Delhi
saturday, november 5, 2016
Delhi courts issue
NBWs against Vijay
Mallya in two cases
Page 9
BRIEFLY
Stand-off ends
in Demchok
NEW DELHI: The face-off
between the Indo-Tibetan
Border Police and the Chinese
Army at Demchok in Leh ended
on Thursday night after the
completion of an irrigation
project, to which the Chinese
had objected. This came hours
before National Security Adviser
Ajit Doval met his Chinese
counterpart Yang Jiechi in
Hyderabad to discuss measures
to improve bilateral ties.
NEWS | PAGE 13
Helicopter deal with
Ecuador in legal battle
NEW DELHI: Hindustan
Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has
moved an Ecuadorean court as
Ecuador terminated the Dhruv
helicopter contract after four of
the seven helicopters crashed.
Ecuador also rejected HALs
offer of free maintenance
beyond contractual obligations.
NEWS | PAGE 13
Anti-nationalism not
acceptable: Amit Shah
GOA: BJP president Amit Shah
has said opposing the
government is part of a
democratic system, but anti-
nationalism in the garb of
freedom of expression is not
acceptable.
NEWS | PAGE 12
U.S. officials warn of
al-Qaeda threat to poll
NEW YORK: U.S. federal officials
have warned authorities in New
York City, Texas and Virginia
about an unspecific threat of
attacks by al-Qaeda around
Election Day, putting law
enforcement on alert before
Tuesdays vote. A source said
federal agencies sent bulletins
to local and state officials
flagging the information.
WORLD | PAGE 14
METROPLUS MELANGE
4 Pages
Delhi smog: Centre blames lax enforcement Amnesty slams burning of schools in Valley
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: Union Environ-
ment Secretary Ajay
Narayan Jha said on Friday
that Delhi and its adjoining
States had been weak in en-
forcing guidelines to curb air
pollution.
But the Centre stopped
short of issuing any fresh dir-
ective to the States to address
Delhis noxious air, and in-
stead asked them to tighten
enforcement of the
guidelines issued by the
Central Pollution Control
Board (CPCB) last Decem-
ber. After a meeting with top
oicials of Punjab, Haryana,
Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and
Delhi, the Ministry urged the
States to implement a host of
measures, including check-
ing the spread of flyash from
Delhis Badarpur plant and
the shutting down of old
brick kilns. Mr. Jha said crop
burning had been brought
Dont give something terrible to kids: NGT
BINDU SHAJAN PERAPPADAN
NEW DELHI: The air pollution
that the city is facing is un-
fair to its people. What fu-
ture are we giving to our
children, asked the Na-
tional Green Tribunal
(NGT) on Friday while cas-
tigating the Centre and the
AAP government in Delhi
for shifting blame and
not taking steps to tackle
the alarming air pollution
level, dubbed the worst in
17 years.
A bench headed by NGT
Chairperson Swatanter Ku-
mar said: Just look at what
we are giving to our chil-
dren for future. This is
terrible.
The Delhi government
told the bench that the rise
in air pollution was due to
burning of crop residues in
CM
YK
www.thehindu.in Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08 RNI No. TNENG/2012/49940 ISSN 0971 - 751X Vol. 6 No. 263 CITY EDITION 24 Pages Rs. 8.00
Printed at Chennai, Coimbatore, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Madurai, Noida, Visakhapatnam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Vijayawada, Mangaluru, Tiruchirapalli, Kolkata, Hubballi, Mohali, Allahabad, Malappuram and Mumbai
CRUCIAL SUPPORT: Cyrus Mistry leaves Bombay House after the board meeting of IHCL on
Friday. PHOTO: SHANTANU DAS
Independent directors
of IHCL back Mistry
They also laud his steps for strategic direction
PIYUSH PANDEY
MUMBAI: Independent dir-
ectors of the Tata group
firm, the Indian Hotels
Company Limited (IHCL),
not only reposed full con-
fidence in chairman Cyrus
Mistry but also praised
the steps taken by him in
providing strategic direc-
tion and leadership to the
company at a board meet-
ing to approve its second
quarter results on Friday.
This signalled that the
group holding company
Tata Sons has a long and
messy fight on its hands if
it wants to displace its ous-
ted chairman from the
helm of individual group
firms.
Tata Sons interim chair-
man Ratan Tata wants Mr.
LOW VISIBILITY: Vehicles passing through dense smog along the Rajghat Power Station
on Friday. PHOTO: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
under control in almost all
States, except Punjab where
it continued on a large scale.
State oicials said they
would take eforts to check it.
We could also think of
financial incentives from the
MCD schools
shut today
STAFF REPORTER
NEW DELHI: Around 1,700
schools run by the three
municipal corporations of
Delhi will remain shut on
Saturday in view of the heavy
smog cover in the Capital.
DETAILS & MORE
REPORTS ON PAGE 4
neighbouring Haryana,
Punjab and Rajasthan.
But, the bench said, Its
not just crop burning. There
is no crop burning in Delhi?
According to you, crop
burning is in Haryana, Pun-
jab and Rajasthan but nowa-
days there is no wind, so the
11 arrested in
Buldhana school
rape case
Page 9
Mistry to quit the chair-
manship of all group firms,
but the latter would be em-
boldened with the inde-
pendent directors backing
him in the second of sev-
eral board meetings
scheduled for firms he still
chairs over the next few
weeks.
Mr. Mistry had dispelled
speculation last week that
he would resign from the
chairmanships of all group
companies by attending
the board meeting of Tata
Global Beverages.
Up to stakeholders
IHCL confirmed that its
independent directors, in-
cluding HDFC chairman
Deepak Parekh, Godrej In-
dustries managing director
Nadir Godrej, former
environment cess that we
have collected so far to dis-
courage farmers from burn-
ing crop residue, Mr. Jha
added. Last December, the
CPCB had issued a 42-point
guideline to the States to
smoke cant come here from
these states.
It also issued notices to
the secretaries of Environ-
ment and Urban De-
velopment of Punjab, Hary-
ana and Rajasthan and
directed them to be present
before it on the next date of
hearing on November 8.
Authorities not
bothered
Terming the situation
akin to that of an emer-
gency, the tribunal ob-
served that the Centre, the
Delhi government and
other authorities were not
bothered about the rising
air pollution level and its
consequences on the health
of citizens opf Delhi but in-
stead shifting the blame on
each other.
Observing that health is
Hindustan Unilever boss
Keki Bomi Dadiseth, Ms.
Ireena Vittal, Ms. Vibha
Paul Rishi and Mr. Gautam
Banerjee, met at 2 p.m. at
Bombay House, ahead of
the meeting of the full
board.
We are doing what we
think is right. Ultimately all
the shareholders will have
to decide, Mr. Godrej told
The Hindu when asked
about their endorsement of
Mr. Mistrys leadership.
Mr. Mistry was driven to
the meeting by his elder
brother Shapoor Mistry,
who is also a director of
IHCL and the chairman of
Shapoorji Pallonji Group.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 12
TATA BOARD BACKED
MISTRYS 2025 PLAN | PAGE 15
tackle air pollution. There
are many areas where much
more needs to be done, he
said.
MAKE ENFORCEMENT
STRICTER I | PAGE 13
the only primary concern,
the bench was anguished
that its order asking the
Delhi government to stop
plying of diesel vehicles
which were over 10 years
old was not being imple-
mented properly.
Conflict of interest
What name we are giv-
ing to our Capital in the
world. It is very bad, the
green panel said. We un-
derstand there is a conflict
of administration between
the civic agencies, the Delhi
government and the Centre.
But you can tell us who is
not doing his work. Its un-
fair to people of Delhi. In ev-
erything, the authorities are
just throwing of their
hands. We have to do some-
thing. You cannot say that
time will do it, it said.
Kamala Harris poised
to be the first Indian
American Senator
Page 14
Jaya has recovered completely,
says Apollo Hospitals chairman
She is very much
satisfied with the
treatment: Reddy
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Chief
Minister Jayalalithaa has re-
covered well and is very
much satisfied with the
treatment provided by
Apollo Hospitals, said its
Chairman Prathap C. Reddy,
here on Friday.
The Hindu reported on
Thursday that the Chief
Minister would be moved to
a private room from the Crit-
ical Care Unit (CCU), and in-
dicated she would be dis-
charged soon.
Dr. Prathap Reddy made
the statements on the side-
GST Council undecided over
authority for tax assessment
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: The fourth round
of meetings of the GST
Council was inconclusive
regarding the key issue of
how to divide the authority
to assess tax between the
Centre and the States, al-
though diferences were
narrowed down, Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley said
on Friday.
The next GST Council
meeting has been post-
poned from November 9-10
to November 24-25, Mr.
Jaitley said, adding that the
Ministers will meet for an
informal session on
November 20 to discuss
the tax assessment issue
further.
The Finance Minister
said that the preparation of
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
SRINAGAR: Even as rights
body Amnesty Interna-
tional condemned the
burning of schools in the
Valley, three more educa-
tional institutions were set
on fire by unidentified per-
sons on Thursday, just
hours after the govern-
ment decided to hold the
annual examinations of
Classes X and XII this
month itself.
Schools should be safe
spaces under all circum-
stances. The vicious arson
attacks on schools end up
denying children their
right to education. This
disturbing trend must
stop. The government
should bring to justice
those responsible, said
Right repairs, wrong mechanics send DGCA into a tizzy
DGCA grounds pilot for letting car mechanics fix snag in private helicopter
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: A couple of
Kolhapur-based car
mechanics purportedly
repaired the engine of a
helicopter successfully. But
since they were not
qualified aircraft
maintenance engineers, the
Directorate General of Civil
Aviation (DGCA) isnt
amused.
The Directorate is
investigating the incident.
Meanwhile the helicopter
pilot of the Mumbai-based
aviation company Varva
Aviation, has been grounded
for allegedly allowing car
mechanics to repair the
helicopter and for not
bringing the incident to the
notice of the authorities.
According to a senior
DGCA oicial, on October
ON THE MEND: Prathap C Reddy, chairman of Apollo Hospitals,
talking to journalists in Chennai on Friday. PHOTO: BIJOY GHOSH
lines of a function to launch a
text book on medicine, au-
thored by doctors practising
at the hospital.
Ms. Jayalalithaa was ad-
mitted on September 22 for
Differences have been
narrowed down, and
Ministers will meet
on November 20,
says Arun Jaitley
the drafts of the Central
GST, State GST, Inter-state
GST, and Compensation
Law will be completed by
November 14-15.
The draft laws will then
be sent to the States, which
will have one week to re-
spond with any
recommendations.
I am certainly more
confident now than I was
in August about passing
the laws in the Winter Ses-
sion of Parliament, he
said. There was a lot left to
Schools should be safe spaces under all circumstances
Aakar Patel, executive dir-
ector, Amnesty Interna-
tional India.
It also asked the govern-
ment to shift some of ex-
amination centres away
from schools occupied by
security forces.
Since July 8, when milit-
12 when Varva Aviations
chairman Avinash Bhosale
was travelling in a
AgustaWestland AW 109
(VT-VCA) chopper from
Goa to Pune via Kolhapur in
Maharashtra, the engine
developed a snag.
The sequence of events
thereafter is not very clear
but the DGCA oicial said,
We suspect that car
mechanics were called to
repair the helicopter engine
following which the aircraft
became airworthy and flew
to its destination. It is being
assumed that a friend of Mr.
Bhosale had suggested that
he knew some Kolhapur car
mechanics who could fix
most car engines why not
try them? The mechanics
repairs seemed to have been
successful. The pilot has
Bengaluru FC on
threshold of glory
in AFC Cup at Doha
Page 17
complaints of fever and de-
hydration.
Since then the hospital has
been issuing bulletins at ir-
regular intervals on the treat-
ment provided and the pro-
be done then, but a lot of
work has been completed
now.
The Finance Minister
added that the Council has
narrowed down its options
regarding the division of
tax assessees down to two,
from the five that were on
the table.
One option is to divide
assessees horizontally,
where those with a turn-
over of less than Rs. 1.5
crore a year will be as-
sessed by the States and
those with more than that
will be shared by the States
and the Centre, Mr. Jaitley
told a press conference,
after the two-day meeting.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 12
STILL UNWIELDY BUT
JUST IN TIME | EDITORIAL
ant commander Burhan
Wani was killed, 27 schools
have been torched by
miscreants. Militants, sep-
aratists, political parties
and civil society groups
have condemned these
acts.
Three more educational
Avinash Bhosale (right),
chairman of Varva
Aviation, with the car
mechanics.
PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
been grounded as he cleared
the transit inspection
without reporting any snag
to the DGCA as required
under the law, the oicial
added. The pilot refuses to
admit that there was a snag
in the helicopter. But we
have received a photograph
gress she has made.
All that I can say very
clearly is that she is very
satisfied. If you understand
what I mean by very
satisfied... that she has com-
pletely recovered. She un-
derstands what is going on
around her and in every re-
spect she and her attendants
are very happy that she has
come back and is able to
monitor the progress [in her
health], Dr. Reddy said.
I believe whatever has
been done is not just by one
doctor or one hospital but a
combined efort of teams of
doctors, who have made this
excellent progress in man-
aging the health of our dear
Chief Minister.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 12
It was hiked
pension not
OROP: Rahul
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: Congress vice-
president Rahul Gandhi on Fri-
day accused the Narendra
Modi government of merely
ofering enhanced pensions
while claiming to have imple-
mented one-rank-one-pension
for ex-servicemen.
Addressing the media soon
after meeting a delegation of
ex-servicemen, he said the
government should apologise
for the misbehaviour with
the family of a retired soldier
who committed suicide and
accept the demands of Army
veterans.
What is being called the
OROP by the Modi govern-
ment is just pension enhance-
ment. All Army men know
this, Mr. Gandhi said.
DEATILS ON PAGE 12
institutes Sri Pratap
College in Srinagar, Gov-
ernment Primary School
Dugpora, Gadoora, Gan-
derbal and Boys Middle
School Asthan Mohallah,
Naid Khai, Bandipora
sustained minor damage in
arson attack on Thursday.
Syllabus halved
The government has
ofered choices in question
papers. Only 50 per cent of
the syllabus will be
covered. The examination
will start mid-November.
Those interested in taking
examinations with full syl-
labi shall be provided an
opportunity in March 2017
without any academic pen-
alty, said Kashmir Board
of School Education Chair-
man Zahoor Ahmad Chatt.
which apparently shows that
the engine of the chopper
was open and the mechanics
were working on it, the
oicial said.
According to aviation
safety rules, only qualified
aircraft maintenance
engineers are allowed to
inspect and repair aircraft
engines.
If the pilot says the
incident never happened,
then why was the engine left
open? And what was the
mechanic doing with the
chopper engine? the DGCA
oicial asked? No answers
were forthcoming from the
helicopter pilot when
contacted by The Hindu.
The mechanics, who have
not been identified, are
destined to at least 15 minutes
of fame following their feat.
ND-ND
2| CITY
NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016

Jung returns AAP govt. files on mohalla clinics

The L-G has returned files related to the governments
Reward money for information on Najeeb raised
The L-G has decided to increase the reward money for
DELHI Calling all readers to connect with us for all things Delhi at

twitter - @DelhiConnect
proposal to establish mohalla clinics in schools Page 5 information on the missing JNU student to Rs. 2 lakh Page 5 CONNECT www.facebook.com/NewDelhiConnect

FILM REVIEW

Special efects and a great story Pursuit of happiness

Doctor Strange is a subverted superhero film with plenty to look and laugh at
DEBORAH CORNELIOUS
It all began in 2008 with
Tony Stark developing that
famed red suit which would
save the world. Not to forget
those cocky one-liners that
accompanied each success-
ful Iron Man mission. The
Hulk transitioned from Ed-
ward Norton (2008) to settle
on the afable Mark Rufalo
(2012). Despite being a vil-
lain, Tom Hiddlestons Loki
catapulted to fame, perhaps
more than his brother Thor
(2011) played by Chris Hems-
worth. Then we watched
Captain America go from pu-
ny everyday man to an im-
mortal patriotic soldier in
the same year. Parks and
Recreations pudgy Chris
Pratt transformed into the
hunky Peter Quill/ Star-Lord
for Guardians of the Galaxy
Vol. 1 (2014) Last year, Paul
Rudd took matters into his
(literally) shrunken hands in
Ant Man. And most recently,
they all came together to
battle out their opinions in
Captain America: Civil War
after two Avengers films and
plenty of other sequels.
There have been a stagger-
ing 13 films in Marvels cine-
matic universe. And the
latest ofering is a new super-
hero: one that makes all the
others seem ordinary. Espe-
cially since the films protag-
onist has the inimitable abil-
ity to breathe new life into
characters. After all, Bene-
dict Cumberbatch did do for
BBC Ones Sherlock what no
one else could have done.
With the latest Marvel
marvel, were introduced to
Stephen Strange (Cumber-
batch), an arrogant, self-
centred neurosurgeon who
thinks he can do no wrong.
Its his fear of failure thats
compelling him to con-
stantly succeed.
A terrible accident leaves
the brilliant doctor with
mangled arms that have
enough nerve damage to en-
sure he doesnt enter the op-
eration theatre for a long,
long time. A quest to heal
leads Strange to a secret
compound named Kamar-
Taj in Kathmandu, Nepal,
where he encounters The
Ancient
One, a striking sorcerer
played by a bald Tilda Swin-
ton. With the help of fellow
sorcerer Karl Mordo (Chi-
wetel Ejiofor) Doctor
Strange is transformed from
an arrogant human into a
powerful mystical being. As
with any good story, the con-
flict in this film comes in the
form of The Ancient Ones
rogue pupil, the sorcerer
Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen)
and his zealots who aim to
unleash the power of
Dormammu (also played by
an uncredited Cumber-
RISING ABOVE ADVERSITY: Benedict Cumberbatch perfectly encapsulates his characters fall from grace and his eventual rise to a
superhero who accepts his purpose to save lives using mystical abilities. PHOTOS: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
destruction. technicolour.
Doctor Strange has plenty
of action to keep you enter-
Doctor Strange tained. Theres hand-to-
hand combat, mystical
weapons, explosions and ex-
Director: Scott Derrickson citing fights, enough to avoid
Starring: Benedict blinking lest you miss a mo-
Cumberbatch, Chiwetel ment. The Ancient Ones
Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, fight scenes are perhaps the
Benedict Wong, Michael coolest with a suave Swinton
Stuhlbarg, Benjamin Bratt, barely breaking a bead of
Scott Adkins, Mads sweat while efortlessly an-
Mikkelsen, and Tilda nihilating her enemies. Then
Swinton. there are the mind-bending
Runtime: 115 mins visual efects where the
world literally turns on itself;
batch) of the Dark Dimen- one battle sequence has New
sion onto the world. Essen- York transform into a river of
tially, this will result in the glass buildings. And the
loss of time, paving the way films Mirror dimension
for immortality and of brings the beauty of the
course, plenty of death and comic books to life in
hinds), akin to a loving pet.
As for Doctor Strange,
Cumberbatch perfectly en-
capsulates his characters fall
from grace and his eventual
rise into a superhero who ac-
cepts his purpose to save
lives using mystical abilities.
It does help that hes hi-
larious along the way. Some
of the best lines are saved for
Strange trying to make
Kamar-Tajs sombre librar-
ian Wong (Benedict Wong)
crack a smile. Even his cli-
mactic encounter with big
bad Dormammu has giggle-
inducing moments. But per-
haps most endearing is
Stranges relationship with
the Cloak of Levitation, a
mystical coat thats alive
(and kicks the bad guys be-
Marvels Doctor Strange
subverts the usual superhero
trope, focusing on the uni-
versal lessons of quashing
the ego and rising above it
while giving the audience ev-
erything theyd need in a film
adapted from a comic book.
Theres grandiosity, humour,
cockiness, plenty of dishy
actors and a plot that will
capture attention. Once the
adrenaline of the efects and
thrills has settled, youll see
that this Marvel film doesnt
simply entertain. Dont gasp
just as yet, but there are
plenty of spiritual under-
tones lurking in plain view,
only if youre willing to see. If
not, its still a great two hours
of non-stop fun.
A moderately entertaining albeit predictable story in a novel universe
SUDHIR SRINIVASAN
If Trolls were a dessert, itd
be a chocolate-dipped pea-
nut butter cup-stufed Oreo.
Its treacly, and then some
more. For a while, I under-
stood why Branch (Justin
Timberlake) feels the way
he does.
Hes a paranoid dis-
gruntled troll amid a lu-
dicrously happy bunch of
his species, who pause to
hug each other only so they
dont lose out on time to sing
and dance. Their happiness,
which positively explodes
from the inside radiating
its EDM festival-like light
into the world is presen-
ted as an ideal. Its one
which the villain
community, the perpetually
sullen Bergens, believe they
can achieve only by eating
these miniature trolls. The
Bergens are the real trolls, in
the conventional sense of
the word. They are unat-
tractive, dull and violent.
And for the purposes of the
story, they are dreadfully
unhappy except, of course,
when they eat a troll. You
know how you sometimes
laugh yourself silly when on
a sugar-high; its something
like that, I presume.
In another more serious
film, youd have at least one
scene of a troll being eaten.
SUGAR HIGH: The trolls are amusing creatures in the same cutesy mould as the minions, even if
not as entertaining. PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
most is Branchs, despite his
Trolls
Director: Mike Mitchell
Cast: Anna Kendrick,
Justin Timberlake, Zooey
Deschanel, Russell Brand,
Gwen Stefani
Runtime: 93 mins
But Trolls is a quintessential
childrens film, and so any
potential cruelty is only im-
plied, like in Branchs flash-
back. Every once in a while,
the characters break out into
a song like in musicals. And
while Im not particularly
fond of the genre, thanks to
being overexposed to re-
gional films high on song
and dance, I quite enjoyed
the routines in Trolls. Save
for one at the end, almost all
the songs are upbeat, even
the one that Princess Poppy
(Anna Kendrick) sings as
shes almost near death. It is
that sort of film. But Trolls is
often such an unabashed ex-
plosion of colours and lights
that I couldnt but be taken
in. Happiness, however, re-
tains value only in the co-ex-
istence of a contrasting
emotion. In that sense, even
though Poppy undergoes a
bit of a transformation at the
end, the story I cared for the
rather hurried, inefective
flashback. It is he, more than
the Bergens, who has to
come around.
Theres also a love story in
the second half that is sup-
posed to act as the healing
force for the Bergens. But
the most disappointing is
the uninspired characterisa-
tion of the villainess, Chef
(Christine Baranski). Any
potential reformation shes
implied to have undergone
towards the end, along with
all the other Bergens, isnt
convincing at all. Surely, the
sudden turnaround must
take a lot more than the
trolls, a snack sought after
by the Bergens for over 20
years, saying, Hey guys,
dont eat us, okay? Just feel
happy from within.
However, it isnt every day
that you get an animation
film which comes with a
novel, enjoyable universe.
The trolls are amusing cre-
atures in the same cutesy
mould as the minions, even
if not as entertaining.
I just wish that the film
had been a lot more fun, and
perhaps, less preachy. But
thats like wishing that a
chocolate-dipped peanut
butter cup-stufed Oreo
were less sweet. It is what it
is, and youll love it if you
have the taste for it.

