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12
I n a huge diplomatic win for India, the United Nations (UN) on Wednesday designat- ed Masood Azhar as a “global terrorist” after China lifted its hold on a proposal to blacklist the Pakistan-based Jaish-e- Mohammed (JeM) chief, a decade after New Delhi approached the world body for the first time on the issue. “Big, small, all join togeth- er. Masood Azhar designated as a terrorist in @UN Sanctions list. Grateful to all for their sup- port,” India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin tweeted. The UN committee listed Azhar on May 1, 2019, as being associated with Al-Qaeda for “participating in the financ- ing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in con- junction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of ”, “supplying, selling or trans- ferring arms and related mate- rial to”, “recruiting for”, “other- wise supporting acts or activi- ties of”, and “other acts or activities indicating associa- tion with” the JeM. However, there was no mention of the deadly Pulwama attack in J&K, which was claimed by the JeM. A UNSC designation will subject Azhar to an assets freeze, travel ban and an arms embargo. An assets freeze under the sanctions committee requires that all countries freeze without delay the funds and other financial assets or eco- nomic resources of designated individuals and entities. “This is for us a significant outcome because we have been at it for several years. The first effort that we made in this regard was in 2009. More recently, we have been persis- tent diligent and in a subter- ranean manner making all our efforts towards this goal. Today that goal stands achieved,” Akbaruddin said. “All in all it’s been a happy day, a good day for all this who would like to pursue the approach of zero tolerance for terrorism,” he said. Commenting on the listing of Azhar, Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal said, “The current listing proposal has been agreed after all political references, includ- ing removal of attempts to link it with Pulwama and malign- ing” the struggle of the Kashmiris. Faisal said that Pakistan will immediately enforce the sanctions imposed on Azhar. He also rejected the world body’s move as a “victory for India and validation of its stance” as projected by the Indian media. China earlier removed its hold on the proposal moved by France, the UK and the US in the UNSC’s 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee in February just days after the deadly Pulwama terror attack. A veto-wielding perma- nent member of the UN Security Council, China was the sole hold-out in the 15- nation body on the bid to blacklist Azhar, blocking attempts by placing a “techni- cal hold”. All decisions of the committee are taken through consensus. In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China lifted tech- nical hold after Beijing found no objection to the listing pro- posal following a careful study of the “revised materials.” “Recently, relevant coun- tries revised and re-submitted the materials for the listing proposal to the 1267 Committee. After careful study of the revised materials and taking into consideration the opinions of relevant parties concerned, China does not have objection to the listing proposal,” he said. The US welcomed the list- ing of Azhar and sought “sus- tained actions” from Pakistan against terrorism, consistent with its international obligations. I n a significant disclosure, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday said the party has fielded only such candidates who could either win or cut into the votes of the BJP to help the Opposition candidates. Claiming that the BJP would perform poorly in Uttar Pradesh due to the strong fight put up by Congress candi- dates, Priyanka said, “The BJP will suffer a major setback in UP and lose badly in those seats where Congress is strong and our candidates are giving a tough fight.” She was address- ing a poll meeting in Baghola area of Rae Bareli. However, the Congress leader also admitted that in places where the Congress can- didates were weak, they would only dent the vote bank of the BJP, thereby paving the victo- ry of Opposition candidates. “The Congress is not at all cutting into the votes of the SP- BSP-RLD alliance in UP. We have fielded either winnable candidates or those with the potential to damage the BJP’s chances in the State,” Priyanka explained. Asked whether she was afraid of contesting against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi, she shot back, “If Priyanka Gandhi gets scared, she will sit at home and not engage in politics. I am in politics with good intentions and I will be there.” The Congress leader also hit out at the BJP for what she called its “obsession” with the Gandhi family and not caring to focus on redressing people’s problems. Asked whether Rahul Gandhi could become the Prime Minister, Priyanka said, “My brother will prove to be a good Prime Minister as he lis- tens to the people and tries to redress their problems. But it is the public who has to decide whether he will become the PM or not.” Political observers feel the anti-BJP vote may split between the Congress and the SP-BSP alliance, benefitting the BJP. T he West Bengal Government and the Election Commission are locked in yet another round of confrontation after the poll watchdog on Wednesday decided to replace State police personnel by that of the Central forces at all polling booths for the remaining phases. This invited a strong reac- tion from Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who questioned the constitu- tional validity of the steps being “taken under the instruc- tion of the BJP Government” and said law and order was a State subject and the EC should not interfere with it. According to the EC, all polling stations will be covered by Central forces as static post- ings and nearly 578 companies of Central forces have been deployed for this purpose. The EC also made it clear that nei- ther West Bengal Police nor Central forces are allowed inside the polling booth (in the room where machines and EVMs are kept at the time of voting. “They can enter if and when the presiding officer calls them in,” the EC said. Besides EC’s Special Police Observer for West Bengal, 142 Quick Response Teams, manned by Central forces, will be kept ready to reach any place of incident. For the fourth phase of polling on Monday, 100 companies of paramilitary were moved from Jammu & Kashmir to West Bengal. Slamming the EC decision, Mamata said, “It is very clear under whose instructions such steps are being taken, defying the very federal nature of the Constitution, which makes law and order as the State subject.” Mamata earlier said in an election rally that a parallel administration was being run in Bengal despite the fact that there was an elected Government in place. Wondering why some retired officers (special observers) were being overactive during the elections, she said, “They are changing officers every day, they are abusing Bengal by comparing it with Bihar and making political statements. But the people of Bengal will not tol- erate this.” T he body of a 25-year-old woman doctor with her throat slit was found in her rented flat in Ranjeet Nagar of central Delhi on Wednesday. The deceased, Dr Garima Mishra, belonging to Uttar Pradesh, was preparing for Doctor of Medicine (MD) entrance examination, said police, adding that they suspect another doctor identified as Chandra Prakash Verma staying in the same building is behind the murder. Police said as Verma is absconding, they have detained his roommate Rakesh, who is a doctor. “Verma was close to the victim. Like Garima, Verma was also an MD aspirant,” said police. A CCTV footage shows Verma leaving the victim’s house. Deputy Commissioner of Police, Central district, Mandeep Singh Randhawa, said a PCR call was received around 12 am following which a police team rushed to the spot and found the body of the doc- tor in her two-room apartment on the third floor. T he nomination papers of Samajwadi Party candidate and sacked Border Security Force (BSF) jawan Tej Bahadur, a resident of Haryana, were rejected by the returning offi- cer on Wednesday. According to returning officer, the nomination papers of Tej were found invalid on the basis of provisions of disqual- ification for dismissal for cor- ruption or disloyalty. Tej filed nomination papers first as an Independent candi- date and then as SP candidate when on the last day of nomi- nation, the party gave him its authorisation letter, creating confusion as the SP had earli- er declared former Congress mayoral candidate Shalini Yadav as its candidate. W ikileaks co-founder Julian Assange was on Wednesday sentenced to 50 weeks in jail by a UK court for breaching his bail conditions. Assange had been found guilty of breaching the UK’s Bail Act by Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London last month after his arrest at the Ecuadorian Embassy, where he had sought refuge in 2012 following his bail over sexual assault charge. Assange lawyer said his client was “gripped” by fears of rendition to the US over the years because of his work with whistle-blowing website. Detailed report on P12 S ilence speaks louder than words. And that was evident at a recent rally of the Prime Minister when his Bihar ally Chief Minister Nitish Kumar remained seated for a while while Narendra Modi led his supporters in fervently chant- ing “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and “Vande Mataram”. The video of the rally at Darbhanga that has gone viral shows Modi and others stand- ing and repeatedly raising the BJP’s battle cry “Vande Mataram...” while thrusting their clenched fists into the air. Those following the lead included LJP chief and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan. Nitish, whose party JD(U) has made no bones about its differences with the BJP over contentious issues like Triple Talaq and abrogation of Article 370, stayed put in his seat for a while with just a ghost of a smile crossing his face. The footage aired by a few news channels left social media abuzz with speculation about the next move of the canny Bihar satrap who has made many a turnaround in the last about half decade. A journalist tweeted the video footage with the remark “The curious case of Nitish Kumar. Once the challenger and now a follower”, while another took the microblog- ging website to sarcastically say “The enthusiasm of Nitish Kumar is noteworthy”. Interestingly, Modi, while addressing the rally had casti- gated former Bihar minister and RJD candidate for Darbhanga Abdul Bari Siddiqui for his statement that he could not recite the national song as it went against his monotheis- tic religious beliefs. When asked about the JD(U) president’s gesture, party spokesman Rajiv Ranjan Prasad said his party was of the view that one’s reverence for the country could be shown in many ways and, of course, chanting Vande Mataram and Bharat Mata ki Jai were among those. “But ours is a diverse cul- ture and we ought to respect each other’s customs. People must not be coerced into exhibiting their patriotism in one particular way,” he told PTI. Prasad recalled the sacri- fices of Paramveer Chakra awardee Havildar Abdul Hamid in the 1965 war and India’s victory over Pakistan in 1971, made possible by the mil- itary acumen of the likes of Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw and Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Aurora. “It has to be kept in mind that the country belongs to all and nobody should be forced to do or say anything against his or her wish to prove their loyalty to the nation,” Prasad said. T he Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday barred BJP candidate from Bhopal Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur from campaigning for 72 hours starting from Thursday for her remarks on former ATS chief Hemant Karkare and Babri Masjid demolition. The poll panel “strongly condemned” her remarks” and “warned her “not to repeat the misconduct in future”. The ban would come into force from 6.00 am, May 2 (Thursday). The EC said though Pragya had apologised for her statement about Hemant Karkare, the Commission has found it “unwarranted”. I n a major tragedy that befell Maharashtra on its founda- tion day, 15 commandos and a civilian driver were killed on Wednesday after Maoists blew up their vehicles in Kurkheda tehsil of Gadchiroli district in eastern Maharashtra. The IED blast, whose impact left a large crater on the road, came hours after Naxals torched 27 vehicles of a road construction compa- ny earlier in the day, police said. The C-60 commandos of Gadchiroli police were travel- ling in two vehicles for Naxal combing operations, when they found several fallen trees block- ing the road leading to an iso- lated stretch of the road in a forest area. When the security personnel alighted to clear the road, landmines planted by Maoists blew up, leaving 16 personnel dead. The incident comes near- ly one year after the security agencies killed as many as 40 Maoists in two biggest-ever Naxal encounters undertaken in the jungles of Gadchiroli. In the twin encounters that took place on April 22-23, 2018, the security personnel had nearly eliminated all the Maoists oper- ating in the area. The Wednesday’s attack is being seen as an attempt by the Maoists to avenge last year’s twin anti-Naxal encounters and to voice their frustration over 71.98 per percentage polling witnessed in the first phase of Lok Sabha polls on April 11— the highest record- ed in the four phases of polling in Maharashtra. “The high polling percent- age in the Gadchiroli district has rattled the Maoist leader- ship. The Maoists had given a call to boycott polls and also disrupt polls. They could not succeed,” Special Inspector General of Police (in-charge of Anti Naxal Operation) Sharad Shelar said. The shocking attack came nearly ten hours after the Maoists set on fire at least 36 private vehicles and two site offices of a road construction firm along the Purada- Malewada-Yerkhade stretch of the Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh national highway number 136. RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718 Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015

Transcript of ˆ%’(˘ #˚ $˜ ˛ %˝ ˛ ˝ ˜’) ˜ ˝ › uploads › 2019 › epaper › ... · Chandra...

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In a huge diplomatic win forIndia, the United Nations

(UN) on Wednesday designat-ed Masood Azhar as a “globalterrorist” after China lifted itshold on a proposal to blacklistthe Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief, adecade after New Delhiapproached the world body forthe first time on the issue.

“Big, small, all join togeth-er. Masood Azhar designated asa terrorist in @UN Sanctionslist. Grateful to all for their sup-port,” India’s PermanentRepresentative to the UN SyedAkbaruddin tweeted.

The UN committee listedAzhar on May 1, 2019, asbeing associated with Al-Qaedafor “participating in the financ-ing, planning, facilitating,preparing, or perpetrating ofacts or activities by, in con-junction with, under the nameof, on behalf of, or in supportof”, “supplying, selling or trans-ferring arms and related mate-rial to”, “recruiting for”, “other-wise supporting acts or activi-ties of ”, and “other acts oractivities indicating associa-tion with” the JeM.

However, there was nomention of the deadlyPulwama attack in J&K, whichwas claimed by the JeM.

A UNSC designation willsubject Azhar to an assetsfreeze, travel ban and an armsembargo. An assets freezeunder the sanctions committeerequires that all countries freezewithout delay the funds andother financial assets or eco-nomic resources of designated individuals andentities.

“This is for us a significantoutcome because we have beenat it for several years. The firsteffort that we made in thisregard was in 2009. More

recently, we have been persis-tent diligent and in a subter-ranean manner making all ourefforts towards this goal. Todaythat goal stands achieved,”Akbaruddin said.

“All in all it’s been a happyday, a good day for all this whowould like to pursue theapproach of zero tolerance forterrorism,” he said.

Commenting on the listingof Azhar, Pakistan’s ForeignOffice spokesman MohammadFaisal said, “The current listingproposal has been agreed afterall political references, includ-ing removal of attempts to linkit with Pulwama and malign-ing” the struggle of the

Kashmiris.Faisal said that Pakistan

will immediately enforce thesanctions imposed on Azhar.He also rejected the worldbody’s move as a “victory forIndia and validation of itsstance” as projected by theIndian media.

China earlier removed itshold on the proposal moved byFrance, the UK and the US inthe UNSC’s 1267 Al QaedaSanctions Committee inFebruary just days after thedeadly Pulwama terror attack.

A veto-wielding perma-nent member of the UNSecurity Council, China wasthe sole hold-out in the 15-nation body on the bid toblacklist Azhar, blockingattempts by placing a “techni-cal hold”. All decisions of thecommittee are taken through

consensus.In Beijing, Foreign

Ministry spokesman GengShuang said China lifted tech-nical hold after Beijing foundno objection to the listing pro-posal following a careful studyof the “revised materials.”

“Recently, relevant coun-tries revised and re-submittedthe materials for the listingproposal to the 1267Committee. After careful studyof the revised materials andtaking into consideration theopinions of relevant partiesconcerned, China does nothave objection to the listingproposal,” he said.

The US welcomed the list-ing of Azhar and sought “sus-tained actions” from Pakistanagainst terrorism, consistentwith its international obligations.

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In a significant disclosure,Congress general secretary

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra onWednesday said the party hasfielded only such candidateswho could either win or cutinto the votes of the BJP to helpthe Opposition candidates.

Claiming that the BJPwould perform poorly in UttarPradesh due to the strong fightput up by Congress candi-dates, Priyanka said, “The BJPwill suffer a major setback inUP and lose badly in thoseseats where Congress is strongand our candidates are givinga tough fight.” She was address-ing a poll meeting in Bagholaarea of Rae Bareli.

However, the Congressleader also admitted that inplaces where the Congress can-didates were weak, they wouldonly dent the vote bank of theBJP, thereby paving the victo-ry of Opposition candidates.

“The Congress is not at allcutting into the votes of the SP-BSP-RLD alliance in UP. Wehave fielded either winnable

candidates or those with thepotential to damage the BJP’schances in the State,” Priyankaexplained.

Asked whether she wasafraid of contesting againstPrime Minister Narendra Modifrom Varanasi, she shot back,“If Priyanka Gandhi getsscared, she will sit at home andnot engage in politics. I am inpolitics with good intentionsand I will be there.”

The Congress leader also hitout at the BJP for what she calledits “obsession” with the Gandhi

family and not caring to focus onredressing people’s problems.

Asked whether RahulGandhi could become thePrime Minister, Priyanka said,“My brother will prove to be agood Prime Minister as he lis-tens to the people and tries toredress their problems. But it isthe public who has to decidewhether he will become the PMor not.”

Political observers feel theanti-BJP vote may split betweenthe Congress and the SP-BSPalliance, benefitting the BJP.

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The West BengalGovernment and the

Election Commission arelocked in yet another round ofconfrontation after the pollwatchdog on Wednesdaydecided to replace State policepersonnel by that of the Centralforces at all polling booths forthe remaining phases.

This invited a strong reac-tion from Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee,who questioned the constitu-tional validity of the stepsbeing “taken under the instruc-tion of the BJP Government”and said law and order was aState subject and the EC shouldnot interfere with it.

According to the EC, allpolling stations will be coveredby Central forces as static post-ings and nearly 578 companiesof Central forces have beendeployed for this purpose. TheEC also made it clear that nei-

ther West Bengal Police norCentral forces are allowedinside the polling booth (in theroom where machines andEVMs are kept at the time ofvoting. “They can enter if andwhen the presiding officer callsthem in,” the EC said.

Besides EC’s Special PoliceObserver for West Bengal, 142Quick Response Teams,manned by Central forces, willbe kept ready to reach any placeof incident. For the fourthphase of polling on Monday,100 companies of paramilitarywere moved from Jammu &Kashmir to West Bengal.

Slamming the EC decision,Mamata said, “It is very clearunder whose instructions such

steps are being taken, defyingthe very federal nature of theConstitution, which makes lawand order as the State subject.”

Mamata earlier said in anelection rally that a paralleladministration was being runin Bengal despite the fact thatthere was an electedGovernment in place.

Wondering why someretired officers (specialobservers) were being overactive during the elections,she said, “They are changingofficers every day, they areabusing Bengal by comparingit with Bihar and making political statements. But thepeople of Bengal will not tol-erate this.”

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The body of a 25-year-oldwoman doctor with her

throat slit was found in herrented flat in Ranjeet Nagar ofcentral Delhi on Wednesday.

The deceased, Dr GarimaMishra, belonging to UttarPradesh, was preparing forDoctor of Medicine (MD)entrance examination, saidpolice, adding that they suspectanother doctor identified asChandra Prakash Verma staying in the samebuilding is behind the murder.Police said as Verma isabsconding, they have detainedhis roommate Rakesh, who isa doctor.

“Verma was close to thevictim. Like Garima, Vermawas also an MD aspirant,” saidpolice. A CCTV footage showsVerma leaving the victim’shouse. Deputy Commissionerof Police, Central district,Mandeep Singh Randhawa,said a PCR call was receivedaround 12 am following whicha police team rushed to the spotand found the body of the doc-tor in her two-room apartmenton the third floor.

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The nomination papers ofSamajwadi Party candidate

and sacked Border SecurityForce (BSF) jawan Tej Bahadur,a resident of Haryana, wererejected by the returning offi-cer on Wednesday.

According to returningofficer, the nomination papersof Tej were found invalid on thebasis of provisions of disqual-ification for dismissal for cor-ruption or disloyalty.

Tej filed nomination papersfirst as an Independent candi-date and then as SP candidatewhen on the last day of nomi-nation, the party gave him itsauthorisation letter, creatingconfusion as the SP had earli-er declared former Congress mayoral candidateShalini Yadav as its candidate.

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Wikileaks co-founderJulian Assange was on

Wednesday sentenced to 50weeks in jail by a UK court forbreaching his bail conditions.

Assange had been foundguilty of breaching the UK’sBail Act by WestminsterMagistrates’ Court in Londonlast month after his arrest at theEcuadorian Embassy, wherehe had sought refuge in 2012following his bail over sexualassault charge.

Assange lawyer said hisclient was “gripped” by fears ofrendition to the US over theyears because of his work withwhistle-blowing website.

Detailed report on P12

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Silence speaks louder thanwords. And that was evident

at a recent rally of the PrimeMinister when his Bihar allyChief Minister Nitish Kumarremained seated for a whilewhile Narendra Modi led hissupporters in fervently chant-ing “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and“Vande Mataram”.

The video of the rally atDarbhanga that has gone viralshows Modi and others stand-ing and repeatedly raising theBJP’s battle cry “VandeMataram...” while thrustingtheir clenched fists into the air.Those following the leadincluded LJP chief and Union Minister Ram VilasPaswan.

Nitish, whose party JD(U)has made no bones about itsdifferences with the BJP overcontentious issues like TripleTalaq and abrogation of Article

370, stayed put in his seat fora while with just a ghost of asmile crossing his face.

The footage aired by a fewnews channels left social mediaabuzz with speculation aboutthe next move of the cannyBihar satrap who has mademany a turnaround in the lastabout half decade.

A journalist tweeted thevideo footage with the remark“The curious case of NitishKumar. Once the challengerand now a follower”, whileanother took the microblog-ging website to sarcastically say“The enthusiasm of NitishKumar is noteworthy”.

Interestingly, Modi, whileaddressing the rally had casti-gated former Bihar ministerand RJD candidate forDarbhanga Abdul Bari Siddiquifor his statement that he couldnot recite the national song asit went against his monotheis-tic religious beliefs.

When asked about theJD(U) president’s gesture, partyspokesman Rajiv Ranjan

Prasad said his party was of theview that one’s reverence for thecountry could be shown in

many ways and, of course,chanting Vande Mataram andBharat Mata ki Jai were amongthose.

“But ours is a diverse cul-ture and we ought to respecteach other’s customs. Peoplemust not be coerced intoexhibiting their patriotism inone particular way,” he told PTI.

Prasad recalled the sacri-fices of Paramveer Chakraawardee Havildar AbdulHamid in the 1965 war andIndia’s victory over Pakistan in1971, made possible by the mil-itary acumen of the likes ofField Marshal Sam Manekshawand Lieutenant General JagjitSingh Aurora.

“It has to be kept in mindthat the country belongs to alland nobody should be forcedto do or say anything againsthis or her wish to prove theirloyalty to the nation,” Prasad said.

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The Election Commission(EC) on Wednesday barred

BJP candidate from BhopalSadhvi Pragya Singh Thakurfrom campaigning for 72 hoursstarting from Thursday for herremarks on former ATS chiefHemant Karkare and BabriMasjid demolition.

