Indianproducts and services. PTI

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MUMBAI: Mortgage lender HDFC onMonday said it has informed insurance reg-ulator Irdai that the proposed merger of MaxLife Insurance Company with HDFC Lifeis structural in nature. Irdai had expressedreservations about the deal structure in theproposed merger of the two entities. Anapplication was filed on September 21, 2016,by Max Life and HDFC Life, seeking in-prin-ciple nod for the amalgamation scheme.

“The structure that weproposed in the transactionis that a non-listed Max Lifewill first get merged withMax Financial Serviceswhich is a listed entity andthen the combined entitywill be finally merged with

HDFC Life,” Keki Mistry, vice-chairman andchief executive of HDFC told reporters here.

“Once the merger takes place, we will keepthe non-insurance business of Max FinancialServices out of the insurance venture. It isin fact a structural change rather than anactual merger,” Mistry said on sidelines ofa CII event. He said HDFC’s lawyers haveinformed Irdai that the ‘whole structure isfine as there is no actual merger of the twoentities. Now, Irdai says it will seek the adviceof the Attorney General on the issue’. PTI

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MUMBAI: Benchmark Sensexsurged 193 points to end nearfive-month highs on Monday asIT counters rallied after bell-wether TCS announced a�16,000-crore share buyback.Telecom and metal shares alsowitnessed robust buying whilehigher global cues and foreignfund inflows supported themomentum.

TCS emerged as the top per-former in the 30-share Sensexpack, after the company said itsboard has approved a sharebuyback plan of up to �16,000crore. The buyback price hasbeen set at �2,850 per share. Thestock ended the day at �2506.50,up 4.08 per cent. Telecom shareswere in demand after reportssaid Vodafone India and AdityaBirla Group firm Idea Cellularare likely to finalise their merg-er within a month, creatingIndia’s largest telecom firm.

The BSE Sensex, after open-ing a tad higher, quickly slipped

into negative terrain to hit a lowof 28,419.27 on profit-book-ing.But it staged a strong come-back to 28,696.53 before settlingat 28,661.58, showing a rise of192.83 points, or 0.68 per cent.This is its highest closing sinceSeptember 23, 2016, when it hadended at 28,668.22. PTI

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BENGALURU:IT giant Microsofton Monday announced a ‘strate-gic partnership’ with Flipkart,wherein as a first step, the onlineretailer will adopt Microsoft Azureas its exclusive public cloud plat-form. The strategic partnership wasaimed at providing consumers inthe country the best online shop-ping service, it said. Microsoft CEOSatya Nadella and Flipkart GroupCEO Binny Bansal announced thepartnership at an event here.

“We are launching our strate-gic partnership together. I havealways been an admirer whatFlipkart has done, in not only start-ing e-commerce, but now in pay-ments and logistics. It is really get-ting India on the map. I’m pleasedto announce that Flipkart haschosen Microsoft Azure as itsexclusive public cloud platform,”Nadella said. “Of course this is justa start, because ultimately for us aswell it is all about being able to sup-port entrepreneurs of India to beable to create global scale busi-nesses, and when we think aboutour mission that’s at the center of

it,” he said. Starting with com-puting infrastructure, MicrosoftAzure will ultimately add a layerof advanced cloud technologiesand analytics to Flipkart’s exist-ing data centres. Microsoft’sstrong presence in India alongwith its global scale allows forcontinued growth and expansion,setting the stage for the long-termpartnership, Microsoft said.

“This partnership allows us toleverage our combined strengthand knowledge of technology, e-commerce and markets to makeonline shopping more relevantand enriching for customers,”Bansal said. He said Flipkart in its10th year of operations had takene-biz to about 50 mn customersand the question now was howto take this to 500 mn people inthe next ten years. PTI

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NEW DELHI:The country’s cen-tral public sector enterprises (CPSEs)need to align their human resourcepolicies with new challenges and fol-low a transparent, fair and objectivesystem of promotions, a top officialsaid on Monday. Terming the sta-tus of human resources in state-owned enterprises as ‘disturbing’, theSecretary in the Department ofPublic Enterprises Seema Bahugunasaid: “The CPSEs are following a cul-ture of status quo, they are not proac-tive, they are reactive.”

“They are also more interest-ed in teasing unions instead of real-ly doing fundamental restructuringof their relationships. I find thatsome CPSEs are still remaining insilos regarding their turfs,” she said.She pointed out that even in someof the Navratna and MaharatnaPSEs, the HR policies haveremained more or less stagnant,adding that the world is changingbut somehow our CPSEs have notreally come up to the mark. “Our

CPSEs have to align themselves withnew challenges. They need to focuson developing younger talent, theyshould have a transparent mecha-nism of communication withemployees, they should be able tomanage diversity and innovation,there should be fairness in the pol-icy of promotion.” “This is some-thing that as Secretary to Govt , Iwould be very keen to emphasise.They should have a transparent, fairand objective system of promotions.They should promote administra-tive excellence,” she said. PTI

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MUMBAI: The rupee onMonday strengthened for thesecond straight session, gainingby another 9 paise to close at66.92 per dollar in view ofstrong foreign capital inflowscoupled with firm equity mar-ket. The rupee resumed lower at67.06 per dollar as against the lastFriday’s closing level of 67.01 atthe Interbank Foreign Exchangemarket on initial demand for theAmerican currency from banksand importers but recoveredafterwards to 66.90 before end-ing at 66.92, showing a gain of9 paise, or 0.13 per cent. PTI

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Washington: A draft ofPresident Donald Trump’srevised immigration ban tar-gets te same seven countrieslisted in his original executiveorder and exempts travelerswho already have a visa to trav-el to the US, even if theyhaven’t used it yet.

A senior administrationofficial said the order, whichTrump revised after federalcourts held up his originalimmigration and refugee ban,will target only those sameseven Muslim-majority coun-tries — Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen,Somalia, Sudan and Libya.

The official said that green-card holders and dual citizens ofthe US and any of those coun-tries are exempt. The new draftalso no longer directs authori-ties to single out — and reject— Syrian refugees when pro-cessing new visa applications.

The official spoke on con-dition of anonymity to discussthe order before it’s made pub-lic. The official noted that thedraft is subject to change aheadof its signing, which Trump saidcould come sometime this week.

Asked about the revisedorder, White House spokes-

woman Sarah HuckabeeSanders said the document cir-culating was a draft and that afinal version should be releasedsoon. The Department ofHomeland Security did notimmediately respond to arequest for comment AP

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Jerusalem: Israeli PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahumet secretly with Arab rulers lastyear to hear then US secretaryof state John Kerry pitch aregional peace plan, an Israelinewspaper reported on Monday.

Egyptian President AbdelFattah al-Sisi also attended theFebruary 2016 talks hosted byKing Abdullah II in theJordanian city of Aqaba,Haaretz said, citing formersenior officials in the Obamaadministration who asked toremain anonymous.

It said Kerry wanted thesides to endorse six principles,which he laid out publicly in aDecember speech. Theyincluded a call for Israel tovacate territory it occupiedduring the 1967 Six-Day War,subject to land swaps agreedbetween the two sides.

A former Obama admin-istration official, who asked not

to be identified, confirmed toAFP that the meeting was heldbut would not comment on thesubstance of Kerry’s proposal.

Since 1967, Israel haspulled out of Egypt’s SinaiPeninsula and the Gaza Stripbut annexed east Jerusalemand the Golan Heights.

It continues to occupy theWest Bank, where hundreds ofthousands of Israelis live in set-tlements seen as illegal by theinternational community.

Kerry’s parameters envi-sioned a Palestinian state, withPalestinians recognising Israelas a “Jewish state”. Both wouldshare Jerusalem as the “inter-nationally recognised capital ofthe two states”. Israel claims thecity as its “undivided” capital.Netanyahu’s coalition govern-ment, the most right-wing inIsrael’s history, rejects talk ofceding any part of it toPalestinian sovereignty. AFP

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Amid reports that Pakistanhas moved heavy artillery

towards the Afghan border,army chief Gen Qamar JavedBajwa today said “enhancedsecurity arrangements” in theborder region were aimed atcombating terrorism.