Donor heart travels 22 km from CAT notice to AIIMS over HoD appointment CHRI analysis reveals
Noida to Okhla in 16 minutes
BINDU SHAJAN PERAPPADAN

NEW DELHI: The Central Ad-

BINDU SHAJAN PERAPPADAN
NEW DELHI: A team of doctors
at Fortis Escorts Heart Insti-
tute (FEHI) performed a life-
saving heart transplant on a
61-year-old man sufering
from ischemic cardiomy-
opathy.
The donor was a 55-year-
old former serviceman, who
had met with an accident and
was brought to Fortis Hos-
pital in Noida in a critical
condition. After eforts to re-
vive the patient failed, he was
declared brain dead by the
emergency response team
and a group of neurosur-
geons. The family agreed to
donate his organs after
counselling.
Allocation plan
The organs were harves-
ted in Noida. The liver and
one kidney were trans-
planted at the Noida hospital
itself. Both recipients were
experiencing organ failure at
the time of the transplant.
One kidney was sent to Max
Super Specialty Hospital in
Saket in accordance with the
allocation plan by the Na-
tional Organ & Tissue Trans-
plant Organisation
(NOTTO).
A green corridor was
created between the Noida
CM
YK
GREEN CORRIDOR: The donor was a 55-year-old former
serviceman, who had met with an accident and was brought
to Fortis Hospital in Noida in a critical condition. FILE PHOTO
and Okhla hospitals with
swift coordination by the
traic police at Ghaziabad,
Noida and Delhi. The donor
heart travelled the 22-km
stretch in a matter of mere 16
minutes and 20 seconds.
The heart recipient had
been sufering from the
chronic problem for over 17
years. The problem had pro-
gressively worsened, leaving
his heart in refractory failure
for three years. The team of
doctors who carried out the
heart transplant was led by Z.
S. Meharwal, the director of
the Department of Cardi-
ovascular Surgery, FEHI.
Dr. Meharwal said: The
patient had been sufering
from a severe heart condi-
tion for a long time. Despite
multiple treatments, his
heart continued to deterior-
ate and a heart transplant be-
came essential. The surgery
was successful. The patient
is stable and responding well
to treatment. He will be un-
der constant observation for
the next 72 hours.
The wife of the heart
transplant patient said: I am
extremely grateful to the
family of the man whose
heart saved my husbands
life.
ministrative Tribunal (CAT)
has issued a notice to the All
India Institute of Medical Sci-
ences (AIIMS) and one of its
doctors on a plea challenging
the appointment of its Head
of Gastroenterology Depart-
ment saying it was com-
pletely arbitrary and contrary
to law.
Questioning the appoint-
ment of Umesh Kapil as HoD,
Gastroenterology and Hu-
man Nutrition, following the
superannuation of S. K.
Acharya in October, Anoop
Saraya had written to the
Union Health Ministry and
CINEMA
ENGLISH:
DOCTOR STRANGE: PVR (Anupam,
Naraina, Sangam, Shalimar Bagh,
Mahagun, City Walk), DT (Saket,
Shalimar Bagh, Vasant Kunj), M2K
(Rohini, Pitampura), Movie Time
(Pitampura, Raja Garden), Wave
(Raja Garden, Kaushambi, Noida),
Spice (Noida).
HINDI:
AE DIL HAI MUSHKIL: (Ranbir
Kapoor, Anushka Sharma,
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan): Delite,
Delite Diamond, Milan, Golcha, Eros
One, Batra Reels, G3S (Rohini), PVR
(Plaza, Rivoli, Priya, Salet, City
Walk, Naraina, Vikaspuri, Prashant
Vihar, Mahagun, Opulent), M2K
(Rohini, Pitampura), FUN (Moti
Nagar, Pitampura, Laxmi Nagar,
approached CAT seeking
immediate redressal.
Dr. Saraya said: In the
process, my legitimate claim
as senior-most professor in
the Department of Gastroen-
terology to succeed as HoD
has been defeated. Professor
of Human Nutrition is itself a
doubtful and questionable
post. There is no post of pro-
fessor sanctioned in the Hu-
man Nutrition Unit.
He said the Department of
Human Nutrition is not part
of the Gastroenterology De-
partment. While the essen-
tial qualification for appoint-
ment as prof at AIIMS is DM
qualification in the super spe-
ciality concerned, Dr. Kapil is
Karkardooma), DT (Saket, Shalimar
Bagh, Vasant Kunj), Movie Time
(Pitampura, Raja Garden), Satyam
(Patel Nagar, Nehru Place,
Janakpuri), BIG (Odeon, Vaishali,
Kaushambi, Noida), Wave (Raja
Garden, Kaushambi, Noida), SRS
Cinemas, Spice (Noida), JAM
Shipra, M4U, Movie Palace, Movie
Magic, Galaxie, Star X (Vaishali),
Chaudhary (Ghaziabad), Movie
World and Silver City (Ghaziabad),
Inox, PM and Q Cinemas
(Ghaziabad).
SHIVAAY: (Ajay Devgn, Sayesha
Saigal, Erika Kaar): Delite, Delite
Diamond, Shiela, Milan, Golcha, G3S
(Rohini), PVR (Plaza, Rivoli, Priya,
Salet, City Walk, Naraina, Vikaspuri,
Prashant Vihar, Mahagun, EDM,
Opulent), FUN (Moti Nagar,
Pitampura, Laxmi Nagar,
not even MD [medicine]. He
has never performed a gast-
roenterology procedure in
his career.
In his representation, Dr.
Kapil said AIIMS has a norm
of giving the HoD responsib-
ility to the senior-most
faculty member.
Maintaining that they had
followed established proced-
ure in the matter, AIIMS au-
thorities said: Dr. Kapil is
senior to Dr. Saraya in the De-
partment of Gastroentero-
logy. The issue of headship in
all departments at AIIMS has
by and large been assigned to
the senior-most faculty of the
departments concerned.
(With input from PTI)
Karkardooma), DT (Saket, Shalimar
Bagh, Vasant Kunj), Movie Time
(Pitampura, Raja Garden), Satyam
(Patel Nagar, Nehru Place,
Janakpuri), BIG (Odeon, Vaishali,
Kaushambi, Noida), Wave (Raja
Garden, Kaushambi, Noida), Spice
(Noida), JAM Shipra, Cinepolis,
M4U, Movie Palace, Movie Magic,
Galaxie, Star X (Vaishali),
Chaudhary (Ghaziabad), Movie
World and Silver City (Ghaziabad),
Inox and Q Cinemas (Faridabad).
DOCTOR STRANGE: (Hindi 3D):
G3S (Rohini), PVR (Opulent), Spice
(Noida).
(BOOKING ENQUIRIES: PVR
51513391; Spice Gold
012043890000; Satyam
Cinemas 25797385; Delite
23272903; Wave 51832222)
the poor state of jails
DEEKSHA TERI
NEW DELHI: A recent report by
the National Crime Records
Bureau (NCRB) revealed
that the countrys 1,401 jails
hold 4,19,623 prisoners
against the capacity of
3,66,781.
This revelation was fol-
lowed by a State-by-State
analysis of the Prison Re-
form Programme (PRP) by
the Commonwealth Human
Rights Initiative (CHRI).
November 8
The analysis results,
stated to be alarming, will be
released by representatives
of the National Human
Rights Commission, Central
Information Commission
and National Commission
for Women on November 8.
An informal workshop,
held to discuss some of the
analysis results, was orga-
nised by the CHRI in the
Capital on Friday. The work-
shop saw a panel discussion
headed by CHRI director
Sanjoy Hazarika.
The analysis brought to
light the poor state of the
countrys prisons. In fact,
some State prisons house
twice as many prisoners as
they are supposed to hold.
However, the biggest sur-
prise is that nearly 70 per
cent of the population in
these jails is yet to be proven
guilty. With two-thirds of the
prison population awaiting
trials, one-fourth of the pop-
ulation has already spent
more than a year behind
bars.
There many silences in
the NCRB data. The focus on
safeguard mechanisms is
inadequate, said CHRI PRP
coordinator Sana Das.
Limit of expenditure
One of the facts high-
lighted in the workshop is re-
lated to the limit of expendit-
ure. Though the limit of
expenditure has been in-
creased for prison authorit-
ies, the daily expenditure per
prisoner on an average is
Rs.86 per day. The expendit-
ure in Delhi is Rs.201 and
Rs.8 in Rajasthan. The data
also states that there were
1,584 deaths in prison during
the year, of which 19 fall un-
der the others category.
The category remains unex-
plained by the authorities.
The CHRI has started ex-
amining two prison over-
sight mechanisms the
board of visitors and the un-
dertrial review committee
with help of information
provided under the RTI Act.
(The writer is an
intern with The Hindu)
ND-ND
 CITY |3
NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016

D E L H I
Nov 05, Sat Nov 06, Sun Nov 07, Mon
RISE 06 36 SET 17 34 RISE 06 37 SET 17 33 RISE 06 38 SET 17 32
RISE 11 01 SET 21 58 RISE 11 47 SET 22 51 RISE 12 32 SET 23 47

REUNION
Woman killed, daughter
Abducted baby returned after 6 hours hurt in building collapse
Abductor returned baby after police mounted pressure; negligence angle being probed
STAFF REPORTER washroom. When I came ducted raids in surrounding
back, I found my son was areas and CCTV cameras
NEW DELHI: A 12-day-old baby missing, said Soni Updhyay were scanned. Check points
was allegedly abducted from (23). were also alerted.
the premises of Babu Jagjivan
Ram Memorial Hospital in Into a tizzy All for a son
north-west Delhi on Friday. Soni then alerted the hos- After sometime, the
However, pressure mounted pital staf. Soon, a frantic woman who had abducted
by the police forced the al- search for the boy began. the baby returned, and
leged abductor to return the Other families on the floor, handed him over to the po-
baby within six hours. too, started panicking and lice, said Deputy Commis-
According to the police, made sure they did not leave sioner of Police (North-
the woman who abducted their children alone. West) Milind Mahadeo
the boy had been under tre- She added that the hospital Dumbere. The investigators,
mendous pressure by her in- staf initially did not pay at- however, did not reveal the
laws to bear a son after de- tention to her cries for help, identity of the woman and
livering three daughters, the but when they sensed that said she was allowed to go
last of them earlier this week. CAUGHT ON CAMERA: A video grab of the woman who allegedly the matter was serious, they after she apologised.
abducted the baby. PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT started looking for her son. Soni has alleged that the
The babys mother The woman also rang up her abduction would not have
The abducted babys mother We were allotted a room husband, Sunil Pandey (27), been possible without the
has alleged that had taken him to the hospital for half a day. I made my baby who reached the hospital and connivance of the hospital
the hospital staff for getting him vaccinated. sleep on the bed till the doc- subsequently filed a com- staf. The police are probing IN RUINS: The police have attributed the collapse of the over 100-year-old building to its poor
was involved in According to the police, tors came in. It had hardly plaint at the Jahangirpuri po- hether there was any negli- foundation and dilapidated state. PHOTO: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
the incident happened at 6 been 10 minutes since we lice station. gence on the part of the hos-
the abduction a.m. came in that I went to use the Soon, police teams con- pital authorities or not. STAFF REPORTER Response Force (NDRF), too,
had to be roped in.
NEW DELHI: A 47-year-old The streets leading to the
woman was killed and her Rescue operations collapse site were extremely

High Court dismisses Sajjans Teen stabs man to death daughter injured when a
four-storey building col-
lapsed in north Delhis Azad
were hampered as
the streets leading
narrow, and that hampered
the rescue operations, said
Atul Garg, Chief Fire Oicer,

plea to transfer 84 riots case ASHOK KUMAR

GURUGRAM: A 30-year-old
House Oicer, DLF
Phase-I, Inspector Amit
Kumar.
Market on Friday.
The deceased has been
identified as Vimla. She
to the accident site
were very narrow
Delhi Fire Services.
Madhur Verma, DCP
(North), attributed the col-
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High would delay the proceedings. ducted trial proceedings in man was allegedly stabbed lived with her 23-year-old lapse of the over 100-year-old
Court on Friday dismissed the case but only heard the to death by a teenager at a Police to the rescue daughter, Komal, and son, building to its poor founda-
the pleas of Congress leader Applications baseless bail plea when he was a trial tea stall near the The teenager and his Paras, on the third floor of the ted to them around 4 p.m. tion and dilapidated state,
Sajjan Kumar and others for The present applications court judge, as being a ses- Dhronacharya metro sta- friend then fled the spot. building. but said the exact trigger for
transfer of their case relating are baseless, malafide and sions judge then, he was tion here in the early hours The tea seller made a The ground floor served as Hurdles the collapse would be
to 1984 anti-Sikh riots before misconceived. We find no handling bail matters. of Friday. call to the Police Control a storehouse for crockery While Vimla was rescued probed. A case in this con-
another Bench, saying these merit and hence the same are The Bench on Friday said According to the police, Room. A PCR van reached items. On the first floor lived in quick time, Komal was res- nection has been registered,
were baseless and miscon- dismissed, the Bench said, that none of the life convicts Naveen was having tea at the spot and took the in- a man, the second floor was cued from under a heap of he added.
ceived and an abuse of law. adding it is abuse of law. in the case joined the applic- the stall when he entered jured to a hospital. But he empty, and the fourth floor debris almost an hour after Authorities initially feared
A Bench of Justices Gita Mr Kumar and others had ants alleging bias by any into an altercation with the succumbed to injuries dur- was rented out to a rickshaw firefighters and other res- that many more were
Mittal and P. S. Teji also rejec- alleged in their applications member of the Bench and teenager and his friend. ing treatment, said Mr. Ku- puller and his family. cuers reached the spot. Both trapped under the debris, but
ted their plea alleging bias by that Justice Teji should not hence there was no appre- The argument turned mar. Barring Vimla and her were rushed to a hospital, announced later in the day
one member of the Division hear the matter as he had hension of injustice. ugly, and Naveen started The deceased was a resi- daughter, all the others were where Vimla was declared that the mother-daughter
Bench which is hearing the heard the case as a trial court The applications are just a beating up the teenager. In dent of Delhi. away at work when the build- brought dead. duo was the only victims.
matter, saying the conten- judge earlier. delaying tactics. Therefore a fit of rage, the 14-year-old A murder case has been ing, located in a narrow street Since removing the debris Some passers-by had
tions raised amounted to Countering their submis- we cannot allow this because picked up a cutter from a registered at the DLF in Mill Wali Gali, gave way. from the site was a task in it- sufered minor injuries, but
contempt of court but it was sions, CBI had said that the incident is of 1984, it vendors stall and stabbed Phase-I police station in Fire department oicials self because of the conges- did not require
not initiating any action as it Justice Teji had never con- said.PTI Naveen, said Station this connection. said the incident was repor- tion, the National Disaster hospitalisation.

SEXUAL HARASSMENT DELHI TODAY

Noida victim records Talk: Marxism, Liberalism and
the Contemporary World by
Prabhat Patnaik, economist and

statement in court social commentator, at Gulmo-

har Hall, India Habitat Centre
(IHC), 7 p.m.
Music: Musical Evening by
PURUSHARTH ARADHAK lice station in Noida. Hussain brothers Ahmed and
The Hindu was the first to Mohammed (Ghazal singers
from Jaipur), at Kamani Audi-
GREATER NOIDA: A court here on report the incident and access torium, Copernicus Marg,
Friday recorded the statement a copy of the FIR. Mandi House, 6:30 p.m.
of the woman who had lodged Music: Mehfil with Pandit Shrik-
a complaint of sexual harass- No mercy ant Waikar (Khayal) at C.D.
ment against a news channel The victim, in her com- Deshmukh Auditorium, India In-
owner and the son of self- plaint, said she had been work- ternational Centre, 6:30 p.m.
styled godman Asaram Bapu. ing with the channel since Music: Dhwani festival: clas-
Noida womens police sta- 2011. She was the personal as- sical vocal - Nabanita Chow-
tion in-charge Manju Teotia sistant of the owner, whom she dhury; tabla - Tansen
Shrivastava; harmonium - Zakir
confirmed the development. has accused of repeatedly rap- Dholpuri; sarod recital - Pt. Bas-
The statement was ing her. ant Kabra; tabla - Susamoy
recorded Section 164 of the Once, when she got preg- Mishra, at Vasuki Auditorium,
Lok Kala Manch, 20, Lodhi Insti-
CrPC, she said. nant, she was forced to un- tutional Area, Lodhi Road, 6
The FIR was lodged under dergo an abortion. The man p.m.
Sections 376 (punishment for also allegedly threatened to
Exhibition: The Museum
rape), 307 (attempt to eliminate the victim. She also Within, recent works by De-
murder), 420 (cheating and complained to his family, but basish Mukherjee, at Akar
dishonestly inducing delivery to no avail, the FIR reads. Prakar Art Advisory, 1st floor,
of property), 406 (punishment In 2013, the man allegedly 29, Hauz Khas Village, 11 a.m. 7
p.m.
for criminal breach of trust), asked her to meet Narayan Sai,
313 (causing miscarriage the son of Asaram Bapu, at an Exhibition: An exhibition of
without womans consent), ashram in Karol Bagh. There, drawings and sculptures by
Gautam Bhatia, at Visual Arts
504 (intentional insult with in- Sai attempted to rape her, she Gallery, India Habitat Centre
tent to provoke breach of the said. She managed to escape (IHC), 11 a.m. 7 p.m.
peace), 506 (punishment for from the spot, and informed Theatre: Mahabharata (Eng-
criminal intimidation), 294 the channel management lish/60mins), directed by
(obscene acts and songs), 511 about the incident. Anurupa Roy; performed by
(punishment for attempting to The accused named in the Katkatha Puppet Arts Trust, at
The Stein Auditorium, India
commit ofences punishable FIR have not been arrested so Habitat Centre (IHC), 7:30 p.m.
with imprisonment for life or far. We are examining the evid-
other imprisonment), 354 (as- ence produced by the victim, General: Sardar Patel Jayanti
celebration at Arya Auditorium,
sault or criminal force to Ms. Teotia said. The channel Des Raj Campus, C-Block, East
woman with intent to outrage could not be contacted for a of Kailash, 5 p.m.
her modesty), and 509 (word, comment despite several at- (Mail your listings for this
gesture or act intended to in- tempts. column at
sult the modesty of a woman) (The writer is a freelance cityeditordelhi@thehindu.co.in)
of the IPC at the womens po- journalist)

Man falls to death from

east Delhi highrise
STAFF REPORTER istered a murder case
against an unidentified per-
NEW DELHI: A 41-year-old son.
chartered accountant al-
legedly fell to his death from Probe on
the fifth floor of a building in We will question Swa-
east Delhis Madhu Vihar on mis family members and
Thursday. the security guards of Milan
The deceased has been Vihar Apartment. We will
identified as Govind Ballabh also scan the CCTV footage
Swami. His body was found of the society, said Mr. Pal. Disclaimer: Readers are requested to verify &
around 8 p.m. by a security Swami lived with his wife make appropriate enquiries to satisfy
themselves about the veracity of an adver-
guard in the parking area of and daughter at Ram tisement before responding to any published in
Milan Vihar Apartment, Krishna Apartment in Pat- this newspaper. Kasturi & Sons Limited, the
Publisher & Owner of this newspaper, does not
where Swami had gone to parganj. His family mem- vouch for the authenticity of any advertisement
somebodys house to settle a bers have alleged that he or advertiser or for any of the advertisers pro-
ducts and/or services. In no event can the
monetary deal, said Deputy was murdered. They, how- Owner, Publisher, Printer, Editor, Director/s,
Employees of this newspaper/company be held
Commissioner of Police ever, have ruled out that responsible/liable in any manner whatsoever for
(East) Rishi Ral. Swami had enmity with the any claims and/or damages for advertisements
in this newspaper.
The police have reg- person whom he had visited.
Published by N. Ram at Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860, Anna Salai, Chennai-600002 and Printed by S. Ramanujam at HT Media Ltd. Plot No. 8, Udyog Vihar, Greater Noida Distt. Gautam Budh Nagar, U.P. 201306, on behalf of KASTURI & SONS LTD., Chennai-600002. Editor: Mukund Padmanabhan (Responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act).

CM ND-ND
YK
4|
As poison fills the air, schools tell kids to stay home
Municipal corporations took decision to shut schools in view of the persistent heavy smog the worst Delhi has faced in 17 years
STAFF REPORTER
NEW DELHI: Around 1,700
schools run by the three
municipal corporations of
Delhi will remain shut on
Saturday in view of the heavy
smog cover in the Capital
the worst it has seen in 17
years.
About 10 lakhs students
study in these schools.
Leader of the House in the
South Delhi Municipal Cor-
poration (SDMC) Subhash
Arya said: Since the smog is
worse during the morning, it
was decided that we should
close the schools. The order
for closure is only for a day as
of now. As per the situation,
we may decide to close them
later as well, Mr. Arya said.
Leader of the House in the
North Delhi Municipal Cor-
poration Vijay Praksh
Pandey said thatschools
would be closed only on Sat-
urday and would resume on
Monday.
Strict action
Both leaders also said that
strict action would be taken
against those found burning
leaves or waste in the open.
The north corporation
Commissioner has directed
the Zonal Deputy Commis-
sioners to ensure strict
compliance of the National
Green Tribunal (NGT)
guidelines and issue of chal-
lans in case of violation.
As per the guidelines of
NGT, open burning of leaves
by an individual or an orga-
nisation is a punishable of-
fence with a penalty of
Rs.5,000. The corporations
have been assigned the task
of ensuring enforcement of
these guidelines and issue
challan in case of
non-compliance.
Mr. Pandey said that be-
tween April to August 2016,
the north civic body issued
348 challans for open burn-
ing of leaves.
4,000 violators penalised, Rs.2 crore fine collected
STAFF REPORTER
NEW DELHI: Regulatory agen-
cies in the Capital have
prosecuted nearly 4,000 vio-
lators for creating air pollu-
tion and have collected more
than Rs.2 crore in fines, re-
vealed data released by the
Delhi government on Friday.
A total of 3,161 challans
have been issued and more
than Rs.2 crore realised in
fines from violators as part
of dust control measures, the
government data reveals.
In numbers
Environment Minister
Imran Hussain said that the
Revenue Department of the
Delhi government has is-
sued 854 challans and re-
covered around Rs.1.61crore,
the East Delhi Municipal
Corporation (EDMC) has is-
sued 648 challans and col-
lected Rs.53.55 lakh.
The South Delhi
Municipal Corporation
(SDMC) has issued 1,026
challans and collected
around Rs.73.60 lakh, the
North Delhi Municipal Cor-
poration has issued 378 chal-
lans and collected around
EX-ARMYMANS SUICIDE
Probe team reaches Grewals home town to talk to family
STAFF REPORTER
NEW DELHI: A Delhi Police team
has been sent to ex-service-
man Ram Kishan Grewals
home town of Bamla in Hary-
ana to meet his family mem-
bers, a day after his suicide
case was handed over to the
Crime Branch.
A team has been sent to
talk to Mr. Grewals family.
However, the team is still
waiting to talk to them since
they have been surrounded
by the media and politicians.
They have shared all the de-
tails with the media but we
still need to talk to them,
said a senior police oicer
privy to the probe.
The police added that
nothing has been unearthed
so far in the inquest into Mr.
Grewals alleged suicide to
warrant registration of a case.
The case was transferred
CM
YK
NOT A GOOD IDEA: Children on a school picnic outside Bal Bhavan despite the bad air quality in Delhi. PHOTO: V. V. KRISHNAN
Govt may engage expert agency to tackle crisis
STAFF REPORTER
NEW DELHI: The Delhi govern-
ment is toying with the idea
of engaging an expert agency
that can help it deal with
tackling the alarming situ-
ation of air pollution in the
Capital.
According to sources in
the government, Chief
Minister Arvind Kejriwal on
Friday expressed his dissat-
DARK AND DREARY: Vehicles pass through dense smog that has been looming over Delhi for the
past five days. PHOTO: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
Rs.59.15 lakhs, the Public
Works Department has is-
sued 114 challans and collec-
ted Rs.12.35 lakh and the
Delhi Pollution Control
Committee (DPCC) has is-
sued 141 notices and re-
covered Rs.1.57 crore from
violators as on October 26.
A total of 640 challans
have been issued and
from the New Delhi district
to the Crime Branch keeping
in mind the sensitivity of the
matter.
The Crime Branch team
led by DCP (Crime) Bhisham
Singh is conducting the in-
quest into the matter.
Mr. Grewal, along with
three others, had reportedly
come to the city to submit a
memo to the Defence
Ministry over the issue of
One Rank One Pension. The
70-year-old consumed
poison in the lawns behind
Jawahar Bhavan, which
houses some oices of the
Ministry of External Afairs,
on November 1. He was
rushed to RML Hospital
where he died.
The oicer said that they
will also be looking for the
three men who were accom-
panying him when he took
the extreme step.
isfaction with the Delhi Pol-
lution Control Committee
(DPCC) for its lack of any ef-
fective steps to stem the dan-
gerous levels of air pollution
in the city.
The Chief Minister has re-
portedly asked thr DPCC to
explore the possibility of en-
gaging an expert agency for
remedial steps in tackling
the situation.
On Friday, Mr. Kejriwal
Rs.13.27 lakh recovered from
violators who were found
burning leaves or waste in
the open. As per government
data, the Revenue Depart-
ment has issued 136 challans
and recovered Rs.3.8 lakh,
EDMC has issued 242 chal-
lans and recovered Rs.5.23
lakh and the north civic body
has issued 262 challans and
BJP questions AAP govts Rs.1 crore compensation
STAFF REPORTER
NEW DELHI: The Delhi BJP on
Friday questioned the
rationale behind the Aam
Aadmi Party (AAP) govern-
ments decision to give Rs. 1
crore compensation to the
kin of ex-serviceman Ram
Kishen Grewal, whose
suicide has triggered a polit-
ical row.
The BJP alleged that the
move was politically mo-
tivated and in violation
of existing norms.
Politics over dead bodies
Delhi BJP chief Satish Up-
adhyay, Leader of the Op-
position in the Delhi As-
sembly Vijender Gupta, and
media in-charge Praveen
Shankar Kapoor also
CITY
GAS CHAMBER
held a Cabinet meeting
where DPCC oicers made a
presentation on the situation
of air pollution in the city.
Sources said that Mr.
Kejriwal has directed the
DPCC to make a fresh pre-
sentation on Monday on the
ways to deal with the rising
pollution along with an ac-
tion plan. According to
sources, Mr. Kejriwal was
also keen on knowing the
recovered Rs.4.24 lakh as on
October 26.
Mr. Hussain also appealed
to all land-owning agencies
to intensify their inspection
of construction sites for dust
pollution and burning of
garbage or waste.
A statement from the gov-
ernment said that Mr. Hus-
sain has been regularly re-
DHARNA: Ex-servicemen protest against anomalies in the One
Rank One Pension scheme, at Jantar Mantar on Friday. PHOTO: PTI
trained their guns on Con-
gress vice-president Rahul
Gandhi. The BJP posed a
series of questions to Mr.
Gandhi regarding his
reasons that have led to the
alarming levels of air pollu-
tion in the city.
Peak level of respirable
pollutants PM2.5 and PM10
had crossed the safe limits by
over 15 times at places like R.
K. Puram. The prescribed
standard of PM2.5 is 60 mi-
crograms per cubic metre,
but it touched 955 during
early morning hours on
Thursday.
Land-owning agencies
told to to intensify
their inspection of
construction sites
for dust pollution
viewing action taken against
polluters.
Big fines
The National Green
Tribunal (NGT) has
prohibited the burning of
garbage or dry leaves, and
has directed construction
sites to comply with dust
pollution norms.
The NGT has also direc-
ted land-owning agencies in
Delhi to impose a fine of
Rs.5,000 on persons found
burning leaves in the open
and fine up to Rs.5 lakh on
the owners/ builders who
are found not following the
dust control norms while
carrying out construction
activity.
The Delhi government
has also conferred powers
upon the SDMs and Tehsil-
dars to levy a fine of Rs.5,000
on anyone found burning
leaves and waste.
martyr (shaheed). Is he in-
fying the act of suicide. And
partys treatment of the One
Rank One Pension (OROP)
issue over the years and ac-
cused him of joining forces
with Chief Minister Arvind
Avoid going outside as
much as possible: docs
Children at most risk of contracting conjunctivitis
BINDU SHAJAN PERAPPADAN
NEW DELHI: Avoid morning
walks and limit outdoor
games for children, is the ad-
vice doctors are giving to
Delhiites battling extremely
dangerous levels of air pollu-
tion since Diwali.
While air quality is really
poor the high level of fine
particulate matter (PM2.5) in
the air are extremely dan-
gerous. Air pollution has re-
ached alarming levels since
Diwali and the cold weather
has exacerbated the problem
leading to the creation of a
poisonous smog, said the In-
dian Medical Association
(IMA), which on Friday is-
sued an advisory urging peo-
ple to take preventive steps to
avoid health problems from
air pollution.
PM2.5, the most dan-
gerous air pollutant, is ex-
tremely permeable to lung
tissue lining and is invisible
to the naked eye. Its levels
have crossed the 1,000 mark
in most parts of Delhi, a situ-
ation that is extremely dan-
gerous for ones health. Peo-
ple are requested to stay
indoors as much as possible
and to not exercise in the
open, said Dr. K.K. Aggarwal
of the IMA.
The symptoms
Doctors say that air pollu-
tion can lead to irritation of
the eyes, nose, and throat,
coughing, chest tightness
and shortness of breath in
healthy people.
For people with pre-exist-
ing health conditions like
lung disease, asthma and
COPD, the outlook is much
worse. They may experience
inability to breathe as deeply
or as vigorously as normal,
coughing, chest discomfort,
wheezing, shortness of
breath, and unusual fatigue.
If one has any of these symp-
toms, reduce exposure to
outside air and consult a
doctor.
Heart patients and those
with respiratory disorders
need to be extremely cau-
Rid Delhi of old diesel vehicles
STAFF REPORTER
NEW DELHI: The National
Green Tribunal (NGT) on
Friday directed the Delhi
government to strictly
enforce the ban on 10-
year-old diesel vehicles
from plying on city roads.
NGT Chairperson
Swatanter Kumar
expressed his displeasure
that the ban order issued
by the green court was not
being seriously executed
and hoards of old diesel
vehicles were still visible
on the roads. Why are
you not stopping such
vehicles? Issue directions
to all concerned
Kejriwal to practice cheap
politics on dead bodies.
Will write to L-G
Mr. Gupta said the party
would write to Lieutenant
Governor Najeeb Jung re-
questing him to set up a
panel on awarding of com-
pensation, so that public
fund is not misused by poli-
ticians with vested
interests.
He has called Grewal a
stigating ex-servicemen to
commit suicide, by glori-
doesnt the norm say that
compensation be awarded
to those personnel who die
in the line of duty, and are
residents of Delhi, Mr.
Gupta said.
THE HINDU SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016
Levels of PM2.5, the
most dangerous air
pollutant, have
crossed the 1,000
mark in most parts
of Delhi... people are
requested to stay
indoors as much as
possible and to not
exercise in the open
tious about particle exposure
as it can cause serious prob-
lems, including worsening of
the pre-existing health con-
dition, the IMA cautioned.
Dr. Vinay Kumar Rai, pae-
diatrician at SCI Interna-
tional Hospital said: There
are high chances of small
children contracting con-
junctivitis or typhoid. In the
winters, children may sufer
breathing problems coupled
authorities to take such
vehicles of the roads.
Advocate Tarunvir
Singh Khehar, who
appeared on behalf of the
Delhi government, told
the the court that
authorities were
challaning such vehicles
but we dont have space
to park the impounded
vehicles.
The NGT has asked Mr.
Khehar to move an
application before it in
this regard so that
appropriate directions
could be passed to the
Delhi Development
Authority (DDA) to
provide space for parking
Ask IB about judges
phone tapping: CM
NEW DELHI: Chief Minister
Arvind Kejriwal said on Fri-
day that the police should ask
the Intelligence Bureau (IB) if
judges phones were being an extremely serious matter
tapped. The remark came
after reports surfaced about
Delhi Police Commissioner
Alok Kumar Verma writing to
him regarding the matter.
A letter, purportedly writ-
ten by Mr. Verma to Mr. Kejri-
wal, seeking details about his
allegations that judges
phones were being tapped, is
doing the rounds on Twitter.
Mr. Kejriwal tweeted his re-
sponse to the letter saying:
Ask IB. They will tell u.
However, the police didnt
confirm the authenticity of
the letter. It might be a con-
fidential letter and not many
people might be aware about
it, said a police source,
without confirming the au-
thenticity of the letter.
NOIDA/DELHI
with cold and cough. Other
than this, it also afects their
overall growth rate.
Children generally spend
two-third of their time in-
door, either at home or at
school. They generally spend
more time outdoors than the
adults. They are active out-
doors during midday when
air pollution levels tend to be
higher and have significantly
higher oxygen demands so
their respiration rates are
higher and they inhale more
air per unit of body weight
than adults. Because of their
smaller stature, their breath-
ing zone is lower. Therefore,
they inhale air loaded with
more particles.
diameters of their airways
The
are smaller and therefore,
they are more likely to be af-
fected by inflammation pro-
duced by air pollution. Their
lungs are still developing and
hence are more vulnerable to
airborne insults. Their im-
mune defence is still imma-
ture, Dr. Rai warned.
of seized vehicles.
Not a major contributor,
says Centres lawyer
Additional Solicitor
General (ASG) Pinky
Anand, who appeared on
behalf of the Centre, told
the green panel that diesel
vehicles were not the
major contributor to
pollution and vehicular
emission.
Ms. Anand said that no
coercive steps should be
taken against diesel
vehicles until the matter
was heard in its entirety.
The bench posted the
matter for hearing on
November 8.
The letter says that its a
serious matter the the Chief
Minister has raised. As you
are aware, phone tapping is
and is not allowed without
due authorisation. Therefore,
your alluding to the matter
raises serious concerns, the
letter reads.
The letter also asked the
CM to inform them about the
source on which he has based
his allegations.
Addressing the golden ju-
bilee celebrations of the
Delhi High Court on October
31, in which Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and Chief
Justice of India T. S. Thakur
also participated, Mr. Kejri-
wal had claimed that during
his meetings with judges he
had overheard them telling
each other that they should
not talk on phones because
they could be tapped. PTI
ND-ND

NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016
FRESH TROUBLE
Jung returns AAP govt
files on mohalla clinics
Move may escalate into another row between AAP and Raj Niwas
FACE-OFF: One of the points raised by Raj Niwas was that the main file containing policy
decisions governing the larger mohalla clinic project had not been shared with the L-G. FILE PHOTO
JATIN ANAND
NEW Lieutenant
DELHI:
Governor Najeeb Jung has
returned the files relating to
the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)
governments proposal to es-
tablish mohalla clinics at
school campuses under its
jurisdiction.
The decision to return the
file pertaining to the exten-
sion of the primary health-
care initiative to govern-
ment-run schools back to
the AAP dispensation, ac-
cording to a source, was
based on key observations
related to current rules and
guidelines.
Incidentally, the move
came in the wake of Mr.
Jungs refusal to give post-
facto approval to, and direct-
ing the Delhi government to
revoke the appointment of,
15 lawyers on its legal team
here on Thursday.
According to a senior gov-
ernment oicial, objections
raised by Raj Niwas were
L-G meets top cops, asks police to up its game
STAFF REPORTER
NEW DELHI: A day after Chief
Minister Arvind Kejriwal
criticised the Delhi Police
for failing to trace missing
Jawaharlal Nehru
University (JNU) student
Najeeb Ahmed, the
Lieutenant-Governor
directed the force to speed
up eforts.
The L-G issued
directions to this efect
during a meeting with the
Delhi Police brass, which
included Special
Commissioner (Law and
Order), Joint CP (South-
East Range), and Head of
the SIT, and took stock of
the investigation, said a
statement issued from Raj
Niwas.
Police apprise Jung
It was also decided that
the reward money be
increased from Rs. 1 lakh to
Rs. 2 lakh for information
about the whereabouts of
Ahmed, 27, a student of the
School of Biotechnology
DMRC seeks help to meet property development target
SIDHARTHA ROY
NEW DELHI: The Urban De-
velopment Ministry has
asked the Delhi Development
Authority (DDA) to consider
excluding floor area and
ground coverage for oper-
ational structures of the Delhi
Metro when calculating Floor
Area Ratio (FAR). The re-
quest, sources said, had come
from the Delhi Metro Rail
Corporation (DMRC) and
will help it meet property de-
velopment targets.
Property development is
one of the key alternative
sources of revenue for the
cash-strapped DMRC. Keen
that the corporation meet its
property development target,
the Ministry of Urban De-
velopment on Friday re-
viewed in detail the progress
made and impediments faced,
sources in the Ministry said.
As part of the review,
Secretary (Urban De-
CM
YK
The objections raised
were based on
specific guidelines
that form the core
of the Delhi School
Education Act
based on specific guidelines
that form the core of the
Delhi School Education Act
and are related to issues of
land use, access to outsiders,
and the utilisation of govern-
ment school campuses for
activities other than
teaching.
Main file not shared with
L-G?
One of the most signific-
ant points raised by Raj Ni-
was, according to a source,
was related to the fact that
the main file containing
policy decisions governing
the larger mohalla clinic
project had not been shared
with the L-G or granted ap-
TAKING STOCK: The reward money for information on Najeeb, who went missing on October
15, has been increased from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 2 lakh. FILE PHOTO: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
and a native of Badaun in
Uttar Pradesh. He went
missing on October 15 after
an on-campus scule
allegedly involving
members of the ABVP the
night before.
Mr. Jung has now
directed the police that no
Property development
is one of the key
alternative sources of
revenue for the
cash-strapped body
velopment) Rajiv Gauba took
stock of related issues with
senior oicials of the
Ministry, DMRCs Managing
Director Mangu Singh and
DDA oicials. The DMRC has
reportedly been asked to step
up eforts to meet the proper-
ty development target inten-
ded to finance metro projects,
sources said.
An Empowered Group of
Ministers (EGOM) mandated
the DMRC to generate a reve-
nue of Rs. 2,505 crore through
property development for
financing metro projects up
to Phase III.
Mr. Singh said in the meet-
ing that Rs. 305 crore had been
generated through property
proval by him.
The file could, another of-
ficial observed, be sent back
to Raj Niwas for fresh ap-
proval after the necessary
points objected to by the L-G
had been addressed.
At a recent meeting called
to discuss the prevailing
health situation in the Cap-
ital, the Delhi government
had requested that its plan to
expand the currently func-
tional 100-odd mohalla clin-
ics running as pilots to 1,000
proceed without
hindrance.
In a move which has the
potential to escalate into yet
another row between the
AAP government and Raj
Niwas, Mr. Jung had, on
Thursday, returned the file
pertaining to the appoint-
ment of lawyers by it to Dep-
uty Chief Minister Manish
Sisodia, who also holds the
Law portfolio, asking him to
revoke an order to appoint 12
advocates-on-record and
three arguing counsels.
MISSING JNU STUDENT
efort be spared to trace
the student.
The police, meanwhile,
told the L-G that all eforts
were being made to trace
him. They said that over
20,000 posters had been
pasted in Delhi and
outside.
development till August this
year. He added that progress
in this regard was hampered
by hurdles like restrictive
land allotment orders, which
prevented property de-
velopment for long, low FAR
allowed to DMRC, require-
ment of payment for addi-
tional FAR, not signing Lease
Deed Agreement for the land
allotted, non-issuance of No
Completion Certificates, ap-
plication of norms of res-
idential development even
when there was no such com-
ponent, and non-exclusion of
Floor Area of operation struc-
ture from FAR calculations.
Mr. Singh said that after dir-
ections from the Secretary in
June, the DDA had modified
restrictive land allotment or-
ders that prevented property
development initially. The
DDA also issued a No Objec-
tion certificate to exempt the
DMRC from paying for addi-
tional FAR.
CITY/STATE
Govt rejects
decision to
revoke lawyers
appointments
NEW DELHI: The AAP govern-
ment on Friday rejected
L-G Najeeb Jungs decision
to revoke the appointment
of 15 lawyers, setting the
stage for a fresh round of
confrontation.
However, the L-Gs oice
slammed the Kejriwal gov-
ernment over the move,
saying that after the August
4 High Court verdict, the
LG is the final authority in
all administrative issues.
On Thursday, Jung had
revoked the appointment
of a panel of 15 Supreme
Court lawyers while refus-
ing to give his post-facto
approval on the appoint-
ment of these advocates.
Prior approval not sought
The Cabinet has rejec-
ted the L-Gs decision to re-
voke the appointment of
panel of Delhi govern-
ments SC lawyers. Cabinet
also resolved that Law is a
transferred subject and as
per August 4, 2016 Delhi
HC Judgement power to
appoint lawyers lies with
the elected government,
said a senior government
oicial.
Sources in the L-Gs of-
fice said that the AAP gov-
ernment had appointed 15
lawyers without prior ap-
proval of L-G and in view of
this, if the city adminis-
tration gives salaries of
these advocates, it will be
their own responsibility.
The Kejriwal govern-
ment had appointed 15 law-
yers without the L-Gs ap-
proval in 2014 and 2015.
Recently, it had sent the
file to the L-G seeking his
post-facto approval. PTI
The force also apprised
the L-G that the incident
has been repeatedly re-
examined and that areas in
and around JNU had been
searched comprehensively
several times. SIT
probing the case has
verified over 300
The DMRC also made a
case for being allowed to use
admissible FAR norms for de-
velopment of land parcels
situated far away from Metro
stations as per MPD norms,
instead of FAR norms
applicable to integrated plots.
With regard to the remain-
ing four issues, Mr. Gauba is-
sued directions for necessary
action to be taken to remove
hurdles that keep the DMRC
from meeting property de-
velopment targets.
Mr. Singh also said that the
DMRC had been exempted
from obtaining prior
approvals for various con-
struction projects, but the
concerned local bodies were
not issuing completion certi-
ficates stating that they had
not earlier approved the DM-
RCs plans.
He said that completion
certificates issued by the
DMRC, as in the case of Rail-
ways, may be accepted.
Surrogacy challenge
WAY AHEAD: (From left to right) Dr. Anil Malhotra, Former Attorney-General of India Soli Sorabjee, Manasi Kumar,
Molshree A. Sharma and Frank Thierfelder during a panel discussion on The Long Road to Surrogacy: Legal Challenges
and the Way Ahead, in New Delhi on Friday. PHOTO: SHANKER CHAKRAVARTY
Dalit, minorities maha rally on Nov 27
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: Dalit, Adivasi
and minority rights
groups have decided to
come together for a
mahasangram rally at the
Ramlila Ground here on
November 27.
At this rally, we
expect thousands of
grassroots leaders and
people from all over
India. It will aim to
articulate a new social
contract for an
enlightened India,
Ashok Bharti, convener
of the Mahasangram
Rally National
Organising Committee,
told the media on Friday.
Shared stories of struggle
Later, Dalit and Adivasi
victims of atrocities
shared their stories of
struggle. These included
Ramesh and Jitubhai
Saravaiah, victims of the
Una flogging incident of
July 11, 2016; Pushpa
(name changed), a Dalit
school girl from Kaithal
who was allegedly raped;
Dr Kuldeep Kumar, a
autorickshaws plying in
the area. It has so far
deployed about 150 police
personnel, including two
teams per district, the modation for her and her sons
statement said.
It also stated that teams
have been sent to Ajmer,
Kota, Bareilly, Roorkee,
Faizabad, Azamgarh,
Badaun and other
neighbouring cities.
Many of Najeebs
former teachers, friends
and relatives have been
contacted, including
schools and other
educational institutions he
attended. CCTV cameras
at various locations
including the Metro, ISBT,
railway stations and tolls
are being scanned, it
added.
On Thursday, Mr.
Kejriwal had said while
participating in a solidarity
meeting at JNU that
Najeeb would come back
only when Prime Minister
Narendra Modi could be
made to realise that he was
losing votes over the issue.
former faculty at the All
India Institute of Medical
Sciences (AIIMS) who
was summarily
terminated; Mahendra
Mehwal, the father of
17-year-old Delta Mehwal
a Dalit from
Rajasthans Barmer
district who was
allegedly raped and
murdered; and Rohtas,
who was allegedly
attacked and had acid
thrown on him by upper-
caste men.
All of them spoke
about the police hostility,
how diicult it was to get
an FIR registered, and
how they had to face the
indignity of being
threatened by the
policemen. In none of the
cases have all the culprits
been apprehended, they
said. We have no option
but to take to the streets
because our elected
representatives 84
scheduled caste MPs and
47 scheduled tribe MPs
and hundreds of SC/ST
MLAs have failed to
raise our concerns. Let
alone the Parliament,
Payal moves HC for govt house on security grounds
NEW DELHI: Payal Abdullah, the
estranged wife of former
Jammu and Kashmir Chief
Minister Omar Abdullah, has
moved the Delhi High Court
seeking government accom-
on the grounds that they en-
joyed Z and Z plus security
status.
A Bench of Chief Justice G.
The rally is
expected to be
attended by
grassroots leaders
from all over India
these so-called leaders
havent raised our
concerns even within
their own parties, Mr.
Bharti said.
Judiciary questioned
According to the data
compiled by Mr. Bharti
and the National
Confederation of Dalit
Organisations
(NACDOR), more than
19,343 Dalits/Adivasis
have been murdered and
more than 1,00,000 Dalit/
Adivasi women been
raped since 1991. Why
hasnt the judiciary taken
suo moto notice of this
rampant violation of
constitutional
guarantees? Mr Bharti
asked. He also pointed
out that from 2001-2015,
there have been 204 suo
moto cases taken up by
the judiciary. There was
Rohini and Justice Sangita Dh-
ingra Sehgal issued notice to
the Centre and sought a re-
sponse on her appeal challen-
ging a single judges August 19
order asking her to vacate the
7, Akbar Road bungalow that
she was residing in.
She has sought a direction resented by advocate Anurag
to the Centre to provide her
and her sons with accommod-
|5
even one when an
advertising hoarding fell
on a judge. But not a
single instance where an
atrocity against a Dalit or
Adivasi was taken up suo
moto.
When the
Constitution was written,
our leaders were
concerned primarily with
justice and equality for
the marginalised and the
minorities. Today, we
can barely dream of
justice or equality. After
70 years of
independence, for Dalits,
Adivasis and Muslims,
the aspiration has been
reduced to one of
survival the right to life,
which some animals in
our country enjoy in
greater measure than us,
said Mr. Niyaz Ahmad
Farauqi of the Jamat-e-
Ulema Hind.
Chotu Lal, a tribal
rights activist from
Madhya Pradesh, drew
attention to the illegal
usurpation of Adivasi
land in the State and the
absence of livelihood
options for Adivasis.
ation on parity with others
who enjoyed similar security
status and have been given
government accommodation.
She has also claimed to be a
Central government pro-
tectee, a claim the Ministry of
Home Afairs (MHA), rep-
Ahluwalia, had disputed be-
fore the single judge. PTI
ND-ND
6|
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THE HINDU SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016

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THE HINDU SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016

Assam Public Services Commission Tech genius from Alwar roped in by

Union Ministry of Electronics
Sukhbir trying to
stir up communal
tension: AAP
chief held on corruption charges SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

JAIPUR: A tech genius from

To be produced in a court today; the police refuse to give more details
GUWAHATI: Assam Public Ser-
vice Commission chairman
Rakesh Kumar Paul was on Fri-
day arrested on charges of al-
leged corruption in the
organisation.
Assam Director General of
Police Mukesh Sahay said Paul
was arrested by Dibrugarh po-
lice on corruption-related
allegations.
The APSC chairman would
be produced before a court to-
morrow, he said.
There is an ongoing case
against him and Dibrugarh po-
lice has arrested him in that
connection, Mr Sahay told
PTI.
Several organisations
had accused ex-CM
Tarun Gogoi of
protecting Rakesh
Kumar Paul
Dibrugarh Superintendent
of Police Gautam Borah said
Paul was arrested under
various sections of the IPC on
the basis of complaints by
Nabakanta Patir and declined
to give further details.
14 days remand to be
sought
Mr Borah said the police
would seek 14 days custody
from the court tomorrow.
Asked if Paul would be taken
to Dibrugarh, he said it was not
decided yet. We may keep him
in Guwahati and interrogate
there also.
The APSC has been em-
broiled in controversies for
quite some time over alleged
corruption in the selection and
appointment process in
various services including As-
sam Police Service and Assam
Civil Service.
Organisations like Krishak
Mukti Sangram Samiti and All
Assam Students Union have
attacked Paul for his alleged in-
volvement in irregularities and
had accused former Chief
Minister Tarun Gogoi of pro-
tecting him.
Gogoi in July last year had
announced setting up of an in-
quiry commission headed by a
retired judge to probe alleged
irregularities in state civil ser-
vices examinations and
recruitment.
A month before that, the As-
sam government had ordered a
probe by an Additional Chief
Secretary into the alleged ir-
regularities in the results of
civil services examinations
after receiving five specific
complaints. - PTI
Alwar district of Rajasthan,
who was praised by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi in
his Wembley Stadium ad-
dress in London last year,
has been roped in by the
Union Ministry of Electron-
ics and Information Tech-
nology to work with its hu-
man resource development
(HRD) arm.
Mohammed Imran Khan,
a self-taught computer pro-
grammer and web de-
veloper, will work with the
National Institute of Elec-
tronics and Information
Technology the HRD arm
of the Ministry which has lakh beneficiaries. Mr.
decided to build mobile ap- Modi's remarks about him,
plications for its wide rep-
ertoire of services and
courses.
Mr. Khan, 38, has been
opted as a member of the
Technical Advisory Com-
mittee of the institute on
the recommendation of
Union Minister of State for
Electronics and IT P.P.
Chaudhary. He had shot
into limelight last year
when Mr. Modi praised him
for developing 52 educa-
tional mobile apps free of
cost for the HRD Ministry.
Mr. Khan is a mathemat-
ics teacher in the Rajasthan
government's Sanskrit Edu-
cation Department and his
mobile apps and websites
have reached more than 50
been applauded by the
Prime Minister at a global
My India is in that Imran
Khan from Alwar, in-
stantly made him famous
and his work was recog-
nised as a significant con-
tribution to the nation's
development.
Mr. Chaudhary said on
Friday that he had decided
to utilise Mr. Khan's ser-
vices for the betterment of
the nation after hearing
about his dedicated eforts.
He met the web developer
at an awards ceremony in
Jodhpur in September this
year.
Mr. Chaudhary said it
would be an honour for his
Ministry to have among its
ranks a distinguished entre-
preneur whose eforts had
resign immediately, Mr.
stage.
CHANDIGARH: The Aam Aadmi
Party on Friday accused
Punjab Deputy Chief
Minister and Shiromani
Akali Dal (SAD) chief
Sukhbir Singh Badal of
stooping to the lowest lev-
el of politics and trying to
flare up communal ten-
sion in the State.
The partys Punjab con-
venor, Gurpreet Singh
Ghuggi, said Sukhbir must
own up to putting pres-
sure on police oicers to
falsely implicate AAP
MLA from Delhi Naresh
Yadav in the Malerkotla
Quran Sharif sacrilege
case.
He (Sukhbir) should
Ghuggi said. - PTI

Holy dip

FESTIVAL TIME: Devotees taking a holy dip in the Ganga on the first day of Chhath Puja in Patna on Friday. - PHOTO: RANJEET KUMAR

Leopard burnt
alive for killing girl
AHMEDABAD: A leopard, which
had killed an 8-year-old girl,
was allegedly burnt alive by
the angry villagers after it
was captured by forest oi-
cials in Surat district.
Gujarat Forest Depart-
ment has set up an inquiry
panel to probe the gruesome
incident that occurred on
Thursday at Vadi village in
Umarpada tehsil. The leop-
ard was captured in a trap set
by the forest oicials late on
Wednesday night. The villa-
gers set the animal on fire in-
side the cage the next day,
said an oicial. - PTI