The poll panel “stronglycondemned” her remarks” and“warned her “not to repeat themisconduct in future”.

The ban would come intoforce from 6.00 am, May 2(Thursday). The EC saidthough Pragya had apologisedfor her statement aboutHemant Karkare, theCommission has found it“unwarranted”.

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In a major tragedy that befellMaharashtra on its founda-

tion day, 15 commandos and acivilian driver were killed onWednesday after Maoists blewup their vehicles in Kurkhedatehsil of Gadchiroli district ineastern Maharashtra. The IEDblast, whose impact left a largecrater on the road, came hoursafter Naxals torched 27 vehiclesof a road construction compa-ny earlier in the day, police said.

The C-60 commandos ofGadchiroli police were travel-ling in two vehicles for Naxalcombing operations, when theyfound several fallen trees block-ing the road leading to an iso-lated stretch of the road in a

forest area. When the securitypersonnel alighted to clear theroad, landmines planted byMaoists blew up, leaving 16personnel dead.

The incident comes near-ly one year after the securityagencies killed as many as 40Maoists in two biggest-everNaxal encounters undertakenin the jungles of Gadchiroli. Inthe twin encounters that tookplace on April 22-23, 2018, thesecurity personnel had nearlyeliminated all the Maoists oper-ating in the area.

The Wednesday’s attack isbeing seen as an attempt by theMaoists to avenge last year’stwin anti-Naxal encountersand to voice their frustrationover 71.98 per percentagepolling witnessed in the first

phase of Lok Sabha polls onApril 11— the highest record-ed in the four phases of pollingin Maharashtra.

“The high polling percent-age in the Gadchiroli districthas rattled the Maoist leader-ship. The Maoists had given acall to boycott polls and alsodisrupt polls. They could notsucceed,” Special InspectorGeneral of Police (in-charge ofAnti Naxal Operation) SharadShelar said.

The shocking attack camenearly ten hours after theMaoists set on fire at least 36private vehicles and two siteoffices of a road constructionfirm along the Purada-Malewada-Yerkhade stretch ofthe Maharashtra-Chhattisgarhnational highway number 136.

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The Congress on Wednesdaymoved the Election

Commission against the allegedmisuse of the Prime Minister'sOffice (PMO) to collect infor-mation in advance about placeswhere Prime MinisterNarendra Modi is set to cam-paign.

The Opposition also askedthe poll watchdog to issuedirectives against the holding ofa rally by Prime Minister Modiin Sagar in Madhya Pradesh onMay 6. The party expressed dis-appointment over the pollwatchdog's clean chit to PrimeMinister for his speech inWardha, saying it has become"crystal clear" that the modelcode of conduct has becomethe "Modi Code of Conduct".

The Congress claimed thatthe rally in Sagar could influ-ence polling in adjoiningDamoh parliamentary seat.Senior Congress leaderAbhishek Manu Singhvi,speaking outside the EC, saidthe party made two represen-tations to the poll watchdog,including one on the alleged

misuse of government machin-ery for campaigning.

The PMO is "misusing"the NITI Aayog and asking itto write letters to the districtadministration of those placeswhere the prime minister isscheduled to campaign in thenext few days, he claimed. Inthe letter, details of places suchas its cultural significance havebeen sought, Singhvi alleged,adding that local administra-tions have been asked to sendthe details within a day.

The prime minister is likeany other campaigner and thestate machinery cannot be mis-used for campaigning, he said.The Congress leader said 40years ago former prime minis-ter Indira Gandhi got debarredon a similar charge. "We haveasked the EC to put an imme-diate stop to this," he said.

In the second representa-tion, the Congress said on May6, the fifth phase of the LokSabha elections, Damoh par-liamentary constituency will begoing to polls and an electionrally is being organised byPrime Minister Modi in Sagarin Madhya Pradesh.

"The peculiar problem inthis case is that three tehsils andassembly constituencies ofSagar district-- Banda, Rehliand Deori -- form part of theDamoh parliamentary con-stituency," according to therepresentation.

The Congress asserted thatthe rally would influence theelection in Damoh in morethan one way and sought thatthe BJP not be permitted toconduct the rally in Sagar.

The party also expressed itsdispleasure over ElectionCommission which gave aclean chit to Prime MinisterModi for his speech in Wardhain which he had slammedCongress chief Rahul Gandhifor contesting from Wayanadand "indicated" that the Keralaconstituency had more voters from the minority community.

The Congress earlier thismonth had approached theEC and had sought actionagainst PM Modi's "divisive"speech. Congress had allegedthat Modi had made some"hateful, vile and divisive"remarks against Gandhi.

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CPI(M) GeneralSecretary Sitaram

Yechury onWednesday lashed outat the ElectionCommission over theclean chit given to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi oncomplaints of Model Code ofConduct violations and said thepoll watchdog's dealing withsuch cases was "emboldeningperpetrators."

In a letter to the poll body,he said, "Across the country,there is a growing concernabout the manner in which theElection Commission of Indiais dealing with complaintsregarding gross violation ofthe Model Code of Conduct byNarendra Modi".

The Election Commissionhad on Tuesday given a cleanchit to Prime Minister Modi forhis speech in Wardha in whichhe had slammed Congress chiefRahul Gandhi for contestingfrom Wayanad and had "indi-cated" that the Kerala con-stituency had more voters fromthe minority community.

Citing news reports,

Yechury highlightedhow the governmentinfrastructure andmachinery has beenallegedly used by thePrime Minister'sOffice for securinginformation from

various ministries, as well as,state and district administra-tions to provide inputs forpreparing his election speech-es.

"We would like to pose thesame question that we havedone in the past. In dealingwith violations of Model Codeof Conduct, the ECI appears tobe not only halting, but carry-ing on at a pace which isemboldening perpetrators andexemplifies the notion of'delayed justice' amounting toits actual 'denial'!

"Therefore the question is,is Narendra Modi, a BJP can-didate from Varanasi con-stituency in Uttar Pradesh anda star campaigner for the BJP,is needed to be treated differ-ently from enforcement of

MCC for the simple reasonthat he happens to be theincumbent Prime Minister,"he asked.

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The Election Commission(EC) has issued a show

cause notice to Punjab Ministerand Congress leader NavjotSingh Sidhu for his personalreference against PrimeMinister Narendra Modi at arally in Ahmedabad on April17. The notice, issued onTuesday, gave Sidhu time tillMay 2 evening to respond,failing which EC would take adecision without further refer-ence to him.

Citing a complaint by aBJP worker in Gujarat, the ECnotice reproduced excerpts ofhis speech in which theCongress star campaigner haddescribed the prime minister asa 'chor' (thief) while address-ing an election meeting onApril 17 in Ahmedabad.

The Commission remind-ed Sidhu of a provision in themodel code which bars candi-dates and leaders from makingpersonal remarks against rivalsduring electioneering.

The EC had last monthbanned Sidhu from campaign-

ing for 72 hours for controver-sial remarks made by himwhich was seen in violation ofthe poll code. While address-ing a poll rally in Bihar'sKatihar, the Punjab leader hadstoked a controversy when heurged Muslim voters to vote enbloc and defeat Modi.

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In an effort to enhance mar-itime interoperability, the

navies of France and India areholding joint naval exercise,Varuna, commencingWednesday and ending May10, off the Goa coast. The sec-ond phase of the extensiveexercise will take place inDjibouti. The biggest-everexercise between the two strate-gic partners will see Charles DeGaulle nuclear-powered air-craft carrier of France and INSVikramaditya besides sub-marines, destroyers and sever-al other frontline warships ofthe two countries.

The complex drill will alsosee Rafale jets of French Navyoperating from the French air-craft carrier and MIG-29 Kfighter jets flying from INSVikramaditya performing exer-cises jointly apart from otherwarships carrying out opera-tions across the spectrum ofmaritime operations.

Giving details of the event,Navy officials said here onWednesday it is the 17th edi-

tion of Varuna and Frenchships include aircraft carrierCharles de Gaulle, two destroy-ers Forbin and Provence, thefrigate FNS Latouche-Treville,the tanker Marne and a nuclearsubmarine. From the Indianside, the aircraft carrier INSVikramaditya, destroyer INSMumbai, the Teg-class frigate,INS Tarkash, the Shishumar-class submarine, INS Shankul,and the Deepak- class fleettanker, INS Deepak, will beparticipating.

The exercise will be con-ducted in two phases. The har-bour phase at Goa will includecross-visits, professional inter-actions and discussions andsports events. The sea phase

would comprise various exer-cises across the spectrum ofmaritime operations. The sec-ond part is scheduled to be heldat the end of May in Djibouti.

The bilateral naval exerciseinitiated in 1983 and christenedas 'Varuna' in 2001, form a vitalpart of the India-French strate-gic partnership. Having grownin scope and complexity overthe years, this exercise exem-plifies the strong relationsbetween the two nations, in linewith the Joint Strategic Visionof India-French Cooperation inthe Indian Ocean Regionsigned by President EmmanuelMacron and Prime MinisterNarendra Modi during the for-mer's State visit to India in

March 2018. The Varuna exercise aims

at developing interoperabilitybetween the two navies andfostering mutual cooperationby learning from each other'sbest practices to conduct jointoperations. The exercise under-scores the shared interests andcommitment of both nations inpromoting maritime security.

This exercise is taking placedays after India recently con-cluded biggest-ever exercisewith Australia called "AUSIN-DEX" off the Visakhapatnamcoast. Later this year, in a tri-lateral high-voltage exercise"Malabar," the Indian Navywill conduct drills with the USand Japan.

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Air Marshal Rakesh KumarSingh Bhadauria took over

as Vice Chief of the Air Staff onWednesday after incumbentAir Marshal Anil Khosla retiredon Tuesday after four decadesof service. The new Vice Chiefis an alumnus of the NationalDefence Academy(NDA) andcommissioned into the fighterstream of the IAF on June 15June, 1980.

He has over 4,250 hours ofexperience on twenty six typesof fighters and transport aircraftwith the unique distinction ofbeing an Experimental TestPilot, a Category 'A' QualifiedFlying Instructor and a PilotAttack Instructor. He complet-ed his Masters in DefenceStudies from Command andStaff College, Bangladesh, IAFofficials said here.

The Air Marshal has held anumber of important appoint-ments, which include com-mand of a Jaguar Squadron and

a premier Air Force Station,commanding officer of FlightTest Squadron at Aircraft &System Testing Establishment,Chief Test Pilot and ProjectDirector of National Flight TestCentre on Light CombatAircraft (LCA) project.

He was extensivelyinvolved in the initial prototypeflight tests on the LCA.Bhadauria was alsoCommandant of the NationalDefence Academy. Prior toassuming the present appoint-ment, he was the Air OfficerCommanding-in-Chief ofTraining Command.

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Ongoing excavations at4,000-year-old burial sites

at Sanauli in Uttar Pradesh'sBaghpat continue to enthrallarcheologists as for the firsttime the Archaeological Surveyof India (ASI) has unearthedunderground "sacred cham-bers", decorated "legged coffins"and fascinating artifacts inwhat is being claimed to be afirst in the Indian subcontinent.

The excavation, which iscontinuation of the work start-ed last year, is being carried outto understand the extension ofburial site and also habitationarea in relation with earlierfindings.

The present excavation isbeing carried out under thedirection of Dr SK Manjul,Director, Institute ofArchaeology, ASI, to under-stand the extension of burialsite and also habitation area inrelation with earlier findings, asenior ASI official said.

Sanauli is located on the left

bank of River Yamuna, 68 kmnorth-east of Delhi whichbrought to light the largestnecropolis of late Harappanperiod datable to around earlypart of second millennium BCE.

Three chariots, somecoffins, shields, swords andhelmets had been unearthed,pointing towards the existenceof a "warrior class in the areaaround 2,000 BCE," said anofficial from the ASI.

These findings are beingconsidered important to under-stand the culture pattern of theUpper Ganga-Yamuna doab.During excavation, the excava-tors have found copper swords,helmets, shields and chariots.

The excavators have alsofound rice and urad dal in pots,cattle bones, wild pig and mon-goose buried along with bod-ies. "These may have beenoffered to the departed souls.We also found sacred chambersbelow the ground. After theprocession, they put the bodyin the chamber for some treat-ment or rituals," he said.

The excavation is beingcarried out at two differentareas, the first in the area incontinuation of 2018 excava-tion and the second in the area200 m east of the former.

In the first area, two bur-ial pits and a sacred chamber ofburnt brick were discoveredalong with burial goods. In bur-ial pit no. 9 one wooden 'legged

coffin' decorated with steatiteinlays having extended skeletonof a female oriented North-South, tilted 10 ?west is exca-vated. This burial pit containsevidence of decomposed bow,bone points, armlet of semi-precious stones, gold bead andpottery including vases, jars,bowls and dish on stand sys-tematically arranged towards

north and eastern sides of thecoffin, said the official.

An interesting find fromthis burial pit is the antennasword placed near the head.Also, the pelvis of the skeletonis sinking in the middle indi-cating the process of decom-position of wooden base of thecoffin. Other burial pit (no 10)includes extended female skele-

ton in disturbed condition.The burial goods include cop-per mirror, hairpin, channel,beads and pottery. Interestinglysteatite inlays forming a figureof eight which is probably thelid of a vanity box foundbetween two legs of the coffinin north. The coffin is also dec-orated with steatite inlays sim-ilar to coffin in burial no.9. Twobig pots are placed under thecoffin which could have con-tained food and other organicremains associated with the rit-uals.

Furnaces have narrow topand broad base with air ductsand mouth to regulate tem-perature. The nature of thesefurnaces suggests their longterm usage.

The discovery of furnacesfrom the site indicates towardshabitation activity of the peri-od associated with the necrop-olis. The nature of burial pot-tery, coffins, antiquities such asantenna sword, pottery, etc.suggest a complex of lateHarappan period.

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Amrapali Group has com-mitted a "first degree

crime" by cheating thousandsof home buyers and no matterhow powerful the peoplebehind this mess they will bebooked and prosecuted, theSupreme Court saidWednesday.

"Fate is written on the wall"for the group and its directors,the top court said while declin-ing to hear their claims of nowrong doing.

The embattled real estatefirm "cheated everybodyincluding home buyers, banksand authorities and indulged in

cartelization to prevent theDebt Recovery Tribunal fromauctioning its unencumberedproperties", it said. "The limitof your fraud touched the sky."

A bench of Justices ArunMishra and U U Lalit said itcannot believe the justificationgiven by Amrapali for allegeddiversion of funds of over Rs3,500 crore, looking at its dubi-ous conduct.

"You have committed afirst degree crime by cheatingthousands of home buyers. Weshould have cancelled thelicences of statutory auditors ofAmrapali for indulging infraudulent practise long backand sent them to jail.

"We are saying in opencourt that there are powerfulpeople behind this mess but nomatter how powerful they are,we will book them and prose-cute them. We are not going tospare anybody," the bench said.

The hard hitting remarksof the bench came after senioradvocates Geeta Luthra andGaurav Bhatia, appearing forthe group, said there was nowrongdoing done on their partand there was no diversion ofRs 3,500 crore as claimed by thecourt appointed forensic audi-tors.

Luthra said forensic audi-tors have erred on variousaspects in their report like

they had claimed that not a sin-gle penny was invested bydirectors of Amrapali but inreality Rs 60 to Rs 70 crore wasput in by them.

"We have to believe theforensic auditors and theirreport looking at your dubiousconduct. We believe them. You(Amrapali) have yourselfadmitted in your earlier affi-davit that Rs 2,990 crore ofhome buyers money wasdiverted and now you areclaiming that there was nodiversion. You have made apeon as your director and hepurchases shares worth croresof rupees for Amrapali. Is thisnot correct," the bench said.

Luthra said the groupacted in a bona fide mannerand in the interest of homebuyers but the problems start-ed after the company ran intolitigation.

Amrapali Group claimedthat they had received Rs11,057 crore from the homebuyers and they have con-structed five projects inIndirapuram of Delhi-NCRand gave their possession tohome buyers.

"Your (Amrapali Groupand its directors) fate is writtenon the wall. We are not inclinedto hear your bona fide claimslooking at your dubious con-duct," the bench said.

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In the wake of Cyclone Fanigradually gaining strength,

the Election Commission (EC)on Wednesday approved a pro-posal of lifting of provisions ofModel Code of Conduct (MCC) in districts of Puri,Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara,Bhadrak, Balasore, Mayurbhanj,Gajapati, Ganjam, Khordha,Cuttack and Jajpur in Odisha tofacilitate speedy rescue, reliefand restoration activities.

The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) alsowarned of destruction ofthatched houses, roads, and

crops in eight districts of WestBengal and advised people beevacuated from coastal areas.

"There can be total destruc-tion of thatched houses/exten-sive damage to kutcha (mud)houses, some damage to pucca(permanent) houses. There is apotential threat from flyingobjects," the IMD said.

The IMD has issued a for-mal cyclone alert for Odisha,West Bengal and parts ofAndhra Pradesh, and suggest-ed evacuation of coastal areas.

The cyclonic storm isexpected to cross the Odishacoast between Gopalpur andChandbali by Friday afternoon.

As Odisha faces simultane-ous Lok Sabha and assemblyelections, caretaker chief minis-ter Naveen Patnaik requested theChief Election Commissioner torevoke the Model Code ofConduct and postpone elec-tions in the Patkura assemblyseat in Kendrapara, which isscheduled for May 19.

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Fourteen years after stayinga divorce proceeding pend-

ing before a district court inDelhi, the Supreme CourtWednesday lifted the stay andallowed the plea of a womanwho was seeking transfer of thecase to some other court.

A bench headed by ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi notedthat a petition seeking transferof the case was filed by thewoman and the apex court hadstayed the proceedings pendingin the lower court in April2005.

While hearing the case in2005, the apex court hadexpanded its ambit by raisingthe larger issue of compulsoryregistration of marriage.

The bench Wednesdaysought to know about thewoman who had filed thetransfer petition.

"What happened to themain case of the lady who hadcome here for transfer of case?Where has she gone. The (stay)order was of 2005. What hashappened to that lady?," askedthe bench, which also com-prised Justices Deepak Guptaand Sanjiv Khanna.

"They (woman and herhusband) must have becomeold, too old to seek divorce. For14 years, the divorce proceed-ings remained stayed and weare doing all this. We have col-lected so many pages," the CJIsaid.

In February 2006, the topcourt had delivered a landmarkverdict on it and said thatmarriages of all Indian citizens,belonging to various religions,should be made compulsorilyregistrable in the states wherethey were solemnised. It hadpassed several directions tothe Centre and states.

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New Delhi: The SupremeCourt told CBI on Wednesdaythat it would examine whetherthere was evidence requiringformer Kolkata PoliceCommissioner Rajeev Kumar'scustodial interrogation by theagency in connection with theSaradha chit fund scam.

A bench headed by ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi madethis observation after perusingthe case diary placed before itby the CBI, which soughtKumar's custodial interrogationclaiming that there was primafacie evidence that he had triedto destroy or tamper with evi-dence and "shield high andmighty" in the case.

Kumar's counsel counteredthe CBI submissions and saidthe agency's move to seek cus-todial interrogation of the IPSofficer was nothing but a "polit-ical game".

Kumar was earlier headingthe West Bengal Police's special

investigation team (SIT) prob-ing the chit fund scam. The apexcourt had in May 2014 directedthe CBI to investigate the case.

During Wednesday's hear-ing on the CBI application,Solicitor General TusharMehta, appearing for theagency, referred to statement ofan investigating officer of theSIT which was recorded by theCBI during the probe.

"We have read the state-ment. It is a matter of investi-gation. We are required to seeif there is any material whichcan show that the commis-sioner of police (Kumar) isrequired to be interrogated incustody," said the bench, whichalso comprised Justices DeepakGupta and Sanjiv Khanna.

Mehta argued that therewas "prima facie evidence" thatKumar had destroyed or tem-pered with evidence and he hadtried to shield some mainaccused in the case. PTI

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chhattisgarh 03RAIPUR | THURSDAY | MAY 02, 2019

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Following the deadly Naxalattack in neighbouring

Maharashtra that killed 16 secu-rity personnel, a high alert hasbeen sounded in Maoist-affect-ed districts of Chhattisgarh,Director General of Police D.M.Awasthi said on Wednesday.

“Security has been beefed upsince afternoon in the areasclose to Gadhchiroli inMaharashtra and other Maoist-affected districts in the state”, theDGP said.

“All range inspector generalshave been directed to intensifyvigil to prevent the ultras fromentering the state”, the officeradded.

“Soon I am going to conductsecurity meetings in Naxal

infested districts of Bastar to dis-cuss strategies we could adopt todeal with the current situation”,the DGP further said.

In neighbouringGadhchiroli district of

Maharashtra 16 Jawans, includ-ing a driver, were killed in anIED blast triggered by theMaoists. The security personnelwere cordoning off a forest patchin a bus when the incident took

place. The C-60 COPS came incontact with a pressure impro-vised explosive device (IED),planted by Maoists beneath theroad they were passing by.

Chhattisgarh on high alert afterNaxal attack in Maharashtra

Baghel condemnsNaxal attackCondemning the Naxal attackin Gadhchiroli, ChhattisgarhChief Minister BhupeshBaghel in a tweet said “TheNaxal attack was painful andcondemnable. The incident ofMaharashtra teaches us thatwe have to take it as a chal-lenge instead of looking at itthrough political prism.”

STAFF REPORTER n

RAIPUR

Chhattisgarh ChiefMinister Bhupesh

Baghel on Wednesdaygreeted senior BJP legis-lator Brijmohan Agrawalwith a witty message onhis birthday.

Wishing him to be acentenarian Baghel in atweet said: “May almightyGod bestow you thecourage to fight with yourfoes.”