After a string of terrorattacks in the countr y,Pakistan Army has movedheavy artillery towards thePak-Afghan border inChaman and Torkham distr icts , the Express Tribune reported, citing secu-rity officials.

The move came just twodays after the military target-ed the camps of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan’s (TTP)Jamaatul Ahrar (JA) faction onthe Torkham border opposite Mohmand andKhyber tribal regions.

Pakistan alleges that thegroup, which claims to bebehind the recent wave of ter-rorist attacks, has found “safehaven” in Afghanistan.

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Bangladesh police onMonday arrested an

absconding death row convict,who had escaped to Malaysia,for the gruesome murder of asecular blogger in 2013, that setoff a chain of attacks targetingliberal writers in the Muslim-majority country.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s(DMP) counter-terrorism unitarrested 34-year-old RedwanulAzad Rana, a former student atthe country’s top North SouthUniversity, and one other mili-tant belonging to banned outfitAnsarullah Bangla Team (ABT)during a raid at the capital’sUttara suburb.

“The counter-terrorismand transnational crime unit ofpolice has arrested Rana alongwith an assistant militantnamed Ashraf during a raid,”the police said in a statement.

“With Rana’s arrest, all theconvicts of the case are nowexposed to justice,” police spok-esman Masudur Rahman said.

Rana was absconding sincethe start of his trial in the mur-der of secular blogger AhmedRajib Haider, who was hackedto death with machetes inFebruary 2013, and was sen-tenced to death in his absencein December 2015, along withanother former student at thesame university, Faisal binNayem, who is in custody.

Rana could not challengethe conviction as he was on therun. Police said Rana fled thecountry after the murder andtook refuge in Malaysia wherehe was recently tracked downand arrested by the police onthe basis of our information.

“They sent him back homerecently but instead of arrest-ing him on his return, we pre-ferred to secretly follow the cul-prit instead of arresting himimmediately for strategic pur-poses,” Rahman said.

Haider had also started amovement demanding thehighest punishment to the1971 war-criminals just daysahead of his murder.

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US Defence Secretary JimMattis said on Monday

the United States does notintend to seize Iraqi oil, shift-ing away from an idea proposed by President Donald Trump that has rat-tled Iraq’s leaders.

Mattis arrived on anunannounced visit in Iraq asthe battle to oust ISIS mili-tants from western Mosulmoved into its second day,and as the Pentagon consid-ers ways to accelerate thecampaign against ISIS in Iraqand Syria.

Those efforts could becomplicated by Trump’s oilthreat and his inclusion of Iraqin the administration’s travelban twin blows that have roiledthe nation and spurred locallawmakers to pressure PrimeMinister Haider al-Abadi toreduce cooperation withWashington.

“I think all of us here in thisroom, all of us in America havegenerally paid for our gas andoil all along, and I’m sure thatwe will continue to do that inthe future,” Mattis toldreporters traveling with him.“We’re not in Iraq to seize

anybody’s oil.”His comments may pro-

vide some reassurance to theIraqis. But the tensions come ata critical point in the waragainst ISIS, with two key bat-tles in the works: the fight totake control of west Mosul, andthe start of a campaign inSyria to oust ISIS from Raqqa,the capital of its self-declaredcaliphate.

Al-Abadi has taken a mea-sured approach, but the issuescan roil already difficult inter-nal politics.

Under the president’s dead-line, Mattis has just a week tosend Trump a strategy to accel-erate the fight and defeat theIslamic State group.

And any plan is likely todepend on US and coalitiontroops working with and

through the local forces inboth countries.

“We’re going to make cer-tain that we’ve got good situa-tional awareness of what weface as we work together andfight alongside each other,”Mattis said.

His key goal during thevisit is to speak about the mil-itary operations with politicalleaders and commanders onthe ground, including his topcommander in Iraq, Lt GenStephen Townsend.

Asked about the tensions,Mattis said he has been assuredthat the travel ban it has beenstalled by a legal challengewould not affect Iraqis whohave fought alongside USforces. The oil issue, however,may be more difficult.

Trump brought it up dur-ing the campaign, and he men-tioned it again late last monthduring a visit to the CIA.

“To the victor belong thespoils,” Trump told members ofthe intelligence community.He said he first argued this casefor “economic reasons,” butadded it made sense as a coun-terterrorism approach todefeating ISIS “because that’swhere they made their moneyin the first place.”

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Malaysia summoned theNorth Korean Amba-

ssador on Monday for a dress-ing-down over Pyongyang’sattack on its investigation intothe assassination of leader KimJong-Nam’s brother, deepeninga diplomatic row.

Five North Koreans are inthe frame for last week’s airportkilling, drawing a furiousresponse from Pyongyangwhich has accused KualaLumpur of conspiring with“hostile forces” to damage its reputation.

Malaysia recalled its envoyto Pyongyang and also sum-moned the North Koreanambassador to Kuala Lumpur,who was told his accusationwas “baseless”, the foreign min-istry said in a statement.

“The Ministry emphasisedthat as the death occurred onMalaysian soil under mysteri-ous circumstances, it is theresponsibility of the MalaysianGovernment to conduct aninvestigation to identify thecause of death,” it said.

The row erupted whenMalaysian police rejected

North Korean diplomats’demands to hand over thebody of Kim Jong-Nam after he was apparently poi-soned at Kuala Lumpur’sinternational airport.

Ambassador Kang Chollast week told reporters out-side the morgue where Jong-Nam’s body is being held thatMalaysia was being pressured by South Korea ina bid to defame its northernneighbour.

Seoul has pointed the fin-ger of blame for the attack atthe North, citing a “standingorder” from Kim Jong-Un tokill his elder sibling and afailed assassination bid in2012 after he criticised theregime.

“The Malaysian govern-ment takes very seriously anyunfounded attempt to tarnishits reputation,” the statementsaid, after the ambassador’smeeting with Deputy SecretaryGeneral for Bilateral AffairsRaja Nushirwan Zainal Abidin.

The Malaysian ambas-sador in Pyongyang has alsobeen recal led to KualaLumpur for consultations, thestatement said.

Baghdad: An estimated 2,000ISIS fighters are left in westMosul to defend their bastionagainst a massive offensive by theIraqi security forces, a senior USintelligence official said onMonday. “There’s about 2,000remaining,” the official told rep-orters on condition of anonymityduring a trip to Iraq by the newPentagon chief, Jim Mattis. Theestimate which the US-led coali-tion supporting Iraqi forces gavebefore the October 17 launch ofa huge operation on Mosul wasthat the city was defended by5,000 to 7,000 jehadis. AFP

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Indore: Afghanistan NationalAssembly Speaker Abdul RaoufIbrahimi has suggested thatPakistan merely putting Mumbaiattacks mastermind Hafiz Saeedon the terror list was not enoughand said the international ter-rorist “should be eliminated”.

He also accused Pakistan ofsponsoring terrorism directedagainst India and Afghanistanand thereby, threatening thepeace and prosperity of theentire region.

“Who cares whether it isHafiz Saeed or anyone else...Anenemy is an enemy and a mur-derer is a murderer... You shouldtake action they (terrorists)should be eliminated and neu-tralised,” Ibrahimi told PTI onsidelines of the South-AsiaSpeakers’ summit.

He was replying to a ques-tion on Pakistan putting Saeedand his terrorist organisa-tions on the terror list.Ibrahimi further said he canfeel the pain of victims of ter-rorism as he himself has lostfour members of his family tothis menace. PTI

Donetsk: One soldier has beenkilled and another wounded ineastern Ukraine, the Army saidon Monday, as it accused rebelsof breaking a new truce dealannounced at the weekend.

Ukraine’s militaryspokesman Leonid Matyukhinsaid Russian-backed rebels hadshelled his troops “on all fronts”,resulting in one death and oneinjury over the past 24 hours.