CM ND-ND
YK
8|
Rs. 4 cr. worth
red sanders
logs seized
K. UMASHANKER
CHITTOOR: The Chittoor Task
Force Police launched flash
raids at two places in Katiga-
nahalli village in Bengaluru
Rural limits in Karnataka on
Thursday night. They seized
about two tonnes of high-
grade red sanders logs worth
around Rs. 4 crore in the in-
ternational market.
Additional Superintend-
ent of Police (Red Sanders
Operations) Yelisala Ratna
told The Hindu that a 20-
member armed task force
party, led by senior police-
men, rushed to Katiganahalli
close to Thursday midnight.
The raids continued till
the early hours of Friday. No
arrests have been made so
far, police said.
A.P. tops in energy
eiciency: World Bank
B. MURALIDHAR REDDY
NEW DELHI: The World Bank
has ranked Andhra Pradesh
as number one in Energy Ef-
ficiency Implementation
Readiness with an overall
score of 42.01 followed by
Rajasthan (41.89), Karnataka
(39.34) and Maharashtra
(39.29).
The ranking figures in a
study report of the World
Bank titled: Indias State
Level Energy Eiciency Im-
plementation Readiness
that was launched here on
Friday by Subash Garg,
World Bank Executive Dir-
ector, at a two-day Interna-
tional conference on Advan-
cing the Global Transition to
Energy Eiciency as the
First Fuel with Demand
Side Energy Eiciency
(DSEE) jointly held by the
Bank & Energy Eiciency
Services Limited (EESL).
Index-based evaluation
The World Bank has
claimed that the index-based
evaluation is not only able to
CM
YK
Row in Kerala Assembly over gang rape
Opposition accuses government of shielding CPI(M) leaders; walks out of the House
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Ker-
ala Opposition staged a
walkout from the Assembly
on Friday alleging that the
government had failed to
stem the rising number of at-
rocities against women
while shielding CPI(M)
leaders involved in the
crimes.
Promising an impartial ap-
proach in dealing with
criminals targeting women,
Law Minister A.K. Balan said
the Assistant Commissioner
of Police, Guruvayur, had
been directed to investigate
the alleged rape of a 34-year-
old woman by four persons
at Wadakkanchery in Thris-
sur district.
Replying to the notice for
benchmark the readiness of
Indian States for energy ei-
ciency implementation, but
also reveals critical deficits
or barriers in this respect.
Time-bound action plans
The study, besides
suggesting adoption of
achievable energy savings
targets against the identified
energy eiciency interven-
tions, calls upon the States to
endeavour to bring sector-
specific energy eiciency
policies with definite goals
and time-bound action
plans.
Efective implementation
of energy eiciency and en-
ergy conservation activities
of the State, with an assessed
achievement of around 650
MW of avoided capacity and
about 1500 MU of Annual
Energy Savings in a span of
two years with adoption of
emerging LED technology in
domestic and urban street
lighting sectors has im-
pressed the World Bank, ac-
cording to a press statement
issued by the A.P. Bhavan.
an adjournment motion
moved by Anil Akkara and
others, Mr. Balan, oiciating
for Chief Minister Pinarayi
Vijayan, said there had been
no lapse on the part of the
police in investigating the
complaint given by the
woman two years after the
alleged incident. The incid-
ent drew attention after the
victim held a press confer-
ence here on Thursday al-
leging that she had been
raped by a CPI(M) council-
lor and three others.
Govt. promises probe
The Minister said the gov-
ernment would come down
heavily on criminals target-
ing women, irrespective of
their political ailiations.
There would be a thorough
Three held for
toddlers death
in Kerala
STAFF REPORTER
KOCHI: Two nuns and a helper
were arrested by the Kerala
police on Friday in connec-
tion with the tragic death of a
toddler who was found dead
in the Periyar river after he
went missing from a day care
centre in Eloor. They were
later released on bail.
The arrested were identi-
fied as Sister Ramya, Sister
Mary Thankam, and Kun-
jamma, a helper at the day
care centre. The police said
the toddler was under the
care of the nuns.
Waiting for evidence
The nuns were arrested
under Section 304-A and
they were soon released on
bail after their statements
were recorded. They stuck to
their version that the boy
walked out through a side
gate that was left open.
The police are waiting for
scientific evidence to find
out the exact reason behind
the death.
SOUTH
HARROWING ACCOUNT: Actor Parvathy (left) and dubbing artist
Bhagyalakshmi with the rape victim and her husband at a
press meet in Thiruvananthapuram. PHOTO: C. RATHEESH KUMAR
probe into any such com-
plaint.
Terming the rising trend
of crimes against women a
shame and a blot on Keralas assed the victim and forced
cultural landscape, Leader her to change her statement.
of the Opposition Ramesh
Wave of protests over Beach Love
Festival plan in Visakhapatnam
G. NARASIMHA RAO
VISAKHAPATNAM: Beach Love
Festival, the event being
planned on one of the
citys beaches between
February 12 to 14
Valentines Day sparked
strong protests, forcing
government oicials and
even the Minister
concerned to come out
with explanations.
The festival was
proposed by the Positive
Global Services and
Consultancy Pvt. Ltd. of
Mumbai.
Thanks to its track
record in Goa, about which
many reports did the
rounds, the proposal to
hold a similar event in a
Visakhapatnam beach had
many up in arms.
Several organisations,
particularly womens
groups and political
parties, have come out
strongly against the
festival saying it goes
the State had become more
vulnerable since the LDF
came to power, he said.
Thefts, gang rapes, political
violence, and attacks on
women had gone up and the
police were harassing the
victims even as the CPI(M)
was shielding party leaders
with criminal tendencies, he
said.
Moving the motion, Mr.
Akkara said the police had
misbehaved with the victim
and tried to settle the case
out of court with the help of a
lawyer.
Chennithala demanded an The Opposition members
investigation by a woman trooped out after the
ADGP into the alleged rape. Speaker refused to allow a
He said the police had har- discussion on the motion.
BJP member O. Rajagopal
too joined the walkout by the
Women and children in UDF legislators.
programme for the sake of
A.P. government goes attracting investments and
on the back foot as promoting tourism. A.P.
locals say the Mahila Sangham held a
demonstration near the
proposed event will Gandhi statue.
harm States culture
Drop the proposal
against the States culture. District secretary A.
Locals feel that such a
festival might be
Vimala demanded that the
government immediately
acceptable in Goa but not drop the proposal.
in Visakhapatnam. YSRC
MLA R.K. Roja said the
The criticism forced the
Secretary of Tourism, N.
festival cannot be held at Srikanth, and Regional
any cost. Director Sriramulu Naidu
to say no programme that
A shame was against the culture of
The BJPs Floor Leader people would be
and local MLA P. supported by the
Vishnukumar Raju said he government.
would not allow it to As their statements
happen, even though his failed to convince people,
party was part of the ruling HRD Minister Ganta
coalition in the State. The Srinivasa Rao held a press
day saw AIDWAs State conference and said: The
president B. Prabhavathi government is keen on the
saying it was a shame on growth of the State but it
the part of Chief Minister will not allow it at the cost
N. Chandrababu Naidu to of our culture and
conduct such a traditions.
THE HINDU SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016
Maoist leader RK safe,
wife tells Hyderabad HC
HYDERABAD: Top Naxalite
leader Ramakrishnas wife
on Friday informed the Hy-
derabad High Court that her
husband was safe, and
sought the courts permis-
sion to withdraw the habeas
corpus petition she had filed
earlier in this regard.
We informed the High
Court that Ramakrishna is
safe and said we got informa-
tion last night that he is safe.
We requested the court to
permit us to withdraw the
habeas corpus which is pos-
ted after two weeks, Kan-
dula Sirisha told the court
through her counsel V.
Raghunath.
As the matter was not pos-
ted for Friday, the court
asked the petitioner to make
an application through the
Registrar (Judicial) seeking
to withdraw the petition.
The matter is likely to come
up for listing on Monday
(November 7), and the court
will pass an order in view of
the petitioners request.
Following the police ac-
tion on the Andhra-Odisha
Border on October 24, in
which 24 Maoists were
killed, doubts were ex-
pressed by the wife of Ra-
makrishna alias RK, and
relatives and party comrades
that he might be in police
custody.
RSS mans murder: MP
blames Karnataka Minister
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
BENGALURU: In a new twist to
the murder of RSS activist
Rudresh in Bengaluru,
Shobha Karandlaje, BJP State
general secretary and MP, on
Friday claimed that the party
suspected the role of
Minister for Urban De-
velopment, Haj and Wakf, R.
Roshan Baig, in the murder.
Speaking to reporters
here, Ms. Karandlaje claimed
that some oicials and local
residents had told her that
they suspected Mr. Baigs in-
volvement.
NOIDA/DELHI
Sirisha
In the habeas corpus pet-
ition, Ms. Sirisha had sought
directions to the Andhra Pra-
desh government to produce
the Maoist leader before the
court and to record his state-
ment for appropriate action.
But the Andhra Pradesh
police on Thursday in-
formed the High Court that
RK was not in their custody
and, following a submission
from the State police, the
court asked the petitioner, to
produce before it any
material with regard to him
and posted the matter after
two weeks.
On Thursday night, in a
dramatic turn of events, the
Revolutionary Writers Asso-
ciation announced that RK
was safe, barely hours after
his wife had alleged in court
that her husband was in po-
lice custody. PTI
Even supari killers might
have been used to eliminate
Rudresh, who was in the
forefront of organising the
party in the Shivajinagar As-
sembly constituency, rep-
resented by Mr. Baig, she al-
leged. Ms. Karandlaje
demanded an inquiry by the
CBI or any national agency.
Mr. Baig hit back at the BJP
terming the allegations
baseless and a political
conspiracy. Stating that he
was open to investigation,
the Minister said he was con-
sidering filing a defamation
suit against Ms. Karandlaje.
ND-ND
 NATION |9
NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016

11 held for Buldhana school rape DGCA asks Jet for

details of flight
Yoga in schools: SC to hear plea
LEGAL CORRESPONDENT

10-year-old victims teachers allegedly told her to let bygones be bygones
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
MUMBAI: Maharashtra Dir-
ector-General of Police Sat-
ish Mathur on Friday said a
special investigating team
(SIT) had been formed to
probe the alleged rape of a
10-year-old girl student in an
ashram school of Buldhana.
The Buldhana police had
arrested 11 accused, all
school employees, including
school sweeper and main ac-
cused Ittusingh Pawar, on
Thursday in connection with
the incident.
While Pawar was arrested
for rape, the other 10, includ-
ing teachers and the
president of the trust that
runs the school, were arres-
ted for not reporting the mat-
ter despite knowing about it.
Under the Protection of
Satish Mathur
Children from Sexual Of-
fences Act, withholding
knowledge of a crime against
a minor is also a punishable
ofence.
Arti Singh to head SIT
Mr. Mathur said SP (CID,
Nagpur) Arti Singh would
head the SIT. Police were
making inquiries to find out
if more students had been
targeted. He added that two
more accused, also school
employees, were abscond-
ing. Mr. Mathur said Pawar
alone allegedly abused the
victim sexually. The SIT,
comprising Ms. Singh and
four women oicers, would
visit the houses of all girl stu-
dents of the ashram school.
Accused an ex-student
Pawar is an ex-student of
same school and knows the
local tribal language well. He
was tasked with interacting
with the students and con-
veying their concerns to the
teachers. He also ferried
some students to and from
their houses, a Buldhana po-
lice oicer said.
Chief Minister Devendra
Fadnavis on Friday said all
schools operated or aided by
the State government would
henceforth be visited by
women oicers, who would
interact with girl students.
The rape came to light
when the victim returned
home for Deepavali holidays.
The girl, parents told invest-
igators, was visibly disturbed
and wasnt speaking much or
eating well. When her
mother enquired, she told
her that Pawar had sexually
abused her on at least three
occasions in the past few
months.
The victim, police were
told, had also confided in her
teachers, who allegedly told
her to let bygones be
bygones.
State Tribal Welfare
Minister Vishnu Sawra said
the government had dere-
cognised the school.
cancellations
NEW DELHI: Aviation regulator
DGCA has sought from Jet
Airways details of the flights
it had cancelled and delayed
recently after some of its pi-
lots reported sick amid an
acute shortage of flight crew,
particularly in its narrow
body fleet. Jet Airways has
also been asked to provide
details of the pilots who are
habitual in reporting sick
and disrupting the airlines
schedule, an oicial said.
The airline, which is al-
ready facing paucity of pilots
to carry out its operations in
a smooth manner, had can-
celled about 50 flights on
Tuesday and Wednesday
after a section of its pilots did
not turn up for duty despite
being rostered in protest
against the malfunctioning
of its new crew rostering
management system. PTI
NEW DELHI: Over a year after a
California appeals court de-
clared yoga secular and not
a means to advance or inhibit
Hinduism, the Supreme
Court has agreed to hear a
plea on whether yoga is an in-
herently religious ritual or a
secular pursuit for good
health and a dignified life.
A Bench led by Chief
Justice of India T.S. Thakur
has agreed to hear on
November 7 whether yoga
should be made compulsory
for students of Class one to
eight.
The petition, which quotes FOR GOOD HEALTH: Petitioner says right to health is part of the
the U.S. court ruling, was right to lead a dignified life under Article 21 of theConstitution
filed by advocate Ashwini
Kumar Upadhyay, who has Constitution. ard textbooks of Yoga and
also sought a direction to the The plea, which has made Health Education for stu-
government to frame a Na- the Ministry of Human Re- dents of Class one to eight,
tional Yoga Policy, saying source Development, keeping in spirit various fun-
that right to health was part NCERT, NCTE and the damental rights such as right
of the right to lead a dignified CBSE as parties, sought a to life, education and
life under Article 21 of the direction to provide stand- equality.

Man prevents wife from
breastfeeding, faces action
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
KOZHIKODE: The child rights
panel has asked the police
to book under the
Juvenile Justice Act the
superstitious father of a
newborn for delaying the
baby its first feed by a
whole day.
The Kerala State
Commission for
Protection of Child Rights
on Friday directed the
Kozhikode District Police
Chief and the Mukkom
police to book
Aboobacker Siddique of
Omassery for denying the
baby its mothers breast
milk. Siddique insisted
the newborn should not
be fed until after five
baank calls (prayer breastfed immediately.
announcements given
from mosques five times a
day) were heard.
The baby, born in a
private hospital at
Mukkom in Kozhikode,
had to go without its first
Mcr-1 isolated in India, a further
feed for 21 hours.
chapter in antibiotic resistance
In their directive, RAMYA KANNAN
commission chairperson
Sobha Koshy and member CHENNAI: Indian researchers
K. Nazeer asked the have isolated a strain of
Kozhikode District E.Coli bacteria, carrying a
Medical Oicer or a new gene (mcr -1), described
doctor authorised by the previously as truly pan-drug
DMO to visit the baby to resistant. It is resistant to the
find if it faced any health last mile antibiotic the hu-
hazard because of the man race currently has ac-
denial of breast feed. The cess to colistin.
police had been asked to While colistin resistance
book those who had had already been detected in
abetted the superstitious India, it existed thus far only
father. Aboobacker is said as mutations in the chromo-
to have been influenced somal/genetic path. Now,
by a preacher. His first mutations do not spread
child too had been denied from patient to patient. With
breastfeed for a day. The mcr-1, however, the gene is
hospital authorities had found in the plasmid me-
wanted that the baby, dium, a small DNA molecule
born on Wednesday, be outside of the chromosomal
DNA, meaning the infection
But when Aboobacker can spread in hospitals, and
stalled it, he was asked to the community.
give an undertaking that In a letter published in the
the hospital was not Clinical Infectious Diseases,
responsible for any health in the Oxford Journals group,
hazard to the baby the authors Mohit Kumar (of
because of this. Shiv Astha Hospital, Hary-
ana) et al, note: The emer-
gence of plasmid-mediated
colistin resistance heralds
the breach of the last group
of antibiotics, polymyxins.
This is an important turn-
ing point in the country.
While we have already
recorded colistin resistance,
mcr-1 is an entirely diferent
story altogether. It is not self
limiting, and can spread in
the community, says Abdul
Ghafur, Coordinator, Chen-
nai Declaration, which at-
tempted to set a road map to
tackle antimicrobial re-
sistance in the country.
NDM1 superbug
To explain further the im-
plications, Dr. Ghafur draws
a parallel with the NDM1 su-
perbug that was identified in
an article in the Lancet in
2010. At that point, it was es-
timated to be present be-
tween two and three per cent
in the bacterial population.
Now it has grown exponen-
tially.
Karthikeyan Ku-
maraswamy, the researcher
whose publication on NDM1
unleashed a virtual storm in
the health sector, agrees with
Dr. Ghafur about the growth
of the NDM1: We identified
the NDM1 from a sewage
sample, but today we are see-
ing so many patients
presenting with NDM1 lit-
erally on a daily basis. How-
ever, he adds that no plas-
mid-mediated colistin
resistance has emerged in his
research as yet. Mcr-1 has al-
ready been reported in half a
dozen countries, and the in-
dications are the same as col-
istin resistance, as is the
treatment protocol.
The thing is we must re-
alise that clinical practice de-
pends on colistin. The next
antibiotic will probably be
ready in a couple of years,
and that is of concern to us,
he adds.
V. Ramasubramaniam,
consultant, Infectious Dis-
eases, Apollo Hospitals,
takes a pragmatic approach.
Whenever an antibiotic is
used/overused/ misused, re-
sistance develops. A mix of
bacteria enters the sewage,
contaminates drinking water
and enters the gut of a
healthy individual, making
him/her resistant to those
bugs. This resistance moves
from one level to another.
Mcr-1 is therefore,
inevitable.
Monitoring use
While time and money
have been put into the dis-
covery of new compounds
and antibiotics, it is also im-
portant to keenly regulate
and monitor the way antibi-
otics are currently used. The
key, he says, is to ensure the
proper use of antibiotics on
patients, monitor the level of
antibiotics used in humans
and in poultry and fish, en-
suring hygiene and sanita-
tion and clean drinking wa-
ter, and regulating the
disposal of antibiotics-
stained substances.
Encephalitis ravages Odisha
tribe, claims 60 children
SATYASUNDAR BARIK
BHUBANESWAR: The on-going
outbreak of Japanese En-
cephalitis and Acute En-
cephalitis Syndrome (JE
and AES) has severely af-
fected the Koya community,
Malkangiris indigenous
tribe 80 per cent of all the
children killed so far by the
disease are from this tribe.
Of the 74 children, who
have perished in the out-
break since September 9,
over 60 are from the Koya
tribe, who have been in-
creasingly marginalised in
the past few decades.
Deaths have also been re-
ported from the Bhumia, Pa-
raja and Kondh tribes.
Few deaths have also
been recorded among
Bangladeshi settlers, who
live close to the Koyas vil-
lages.
Koyas in the remote and
inaccessible Kalimela and
Korukonda blocks have
been the worst hit.
While 25 JE and AES
deaths have been reported
from Korukonda, 20 deaths
are from the Kalimela block.
While the government
put the death toll at 74 (27 JE
and 47 AES deaths), unoi-
cial estimates said at least 85
deaths occurred till Friday.

Non-bailable warrants
issued against Mallya
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: Two diferent
courts here on Friday issued
non-bailable warrants
against industrialist Vijay
Mallya in two diferent cases.
Chief Metropolitan Ma-
gistrate (CMM) Sumit Dass
issued a warrant against him
in a Foreign Exchange Regu-
lation Act (FERA) violation
case of 1995, while Metropol-
itan Magistrate Sumeet
Anand issued the second one
in four cheque bounce cases
of 2012.
In the FERA violation
case, the court issued the
warrant when Mr. Mallyas
counsel, Ramesh Gupta, said
he would not file any reply to
the application by the En-
forcement Directorate in
which the investigating
agency had suggested that
Mr. Mallya could visit India
by getting an Emergency
Certificate from the Indian
High Commission in the
United Kingdom.
No regard for law
Mr. Mallyas plea that he
was handicapped for want of
passport and could not travel
to India clearly showed that
it was laced with mala fide
and was an abuse of the proc-
ess of law. It appears that the
accused has no regard for the
law of the land and has no in-
tention to return. In these
circumstances, I am of the
opinion that coercive steps
need to be taken against the
accused, the CMM ob-
served while issuing the
warrant.
The court issued the war-
rant for December 22 as Mr.
Mallya failed to appear on its
summons. Mr. Mallya has
been staying in London as a
Permanent Resident for
nearly three decades.

Pink to teach cops

to be sensitive
towards women
JAIPUR: Megastar Amitabh
Bachchans movie Pink
will be shown to Rajasthan
police personnels to teach
them to be sensitive towards
women.
The police headquarter
recently dispatched letter to
the superintendent of police
of all the 33 districts of the
State asking them to imme-
diately make arrangements
for the screening of the
Shoojit Sircar movie to all
the police personnel in their
respective areas.
The instruction to screen
the film aims at making the
police sensitive and sensible
about woman dignity,
woman rights so that they
can act more promptly and
actively to deliver justice in
cases of harassment, torture
or any crime against
women.
The letter by the ADG
says the the movie has most
strongly and vividly depic-
ted gender impartiality, gen-
der equality and gender
sensitivity. - PTI
CM ND-ND
YK
10 | EDITORIAL
NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016

Piecing together an encounter

S AT U R D AY , N O V E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 6
Still unwieldy
There is a crying need to impress upon our young oicers that there is no gallantry involved in shooting at
people who cannot shoot back
mostly falls. Strengthening does not nec- resists the endeavour to arrest him, or at-
essarily mean giving more powerful arms to tempts to evade the arrest, such police oicer
P.K. HORMIS THARAKAN policemen and prison guards, but ensuring or other person may use all means necessary
that security measures put in place are en- to efect the arrest, including causing the
forced properly. The former Chief of the death of a person if he is accused of an of-
The true hero of the momentous events of
Madhya Pradesh Prisons Department is on
record saying that clear standard operating
fence punishable with death or im-
prisonment for life. Hence the ATS chiefs

but just in time October 31 in Bhopal relating to the prison

break-out and eventual killing of the eight
undertrials belonging to the banned orga-
procedures (SOP) had been laid down in the
Bhopal Central Prison for the operation of
the CCTV system, for keeping the barracks of
defence is probably that it would not be
against the extant law if force has been used
to the extent commensurate to the require-

F
inance Minister Arun Jaitley has managed
to break the stalemate with States at the
Goods and Services Tax Councils fourth
round of deliberations over the contentious
issue of tax rates for the new tax regime. He did this
by retaining the standard rates of 12 per cent and 18
per cent proposed at the Councils last meeting, but
tweaking the highest and lowest tax slabs from 26
per cent to 28 per cent and 6 per cent to 5 per cent,
respectively. Concerns of States that levy Value
Added Tax at 5 per cent on items of mass consump-
tion were met by lowering the threshold GST rate.
Foodgrains and other items considered essential,
that together constitute roughly half the consumer
price inflation index, have been exempted from
GST. Since inflation is a tax on the poor and indirect
taxes are regressive, this would help check worries
about inflationary repercussions. But raising the
highest tax slab to 28 per cent to balance the fiscal
books is a surprise, especially since it would be
levied on items such as consumer durables and cars
that are now taxed at 30-31 per cent. Even if produ-
cers do pass on this rate diferential to customers,
this is hardly likely to spur the kind of consumption
that could drive more manufacturing investment,
create jobs and bolster economic growth.
The cess on top of GST to be levied on luxury and
sin goods is neither desirable nor eicient. Unless
its levy is restricted to end-use products at the
point of sale, it would further distort the eiciency
gains from GST as input credit for cess paid on in-
termediary goods is unlikely. The government has
argued that the cess will help compensate States for
five years and that the Council can take a call on do-
ing away with it thereafter. Similar visibility should
be provided on dovetailing the multiple tax rates
into two or three in the coming years, if not the in-
ternational norm of a single GST rate. Multiple
rates will not just pose an administrative challenge
but also spur ugly corporate lobbying of the kind
that the Finance Minister wanted to nix by phasing
out exemptions in direct taxes. Days before he be-
came Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman, Arvind Panagar-
iya had flagged the cost of focussing too much on
one reform, which spills over into other reforms be-
ing delayed. That the recently constituted GST
Council has covered much ground with unanimous
consensus augurs well for the GST deadline, in-
cluding refining the model GST law and ensuring
industry and the tax department are ready to make
the GST switch by April 1, 2017. But the proposed
rate structure is still too complicated to meet the
objective of radically simplifying tax compliance.
Ominous curb on
media freedom
nisation, Students Islamic Movement of In-
dia, was Head Constable Ramashankar Ya-
dav. He was a proud representative of that
tribe of uniformed men who wear khaki and
carry out some of the most diicult and de-
spised jobs day after day hardly noticed by
the public and the press unless they commit
an error. Though his job was to keep under
control some of the most violent people in
the country, he was lightly armed, if at all. He
represented the might of the nation as he en-
deavoured to stop eight dreaded prisoners
who were seeking to escape. He and his col-
league were overpowered and he was killed,
but Ramashankar Yadav upheld the glory of
the khaki uniform that he wore that
Deepavali night, as the rest of the country
celebrated the festival of lights.
Murky episode
What followed was also truly noteworthy.
The eight prisoners are reported to have
scaled the walls of the high security prison in
the very early hours of the morning. Local
villagers were alerted and the fleeing des-
peradoes were located before mid-day. The
police killed them in an encounter.
Upto this point, the story unfolds as a glo-
rious operation based on people-police co-
operation, which is the ideal model that the
police and civil society have been seeking for
decades to put in place. If this kind of amaz-
ing police-public cooperation could be rep-
licated in every village of India, the hands of
the police would be immensely strengthened
and would-be escapees from prisons would
realise the futility of attempting such
misadventures.
However, the story gets somewhat murkier
thereafter, casting shadows on what should
have been a glorious chapter in the history of
Madhya Pradesh Police. Doubts are being ex-
pressed about the police claim that the eight
fugitives were killed in a genuine encounter.
These doubts are being expressed on the
basis of some video recordings that are mak-
CARTOONSCAPE
ILLUSTRATION: SURENDRA
Those entrusted with the task of
conducting inquiries too are rarely
familiar with the pressures under
which police officers in the
field function
ing the rounds.
In the days after, there is not much clarity
about the facts of that eventful day. Hence it
may still be early days for pronouncing judg-
ment. I would only look at some of the prin-
ciples that seem to be emerging as we try to
understand this complicated business in-
volving the death of a prison guard, escape of
dreaded criminals from a prison, their death
at the hands of the police and the consequent
debate which has legal, administrative, intel-
lectual and political ramifications having a
bearing on the nations internal security
policy.
Working at the grass-roots
I think the first lesson is that as we seek to
ensure the nations security, we need to
strengthen the lowest rungs of the national
security architecture, namely, the police sta-
tions and prisons. These are institutions that
are firmly in the civilian, and not in military,
arena where the focus on national security
the SIMI undertrial prisoners under surveil-
lance, for not allowing them to mingle, for
locking of individual cells, etc. Obviously,
these SOPs were very clear but not followed
scrupulously. This raises questions about the
quality of leadership, and whether the right
person had been posted to superintendent
the prisons. Ironically, Bhopal Central Prison
is ISO-certified for the correctional and reha-
bilitation facilities, besides the standard of
living conditions it provides to the inmates.
Though the certification does not cover
high-tech security infrastructure required to
ensure expected standards for a high security
detention centre, it is a matter of great regret
that such an incident happened in a prison of
such high reputation. All the more reason to
check whether the State government had tak-
en suicient care to find the right person to
manage the afairs of the Bhopal Central
Prison. The point I am trying to make is that if
a State wants to be known for its proactive ap-
proach to national security, it is such appar-
ently trivial matters that it must pay close at-
tention to.
Now, on the defensive
At the same time, it is clear that at least
some of the doubts that are being raised
about the genuineness of the breakout need
to be dismissed outright. In an incident
where a prison guard was done to death, it is
heartless to raise an allegation that he was
killed in a staged jailbreak. As I said earlier,
the speed with which the police managed to
track the fugitives down with the help of
local people was truly remarkable. But the
doubts expressed regarding what happened
thereafter certainly need to be looked into,
especially in view of the reported assertion of
the chief of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS)
that though the fugitives were unarmed, the
police were legally empowered to kill them.
He is obviously relying on Section 46 (2)
and (3) of the Criminal Procedure Code
which says that if and when a person forcibly
ment in the given circumstances, as per-
ceived by the policemen on the scene and
their assessment. However, it is inevitable
that the judgment of the oicer on the spot
would be called up for review either in an in-
quiry or a judicial proceeding. In the instant
case, conflicting claims by various people in
authority about the fugitives having been
armed with guns lead to confusion about
what exactly is the defence of the police.
Handling the pressure
But the real pity is that in a case such as
this, where the police could have covered it-
self entirely with glory, it seems to have been
forced to be on the defensive. Facing an in-
quiry, whether by an executive or a judicial
body, is an ordeal for any policeman. Yes,
when loss of lives is involved, it is only nat-
ural and just that there be an inquiry to ascer-
tain the facts. But, those entrusted with the
task of conducting inquiries are rarely
familiar with the pressures under which po-
lice oicers in the field function. There are
certain occasions when passions run high,
especially when one of your own has been
killed. In a war situation, a nations army
avenging a colleagues death is perfectly per-
missible. In an internal security situation,
you have to abide by the law of the land,
which limits the extent or the scope of your
reaction. The problem of the oicer in charge
is to ensure this compliance in a heavily
charged atmosphere, which cannot be under-
stood or grasped by those who have not been
in the field under conditions of immense
pressure. Hence in most inquiries the police
oicer finds it immensely diicult to answer
questions as to whether he complied with
every little letter of the law as he led his men
into an encounter with an enemy who ob-
serves no rules.
There is a growing impression in the gov-
ernment that it is necessary to encourage po-
licemen and security personnel in general to
be more aggressive in dealing with terrorism.
If the government wants the police to take
strong action against terrorists, it should em-
power them through legislation, and not
leave them to fend for themselves in courts
after eliminating them through questionable
encounters. There are many young oicers
who have had their careers cut short in recent
years on account of their misplaced sense of
valour.
We must also remember that one of the
most significant breakthroughs in criminal
investigation of terrorist cases happened be-
cause Ajmal Kasab, who had killed hundreds
in Mumbai, was caught alive through the su-
preme self-sacrifice of ASI Tukaram Gopal
Omble. Had at least one of the escapees in
Bhopal been captured alive, so much of intel-
ligence regarding their means of escape and
the help, if any, they received from outside
could have been generated, which would
have contributed immensely to the pool