Brijmohan is the sec-ond big face of BJP in thestate after former Chief

Minister and BJP nationalvice president RamanSingh. It’s widely specu-lated that he would

replace Singh as the saf-fron party’s spearhead inthe state after the party’sdebacle in the 2018

assembly elections.Baghel was referring

to foes as Brijmohan in anearlier tweet had stated“May God grant wisdomto anyone who considersme as enemy so that hisconfusion is cleared.”

Brijmohan thankinghis well wishers for theirwishes twitted: “In myentire life span I haveonly made friends.Making my place in thehearts of my friends is thereal wealth that I haveearned and never in mylife I have made foes.”

Baghel greets BJP leaderBrijmohan on birthdaywith witty tweet

STAFF REPORTER n

RAIPURChhattisgarh Vyavsayik ParikshaMandal Examination (CGVYA-PAM)’s Pre-Engineering Test(PET) and Pre-Pharmacy Test2019, sheduled to be held acrossthe state on Thursday, was post-poned by the board due to sometechnical problems.

Advisor of CGVYAPAM, Dr.Pradeep Choubey informed thatthe examination was postponeddue to server problem inChhattisgarh InformationPromotion Society - CHiPS.

The CGPBE has earlier com-pleted all the process for holdingthe examinations. Nodal officers

were deputed in all the districts toconduct and monitor theexamination.

The nodal officers on eve of

examination also conductedinspection of all the examinationcentres while the invigilatorswere given necessary directionsrelated to different aspects ofexamination.

The first session was to beheld from 9.00 am to 12.15 PMfor engineering entrance exami-nations while the Pre-PharmacyTest was to be conducted from2.00 PM to 5.15 PM.

The candidates were asked toarrive half an hour before thespecified time of examination attheir respective centres. Theywere asked that would be allowedto enter the centre with admis-sion card, black or blue point pen.

For identification any of the fol-lowing documents can be used:Aadhar card, EPIC card, PANcard, Passport or Class 10th or12th admit card or mark-sheet.Without any identification docu-ment, the candidate will not beallowed to enter the examinationcentre.

Mobile phone, electronicwatch, calculator or any otherelectronic device, water bottle,bag and scarf were not allowedinside the examination centres.

The candidates were notallowed to enter with full-shirt orT-Shirt, which should be avoided,the board had instructed.

CG PET-PPHT 2019exams postponedCGVYAPAM citing technical problem postponedthe entrance exams scheduled to be held today

STAFF REPORTER n

RAIPUR

Raipur District Magistrateand Collector Dr

Basavaraju banned themovement of heavy vehiclesin Arang town from 8.00 AMto 9.00 PM for smooth andsafe movement of traffic.

On National Highway

53, a four-lanebypass hasbeen con-structed toavoid going toArang town,which is beingused by theheavy-loadedtransport vehi-cles. But it hasbeen foundthat few medi-um and heavyloaded vehiclesare still usingthe road pass-

ing through Arang town.Many of these vehicles alsoviolate the speed limit,increasing chances of acci-dent. Keeping this in view,the ban has been imposed.

The order has beenpassed under ChhattisgarhMotor vehicle Rules 1994,Rule 215.

Heavy vehiclesbanned in Arang town

during peak hoursSTAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Raipur division commis-sioner G. R. Churendra

has urged the people not tomisuse the water released tofill the ponds for daily useduring the summer months.

With falling water level inthe ponds with the advent ofsummer months, water isbeing released for daily usethrough irrigation canals tofill the water bodies in villages.

Commissioner directed alldistrict collectors, ZilaPanchayat chief executive offi-cers and water resourcesdepartment divisional anddistrict officials to repair thebroken and damaged canalwith public participation andcontributory labour on war-footing.

It has been found that sev-eral smaller canals have beendamaged due to which thewater released may be lost or

affect the normal flow, wastingthe water.

He directed the officials torepair all the water reservoirsand ponds by holding surveyand take action to repair them.The water management com-mittees should be activated sothat when water reaches the vil-lages or pass through villages,water should not go waste andbetter management can bedone. Commissioner directedthe officials to constitute jointteams to monitor the situation.

STAFF REPORTER n

RAIPUR

Chhattisgarh BJP claimedthat the United Nations

Security Council designat-ing Pulwama attack master-mind and Jaish-eMohammed chief MasoodAzhar as ‘global terrorist’ onWednesday was a victory ofIndian diplomacy and ableleadership of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

This success will bewritten in golden letters inhistory, the party said.

BJP National vice presi-dent and formerChhattisgarh chief ministerRaman Singh said it provesthe continuing influence ofIndia on the world stageunder Prime Minister Modi.

The opponents hadbeen forced to bend andfinally, China had to changeits stand and took a

back-foot, he added.BJP National general

secretary and Chhattisgarhincharge Dr Anil Jain saidfinally China fell in trap ofPrime Minister NarendraModi and withdrew its veto.“It is a result of positive steptaken by competent leader-ship,” he said.

BJP national general

secretary and Rajya Sabhamember Saroj Pandeytermed it as a shock to thosesupporting the terrorism. Itis victory of India and it isone of the biggest successesever achieved.

BJP Scheduled TribeCell national president andRajya Sabha memberRamvichar Netam states

PM Modi has once againwon hearts of Indiancitizens by fulfilling theirhopes.

The opponents will nowthink twice before thestrong leadership of thecountry. Leader ofOpposition DharamlalKaushik also welcomed thedecision.

Do not misuse waterreleased to fill

ponds: Churendra

Listing of Masood Azhar by UN

victory of Modi’s leadership: BJP‘‘It proves the continuing

influence of India on the worldstage under Prime Minister

Modi. The opponents had beenforced to bend and finally,

China had to change its standand took a back-foot’’

STAFF REPORTER n

RAIPUR

Chhattisgarh ministerRavindra Choubey

is recovering well but isstill in Intensive CareUnit (ICU).

Senior Congressleaders, including AICCGeneral Secretary( A d m i n i s t r a t i o n )Motilal Vora onWednesday paid visit tohim at the hospital andwished him a speedyrecovery.

Chaubey, who suf-fered a cardiac arrest onlast Saturday morning,is undergoing treatmentat Sanjay Gandhi PostGraduate Institute ofMedical Sciences,Lucknow under super-vision of Head of the

Cardiology DepartmentDr Praveen Goyal.

“There is a consider-able improvement in hishealth. He is out of dial-ysis. Blood pressure ofhim is now normal andother vital organs arealso responding well,”said a health bulletinreleased by the hospital.

Chairman MedicalWing of CGPCC DrRakesh Gupta informedthat “though vital organsof him are now respond-ing well and he is stable,Choubey is still inIntensive Care Unit. Itwill take time for com-plete recovery and thepossible date of his

discharge cannot be saidnow”.

According toCongress sources thefamily of Choubey aresatisfied with the treat-ment being done at theSGPGIMS and havedecided to continue therest of the treatmentsthere.

The leaders whomet Choubey, apartfrom Vora, includeChief Minister BhupeshBaghel, Forest MinisterMohammad Akbar,Higher EducationMinister Umesh Pateland legislator VikasUpadhyay. ChiefMinister is speciallymonitoring the health ofChoubey and is takinginformation of the treat-ment time to time.s

Choubey recoveringwell, but still in ICU

STAFF REPORTER n

RAIPUR

Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) state president

Vikram Usendi onWednesday pointed outthat circular cited by ChiefMinister Bhupesh Baghel todefend his government’srecruitment policy wasactually issued by the previ-ous BJP government.

To refute rumour thathis government has put aone-year moratorium onrecruitments, the CM onTuesday cited a circular that

only banned outsourcingof government jobs.

The BJP leader wasquick to point out thatthe circular the CM wasquoting was issued in2014 by the then RamanSingh-led BJP govern-ment.

Usendi said by citingthe 2014 circular the CMmade it clear that it wasthe erstwhile BJP gov-ernment which hadtaken initiative to stopthe outsourcing.

The Congress, whichwas in the opposition

then, had accused the BJPgovernment of outsourcingjobs.

“Now that ChiefMinister has accepted thatthe finance department hasissued the circular in 2014and the same has beenissued again, it meansBaghel while in the opposi-tion had been telling lies,”Usendi said.

“He (the CM) shouldnow clarify as to why thesame circular is being usedagain,” the BJP leader said.

Usendi further claimedthat re-issuance of the old

circular only showed thatBaghel-led government didnot have any policy norhave any intention to devel-op the state.

“By stating that ban isnot imposed on recruit-ment but on outsourcing,Baghel is just continuingthe policies of Raman gov-ernment,” the BJP leadersaid.

When the BJP govern-ment did it, the Congressfound fault in it and nowthe CM was patting hisback for the move, headded.

STAFF REPORTER n

RAIPUR

The Congress on Wednesdayrefuted the claim of BJP

legislator Shivratan Sharmathat the cooperative-run sugarmills in Kawardha region werenot procuring sugarcane fromfarmers in the current 2018-19season.

Congress’s state generalsecretary and chairman com-munication wing Shailesh

Nitin Trivedi said the BJP leg-islator’s claim was a “pack oflies” and that the Congressgovernment was sympathetictowards the sugarcane growers.

He cited facts and figuresto buttress his claim.

The Congress leader fur-ther asserted that there was nounrest among the sugarcanegrowers of the region.

Both BhoramdeoCooperative Sugar Mill andSardar Patel Sugar Mill of the

Kawardha region set records insugarcane procurement, sugarproduction, power productionand making payment to thesugarcane growers, theCongress leader claimed.

Trivedi further stated thatDistrict Collector AvnishKumar Sharan had conducteda review meeting in this regardand made it clear that the sug-arcane procurement was theresponsibility of the two sugarmills.

Congress rebuts BJP’s claimon sugarcane procurement

BJP takes dig at Baghel’s claim on recruitment ban

����������������� ����� ����� ! ��!����/

���3#���3� ����*6/�)�@/76

Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal and his

Congress predecessorBhupinder Singh Hooda arelocked in a vicious war ofwords during the course ofeveryday public meetings,heating up the poll battle inthe state.

The war of words, allega-tions and counter-allegationsraged for about a week nowbetween the two prominentleaders of Haryana.

When Manohar Lal at arecent election rally took ajibe at Bhupinder SinghHooda’s aspirations to becomeChief Minister again, Hoodathrew a challenge to ManoharLal asking him to resign if he(Hooda) wins Sonipat LokSabha seat in the general elec-tions. This began a viciouscircle of exchange of acrimo-nious barbs between the twoleaders, with both exudingconfidence of a good showingin the Lok Sabha polls.

Both Manohar Lal andBhupinder Singh Hooda arestar campaigners of theirrespective parties—BJP andCongress—and are currentlybusy with whirlwind electioncampaign covering length andbreadth of the state for theensuing Lok Sabha polls.

Being party’s candidatefrom Sonipat parliamentaryseat, Hooda is also holdingpublic meetings in the con-stituency on daily basisbesides canvassing for hisson, Deepender Singh Hooda,three-time MP and Congress’nominee from Rohtak seat.

Referring to Sonipat andRohtak Lok Sabha seats,Manohar Lal, a day beforesaid that the time has comefor the father-son duo tomake an exit. As the pollingdate nears, the political tem-peratures will go up due toModi wave, he said.

The Chief Minister, whiletalking to the mediapersonsattacked Hooda saying thatthe political heavyweights inelections will face the same

defeat as faced by a heavy-weight candidate in Jindbypoll.

Manohar Lal, apparentlymocked the Congress’ heavy-weight candidate RandeepSurjewala’s defeat in Jindbypoll earlier this year.

The party hopeful to

make a comeback in the statehas fielded heavyweight can-didates but I am certain thatboth father and son will bedefeated in the elections,Manohar Lal added.

Stepping up his tiradeagainst the two-time formerCM Hooda, Manohar Lal had

earlier said that Hooda is daydreaming. Leave aside reach-ing Chandigarh, the formerChief Minister will not evenget a chance to reach Delhi(Parliament), Manohar Lalhad said while taking a veileddig at Hooda’s aspirations tobecome the Chief Minister

again.Both senior leaders are

also hurling personal shots ateach other with Manohar Lalfiring the first salvo when hecalled Hooda a ‘Bigdail Jamai’(spoilt son-in-law) in Sonipat.

Following this, it was theturn of Bhupinder Singh

Hooda, who in his no-holds-barred attack took a dig atManohar Lal’s bachelor status.

Expressing displeasureover Manohar Lal’s personalattack against him, Hoodasaid that the Chief Minister isnot married and does nothave a family and this is whyhe does not understand therespect that son-in-laws andother relations have in ourculture and society.

I can only tell him touphold the dignity of theoffice he holds, Hooda said.

About Manohar Lal’sclaims on father-son defeat,Hooda threw a challenge tothe Chief Minister saying thatlet Manohar Lal resign asChief Minister if his claim isproved wrong.

I am confident of winningSonipat Lok Sabha seat. TheCongress will also win other9 parliamentary seats in thestate, he said.

Responding to ManoharLal’s comment that theCongress leaders are avoidingto seek votes in the name of

their party president RahulGandhi, Hooda said, “TheBJP came to power inHaryana after making tallpromises but they threw theirmanifesto in the dust-bin assoon as they came into power.The Manohar Lal KhattarGovernment has done noth-ing and this is why they havebeen forced to seek votes inthe name of Narendra Modi,”

The personal attacks donot stop here as the two lead-ers are fast issuing statementsand counter-statements,resorting to slinging mud ateach other and raking up oldcontroversies every day dur-i n gcanvassing for the high-stake poll battle.

While Manohar Lal is fre-quently speaking about howhis Congress predecessor isembroiled in corruptioncases, Hooda, during his elec-tion campaign is comingdown heavily on the BJP overfarmers’ distress and the vio-lence during 2016 Jat quotaagitation in Haryana.

�������������������� �������������� ��������������

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Lok Sabha-2019 elections in Punjab are turning outto be a mishmash of actors, singers, comedian,

medicos, a retired Judge, babus, besides people fromdifferent walks of life.

In fray is a political greenhorn but a seasoned actorSunny Deol, a comedian-turned-politician BhagwantMann, a Punjabi folk singer Mohd Sadique and aPunjabi pop singer Jassi Jasraj (Karan Jasbir), and aretired judge of the Punjab and Haryana High CourtJustice Jora Singh.

Besides, five retired bureaucrats are set to take thepolitical plunge exploring field outside babudom, whilethree practicing doctors have also thrown their hat inthe electoral ring. And there is a human rights activist,a former journalist, an ex-soldier, a Polo player, amongothers entering the active politics to bring about achange.

While the traditional political players in the statehave reposed their faith on the seasoned politicians,it is the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the newly-cre-ated Punjab Democratic Alliance (PDA) which haveadded a flavour to the otherwise serious ballot bat-tle.

Making the polls a “glamorous” event is BJP nom-inee Sunny Deol with his ‘Gadar’ entry in the ‘bor-der’ constituency of Gurdaspur — a seat which theCongress is expecting to triumph over withoutmuch effort. Congress’ Sunil Jakhar had won the seat2017 by-election necessitate after the death of BJP’sfour-time MP Vinod Khanna.

���#��������For May 19 elections, the state’s regional party —

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) — has fielded tried andtested leaders, except a former bureaucrat DarbaraSingh Guru, who had unsuccessfully contested twoassembly elections in 2012 and 2017.

Contesting his first parliamentary election fromFatehgarh Sahib reserve seat as SAD-BJP nominee,Guru is facing another retired bureaucrat Dr AmarSingh — a Congress nominee. Guru retired as thePrincipal Secretary to Punjab’s former Chief MinisterParkash Singh Badal, while Dr Amar Singh retired asthe Principal Secretary to Madhya Pradesh ChiefMinister.

A doctor by profession, Dr Amar Singh got select-ed for Punjab Civil Medical Services (PCMS) andworked as a doctor in Samrala and Civil Surgeon officeat Ludhiana before joining the IAS. During his 32 yearsas an IAS, he served as Deputy Commissioner of fourdistricts and secretary to CM for 10 years.

Guru, on the other hand, joined IAS in 1980 andretired in 2011. And during his tenure, he worked onvarious posts, including sub-divisional magistrate,Bhatinda DC, Director Public Relation, among oth-ers besides remaining CM’s principal secretary from2007 to 2011.

Likewise, two more babus are set to lock hornsin Hoshiarpur. BJP nominee Som Parkash, a sittingMLA from Phagwara and a former IAS officer whohad served as Hoshiarpur DC, is facing another retiredIAS — Khushi Ram — a BSP candidate contestingunder the PDA banner. Ram had served as SDM in

Phagwara and Dasuya towns when he was a PCS offi-cer.

Both Parkash and Ram were PCS officers whowere later promoted to IAS, and now they will be fac-ing two specialist doctors — Congress candidate andsitting MLA from Chabbewal Dr Raj Kumar andAAP’s candidate Dr Ravjot Singh.

While Dr Kumar is MD (radio-diagnosis) and hashis scanning centres in Hoshiarpur and few otherplaces, Dr Ravjoit is MD (medicine) and is one of thebusy medicine specialists in the town.

Another bureaucrat in the fray is BJP nomineefrom Amritsar Hardeep Singh Puri, who is present-ly the Union Minister of State with independent chargein the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

A 1974-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, Purihad been stationed at important diplomatic posts inBrazil, Japan, Sri Lanka, and the United Kingdom,besides serving as the chairman of the UnitedNations Security Council (UNSC) Counter-TerrorismCommittee from January 2011 to February 2013, andas President of the United Nations Security Council(UNSC) in August 2011 and November 2012.

Puri, a sitting Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh,is contesting his first Lok Sabha election againstCongress sitting MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla, and AAP’sKuldeep Singh Dhaliwal.

Besides Dr Raj Kumar and Dr Ravjot, anothermedico in the fray is sitting MP from Patiala, DrDharamvir Gandhi. A social worker-cum-cardiolo-gist-turned-politician, Dr Gandhi has made clear hisintentions to cause the downfall of the Patiala’s royalfamily — a process he initiated in 2014 by defeating

“Maharani” Preneet Kaur by a margin of 20,900 votesin his electoral debut.

The 67-year-old MP is confident of conqueringthe seat this time again even as he had left AAP andfloated his own political outfit Nawan Punjab Party(NPP).

Among others giving a new essence to the pollbattlefield are a retired judge, Justice Jora Singh as AAPcandidate from Jalandhar, who is known for headinga one-man commission to probe sacrilege and relat-ed firing cases of 2015 under SAD-BJP regime.

Besides a human rights activist and widow of“martyr” Jaswant Singh Khalra, Bibi Paramjit KaurKhalra, is also challenging the traditional politiciansfrom the panthic sat of Khadoor Sahib as joint can-didate of PDA.

A former journalist Balwinder Kumar is also con-testing from Jalandhar as PDA candidate, while anengineer Manwinder Singh Giaspura, who raised theissue of Sikh genocide at Hond Chillar in Haryana,will contest from Fatehgarh Sahib.

������� ��������For him, 2019 election is a challenge, and not just

laughter. Coming to fame through a national TV showLaughter Challenge, Punjab-based stand-up comedianBhagwant Mann has taken politics quite seriously.Wresting Sangrur with the highest margin in 2014 elec-tions, he is heading AAP’s state unit to improve its pre-vious performance in the parliamentary elections.

������������!Renowned Punjabi folk singer Mohd Sadique,

who has been MLA from Bhadaur, is trying his luckin the elections, but contesting from a Lok Sabha seatis just like a performing on a different stage. Besides,Punjabi singer-actor Jassi Jasraj, also known as KaranJasbir and Jasbir Singh Longia, is also contesting elec-tions as joint candidate of PDA.

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Taking strong notice of therape of a girl in a moving car

in Shimla town on Mondayevening, Chief Minister Jai RamThakur on Tuesday instructedthe Director General of Policeto constitute a special investi-gation team (SIT) to conduct athorough investigation andensuring arrest of the culpritsinvolved in this incident.

The Chief Minister has alsodirected the DGP to ensure thatSIT take immediate action toarrest the culprit so that bringculprit immediately before lawso that the law could take itscourse.

He said that AdditionalDistrict Magistrate Shimla hasbeen asked to to conduct mag-isterial inquiry in the allegationon staff of the Lakar Bazarpolice post for not registeringFIR on the request of the girl.The ADM will submit thisreport within 24 hours.

The CM said that the stategovernment was fully commit-ted to maintaining better lawand order situation in the state.

���� *6/�)�@/76

Three youths were killed whenthey were clicking selfies on

a railway track, about 2-3 kmfrom Panipat railway station inHaryana. “They were clickingselfies on the track betweenPanipat and Babarpur railwaystations on the Delhi-Ambalaroute on Monday evening,” asenior Government RailwayPolice (GRP) official said onWednesday.

The deceased were identi-fied as Sunny, Chaman andKishan, all relatives, in age groupof 18-20 years, he said.

Another relative Dinesh,who resides in Delhi had amiraculous escape.

All the four were sitting ona track and on seeing anapproaching train they jumpedtowards the other track withoutrealising that Delhi-Kalka pas-senger train was fast approach-ing on it, the GRP official said.

While three of them werecrushed, however, Dinesh had amiraculous escape as he jumpedon the other side of the track, theGRP official said.

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SAD president Sukhbir Badalon Wednesday stated that

Punjab CM Capt AmarinderSingh and his Congress partyhave been stunned by the angerand hate wave against them inthe State, and “that’s why most ofthe senior Congress leaders aregenerally staying away from thecampaign and showing up mere-ly as a formality to show their faces”.

“This is also why there is acivil war in the Congress as theynow want to blame the impend-ing poll disaster on one anoth-er,” said Sukhbir while address-ing series of public gatherings inFerozepur Lok Sabha con-stituency from where he is con-testing as SAD-BJP combinecandidate.