But a military spokesmanfrom the self-proclaimedDonetsk People’s Republic,Eduard Basurin, told AFP thatthe truce had largely held sincemidnight with “almost noattacks.” The fresh clashes cast ashadow over the new ceasefiredeal announced after the foreignministers of Ukraine, Russia,Germany and France held talksin Munich on Saturday. AFP

Melbourne: Male Muslim students at a publicschool in Australia can refuse to shake hands withwomen to adhere to their faith. The Hurstville BoysCampus of Georges River College in Sydneyrecently hosted an awards ceremony at whichfemale presenters were told by the principal thatsome students would not shake their handsbecause of their Muslim faith, according to TheAustralian newspaper. The New South Wales (NSW) EducationDepartment has confirmed the school had an“agreed protocol” regarding handshaking. “At theschool’s 2016 presentation day, the principalexplained to invited guests making awards thatsome Muslim students may place their hand acrosstheir chest instead of shaking hands,” a NSWDepartment of Education spokesman said. PTI

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Washington: Adolf Hitler’spersonal telephone, which theFuehrer used to dictate manyof his deadly World War IIcommands, sold at auction for$243,000, the US house sellingit announced.

Originally a black Bakelitephone, later painted crimsonand engraved with Hitler’s name,the relic was found in the Nazileader’s Berlin bunker in 1945following the regime’s defeat.

The auction houseAlexander HistoricalAuctions, which did not revealthe winning bidder’s identity,had estimated its worthbetween $200,000 and$300,000. The starting bidwas set at $100,000. AFP

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Jasleen Royal could well have beenpart of the women’s national crick-

et team. Choosing between a careerin sport and music, the latter won. “Ilove sports. I have an elder brother.So I think I was forced into bowling.He used to bat. So I just became goodat spin bowling because he justwanted to bat. I got through thenational team selection but droppedthe idea of pursuing cricket. Optingfor music just felt right,” she said.

Talking about indie musiciansforaying into the Bollywood musicspace, she said she finds such cate-gorisation rather odd. “As far as Iremember, A.R. Rahman did VandeMatram, which was an indie hit andShankar Mahadevan had Breathless.So many people have done both,Lucky Ali too. These are the peopleI have admired. It really doesn’t both-er me, what’s indie and what’s not. It’smusic at the end of the day,” Jasleenexplained.

Starting out with the keyboard atthe age of five and then dabbling withvarious other musical instruments,Jasleen figured that she could playtwo instruments even as she sang.Initially she did lose beats and mixup a few tunes but soon perfected heract. Today, the one-woman bandplays guitar, harmonica and tam-bourine simultaneously. “Dependingon the songs, I choose the instru-

ments.” Fresh to the Bollywood

music space, fortunately forJasleen it’s been a successful ride

so far with her last release Kho GayeHum Kaha, from Baar Baar Dehko,gaining good popularity. “I had

composed the melody for KhoGaye Hum Kaha long ago and I

was really attached to it. I had heardPrateek Kuhad (co-singer) before.I really liked his music and heshowed interest too. So Iapproached him, he wrote thelyrics and I pitched the song tomy director, Nitya Mehra. They

all loved it and that’s how it hap-pened,” smiled the Delhi girl.

Jasleen caught public atten-tion when she won theBest Indie Song award at

the MTV Video MusicAwards in 2013. She beat estab-

lished singers and bands like KailashKher, Rabbi Shergill and Indus Creedto win the award for the song PanchiHo Jaavan. She listens to all kinds ofmusic — from S.D. Burman, R.D.Burman, Lakshmikant- Pyaarelal,to A.R Rahman, Jatin-Lalit, ShankarEhsan Loy and Eddie Vedder. “I justlove melodies. I listen to ad jingles aswell. It doesn’t matter what language,where it is from. I just love music,”she added.

Excited to be a part of MTVUnplugged for the first time, she saidthat the complete experience wasenlightening for her. “Ranging fromBollywood performers, singers, com-posers and from all the people who

play all the instruments — all themusicians, the pianists, the percus-sionists, the arrangers. It is so goodto be on the same stage as them, theyare so experienced. I have got to learna lot,” she said. Drawing a compar-ison between singing at Unpluggedand recording in a studio, Jasleencontinued, “When we record in a stu-dio, we do things one by one. We dubthe guitar, we dub the drums, thenwe dub the vocals. But when we gounplugged we don’t even rehearsemuch. At Unplugged, I went onstage with other musicians andsingers and we just vibed well togeth-er. I am very happy with what cameout.”

Indian filmmakers never cease to amaze theglobal audience with their story-telling and

film-making skills. As the Berlin Film Festivaldrew to a close on Saturday, Indians had a rea-son to rejoice. Debut filmmaker AmarKaushik’s short film Aaba bagged a prestigiousaward at the 67th Berlin International FilmFestival.The unconventional love story won SpecialPrize of the Generation K Plus InternationalJury for the Best Short Film of the year.

The movie is the brainchild of AmarKaushik, who has gone full circle in life beforepenning down this moving tale about a manon his death bed. Produced by Raj KumarGupta and Mitul Diskshit and co-producedby Onir and Alison Welly, the film was shotin Apatani language in Ziro district ofArunachal Pradesh with a cast comprisinglocals. The story revolves around an orphangirl who comes across the news of her grand-father reaching the terminal stage of lung can-cer. As the grandfather (Aaba) starts count-ing his days, the family faces unexpectedturns.

Expressing happiness on receiving theaward, Amar Kaushik said, “Aaba is my firstfilm as a director and the project is very closeto my heart. Being awarded at the Berlin FilmFestival has given me moments that I willcherish all throughout my life. This award isfor my entire team without whom this wouldnot have been possible. Special thanks to mymother for sharing such a wonderful storywith me and to all my producers for placingtheir trust in me.”

The producers were confident that theheart-rending story will strike a chord with

the audience. From the locations, situations,people and expressions, Amar has put his bestfoot forward to replicate his imagination. Theconfidence that Raj, Onir and Mitul had inAaba has clearly well paid off, as the premiereof the film at the 67th Berlin InternationalFilm Festival received amazing response,followed by the award.

Commenting on the movie’s success atBerlinale, producer Raj Kumar Gupta said, “Ifeel very proud and am elated that our filmhas won at such a prestigious festival.

It was a script that had moved me and Idecided to produce it along with my friend,Mitul Dikshit. Congratulations to each andevery team member who made this film happen.”

Thinking with the senses? The unfettered imag-ination, vision beyond any tangibility and a deep-ened interpretation which it brings along is

something which the barriers of the eye can’t meetalone. We came in contact with such specious spec-tacles at the glitzy Saturday night affair at The LeelaPalace raising a toast to the sublime transformationsby the alchemists for the evening, designer Ashish NSoni, luxurista and entrepreneur Kalyani Chawla, fash-ion and lifestyle connoisseur Sunil Sethi, curator andinterior designer Sussanne Khan and fashion and lux-ury writer Vinod Nair playing the perfect hosts to thecapital’s well-heeled with their signature illusions.

The different strokes by these different folks wereindeed inspired by the notes of the Chivas 18 blend.Each maven played with a sense, crafting a differentsensorial experience for the gazers to appreciate. Andeach experience took its inspiration from the 85notes of Chivas 18. “Our alchemists are personal-ities who have excelled in their craft and have aflair for everything luxurious and definitive,” saidRaja Banerji, Assistant Vice President at Pernod

Ricard India.“I have worked with Chivas even in the past on

various platforms especially on the 18..so we go togeth-er real far. The “Alchemy” concept was brought in bythem as they wanted to do something with the sens-es. I pondered over for long as to how to go about theidea when they first approached me for the project,”added Ashish. The splendid frill in the evening wasmarked with regular tinkling of the glasses to the live-ly chatter and some turgid pop music. Each curatoralso created a concoction mixed with the much indemand snifter. We tasted, sampled, touched, heardand soaked in these very sensory plays and delights.Makes perfect sense.