T
he order of the Information and Broad-
casting Ministry, directing that Hindi tel-
evision channel NDTV India be taken of
air for 24 hours on November 9, is a
serious violation of media freedom. Coming as it
does from a regime that seems to disapprove of any
diference in opinion on issues concerning national
security, the suspension smacks of a disturbing in-
clination to impose restrictions on journalistic con-
tent. The decision arises from the telecast of devel-
opments relating to the terrorist attack on the
Pathankot Air Force base in January. The news
channel is accused of airing sensitive information
that compromised the safety of military personnel
and civilians even as operations were on to neutral-
ise the attack. According to the inter-ministerial
committee that inquired into the charge, the dis-
closure of details relating to the location of the am-
munitions depot, the range of weapons and milit-
ary assets available there and the presence of
civilian residences in the vicinity could have been
used by terrorists to their advantage. The broad-
casters defence was that nothing was disclosed
that was not published or aired by other media out-
lets, that its reportage was largely based on oicial
briefings and that it was done in a responsible
manner.
Ever since media coverage of the terror attacks in
Mumbai in November 2008 created a controversy,
it has been accepted that there is a need for re-
strained and responsible coverage of anti-terrorism
operations and potential hostage situations. The
News Broadcasting Standards Authority, set up by
the News Broadcasters Association, came up with a
set of rules. The Ministry could have either ap-
proached the authority, which is headed by a
former Supreme Court judge, or formed an inde-
pendent panel to adjudicate the question. Instead,
it has invoked a rule introduced in June 2015 that
imposes a blanket ban on all live coverage of any
anti-terrorist operation until it ends. It has cited
statutory provisions that empower the government
to regulate or prohibit the transmission of TV pro-
grammes. There is no mention of any provision for
appeal. None can reasonably argue that irre-
sponsible live coverage of an ongoing operation
should attract no penalty. A problem arises when
the penalty is decided by a government panel. Tak-
ing a channel of air for however brief a period is a
serious decision that could be read as a signal to
other newsrooms to self-censor. A committee of of-
ficials is not the ideal body to make an independent
assessment of what constitutes information that
poses an imminent danger to military personnel or
civilians. That is the job of an independent forum.
CM
YK
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Letters emailed to letters@thehindu.co.in must carry the full postal address and the full name or the name with initials.
Death of a soldier
While the alleged suicide of Ram
Kishen Grewal, an ex-serviceman,
over the One Rank, One Pension
issue is tragic, the reaction of some
politicians is opportunistic
(Kejriwal grants Rs.1 crore to
veterans family, Nov.4). Did Rahul
Gandhi find time for the families of
farmers when they committed
suicide in Maharashtra due to bad
crops or poverty? People are smart
enough to see through the crocodile
tears of leaders. The sooner
politicians understand this, the
better for Indian polity.
Y.G. Chouksey,
Pune
What did the grand old party do as
far as the One Rank, One Pension
principle was concerned for the
nearly five decades it ruled the
country? Therefore, how can the
party talk about the issue when
considerable progress has been
achieved on the issue under the
present government? Rahul Gandhi
is only shedding crocodile tears and
wants to play politics after the
unfortunate demise of an ex-soldier.
Raghavan Sampath,
Chennai
It is not only some political leaders
but even the family members of the
soldier were roughed up and
detained by the police. Heavens
would not have fallen had these
leaders been allowed to meet the
bereaved family members to express
their sympathies. It is not the first
time that the Delhi police have acted
in such a fashion. The BJP
government should shun its policy
of fooling the people with empty
slogans (Parrikar promises solution
soon, Nov.4).
S.K. Khosla,
Chandigarh
Off the air, 24x1
The move by the Ministry of
Information and Broadcasting
ordering a private television channel
to go of the air for a day for having
revealed strategically sensitive
details during the Pathankot terror
attack in January this year is
welcome (Nov.4). While the media
should contribute its bit to keeping
people well informed, it should not
become overenthusiastic; it has the
moral responsibility to ensure that it
doesnt cross the line as far as
security and maintaining peace are
concerned.
S. Ramakrishnasayee,
Ranipet, Tamil Nadu
It is perhaps the highly competitive
environment in which the media
works that is responsible for the
channel having gone a bit too far. It is
good that the proposed ban is only
for a day rather than the earlier
contemplated 30 days. The move
should be a lesson for all in the
electronic media. Commercial
interests are important but not at the
cost of national security.
Bal Govind,
Noida
It appears as though India is facing
an undeclared Emergency. Curbing
the freedom of the media will
weaken democratic values. It is a
shame that non-violence and
tolerance are hardly valued in
Gandhis own country.
Sanjay K. Bissoyi,
Gudra, Odisha
Whatever was apprehended by
senior BJP leader Lal Krishna
Advani two years ago appears to be
becoming a reality. We seem to be
moving towards a state of
Emergency, where censoring the
freedom of speech and expression is
the first step in this direction. The
channel in question is known for its
genuine and rational news and
analysis. It is definitely being
punished for following its
independent journalism.
Amit Kumar Singh,
Chandauli, Uttar Pradesh
With more examples of the
ideological and authoritarian ways
of this government coming to light,
one sees it being no diferent from
previous Congress governments.
What ever happened to the vision
our forefathers had for Indian
democracy?
D. Davidson,
Tiruchi
When the UPA demitted oice, it left
behind a legacy of social
programmes as well as a slew of
corruption scandals that we are still
recovering from. People voted for
change for a better economy and
less corruption. Now, there is hardly
any scandal, or it could just be that
the media is suppressing things. The
suppression of freedom of
expression is next. When the BJP
was in the opposition, it attacked the
house of information which is the backbone
of national security.
In the ultimate analysis, there is a crying
need to impress upon our young oicers that
there is no gallantry involved in shooting at
people who cannot shoot back, either be-
cause their hands are already tied behind
their back, or because they are already dead.
P.K. Hormis Tharakan is a former chief of the Research and
Analysis Wing.
Manmohan Singh government at stoke fears among senior citizens
will, and as many would add, rightly about their safety and security. The
so. But did he respond by arresting increase in crimes against the
or suing all and sundry? Press elderly is a reflection of the law and
freedom seems to be facing grave order situation in Tamil Nadu and is
danger. No one can or should a blot on the Tamil Nadu police. One
breathe a word disagreeing with the hopes that the plan to protect
right wing. Tagores exhortation to residents is not knee-jerk and
all Indians where the mind is continues (Chennai editions, Police
without fear... seems a distant to collect details of senior citizens,
dream. Ordinary Indians need to Nov.4).
start speaking up. Tharcius S. Fernando,
Dr. Thambu Sudarsanam, Chennai
Vellore, Tamil Nadu
After the demolition
GST levy
It is ironic that the 11-storey
Though against the idea of uniform structures in Moulivakkam in
tax rates, the multiple tax rate Chennai, one of which was
structure as recommended by the demolished on November 2 after the
GST Council is inevitable in collapse of the other structure, were
addressing the federal and diverse named Belief and Faith. In
socio-economic structure of India reality, all the belief and faith of the
(Council fixes 4-level GST tax buyers were destroyed thanks to the
structure, Nov.4). The aim of corrupt manner in which the builder
policymakers should be to create a and oicials acted (Chennai
national seamless market to avert editions, Dust, debris and a day of
any undue advantage to any high drama, and Left stranded by
company due to location and an investment that was not safe as a
distance from the market. This will house, Nov.3). Though the structure
not only raise competitiveness was razed without any damage to
domestically but also make our men and materials, a pertinent
exports more competitive in the question that arises is how the
international market. Employment project was sanctioned by the local
opportunities generated will boost authorities especially on soil that
income and consumption levels, was unsuitable.
which will have a multiplier efect One empathises with the buyers
on growth and development. who have been left in the lurch. The
Gagan Pratap Singh, incident should be the last of its kind
and the authorities concerned
Noida, Uttar Pradesh
should learn a lesson or two in
strictly implementing the rules on
Seniors safety issuing building licences.
The murder of a senior citizen in a S. Nallasivan,
posh area of Chennai is bound to Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu
ND-ND

NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016
ESCAPE TO NOWHERE: While most of the villagers believe that the police were right in gunning down the undertrials, they say it was possible to keep at least a few of them alive. Bhopal policemen at the site of the encounter.PHOTOS: A.M. FARUQUI
Undertrials under fire
A blow-by-blow account of how eight SIMI undertrials escaped from Bhopal Central Jail only to be gunned down on the outskirts of the city within
a few hours. Shiv Sunny tracks the story from its violent beginning to a violent end
The encounter, October 31, 11 a.m.
Its a sleepy vigil for Ram Kumar Soni,
the lone security guard manning a con-
struction site on the outskirts of
Acharpura village near Bhopal. The odd
conversation with a construction
worker taking a break, or an indulgent
chase of a deer or rabbit that would
sprint past him on occasion that, in
sum, has been his eventful life for the
past year.
On October 31, however, when half-a-
dozen policemen approached his
shanty around 7 a.m., Soni knew some-
thing was amiss. The men in khaki aler-
ted him about eight operatives of the
banned Students Islamic Movement of
India (SIMI) who had allegedly escaped
from Bhopal Central Jail the previous
night. They left him their numbers
while leaving, just in case.
Soni had almost forgotten about the
police visit until around 9.30 a.m. when,
while loitering around on a hill close to
his shanty, he heard some villagers
shout about the presence of the SIMI
men on a rock nearby. Soni sprinted
back towards his shanty. My mobile
phone was not working, so I picked up
my motorcycle and rode towards
Acharpura (about a kilometre away) in
the hope of spotting the policemen.
Thankfully, I did not have to travel far,
he says.
Eager for local help in negotiating the
lay of the land and its rocky terrain, the
policemen asked Soni to hop on to their
vehicle and show the way. They drove
till the point the rocks allowed them be-
fore launching their pursuit on foot till
they spotted the SIMI undertrials
standing atop a rock right on the edge of
the hill.
Mohan Singh Meena and Suraj Singh
Meena, residents of Khejra Dev village
that is located around two kilometres
down the hill that was the encounter
spot, claim credit for spotting the SIMI
men first and alerting the police. Mo-
han, the village sarpanch, had received
WhatsApp messages about the escape
from the police at 6 a.m. and had circu-
lated it among the villagers before ven-
turing out with his brother on a motor-
cycle in search of the fugitives. We
were informed that the undertrials
could have chosen our village or nearby
areas as their hideout, he says.
The Meenas claim to have spotted
two strangers washing their faces as
they rode past a stream in their village
around 8.30 a.m. They were speaking
an unknown language which aroused
our suspicion. Within minutes, they
were joined by six other men. We were
then certain they were the escaped
prisoners, claims Suraj.
The brothers immediately called the
police, quickly formed a group of villa-
gers, and began following the undertri-
als, albeit from a safe distance. We did
not want to alert them but as more villa-
gers (from the Manikhedi Kot village
nearby) joined us, they realised they
were being followed. They began abus-
ing and threatening to attack us even as
they hurried towards the hill at the end
of the village, recalls Suraj. Soon, the
police joined the villagers. How the
group of eight made the steep vertical
CM
YK
climb of 60 feet, with villagers and the
police in hot pursuit, remains
unexplained.
The group could progress no further
from the rock on which they had as-
sembled. While dozens of policemen
stood with guns pointed at them from
below the hill, many more had surroun-
ded them from all sides on top, says
Pappu Meena, a farmer of Acharpura
village. Hundreds of people from at
least half-a-dozen nearby villages had
by then gathered all around the hill, ef-
fectively blocking any escape.
We stayed at the base of the hill be-
cause the undertrials were occasionally
throwing stones at us. Later, they even
fired a few shots in our direction, for-
cing the police to fire several rounds in
the air, claims Suraj.
Barring Suraj and Mohan, however,
none of the dozens of eyewitnesses The
Hindu spoke to recall seeing the SIMI
undertrials armed with guns. I could
see the police fire several rounds at the
undertrials. I think I heard some shots
being fired from the other side too, but I
am unsure if it was by the SIMI under-
trials or the policemen who had taken
position on the other side, says Pappu.
Manoj Meena, a resident of Manikhedi
Kot, also says he saw only the police
shoot at the SIMI undertrials. There
was no gunfire from the undertrials.
They pelted a lot of stones, but did not
fire. Even after they were killed, I did
not spot any pistols next to their bodies.
I only saw a knife and a heap of stones
lying next to them, he says. Halkori Lal,
who works as a chowkidar, says cu-
riosity drew him to the encounter spot.
I think all the eight men were already
dead when I was allowed to go closer to
the spot around 11.30 a.m. People were
shouting slogans like Bharat Mata ki
Jai, Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan and Police
Prashasan Zindabad. The police were
trying to stop the sloganeering, but it
did not have any impact, he says.
A large number of villagers also
recorded the encounter on their mo-
bile phones. The policemen initially
tried to stop them, but gave up as there
were way too many people capturing
the incident, says Soni. Some locals
even claimed that the cops took away
their mobile phones and returned them
only after deleting the videos.
But soon after, unsourced videos and
audio made its way on social media plat-
forms providing a glimpse into what ap-
pears to be a calculated decision to kill
all eight. In one, voices can be heard giv-
ing instructions to surround and kill the
men, some of whom were waving their
hands at the police.
GROUND ZERO
The police, however, claimed that
they recovered four countrymade pis-
tols from the dead undertrials. Yogesh
Choudhary, Inspector General (Bhopal
Range), told the media that three of his
men had sustained injuries inflicted
with sharp weapons. This, despite loc-
als not witnessing any physical contact
between the runaways and the police.
While most of the villagers believe
that whether in self-defence or not, the
police were right in gunning down the
undertrials, they say it was possible to
keep at least a few of them alive. Those
men were in a death trap. They were
surrounded from three sides and could
not have jumped from the rock as that
would have meant a certain death. Some
of them could have been spared, says
Ashok Chowkse, a resident of
Manikhedi Kot village. The bodies lay
there for at least two hours after the en-
counter, he claims. Lalit, a farmer who
claims to be among the first to reach the
encounter spot, says had the police not
arrived, the villagers would have
cornered the men into surrendering.
We would have lynched a few of them
and handed them over the rest to the po-
lice for interrogation. It did not seem re-
ally diicult to contain a group of eight
men.
The jailbreak, October 31, 1 a.m.
The spot where the encounter took
place is around 10-12 kilometres by road
from the Bhopal Central Jail from where
the undertrials allegedly escaped after
killing a guard and tying up another.
Once a prisoner manages to scale the
outermost wall of the jail, he or she has
to walk around eight kilometres
through agricultural fields before reac-
hing the place where the eight were first
spotted.
The jail oicials account of the
prison layout hardly presents a secure
picture. The eight men were part of a
bunch of 21 SIMI undertrials lodged in a
high-risk ward that is divided into two
blocks. Each of these prisoners was al-
lotted one cell. Jail oicials said these
undertrials could meet each other only
for a few minutes every day, mainly
while taking bath or washing clothes or
when they had their meals.
Makrand Deuskar, Inspector General
(Law and Order), says the decision to
keep all these SIMI undertrials in the
same ward was taken for better security
management and easy arrangement of
video-conferencing for their trials. But
they were guarded by a total of only four
men, two each in the two blocks.
M.R. Patel, the Deputy Inspector
General of Prisons, ofers a theory of
how the eight escaped:The escape op-
eration began with two or three of these
eight men opening their cell locks using
keys they had carved out of their plastic
tooth brushes. Once two-three of these
prisoners escaped their cells after mid-
night on October 31, goes Patels ver-
sion, they slit the throat of Ramashankar
Yadav, one of the guards, before tying up
another guard. Aluminium plates and
spoons provided to prisoners were al-
legedly sharpened to serve as weapons
used in their escape. They then
snatched the keys to the other cells and
freed their associates, claims Patel.
The prisoners then had to scale a 10-
feet-high wall located immediately out-
side their cells. This, Patel says, they did
by forming human pyramids to help
each other mount the wall the pres-
ence of iron spikes on the wall making
their job easier. They then faced a 35-
feet-high wall, their only obstacle to
freedom from there. They found some
wooden logs near the wall, placed them
parallel to each other and tied bed
sheets at regular intervals to make a lad-
der, says Patel. The outermost wall of
35 feet is, however, joined by a shorter
20-feet-high wall that divides the two
blocks of the high-risk ward. The
prisoners allegedly used a combination
of a human pyramid and their makeshift
ladder to first scale the shorter wall and
then climb onto the higher wall. There-
after, they apparently tied several bed
sheets together to slide down the wall.
This entire operation would not have
taken them less than 45 minutes, say jail
authorities, but all through, the
prisoners were not spotted by the
guards. Those tasked with patrolling
the area between the two walls scaled
by the inmates did not happen to make a
round of that area, says Patel. Security
personnel deployed on top of
watchtowers did not spot the group of
eight men even once, and no patrolling
Khilji and Mohammed Salik, whose
So many CCTV
cameras stared at us
each time we visited my
brother in jail. How come
none of those cameras was
working on that
day?
ZULEKHA BEE,
Abdul Majeeds sister
takes place outside the precincts of the
maximum-security prison.
The main gate of the prison is located
less than 50 metres from the outermost
wall. It is guarded by three security men
at all times, but none of them heard any
sound that night. We did not sense any-
thing suspicious (In any case) we have
no instructions to patrol the periphery
of the jail wall, says Umrav Singh, one
of the three guards on duty that night.
With no obstruction whatsoever after
scaling the outermost wall, the
prisoners could simply walk across the
road into the fields. By the time the jail
oicials learnt of the prison guards
murder and the escape around an hour
later, the eight men would have been far
away.
The police, however, are bewildered
how the prisoners could travel only
such a short distance in the eight hours
before they were tracked down. Any
person would generally walk at a speed
of five kilometres per hour. At that rate,
these men should have covered at least
30 kilometres. We will need to probe
this, says Deuskar.
Eight deaths and funerals, Nov. 1-2
For the family of these killed men, the
entire encounter story is an elabor- metres from Bhopal and with a popula-
ately planned operation ordered by the
government.
Two of the funerals took place in
faraway Sholapur, Maharashtra that
of Khalid Ahmed and Juhapura,
Ahmedabad, of Mujeeb Sheikh. It was at
Khandwa, however, where the tension
was most palpable five out of the men were either arrested or
eight killed hailed from here. The ad-
ministration marked a separate route
for the funeral processions of Jakir Hus-
sain, Sheikh Mahbub, Amjad Khan, Akil
was kept.
bodies were first brought to Gulmohar
colony in front of Akils home for a
prayer meeting. I had a tough time con-
trolling the crowd as tempers ran high at
the sight of the five bodies, says advoc-
ate Javed Chouhan, who was rep-
resenting all five SIMI men from
Khandwa in court.
Chouhan claims that other than Akil,
the other seven had no connections
with the SIMI. Even Akil was asso-
ciated with the SIMI when it was not a
banned organisation (i.e. before 2001),
he says, accusing the Madhya Pradesh
Police of killing the eight men in a fake
encounter.
Not surprisingly, the family members
of the deceased men concur. It is im-
possible to run away from a high-se-
curity prison like Bhopal Central Jail.
| 11
Most of them were on the verge of being
acquitted soon, which may have been
one of the reasons they were killed in
cold blood. Its visible in the videos of
the encounter circulated on social
media, claims Chouhans brother
Khalil, who was kept with the others in
Bhopal Central Jail but released last
year. Amjad was not a terrorist. The en-
tire locality can testify for him. Even
ATS (Anti-Terrorism Squad) men
termed him a good man, says Firoz, his
brother-in-law. Badrul Husain is wor-
ried for his other sons after losing his
eldest son Jakir. No court had proved
that my son had any links with the SIMI.
He used to sell vegetables for a living,
he says.
There was only his grandfather, Kal-
lan Sheikh, to receive Mahbubs body;
his mother is lodged in a Rourkela jail
also for alleged SIMI links and his
father, a beggar, died a few years ago.
Mahbub told me during my last visit to
him 10 days ago that all eight of them
were being kept in the same lock-up un-
til midnight. Is it not suspicious? al-
leges Kallan.
The same day as in Khandwa, Mahid-
pur in Ujjain accorded a martyrs burial
to Abdul Majeed. The 38-year-old Ma-
jeed had surrendered in a court in 2013
after the police accused him of carrying
explosives. So many CCTV cameras
stared at us each time we visited my
brother in jail. The jail guards would
point them out to us each time. How
come none of those cameras was work-
ing on that day, questions Zulekha Bee,
his sister. She claims Majeed had been
telling her that he would be killed in a
fake encounter. As soon as I saw the
news of his escape, I knew he was going
to be gunned down in a staged
encounter.
The town, located around 250 kilo-
tion of around 50,000, is also gripped
with fear about the future apart from
Majeed, four other Muslim men from
Mahidpur are currently in the Bhopal
jail on charges of being SIMI operatives.
Working as drivers, masons, electri-
cians and farmers, these barely literate
surrendered in court in late 2013/early
2014 after being accused of being in-
volved in terror operations. They are
lodged in the same ward where Majeed
The family of Sajid Hussain, a 36-
year-old tempo driver who surrendered
in January 2014, says he has been re-
peatedly mentioning about being killed
in jail. Whenever I go to meet him in
jail, some ATS oicers confront me out-
side and warn me against making fre-
quent visits. They threaten to get my
brother killed in jail, alleges Sajids
brother Wajid.
Mahidpur town is gearing up for a
long battle. The locals here are an angry
lot, but they have vowed to fight for
justice the legal way. The truth about
the staged encounter is emerging one
by one. The police have done most of
our work, says Abdul Raheem, Ma-
jeeds elder brother.
with Pavan Dahat and Mahesh Langa.
ND-ND
12 |
FROM PAGE ONE
Council undecided
over authority
The other option, he ex-
plained, was a vertical divi-
sion of assessees. In this
scenario, assessees will be
divided into diferent strata
up to Rs. 5 crore, Rs. 5-10
crore, etc, for example.
These strata will then be
randomly divided vertic-
ally, according to a certain
percentage.
The issue is extremely
contentious since all the
consequences are yet to be
worked out, Mr. Jaitley
added.
There might even be a
scenario where neighbour-
ing shops are being as-
sessed by diferent author-
ities. So we are not going to
rush it.
The issue of dual con-
trol which has always been
a nightmarish proposition
to an assessee appears to be
finally heading towards a
Independent directors
of IHCL back Mistry
After deliberations, the
independent directors
came round to the view that
being a listed company, it
was imperative for the inde-
pendent directors to state
their views to the investors
and public at large, so that
those who trade in secu-
rities of the company, make
an informed decision, In-
dian Hotels said, on the out-
come of the meeting.
The independent direct-
ors backing for the chair-
man signalled that they
agreed with his claim that
the IHCL not only had a
flawed international strate-
gy, but also acquired the
Searock property at a highly
inflated price and housed it
in an of-balance sheet
structure, said a Mumbai-
based analyst.
Mr. Mistry also serves as
chairman of Tata Chemic-
als, whose board meets on
Jaya has recovered,
says Apollo Hospitals
The hospital has done
some part but millions of
people across the nation
prayed for her. I think all
those prayers also helped in
the recovery of the health
of our Chief Minister.
On how she was re-
sponding to treatment, he
said: She is completely
aware of whats happening,
asks and demands what she
wants; and I believe
everybody and even she is
looking forward to when
she will go home and take
the reins [of the govern-
ment]. I am really very
happy with the progress
and I am sure [this is due]
to the contribution of the
entire team, the nursing,
the other back-up team.
They have all done a fant-
astic job. We have given her
the worlds best healthcare
facility for her to make a re-
markable recovery.
To a question on when
she would be discharged,
he said, When she will re-
cover, when she will come
home is all dependent on
NDTV ban sparks outrage
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: Opposition parties
and media bodies on Friday
attacked the NDA govern-
ment over its decision to take
NDTV India of the air for a
day (Nov. 9) over its cov-
erage of the Pathankot terror
attack, saying this was tan-
tamount to an assault on
media freedom.
However, the BJP defen-
ded the decision saying na-
tional security was supreme.
The twitter handle of
Rahul Gandhis oice
tweeted, #NDTVBanned-
shocking & unprecedented.
Congress leader Manish
Tewari told The Hindu: The
government wants to send a
clear message to the media
either get co-opted or get
shot.
Condemning the decision
as regressive, CPI leader D.
Raja said this indicated that
the government wanted the
media to toe its line.
CM
YK
resolution, Prashant Desh-
pande, Partner, Deloitte
Haskins & Sells LLP said.
Hopefully the division of
the assessee base will
consider the stakeholder
interest above anything
else.
Of the two options, the
Centre could be favouring
the vertical division since
the horizontal method fa-
vours the States dispropor-
tionately.
The horizontal method
is overwhelmingly skewed
towards the States, since
the huge majority of busi-
nesses are below Rs. 1.5
crore a year, a senior oi-
cial in the Revenue Depart-
ment said.
The eforts to pass the
GST legislations in the
Winter session are laud-
able, Mr. Deshpande add-
ed.
November 10 and includes
Nusli Wadia, a good friend
of Mr. Tata, Nasser Munjee,
YSP Thorat, Vibha Paul
Rishi, Bhaskar Bhat, and R.
Mukundan. The boards of
Tata Steel, Tata Motors,
Tata Power are expected to
meet soon as well.
Employees, who have
been urged by Mr. Tata to
focus on developing their
businesses and ignoring the
bloodshed in the group
headquarters, are set for a
confusing time ahead, espe-
cially in firms where Mr.
Mistry remains chairman.
Incidentally, ahead of the
board meeting, a scule
broke out between
mediapersons trying to
photograph Mr. Mistry and
the Tata group security per-
sonnel outside Bombay
House. Two lensmen and
one security man were
injured.
her now. We will carry on.
The most important part of
the treatment has been
very successful. She is com-
pletely under control. She
controls the nurses and the
doctors around, what she
should do and what they
should do. We are very
happy to say that she is
well. When she will go
home is a decision to be
made by her and we will co-
ordinate all the processes.
He praised the entire
team from Apollo and the
doctors who visited from
AIIMS and England saying
all of them have given
their very best.
To a question on why he
believed that the CM would
be allowed to make a de-
cision on going home, he
said: You know her nature.
She understands herself
very well. She will ask her-
self very soon when am I
going home. It is a pleasant
thing to say that she is com-
pletely aware of what is go-
ing on. It [discharge] may
not be too long.
You can oppose government,
not country, says Amit Shah
NISTULA HEBBAR
GOA: BJP president Amit Shah on
Friday said that opposing the
government of the day was part of a
democratic system, but anti-
nationalism in the garb of freedom of
expression was not acceptable.
He was addressing the inaugural
session of the India Ideas Conclave
organised by the think tank India
Foundation. The topic of the
conclave is India@70: Democracy,
Development and Dissent.
The ban is a direct vio-
lation of the freedom of the
media and therefore the cit-
izens of India and amounts to
harsh censorship... remi-
niscent of the Emergency,
the Editors Guild of India
said. Imposing a ban
without resorting to judicial
FACE-OFF: Youth Congress workers protest against Wednesdays detention of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi by the police
in New Delhi on Friday. PHOTO: SANDEEP SAXENA
Youth Congress workers detained
STAFF REPORTER
NEW DELHI: For the third suc-
cessive day, Congress work-
ers, protesting against the
Centre over the one rank,
one pension (OROP)
scheme, were detained by
the Delhi police on Friday,
this time sans party vice-
president Rahul Gandhi.
Congress youth wing
workers took out a march to
the Prime Ministers Oice
(PMO) but were stopped by
the police.
The party workers had
planned the march to the
PMO from the Raisina Road
oice over the non-imple-
mentation of the OROP
scheme, the debate over
which resumed since Tues-
day when a retired army per-
sonnel allegedly committed
suicide.
On Wednesday and
Thursday, Mr. Gandhi had
14-month-old girl injured
in Pak. shelling stable
Pari was hit in the abdomen and neck; four of her relatives were killed
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
SRINAGAR: Guns may have fall-
en silent on the borders in
Jammu & Kashmir since
Thursday but the cries of the
injured 14-month-old girl,
Pari, now the most-visited
victim of border shelling in a
Jammu hospital, only reflects
the grim tale of border
residents, pounded by shells
for almost 10 days since Oc-
tober 21.
Pari, daughter of Rakesh
Kumar, a soldier with the In-
dian Army, was inside her
home at the Rangoor camp,
Samba district, just a few
kilometres away from the In-
ternational Border (IB) on
Wednesday when the morn-
ing silence was shattered by
bullets and explosions.
A huge volley of bullets
and mortars boomed in the
area since morning that day.
People ran for cover. Four
people of our family died and
Pari too was hit by the splin-
ters of an exploding mortar
shell, said a relative.
Pari was hit in the abdo-
men and neck. She sufered
spine injuries and was op-
erated upon. Her condition
has improved. However, the
In contemporary history there is
no one more harshly criticised than
Prime Minister Narendra Modi. That
is fine. In a democracy one has to
take criticism, and reflect on it. The
governments policies are also fair
game for criticism but you can
oppose the government but not the
country, he said.
The government has been under
fire after the I&B Ministry ordered
the banning of NDTV India for a day
for what it deemed dangerous
coverage of the Pathankot attack.
intervention or oversight vi-
olates the fundamental prin-
ciples of freedom and justice.
The Editors Guild of India
calls for an immediate with-
drawal of the ban order.
The News Broadcasters
Association requested the
government to reconsider it.
NEWS
Lapse of bank: Jaitley
NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley on Friday said political
leaders should be sensitive while
making comments on the suicide
by ex-serviceman Ram Kishan
Grewal. Everybody has to be
sensitive ... we must respect the
sensitivity of the person who
under stress has committed
suicide, Mr. Jaitley said.
He attacked Congress vice-
president Rahul Gandhi saying he
was politicising the suicide.
Mr. Jaitley blamed
administrative lapse by a bank for
not remitting the entitled pension
been detained during his bid
to meet the veterans family
and then while leading a pro-
test march.
Police stopped the pro-
testers, led by IYC president
Amrinder Singh Raja Brar,
CAUGHT IN CROSSFIRE: Shelling victim Pari at the government
hospital in Jammu on November 1. PHOTO: AFP
next few days are crucial.
The wounds may take a few
more days to heal com-
pletely, said Dr. Tariq Azad,
a surgeon at the Government
Medical College and Hos-
pital, Jammu.
Paris injured father has
been admitted to the military
hospital.
Visiting Leader of Opposi-
First instance of gag after 2015 revision of code
Why was NDTV Ltd. served
with an order to take its Hindi
channel, NDTV India, off the
air from midnight of
November 9 to midnight of
November 10?
An Inter-ministerial
Committee (IMC)
comprising joint
secretaries Home,
Defence, I&B, Health and
Family Welfare, Consumer
Afairs, Law and Justice,
External Afairs, Women
and Child Development
and representative of the
Advertising Standards
Council of India, found the
channel to have violated
the provisions of the
programme code,
specifically, clause 6 (1) (p)
of the code, in its coverage
of the Pathankot terrorist
attack on 4.01.2016.
This clause says no
programme shall telecast
live coverage of anti-
after Grewal was granted one
rank, one pension (OROP).
It obviously seems to be an
administrative lapse. It is not a
lapse where the OROP was not
granted. It was not a lapse that
there was some exception made
in his favour. Obviously,
communication with the bank,
there seems to be some gap in
that and therefore, he was given
pension for one part of the
service and not for other part of
the service which he was entitled
to, the Finance Minister told
reporters. PTI
soon after the march began.
The workers resisted the
crackdown and tried to
climb over the barricades but
the police responded with
water cannons to disperse
them.
tion, Rajya Sabha, Ghulam
Nabi Azad said: We will
pray for her recovery.
Paris family has been go-
ing through testing times.
The family head, Maru Ram,
died in Pakistani shelling too.
The Army helped injured
Rakesh attend the cremation
of a woman and two children
related to them.
terrorist operation by
security forces; the
coverage will be restricted
to periodic briefing by
designated oicer.
When was the clause added?
In June 2015, the BJP-led
NDA government added 6
(1) p to the Programme
Code.
What is the programme code
that news channels and
entertainment channels are
directed to follow?
The Programme and
Advertising Code of the
Cable Television Network
Rules, 1994, has been
incorporated in the Cable
Act, and is taken from the
content code governing All
India Radio (AIR), which
in turn has been framed event as it unfolded.
around the restrictions to
free speech under 19 (2) of
Mr. Brar and others were
detained and taken to the
Parliament Street police sta-
tion, said a police oicer.
Mr. Brar said the march
was to highlight the plight of
ex-soldiers who are being
fooled by the government of
the day; the government has
become totally
irresponsible.
Shameful behaviour
The soldiers are the pride
of our nation and they are
committing suicide because
of the behaviour of the cur-
rent government, which is
shameful and totally unac-
ceptable. Earlier the Modi
government was against the
farmers and now it has
turned to be against the sol-
diers too. The Youth Con-
gress stands with the ex-sol-
diers and will continue to
fight for their right of
OROP, said Mr. Brar.
Dad persuades LeT
recruit to surrender
PEERZADA ASHIQ
SRINAGAR: In a rare
counter-insurgency
operation in militancy-
ravaged Kashmir Valley,
security forces roped in
the father of a fresh
recruit of Lashkar-e-
Taiba (LeT) to make him
surrender in Sopore area.
Deputy Inspector
General (DIG) of Police,
North Kashmir, Uttam
Chand, said the police,
Army and CRPF zeroed
in on Shirpora village of
Tujarsharief, Baramulla
district after specific
information about LeT
militants on Thursday
evening.
As all civilians were
evacuated from adjacent
houses, Mr. Chand said
the presence of a local
militant was established
in one of the houses and
he was asked to lay down
his arms and
ammunition.
The houseowner was
sent to persuade the
militant. The holed-up
militant requested that
his father be brought to
the cordon site. The
father, along with local
elders, persuaded him to
the Constitution. Clause 6
(1) (p) was added in June
2015 to the code.
Is it the first time that a news
channel has been served with
such an order?
Yes. This will be the first
such instance since the
programme code was
amended by the BJP
government to include
restrictions on the live
telecast of terror
operations.
Was NDTV India the only
channel to violate this code in
its Pathankot coverage?
In its defence before the
committee, NDTV has
stated that other news
channels and sections of
media also reported the
like the News Broadcast
Did the channels reportage
THE HINDU SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016
It was hiked
pension, not
OROP: Rahul
Government
should accept
the demands of
Army veterans
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: Congress vice-
president Rahul Gandhi on
Friday accused the Modi
government of merely ofer-
ing enhanced pensions while
claiming to have implemen-
ted one-rank-one-pension
for ex-servicemen.
Addressing journalists
after meeting a delegation of
protesting ex-servicemen in
the afternoon, Mr. Gandhi
said the government should
apologise for misbehaving
with the family of a retired
soldier who committed
suicide a few days back and
accept the demands of Army
veterans. What is being
called the OROP by the Modi
government is just pension
enhancement. All Army men
know this. Modi ji, stop lying
and implement OROP, Mr.
Gandhi said.
He accused the govern-
ment of giving huge benefits
to 15 industrialists but noth-
ing to soldiers and farmers,
recalling that Jai Jawan Jai
Kisan was once a favoured
slogan in the country.
It is not about money. It is
about honour and justice,
Mr. Gandhi said. The ex-
servicemen said that if the
government clearly says it
has no money to give, they
would not ask for it... The
surrender, said Mr.
Chand.
The militant was
identified as Umar
Khaliq Mir alias Sameer.
One AK-47, three
magazines, 90 rounds, a
wireless set, one global
positioning device, two
grenades and a matrix
sheet were recovered
from him. Mir joined the
LeT outfit in May this
year and crossed over to
Pakistan-occupied
Kashmir. Mir recently
infiltrated along with a
group of foreign
militants, said the
police.
No curfew
For the 119th day, the
separatists shutdown
call marred normal life in
Kashmir Valley.
However, for the first
time in the past four
months, no curfew was
oicially imposed on
Friday in the Valley.
However, Hurriyat
chairman Mirwaiz Umar
Farooq, also the Valleys
head priest, accused the
authorities of imposing
strict curfew and sealing
the Jamia Masjid for the
17th week in a row.
endanger the security of the
country?
In its report, the IMC has
apprehended that the
information aired on the
channel had the potential
to change the very course
of operations and would
have caused destruction of
unimaginable proportions.
Can NDTV India appeal against
the Inter-ministerial
committee order?
Yes, it can take legal
recourse by appealing
against the November 2
order.
Is the action against NDTV
India a case of government
overreach?
Self-regulatory bodies
orders are largely
Standards Authority
(NBSA) set up by the news
NOIDA/DELHI
Rahul Gandhi addressing the
media in New Delhi on
Friday. PHOTO: SANDEEP SAXENA
Prime Minister says he has
implemented the OROP. If
yes, why are ex-servicemen
protesting at Jantar Mantar?
He added that the defence
forces also had other de-
mands related to the Seventh
Pay Commission and disabil-
ity pension.
Government insensitive
I want to tell the govern-
ment our jawans have giv-
en their lives and many years
for the nation. Respect them
and accept the OROP. It is
their right and the govern-
ment has to give it.
He accused the govern-
ment of being insensitive to-
wards the family of Ram
Kishan Grewal, the ex-ser-
viceman who committed
suicide. I dont mind being
detained on two days. But I
saw how a martyrs family
was pulled out, abused and
beaten. This is not right, Mr.
Gandhi said.
Bangladeshi
terror suspect
held in Thane
THANE: A Bangladeshi national,
who was allegedly involved in
terror activities, including
bomb blasts, in his home
country, was on Friday arres-
ted here, the police said.
Bashirmulla Sukurmulla
Shaikh, who was illegally stay-
ing in India, was nabbed by
Crime Branch oicials from
Kalwa in connection with an
ofence registered in the city
under IPC Sections related to
theft and house trespass, the
police said in a release.
The 40-year-old Shaikh was
produced before a court
which remanded him in police
custody till November 7, it
said.
He had been arrested by
Special Branch of Mumbai Po-
lice in March 2016 for staying
in India without valid docu-
ments, including passport.
Shaikh was booked under the
Indian Passport Act and the
Foreigners Act and was cur-
rently out on bail.
Further interrogation of
Shaikh revealed that while in
Bangladesh, he had taken
training in bomb-making from
terror outfits. Shaikh as-
sembled bombs at his
residence in Narail district,
south-western Bangladesh,
and also carried out a few ex-
plosions in which people were
killed, the release said. - PTI
broadcasters association
and the Broadcasting
Content Complaints
Council (BCCC), headed
by retired judges of the
Supreme Court and High
Court, regularly address
complaints and
transgressions of the
programme code on receipt
of complaints.
What are the powers of these
self-regulatory authorities?
Both NBSA and BCCC
have the power to issue
advisories, censure, impose
penalties and order
channels of air if found to
be in violation of the
programme code governing
entertainment and news.
From censuring Times
Now to other news
channels, the NBSAs
considered sacrosanct by
news channels.
ND-ND

NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016
Legal tangle hits Ecuador Dhruv deal
HAL moves court after the South American nation terminated chopper pact following four crashes
DINAKAR PERI
NEW DELHI: In a clear indication
of its ambition to emerge as a
key player in the global de-
fence market, India began ex-
ports of its indigenous
Dhruv helicopters in 2009 to
Ecuador with much fanfare.
Almost seven years later,
however, the expectations
have been severely belied
Ecuador is planning to sell
of three remaining heli-
copters, after four crashed;
the Hindustan Aeronautics
Limited (HAL) has now
moved a local court.
Ecuador had procured the
seven Dhruv Advanced Light
Helicopters (ALH) in two
batches five in 2009 and
two in 2011 in a deal worth
$ 45.2 million. But following
the four crashes, Ecuador
unilaterally terminated the
contract with HAL in Octo-
ber 2015.
Defence sources told The
Hindu on Friday that after
the termination, HAL had
ofered free maintenance be-
IS suspect told to target
white people in Srinagar
VIJAITA SINGH
NEW DELHI: Days after the U.S.
and the U.K. issued travel ad-
visories for its citizens vis-
iting India, asking them to be
cautious and alert in the
wake of reports that they
could be targeted by Islamic
State terrorists, Indian se-
curity oicials said western-
ers have always been the tar-
get of the IS but India was
definitely not on the priority
list of the terrorist outfit.
An intelligence oicial
said during the interroga-
tions of an IS suspect from
West Bengal and a group of
six men ailiated to the ter-
rorist outfit arrested from
Kerala recently, it had come
to light that they were told
specifically to target white
people in Srinagar and Jews
in Kodaikanal respectively.
Apart from this, more than
60 IS suspects who have
been arrested in India so far,
have said that they were
asked by their handler to tar-
get government/police oi-
cials, temples, leaders of the
BJP/RSS family and high
value defence establish-
ments. A senior government
oicial told The Hindu that
the concerned agencies will
ask both the countries to
share necessary information
on the issue.
If you look at the IS, their
immediate targets are the
western European countries
and the U.S.A. The interroga-
tion of at least two suspects
has suggested that they were
tasked to carry out attacks on
Jews and westerners here in
India as well. May be this is
Sushma responds
to mans plea for
visa to Pak. wife
NEW DELHI: External Afairs
Minister Sushma Swaraj on
Friday responded to a visa
request by an Indian man liv-
ing in Dubai for his Pakistani
wife for treatment of their
son in Mumbai.
In a tweet, Yasin said he
applied for visa for his
Pakistani wife in September
to travel to Mumbai for treat-
ment of their son who is spe-
cial child.
Where have you applied
for Indian visa for your
Pakistani wife ? Also pl give
details of your childs treat-
ment in Mumbai ? Ms. Swa-
raj tweeted.
Earlier, Yasin tweeted I
am struggling to get medical
attendant visa for my wife
who is Pakistani, to get treat-
ment for my child in Mum-
bai.
Assures man of help
The Minister also assured
help when a man named
Namuduri Venkata Rao re-
quested her to help him get a
visa to visit Ukraine to attend
to his son who is admitted in
a hospital in that country.
My son sufering pneu-
monia coma from 10 days, pls
help me provide visa ur-
gently to visit my son in
zaprozhye hospital,
Ukraine, tweeted the man to
which Ms. Swaraj said her of-
fice will contact him. PTI
CM
YK
yond the contractual obliga-
tions but they wanted
more. Considering the un-
reasonable demands, it was
decided to take the matter to
court. It is underway in the
courts of Ecuador, a source
said.
While this was going on,
media reports in Ecuador re-
Security officials said
though westerners
have been IS target,
India has not been
on its priority list
the reason the Americans
and the British issued ad-
visories or they have a spe-
cific information on this,
said a senior Home Ministry
oicial.
Possible attacks
Recent media reports in-
dicate the ISs desire to at-
tack targets in India. The
U.S. Embassy warns of an in-
creased threat to places in In-
dia frequented by Western-
ers such as religious sites,
market venues and festival
sites, said an advisory is-
sued on November 1. A day
later, the U.K. High Commis-
sion also issued a similar
advisory.
The NIA had arrested a
Tamil Nadu resident, Su-
bahani Haja Moideen (31),
who fought for the IS in Mo-
sul and considered to be a
mine house of information
on the terrorist groups ac-
tivities in India.
Moideen reportedly told
the NIA that India was not
the immediate target of the
IS and it preferred sending
militants posing as refugees
to European countries.
He left India in April 2015
to join the IS but came back
in September 2015. He claims
to have chickened out from
the war zone after he saw
two of his friends getting
charred in a shelling.
Panel seeks views on
judicial vacancies
B. MURALIDHAR REDDY
NEW DELHI: The Parliamentary
Standing Committee on Per-
sonnel, Public Grievances,
Law and Justice has sought
views from the public on the
delay in filling vacancies in
the Supreme Court and the
High Courts. There is an on-
going tussle between the
Union government and the
judiciary on the draft
Memorandum of Procedure
(MoP) for judicial
appointments.
A brief press release dated
November 2 by the Commit-
tee Secretariat posted by the
Rajya Sabha Secretariat
noted, Around 42 per cent of
sanctioned posts in the
higher judiciary are lying va-
cant for quite some time
now. Such a large number of
vacancies is alarming in
nature and has direct bearing
upon the access to justice for
common people. The Com-
mittee intends to address
systemic short-comings in
judicial appointments and
suggest improvements to
streamline the existing pro-
cedure and process for ap-
pointment in higher
judiciary.
The suggestions could be
sent via email to rs-
cpers@sansad.nic.in, or via
post to the Director Rajya
Sabha Secretariat at Room
No. 145, First Floor, Parlia-
ported that Defence Minister
Ricardo Patio had an-
nounced the decision to sell
the remaining three chop-
pers last month. We will not
use them. These helicopters
will be put into a sale proc-
ess, Mr. Patino had re-
portedly said and added that
these helicopters are used
Make enforcement stricter
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: Union Environ-
ment Secretary Ajay
Narayan Jha on Friday called
for special attention to the
enforcement of orders is-
sued by the Central Pollution
Control Board (CPCB).
Last December, the
CPCB had issued a 42-point
guideline to the States to
tackle air pollution. There
were short-, medium- and
long-term measures. There
are areas where much more
needs to be done, he told
reporters after meeting top
oicials of Punjab, Haryana,
Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and
Delhi. Because the enforce-
ment mechanism is still
weak, the States have been
asked to make enforcement
stricter and take steps that
need to be taken, he said.
Delhi is currently in the
midst of one of the worst
bouts of pollution.
President reaches out to Madhesis
KALLOL BHATTACHERJEE
KATHMANDU: Highlighting In-
dias unique ties with Nepal,
President Pranab Mukherjee
on Friday said in the Mad-
hesh region, that Indias de-
velopment plans would help
achieve shared prosperity
for both countries.
Speaking at a civic recep-
tion in Janakpur, he said that
the city was part of the
Ramayana and Buddhhist
circuits and would benefit
from greater connectivity
and tourism between India
and Nepal.
Around 42% of
sanctioned posts in
higher judiciary had
been lying vacant for
quite some time
ment House Annexe, New
Delhi. Maintaining that oral
evidence is allowed, the
press note said that all the
material submitted to the
Committee shall be treated
as confidential.
Follow-up to interactions
The note inviting public
suggestions is a follow-up to
the interactions the commit-
tee had with senior jurists
like senior advocate and a
former Solicitor General
Mohan Parasaran and Indira
Jaisingh on October 25 and
the Bar Association repre-
sentatives on November 2 on
the subject.
A member of the commit-
tee told The Hindu, The
Secretariat has been asked to
prepare a draft on the con-
sultations with the jurists. It
would be taken up at the next
meeting scheduled on
November 10.
At a meeting of the com-
mittee last month, the Law
Ministry informed it that
many of the proposals of the
Centre in the Memorandum
are not acceptable to the col-
legium.
NEWS
in many parts of the world
and are in demand. ing the contract period.
Of the four helicopters
that crashed, two had been
attributed to pilot error, one
was due to a mechanical fail-
ure while the reason for the
fourth crash is not clear.
Defence sources said HAL
was responsible for the
The visit to Janakpur and
the famous Janakimata
temple of the city was a signi-
ficant part of the presidential
trip to Nepal as it allowed In-
dia to address the citizens of
the Madhesh region directly
after a major blockade orga-
nised by the Madhesis in
2015 led to the closure of the
economic supply lines of
Nepal and hurt India-Nepal
ties. The Madhesis were pro-
testing against the newly
promulgated Constitution of
Nepal. During the tour of
President Mukherjee, the
Madheshi leaders repeatedly
maintenance of the choppers
for 24 months after which
Ecuadorean personnel, who
had been trained by HAL,
were expected to take over.
HAL rejects charges
Ecuador had also com-
plained about lack of spares
and maintenance and the
reasons cited for contract
termination were non-
compliance of the seller of
some of the obligations con-
tracted by virtue of the
present contract and value
of the fines exceeding the
amount of guarantee of faith-
ful compliance of the con-
tract. HAL oicials rejected
the charges and said enough
spares were supplied and
stocked in the country dur-
The Dhruv, indigenously
designed and developed by
HAL, is powered by a Shakti
engine, jointly developed by
HAL and Turbomeca of
France. Over 200 of these
choppers are currently in
service in India.
complained about being
denied of rights by Kath-
mandu.
Speaking to the media at
the end of his trip to Nepal,
Mr. Mukherjee said that In-
dia has urged Nepals diverse
population to build a
Constitution through broad
consensus. I told them,
[Nepals Madhesi leaders] to
work in a united way, after all
Constitution is a basic docu-
ment. It is a lasting docu-
ment and it can address all
sections of the people if it is
drafted through consensus,
President Mukherjee said.
Face-of at Leh ends
as India finishes work
on irrigation project
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: The face-of be-
tween the Indo Tibetan Bor-
der Police Force and the
Chinese Peoples Liberation
Army (PLA) along the Line
of Actual Control in Lehs
Demchok area ended on
Thursday night after an irrig-
ation project, to which the
Chinese had objected to, was
completed.
The stand-of ended hours
before National Security Ad-
viser Ajit Doval met his
Chinese counterpart Yang
Jiechi in Hyderabad to dis-
cuss measures to improve bi-
lateral ties.
As first reported by The
Hindu, around 50 Chinese
Army personnel had come
close to the Indian side of the
LAC on Wednesday af-
ternoon and refused to go
back as they objected to an
irrigation project under the
Mahatma Gandhi National
Rural Employment
Guarantee Scheme
(MGNREGS) where work
for linking a village with Hot
spring was under way.
The stand-of ended on
Thursday night. We man-
aged to complete the irriga-
tion project we had under-
taken. They left after being
told that the canal had been
SIMI encounter: Chouhan
agrees to judicial probe
BHOPAL: Four days after eight
SIMI men, who escaped
from the central prison here
were killed in controversial
police action on Monday, the
Madhya Pradesh govern-
ment bowed to opposition
demand and ordered a judi-
cial probe into the incident.
Chief Minister Shivraj
Singh Chouhan ordered the
probe, to be conducted by re-
tired High Court Judge,
Justice S.K. Pandey, an oi-
cial release issued late on
Thursday night said.
The purported audio tape
about the encounter will also
be part of the overall invest-
igation, a senior police oi-
cial said. The tape, which has
gone viral on social media,
states that the policemen on
job were getting instructions
from control room to bump
them of and khel khatam tion of politicising and
ho gaya (game is over now).
The State government had
earlier announced a probe by
an SIT comprising CID
oicers, into the encounter
and a separate investigation
by former DGP Nandan
Dubey into the jailbreak but
Chinese troops had
taken positions,
demanding that work
on the irrigation
project be stopped
laid, said a senior govern-
ment oicial.
An eyeball to eyeball situ-
ation persisted at Demchok
for the past two days.
The Chinese troops had
taken positions and deman-
ded that work be stopped as
either side needs to take per-
mission before undertaking
any work, a claim disputed
by the Indian side, which
says that as per the agree-
ment between the two coun-
tries, information about con-
struction needs to be shared
only if it was meant for de-
fence purposes.
Army fortifies area
There were nearly 70
ITBP personnel there and
the Army had fortified the
area and prevented their
march deeper into the Indian
territory, the oicial said.
This is the first time since
the 2014 incident when the
Chinese Army had come
deep inside the Indian territ-
ory in Demchok to protest an
ongoing irrigation project.
Policemen at the entrance to the Central Jail in Bhopal, a day
after escaping inmates were killed in an encounter. PHOTO: AFP
the Congress and other op-
position parties had pressed
for a judicial probe.
The BJP government, led
by Mr. Chouhan, has vocifer-
ously defended the police ac-
tion and accused the opposi-
counter. Khalids 61-year-old
communalising the issue.
The party on Friday said the
judicial inquiry has been
ordered as the State govern-
ment had nothing to hide.
The family of Maha-
rashtra-born Khalid Ahmed
Muchale, among the eight
| 13
India, China
discuss steps
to improve ties
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: National Security
Adviser Ajit Doval and his
Chinese counterpart met in
Hyderabad on Friday for a
day-long discussion on im-
proving bilateral ties, espe-
cially on the issue of Indias
entry into the NSG (Nuclear
Suppliers Group) and U.N.
ban on terrorist Masood
Azhar.
The meeting between Mr.
Doval and Yang Jiechi is part
of eforts to improve high-
level interaction to deal with
issues of mutual interest and
concern. A former Foreign
Minister, Mr. Yang was elev-
ated to the rank of State
Councillor over three years
ago.
Bilateral ties between the
two sides have been facing
challenges, ranging from
Chinas blocking of Indias
entry into the NSG to the re-
cent boycott in India against
Chinese goods.
Despite Indias eforts,
China is yet to relent on its
opposition to New Delhis
entry into the 48-member
NSG. China has opposed the
entry, saying India has not
signed the Nuclear Non-Pro-
liferation Treaty, while
suggesting that the NSG
should have a common cri-
teria for entry of non-NSG
members, putting India and
Pakistan at the same level.
slain SIMI men, has ap-
proached the police seeking
to file a case of murder and
criminal conspiracy against
MP Home Minister and DGP,
besides the Bhopal jail oi-
cials, for the alleged en-
mother Mehmooda on
Thursday submitted a com-
plaint application to MIDC
Police in Solapur seeking ac-
tion against MP Home
Minister Bhupendra Singh
and others alleging that her
son was murdered. PTI
ND-ND
14 | WORLD
NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016