SAD chief said that CaptAmarinder government had vir-tually shelved all social welfare

and people-friendly schemes ofSAD-BJP government becausethey were mentally preparingPunjabis for the bigger shock ofpermanently withdrawing allthese schemes after the elections.

He warned the people thatCapt Amarinder governmentwill impose electricity bills ontubewells immediately after theelections are over.

“SAD-BJP, however, will notremain a mute witness to suchcruel injustice, especially againstthe poor. We will certainly hit thestreets and launch a morcha toforce the government to contin-ue these schemes,” he said.

Sukhbir said that the blamegame in Congress started withthe Chief Minister passing thebuck to his ministers, MLAs andother leaders threatening topunish them for its impendingdefeat. He said that the Congressgovernment days in Punjabwere numbered. “CaptAmarinder will no longerremain the CM after the LokSabha poll. And this will be fol-lowed by Congress party disin-tegrating paving way for thereturn of SAD-BJP governmentin Punjab,” he said.

���� /-0//

Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal on

Wednesday described nation-alism as first religion sayingthat the BJP considered thecountry as the motherlandwhereas for the oppositionCongress, it is only a piece ofland.

The Chief Minister, whileaddressing Vijay Sankalp rallyat Barara in Ambala Lok Sabhaconstituency, said that if theborders of the country aresecure only then the peoplecould live in peace.

On the occasion, he askedthose present whether they aregetting cooking gas cylinderswith ease to which all repliedpositively. If anyone faces anydifficulty in getting cylindersthey could contact their localMLA or MP, he said adding thatnow, there is no shortage ofcooking gas cylinders unlike inthe Congress regime whenpeople had to wait for days toget refill.

Referring to the Congressmanifesto’s assurance of repeal-

ing laws relating to sedition, hesaid that the intention of theopposition party is not to unitethe country but disintegrate it.

The Chief Minister saidthat the Congress during its 70years rule at the Centre failedto fulfill the basic needs of thecitizens and in every electionkept on misleading the peoplethrough false promises, includ-ing Garibi Hatao.

But the people of the coun-try have understood the designsof the Congress and during thecurrent Lok Sabha electionswould not fall prey to the mis-leading poll promisesannounced by Rahul Gandhi inparty’s poll manifesto, ManoharLal said.

He said that the peoplehave realised that they are safeunder Modi rule which alsoensured development of all theareas. Due to this, people havemade up their mind to ensurethe return of Modi as the PrimeMinister, Manohar Lal saidadding that even otherwiseRahul Gandhi is no match toModi.

The Chief Minister fur-

ther said that the country sawrapid progress on economic andsocial sectors benefitting vari-ous sections of the societyincluding women, farmers,youth and the unemployedduring the BJP rule.

Appealing to the people tovote for the BJP candidate fromAmbala, Rattan Lal Kataria,Manohar Lal said that this willstrengthen the hands of thePrime Minister and also resultin acceleration of the develop-mental programmes besidesensuring the security andintegrity of the country.

Speaking on the occasionRattan Lal Kataria said that itwas shameful for the Congressthat despite 70 years in powerat the Centre they could notensure electricity to all the vil-lagers.

The people realised in thepast five years as to how devel-opment was undertaken by theModi government during itsfive year rule, Kataria saidadding that all have to ensurethat Modi again takes oath ascountry’s Prime Minister afterthe counting on May 23.

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The elections this time are wit-nessing a massive generation

shift in Punjab. The newest elec-tion trend is not left versusright, but young versus old, withrelatively adolescent Aam AadmiParty (AAP) fielding compara-tively youthful leaders in anattempt to take power from theold and give to the youth.

The 2019 General Electionswould apparently be a fightbetween the AAP’s ‘youth’brigade and the veterans of thepolitical battlefield fielded by thetraditional political parties likethe Congress, Shiromani AkaliDal (SAD), and the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP), besides thenew-comer splinter groups.

While the average age ofAAP’s 13 candidates is 47, theaverage age of the Congress’ can-didates is 58—indicating that theparty managed to strike a bal-ance between the experienceand youthfulness.

Reposing its faith is the oldguard, the SAD-BJP combine’saverage age has turned out to be64 years. While the average ageif SAD’s 10 candidates is 63, thatof BJP’s three candidates is 65.

The average age of 13 can-didates fielded by the six differ-ent political outfits and splintergroups — Punjab Ekta Party, LokInsaaf Party, Nawan PunjabParty, BSP, CPI, andRevolutionary Marxist Party ofIndia (RMPI) — under the ban-ner of Punjab Democratic

Alliance (PDA) is 55 years.AAP is the only party in the

state which has fielded five can-didates who are 30-plus, with itscandidate from Ludhiana LokSabha seat, Prof Tejpal Singh,youngest in the fray. The 32-year-old Tejpal has recently beenawarded a PhD degree on Jailmanagement and had a Master’sdegree in police administration.

Associated with the partysince 2014, Tejpal is currentlyparty’s state unit’s youth wing’svice-president. He would be fac-ing Congress’ sitting MP RavneetSingh Bittu, SAD’s formerMinister Mahesh Inder SinghGrewal, and Lok Insaaf Party’ssitting MLA Simarjeet SinghBains in his first Lok Sabha elec-tions.

Among the women candi-dates, AAP’s Prof Baljinder Kaur,who is also contesting her firstparliamentary polls fromBathinda, is the youngest with 33years of age.

Presently representingTalwandi Sabo in Punjab VidhanSabha, she will be facing SAD’ssitting MP and Union MinisterHarsimrat Kaur Badal, Congress’Amarinder Singh Raja Warring,

and newly-formed Punjab EktaParty’s Sukhpal Singh Khaira,who has been two-time MLA.

Besides, party’s Gurdaspurcandidate Peter Masih (37),Khadoor Sahib candidateManjinder Singh Sidhu (33),and Fatehgarh Sahib candidateBandeep Singh Dullo (35) arealso in their 30s.

The senior-most candidatein fray is SAD’s Charanjit SinghAtwal, 82 years, who is contest-ing from Jalandhar reserve seatagainst Congress’ sitting MPChaudhary Santokh Singh whois also 72. Among the candidatesof these four factions for 13 seats,one is above 80, while five are 70-plus, with 16 above 60 years ofage. The parties have fielded 10candidates who are in their 50s,

while 14 are between the agegroup of 40 and 50 years.

The oldest candidate fieldedby the Congress is 79-year-oldfolk singer-turned-politicianMohd Sadique from Farikdotreserve seat, followed by 74-year-old former Union Minister‘Maharani’ Preneet Kaur.

The ruling party in Punjabhas decided to lay its bet on thetried and trusted weapons for thecrucial polls and fielded all foursitting MPs, including 43-year-old youth leader Ravneet SinghBittu. For the Bathinda hot-seat, the party has picked itsyouth leader Aamrinder SinghRaja Warring to challenge thetwo-time sitting MP in her bas-tion. The 41-year-old formerpresident of the Indian Youth

Congress and two-time MPfrom Girdderbaha, Warringwould face AAP’s Baljinder Kaurand 54-year-old two-time MPKhaira. AAP’s senior most can-didate is its sitting MP fromFaridkot 78-year-old Prof SadhuSingh, while that of BJP is 70-year-old Som Parkash.

Maximum 16 candidates infray from these main politicalplayers are in their 60s. Theyinclude 65-year-old Sunil Jakhar,Amar Singh (65), Kewal SinghDhillon (68) from Congress,Hardeep Puri (67) from BJP, BibiJagir Kaur (65), Prem SinghChandumajra (69), MaheshInder Singh Grewal (69), DSGuru (66), Gulzar Singh Ranike(61), Surjit Singh Rakhra (68)from Akali Dal.

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Khanna SeniorSuperintendent of Police

Dhruv Dahiya has beenreplaced by Punjab PoliceSer vice of f icerGursharandeep Singh, theECI said on Wednesday.

Punjab's Chief ElectoralOfficer S Karuna Raju said incompliance of the orders ofthe Election Commission ofIndia (ECI), GursharandeepSingh has been posted as SSPKhanna in place of DhruvDahiya.

Gursharandeep Singh hasbeen directed to join imme-diately and send compliancereport in this regard imme-diately to the ECI.

Last month, Dahiya hadclaimed that the KhannaPolice had recovered Rs 9.66crore from six men includinga church priest.

However, the priestclaimed that the money waspart of the business proceedsand that the police had recovered Rs 16.65 crore fromhis home and had misappro-priated the remainingaccount.

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Wikileaks co-founderJulian Assange was on

Wednesday sentenced to 50weeks in jail by a UK court forbreaching his bail conditions.

The 47-year-old had beenfound guilty of breaching theUK’s Bail Act by WestminsterMagistrates’ Court in Londonlast month after his arrest at theEcuadorian Embassy, wherehe had sought refuge in 2012following his bail over sexualassault allegations related toSweden.

At a sentencing hearing atSouthwark Crown Court onWednesday, Judge DeborahTaylor told Assange it was dif-ficult to envisage a more seri-ous example of breach of bailconditions.

“By hiding in the embassyyou deliberately put yourselfout of reach, while remainingin the UK,” she said.

“This was in terms of cul-pability a deliberate attempt toevade or delay justice... Firstly,by entering the Embassy, youdeliberately put yourself out ofreach, whilst remaining in theUK. You remained there fornearly seven years, exploitingyour privileged position toflout the law and advertiseinternationally your disdainfor the law of this country,” thejudge noted, in her strongly-worded sentencing remarks.

In a letter read to the court,Assange said he had foundhimself “struggling with diffi-cult circumstances” and apol-

ogised to those who feel he had“disrespected” in any way.

“I apologise unreservedlyto those who consider that Ihave disrespected them by theway I have pursued my case.This is not what I wanted orintended,” his letter read.

“I found myself strugglingwith terrifying circumstancesfor which neither I nor thosefrom whom I sought advicecould work out any remedy. Idid what I thought at the timewas the best and perhaps theonly thing that could be done— which I hoped might lead toa legal resolution being reachedbetween Ecuador and Swedenthat would protect me from theworst of my fears,” he added.

His barrister MarkSummers, who read out the let-ter, later said his client was“gripped” by fears of rendition

to the US over the yearsbecause of his work with whis-tle-blowing website Wikileaks.

“As threats rained down onhim from America, they over-shadowed everything,”Summers said.

However, the judge dis-missed the mitigating factorsput forward and ruled that shewas inclined to sentenceAssange to the near maximumprovided in UK sentencingguidelines for such cases.

“I reject the suggestionthat your voluntary residencein the Embassy should reduceany sentence. You were not liv-ing under prison conditions,and you could have left at anytime to face due process withthe rights and protectionswhich the legal system in this country provides,” Judge Taylor said.

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Japan’s new EmperorNaruhito formally ascended

the Chrysanthemum Throneon Wednesday, a day after hisfather abdicated from theworld’s oldest monarchy andushered in a new imperial era.

Naruhito officially becameemperor at the stroke of mid-night but the process was for-malised with a 10-minute rit-ual on Wednesday morningthat was off-limits to female royals — even his wifeMasako.

It took place on the firstday of the new imperial era ofReiwa, meaning “beautiful har-mony”, which will last through-out Naruhito’s reign.

At a solemn ceremony inthe Imperial Palace’s Room ofPine, the 59-year-old was pre-sented with the items his fatherAkihito relinquished a day ear-lier: sacred imperial treasuresof a sword and a jewel, as wellas the seal of state and his per-sonal imperial seal.

The sole woman allowed toattend was the only femalemember of Prime MinisterShinzo Abe’s cabinet.

Shortly afterwards, joinedby Masako and other royals,Naruhito was to address thenation for the first time as its126th emperor.

He will also make a public

appearance on Saturday whenhe will again speak to the peo-ple of Japan.

But the pomp and cere-mony will wait until October22 when he and Masako will

appear in elaborate traditionalrobes for a ceremony in thepalace before parading throughthe streets of the capital to becongratulated by a host ofworld leaders and royals.

Naruhito will greet his firstforeign head of state as emper-or later this month, when USPresident Donald Trump visitsJapan to meet the newmonarch.

The Oxford-educatedNaruhito faces the delicate bal-ancing act of continuing his

father’s legacy of bringing themonarchy closer to the peoplewhile upholding the centuries-old traditions of theChrysanthemum Throne.

Like his popular fatherAkihito, he has warned of theneed to remember World WarII “correctly,” without down-

playing Japan’s early 20th-cen-tury militarism.

He has also spoken of theneed to modernise the royalfamily, and vowed when hemarried Masako — who leftbehind a promising diplomat-ic career — to protect her “atany cost”.

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New Emperor Naruhitovowed on Wednesday he

would always stand with theJapanese people, as he prayedfor world peace in his firstaddress to the nation afterascending the ChrysanthemumThrone.

He swore to “act accordingto the Constitution... Whilealways turning my thoughts tothe people and standing withthem”.

Naruhito also said he

would “reflect deeply on thecourse” taken by his popularfather Akihito, who was seen ashaving brought the world’soldest monarchy closer to thepeople, especially during nat-ural disasters.

“When I think about theimportant responsibility I haveassumed, I am filled with a senseof solemnity,” said Naruhito, 59,who took the throne afterAkihito’s abdication, the first inmore than 200 years.

Naruhito promised to“bear in mind the path trodden

by past emperors” and devotehimself to “self-improvement”.

He is expected to follow hisfather’s modern style but facesa delicate balancing act in alsoupholding the ancient tradi-tions of the ChrysanthemumThrone. Replying on behalf ofthe people, Prime MinisterShinzo Abe said:

“We are determined to cre-ate a bright future for a proudJapan filled with peace andhope at a time when the inter-national situation is changingdramatically.”

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The US on Wednesday wel-comed the designation of

JeM chief Masood Azhar as a“global terrorist” by the UN andsought “sustained actions” fromPakistan against terrorism, con-sistent with its internationalobligations.

In a major diplomatic winfor India, the United Nationsdesignated Pakistan-basedAzhar as a “global terrorist”after China lifted its hold on aproposal by the US, the UK andFrance to blacklist him.

A spokesperson for the USMission in UN told PTI, “TheUS welcomes the addition of

Masood Azhar to the UN 1267ISIL and al-Qaida Sanctionslist, which requires all UNmember states to implement anassets freeze, a travel ban, andan arms embargo againstAzhar.”

“We expect all countries touphold these obligations,” thespokesperson said, noting thatthe Jaish-e Mohammed is aUnited Nations-designated ter-rorist group, and Azhar, as thefounder and leader of JEM,clearly met the criteria for des-ignation by the world body.

The JeM has been respon-sible for numerous terroristattacks and is a “serious threat”to regional stability and peace.

“We appreciate PakistaniPrime Minister Khan’s statedcommitment that Pakistan, forthe sake of its own future, willnot allow the operation of mil-itant and terrorist groups fromits territory,” the spokespersonsaid.

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China, which lifted its tech-nical hold on listing JeM

chief Masood Azhar as a glob-al terrorist by the UN, said onWednesday that it took thedecision after it found no objec-tion to the listing proposal bythe US, the UK and France fol-lowing a careful study of therevised materials.

In a huge diplomatic winfor India, the United NationsWednesday designatedPakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Azhar as a“global terrorist” after Chinalifted its hold on a proposal toblacklist him.

The 1267 Al QaedaSanctions Committee of theUN Security Council hasdetailed criteria for the listingprocedures. China alwaysbelieves that the relevant workshould be carried out in an

objective, unbiased and pro-fessional manner and based onsolid evidence and consensusamong all parties, a Pressrelease issued by ChineseForeign Ministry spokesmanGeng Shuang said.

“On this listing issue,China has been communicat-ing with relevant parties in aconstructive and responsiblefashion. Recently, relevantcountries revised and re-sub-mitted the materials for the list-ing proposal to the 1267Committee. After careful study

of the revised materials andtaking into consideration theopinions of relevant partiesconcerned, China does nothave objection to the listingproposal,” he said.

“The proper settlement ofthe above-mentioned issueagain shows that in interna-tional counter-terrorism coop-eration, we have to uphold therules and procedures of rele-vant UN body, follow the prin-ciple of mutual respect, resolvedifferences and build consen-sus through dialogue, and pre-vent politicising technicalissues,” he said.

“I would like to stress thatPakistan has made enormouscontributions to fighting ter-rorism, which deserves the fullrecognition of the internation-al community. China will con-tinue firmly support Pakistan’sefforts to combat terrorist andextremist forces,” Geng said.

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France on Wednesday wel-comed the United Nations’

move to designate Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chiefMasood Azhar as a “global ter-rorist”, saying it “signals the suc-cessful realisation” of its efforts.

France along with the UKand the US had moved the pro-posal to designate Azhar as a

“global terrorist” in the UNSecurity Council’s 1267 AlQaeda Sanctions Committee inFebruary, just days after thedeadly Pulwama terror attackcarried out by the JeM inJammu and Kashmir.

“We welcome the designa-tion today, by the UNSC 1267Sanctions Committee, ofMasood Azhar on the UN’sISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida

Sanctions List,” according to astatement issued by the ForeignAffairs of France.

For many years, Frenchdiplomacy has been relentless-ly pleading for sanctioningAzhar, “head of the terroristgroup responsible, notably, forthe Pulwama attack”, it said.

France had adoptednational sanctions againstAzhar on March 15.

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Pakistan on Wednesday saidit would “immediately

enforce the sanctions” imposedby the UN on JeM chiefMasood Azhar and said itagreed to his listing after all“political references”, includingattempts to link him to thePulwama attack were removedfrom the proposal.

In a major diplomatic win

for India, the United Nationsdesignated Pakistan-basedAzhar as a “global terrorist”after China lifted its hold on aproposal by the US, the UK andFrance to blacklist him.

The US, the UK andFrance had moved the proposalto designate Azhar as a “glob-al terrorist” in the UN SecurityCouncil’s 1267 Al QaedaSanctions Committee inFebruary.

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Paris riot police fired teargasas they squared off against

hardline demonstrators amongtens of thousands of May Dayprotesters, who flooded thecity Wednesday in a test forFrance’s zero-tolerance policyon street violence.

Tensions were palpable as aheady mix of labour unionists,“yellow vest” demonstratorsand anti-capitalists gathered inthe French capital, putting secu-rity forces on high alert.

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The British Government saidon Wednesday it was scrap-

ping Brexit-related contractswith ferry companies at a costto taxpayers of tens of millionsof pounds (dollars) after theferry deals sparked a political and legalfirestorm.

“Freight capacity contractsfor the summer period are nolonger needed and have there-fore been terminated,” theDepartment for Transport said.

Kabul: A new round of peacetalks between the Taliban andthe US got underway in Qataron Wednesday, as the foescontinue to seek a way out ofAmerica’s longest war.

The latest negotiationscome as pressure builds forsome sort of breakthrough inthe gruelling Afghan conflict,with Washington jostling for aresolution.

According to a Talibanspokesman, the group’s toppolitical leader Mullah AbdulGhani Baradar met with USpeace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad.

AFP

London: An exhibit thatallowed children to test and cullcows infected by bovine tuber-culosis has been removed froma science centre in the UK fol-lowing complaints.

The game at ‘We TheCurious’ in Bristol has beencriticised for not being appro-priate for children by parents.

Lizzie Salter, who wrote tothe centre, said the “frighten-ingly naive” activity was “out-dated and unethical”.

The centre said it had beentemporarily removed after areview and visitor feedback, theBBC reported. PTI

Colombo: Sri LankanPresident Maithripala SirisenaWednesday asked Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to “leave my countryalone” after the dreaded IslamicState leader claimed the mas-sive suicide bombings in theisland nation was a revengeattack for the fall of the Syriantown of Baghuz, the terrorgroup’s final bastion.

Sirisena also warned it maybe possible Islamic State hadlaunched a “new strategy” bytargeting smaller countries,Sky News Wednesday quotedhim as saying.

He said authorities wereaware of a “small group” of Sri

Lankans who had travelledabroad to receive training fromIslamic State over the pastdecade.

In the Sky News interview,President Sirisena said he hada message for Islamic State:“Leave my country alone.”

On Monday, Islamic State’smedia network published avideo message purporting tocome from its leader, Baghdadi.

The man in the IS propa-gada video, said to be Baghdadireferred to the deadly EasterSunday attack in Sri Lanka andto the months-long fight for IS’sfinal bastion Baghouz, whichconcluded in March. PTI

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As a nation, Pakistan has had a his-torically unsettled and restiverelationship with all three neigh-bouring countries that touch itsland borders ie, India,

Afghanistan and Iran. However, recently,Prime Minister Imran Khan took his nation-al obsession with the “borders” of other coun-tries to another level of imagination when hewaxed eloquently to a befuddled audience inIran, “Germany and Japan killed millions oftheir civilians until after the second World Warwhen they both decided to have joint indus-tries on their border regions!” Imran Khan’spolitical nemesis Bilawal Bhutto soon tweet-ed a stinging, “Our Prime Minister thinks thatGermany and Japan share a border. Howembarrassing, this is what happens when you@UniofOxford let people in just because theycan play cricket”. Beyond the obvious embar-rassment emanating from such “deliveries”, theformer cricketer-turned-politician returnedback to Islamabad from a lukewarm trip toIran, which refused to offer any strategic suc-cour or sound-bite that could thaw thePakistan-Iran coldness, beyond diplomaticcourtesies and officialese.

The backdrop to the recent visit by thePakistani Prime Minister to its Western neigh-bour, Iran, came at a most unpropitious phaseof acute mutual suspicions, with both nationshaving recently accused each other of havingallowed “terrorists” to operate and attack theother country. Few weeks back, Pakistan hadpointedly blamed Iranian-based “terror out-fits” for a deadly bus jacking incident on thecoastal highway, wherein the “terrorists”entered a bus and identified passengers on thebasis of their IDs and then killed 10 of themwho served with the Pakistani Navy, Air Forceand the Coast Guard.