$&����')@"�)(/*$42Sense of sight curated by Kalyani Chawla

A sumptuous feast for the appetite scoring highon the visual appeal greeted us when we visited theconcept of taste. The banquet table was laid out withvariety of bites and grub, morsels dropped from themouth, bitten apples, delightful half-melted candles,fresh white lilies, glittering chandelier, cutlery placedin helter-skelter, lip-stained serviettes, a fork dug into

crème brulee, torn-off gobbets of baguette scatteredall over the place reminding of a hurried, half-left, half-eaten meal. Kalyani did create an imposing imagerythrough a lavish looking spread inherently a sit-downin her line of silverware paired with whisky of course.A squandered night maybe. “The idea behind the pre-sentation is the morning after the night before. It’s anight full of revelry with basically home line with ele-ments of Chivas 18 thrown in. The patterns on thedecanter to the mobile bar to the glasses are all doneon the Chivas 18 model,” Kalyani told us. There wereplenty of interesting tea and coffee pots, cigar boxes,ashtrays which she wanted to showcase from her vastrange of home products. On playing with the senseof sight she said, “I feel we are truly blessed to havesight and enjoy the visual pleasures of the world. It’sGod’s best gift to us.”

24(��(�%��(�"2&�5Sense of smell curated by Ashish N Soni

The otherwise muted midnight blue wall wasadorned with the deconstruction of the Chivas 18 with84 ingredients in dainty little jars from hazelnut to cin-namon to vanilla; the very smells and tastes which goin the making of Chivas 18. The 85th note is the smokewhich couldn’t be captured in a jar, so we thought.“Smell for me has been a childhood favourite. And Ilove perfumes for as long as I can remember. When

you sniff a whisky, the kind of smells you get is whatthe idea behind this very concept is. I might get a dif-ferent smell than you.” Ashish even endorsed the fra-grances curated by him by wearing the smoky andwoody 18/70 which he preferred over the three. Welost our heart to the more citrusy 18/60 though. “I wentto three different perfumers in the UK to create theseunique fragrances. The first one is a bespoke perfumer,the second is the oldest perfumery in England calledFloris which also is the official perfumery to the Britishmonarchy and the third being Bloom, more avant-garde in approach with lesser rules and more radicalnotes,” he explained.

&'�24(�0&�'2�5��&�)Sense of touch curated by Sussanne Khan

Popping up her concept area with herbage andgreens, Sussanne was rather inspired by the sylvancharms of the Scottish countryside. Pronounced hintsof leather and stone added enough doses of antiquat-ed glamour and character from a crystal-cut skull, anold-style wood cabinet, plush chesterfield, a tub filledwith bottles of Chivas and smoked barrels, all mark-ing up her idea of Chivas 18. “It was very education-al for me for I never knew there were so many ingre-dients that go in the making of Chivas 18. The diver-

sity of it all for a single product really inspired me. Fora product which has a lot of history I have chosenobjects with an old-fangled appeal. “When I got thesense of touch I was very happy, I wanted all the tex-tures to come alive. I wanted to recreate the landscapeof Scottish highlands. It’s basically putting together var-ious things which would make people happy even with-out being intoxicated,” she told us.

*'�4*$4�"�*�*2"Sense of taste curated by Sunil Sethi

The always and highly spirited Sunil decided toplay with the sense of taste with but of course spirits.Inspired by the notes and flavours in the Chivas 18he turned his side of area into a space for the night’sgaiety where the guests got a chance to try the five cock-tails created by the five connoisseurs. His sense of tastetook shape of a bar adorned with wood and direction-al metal panels with ingredients like ginger, cloves, cin-namon to name a few adding a good cheer of hyggaeto the otherwise spiffy bar. The multi-layered whiskyindeed got a multi-dimensional personality to bringout its character well.

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Art helps us perceive life ina different way, eitherthrough colour, form or its

latent narrative. So believes artistManav Gupta, who has redefinedpublic art spaces in India, andhas mounted his series of terra-cotta installations, Hymns ofClay, at DLF Mall of India,Noida.

This is the first of what hecalls his travelling museum.“Iwant to take out art from muse-um and gallery spaces and makeit available for everybody. Letthem bring in their own under-standing and interpretations.This place gets a footfall of70,000 people every day, whichmay not be the case with amuseum. A travelling museum ata mall works as an interlude andoffers an experiential.” Gupta’sclay exhibits are intended toraise awareness about our ecolog-ically fragile times and the needfor sustainability. “The exhibitionis about water and the five ele-ments of nature. I have used themost basic and functional itemscreated by a potter since thebeginning of time — earthenlamps (diyas), local cigars(chillum) and earthen cups (kul-har). At one level, these items arevery personal and intimate. Atanother level, these vessels areused for very humble experi-ences. You buy them from theroadside and throw them afteruse. They represent howcasually we treat theearth’s resources. Thatis the metaphor I haveused to drive home thepoint about sustainability.”

Gupta believes that allfive elements of nature areour source of sustenance. Hesays, “Ganga is about thepassage of time and that issymbolised by the hourglass,the only symbol of measuringtime in the ancient past. So aswe grow with time, we excavatethe ancient philosophy of sus-tainable living. And we are allclay, very mouldable. My artseeks to submit to thisparadigm.”

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“Ganga is close tomy heart,” Gupta adds.In this exhibit, heuses chillum anddiyas to depictthe ebb andtide oflife. Heu s e sl a m p sbecause they

are woven in thecultural-religiousfabric of India from

time immemorialwhile the chillum

depicts cheap intoxica-tion and sensor ygratification. Andlife is perennially aconflict of both ourhigher and lowerselves.

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In this instal-lation, Gupta uses

terracotta cups toform an hourglass.

“Time Machine recalls the mech-anised lives we lead withoutrespecting sustainable living andresources. I use cups here as asymbolic measure of limitedtime.” The fragility of clay juxta-posed with the finite nature ofthe cup draws attention to ourwasted perception, of our rapid-ly capitalistic, consumeristhuman interaction with earthalong our limited timelines.

/&;(�A�*;(�"*)(��()BThis one is about stringing

life till the end. It’s a symbol ofthe history of love through theuse of the male and femaleidioms of existence and howfragile love can be and yet soethereal. “My purpose of choos-ing this element is that withoutlove we don’t exist,” says Gupta.With the river bed of earthenlamps and earthen cups, a streamseems to emerge from some-where deep within and flowseamlessly.

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This is an artist’s imaginationof an ancient civilisation, Noahretrieving each of earth’s cre-ations and ensuring their survivaltill posterity. This is Gupta’s wayof saying how we should saveourselves from the wrath ofnature and not tamper with it.

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“Bees are a very importantchain of our eco system; if theydie, then the entire eco systemcollapses. This beehive gardenrepresents India’s younger demo-graphic. I have used chillums hereto signify drug abuse which iseating into our future humanresource,” adds Gupta.

With the help of bamboosand trees under torch

lights, Shahabuddin Ahmedheld an exhibition in the forestwith portraits of SheikhMujibur Rehman and scenes ofother muktiyodhas (freedomfighters) in the early 1970s.Then he was a 22-year-oldplatoon commander fightingfor Bangladesh’s LiberationWar. “It wasn’t my first exhibi-tion but it made everyoneaware that I was more intopaintings than being a warrior.Eventually I left everythingand joined an art school,”Shahabuddin said. He furtheradded, “Since childhood I lovedpaintings but due to my fami-ly’s inclination towards politicsand the situations during thosetimes, I was pushed towardswar.”

After gaining worldwiderecognition for his works anda stint in Paris, 46 years later,he held a solo exhibition titledShanti (Peace) at RashtrapatiBhavan. “The exhibition wasfirst held in 2015 at the GangesArt Gallery, Kolkata in thepresence of President PranabMukherjee. He then invited meto Delhi for another round,” hesaid.

Reflecting on the themeShanti, the artist explained, “Ihave seen a lot of disturbanceduring 1971. The concept ofmy exhibition draws from myinspirations like Bangabandhu(Mujib), Mahatma Gandhi andRabindranath Tagore, whonever wanted bloodshed.” Hehas also very successfully high-lighted through his works thepathos of war and the struggle

of the people of the sub-conti-nent and the freedom move-ment of India and Bangladesh.