Obama tears into Trump in Florida

Says he at least did not fear for the Republics future when he ran against McCain and Romney
VARGHESE K. GEORGE
JACKSONVILLE (FLORIDA): Braving
the sweltering heat, thou-
sands of people lined up for
hours to hear U.S. President
Barack Obama at the Uni-
versity of North Florida on
Thursday afternoon.
The arena soon filled up
and erupted into a carnival-
like atmosphere while wait-
ing for Mr. Obama, who ar-
rived an hour late. Deafening
cheers greeted President
Obama as he took the stage,
and the crowd remained
standing through his entire
speech, in which he made a
strong case for Democratic
presidential nominee Hillary
Clinton.
Im not on this ballot. But
everything weve done these
last eight years is on the bal-
lot, he said. Decency is on
the ballot. Justice is on the
ballot. Democracy is on the
ballot. And Hillary Clinton
will advance these things,
Mr. Obama said, calling on
the audience that had a large
presence of African Americ-
ans, to vote and get others to
vote. Youve got to talk to
cousin Pookie...Youve got to
talk to Uncle Jimmy.
Both sides are battling
hard in Florida, where the
contest is the closest and
where 29 electoral college
votes are at stake. Mr. Obama
BREATHING FIRE: U.S.. President Barack Obama addressing a rally for Democratic presidential
candidate Hillary Clinton in Jacksonville, Florida, on Thursday. PHOTO: AFP
addressed two events on
Thursday and will come
back again on Sunday. On
Friday, he is scheduled to ad-
dress two meetings in North
Carolina, another State
where the race is too close to
call. With four days left, Ms.
Clinton and her opponent
Donald Trump are focusing
on Florida, North Carolina,
Pennsylvania, Ohio,
Michigan and Colorado
the States that can still
swing either way. The Fiv-
eThirtyEight website
forecast gives Ms. Clinton a
67.8 per cent chance of win-
ning, and Mr. Trump a 32.1
per cent chance.
Mr. Trump spoke in Jack-
sonville hours before the
President. Our movement
represents all Americans
from all backgrounds and all
walks of life, the Republican
nominee said. His wife
Melania campaigned in
Pennsylvania, promising to
give attention on cyber bul-
lying when she is in the
White House.
Uniquely disqualified
The President, who is the
biggest crowd-puller and the
most efective surrogate for
Ms. Clinton, did not pull
punches while attacking Mr.
Trump. Donald Trump is
uniquely unqualified to be
President. Donald Trump is
temperamentally unfit to be
commander-in-chief, he
said, adding that people were
uniquely qualified to deny
Mr. Trump the top job.
Mr. Obama said this elec-
tion was unlike all others,
and the normalisation of Mr.
Trumps behaviour is turn-
ing out to be dangerous.
Weve become numb to it
Its not acceptableIts not
normal, the President
said, recalling his own
contests against Re-
publican opponents
in 2008 and 2012.
When I ran...a-
gainst John McCain,
I disagreed with him
on a whole bunch of
stuf, but I didnt fear for the
Republic. I just thought I
would be a better President.
When I ran against Mitt
Romney in 2012, I disagreed
with him on all kinds of
things. But, although I
thought I was going to be a
better President, I did not
think that our democracy
would be injured by him tak-
ing oice. This is diferent.
This is somebody who
would do damage to our de-
mocracy, who is uniquely un-
qualified and shows no in-
terest in becoming more
qualified.

Hindu villages come
under attack again
HAROON HABIB
DHAKA: Four days after Hindu
temples and houses were at-
tacked in Bangladeshs Brah-
manbaria district, extremists
targeted the minority
community again on Friday.
Police said several houses
were set on fire at Mad-
hyaparha and Dakhshin-
parha in the Upazila town at
dawn on Friday. The attack-
ers fled after torching seven
houses. Locals put out the
flames, said Additional Su-
perintendent of Police (SP)
Muhammed Iqbal Hossain.
No one was injured in the
incident.
The latest attack has escal-
ated tension in the trouble-
hit Upazila.
On October 30, over a 100
people were injured when a
mob of around 3,000 local
Muslims demolished at least
10 temples and vandalised
hundreds of houses of the
Hindu community in the ar-
ea. The two-hour mayhem
followed a Facebook post
from the account of a local
Hindu youth, which the at-
Seven houses in
Bangladeshs Upazila
were torched, four
days after temples
were destroyed
tackers said did hurt the re-
ligious sentiment of the
Muslims.
The youth, Rasraj Das, a
fisherman, had already apo-
logised to Muslims saying
his account had been hacked.
Mr. Das, a supporter of the
ruling Awami League party,
was caught, beaten up and
handed over to the police by
the radicals, who had called
two protest rallies on Sunday
over the Facebook post.
The rallies were allegedly
organised by the local lead-
ers of radical Islamist groups
Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat and
Hefazat-e-Islam.
Meanwhile, a team of the
National Human Rights
Commission, which visited
the afected area, has said the
attack was deliberate and
aimed at grabbing land from
the minority community.
Brexit ruling brings hope, anger and uncertainty
VIDYA RAM
LONDON: If the British govern-
ment had hoped to present
the world with a clear vision
of what was on ofer in post-
Brexit Britain when Prime
Minister Theresa May visits
India at the weekend, it will
be sorely disappointed, fol-
lowing the historic ruling of
three high court judges that
upheld the sovereignty of
Parliament when it comes to
triggering Brexit.
The ruling raises many
more questions than it an-
swers leaving the cer-
tainty of whether Brexit will
take place, its shape and
timeline hanging in the
balance.
The first major hurdle will
be faced in early December,
when the government is ex-
pected to have its appeal
heard by the Supreme Court.
Ahead of the hearing, the
government is maintaining a
confident stance, insisting
that it does not expect the
ruling to scupper its
timetable for Brexit, which
would involve triggering
Article 50 in March.
While Gina Miller, the in-
ceived will of the people.
Its unlikely that at the
end of the day either House is
going to say Article 50 should
not be invoked, the question
is what procedures it insists
on and how much extra scru-
tiny it brings, says John Cur-
tice, professor of politics at
the University of
Strathclyde.
Tories unhappy
Still, there is deep unhap-
piness within the Conservat-
The High Courts verdict sparked fury among tabloids such as ive party about both the slap-
the Daily Mail, which accused the judges of betraying the dash treatment of
people who voted to leave the European Union. PHOTO: AFP Parliament. On Friday,
Stephen Phillips, a Conser-
vestment manager who step of voting against Article vative MP who had voted to
brought the legal challenge is 50 entirely. Labour leader leave the EU resigned, citing
a vocal supporter of Britain Jeremy Corbyn has stressed irreconcilable policy difer-
remaining in the EU, it re- his partys respect for the ences with the government.
mains to be seen if the High decision of the British peo- The House of Lords will
Court ruling will scupper ple and is focusing on push- also be a major obstacle, even
Brexit. ing for the government to if it doesnt go against con-
swiftly present its plans to stitutional protocol and
Parliament rather than de- block Brexit entirely.
NEWS ANALYSIS railing Brexit itself. The uncertainty over po-
Even Labour parliament- tential stumbling blocks has
Some Conservative parlia- arians outside Mr. Corbyns also raised questions about
mentarians have been un- camp, particularly those an early general election,
happy about the lack of par- with constituencies that vot- with polls suggesting the
liamentary involvement in ed heavily in favour of leav- Conservatives could in-
the process, but they are un- ing the EU, may struggle crease their parliamentary
likely to take the momentous with going against the per- majority, giving Article 50
legislation a smoother ride.
The pounds surge has sug-
gested the market is hopeful
of a softer Brexit, involving
free market access, but Prof.
Curtice says its too early to
draw conclusions.
The crucial decision is
where the government will
draw the line on freedom of
movement of people and if it
is diferent to that of the
House of Commons. It was
the crucial issue for the pub-
lic in the referendum and its
diicult to see how the U.K.
can sign up to full freedom of
movement, so the question
becomes what price you are
willing to pay to achieve free
market access.
While the ruling leaves
questions over the future of
Brexit, one thing is certain: it
has further exacerbated al-
ready-high social and politi-
cal tensions within the U.K.
Remain campaigners
celebrated the ruling and
mulled options for lobbying
members of Parliament,
while a Daily Mail headline
roared Enemies of the Peo-
ple. The Sun excoriated the
eforts of the metropolitan
elite to scupper Brexit.
U.S. oicials warn
of al-Qaeda
threat to election
NEW YORK: U.S. federal oicials
have warned authorities in
New York City, Texas and
Virginia about an unspecific
threat of attacks by al-Qaeda
around election day, putting
local law enforcement on
alert the weekend before
Tuesdays vote, oicials said
on Friday.
A source in Washington
said some federal agencies
sent bulletins to local and
state oicials flagging the in-
formation but that the threat
was relatively low-level.
An oicial familiar with
the information said that it
was uncorroborated, but
that federal agencies be-
lieved that they needed
nonetheless to remain vig-
ilant. The New York City Po-
lice Department and the Port
Authority of New York and
New Jersey have been aler-
ted to the information. The
Port Authority, which op-
erates airports, tunnels and
bridges around New York
City, is continuing high
levels of patrol it has had in
place. Reuters

New U.K. visa

policy to afect
non-EU nationals
LONDON: In a crackdown to
curb its soaring immigration
figures, United Kingdom
government has announced
changes to its visa policy for
non-European Union na-
tionals, which will afect a
large number of Indians, es-
pecially IT professionals.
Under the new visa rules
announced last evening by
the UK Home Oice, anyone
applying after November 24
under the Tier 2 intra-com-
pany transfer (ICT) category
would be required to meet a
higher salary threshold re-
quirement of 30,000 from
the earlier 20,800.
The ICT route is largely
used by Indian IT companies
and the U.K.s Migration Ad-
visory Committee had found
earlier this year that Indian
IT workers accounted for
nearly 90 per cent of visas is-
sued under this route. PTI
CM
YK
Call to amend personal law sparks debate in Sri Lanka
MEERA SRINIVASAN
COLOMBO: A call to amend
Muslim Personal Law in Sri
Lanka has sparked a debate
within the community, with
some seeking change from
within and others pushing
for a broader constitutional
reform.
The debate intensified
with Law Minister Saga Rat-
nayakas recent remarks that
amending the Muslim Mar-
riage and Divorce Act was
part of international pro-
tocol required to obtain EU
trade concessions, or the
Generalised Scheme of Pre-
ferences (GSP) Plus that Sri
Lanka hopes to get. The EU
should not dictate how we
need to reform our law, said
Rasmin, additional secretary
of the Sri Lanka Thawheed
Jamaath, whose members
held a protest in Colombo
following the Law Ministers
statement.
Observing that Muslim
demand for reform of the
Personal Law in Sri Lanka
within the Muslim
community, according to Vi-
jay Nagaraj, head of research
at Law and Society Trust, a
Colombo-based legal re-
search firm. A committee
that was set up by the gov-
ernment in 2009 to look into
the matter is yet to come out
with any report.
Clearly, there is strong re-
sistance to reforming Per-
sonal Law from other sec-
tions within the Muslim
Sri Lankan Muslim women, members of the Thawheed community, he said. While
Jamaath, at a protest march in Colombo on Thursday. PHOTO: AP one recognises that serious
questions arise with the
Personal Law needs to be re- population, and are predom- linking of trade and human
formed by leaders within inantly Tamil-speaking. rights, those citing GSP + as
the community, he said N.M. Ameen, President of reason to resist reform only
much of the confusion was Muslim Council of Sri want to ensure that status
because people misinterpret Lanka, said there is certainly quo prevails.
Muslim laws. You see the a need to amend the mar- A key amendment re-
same sort of confusion in In- riages Act, but this has to be formists want is to the
dia, he told The Hindu on done in consultation with MMDA clause that allows a
Friday. the Muslim religious leader- girl of less than 12 years of
Muslims constitute about ship and the community. age to be married, provided
10 per cent of Sri Lankas There is a long-pending the Quazi, or Muslim law
judge, permits. Gender con-
sultant and researcher Hy-
shyama Hamin situated the
debate within the larger
constitutional reform proc-
ess under way in Sri Lanka.
According to her, the ongo-
ing process to reform the
Constitution has brought
out important conversations
about what it means to be a
minority Muslim woman in
Sri Lanka.
On the clause on
minimum marriageable age,
she said the minimum age
clause should not be under
any family law but has to be
set by the State as one law
for all. It is very much a
child rights issue, she said.
Lawyer and activist Hasa-
nah Cegu Isadeen said un-
like in India, Muslim women
in Sri Lanka were not asking
for a uniform civil code.
They wanted reform within
the Act. Our struggle is to
bring in a broader interpret-
ation of Islam.
Climate pacts focus shifts to action
LONDON/WASHINGTON: A
landmark global accord to
combat climate change
officially took effect on
Friday, putting pressure on
countries to take action to
limit global warming. The
IS chief Baghdadi flees Mosul
LONDON: Islamic States
reclusive chief Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi has escaped
from the terrorist groups
stronghold of Mosul as the
Iraqi Army advanced for a
final assault, British Foreign
Secretary Boris Johnson said
on Friday.
Baghdadi on Thursday
broke his year-long silence
2015 Paris Agreement won
swift backing last December
by almost 200 countries and
has been described as the
most complex global treaty
since the Marrakesh (trade)
Agreement of 1994.
Around 100 countries
have yet to agree and much
work needs to be done on
the fine detail of the pact to
ensure it is not watered
down. Reuters
and issued an audio
recording, urging jihadists to
continue their fight to the
end in Mosul, where he was
believed to be hiding.
The battle for Mosul was
expected to end in a decisive
defeat for the IS, but
Baghdadis escape is likely to
complicate matters for Iraqi
and coalition forces. PTI
ND-ND
 BUSINESS | 15
NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016

I think no technology will work here when SENSEX GOLD RUPEE BRENT OIL
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Centre seeks
$1.55 bn. from
RIL, company
seeks arbitration
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: The Centre issued a
$1.55 billion claim from Reli-
ance Industries and its part-
ners for drawing natural gas
belonging to state-owned
ONGC in the KG Basin over
the last seven years.
The claim is in line with
the recommendations of the
one-man AP Shah commit-
tee set up to look into the
matter. The committee's re-
port recommended that RIL
pay the government com-
pensation for extracting nat-
ural gas that had flowed from
ONGCs portion of the field
to RILs side.
RIL has said it would seek
arbitration under the terms
set out in the production-
sharing contract.
The claim of the Govern-
ment is based on misreading
and misinterpretation of key
elements of the PSC
(production sharing con-
tract) and is without
precedent in the oil & gas in-
dustry, anywhere in the
world, according to a state-
ment from RIL. The quanti-
fication of the amount to be
paid was without any basis
and arbitrary and was not
based on any law, it said. RIL
proposes to invoke the dis-
pute resolution mechanism
in the PSC and issue a Notice
of Arbitration to the Govern-
ment, the statement said.
Gold import
dips 55% in H1
NEW DELHI: Gold imports
dipped by about 55 per cent
to $7.88 billion during the
first half of 2016-17, which is
expected to keep a lid on the
current account deficit.
The sliding prices of the
precious metal in global and
domestic markets are seen to
be at work. Gold imports
stood at $17.42 billion in
April-September of 2015.
The in-bound shipments
contracted for the eighth
straight month in September
by 10.3 per cent to $1.8 billion,
according to Commerce
Ministry data.
The contraction in im-
ports helped narrow trade
deficit to $8.33 billion in
September this year as
against $10.16 billion in the
same month of 2015.
The imports mainly take
care of demand from the jew-
ellery industry.
For the full year, CAD
stood at $22.1 billion, or 1.1
per cent of GDP, as against
$26.8 billion, or 1.3 per cent,
in 2014-15.As per the data, sil-
ver imports too went down
by 71.29 per cent to $139.16
million in the month under
review as against $484.74
million in the same month
last year. In volume terms,
Indias total oicial gold im-
ports declined to 60 tonnes
in April-July of this fiscal,
lower than 250 tonnes in the
year-ago period. PTI
Tata board backed Mistrys 2025 plan
He may not step
down as the chair
of group firms
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
CHENNAI: The Tata board
backed and was involved in
the development of the 2025
strategy that Cyrus Mistry
had developed with his
senior management team,
said a senior group oicial
based in Bombay House,
speaking on condition of an-
onymity.
The vision, which out-
lined the route for the Tata
group to become one of the
worlds top 25 most valuable
companies, was scrapped
following the surprise re-
moval of Cyrus Mistry as the
chair of Tata Sons last
month.
In the war of words that
has ensued, there had been
suggestions that the board
was against the development
of the vision.
The source spoke on the
lengthy discussion, and to-
ing and fro-ing that went into
the development of the
complex strategic vision, bandment on television, re-
New management team put in place
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
MUMBAI: Tata Sons announced
organisational changes to
ensure continuity after it dis-
banded the ousted chairman
Cyrus Mistrys Advisory
Council last week resulting
in the resignation of key
executives.
Tata Group Veteran S. Pad-
manabhan has been assigned
the task of overseeing the
Group Human Resources
Department in addition to
his existing responsibility of
the Tata Business Excellence
Group.
Jet Airways told to furnish
details on flight disruptions
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: The Directorate
General of Civil Aviation
(DGCA) has sought details
from Jet Airways on its flight
delays and cancellations re-
cently after some of its pilots
reported sick.
Jet Airways has also been
asked to furnish details
about pilots who are ha-
bitually reporting sick to
work, a senior DGCA oicial
which commenced in 2013,
and was presented to the
Tata Sons board formally at
three meetings in June and
December 2015, and June
2016.
We kept getting feedback
from themthey never ob-
jected to it as a whole and
whatever they said we incor-
porated into the document
following those three meet-
ings, the source said.
If they had objections
they didnt say dont do this
or that. They said take it in
this direction or that
direction.
A complex and often
contradictory picture of the
events at Tata Sons over the
past few years has continued
to emerge since the dramatic
developments on 24
October.
Of guard
The way in which the re-
moval of Mr. Mistry caught
even senior figures at the
company of guard was high-
lighted by the source, who
noted that at least one mem-
ber of the Group Executive
Committee only became
aware of the councils dis-
wants to continue to make it
Last week, Dr. N.S. Rajan,
the Chief Human Resources
Oicer of Tata Group and
Group Executive Council
(GEC) Member had
resigned, days after the GEC
was dissolved. Two other
GEC members Nirmalya Ku-
mar and Madhu Kannan had
also resigned.
The other two GEC mem-
bers, Dr. Mukund Rajan and
Mr.Harish Bhat, old-timers
at the Tata Group, have been
assigned new roles. Dr.
Mukund Rajan will continue
to be responsible for Ethics
& Sustainability, and will
said. We have asked them
how many flights were can-
celled on Wednesday, how
many pilots reported late
and how many pilots are
habitual in reporting sick.
Several Jet Airways pilots
reported sick earlier and re-
fused to accept the revised
flight duties causing flight
disruptions. As a result, Jet
Airways had cancelled
around 50 flights on Tuesday
and Wednesday, according
CUT DOWN: The vision was to make the Tata group one of the
worlds top 25 most valuable companies. PHOTO: SHANTANU DAS
ceiving the oicial confirma-
tion of it hours afterwards.
The source confirmed that
Mr. Mistry was unlikely to
step down as the chair of
group companies.
While Mr. Mistry has been
removed as the chair of Tata
Sons, he remains the chair of
Jaguar Land Rover, Tata Mo-
tors, Tata Steel, among oth-
ers. He has been appointed
to these positions and he
for the board to make.
take additional responsibil-
ity of overseeing the oper-
ations of the overseas repre-
sentative oices of Tata Sons
in the U.S., Singapore, Dubai
and China, according to a
statement from Tata Sons.
Tata Brand
Mr.Harish Bhat will now
manage the Tata brand
alongside his responsibilit-
ies for Marketing and Cus-
tomer Centricity. In the in-
terim, he will oversee the
functions of Strategy and
Business Development, it
said. Prior to this, Dr.
to Press Trust of India.
Although Jet Airways
didnt share the details about
the afected flights, it said
that its operations has re-
turned to normal, following
the resolution of issues
caused by the non-availabil-
ity of an unusually high num-
ber of pilots who had repor-
ted sick.
DGCA has also ordered a
probe into a defect in the
landing gear of SpiceJets
two Bombardier Q400
planes. SpiceJet has taken up
the issue with aircraft maker
Bombardier, a senior DGCA
oicial said.
One of the two nose wheel
tyres of the aircraft deflated
immediately after landing in
a short span of six days in last
few days. Ajay Jasra, a Spice-
Jet spokesperson said that it
has taken all precautionary
measures on its entire fleet.
they had indicated they
a great institution. He took
this job because he saw it as
the most valuable institution
in India.
The source also defended
the handling of the Welspun
buy and the planned sale of
Tata Steels U.K. steel assets,
saying that the individual
boards of these companies
had been fully on board
with the decisions, and that
these were solely decisions
limited.
Nirmalya Kumar was in
charge of Strategy and Mr.
Kannan was looking after
Business Development and
Public Afairs at the the Tata
Group.Dr. Gopichand Kat-
ragadda, recruited by Mr.
Mistry in August 2014, will
continue to be the Group
Chief Technology Oicer.
Mr.Sanjay Singh, who had a
long stint at Tata Steel in cor-
porate communications be-
fore being appointed as resi-
dent representative of the
Tata Group will oversee the
Public Afairs function out of
the Delhi oice.
There are governance is-
sues, said the source.
Welspun issue
Tata Powers acquisition
of Welspun Energys renew-
able assets has become one
contentious issue in the
Mistry-Tata standof, with
some questioning the extent
to which both the Tata Power
board, and Tata Sons were in
the loop and supportive of
the decision.
Contradicting other re-
ports about communication
on the Welspun deal, the
source said that Tata Sons
board had also been kept in
the loop from about two
months before, and though
would have wanted to be
brought into the loop earlier
in the process, they didnt
voice objections.
Looking forward, the
source said they little sense
the direction things would
take.
Events are moving so fast.
If you had told me two weeks
ago that the chairman would
have been ousted I wouldnt
have believed it, so my ability
to the see the future is
GDP advance estimates by Jan.
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: The Central Statist-
ical Organisation will
provide its advance estim-
ates of GDP growth by the
first week of January to facil-
itate the presentation of the
Union Budget earlier than
February 28, Economic Af-
fairs Secretary Shaktikanta
Das said.
We get the GDP advance
estimates in the first week of
February, Mr. Das said.
This year, the CSO has
agreed to give us this figure
in the first week of January
and based on that we can ex-
Indian Hotels narrows Q2
loss on one-time gains
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
MUMBAI: Indian Hotels Com-
pany Ltd (IHCL), which
owns and operates the Taj
Group hotels in the Tata
Group, for the second
quarter ended September 30,
2016 has narrowed down its
consolidated losses to Rs.27
crore aided by gains in ex-
ceptional items. This com-
pares with a loss of Rs. 152
crore reported in the year
earlier period. quarter included income ac-
During the period, the
company reported a con-
solidated income Rs.885
crore. Excluding Taj Boston,
total consolidated income
from operations has grown
by 6 per cent, the company
said. During the quarter, the
company had divested 100
per cent of its interest in
IHMS (Boston) LLC which
owned Taj Boston through
United Overseas Holding
Inc, a wholly owned over-
seas subsidiary of IHCL.
The divestment was com-
pleted on July 12, 2016. The
company reported a loss of
Rs.103.07 crore on divest-
ment of the entire LLC in-
terest in HMS (Boston),
IHCL in a filing with the to complete the scheme.
trapolate the GDP for the
current year and next year,
he said in an interview to
Doordarshan.
The expenditure num-
bers are not linked to the
GDP figure, so this year we
are adopting the extrapola-
tion approach and next year,
the CSO has taken steps to
advance the data collection
so we can get it by the first
week of January, Mr. Das
said.
Higher growth
Das expressed confidence
that the economy will clock
higher growth this year than
stock exchanges. The hotel
was sold to AS Holdings LLC
(Boston) for $125 million.
To that extent, results of
the current period are not
comparable with the cor-
responding period of the
previous year, according to
a company statement.
On a standalone basis the
company reported net profit
of Rs.28 crore, against a loss
of Rs.7 crore for the same
period last year. Profit for the
crued on claims settlement
from Karnataka Forest De-
velopment Corporation of
Rs.24 crore and Refund of
Sewerage Tax and interest of
Rs.6 crore.
The company reported a 9
per cent growth in stan-
dalone total income to Rs.514
crore. As at September 30,
2016 the company had con-
solidated gross debt of
Rs.3,625 crore, with liquidity
at Rs 455 crore.
The company said the
Bombay High Court had last
month approved the scheme
of amalgamation of Lands
End Properties Pvt Ltd. The
company is in the process of
obtaining required approvals
the 7.6 per cent GDP growth
in 2015-16 on the back of im-
proved farm sector output.
He said there was nothing
unusual about the high
fiscal deficit recorded in the
first half of the year, a two-
decade high of 84 per cent of
Budget estimates.
Typically the fiscal defi-
cit looks high in the first half
of the year because the bulk
of the revenues comes in the
second half of the year,
whereas expenditure is
evenly paced. In the second
half, the revenue will come in
and the target of 3.5 per cent
of GDP will be achieved.