Earlier, Iran had unequivocally blamedPakistan for harbouring Sunni jihadist groupJaish ul-Adl (Army of Justice), who had killed27 members of the Iranian RevolutionaryGuards in the Sistan-Baluchistan region ofIran. The undeniable undercurrents of sec-tarian rift have beset the Iran-Pakistan nar-rative, with Islamabad increasingly relying onthe Saudi bloc, much to the chagrin of theShia-centric sensibilities of the Iranian iden-tity. The umbilical cord of Pakistan with theSaudis has got strengthened with the life-sus-taining financial bailout afforded by the Saudisand the Emiratis — besides the appointmentof former Pakistani Chief of Army Staff,General Raheel Sharif, as the head of 41-nation (Sunni ruled), Riyadh-based, IslamicMilitary Counter Terrorism Coalition, that isat the forefront of battling Iran-supportedHouthi rebels in Yemen. Pakistan’s own frac-tious societal divide that pits its vulnerable“minority” of Shia Muslims at the hands ofthe supremacist and extremist groups — forexample, the recent terror attack on the HazaraShias that killed over 20 — is a matter ofperennial and irreconcilable distrust betweenPakistan and Iran.

Recognising the sectarian angularity,

Imran Khan went with a retinueof Shia Ministers, like theMinister for Human Rights, DrShireen Mazari and Minister forMaritime Affairs, Syed Ali HaiderZaidi. The Pakistani delegation’sport of disembarkation was notthe capital Tehran but a symbol-ic first stopover at the historicaltown of Mashad, where ImranKhan paid obeisance at the holyshrine of Imam Reza, the eighthShia Imam, before proceeding toTehran. Post the symbolism,Imran Khan began his maidenvisit with a laborious endeavourto explain the ostensible Pakistanicommitment towards fighting“terrorism”, besides commonpain-points of smuggling nar-cotics, human trafficking, hostagetaking, money laundering andabduction.

However, both sides hadextended agenda and pet peeveswith Iran euphemistically allud-ing to the US as the “enemy”blocking regional peace; where-as Pakistan unwarrantedlydragged Jammu & Kashmir intothe bilateral discussions in adesperate attempt to elicit someexpression of interest or text, onlyto draw a studied silence. Iran,which has its own strategic con-vergence and understanding withDelhi on many fronts, includingthat on the Chabahar port,Afghanistan, oil exploration andsupplies among others, did nottake the Pakistani bait. Underpressure from the more experi-

enced Iranians, Imran Khanmade yet another amateurishmove by confessing the obvious,“We have come to the conclusion,we will not allow any militantgroup to operate from Pakistan.”Expectedly, Imran Khan wasroasted at home, with theOpposition parties referring tothe same as an unpardonableadmission of complicity andguilt, especially when theInternational Monetary Fundwas linking the much-neededbailout package to the findings ofPakistani guilt via the FinancialAction Task Force (FATF).

It will take the Pakistanileadership more than charmoffensives and half-meant con-fessions to overcome its deep-rooted perceptions in Delhi,Kabul or even Tehran. Rote andbanal attempts by Islamabad toinvoke the line of “brotherMuslim country” have so farfailed the Ashraf Ghani regimein Afghanistan and Iranians,who keep a hawk eye on thegrowing Saudi-Wahhabi influ-ence and control of the Pakistaniestablishment. The delicatelyplaced chessboard of institution-al fiefdoms within the Pakistanistate, entailing the trinity ofmilitary, politicos and clergy,cannot allow any major course-correction from the historicalPakistani intransigence as thatwould amount to deligitimising,any one or more, of these threeinstitutions.

Beyond a point, Imran Khanis beholden domestically to theGHQ in Rawalpindi and to theelements of sectarian religiositywithin the Pakistan narrative, aswell as to the survival-linkedbeneficence of the Saudi-blocthat by default militates againstthe aspired behavioural changessought by Iran. The proximity ofthe China Pakistan EconomicCorridor (CPEC) elements tothe Iranian-Pakistani border asalso the common ground ofTehran and Beijing on the US dooffer the opportunity for Chinato play a more substantial andstrategic role in Iran to the ben-efit of Pakistan. However, as ofnow, such geopolitical evolutionsare only in the realm of strate-gic possibilities; whereas themore tangible, visible and securefootprint of the Indian stateabounds and resonates in Iran,currently.

Honesty of purpose hastriumphed both religious andsectarian pandering in Iran asneither is the Ashraf Ghaniregime in Kabul a Shia-centricdispensation, nor does Indiahave a commonality of religiousdenomination. Yet both thesenations inspire more trust withthe Iranians as opposed toPakistan or even the so-called‘Naya Pakistan’.

(The writer, a military veter-an, is a former Lt Governor ofAndaman & Nicobar Islands andPuducherry)

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Sir — This refers to the article,“An unconventional fight inVaranasi” (May 1) by KalyaniShankar. On the face of it, the rai-son d’etre behind political heavy-weights enjoying an electoralcakewalk stems from the fact thattheir counterparts hesitate totake the risk of suffering a lossand embarrassment. This in turnfacilitates and ensures the victo-ry of the former. The same for-mula has widely been applied forPrime Minister Narendra Modi’sVaranasi constituency where hisopponents are not political big-wigs. Of course, had the Congress’general secretary PriyankaGandhi been fielded against thePrime Minister, the situationwould have been different,intriguing and exciting as well.

Similar is the case with otherleaders like Union MinisterRajnath Singh, Samajwadi Partypatron Mulayam Singh Yadav,Congress leader Sonia Gandhi,just to name a few. Ultimately itis the electorate, who will takethe final call. The jury will be outon May 23.

Azhar A KhanRampur

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Sir — The Sri LankanGovernment’s statement thatthe mastermind behind theEaster blasts had links to southIndia is an eye-opener. In theaftermath of the attacks, theisland nation took several boldmeasures, which include theban on Muslim women to wear

any form of face veils in public.Having witnessed such ter-

ror attacks, India, too, shouldprepare itself and take some bolddecisions, like the one taken bythe Sri Lankan Government.Many countries have taken suchdecisions without fearing criti-cism in the name of religiousfreedom.

SC AgrawalDelhi

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Modi goes overboard” (May1). It was really shocking thatduring an election rally, PrimeMinister Modi said that 40MLAs of the TrinamoolCongress (TMC) were in touchwith him and that they wouldjoin his party after the Lok

Sabha election results. Does thisnot amount to blatant horse-trading and violation of ModelCode of Conduct? The ElectionCommission of India must takeaction against the PrimeMinister at least now for hisopen attempt to create a wedge among the TMClegislators and inducing them toswitch loyalties through horse-trading.

It is unfortunate that thePrime Minister, who should seta good example for his fellow cit-izens, preferred to violate the lawwith his utterance and chal-lenge to West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee.

Tharcius S FernandoChennai

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Sir —The overall scenario is dis-quieting in Sri Lanka. Post theattacks, the island nation has itstask cut out. It should deviseplans to eliminate terrorismwhich is not an easy job.

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Technology companies have fundamental-ly changed the way in which we obtaininformation, communicate, travel, trans-

act in goods and services and consume content.However, they’ve also been responsible, inmany ways, for some of the most pressing issueswe face today. For example, concerns thatTikTok exposes children to predatory behaviourled to the app being taken off the stores of Googleand Apple; although this has since been reversed.YouTube has faced similar issues in the past.Social media platforms like Facebook andTwitter are being used to bully and harass, espe-cially those from socially marginalised commu-nities and to magnify extremist content and pro-paganda. There are multiple instances whereFacebook has been involved in leaking user infor-mation, harvesting user data, using targettedadvertising to influence election results and push-ing political propaganda. It has, along withWhatsapp, also been used to propage “fake news”and spreading disinformation and misinforma-tion, which has been linked to violence and deathsin India, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. Uber, Amazonand Apple have all been criticised for their laxlabour standards. And Google, Facebook andAmazon have been accused of (and sometimesheld liable for) anti-competitive behaviour.More generally, there is also a lack of transparen-cy in the way these companies function and mostof them have access to vast amounts of user data,which is collected, stored and sold to advertis-ers with minimal oversight.

Many of these issues exist and are exacer-bated because some of these technology compa-nies, especially “Big Tech” firms (generallyrefers to Amazon, Facebook, Alphabet, Microsoftand Apple), have large businesses and becauseof their significant global market share and rev-enue. A major reason as to why these compa-nies were able to rapidly scale to their current sizeslies in their leveraging what is known as the “net-work effect”, wherein the value of certain goodsor services increases as they gain more users.These platforms have also been able to invest inimproving their services, especially by collectingand leveraging large pools of user data to improvetheir machine-learning algorithms.

While utilising network effects is not prob-lematic by itself, the vast wealth of these firmshas also meant that they could often simply buyout and integrate the products or services of com-petitors, or prioritise their own platforms overothers and, hence, entrench their dominant posi-tions. Furthermore, until recently, they faced vir-tually no regulatory oversight and were given freerein with how they chose to conduct business-es. This was, in large part, a consequence of thepublic support that these companies enjoyed andbecause they, and technology more generally,were seen as offering a way to enable access toinformation — providing “free” services or help-ing consumers obtain goods and services at lowercosts. However, issues that have arisen have madeit clear that there is no longer a question ofwhether to regulate technology companies butrather one of how best to do so.

Regulators around the world are grapplingwith this problem in multiple ways. TheEuropean Union (EU) introduced the GeneralData Protection Regulation (GDPR) to regu-late the use of personal data of those in the body.

Germany introduced a law requiringplatforms to remove hate speech andother illegal content within 24 hours ofbeing informed of such material.Singapore introduced a Bill that seeks toimpose penalties on users and platformsfor spreading “false statements of fact”in the country. Furthermore, Australiapassed a Bill that forces technology com-panies to hand over encrypted data tothe police. More recently, the lowerHouse of the Russian Parliament wentso far as to vote to support a Bill thatwould essentially allow it to create itsown domestic internet, ostensibly fornational security reasons.

Some of these measures can haveunintended consequences. For instance,the GDPR has been criticised for its broaddefinitions and because its stringentdata protection requirements are morelikely to disproportionately affect small-er companies by driving up costs, poten-tially stifling competition. Similarly, inIndia, there are concerns that regulations,often aimed at fixing issues caused by larg-er platforms, could significantly impairthe ability of start-ups to scale their busi-nesses. Moreover, some of the moreextreme measures that have been intro-duced (such as those requiring buildingin backdoors to encryption and restrict-ing the Internet to national boundaries)have the potential to alter the nature ofthe Internet itself and have wide-rangingimplications for civil liberties, security andrights such as privacy.

India is also in the process of fram-ing regulations applicable to this space.Over the course of the last year, theGovernment published the draftInformation Technology [IntermediariesGuidelines (Amendment) Rules] 2018,the draft Personal Data Protection Bill and

the draft National e-Commerce Policy.While each of these regulations was osten-sibly introduced to solve specific issuesand sought to regulate distinct areas ofthe digital economy, they also had over-laps, which affected each other. Forinstance, the Intermediary Rules primar-ily sought to address misinformation and“fake news” on social media platforms byrequiring intermediaries to take certainsteps, such as proactively monitoring theirplatforms for unlawful content. However,the definition of “intermediaries” isbroad enough to encompass practicallyall entities from social media sites, mes-saging platforms, e-commerce platforms,cyber cafes, payment companies andinternet service providers, thereby mak-ing these rules applicable to these enti-ties as well. The draft e-CommercePolicy, in addition to introducing datalocalisation and other requirements, alsoseems to be conceptualising a State-con-trolled, community-owned-model fordata, referring to it as a “collectiveresource” and a “national asset.” This hasimplications for entities beyond e-com-merce companies and can impact how theright to privacy is developed in India. Italso potentially runs counter to theSupreme Court’s decision in Puttaswamyvs Union of India, where privacy, framedprimarily as an individual right, was heldto be a fundamental right.

Technology companies can varywidely in the function and services theyprovide, even though they all share theattribute of providing goods and servicesthrough the internet. Therefore, in orderto avoid unintended consequences andover-broad application, regulations mustbe narrowly crafted to address specificidentified issues. Regulations must beframed in a manner that they are differ-

entiated on certain metrics (such as thefunction served by the platforms, thepotential impact on users and business-es and the aim sought to be achieved byregulation). One possible method forcrafting regulation on this basis is by hav-ing more stringent requirements apply tocompanies that are of a certain size andscale and cross certain prescribed thresh-olds (whether measured in revenue, useror subscription base, or a combination ofsuch other metrics). Another is by regu-lating intermediaries based on the func-tion they undertake or the service theyprovide. However, given how digitalcompanies integrate multiple services suchas payments, chat, networking and the likeonto the same platforms, this could alsobe challenging, and would require exten-sive collaboration with other regulators.

Another key component to consid-er in this context is the companies thatare being currently regulated. It is espe-cially important to include dialogue withtechnology companies in the context ofthe digital economy, given that platformsare best placed to understand the limitsand abilities of the technologies theydeploy. This is also why it might be use-ful, instead of just seeing regulations asa way to impose liability on companies,to also see them as a means of increas-ing platform accountability. A regulato-ry model that takes into account dialoguewith these companies, and is based onprinciples of platform accountability,transparency, and ensuring effectiveredressal mechanisms may be a moreeffective way to address some of the chal-lenges presented by digital platforms,than the sort of blanket regulations thatare the norm today.

(The writer is junior fellow at the EsyaCentre)

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Climate change and the resul-tant rise in temperatures arefinally breaking the colossal ice

bastions. Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica,which is roughly the size of Franceand the world’s largest ice cap, is fastmelting than predicted. The meltinghas led to a global sea-level rise ofaround 13.8 millimetres over the last40 years. This unsettling discoverywas made by an international teamof scientists. The research team alsodetermined that the ice shelf is melt-ing 10 times faster than the overallaverage due to solar heating of thesurrounding ocean surface.

The latest study found that solar

heating of the surface spurred the rateat which the ice is melting. The teamcollected data of over four years froman advanced oceanographic instru-ment installed under the ice shelf.Using instruments deployed througha 260 metre-deep borehole, the devicemeasured temperature, salinitybesides melt rates and ocean currentsin the cavity under the ice.

The team also used an extreme-ly precise custom-made radar systemto survey the changing thickness ofthe ice shelf. Earlier, scientistsbelieved that heat radiating to thebottom melted the underside of theshelf, while the ocean surface cooleddown quickly. However, the latestfindings show that heat in the oceansurface plays a crucial role.

Scientists suggest that climatechange will only further the rate atwhich ice melts in the future.Antarctica comprises 90 per cent ofthe world’s ice. So what happens toits ice and snow is a matter of seri-ous concern and if this situation con-

tinues, sea levels would rise up to 60metres by 2050, which would causethe ocean to engulf coastal citiesacross the globe. Way back in 2007,the Intergovernmental Panel onClimate Change (IPCC) had estimat-ed that the Arctic would have an ice-free summer by the end of this cen-tury. Additionally, predictions basedon the US National Snow and IceData Center (NSIDC) made it evi-dent that an ice-free Antarcticamight be a reality sooner than later.According to the provisional satellitedata produced by the NSIDC, therewas just over 11.1 million sq km ofsea ice in 2016 as compared to the 30-year average of 12.7 million sq km.The difference of more than 1.5 mil-lion sq km is more than four timesthe size of Germany.

The deteriorating state of affairshas not been sudden. The world hadreceived a rude awakening in 2011when NSIDC data had revealed thatice caps covered just 4.33 million sqkm of the Arctic Ocean. A year later,

the mid-September reading in 2012measured it at 3.4 million sq km.Four years down the line, we arelooking at a scenario where less thanone million sq km of sea ice is a pos-sibility. The year 2016 brought morebad news. The Arctic sea ice extentset a record low in March 2016. OnMarch 24, Arctic sea ice extent wasrecorded at 14.52 million sq km, arecord low ever since satellite obser-vations started in 1979.

The sea ice extent is meltingfaster today than ever before. Theenthusiasm in researchers and sci-entists to study more about the issueis now slowly turning to panic con-sidering the far-reaching conse-quences on climate change.Currently, fractures in the ice coverare becoming more evident in thenorth of Greenland. Moreover,satellite images show that the frac-turing of sea ice is more prominentin the Beaufort Sea, north of Alaska,where the ice is rapidly breaking up.This fracturing is a sign of a much

thinner ice in the region that is typ-ically the thickest and most durable.These findings are being madeworse by the emergence of “unusu-ally thin and even totally absent” seaice covers on both the Atlantic andPacific sides of the Arctic.

The first signs of rapidly warm-ing Arctic are changing climate inEurope and the US. A team ofresearchers at the RutgersUniversity coined the term “Arcticamplification.” It refers to theenhanced sensitivity of high lati-tudes to global warming. Decliningsea ice is one of the contributingfactors to this phenomenon.Extreme weather in Western Europeand large swathes of North Americais attributed to Arctic amplification.

According to climatologists,changes in jet streams, especiallypolar jets, are also linked to globalwarming. Jet streams are the ribbonof strong winds blowing high abovein the atmosphere and exert hugeinfluence on weather patterns.

When the jet streams are warmer,their ups and downs become moreextreme, bringing different weath-er to areas unaccustomed to climatevariations.

With the warming of the Arcticand the loss of sea ice, scientists haveobserved that methane — a green-house gas — has started to bubble upto the surface at a precariously fasterrate. Generally, it lies frozen on theseabed. One can’t be oblivious toanother major concern: Having lesssea ice would lead to higher absorp-tion of the sun’s energy as the surfaceof the earth gets darker.

The rapid loss of the Arctic iceis not only spelling disaster for thespecies over there but also scriptinga drastic shift in climatic patterns thatthe world is not ready to tackle. Ifhumanity does not want to face theconsequences of liquefied glaciers, itwill have to find solutions that canarrest the melting of the Arctic.

(The writer is an environmentaljournalist)

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Dubbing the Congress as a“dishonest”party, Prime

Minister Narendra Modi onWednesday alleged it is onlysincere in propagating dynas-tic rule and corruption.

Addressing a rally here,Modi said the Congress culturewas to “hold back” develop-ment schemes. He said MadhyaPradesh, where the Congresscame to power in Decemberlast year, was facing acute watershortage because of the rulingparty’s policy of not expeditingirrigation schemes.

“The Congress is a dis-honest party at all levels. It isonly honest in propagatingdynastic rule and corruption.

“The BJP works in a mis-sion mode for overall develop-ment of the country. TheCongress works for welfare ofnew generation of dynasts,” hesaid.

“The Congress people haveso much hatred for your Modithat they are even dreaming ofkilling Modi. But they are for-getting that people fromMadhya Pradesh and India arebatting for me,” Modi saidwhile referring to allegedstatement of a Congress leaderagainst him.

Modi also referred to con-troversial Islamic preacherZakir Naik to target theCongress.

Attacking Congress veter-an Digvijay Singh, who is con-testing from Bhopal, Modisaid, “Diggi raja lifted Zakir

Naik on his shoulders anddanced.

“The CongressGovernment called Naik toaddress police officers on ter-rorism. Sri Lanka has closed hisTV channel after the blasts (onEaster Sunday). Earlier gov-ernments tried to project Naikas an ambassador of peace,” hesaid.

Naik, said to be currentlyin Malaysia, is wanted in Indiaon charges of inciting youthsto take up terror activities,giving hate speeches and pro-moting enmity between com-munities.

Taking a swipe at leaders ofrival parties for “harbouringprime ministerial ambitions”,Modi said none of them hadthe capacity to even becomethe Leader of Opposition.

He said voters have tochoose between 55-year rule ofone family and 55-month ruleof a “chaiwala”.

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Narendra Modi is the worstPrime Minister India has

ever seen. That was how a bel-ligerent Mamata Banerjeedescribed him from an electionrallyi in Howrah.

Picking up where she lefton Tuesday, Banerjee referredto Modi as a person who wastrying to make inroads inBengal but “has no sense ofBengali culture or else he wouldnot have gone on speaking ina tone most unbecoming of aPrime Minister.”

This man (read Modi) wasthe “most unfit PrimeMinister,” the country had everseen, she said. “I have seen anumber of Prime Ministersand worked with them as aUnion Minister. But this manwho is sitting in the chair is themost unfit of them all” usurp-ing all the democratic institu-tions from the media to theConstitution and treatingeveryone like his servants.

“He has gobbled up themedia, captured the democra-tic institutions” and was alter-

ing the Constitution to hisbenefit,” Banerjee said adding“this man considers that he isthe boss and everyone is hisservant.”

Banerjee who had earlierupped the ante on the PrimeMinister particularly after hehad told actor Akshay Kumarin a poll-time interview that shewould regularly gift him choic-est of attires and delicate sweetaugmented the decibel level ofattack further after Modi tolda rally in Hooghly that morethan 40 TMC legislators werein regular touch with him andwere willing to switch sides.

A furious Banerjeepromptly demanded cancella-tion of his candidature accus-ing him of horse-trading. “A

person who indulges in horse-trading and engineers defec-tions in other parties has noright to contest elections. Thisis why his candidature shouldbe cancelled,” she said addingeven “he has no right to con-tinue as the Prime Ministerbecause he has insulted thatpost by lowering its dignity.”

“Modi is trying to enterBengal but he has no sense ofpolitical courtesy, no sense ofpolitical decorum and no senseof appropriate political lan-guage”,she said.

Let alone everything thepeople would never vote for “aperson who wants to ruleBengal but has no sense ofBengali culture.” Incidentallythe TMC has gone to towntelling people how the BJPwas a party of the north andwestern India with no com-patibility with the traditionalBengali culture.

Taking a dig at the RSSways she said “those who ear-lier ran around on khaki half-pants are spending hugeamount of money to win elec-tions.”

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Stepping up its attack onMamata Banerjee, BJP pres-

ident Amit Shah on Wednesdaysaid the West Bengal chiefminister has extended hersupport to those who wish toseparate Kashmir from India.