Other than paintings ofBangabandhu, Gandhi andTagore, the exhibition, whichdisplays over 12 of his master-pieces, includes titles like

Liberate, War Cry, Bijoy,Platoon, Freedom, Woundedand Exhilaration are very muchinfluenced from his experi-ences. Also with great eruditionand skill, he relies heavily onthe power of motion as hismode of artistic expression. Hisendeavour to unravel the mys-teries of the cosmos throughthe use of colour — most oftenmonochromatic with splashesof brightness — canvas andbrush has perfectly blendedsadness and hope.

Shahabuddin admits thatthough the war has guidedhim, contrary to what manybelieve, “I don’t paint war andwar is in no way my creed.What I want to depict is humansuffering in different postures,borderline situations in whichthe individual has to reach hislimits.”

Full of anecdotes on theBangladesh Liberation Warand his years of struggle inParis till 1980, Shahabuddin,who still holds a Bangladeshipassport, said that Parisallowed to do whatever hewanted to. “I was honouredwith Chevalier de L’order desArts des Letters (Knight in theorder of Art and Literature)Paris, France in 2014. There area lot of things to draw inspira-tion from and I looked at theWest because it provided mefreedom to work which myown country lacked.”

While studying and researchingwedding invitation cards in India,

noted historian Arundhati Virmanicame up with an interesting plan toextend her investigation into the ritu-als of weddings in France. In the exhi-bition titled Marriages à la française,curator Arundhati will showcase themarriage contracts, Catholic marriageletters, wedding menus, a 1950s wed-ding dress and veil, an antique set ofporcelain plates showing the differentstages of the wedding ceremony, andsome other elements that characteriseFrench wedding rituals. The exhibitiontraces the significant changes anddevelopments in the institution andrites of marriage in France from a pre-dominantly Catholic Church ritual toa civil ceremony. It is expected to pre-sent a reflection on social trans-formations and values inFrance since the end ofthe 19th century.

More impor-tantly, she said,“The number ofheterosexualmarriages hascertainly fall-en. In 2015, thenumber was2 , 3 9 , 0 0 0according toINSEE (TheFrench nationalstatistics bureau thatcollects and publishesinformation about theFrench economy and peopleand carries out the public national con-sensus) men and women are gettingmarried later. But the recent conflict inFrance and the demand for ‘marriagefor all’ showed that marriage is still con-sidered an important act that ensureslegal rights. Paradoxically, the numberof marriages taking place has fallen butthe marriage ceremony itself continuesto be considered as extremely impor-tant.”

In the past few decades, Frenchmarriages have become a casualty andthe rate of divorce is rising. Elaboratingon this, she explained, “In early mod-ern France, the chances of couplesgrowing old together was pretty low: therate of mortality was high, the risk ofwomen dying in childbirth was high, sotoo, that of men dying in wars, and thenthere were diseases that couldn’t betreated. So men were widowed, womenlost their husbands and remarriage wasnatural and frequent. However, withmedical progress and a longer span oflife, couples are bound to each other fora much longer period. So divorce is insome ways almost a natural develop-ment. There is also a lower toleranceamong women to assume responsibil-ities both on the domestic front and in

the professional sphere. Men show ageneral incapacity to change and shareequally in daily tasks and chores. Thereis a stronger desire amongst women torecognise their own needs and not sac-rifice themselves. Men can’t seem to be

able to keep up with women.Hence, many women opt

out of marriage if theycome to a point when

they feel exploitedand prefer even tohave babies andbring them upon their own assinglemothers,although that’sstill not easy.”

While manybelieve, there is a

dip in weddingmarket in France,

Virmani explained,“There is one element

that continues to exercisethe same fascination since the

19th century, it is the bridal dress.Folkloric costumes, and customs haveon the other hand receded. The othermajor increment has been in terms ofmarriage.”

She talked about the expenses thatone has to incur when get married inFrance. “In the Paris region, the bud-get for the marriage is 18 per cent high-er than in the provinces. The meal, thecaterer and cake are the most expensivepart (61 per cent of the budget); thenthe reception hall (12 per cent), then thehoneymoon (8 per cent) and then thedresses (8 per cent). An average cost fora marriage is around 8000 euro. Andwhat’s more hard is that the cost is justfor 70 guests.”

Drawing a comparison betweenIndian and French marriages, she said,“French weddings are not so lavish orexuberant. The number of guests issmaller, the wedding banquet is moreformal and more structured. There arenot so many pre-wedding ceremonies,and no exchange of gifts between fam-ilies. Everything is very measured andcalculated in France, from the weddingexpenses to the number of people invit-ed. French weddings are less bling-bling.”

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She hurriedly bit into a cold sandwichas she brushed her long tresses to get

ready for the performance. “I have had nolunch and I need to catch up on somesleep too,” she said adjusting her glitter-ing bindi. “Music gives you that energyto keep going,” smiled Supriya Shah, asitarist clad in a maroon silk sari. Sheopened the evening with raag Yaman. Shewas later on joined in by Sanjeev Shankaron shehnai. Together they presented athumri in raag Mishra Khamaj. They wereaccompanied by Vinod Lele on tabla.

All fresh-breath energy, they per-formed at a festival organised by the RaviShankar Centre to pay tribute to the mae-stro on his 97th birth anniversary.

The highlight of the evening was avocal performance by Malini Awasthi.Her deep-throated voice resonated andstruck a chord even as her music toucheda crescendo. And even though thewords were not comprehensibleuntil explained (as she sings inAwadhi, Bhojpuri andBundelkhandi too), you could nothelp but sway to the music of folk.Malini Awasthi held stage and theaudience with her tremendousenergetic and passionate singing.She started with a thumri,Teri qatili nigahon nemaara, then movedto dadra, Tumkoaane main,t u m k ob u l a n em a i n .B o t ha r e1 0 0 -y e a r -old. Adiscipleof GirijaD e v i ,M a l i n isings inA w a d h i ,B u n d e l k h a n d iand Bhojpuridialects. “It is

one thing to incorporatean old composition and

another to stay true to its origi-nality. The composition is sung in

just the traditional way. It starts in a dif-ferent rhythm but with antara it takes acomplete turn,” said the singer.

She sang a part of the song Dil meramuft ka in Saif Ali Khan starrer AgentVinod. In Chaar Footiya Chhokre, featur-ing Seema Biswas and Soha Ali Khan,Malini sang one of her most popular folknumbers, Saiyaan mile larkaiyan.

“His was a full, well-lived life duringwhich he had truly immortalised himselfas one of the biggest icons of world music,one of the greatest-ever sitarists, a huge-ly gifted composer of film music, a dar-ing experimenter with an amazing abil-ity to coalesce diverse musical traditions,and, above all, an interpreter of the Indianclassical music.”

She started her performance andsaid, “He was the face of the Indian music

for the world. Classical to the core, hewas completely modern in his

worldview. Ravi Shankar wasour quintessential classicalmodernist.”

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English cricketers led by all-rounder Ben Stokes andpacer Tymal Mills turned out to be the hottest pur-chases at the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction

here on Monday, which also saw No. 1-ranked T20International bowler Imran Tahir and India pacerIshant Sharma failing to find any takers.

Rising Pune Supergiants (RPSG), who removedMahendra Singh Dhoni from captaincy on Sunday,

bought Stokesfor a whopping�14.50 croreafter defeatingbids from

M u m b a iI n d i a n s ,D e l h iDaredevils

(DD), RoyalChallengers

Bangalore (RCB)and Sunrisers Hyderabad

(SRH)."This is a conscious strat-

egy, we wanted an all-rounder onthe team," RPSG owner Sanjeev

Goenka said. Promising pacer Mills also emerged

another hot property, with the RCB final-ly managing to lay their hands on him for a

whopping �12 crore.Interestingly, Stokes' limited-overs captain Eoin

Morgan was taken at a base price of �2 crore by KingsXI Punjab while all-rounder Chris Woakes was boughtby Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for �4 crore.

But the surprise of the morning session was 18-year-old leg-spinner Rashid Khan and all-rounder MohammedNabi being bought by defending champions SRH, mak-ing them the first Afghanistan cricketers to be boughtby an IPL franchise.

While Rashid was snapped up for a whopping �4crore, Nabi went for �30 lakh. Afghanistan captain AsgharStanikzai, however, joined the likes of India's IshantSharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Pragyan Ozha, SouthAfrican Imran Tahir, West Indians Darren Bravo andMarlon Samuels, to remain unsold.

The afternoon session saw Australians NathanCoulter Nile, Daniel Christian, Hyderabad's MohammedSiraj and England's Jason Roy bagging lucrative deals fromfranchises.

After being left out in the morning session, CoulterNile emerged the hottest pick at a whopping �3.5 crore

for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) while 22-year-oldmedium pacer Siraj turned out to be the surprise pack-age going for �2.6 crore to the Sunrisers Hyderabad(SRH).

New Zealand's swashbuckling opener Martin Guptill,who surprisingly failed to find any takers in the morn-ing session went for �50 lakh to Kings XI Punjab whileEngland's Chris Jordan went to SRH for the same price.

Railways' leggie Karn Sharma was bought by theMumbai Indians for a whopping �3.2 crore whileJharkhand pacer Varun Aaron went to the KXIP for �2.8crore.

Rising Pune Supergiants (RPSG) doled out for Rs 1crore for all-rounder Christian and Gujarat Lions paidthe same price for English opening batsman Roy.

Among others, Delhi Daredevils wona competitive bidding war with Kings XIPunjab, to invest �5 crore in South Africanpacer Kasigo Rabada while New Zealandfast bowler Trent Boult also was picked upfor �5 crore by KKR. Mumbai Indiansbought retired Australian pacer MitchellJohnson for �2 crore.

Australian pacer Pat Cummins wasalso bought by the Delhi Daredevils for awhopping �4.5 crore along with TamilNadu spinner M. Ashwin for �1 crore. SriLanka skipper Angelo Matthews alsowent to Delhi Daredevils for �2 crore alongwith New Zealand all-rounder CoreyAnderson for �1 crore.

Pune bagged Bengal batsman ManojTiwary for �50 lakh while West Indianbatsman Darren Bravo also succeeded toattract KKR for his base price of �50 lakh.

Discarded India pacer Munaf Patelwent to his home franchise Gujarat Lionsfor �30 lakh while former West Indianskipper Darren Sammy was picked byKXIP for �30 lakh.

Mumbai Indians invested �30 lakh eachin Jharkhand batsman Saurabh Tiwary and Sri Lankan31-year-old batsman Asela Gunaratne. Hyderabad toospent �30 lakh for Australian Ben Laughlin while RoyalChallengers Bangalore (RCB) put an equal amount onAussie fast bowler Billy Stanlake.

West Indian stumper Nicholas Pooran was taken byMumbai Indians for �30 lakh while Gujarat bought pacerManpreet Gony for �60 lakh.

Among the uncapped domestic players, TamilNadu left-arm pacer T. Natarajan emerged one of thebiggest gainers -- he was sold for �3 crore to Kings XIPunjab, which is 30 times his base price of �10 lakh.

Rookie Karnataka spinner Krishnappa Gowthamand Rajasthan medium pacer Aniket Choudhary weresold for 20 times their base price of Rs 10 lakh. WhileGowtham was bought by the Mumbai Indians,Choudhary went to RCB for �2 crore.

Kerala medium pacer Basil Thampy went to GujaratLions for �85 lakh after Rising Pune Supergiants left thebid. His base price was at �10 lakh. The Gujarat fran-chise also roped in Rajasthan pacer Nathu Singh for �50lakh.

Uttar Pradesh wicketkeeper Eklavya Dwivedi andveteran Mumbai leggie Pravin Tambe went to SunrisersHyderabad for �75 lakh and �10 lakh respectively, whileHaryana southpaw Rahul Tewatia was sold to Kings XIPunjab for �25 lakh.

Mumbai stumper-batsman Aditya Tareand Maharashtra middle order batsmanAnkeet Bawane were bought by DelhiDaredevils for �25 lakh and �10 lakhrespectively.

All-rounder Pawan Negi, who rose tofame for being the costliest domestic play-er last season at �8.5 crore, was bought byRCB for a mere �1 crore, thanks to his dis-astrous campaign for DD in 2016.

2&����'3()�2�4*��%�*/"�2&��22��02���5(�"Despite holding the top bowling

spots in both the International CricketCouncil (ICC) One-day Internationals(ODI) and Twenty20I rankings, SouthAfrican leg-spinner Imran Tahir failedto attract any buyer in the ongoingIndian Premier League (IPL) auctionhere on Monday.

Tahir, who missed out in the morn-ing session, once again failed to gener-ate any interests from any of the fran-chises in the post-lunch session.

*�/� .�:*//��(��(22(��24�'�(;(�!�"4�3/�Wishing all the franchises in the Indian Premier

League (IPL) after the player auction here onMonday, the tournament's Chairman Rajeev Shuklahoped the 10th edition of the cash-rich league willbe better than the previous editions.

"I am confident that IPL 10 will be better thanthe other editions. Best wishes to all the teams,"Shukla said after 66 players, including 27 overseasplayers, were sold to the franchises at the auction.

The IPL will be played from April 5 to May 21,with the opening match and final scheduled to takeplace in Hyderabad

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Ben Stokes may have fetcheda record price at the IPL

auctions on Monday but theclamour to sign uncappedIndian talent showed that thefranchises and their scoutshave been diligent with theirhomework.

If one tries to decode howthe mindset of a franchiseowner work, it needs to beunderstood that some of theperceptions about tried andtested players work eitherways -- at times to a player'sadvantage and at other timesto their disadvantage.

Ishant Sharma sufferedfor a huge base price of �2crore as he went unsold dur-ing both the rounds.

"Ishant Sharma shouldn'thave kept his base price at �2crore. Firstly, he doesn't playfor India in T20s and not con-sidered a white ball bowler. Heis only playing Test cricket.Ideally, he should have shedhis ego and kept his baseprice in the range of Rs 30lakh. Varun Aaron gained justbecause of that even thoughIshant probably has morequality," an IPL team top boss,who was at the auction tabletold PTI today. Left-arm seam-er Thangarasu Natarajan oroff-spinner KrishnappaGowtham gained with theirperformances in Tamil NaduPremier League (TNPL) andKarnataka Premier Leaguerespectively. Natarajan got Rs3 Crore from KXIP whileGowtham �2 Crore fromMumbai Indians.

"Natarajan's ability to bowlslowers and block-hole deliv-eries at the death clinched it forhim. He was consistent inTNPL. IPL is a different ballgame but with someone like

Virender Sehwag guiding himand Murali Vijay for compa-ny, Natarajan can onlyimprove. And don't forget, heis a regular in Tamil Nadu'sRanji team too," an IPL talentscout said. Cheteshwar Pujarahad reasonably nominal baseprice of Rs 50 lakh but beingdubbed as 'Test specialist'became his undoing with acareer strike rate of 105 plus in55 T20 games that he hasplayed. "I hope the perceptionschanges," Pujara had recentlysaid in Hyderabad but at times

heady comparisons withRahul 'The Wall' Dravid canhave its own pitfalls. Result noIPL contract for second suc-cessive year. Irfan Pathan gota reality check of a differentkind. What was spoken aboutin hushed tones in Indiancricketing circles hit himsmack on the face.

The running joke aboutPathan Junior is that he is a"January to June" player, whoperforms just before auctionsonly to fizzle out when domes-tic season starts in October.

Irfan may feel hard doneby but a drop in pace, notbeing the biggest of hitters did-n't help his cause either eventhough there were a couple ofgood performances in theMushtaq Ali T20 that becamea talking point in social media.