Addressing a rally here inBongaon Lok Sabha con-stituency, Shah said the BJPwill continue its fight to ensurethat Kashmir remains an inte-gral part of India, no matterwho is in power at the Centre.

“Today we are in power,Narendra Modi is the primeminister. In the coming days,too, he will continue as the PM.But if a day comes when theBJP is no longer in power, itsworkers will still fight toensure that Kashmir remainsan integral part of India,” hesaid.

Shah also insisted thatBanerjee should also clear her

stance on former Kashmirchief minister Omar Abdullah’sdemand for a separate primefor his State.

“Mamata didi is supportingthose who wish to divide India.We want to know what is herstand on Omar Abdullah’sdemand for two prime minis-ters in the country,” he said.

Referring to infiltrators as“termites”, who are eating intothe country’s resources, Shahsaid his party will throw themout after coming to power atthe Centre for a second term.

He iterated that lawlessnesshas increased in the state, withthe Trinamool Congress(TMC) dispensation makingBengal a “safe haven” for theinfiltrators.

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Hours after “Saamana” thatIndia should ban on wear-

ing of burqas in public placesin view of a threat to nationalsecurity, the Shiv Sena – appar-ently because of the BJP’sstrong disapproval and criti-cism from various otherOpposition quarters—onWednesday distanced from thedemand made in its officialmouth-piece for a ban onburqua in public places.

In perhaps for the firsttime that the Shiv Sena disas-sociated itself from the editor-ial contents of party’s dailymouthpiece Saamana”, Sena’sspokesperson Neelam Gorhesaid that the the party had noth-ing to do with the “ban burqua”demand made in the “Saamana”editorial, that too in the midst

of ongoing Lok Sabha elections. “Every policy decision is

discussed in the meeting ofleaders or announced by itsPresident Uddhav Thackeray.Today’s editorial has neitherbeen discussed nor beenannounced by Uddhavji andthus it may be a personal opin-ion of the editor on the currentaffairs in Sri Lanka, but is notendorsed by the party Presidentor the party,” Gorhe said in acategorical statement issuedhere in the evening.

The Shiv Sena’s U-turncame after its ally made nobones about displeasure overthe “ban burqua” demandmade directly Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and criticismby various Opposition leadersahead of the three moreremaining phases of Lok Sanhaand five days before the start of

holy month of fasting“Ramadan”.

In its editorial, Saamanahad stated that its ally BJP mustfollow Sri Lanka’s footstepsand ban burqas across India.

The Sri LankanGovernment had bannedburqa, niqab or any kind offace-covering veil across theisland nation following theEaster Sunday serial blasts thatkilled over 250 people.

Maintaining that it wasnot just triple talaq that need-ed to be banned in India andnow burqa should also bebanned as well, the Senamouth-piece had asked Modithat if Sri Lanka being thecountry of Raavan couldimposed a ban on buraqs, thenwhy could not it be banned ina country like India, which isthe country of Ram.

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The parochialism of TamilNadu Government towards

senior civil service officers fromNorth India came out in theopen recently when authoritiesin a Chennai police stationrefused to accept the com-plaint submitted by JagmohanSingh Raju, the AdditionalChief Secretary to theGovernment of Tamil Nadu.

Punjab-born JagmohanSingh Raju had gone to theVirugambakkam Police Stationin the city on Sunday afternoonto file a complaint allegingcommission of cognisableoffences which are punishableunder the ScheduledCaste/Scheduled Tribe(Prevention of Atrocities Act)1989/2018 and the Indian PenalCode.

But the police refused toaccept the complaint from

Raju, who has been posted asthe Commissioner of LandReforms. But the policerefused to register a FIR thoughthe additional chief secretarywaited in the station for almostfour hours.

Raju has been working inthe rank of chief secretarysince January 2016 and is duefor promotion as the full sec-retary of the Government ofIndia. This would be the pre-lude to his elevation as the cab-inet secretary of the country ashe has four more years forsuperannuation . The whisperin Tamil Nadu secretariat isthat certain forces are out in theopen to derail his professionallife.

The Pioneer had reportedearlier the humiliation metedout to Jagmohan Singh Raju bythe Chief VigilanceCommissioner of the countryby initiating disciplinary pro-

ceedings against the former ina case which was thoroughlyprobed and found to be fake,false and counterfeit by the vig-ilance department of the unionministry. This internationallyhonored IAS officer hadapproached the department ofPersonnel and Training ,Government of India, with aplea to remove the CVC fromthe post.

This forced Raju toapproach the NationalCommission of ScheduledCaste which expressed its shockand displeasure over the stateof affairs. The move to reopenthe fake complaint against Rajuis being seen as an attempt tosabotage the prospects of hispromotion in the civil service.It was as per the directive of theNational Commission forScheduled Caste, an authori-ty constituted under the pro-visions of the Indian

Constitution, Jagmohan SinghRaju (who hails from theScheduled Caste community)approached the police stationfor filing the complaint.

Following the refusal of thepolice officials to register hiscomplaint,Raju intimated theNCSC about the predicamentfaced by him. The Commissionwhich went into the details hasasked the Chennai City PoliceCommissioner seeking a fillreport about the incident with-in 48 hours.

“Report should have detailsof the action taken under theSC/ST Prevention of AtrocitiesAct 1989 amended in 2015 andthe Rules 1995 amended in2016 thereof. Please take noticethat in case the Commissiondoes not receive reply from youwithin the stipulated time, theCommission may exercise thepowers of Civil Courts con-ferred on it under Art338 of the

Constitution of India and issuersummons for your appearancein person or by a representativebefore the Commission,” saidthe NCSC in its communica-tion to the City PoliceCommissioner.

Report about JagmohanSingh Raju’s sufferings comesat a time when other non-Tamilofficers in the State adminis-tration find their namesdragged into charges of cor-ruption and impropriety by acabal of bureaucrats . Recently,the chairman of the TamilNadu Uniform ServicesRecruitment Board , J KTripathy, was dragged into acase of bogus expert opinionwhich was the handiwork ofofficials from the State cadre.The controversy erupted evenas the selection process for thepost of director general ofpolice was on and Tripathy isone of the contenders.

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Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee has ques-

tioned hundred percentdeployment of central forces inthe polling booths of Bengalduring the general electionsafter the Election Commissionof India decided to do awaywith the services of the Statepolice inside the polling sta-tions to avoid violent clashes.

Questioning the constitu-tional validity of the stepsbeing “taken under the instruc-tion of the BJP Government”Banerjee said law and orderwas a State subject and nobody,not even the EC should takeunilateral decisions on that.

“It is very clear that underwhose instructions such stepsare being taken defying the

very federal nature of theIndian constitution whichmakes law and order as theState subject,” Banerjee saidquestioning the total deploy-ment of central forces in allpolling booths.

Without naming anyoneBanerjee earlier said in anelection rally that a paralleladministration was being runin Bengal despite the fact thatthere was an electedGovernment in place in theState.

Wondering why someretired officers (specialobservers) were being overactive during the elections shesaid “they are changing officersevery day, they are abusingBengal by comparing it withBihar and making politicalstatements. But the people ofBengal will not tolerate this.”

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Even a year ago, RanenBurman a lawyer’s clerk in

Agartala was self-reliant, earn-ing a decent living to maintainhis family of 90-year-old father,wife and two sons. Now he isnobody. Running from pillar topost for a trifle engagement ashis present address keeps onchanging from the house of oneparty comrade to the other.

Burman has been an activeCPI(M) member for decades.A local committee member —who could assemble five thou-sand people in one call — hasbeen hounded out by the mem-bers of the new BJPGovernment. “I have no ideawhere my children and familyare. Someone told me they aresafe as my wife has decided to

pick up the saffron flag for herdear life,” he says adding “thecondition of the Leftists inBengal is still better thanthose in Tripura.”

Bidhan Majumdar, anoth-er CPI(M) worker comes fromWest Tripura and has takenshelter in a relative’s house. “Ihave no other place to go. Idon’t know why those peoplewho were never harmed by mesuddenly went berserk. I waseating rice when some of thembarged in, kicked my plateaside spilled all the food andrained lathis on me until I faint-ed. “When I came round Ifound my entire house ran-sacked. Not a single pennywas left. My wife escaped theattack as she was with her par-ents. Then next day theyreturned and asked me to quit

CPI(M) or face bullet.” But hechose a third option, and fledTripura.

“Police complaint wouldonly invite more jeopardy andperhaps the complainant wouldbe abducted and lost forever ina dead night’s darkness. Manyof my comrades have alreadydisappeared. I don’t knowabout their fate. So I preferredto come to Kolkata,” saysBikram Deb a farmer in EastTripura. He is not an activeparty member but is an avidLeft Front supporter.

“I have seen theGovernments of NripenChakrabarty, Sudhir Majumdarand Manik Sarkar. This was thebest Government. DuringMajumdar people were tor-tured too but not like this. Thisis different.”

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Terming terrorism thebiggest threat facing India,

Prime Minister Narendra Modion Wednesday said terror fac-tories running in the neigh-bourhood are waiting for aweak government here.

This is a new India whichwill strike terrorists in theirden, within the border andoutside it, he said at an electionrally in Gosaiganj, about 25 kmfrom the temple town ofAyodhya, in which he focusedmuch of his attention on ter-rorism.

Gosaiganj is in the samedistrict as Ayodhya but falls inthe Ambedkarnagar Lok Sabhaconstituency.

Recalling the Easter Dayblasts across Sri Lanka, hesaid, “We saw what happenedin Sri Lanka. The same situa-tion prevailed in our countrybefore 2014. Can we forget theblast in Ayodhya? There wereterrorist attacks on a dailybasis.”

In the past five years, heasserted, this has stopped.

“It doesn’t mean terrorismhas stopped. Terrorism facto-ries are running in our neigh-bourhood. It is an industrythere and it is their business.They are waiting for a weak

Government. They are waitingfor a chance,” the prime min-ister warned.

Cautioning people againstterrorism, the prime ministerreferred to the oft seen sign-boards on roads, ‘Savdhanihati, Durghatna ghati (If welower our guard, there will bea tragedy), and declared, “Thegame of terrorism is also thesame.”

“This is a new India. Itdoesn’t disturb anyone but alsodoes not spare if someone dis-turbs us. Be it inside our bor-ders or outside, this new Indiawill hit terrorists in their denand reply to bullets with bul-lets,” he said in his speech inHindi, using the words ‘gharme ghus ke maarenge’ to makehis point.

If the country is safe, ouraspirations will be fulfilled,Modi said at the Gosaiganjrally to mobilise support forBJP candidates Mukut Bihari

Verma (Ambedkar Nagar) andLallu Singh (Ayodhya).

“To keep our culture andcountry safe, you all shouldpress the lotus button,” he toldthe crowd.

He also hit out at theSamajwadi Party-BahujanSamaj Party alliance and theCongress, accusing the partiesof being soft on terrorism.

“Their record shows thatagencies used to catch terror-ists only to be let off for thesake of votes. They want tomake a ‘mazboor’ (weak) gov-ernment. You have to remainalert,” he said.

He told the crowd thattheir love is his capital andenergy and said this is the landof Ram, the land of the coun-try’s pride.

In a scathing attack againstthe SP and the BSP, he said theyhad done nothing for thepoor and misused the names ofBabasaheb Ambedkar andRam Manohar Lohia. ThePrime Minister said his is theonly Government that thinks ofthe poor. “Behenji (BSPsupremo Mayawati) usedBabasaheb Ambedkar’s namebut acted against his ideals. Inthe same way, the SP tookLohia’s name at every step butsullied the image of the social-ist leader,” he said.

Modi accused the SP of

destroying the law and order ofUttar Pradesh during its rule.

“They talk about Lohia butdo nothing for the poor,” hesaid, referring to the socialistleader. Modi asked the gath-ering whether the SP, BSP andthe Congress showed concernabout labourers and the poor.

“Is the Samajwadi Party,which talked about Lohia, wor-ried about labourers? Does theBSP, which talked about ‘bahu-jan’ welfare, show any concernabout them? Did the Congress,which gave the slogan of‘Garibi Hatao’, work for them?”he asked.

Attacking the oppositionalliance in UP, he said, “Lastelections the SP and the BSPwere political foes, today theyhave become friends.”

Making a jibe at the oppo-sition also in other parts of thecountry, he said the names ofprospective Prime Ministersare popping up from every“gali-mohalla” (nook and cor-ner).

Modi alleged the partiesused 40 crore labourers astheir vote bank by dividingthem for “themselves and theirfamily gains”. Seeking to strikean emotional chord with thevoters, Modi said, “No chai-wala, cart puller or vegetablevendor wants his ward to takeup his profession.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Wednesday said

the UN decision to declareMasood Azhar as a global ter-rorist is a big success forIndia’s efforts to root out ter-rorism and proved that thecountry’s voice can no longerbe ignored on the global stage.

“It is a matter of satisfactionthat a consensus has developedin the world on designatingMasood Azhar as a global ter-rorist. Der aye, durust aye(Better late than never),” Modisaid at an election rally here.

“It is a big success forIndia’s efforts since long to rootout terrorism,” he said.

India’s voice is being heardglobally and its views can nolonger be ignored. This hasbeen proved today, the PMsaid.

He said under the previous“remote-controlled” govern-ment, even the voice of theprime minister was not heard,but now, the voice of 130 croreIndians is making an impact atthe United Nations.

“I want to say it loud andclear that this is just the begin-

ning. Wait for happens next,”Modi said.

The Prime Minister said hewas thankful to the world com-munity for standing with Indiain its fight againstterrorism.

He said that a small sectionin Pakistan which wants abright future for their countryhas started openly speaking outagainst terrorism.

The PM referred to the sur-gical strike and the air strike inBalakot and said that withtoday’s development, the nationis witnessing India’s diplomat-ic victory.

Targeting Congress chiefRahul Gandhi, Modi said,“When we were workingtowards this, the ‘naamdar’(dynast) was expressing hishappiness through his tweets.One section was very happyand they were mocking Modi.I want to tell them today thatthis is not just Modi’s success,it is the success of the wholecountry and its 130 crore peo-ple.

“I hope they will celebratetoday also. For every Indian, nomatter their ideology, it is a dayof pride,” he added.

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Rajasthan Chief Minister andCongress leader Ashok

Gehlot on Wednesday claimedthat Narendra Modi will notbecome prime minister thistime as there is an undercurrentagainst him in the country.

He claimed the saffronparty’s rhetoric that “theCongress did nothing in the last70 years” will lead to its down-fall.

“There is an undercurrentagainst Narendra Modi and heis not going to become primeminister again. Modi and AmitShah are leaving no stoneunturned to create an atmos-phere (of a wave) but peopleunderstand this,” Gehlot said ata press conference here.

He also accused Modi ofusing objectionable languageagainst him. “I have an objectionthat in Jodhpur, Modi attackedthe chief minister of Rajasthanand said that I am speaking thelanguage of Pakistan.

He has no right to makesuch serious allegation against achief minister,” Gehlot said.

The Rajasthan ChiefMinister alleged that Modi

always speaks lies and hascarved a place in politics on thebasis of falsehood.

“Someone has sent me agood quote, that dressing amosquito, swinging an ele-phant and making prime min-ister speak truth is impossible,”he said.

“The post of Prime Ministerhas sanctity. When a PrimeMinister speaks, his wordsshould touch the hearts of thecountry, but Modi lacks this,”Gehlot claimed, adding, “Theirjumla (rhetoric) that theCongress did nothing in 70years will make them sink.”

The Congress leaderclaimed that the condition of thecountry’s institutions is veryalarming and the Constitutionitself is “under threat”.

“The situation of theSupreme Court has reached tosuch a turn which is very dan-gerous and what is happening inthe apex court today… we usedto hear such things aboutPakistan judiciary… All institu-tions have been damaged. RBIcould not present the account ofdemonetisation for two years.Where we are leading?” heposed.

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Congress president RahulGandhi on Wednesday

termed the NYAY scheme as ananswer to the wrong policies ofthe BJP Government whichhave “annihilated” the country’seconomy.

Addressing an electionrally for party candidate KaiserJahan at the Gulzar Shahground in Biswan, the Gandhiscion slammed the rulingBharatiya Janata Party (BJP)and Prime Minister NarendraModi.

“Demonetisation and GSTtogether annihilated the coun-try’s economy. The NYAYScheme of the Congress is theonly answer to the poor peopleaffected by the wrong policiesof the BJP,” the Congress chiefsaid.

“Modi ji favoured a groupof 15 people by giving them�5,55,000 crore but theCongress will take this amountback from them and use it forbenefitting 25 crore poorfamilies of this country,” headded.

Talking about the plight offarmers, Rahul Gandhi said the

monetary help being offered tothem in the name of seeds andfertilisers is no less than a joke.

“Our Prime Ministerhelped Anil Ambani by givinghim the contract of Rafale andin turn cheated the country,” hesaid.

Stressing that he was notafraid of Modi, the Gandhiscion claimed that the PrimeMinister “goes into hiding”whenever he challenges himfor a debate or raises questionson the corruption allegedly

plaguing the different depart-ments of his Government.

Rahul Gandhi furtherurged the people to vote for hisparty and assured that if votedto power, the Congress gov-ernment will uplift the poorwho have been “robbed” byModi.

“Youth of Sitapur who arejobless now will have jobs intheir hands after the Congresscomes to power,” he said.Polling in Sitapur is slated forMay 6 in the fifth phase of theongoing general elections.

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Acourt in Ahmedabad onWednesday issued sum-

mons to Congress presidentRahul Gandhi in response to acriminal defamation suit filedby a BJP worker for calling BJPchief Amit Shah a “murderaccused”.

Additional chief metro-politan magistrate, D S Dabhiissued a summons, returnableon July 6, holding that primafacie (on the face of it) therewas a case of criminal defama-tion against Gandhi under sec-tion 500 of the IPC.

Krishnavadan Brahmbhatt,a local BJP corporator stated inthe complaint that Gandhi, atan election rally in Jabalpur onApril 23, said, “Murder-accused BJP chief Amit Shah,wah, kya shaan hai (how glo-rious)!”

Brahmbhatt contendedthat Gandhi’s remark wasdefamatory as Shah, in 2015,was acquitted by a CBI court inthe Sohrabuddin Shaikhencounter case.

Neither the High Courtnor the Supreme Court enter-tained challenge to Shah’s

acquittal, he said.“Gandhi (thus) committed

offence of defamation as persections 499 and 500 of theIPC,” he said.

The CBI court’s January 2,2015 order acquitting Shahgot wide publicity and was wellknown “in all political circlesincluding that of the Congress”,the complaint said.

After Gandhi’s remark atthe rally, Shah had hit back athim, pointing out that he hadbeen acquitted in the case, andquestioned Congress presi-dent’s “legal knowledge”.

Last month, another mag-istrate’s court here had issuedsummons to Gandhi andCongress spokespersonRandeep Surjewala in a crim-inal defamation suit filed bythe Ahmedabad DistrictCooperative Bank and itschairman.

Amit Shah is a director ofthe bank. The suit alleged thatthe Congress leaders hadclaimed that the bank wasinvolved in a scam to swap Rs750 crore in scrapped noteswith valid currency within five days of demoneti-sation in 2016.

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Samajwadi Party Lok Sabhacandidate and former BSF

jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav onWednesday alleged that theBJP was creating “roadblocks”in his nomination process to“prevent” him from contestingelections against PrimeMinister Narendra Modi fromVaranasi.

Yadav’s fate on fighting thepolls from this temple towncurrently hangs in balance asthe district election officer hasserved him notices pointing“discrepancies” in the twon o m i n a t i o n sfiled by him.

“I had filed my first nom-ination as an Independent can-didate on April 24 and on SPparty symbol on April 29.Ifthere were any issues with thenominations, why wasn’t Iinformed earlier. Despite lackof time, our legal team is fur-nishing all details to the RO (returning officer),” hesaid.

There was no immediateresponse from the BJP on theallegation levelled by Yadav,who was dismissed from theBSF after he complained aboutpoor quality food being servedto soldiers in a video, whichwent viral.

The 43-year-old SP nomi-

nee, who is currently awaitinghis fate in this elections, wassurrounded by his supportersat the District Collectorate.

“We were asked to reply by11 am today. My counsel hasgiven all the answers, corre-spondences with the ElectionCommission (EC) to the RO’soffice. An NOC (no-objectioncertificate) is needed from the

BSF, as to on what grounds Iwas dismissed,” Yadav, whowas wearing a camouflage T-shirt, said.

“I am being stopped fromfighting elections as the ‘naklichowkidar (fake watchman)’ ofthe country is afraid of the ‘asli(real) chowkidar’,” he alleged.

Modi refers to himself asthe ‘chowkidar’ (watchman) ofthe nation.

Uttar Pradesh SPspokesperson Manoj RaiDhupchandi alleged that Yadavwas being “targeted” as he rep-resented the aspirations andangst of farmers and jawans,and claimed the BJP got“afraid” of him as he is gettingsupport from the people inVaranasi.

“Our supporters are alsopresent outside the EC office inDelhi. We will continue tofight for justice,” he said.

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The BJP Government at theCentre launched a “jehad

against corruption” and PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s pol-icy of inclusive growth hasushered development through-out the country, Union MinisterMukhtar Abbas Naqvi said onWednesday.

The BJP leader was cam-paigning for the party’s LadakhLok Sabha seat candidateJamyang Tsering Namgyal.

“The policy of inclusivegrowth of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has createdmarks of development fromKanyakumari to Kargil,” Naqvisaid at a public meeting inJammu and Kashmir’s Kargildistrict.

The Ladakh seat, of whichLeh and Kargil are a part, is thelargest in India in terms of areaand goes to polls on May 6, thefifth phase of the general elec-tions. The Central Governmentled by Modi launched a “jihadagainst corruption and it cre-ated panic and depressionamong those who wereinvolved in loot of publicmoney from Kanyakumari toKargil”, Naqvi said.