What was Irfan's baneturned out to be a boon for acertain Basil Thampi fromKerala who got a Rs 85 lakhdeal from Gujarat Lions.

The live matches atMushtaq Ali Trophy showedThampi hitting 140 clicks reg-ularly and being able to deliv-er yorkers during death oversregularly. He can get hit butwill only get better with time.

If perception works neg-atively for Pujara, it workedpositively for Rajasthan's left-arm pacer Aniket Chaudhary,who got a Rs 2 crore deal fromRoyal Challengers. Aniket hasbeen regular at Indian Testteam nets and skipper ViratKohli has regularly faced him.Kohli has an idea of whatAniket can bring to the tableand no wonder RCB wentwhole hog for him at the auc-tion.

Mohammed Siraj, wholanded a Rs 2.6 crore deal fromSunrisers Hyderabad, haspicked 40 plus wickets in theRanji Trophy, has been onnational selector's fringe radarplaying in Irani Trophy as wellas warm-up game againstAustralia A. VVS Laxman hassome idea about Hyderabaditalent and hence was picked.Pawan Negi and Karn Sharmanot even close to selection inIndian team got the dealspurely being specialists in theshortest format. Negi being aleft-arm spinner can be usedas a restrictive option andKarn with his googly as anattacking option.

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First Lancer area of Hyderabad, adja-cent to the posh Banjara Hills nor-

mally comes into the news for itspoverty and unemployment.

But on Monday, there was a causefor celebration in the densely populat-ed area as a local lad made it big on thenational cricket scene.

Mohammed Siraj, an uncappedcricket player, was picked up by theSunrisers Hyderabad for an impressive�2.6 crore at the auction for the IndianPremier League teams on Monday.

22 year old Mohammed Siraj, a fastbowler who was presently playing forRest of India in the Irani TrophyMatch, is the son of an auto rickshawdriver Mohammed Ghouse and cameup in life hard way.

For a lad from a lower middle classbackground, the local ground provid-ed the first pitch to test his hand at fastbowling and helped him in inching for-ward and realizing his dream.

His first major break was playingfor Hyderabad and playing a key rolein taking the home team to RanjiTrophy quarterfinals for the first timeafter a gap of five years.

Siraj's nine wicket haul againstfavourites Mumbai created a stir andforced everybody to sit up and take noteof the new kid on the block. It was fol-lowed up by another stirring perfor-

mance when he took another ninewickets in Inter State T20 tournamentat 6.57 runs a piece.

His 41 wickets haul in Ranji sea-son this year earned him the place inthe Rest of India and India A side.While playing for the Rest of India hewas not able to take a wicket in the firstinnings but he showed his ability withthe bat when he scored a gritty 26 at No11. In the second inning he took twowickets for 39 runs.

Expressing his happiness over hisselection by the home side SunrisersHyderabad, Mohammed Siraj expressedhope that he will be able to realize histwo dreams.

"First I would like to see my fathertaking rest and stop driving auto rick-shaw for a living which he has beendoing for the last three decades. SecondI would like to buy a new home for myfamily", he said.

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Not too worried about sledg-ing, stylish batsman Ajinkya

Rahane on Monday said theIndia team has plans in place foreach of the Australian playersand would look to play attackingcricket during the four-Testseries, starting on Thursday inPune.

India and Australia havebeen involved in many verbalduels in the past and this time too

skipper Steven Smithhas made it clear that histeam won't shy awayfrom sledging theIndians, even as hisdeputy David Warnerhas indicated that theywill not sledge the in-form India skipper ViratKohli. "We don't know ifthey will sledge or not.We have some plansagainst each of them, Ican't discuss that here,

skill wise or sledgingwise, there is defi-nitely a plan. Weknow that Australianplayers play mindgames. Our aimwould be to domi-nate them in everyaspect," Rahane toldreporters here. "Wewill look to play pos-itive cricket, attackingcricket not onlyagainst the spinners

but all the bowlers. Practicegame and the Test match iscompletely different, so we haveto read the condition well andplay according to the situation,that would be the key," he added.

Rahane said India wouldlook to focus on own strengthsinstead of losing sleep over thecombinations of the opponentduring the Test series. “For us itwill be important to play to ourpotential and not focus on theirbowling attack, strategies.”

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Afghanistan cricket broke a new barrier whenMohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan became

the first from the war-torn nation to be picked inthe Indian Premier League (IPL) auction, here onMonday.

Both Nabi and Khan players were bought bySunrisers Hyderabad, for �30 lakh and �four crorerespectively. Five cricketers from Afghanistan wereincluded in the auction for the first time.

It was a bit surprising that seasoned all-rounderNabi was snapped up at his base price while leg-spinner Khan got the benefit of a biding warbetween Sunrisers and Mumbai Indians and waseventually sold for eight times his base price.Bothplayers are currently with the national team inZimbabwe. 18-year-old Khan, known for his goo-gly, has 62 international wickets to his name, 31each in ODIs and T20 Internationals. Nabi is oneof the senior most Afghan cricketers, having rep-resented the country in 72 ODIs and 52 T20Is.

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Legendary Pakistan all-rounderShahid Afridi announced his

retirement from international crick-et, ending an illustrious and some-times controversial 21-year career.

The 36-year-old star had alreadyquit Tests in 2010 and ODI cricketafter the 2015 World Cup but stillskippered the Pakistan Twenty20

team at the 2016 world champi-onships in India. He stepped downas captain after the tournamentalthough he retained slender hopesof continuing his career in the sport'sshortest format as a player.

"I have said goodbye to interna-tional cricket," said Afridi aftersmashing a 28-ball 54 in a PakistanSuper League match for PeshawarZalmi in Sharjah. "I am playing for

my fans and will continue to play thisleague for another two years but it'sgoodbye from international cricket.

"Now my foundation is impor-tant for me. I have played with seri-ousness and in a professional way formy country."

Nicknamed 'Boom Boom', Afridihad been a fan favourite since he burstonto the scene in 1996, striking a 37-ball one-day century against Sri

Lanka in only his second match to seta world record that was unbeaten for18 years. He became known as a leg-spin bowling all-rounder in the sec-ond half of his career and was instru-mental in Pakistan's early successesin T20, including their 2009 victory.

His blistering breakthrough cen-tury in Nairobi in 1996 was only sur-passed by New Zealand's CoreyAnderson's 36-ball hundred against

West Indies at Queenstown in 2014.South African AB de Villiers then

bettered the record further with a 31-ball century, also against the WestIndies in 2015.

Afridi's maverick style alsobrought him a one-Test and two-match ODI ban after he was chargedwith using his foot to tamper with thepitch during a Test against Englandin Faisalabad in 2005.

Afridi finishes his internationalcareer having played just 27 Testmatches which yielded 1,176 runswith a highest score of 156 and 48wickets. He played 398 one-dayinternationals with 8,064 runs, ahighest score of 124 while taking 395wickets with his leg spin.

His Twenty20 international CVsaw him play 98 matches with 1,405runs and a career-leading 97 wickets.

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After the Champions Leagueknockout phase was openedby teams with a combined 24

European titles, the spotlight shiftsto those with far less of a continentalpedigree.

Just one of this week's fourRound of 16 matches features for-mer European champions, withFC Porto and Juventus — both two-time winners — meeting inPortugal on Wednesday.

Atletico Madrid, which has theundesired record of being a three-time losing finalist, plays its first legaway at Bayer Leverkusen the pre-vious night. A return to Europeanaction should provide some respitefrom domestic struggles forLeverkusen, which is mid-table inGermany.

Leicester's plight at home inEngland is far more perilous. Theailing Premier League champions

are only one point above the rele-gation zone as they resume theirfirst Champions League campaignwith a trip to Sevilla, which is fly-ing high in third place in Spain.

There's a first-leg meetingbetween the Premier League's sec-ond-place team and France's topteam on Tuesday when ManchesterCity hosts Monaco. Although Cityhas been one of world soccer'sbiggest spenders over the lastdecade, it has yet to progress beyondthe semifinals in the ChampionsLeague as it seeks European silver-ware to firmly establish itself in theelite.