Taking a dig at previousCongress and NationalConference Governments in

the State, he said even if 20 percent of the total money thatcame for the development of J-K since Independence had beenspent honestly, there would nothave been a single problem inKashmir. “Those people whoruled the State for most of thetime were engaged in fillingtheir own coffer instead ofworking for the welfare of theneedy common man of thestate,” the BJP leader said.

The Modi Government’scommitment has been “devel-opment with dignity” forJammu and Kashmir and “wewill carry forward this com-mitment”, Naqvi said . He saidthe Modi Government initiat-ed about �2 lakh crore worthof development projects for theState in the last five years.

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Accusing the SP and theBSP of cheating people

when in power, Uttar PradeshChief Minister Yogi Adityanathon Wednesday said only theBJP can deliver on develop-ment, good governance andnational security fronts.

“The State got ChiefMinisters from SP and BSPseven times but they keptcheating the people in thename of development... SP andBSP are a poison to develop-ment, while Modiji will wreakhavoc on terrorism and anti-nationals,” the Chief Ministersaid addressing an electionrally in Basti.

In Sant Kabirnagar, he said“on one side is the BJP whichis fighting terrorism and nax-alism, while on the other is thealliance of SP-BSP andCongress which are supportiveof terrorism in the country.”

“Only BJP can give devel-opment , good governance andsecurity in the country,” Yogistressed. “For the SP and BSP,only four districts were impor-tant which was supplied elec-tricity and the remaining 71used to go without power....Our effort is that every villageand house get power round theclock in two years’ time,” theBJP leader remarked.

The Chief Minister said thecountry’s dignity and honourhas risen at the global levelunder Prime MinisterNarendra Modi. He accusedthe SP-BSP combine andCongress of harbouring “divi-sive” intentions.

“There is only one sloganwhich is heard all over thecountry, be it women, men orthe youth....Phir ek baar , Modisarkar,” he said.

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BSP chief MayawatiWednesday accused the

BJP of using the martyrdom ofjawans for election purposesand regretted that the country’sborders are still not totallysecure.

She also alleged that likethe previous Congress gov-ernment, the BJP dispensationtoo is using the CBI, ED andthe Income Tax departmentagainst its political opponentsfor electoral gains.

“Under such circumstance,the electorate have to see to itthat neither the BJP nor theCongress... Comes to power atthe centre,” the BSP chief saidat an election meeting here.

Claiming that the BJP willbe voted out of power this timebecause of its pro-RSS, capi-talist, communal and casteistpolicies, Mayawati said noamount of “drama” or ‘jumle-bazi’ (rhetoric) will help theparty.

“The borders of the coun-try are not totally secure underthe BJP government as a result

of which terror attacks are tak-ing place and several jawansare being martyred. It is mostunfortunate that they are any-how using this for electionpurposes,” the BSP supremosaid.

“The new ‘dramebazi’ of‘chowkidar’ will also not be ableto save them (BJP) even if alltheir big and small ‘chowkidars’(watchmen) get together andmake an all out effort,” she said.

Warning people that herpolitical opponents have“adopted every trick” to winthe elections, Mayawati saidpeople should not fall for tall

election promises and allure-ments.

“During the last Lok Sabhaelection, the prime minister(Narendra Modi) had thecountry dream of ‘achche din’and made promises even one-fourth of which were not ful-filled. This is because most oftheir time was devoted to sav-ing their capitalists friends andmaking them richer,” sheclaimed.

The BSP president alsoaccused the Congress of ignor-ing the contributions of B RAmbedkar and said like theimplementation of the MandalCommission report, BharatRatna was awarded to thearchitect of the Constitutiononly when V P Singh was theprime minister.

“When V P Singh soughtour support for his govern-ment, we put forth two con-ditions -- Bharat Ratna forAmbedkar and implementa-tion of Mandal Commissionreport, which he accepted. Butthe BJP, which was giving out-side support, did not like thisand withdrew,” she said.

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In a scathing attackagainst alliance

partners SP and BSP,Prime MinisterNarendra Modi onWednesday said theyhad done nothing forthe poor and misusedthe names ofBabasaheb Ambedkar and Ram Manohar Lohia.

Addressing a rally in Gosaiganj, about 25 km fromthis temple town, the prime minister said his is the onlygovernment that thinks of the poor.

“Behenji (Mayawati) used Babasaheb Ambedkar’sname but acted against his ideals. In the same way,the SP took Lohia’s name at every step but sullied theimage of the socialist leader,” he said.

Modi accused the Samajwadi Party of destroyingthe law and order of Uttar Pradesh during its rule.

“They talk about Lohia but do nothing for thepoor,” he said, referring to the socialist leader.

The Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party and theAkhilesh Yadav-led SP have joined hands to contestelections in the state.

Buoyed by the Balakot air strikes, the prime min-ister said security is the biggest issue. Recalling bombblasts in Ayodhya, Faizabad and other places, he saidthey have now become a thing of the past.

Modi also said tourist spots are being developedunder the Ramayana circuit. Gosaiganj falls inAmbedkar Nagar constituency, which votes on May 12,the sixth and penultimate phase of the polls.

The votes will be counted on May 23.

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Terming Rahul Gandhi an“ATM of lies”, Uttar

Pradesh Minister ShrikantSharma on Wednesday ques-tioned the Congress presidentover the Center’s notice on hiscitizenship status and allegedhe has given so many falsestatements that he “doesn’teven remember his truth”.

The Minister for poweralso claimed that the Congresschief has been tarnishing theimage of “honest” PrimeMinister Narendra Modi since2014.

“Jhuthe bayan dekar Rahulchalta firta jhuth ka ATM bangaye hain (Rahul Gandhi givesfalse statements and has turnedinto an ATM of lies),” Sharmatweeted.

“Woh itna jhuth bol chukehain ki unhe apna sach bhi

yaad nahi hai (he has said somany lies that he does not evenremember his truth),” he said.

Questioning Gandhi’s cit-izenship status, Sharmademanded that the Congresschief clarify his associationwith “Backops Ltd of Britatin”and his “British citizenship”.

The Home Ministry hasserved a notice to Gandhi,asking him to clarify within afortnight his “factual position”

on a complaint questioninghis citizenship status.

The notice was served fol-lowing a representation fromBJP’s Rajya Sabha MPSubramanian Swamy.

Citing Swamy’s letter, theministry said it has beenbrought out that a companynamed Backops Limited wasregistered in the UnitedKingdom in 2003 with Gandhias one of its directors.

The Congress presidenthas been changing his identi-ty as per requirement in theongoing Lok Sabha election,Sharma alleged.

The home ministry hassaid that Swamy’s letter alsomentioned that in the Britishcompany’s annual returns filedon October 10, 2005, andOctober 31, 2006, Gandhi’sdate of birth has been given asJune 19, 1970, and he had

declared his nationality asBritish.

In another related tweet,Sharma said “Apni padhai aurkamai ko lekar Rahul itnevirodhi bayan de chuke hain kiwe janta ke liye paheli banchuke hain (He has given somany contrary statements onhis income and education, thatRahul Gandhi has turned intoa riddle for the people).”

Gandhi must clarify hisstatements since he happens tobe the head of a political party,he tweeted.

The Congress chief hasbeen tarnishing the image of“honest” Prime MinisterNarendra Modi since 2014 byrunning a factory of “lies andjumlas”, he said on Twitter.

In this election, the elec-torate will vote for Modi andwill shut this factory, Sharmasaid.

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In a strong defence of prohibitionin Bihar, Deputy Chief Minister

Sushil Kumar Modi has said thoseopposed to she ban on sale andconsumption of liquor may vote forthe opposition if they wish, andasserted that the policy has madethe streets safer and helped the poor.

The RJD-led opposition alliancehas claimed that the policy has notworked in Bihar, pointing out thatalcohol is available in the blackmarket and it has resulted in harass-ment of the common man by theauthorities.

Modi, a senior BJP leader, saidthe imposition of prohibition by theNitish Kumar Government hasbeen a success.

“Drunken brawls that wouldearlier happen on the streets havegone away. There used to be casesof eve-teasing by drunk ruffianswhich is no longer the case. Poorpeople, who would spend theirhard-earned money on liquor,now save it,” he told PTI.

Asked about the criticism of thepolicy by a section of people,including the opposition, Modi

shot back, saying they may vote forthe BJP’s rivals if they wish to.

To a question about availabili-ty of liquor in the black market, hesaid many crimes happen despitethe presence of law.

The occurrence of a crime doesnot mean the law against it shouldnot be there, he asserted.

The BJP-JD(U)-LJP alliance ofthe NDA is pitted against the com-bine of the RJD, the Congress andthe Upendra Kushwaha-led RLSPamong others in the 40 Lok Sabhaseats of Bihar.

The NDA had 31 Lok Sabhaseats in the state in 2014 and Modiasserted that the saffron alliancewill improve its tally this time.

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The flag carrier Air Indiahas been forced to ground

as many as 20 of its 127 fleetof aircraft, comprising bothwide-body as well as single-aisle, as it does not have thefunds to replace their engines,a senior official has said.

The debt-ridden AI, sur-viving on public doles, needsat least �1,500 crore to get newengines for these planes, andwith has no funds coming in,these planes are unlikely toresume operations any soon,the official explained.

The loss-making carrierhas a fleet of 127 planes ofwhich 45 are Boeing wide-bodies (27 B787s and 18B777s) and cater to the long-haul and ultra-long haul inter-national routes, and the restare narrow-body AirbusA320s.

“As many as 20 of ourplanes are out of operationssince late last year due toengine issues. That meansalmost 16 percent of our fleetis down. These planes have tobe fitted with new engines,which will require around�1,500 crore,” the official said.

Of these, 14 are A320s,four are B787-800s(Dreamliners) and theremaining two are B777s hesaid.

The official said the airlinehas been trying to get themback into operations with new

engines, since late last year butfor want of funds, these planesare unlikely to be up and fly-ing before October.”

Notably, last August theairline’s narrow-body pilotsbody ICPA (IndianCommercial Pi lotsAssociation) had alleged that19 planes were on ground forwant of spares, resulting inhuge revenue loss besidesmassive flight cancellations.

However, the then chair-man Pradeep Singh Kharola,who is now the aviation sec-retary, had termed groundingsome of the fleet for routinemaintenance checks as a“common practice” in the avi-ation space.

The official also said theairline is planning to hirearound 200 cabin crew fromJet Airways but it may not goahead with an earlier plan tolease five B777s from the nowgrounded airline to expand itsinternational services.

If the flag carrier goesahead with hiring, it will bethe third carrier to absorb apart of the 22,000-odd work-force of Jet , which wasgrounded on April 17.

SpiceJet has alreadyannounced hiring of 500,including 100 Jet pilots, whileVistara is also in the processof taking on board a similarnumber of personnel fromthe crippled airline.

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GST collec-tion scaled

all-time high ofover �1.13 lakhcrore in April,up from �1.06lakh crore in theprevious month,the finance min-istry saidWednesday.

“The totalgross GST revenue collected inApril 2019 is �1,13,865 crore ofwhich Central GST is �21,163crore, State GST (SGST) is�28,801 crore, Integrated GSTis �54,733 crore and cess is�9,168 crore,” an official state-ment said.

Total number of summarysales return GSTR-3B filed forthe month of March up to April30 stood at 72.13 lakh. April isthe first month of 2019-20 fiscal.

The collection last monthhas been the highest sinceintroduction of GST and alsoreflects 10.05 per cent growthover April 2018, when the col-lection was �1,03,459 crore, itsaid.

The Government has set-tled �20,370 crore to CGST and�15,975 crore to SGST fromIGST as regular settlement.

Further, �12,000 crore hasbeen settled from the balanceIGST available with the Centre

on provisional basis in theratio of 50:50 between Centreand States.

“The total revenue earnedby the central Governmentand State Governments afterregular and provisional settle-ment in April 2019 is �47,533crore for CGST and �50,776crore for SGST,” the statementadded.

For 2019-20, theGovernment proposes to col-lect �6.10 lakh crore fromCGST and �1.01 lakh crore ascompensation cess. The IGSTbalance has been pegged at�50,000 crore.

The CGST collection in2018-19 was �4.25 lakh crore,while compensation cess wasover �97,000 crore.

The Goods and ServicesTax (GST) revenue last monthis 16.05 per cent higher thanthe monthly average of �98,114crore GST revenue in 2018-19.

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The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki

India Wednesday reported17.2 per cent decline in salesat 1,43,245 units in April.

The company had sold1,72,986 units in April lastyear, Maruti Suzuki India(MSI) said in a statement.

Domestic sales declinedby 18.7 per cent at 1,34,068units last month as against1,64,978 units in the year-agomonth, it added.

Sales of mini cars com-prising Alto were at 22,766units as compared to 37,794units in April last year, down39.8 per cent.

Sales of compact seg-

ment, including models suchas Swift , Celerio, Ignis,Baleno and Dzire, were down13.9 per cent at 72,146 unitsas against 83,834 units inApril last year, the companysaid.

Mid-sized sedan Ciazsold 2,789 units as comparedto 5,116 units in the samemonth a year ago.

Utility vehicles, includingVitara Brezza, S-Cross andErtiga were up 5.9 per cent at22,035 units as compared to20,804 units in the year-agomonth, MSI said.

Exports in April were upby 14.6 per cent at 9,177units as against 8,008 unitsin the corresponding monthlast year, the company said.

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Sugar mills can sell 2.1 mil-lion tonne of the sweetener

in the open market in the cur-rent month, higher than theApril quota of 1.8 milliontonne, according to a foodministry order.

The quota also includesadditional quantity given as

incentive to mills for achievingmore than 75 per cent of theirexport target and also for pro-ducing ethanol from B-heavymolasses instead of sugar, it said.

The food ministry hasallowed 534 mills to sell a totalof 2.1 million tonne (MT) inthis month, the order said.

Any violation of this order

would attract penal provisionsunder the EssentialCommodities Act, 1955, itadded.

The wholesale sugar priceshave remained sluggish and infact below the cost of produc-tion throughout the yearbecause of surplus domesticproduction.

The Government has

raised its sugar productionestimate for 2018-19(October-September) to arecord 32.5 MT from 31.5 MTestimated in March, similar towhat was achieved in the pre-vious year.

The production, however,is expected to be higher thanthe annual domestic require-ment of 25-26 MT.

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Senior officials of India andIran are likely to hold fifth

round of negotiations for abilateral preferential tradeagreement (PTA) here thismonth, an official said.

Till now, four rounds ofnegotiations have been com-pleted and the last one was heldin March in Tehran whereboth countries discussed drafttext of the pact.

“Both sides have tentative-ly agreed to hold the fifthround of talks here this month,”the official added.

Unlike in a free trade pact,where two trading partnerssignificantly reduce or elimi-nate duties on maximum num-ber of goods traded betweenthem, PTA involves removal ofduties on certain identifiedproducts.

According to trade experts,the proposed agreement willgive India a greater marketaccess in the Persian Gulfnation.

“The PTA may not helpIndia in bypassing trade sanc-tions being imposed by the USon Iran, but in the long run,Iran is an important market forIndian exporters,” BiswajitDhar, a professor of economicsat Jawaharlal Nehru University,said.

Trade Promotion Councilof India (TPCI) ChairmanMohit Singla said the PTA isimportant as India will be ableto diversify its export basketwhich is now limited to agriproducts.

“With a carefully designedPTA, strategic products such asleather, textiles and ready madegarments, which attract veryhigh duties in Iran can becomenaturally competitive and Indiawill be able to leverage itsexport strengths,” he said.

Federation of IndianExport Organisations (FIEO)said Iran holds huge exportopportunities in sectors such asagriculture, chemicals, machin-ery, pharmaceuticals, paperand paper products, man-madefibre and filament yarn andessential oils.

“The PTA will help India inits long run to increaseexports,” FIEO DG Ajay Sahaisaid.

Iran’s major exports toIndia are oil, fertilisers andchemicals while importsinclude cereals, tea, coffee,spices and organic chemicals.

India’s exports to thePersian Gulf nation in 2017-18were worth $2.65 billion, whileimports were valued at $11.11billion. The trade imbalance ismainly because of India’simport of oil from Iran.

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Describing India as a “chal-lenging market in the

short-term”, Apple CEO TimCook said the company plansto make a foray into the Indianmarket with “all of our might”through its retail stores andmanufacturing capability.

Cook, during the fiscalyear 2019 second quarter earn-ings conference call Tuesday,said that while India is a veryimportant market in the long-term it is also a very challeng-ing market in the short-term.

“I think India is a veryimportant market in the long-term. It’s a challenging marketin the short-term. But we’relearning a lot,” he said.

“We have made someadjustments in India and we’veseen preliminarily some betterresults there. Everything thatwe do, does advise everythingwe do in the future so we try tolearn the best we can and foldthat into our thinking. Andwe’ll obviously do that with thisas well,” he said.

Last month, Appledropped the selling price ofiPhone XR by up to 22 per centin the face of stiff competitionin the premium smartphonesegment in the India.

Apple has started manu-facturing in India which he saidis very important to be able toserve the market in a “reason-able way.”

“And we’re growing thatcapability there,” he said.

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Honda Cars India Ltd(HCIL) on Wednesday

reported 23 per cent increase indomestic sales at 11,272 unitsin April as against 9,143 unitsin the same month last year.

The company’s April salesgrowth is primarily due tolower base effect, as there wasno ‘Amaze’ in correspondingmonth last year during modelrunout, HCIL Senior VicePresident and Director, Salesand Marketing Rajesh Goelsaid.

The ongoing elections andoverall subdued market senti-ment continue to affect thesales momentum, he added.

“Going forward, the indus-try is heading towards atougher year impacting salesdue to volatility in fuel prices,increase in car prices owing tonew regulations and stricterinventory control for smoothswitchover to BS VI regime byyear end,” Goel said.

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National Stock Exchangechief Vikram Limaye

Wednesday said there is “lightat the end of the tunnel” afterthe Sebi orders in co-locationcase and all legal options willbe explored before deciding thefuture course of action.

A day after the marketwatchdog passed orders inthe high profile co-locationcase, wherein the exchangehas also been directed to dis-gorge profits worth over�1,000 crore, Limaye alsoasserted that there would beno bearing on the function-ing of the NSE.

“When you look at theorders, you see that there is noevidence of any unfair tradepractice or fraudulent tradepractice... We are not beingcharged of any unfair or fraud-ulent practices,” he told PTI inan interview.

On Tuesday, Sebi directedthe country’s largest exchangeto disgorge profits worth over�1,000 crore in the co-locationcase, wherein some entitiesallegedly got preferential accessin high frequency trading.

The bourse has also beenbanned from launching anynew derivative products as wellas from accessing the securitiesmarket directly or indirectly for

six months.Strict action has also been

taken against some presentand past executives of theexchange and some stock bro-kers.

Limaye, who is the man-aging director and chief exec-utive officer, noted that there isnothing pending from the reg-ulatory perspective in the co-location matter.

“It is certainly positivebecause till this point of time,we had no closure of the mat-ter in terms of an order or somedecision from the regulator...There is at least light at the endof the tunnel. From Sebi’s per-spective, this is the end of thematter,” he said.

Alleged lapses in high-fre-quency trading offered throughNSE’s co-location facility cameunder the scanner of the watch-dog after a complaint was filedin 2015.

Limaye said that currently,all legal options are availableand the exchange has to getlegal advice in a holistic way interms of what is in the bestinterest of the institution as wellas the pros and cons of differ-ent options.

“We have to get legal adviceon the employees situation andon the IPO situation, depend-ing on what course of action wemight take,” he added.

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Mumbai: The number of people filing income tax returns has declined by a full1 percent in fiscal 2019, despite the increased Government focus to broaden thebase, indicating a deepening slowdown in the overall economy, says a broker-age report.

It can be noted that the Government has been pointing to the enlarged taxbase as a benefit of the controversial demonetisation move it undertook in 2016,which had a debilitating impact on the economy.

Citing official data, a report by brokerage Kotak Securities said Wednesdaythat only 66.8 million returns were filed in FY19 as against 67.5 million in theprevious fiscal, which is down 1 percent. PTI

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Realme, an Indian smart-phone brand, launched

Realme 3 pro. The phone ispowered by Snapdragon 710processor and comes with a4045mAh battery with aVOOC 3.0 f lash charge.Realme 3 Pro also supportsSony IMX 519 16MP + 5MPrear cameras, and a 25MP self-ie camera. Realme 3 Pro comesin 2 variants; 4 GB RAM + 64GB ROM at �13,999 and 6GBRAM +128GB ROM at �16,999in 3 colours, Carbon Grey,Nitro Blue and LightningPurple. The phone also sup-ports 960fps/720P Super Slow-motion video-shooting.

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Vellore Institute ofTechnology (VIT)

Technology Business Incubator(VIT-TBI) will offer a 5 daytraining programme in basicconcepts in analytical instru-mentation along with hands-ontraining in various instrumentsfrom May 13, 2019.

This will provide an oppor-tunity for graduates in B.Sc.,M.Sc. in Chemistry,Biotechnology, Microbiologyand research scholars to partic-ipate in the training programmeand acquire software handlingexperience in UPLC and HPLCand use of other techniques.

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Ajax closed in on a firstChampions League finalfor 23 years as Donny

van de Beek's early goal beat aninjury-hit Tottenham 1-0 in thefirst leg of their semi-final onTuesday.

Van de Beek's opener on 15minutes was just reward for theDutch side's first-half domi-nance as Tottenham badlymissed the presence of theinjured Harry Kane and sus-pended Son Heung-min.

Tottenham improved afterthe break despite anotherinjury blow as Jan Vertonghenhad to be helped down the tun-nel after a sickening headknock, but lacked the inspira-tion needed to get back on levelterms without their two topscorers.

And Ajax could easily havehad an even greater lead to takeback to the Johan Cruyff Arenafor the second leg next weekwhen David Neres hit the post10 minutes from time.

Ajax had shown they arenot fazed on the road despitethe tender age of many of their

squad by shocking Real Madridand Juventus away to reach thelast four and started confident-ly.

Spurs were happy to sitdeep and wait for their chancesto counter-attack, but thatgameplan was undone whenHakim Ziyech's throughball picked out midfield-er Van de Beek who tookhis time to leave HugoLloris prone before slottinginto the bottom corner.

Lloris kept his sidein the game 10minutes later fromanother Van deBeek ef fort as Ajaxthreatened to run riot.

Fernando Llorente was thehero with the decisive goal asMauricio Pochettino's menupset the odds to endManchester City's quest for aquadruple of trophies in thequarter-finals.

However, the cumbersomeSpaniard struggled to providethe out ball his side needed torelieve the Ajax pressure.

Set-pieces providedTottenham's best chance ofscoring before the break as

Llorente headed wide and TobyAlderweireld over from KieranTrippier free-kicks.

�����������������On top of Kane and Son,

Spurs were shorn of the injuredErik Lamela and Harry Winksand lost another key playerwhen Vertonghen came offworst as he contested a highball with Ajax goalkeeperAndre Onana.

The Belgian was patchedup and briefly returned to thefield before having to be helpeddown the tunnel with questionssure to be asked why the Spursmedical staff allowed him tocontinue.

Despite that latest blow, thehosts reacted well to end thehalf on top with Vertonghen'sreplacement Moussa Sissokodriving a long-range effortwide.

Pochettino's half-time peptalk had the desired effect asSpurs dug deep into their ener-gy reserves to raise the tempoand intensity of their displayafter the break.

Yet, the quality needed inthe final third to get back onlevel terms was missing with-out Kane and Son.

A sweetly struck shotChristian Eriksen shot

that was too close toOnana was the besteffort they couldmuster as too oftenhopeful crosses into

the box failed to find ateammate.

Ajax didnot make themost of their

chances on thebreak to kill the tie

off, but were unfortunate whenNeres's effort back across Llorisleft the French captain helplessonly for the ball to reboundkindly off the post.

Son will be back for the tripto Amsterdam next Wednesdayand Spurs will hope the SouthKorean can repeat his doubleaway to City in the last eight,but Ajax are in pole position fora final against Barcelona orLiverpool come June 1 inMadrid.

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Indian shooting ace ApurviChandela on Wednesday attained

the world number one position inthe women's 10m air rifle eventwhile compatriot Anjum Moudgilrose to number two after consistentperformances in recent years.

The rifle ace from Jaipur isamong the five Indian shooters tohave already secured 2020Olympics quotas for the country.

Chandela shot a world recordscore of 252.9 to clinch Gold at theInternational Shooting SportFederation (ISSF) World Cup inFebruary.

The shooter took to twitter toshare her joy on achieving the feat.

"World Number 1 Touched amilestone in my shooting careertoday," Chandela wrote on hertwitter handle.

While the 26-year-oldChandela has already booked aTokyo Olympics berth, she narrow-ly missed out on a medal, finishingfourth with a total score of 207.8,at the recently-concluded ISSFWorld Cup in Beijing.

Meanwhile, Moudgil attainedthe world number two rank in 10mAir Rifle after her mixed team Goldat the ISSF World Cup in Beijing.

Manu Bhaker is the worldnumber 10 in 25m pistol womencategory.

Among men, Divyansh SinghPanwar's World Cup exploits inBeijing helped him reach worldnumber four spot in 10m air riflecategory. Divyansh won two Goldmedals at Beijing — 10m air rifleand 10m air rifle mixed team - andalso secured his quota at the 2020Tokyo Olympics.

Abhishek Verma, who also wona Gold in Beijing, has reachedworld number three in 10m AirPistol category. India's teen sensa-tion Saurabh Chaudhary was not faraway at world number 6.

Anish Bhanwala, another ofIndia's talented young shooter,secured the 10th spot in 25m RapidFire Pistol category.

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India's Saina Nehwal suf-fered a shocking first

round loss to world num-ber 212 Wang Zhiyi ofChina to exit the NewZealand Open here onWednesday, but H SPrannoy and B SaiPraneeth advanced.

The 29-year-old worldnumber nine lost 16-21,23-21, 4-21 to her 19-year-old opponent in thewomen's singles match that lasted one hour and seven min-utes.

In men's singles, HS Prannoy and B Sai Praneethadvanced to the second round. Prannoy defeated Kean YewLoh 21-15, 21-14 in straight games while Praneeth edged Indiancounterpart Subhankar Dey 21-17, 19-21, 21-15 in a close con-test that lasted 71 minutes.

Lakshya Sen's campaign, though, ended with a hard-foughtloss against Taiwan's Wang Tzu Wei. Lakshya lost 21-15, 18-21, 10-21 in an hour and eight minutes.

Earlier in the day, the pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and NSikki Reddy fought hard against Chinese duo of Liu Xuanxuanand Xia Yuting before losing 14-21, 23-21, 14-21 in an hourand 10 minutes.

But the men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B SumeethReddy registered a win over New Zealand's Joshua Feng andJack Jiang 21-17, 21-10.

Anura Prabhudesai also lost to world number 15 Li Xuerui9-21, 10-21 in singles first round on a disappointing day forIndian shuttlers.

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Paris Saint-Germain's end-of-season melt-down continued on Tuesday as the Ligue

1 champions twice threw away the lead in a3-2 defeat at Montpellier, three days after dra-matically losing the French Cup final.

Souleymane Camara netted Montpellier'swinner five minutes from time after LeandroParedes was caught in possession on the edgeof his own area.

Before that, Presnel Kimpembe's owngoal had cancelled out an Ambroise Oyongoown goal that had given PSG the lead. AngelDi Maria put the visitors back in front, butAndy Delort made it 2-2 before Camarasealed the points.

PSG wrapped up their sixth league titlein seven seasons a week ago, but this resultmeans they have won one and lost three oftheir last five league games.

"We made individual errors, too many ofthem, and big mistakes," lamented coachThomas Tuchel.

"In these conditions it is difficult to wina match at Montpellier, who are a very strongand aggressive team defensively."

This latest defeat will increase the pres-sure on Tuchel, whose future has been calledinto question with his team's domestic slumpfollowing their humiliating ChampionsLeague exit against Manchester United.

PSG threw away a two-goal lead inSaturday's French Cup final before losing onpenalties to Rennes. Kylian Mbappe was sentoff in that game, while Neymar later apolo-gised after hitting a fan who taunted theBrazilian as he went up to collect his runners-up medal.

Neymar started in Montpellier, butMbappe was absent due to suspension, withseveral other players also absent.

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Unai Emery's first season incharge at Arsenal is in danger

of imploding unless the Spaniardcan again prove himself to be aEuropa League specialist and coverup an alarming dip in the Gunners'Premier League form.

Arsenal have lost four of theirpast five league games to Everton,Crystal Palace, WolverhamptonWanderers and Leicester City toslip down to fifth and relying onmore favours from Chelsea orTottenham to have any chance ofa top-four finish.

However, winning theEuropa League would alsooffer a much-neededreturn to the ChampionsLeague next season after atwo-year absence.

Emery is a special-ist in Europe's second-tier competition, win-ning it three times whenat Sevilla, and he is alsowell acquainted with Arsenal'ssemi-final opponents, Valencia,who he managed between 2008and 2012.

Emery also did a stellar job atthe Mestalla, leading Valencia tothree consecutive third-placedfinishes behind dominantBarcelona and Real Madrid sidesmanaged by Pep Guardiola andJose Mourinho.

However, doubts remain overhis ability to lead Arsenal's rebuildback to the heights they onceenjoyed under Wenger.

The same defensive issuesthat haunted the Frenchman'sfinal years in charge have been inevidence in recent weeks, conced-ing three times in three consecu-tive league defeats for the first timesince 1967.

Emery has constantly changedpersonnel and formations, but isyet to find the right balance withone of his two star forwardsAlexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang often left

out.Yet, there have been notable

successes. Top-four rivalsTottenham, Chelsea andManchester United were allbeaten at the Emirates this

season and Emery's men wonhome and away to Napoli inthe Europa League quarter-

finals.Valencia find themselves in a

similar situation to Arsenal inlooking at the Europa League tosave a disappointing domesticseason.

A shock 1-0 home defeat toEibar on Saturday leaves Los Chesixth in La Liga and three pointsoutside the top four with threegames left.

Former Arsenal defenderGabriel Paulista will return to theEmirates on Thursday and wantsto mark Valencia's centenary yearin style.

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Fierce rivalries are key for thegrowth of any sport and seven-

time Grand Slam winner JustineHenin laments that women's ten-nis lacks iconic tussles such asbetween Roger Federer and RafaelNadal on the men's circuit.

In the past year, women's ten-nis has seen four different GrandSlam champions and Heninbelieves this inconsistency is notgood for the sport.

Henin says modern-daywomen tennis needs rivalries sinceit is crucial to motivate youngsters.

"We need big names inwomen's tennis, big rivalries, togive motivation to young girls toplay. If you see so many differentplayers are winning, you cannotidentify yourself to anyone," Heninsaid.

"Young girls are watching theplayer almost every week. It is veryimportant to have a face. It hasbeen a very strange season, all thetournaments have been won by dif-ferent players. We miss that consis-tency. Inconsistency is not good forthe sport."

Henin herself was one half ofa fierce rivalry with compatriotKim Clijsters. The later leading justmarginally 13-12 on head-to-head.While it was often reported that thetwo didn't share a good relation-ship, Henin said that was never thecase and she has always been ongood terms with Clijsters till today.

"Kim and I we never had anyproblem. We had some rage oncourt but it was necessary for thegame. Several times it was the press

creating the concurrence. "I think the rivalry helped

both of us to be better players. Ialways say I would never be theplayer have been if Kim wasn'tthere at that time."

The former world numberone from Belgium was in the cap-ital to attend the fifth edition of theRoland-Garros Junior wild cardSeries where Mann Maulik Shahand Shaikh Humera emerged aschampions.

Simona Halep will begin thedefence of her campaign in theRoland Garros in less than amonth and Henin believes theRomanian will start favourite as shehas complete game, required forsucceed on clay.

"It will be interesting to seeSimona Halep defend her title forthe first time in the Grand Slam. Ilike her game, the way she playsespecially on clay. You have to bea complete player, be patient, bementally tough to win on clay. Shehas been the most consistent play-er so far. I think she is going to bethe favourite."

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Their batting mainstay,Australian David Warner

no longer available, SunrisersHyderabad face a formidabletask when they square offagainst Mumbai Indians in acrucial match at Wankhedeon Thursday.

The match is important forboth sides as a victory will bol-ster their play-off chanceswhile a defeat would bringthem one step closer to the exitdoor.

Currently, MI are on thirdposition with 14 points from12 games, while the SRH are inthe fourth spot with 12 pointsfrom as many matches.

If MI win on Thursday,they qualify for the play-offswhile a victory for SRH willtake them level on 14 pointswith the home side and bothwill have to wait longer toknow their fate.

Warner, after scoring astaggering 692 runs, headedhome to take part in thenational camp ahead of theWorld Cup.

The void left by his depar-ture would be felt and in hisabsence, captain KaneWilliamson, Manish Pandey,all-rounder Vijay Shankar andcomeback man WriddhimanSaha will have to shoulder theresponsibility.

SRH bowlers have per-

formed well in patches andneed to get their act togetheragainst MI's strong battingline-up.

MI have been well-servedby Quinton de Kock (393from 12 matches) and captainRohit Sharma (307 from 11) atthe top. In hard-hitting all-rounder Hardik Pandya (355from 12) and powerhouseKieron Pollard (228 from 12),MI possess two batsmen whoroutinely take the oppositionbowling attack to the cleanersin the last few overs of theinnings.

The likes of Surya KumarYadav and Krunal Pandya willneed to convert starts into big-ger scores against the multi-pronged SRH attack in whichAfghanistan's Rashid Khan(14 wickets) has been thestandout performer.

Sandeep Sharma (12 wick-ets), Khaleel Ahmed (11 from6) and the experiencedBhuvneshwar Kumar (8 from12), along with the Afghan spintwins Rashid and MohammedNabi, provide quality to theSRH bowling attack.

���■ )6/5/�

Bangladesh has altered itsWorld Cup cricket strip to

add a touch of red followinguproar over the initial design,which some had likened to rivalPakistan's kit, the cricket boardsaid on Wednesday.

The national flag ofBangladesh is red and green, butthe Tigers' jersey unveiled onMonday for the tournamentstarting later this month inEngland and Wales was greenand white.

Bangladesh Cricket Board(BCB) spokesman Jalal Yunussaid cricket's world governingbody had originally asked it todrop the red colour due to"commercial complications", butrelented following a subsequentrequest from the BCB.

"It made the jersey greenand white. But people wanted atouch of red in the jersey. So werequested the ICC (InternationalCricket Council) again and theyaccepted our request," he said.

The original design hadfeatured the names of playersand the word Bangladesh in red,

Yunus noted.Many cricket fans saw a sim-

ilarity with the jersey of Pakistan,from which Bangladesh becameindependent after a bloody warin 1971.

But BCB president NazmulHassan, blasted the suggestionthat the resemblance of Pakistanjersey prompted the swift changein design.

"Bangladesh is written onthe jersey, how can you confuseit with Pakistan?" Nazmul askedreporters in a press conferenceon Tuesday.

"After seeing the Tigers'

picture and BCB logo if some-one thinks that it's notBangladesh's jersey butPakistan's then I think that per-son should stay in Pakistan," hesaid.

Bangladesh cricket team lefthome on Wednesday and willopen their World Cup campaignagainst South Africa at the Ovalon June 2.

First they will play a tri-national tournament in Irelandfrom May 5-17 along with fellowWorld Cup participants Irelandand the West Indies. The WorldCup begins on May 30.

�����■ 0#�@/373

Royal Challengers Bangalore(RCB) pacer Umesh Yadav

feels that getting dropped fromthe Indian team has affected hisform besides the loss of selfconfidence in the ongoing edi-tion of the Indian PremierLeague (IPL).

Umesh, who was notincluded in India's 15-memberWorld Cup squad, said thatnothing is currently going in hisfavour as the pressure to per-form is affecting his bowling.

"Everybody is saying I amnot bowling well and why is thishappening? Because in last twoyears I continued playing allformats in domestic level, butafter that, I have not played toomany ODIs or T20s. I am justpicked for two to three games,then again get dropped,"Umesh said after the aban-doned IPL tie between his teamand Rajasthan Royals onTuesday.

"Everyone is thinking I amnot giving my best, but it is not.It happens for every fastbowler," the pacer said.

Umesh admitted that hehas failed in maintaining accu-racy in the past six months.

"It is difficult to elaboratebecause it is part of everybowler. Sometimes, we have agood or a bad day. I think thisis the phase wherein from 4 to6 months I am not that accu-rate," he said.

Umesh, who last donnedthe national jersey on October24 against the West Indies,said his rhythm has not beenupto the mark because of men-tal pressure.

"Sometimes too manythings go into your head.Sometimes, there definitely is

confidence, but other times Ifeel I am not having my timethis year. Hence, that is theproblem this year. Actually myrhythm and everything is notgoing my way," he opined.

"Last time I was the high-est wicket taker and this year itdid not happen, so definitely Iam feeling bad and hurt for notbeing able to deliver properlywhenever the team wants fromme," Umesh, who has managedto claim just eight wicketsfrom 10 games this season,added.

��D����3��A��B� India's tour ofthe West Indies could start in thefirst week of August as CricketWest Indies has agreed to theBCCI's request of pushing backthe tour of the Caribbean by acouple of weeks.

The Indian team was tenta-tively scheduled to reach theCaribbean island immediatelyafter the World Cup final on July14. However, the BCCI mighthave wanted the India players tohave a break before the tour,which the CWI was happy toentertain.

As per the ICC's FutureTours Programme, India werescheduled to tour the WestIndies after the World Cup fora full tour comprising two Tests,

three ODIs and three T20Is.According to a report in

ESPNcricinfo, the tour is likelyto commence in the first weekof August and run till September4. The final dates for the touralong with the venues will befinalised by CWI at its boardmeeting on May 13.

CWI also wanted a clearwindow for the CaribbeanPremier League, which has nowalso been rescheduled, owing tothe shift in the India tour itin-erary.

Originally, the seventh edi-tion of the CPL was slotted fromAugust 21 to September 27. Asper the revised dates, the tour-nament will now be playedbetween Sept 4 and October 12.

���■ -3-0/��

Asmasher of the cricket ballhimself, Kieron Pollard on

Wednesday praised his MumbaiIndians teammate HardikPandya for his six-hittingprowess and said the all-rounder packs a lot of punch.

"He is a small guy but hits(the ball) a long way. And againonce he continues to practicewell and continue to evolve asa cricketer, you can see himdoing great things not only forMumbai Indians but by exten-sion Indian cricket," said Pollardabout Pandya on the eve of MI'sIPL game against SunrisersHyderabad.

Pandya has so far amassed355 runs in 12 games, studdedwith 27 sixes and 25 fours. Most

of his runs have come towardsthe end, the last being the blis-tering 91 off 34 balls againstKolkata Knight Riders at theEden Gardens.

"He's not really practisingdifferently. It is about believingin his ability. Obviously the sit-uations he has been in, he hadno choice but to go and hit andhe has shown his power-gameas well, so it's good for him.Even when he came onto thescene, if you remember, a cou-ple of games for Mumbai(Indians), he finished off withhis big hits.

"It is matter of him havingthe confidence because he is oneof those guys who is free-spir-ited and will just go out and tryto use his youthful exuberanceto have an impact on the game,"

Pollard explained.Conceding that the in-form

SRH batting mainstay DavidWarner's absence from the rivalranks will help MI, Pollard feltthere will be someone else to fillthe gap.

"It's an advantage, obvious-ly. David (Warner) is a world-class player. He has shown whathe can do and he has shown thathe was integral part of SunrisersHyderabad (campaign). So, asan opponent, we feel goodabout it that he is not there, oneless guy who was has been inform. But having said that I amsure they have in their armourya lot of world-class talent to backit up.

"There is (Martin) Guptilland he has done fantasticallywell on the international scene

as well. Yes they have lostWarner, but we are not going totake them lightly.

"We all know it's a pressuregame, the nature of the IPL ona whole is pressure, so as play-ers you don't want to put addi-tional pressure on yourselvesgoing into last couple of games.You want to just be calm andcollected," Pollard said abouthow his team will approach thegame in which a victory wouldpilot them into the playoffs.

"It is just like going intosemi-finals and finals - you pre-pare mentally and physicallyand having plans and trying toexecute them," he declared,adding, "What is most impor-tant for us is the two points, notbatting order and who getsmost wickets or who is the star."

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Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach TomMoody is confident that his team would

be able to successfully execute their plans andstop Mumbai Indians' impact player HardikPandya, when the two teams lock horns inan IPL encounter.

"There are a number of players playingin the tournament like Hardik - they areimpact players, dangerous players. The bot-tom line is you need to remove them, youneed to get them out because if they spendtime in the middle, they are going to hurtyou," said Moody at the media conference.

Moody said that they have certain plansready for Hardik.

"We have our plans set for the likes ofHardik. (Kieron) Pollard is another one, who

can cause havoc at the back-end of T20games," added Moody.

Moody insisted that last year's losingfinalists SRH, who need a win to stay in thehunt for a play-off spot, will approach thegame at the Wankhede Stadium as they haddone from the beginning - without puttingpressure on themselves.

"For us, this game is no different fromour first game of the tournament. It's animportant game like every game in this tour-nament is. We all know that this is a toughcompetition, so our approach is certainly nodifferent.

"We are not putting ourselves under anyadditional pressure. That's not gonna (goingto) do us any good. We just need to makesure that we compete for 40 overs," heremarked.

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Suresh Raina struck a fightinghalf-century before MS Dhoniprovided a late push with an

unbeaten 44 as Chennai Super Kingsovercame a slow start to post a fight-ing 179 for four against DelhiCapitals in an IPL match, here onWednesday.

Raina (59) and Faf du Plessis(39) added 83 runs for the secondwicket to revive the innings afterDelhi Capitals bowlers producedtight spells upfront.

Later, skipper MS Dhoni, whoreturned to the side after recoveringfrom a bout of fever, and RavindraJadeja added some quick runs to pro-vide a late flourish to the innings.

Dhoni hit unbeaten 44 off 22

balls with four fours and three sixeswhile Jadeja smashed 25 off 10 withtwo sixes.

Dhoni creamed off 20 runs fromKiwi pacer Trent Boult's final over,hitting two sixes and four.

This was after Boult and left-armspinner Jagdeesha Suchith (2/28) hadstraight-jacketed the Chennai bats-men after electing bowl. With Boultswinging the ball and Suchith accu-rate with his line and length, theygave away just seven runs in the firstfour overs.

When Shane Watson could notopen his account even after facingeight balls, in desperation theAustralian swung his arms but onlyto find a fielder near boundary.

IPL veteran Suresh Raina addedsome pace to the CSK innings with

a flurry of boundaries.Raina and Du Plessis moved the

ball around and hit the boundarieswhen they got the chance.

The first six of the innings washit in the 13th over when Du Plessisdispatched a full delivery fromSherfane Rutherford over extra cover.The South African repeated the actwhen Axar Patel operated soonafter.

However, the left-arm spinnergot the revenge in the next ball whenthe Protea batsman attempted anoth-er big shot.

Raina too departed in the nextover with Suchith getting him caughtat point but not before hitting thespinner for two fours and a six.

Dhoni then led the side to fight-ing total.

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