/(;(�3�"('�;"��2/(2*0&�Leverkusen's inconsistent sea-

son - the team is 20 points behindBayern Munich after 21 Bundesligagames - has led to persistent spec-ulation on the future of coachRoger Schmidt, now in his thirdseason at the club. Two victories

have eased the pressure on Schmidtsomewhat, while the emergence of17-year-old Kai Havertz has alsoprovided a welcome distraction.

Leverkusen's youngest everplayer in the Bundesliga, Havertzprovided three assists in the last twogames and displayed technical abil-ity and maturity.

Regardless of Havertz's pres-ence, Leverkusen striker StefanKiessling sees Atletico, which lost toReal Madrid in last season's final,as the favorite on Tuesday. "Atleticohas strengthened further since ourduel two years ago," Kiessling said,referring to the 2015 shootout lossin the same Round of 16.

0*25�;"��&'�0&City's top priority will be to keep

attacking midfielder Bernardo Silvaquiet. Diminutive in stature, butextremely quick, the skillful Silvaalso has an eye for goal, a lethallyaccurate shot from outside the

penalty area and makes great runsinto the box to score with his head.

Silva has already scored againstPremier League opposition thisseason, when Monaco 2-1 wonagainst Tottenham during the groupstage at Wembley Stadium.

"He's our little phenomenon,"Monaco fullback Djibril Sidibesaid. "He can dribble past two orthree players and he's unpre-dictable."

City, in Pep Guardiola's firstseason in charge, is equally unpre-dictable. Having established a four-point lead early in the season, it isnow eight points behind leaderChelsea. City also experienced a set-back in the FA Cup on Saturday,when it was held by second-tierHuddersfield, although Guardiolamade eight changes for the game ashe rested players. Guardiola haswon all seven previous Round of 16matches in charge of Barcelona andBayern Munich.

�2(��:&�3�*"�3(5@Monaco midfielder Joao

Moutinho emphasised teamworkwas the key to victory over Englishfootball giants Manchester City inUEFA Champions League last-16first-leg on Tuesday.

"To beat City, we have to play asa team," he told the club's website onMonday, a day before the clash at theEtihad Stadium, reports Efe newsagency. Moutinho, joining Monacoin 2013, enjoyed his life during thepast four years, especially when theteam was at the top of the table.

"I've enjoyed playing forMonaco for almost four years now.Undoubtedly it's more fun to playwhen you're on a winning path,which is our case this season. We'recurrently at the top of the league,"said the Portuguese midfielder.

"We have a good team, a youngsquad that gives its all. Every day wewant to give our 100% to win thegame," he added.

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Having already booked their berths in theICC Women's World Cup, India and

South Africa would have a chance to performfreely on the big stage and put their best footforward when they clash in the final of thequalifying tournament, here on Tuesday.

These two teams were assured of placesin this year's Women's World Cup with around to go in the Super Six stage of the tour-nament. Both India and South Africa were afew notches above other sides in the 10-teamtournament that not only took the top fouroutfits to the ICC Women's World Cup butalso got them places in the ICC Women'sChampionship.

Sri Lanka and Pakistan are the otherteams to have qualified from this tournamentto join Australia, England, New Zealand andthe West Indies, who booked places in the pin-nacle event by finishing in the top four in theICC Women's Championship.

Bangladesh and Ireland retained theirODI status for the next four years by enter-ing the Super Six stage of the tournament.

Both India and South Africa reached thefinal on a high. While India defeated Pakistanby seven wickets and South Africa beat Irelandby 36 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis-Sternmethod in a rain-reduced match.

India is the only unbeaten team in thetournament while South Africa's only loss sofar has been against Mitahli Raj-led side.

South Africa had defeated India in a prac-tice match ahead of this tournament but thelatter prevailed in their fixture in the tour-nament proper, winning by 49 runs in theSuper Six stage. India defended a total of 205with ease at the P Sara Stadium, which is alsothe venue for the final.

India captain Mithali, who heads the listof run-scorers with 207 runs in ODIs in thistournament (matches against teams withoutODI status do not classify as ODIs), had ledher side's charge with a fluent 64.

But India would also take confidence

from the fact that both pace and spin did thetrick in defending the target. New-ball bowlerShikha Pandey took four wickets while left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht grabbed three wick-ets in that match.

"Our bowling looks good, especially thespin attack. But in batting our concern is theopening partnership, especially in the first 10overs -- whether we bat or field, we need agood start from the openers...It is also imper-ative that the middle-order batters be amongthe runs," Mithali said. "Spinners will be effec-tive on these pitches but if the fast bowlers arevery disciplined and bowl in the corridor, itis difficult to convert them into runs, that iswhat we have seen in this tournament. Thesewickets test a batter's skill of playing turn andit's also about building that momentum."

For South Africa, 17-year-old openerLaura Wolvaardt and Chloe Tryon have comeup with crucial performances while the leg-spin pair of captain Dane van Niekerk andSune Luus have had consistent success. Pacebowlers Shabnim Ismail and MarizanneKapp too have been effective.

But South Africa's challenge will beagainst India spinners Bisht, RajeshwariGayakwad, Poonam Yadav and DeeptiSharma.

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Lionel Messi scored a 90th-minutepenalty for his second goal of the night

to give Barcelona a 2-1 win over lowlyLeganes in the Spanish league on Sunday.

Messi's spot-kick, following a ques-tionable penalty after Neymar tumbled inthe area, saved Barcelona from a seconddemoralizing result this week after a 4-0loss at Paris Saint-Germain in the

Champions League on Tuesday.Coach Luis Enrique, however,

acknowledged that the match was far fromuplifting for a team that is staring at elim-ination from European competition and istrailing Real Madrid in La Liga. "We fore-saw that it could be a complicated matchgiven where we were coming from in theChampions League," said Luis Enrique,who has been heavily criticized for the lossat PSG. "Everything was difficult for us, and

that after having scored at the start. It's clearwe were lacking confidence for stretches.The game was finally decided by a penal-ty, but considering how we are right now,we will take it."

Leganes was clinging to a well-deserved point when Neymar stumbledover Martin Mantovani in the area. Thecontact was enough to secure a penalty andMessi's league-leading 19th goal of the sea-son. The match couldn't have started bet-

ter for the hosts, when Messi tapped in LuisSuarez's cross after just four minutes. ButLeganes, a modest club from Madrid thatearned topflight promotion for the firsttime last season, never lost its poise andthreatened whenever it emerged fromdefending its area.

Goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegenhad to make four saves of goal-boundstrikes before Leganes's Unai Lopez got onepast him for the equalizer in the 71st.

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Manchester United turned toPaul Pogba and Zlatan

Ibrahimovic to come to the hold-ers' rescue and eliminate second-tier Blackburn in the FA Cup onSunday.

The duo came off the benchwith around 30 minutes remain-ing at Ewood Park and combinedto complete United's comeback.Ibrahimovic ran onto Pogba'slong, high pass to clinch the 2-1victory and set up a quarterfinalreunion for manager JoseMourinho with Chelsea.

A day after three PremierLeague teams endured difficultiesagainst lower-league opposition,Tottenham was taking no risks atFulham. The north London clubstarted Harry Kane and its top-scorer delivered, netting a hattrick as Fulham was swept aside 3-0.

United, the record 20-timeEnglish league champions, trailedfor 10 minutes in the first half atthe home of the 1995 PremierLeague champions, who have beenout of the top-flight since 2012.

On a rare start for Jose

Mourinho's side, Marcus Rashfordcanceled out Danny Graham'sopener. The striker was playedthrough by Henrikh Mkhitaryanand he ghosted past goalkeeperJason Steele before slotting into anunguarded net in the 27th minute.

It took until 75th minute forUnited to find a winner. Pogbasent the ball over the top of theBlackburn defense for the 35-year-old Ibrahimovic, who nettedhis 24th goal of his first season atUnited.

"The team did well before thechanges too but in the second half,me and Paul came in to boost thatup a bit," Ibrahimovic said.

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