Exchange Rates
Indicative direct rates in rupees a unit
except yen at 4 p.m on November 04
Turkey wants India to start
Currencies
U.S. Dollar
TT
Buying Selling
66.50 66.82
TT
free trade pact talks soon
Euro 73.81 74.17
ARUN S Asked if Turkey is plan-
Pound Sterling 83.02 83.43
Jap Yen (100 Units) 64.59 64.91
ning special measures to
Chinese Yuan 9.84 9.89 NEW DELHI: Turkey wants India protect investors from losses
Swiss Franc 68.35 68.68 to start talks on a proposed due to political unrest, Mr.
Singapore Dollar 48.04 48.28 Free Trade Agreement Elvan said: Investors have
Australian Dollar 51.10 51.35 (FTA) soon and said the on- been coming even after the
Canadian Dollar 49.57 49.81 going political turmoil will (failed) July coup attempt.
Swedish Kroner 7.41 7.44 not impact foreign invest- The month following the
Danish Kroner 9.92 9.97 ment flows. coup, there was $1 billion
New Zealand Dollar 48.66 48.89 Though there is an India- worth of capital flows into
Hongkong Dollar 8.57 8.62 Turkey Joint Study Group re- Turkey.
Malaysian Ringgit 15.83 15.92 port on the feasibility and So, there is no risk at all
Kuwaiti Dinar 219.11 221.63 possibility of concluding a Turkeys political turmoil for investments in Turkey.
UAE Dirham 18.10 18.19 Comprehensive Economic may not hit foreign funds. Turkey is a safe haven for
Bahraini Dinar 176.25 177.19 Partnership Agreement investors and has a stable en-
Qatari Riyal 18.32 18.33 (CEPA or, in other words, a ties in South Asia. Indian vironment for (foreign)
Saudi Riyal 17.78 17.79 FTA), no dates have been companies can use Turkey as trade. Turkey has many
Omani Riyal 172.60 173.68
fixed for starting FTA a hub to expand operations French, British and German
Source:Indian Bank
negotiations. in the European Union (with companies, and more Eu-
In an interview to The which Turkey has a Customs ropeans are coming in to do
Hindu, Turkey's De- Union agreement), the business. So, we dont feel
Bullion Rates velopment Minister Ltfi Middle East and Africa. there is any need for it (polit-
November 04 rates in rupees with Elvan said: We (Turkey) are ical risk cover or other spe-
previous rates in brackets Shrinking trade
ready to start FTA negoti- cial investment protection
Chennai ations. But we are waiting for In FY16, India-Turkey measures).
Bar Silver (1 kg) 44,030 (43,705) the Indian side to move trade had shrunk nearly 28 However, he said while
Retail (1 g) 47.10 (46.80) ahead. We are expecting an per cent year-on-year to there was a standardised
24 ct gold (10 g) 31,120 (30,980)
oicial Indian delegation to $4.91 billion of which Indias general incentive policy for
22 ct gold (1 g) 2,910 (2,897)
come to Turkey soon in this exports to Turkey were $4.14 investors, Turkey now had
Delhi
Silver 43,700 (44,060)
regard. billion (contraction of 22.7 tailor-made incentives for
Standard gold 31,050 (31,000) He said Turkish compan- per cent) while Turkeys ex- investments that help Tur-
Sovereign 24,600 (24,600) ies want to make India a gate- ports to India fell 47 per cent key meet its economic de-
way for improving business to $776 million. velopment plans.
CM ND-ND
YK
16 |
As waiting time dips,
Royal Enfield sales surge
N. ANAND
CHENNAI: There has been a
surge in the sales of Royal
Enfields iconic motorcycles
due to increasing demand
from customers for its new
product line.
Besides, there has been a
drastic reduction in the wait-
ing time for delivery from
three months to about 45
days.
The demand for the
iconic bikes is increasing due
to new product line-up and
changing consumer pre-
ference - from the regular
bikes to the Royal Enfield,
said a company oicial.
Besides, the waiting
period for delivery of bikes
has come down drastically.
Tenaga buys 30 per cent
stake in GMR Energy
STAFF REPORTER
BENGALURU: Malaysian electri-
city utility Tenaga Nasional
Berhad (TNB) acquired 30
per cent stake in GMR En-
ergy Ltd, a subsidiary of
GMR Infrastructure Ltd, for
about $300 million (about
Rs.2,000 crore). The capital
infusion will help the com-
pany to reduce its corporate
debt.
GMR Energy Limited
(GEL), a subsidiary of GMR
Infrastructure Ltd (GIL)
today announced allotment
of 30 per cent stake to Tenaga
Nasional Berhad, Malaysia
(TNB) for a cash consid-
eration of $300 million, im-
plying an equity value of $1
billion (Rs. 6,665 crore), ac-
cording to a filing to the
CM
YK
Price is no longer a de-
terrent. Most of them are
preferring 350cc bike for its
style, look and performance,
he said.
From April to October
2016, Royal Enfield sold
more than 3.73 lakh motor-
cycles compared with 2.79
lakh bikes for the year earlier
period.
This included exports of
more than 8,000 bikes (5,000
bikes in the year-earlier
period).
With barely five months
left in the current fiscal, Roy-
al Enfield is gearing up to
meet the production target
of 6.75 lakh units.
Royal Enfield has been
posting 34 per cent growth in
motorcycle sales since April.
GMR believes that
this will help it to
capitalise on the
opportunities in the
power sector
stock exchanges.
Strategic partnership
GEL and TNB had an-
nounced this strategic part-
nership in May 2016 and the
allotment of shares marks
the completion of this
transaction.
GMR Infrastructure and
its associates will now hold
52.14 per cent stake in GMR
Energy while PE investors
like Temasek and IDFC
among others hold 17.86 per
cent stake.
INTERVIEW T.T. SRINIVASARAGHAVAN
Tractor, construction equipment
seeing significant upsurge
K.T. JAGANNATHAN
With the recent turmoil of
rising recognition of non-
performing assets in the
banking industry, banks
could potential turn shy of
lending. This could open up
opportunities for the non-
banking finance companies
(NBFCs). At the same time,
NBFCs themselves have
had a roller coaster ride,
depending on how their tar-
get markets have per-
formed. T.T. Srinivas-
araghavan, MD, Sundaram
Finance, among the oldest
NBFCs in the country
opens up on the sector's
fortunes.
With banks facing a number
of challenges, will it throw
open new opportunities for
NBFCs?
There are lots of sug-
gestions going around. In
view of the stress the banks
are facing and their hesit-
ancy to lend, there are likely
to be opportunities for non-
banking finance companies
(NBFCs), especially in the
SME (small and medium
enterprise) space. Another
view is that this scenario
has made NBFCs the
darling of stock markets
and the FIIs (foreign insti-
tutional investors). How
true is this? Only time will
tell. However, it is true that
banks have become lend-
ing-shy. Will NBFCs be able
to lend to all the segments
that banks have been lend-
ing to earlier? I have my
own doubts. There are cer-
tain things that banks do,
and those, only they
(banks) can do.
How is the scene like for
NBFCs at the moment?
There was a big surge in
commercial vehicle sales in
BUSINESS
Benign and stable
diesel prices have
had a salutary effect
on transport
operators cash flows
Q4 of last year and Q1 this
year. It was quite a big jump.
In Q2, however, it seems to
have cooled of quite signi-
ficantly.
Medium and heavy com-
mercial vehicle sales in the
first-half of this year com-
pared with the same period
last year were negative. Q2
is usually a dull quarter.
However, I do not know if
that explains this kind of a
steep fall. There was a pre-
diction made earlier this
year that there is likely to be
pre-buying in Q3 and Q4 as
a result of the new emission
norms coming into force
next April. That prediction
still holds.
What about the passenger
car and tractor segments that
you operate in?
Passenger cars are doing
well. Rural prosperity is
bound to increase because
of the bountiful monsoon.
With the likelihood of a
good harvest, one can ex-
pect rural demand to pick
up significantly. Several
new models have been
launched.
If we put all of these to-
gether, the prospect for the
passenger car segment
seems upbeat. The
other segment
that is doing re-
ally well is the
tractor seg-
ment. After
two years of
downturn,
tractors seem to
have recovered
and there is a
signific-
ant upsurge. Similarly, the
construction equipment
segment has been on the
upswing as a result of the
real action on the ground
on the infrastructure front.
Infra-related projects are
moving apace now. Even in
the CV segment, a good
chunk of the growth this
year has been from the tip-
per segment rather than the
haulage space.
Has the stable fuel price
played its part in the demand-
push?
Diesel prices have re-
mained benign and stable
for a reasonable period.
That has had a salutary ef-
fect on transport operators
cash flows.
How have you been
adapting to changes in the
economy?
It is a clich but change is a
constant.
Our own evolution from
being a 100 per cent truck
financing company once to
having a wide portfolio that
includes passenger cars,
tractors and construction
equipment is an example of
the change that has already
occurred over the last 20
years.
The next ten years could
very well be about how we
are able to harness the di-
gital technology not so
much from point of view of
replacing people but from
the point of view of en-
hancing employee ef-
ficiency and enhan-
cing the customer
experience in terms
of how they interact
with us.
This represents
both opportunities
and chal-
lenges.
Wis-
dom lies in understanding
that there is a spectrum of
customers.
Diferent segments of
customers have diferent
needs. It is important for or-
ganisations like ours that
have a traditional customer
base, but also where an in-
creasingly younger cus-
tomer base is coming in, to
be alive to these changes.
The aspirations of people
overall are changing and we
have to adapt to this chan-
ging reality and customer
needs, without sur-
rendering who we are in
terms of our identity and
ensuring that the Sundaram
experience of personal con-
nect with our customers is
not compromised.
That is our bedrock.
But we are now into the
next wave of change. It
could be new products or
new markets segments,
plus this whole new world
of digital.
As to funding, how
important are deposits for
you?
Funding is comfortable. Li-
quidity in the market is
ample. ECB (external com-
mercial borrowings),
which was an impediment
earlier, has also opened up.
Bond markets are growing
domestically also.
Deposits today constitu-
te approximately 12 per
cent of our overall funding
mix.
Accepting deposits is a
vital service we provide to a
certain section of the popu-
lation.
For several people, a
Sundaram Finance deposit
is a source of comfort and
safety.
Even though deposits are
a slightly more expensive
source, we owe a responsib-
ility to our loyal depositors.
THE HINDU SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016
FALLING SHORT: Demand for power has not grown at the rate the
government had anticipated, Mr. Swarup says.FILE PHOTO: REUTERS
Demand to dictate coal
production: Secretary
KOLKATA: With signs of a slow-
down in Coal India Ltds out-
put and in face of sluggish
power-sector demand, Coal
Secretary Anil Swarup said
that a one billion-ton target
was an aspiration and
production will be as per
demand.
I am not obsessed with
targets, he said while ad-
dressing a seminar on Indias
Coal sector - Vision 2020. It
was an aspiration, he said,
adding that it would depend
on demand, but it is import-
ant (for CIL) to stay
prepared.
After clocking high rates
of growth in 2014-15 and 2015-
16, CIL may fall well short of
its current fiscals target by a
wide-margin. There is no
Wheels India Q2 net
profit rises by 41%
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
CHENNAI: Wheels India Ltd has
reported a 41 per cent rise in
its net profit for the second
quarter ended September 30,
2016 at Rs.13.07 crore, up
from Rs.9.27 crore in the cor-
responding year-ago period.
Revenue grew by 5.41 per
cent to Rs.546 crore for the
quarter under review (Rs.518
crore).
Addressing the press, Sriv-
ats Ram, Managing Director,
said there was a slowdown in
the commercial vehicle busi-
ness in the second quarter.
NOIDA/DELHI
shortage of coal at the power
plants currently and the em-
phasis now is on quality .
He said that exploratory
talks were now on for ex-
porting a small amount of
coal to Bangladesh. Central
and state public sector units
may not import coal by
March 2017, he said.
Private miners
On commercial mining, he
said that after allocating coal
mines to the states for this
purpose, the government
was now working towards
bringing in the private sector
in this area. However, now,
there was less demand for
mines and there were hardly
any takers in the fourth
round of mines auctions.
However, the non-wheel
business contributed to the
companys growth in sales
and profitability.
He expected the revenue
in the second-half to be in
line with the first-half. Ex-
port business, which de-
pended on global demand
for agricultural and con-
struction equipment wheels,
declined due to global cyc-
lical downturn in these busi-
nesses and formed 16 per
cent of the sales. The com-
pany was also focusing on
non-wheels business as an
area of growth, he said.
ND-ND

NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016
Telecast schedule
Australia vs South Africa: First Test, STAR Sports 2 & HD 2, 8 a.m.; La Liga: Sony Six
& Sony Six HD, 5.30 p.m., 8.30 p.m. & 11 p.m.; ISL: STAR Sports 1, 2, 3 & HD 1, 2 & 3, 6.50
p.m.; EPL: SS Select HD 1, 8.20 p.m. & 10.50 p.m.; AFC Cup: Air Force Club vs Bengaluru
FC, STAR Sports 1 & HD 1, 9.30 p.m.; Serie A: Sony ESPN & Sony ESPN HD, 1.30 a.m.
(Sunday); NBA: Sony Six & Sony Six HD, 6 a.m. (Sunday)
Root crucial to Englands scheme
of things in spin-heavy India
CRICKET / The visitors make the most of Fridays practice session at Brabourne Stadium
G. VISWANATH
MUMBAI: Joe Root had an exten-
ded batting session at the Bra-
bourne Stadium here on Fri-
day.
Whether it was of his own
volition or because the team
management wanted him to
make the most of the lead-up
to the first Test at Rajkot, com-
mencing on November 9, the
relevance of Root to Englands
scheme of things, following
the collapse against
Bangladesh in the Mirpur
Test, was accentuated.
After making a successful
Test debut (73 and 20 not out)
against India at Nagpur in
2012, Root has shown the com-
petitive edge to become Eng-
lands mainstay, and this is
amply reflected in his tally of
4103 runs in 88 Test innings,
with 10 centuries and 23 half-
centuries.
He has been most prolific
against India, scoring 611 runs
in six Test matches, five of
them at home.
Root was in the middle for
half an hour, facing five of-
break bowlers, watched by as-
sistant coach Paul Farbrace
and batting coach Mark
Ramprakash.
The of-spinners supplied
by the Cricket Club of India
(CCI) were a far cry from the
class of R. Ashwin, but clearly
the objective was to get used
to conventional finger spin.
A round of selfies taken by
the net bowlers with Root
brought an end to Englands
workout at Brabourne. Con-
trary to the initial information
Can BFC ground Air Force in battle for Asia? IOA polls once in four years, not
N. SUDARSHAN
DOHA: In early April, Bengaluru
FC was struggling to salvage its
AFC Cup campaign. Languish-
ing in third place with three
points from three games, it
badly needed a win against the
visiting Ayeyawady United.
Ahead of that match, the then
coach Ashley Westwood had
said the primary target was to
reach the last eight, an im-
provement on the round-of-16
finish the previous year.
For a club all of three years
old, it seemed a decent enough
expectation. However, in the
time since then, the club has
grown to such heights that,
after becoming the first-ever
Indian club to reach the AFC
Cup final, to not capture the ti-
tle by beating Iraqs Air Force
Club at the Suhaim Bin Hamad
Stadium here on Saturday,
might even be deemed a
disappointment.
There is pressure on us,
said defender John Johnson,
who has been with the club
since its inception. We
havent done anything yet by
getting to the final. Its good to
get to the final, but we have to
go and win the trophy.
In reality though, the run to
the final has done a lot. For
long, Indian football has
craved recognition at the
There is no pressure: Roca Dipika and Joshna train for
PRINCIPAL CORRESPONDENT
DOHA: Amidst all the euphoria
around Bengaluru FCs
achievements, manager Albert
Roca has been a calming in-
fluence. On Friday, ahead of the
clubs AFC Cup final against
Air Force Club here, he donned
the role again.
I know its an important
game, Roca said. And the
players know it too. But at the
end of it all, its just another
game. As professionals, the
players know that we have a
tough team up against us. The
most important thing is to be as
prepared as possible.
In the matches thus far all
in the knock-out stages of the
competition Roca has been
successful in maintaining his
wards focus.
Theres no pressure, he in-
sisted. Even if we lose, it wont
be because we didnt try. We
have no experience [of playing
in such pressure situations].
But we are ready for the battle. I
am sure the boys will be up for
it.
Its no secret that he and his
assistant Carles Cuadrat have
favoured defensive solidity
from the outset. But Roca said
that on Saturday his team needs
CM
YK
IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO: England captain Alastair Cook and Joe Root make it a lively training session at the Brabourne Stadium in
Mumbai on Friday. PHOTO: AFP
that only four or five England
players would take the oppor-
tunity of an optional session,
the entire team turned up.
Mixed reactions
While reactions to England
coming a cropper against
Bangladeshs rookie of-spin-
ner Mehedi Hasan have been
mixed, England has realised
that it has to raise its game
against Indias spin bowlers,
Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and
Amit Mishra.
England spent its first prac-
necessarily in Olympic years
A MATTER OF PRIDE: All of three years old, Bengaluru FC has
grown to great heights, becoming the first-ever Indian club to
reach the AFC Cup final. PHOTO COURTESY: BFC
Asian level. That a fledgling
club has been able to put it on
such a pedestal should indeed
be a matter of pride. This is no
fairy tale, but the result of one
meticulous step after
another.
When BFC beat the
much-fancied Johor
Darul Tazim in the
semifinals, Sunil Chhetri
and Eugeneson
Lygndoh, two players
who have had as great a
hand in the clubs achievement
as anybody else, combined to
score three of the four goals
over two legs. On Saturday,
against a physically intimi-
dating side like Air Force Club
it has lost only once in 11 Cup
to find the right balance as it did
against Johor Darul Tazim in
the second leg of the semifinal,
scoring three goals after having
accounted for just two from the
three previous games.
Its not only about defend-
ing well, he said. We need a
good balance in the perform-
ance as transitions should be
quick between the attacking
and defending units.
Roca also exuded confidence
that goalie Lalthuammawia
Ralte will be a more than able
deputy for the suspended Am-
rinder Singh.
In his first season here,
Ralte had some fantastic
individual performances,
Roca said. Hes always been
pushing Amrinder for a place in
the starting XI and now hes fi-
nally got his chance and I know
hell be looking to make it
count.
Skipper Sunil Chhetri sought
to see the bigger picture and
said that it was game which was
coming at the right time for
both him and the nation.
Its definitely one of the
biggest days of my life. Even if
we dont win, we are giving
hope to the country and I hope
other clubs get inspired from
this.
tice session facing a dozen
spinners and the one shot that
was seen often was the hori-
zontal sweep that Graham
Gooch and Mike Gatting ex-
ecuted against Ravi Shastri
and Maninder Singh in the
1987 World Cup semifinal.
Englands emphasis will be
to execute the shot against of-
spinner Ashwin and play cau-
tiously against left-arm spin-
ner Jadeja and leg-spinner
Mishra.
Four years ago, Alastair
Cook led from the front and, as
games their creative brains
need to be at their sharpest.
The club, though, will miss
the services of first-choice
goalkeeper Amrinder Singh,
who is suspended after
picking up two yellow
cards in the semifinal
legs. Lalthuammawia
Ralte will deputise. Key
midfielder Cameron
Watson is down with
stomach ache but man-
ager Albert Roca expec-
ted him to recover in time.
For Air Force Club too the
match presents a chance to put
Iraqs stamp on the continental
scene after fellow Iraqi club
Arbil fell short twice in the
competition, finishing runner-
World team championship
K. KEERTHIVASAN
CHENNAI: After months of living
out of a suitcase, Dipika Pal-
likal and Joshna Chinappa are
back in the city, but they are
not resting. The two are at the
Indian Squash Academy (ISA)
here for a three-week camp to
get ready for the World
womens team championship
to be held in Paris from
November 28 to December 3.
The (past) three months
(playing in PSA World tour)
have been crazy, playing week
after week, Dipika told The
Hindu here on Friday after
training. Its nice to practise
again with Joshna. When it
comes to a team, we are at our
best. We enjoy each others
company, she added.
With two of the countrys
top under-19 players in
Sunayna Kuruvilla and Akan-
sha Salunkhe making up the
four-member team to Paris,
Joshna, the top-ranked Indian
at 13 in the world, felt the team
is looking to first enter the top
eight, and then take it one step
at a time. It will be tough, no
SPORT
a result of his phenomenal
show, England won the Test
series 2-1 after being beaten in
the first Test.
While Cook will probably
become the first England bats-
man to aggregate 1000 runs in
India (he has 866 from eight
matches so far), England will
expect Root to bring stability
to the middle-order.
No England batsman has
scored more runs than Root
since the day he made his de-
but; Cook is second at 3585
from 91 innings.
up both in 2012 and 2014. Com-
ing as it does at a time of severe
unrest in Iraq the club has
played all its home games in
Doha this year a victory
which can help lift the gloom
even slightly will be welcome.
My team is ready, said Air
Force Clubs assistant coach
Mehdi Jassim. We have ana-
lysed their [previous] matches
and prepared well. The
Bengaluru team is very good,
yes. If it has reached the final, it
should be good. They have
players with good technique
and dribbling skills and they
are good with the head too. But
we are ready.
Its readiness though will be
severely tested. It does have
the competitions top scorer in
Hammadi Ahmed, who has
found the net in every match so
far, totalling 15 goals.
But it will miss influential
midfielder Bashar Resan, who
scored the winner in the semi-
finals second-leg against Le-
banese club Al Ahed before be-
ing sent of. Hammadis strike
partner Samal Saeed, who has
started 10 of the 11 matches, is
also suspended.
On paper, Air Force Club
looks the better of the two. But
if matches had been decided
on paper, BFC wouldnt be
where it is now.
Match begins 9.30 p.m. IST
WARMING UP: Akansha Salunkhe, Sunayna Kuruvilla, Dipika
Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa. PHOTO: M. VEDHAN
doubt, but we will do our best,
she said.
Acknowledging the com-
petition, which includes top
players from England, Egypt,
France, Australia, Malaysia,
The Netherlands and the USA,
Coach Cyrus Poncha said a
top-eight finish is what we
are aiming for. Concurring
with Poncha, Indias foreign
coach Ashraf El Karargi, said it
will be diicult to look beyond
the quarterfinals.
For the two juniors,
Sunayna and Akansha, it will
Injured Santner out
New Zealand spinner Mitchell Santner, who
fractured his right wrist while training with the
Northern Districts, has been ruled out of this months
opening Test against Pakistan at Christchurch and is
also doubtful for the second match.
Root made 40, 1, 56, 1 in the
two-Test series in Bangladesh
and the five-Test series
against India will give him a
chance to prove his class and
emulate the likes of Cook, Gat-
ting, Tony Greig, Kevin
Pietersen, Ken Barrington,
Keith Fletcher, Gooch, Ian
Botham, Andrew Strauss,
Graeme Fowler and Ted Dex-
ter.
England will hold a second
full practice session at Bra-
bourne on Saturday morning
before flying to Rajkot.
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
CHENNAI: Indian Olympic Asso-
ciation (IOA) president N.
Ramachandran, on Friday, re-
iterated that the elections will
be held in 2018 as per the new
IOA constitution which has
been approved by the Interna-
tional Olympic Committee
(IOC) and Olympic Council of
Asia (OCA), and not during
the Olympic year as is widely
believed.
Speaking to presspersons
here after IOAs Executive
Committee meeting,
Ramachandran said, In
March 2014, the IOC wrote
(back) to me stating clearly
that elections are to be con-
ducted once in four years.
Excerpts:
On the Sports Ministrys diktat
that National Sports
Federations be treated as AITA is one such case.
NGOs
We are asking the NSFs to
register, but we are simultan-
eously talking to the govern-
ment and telling them we can-
not be considered as one
because we are registered un-
der the Societies Registration
Act.
On the perception that
elections must happen only in
be a learning experience and
an opportunity to prove that
they are here for the long haul.
It is a big honour. I have so
much to learn, said Sunayna,
for whom this will be the third
International (senior) event
after World juniors (Poland)
and South Asian Games (SAG,
Guwahati).
Akansha said her aim is to
improve after having played
in the SAG (Guwahati), Asian
team championship in Taipei
and the World juniors
(Poland).
Broad set for century
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
MUMBAI: Fast bowlers hunt in
pairs and for England there
hasnt been a better example in
recent times than the seam-
and-swing duo of James An-
derson and Stuart Broad. They
have taken 507 wickets in 69
Tests.
Second placed is the good
old pair of Fred Trueman and
Brian Statham (284 wickets in
35 matches). Steve Harmison-
Matthew Hoggard bagged 266
wickets in 33 matches. They
are followed by Andrew Cad-
dick and Darren Gough with
196 wickets in 26 matches and
Ian Botham and Bob Willis 172
wickets in 24 matches.
Anderson has already
played 119 Tests (May 22, 2003
to August 14, 2016) and his
partner Broad will play his
100th Test at Rajkot.
Splendid feat
Only 12 Englishmen have
achieved this splendid feat;
Anderson (119), Ian Botham
(102), Graham Gooch (118),
Kevin Pietersen (104), Geof-
frey Boycott (108), Michael
Atherton (115), Alastair Cook
(135), David Gower (117) Ian
Bell (118), Graham Thorpe
(100), Alec Stewart (133) and
Colin Cowdrey (114).
While Anderson has missed
53 Tests because of injury or
otherwise, Broad has missed
Rohit out for 12 weeks
MUMBAI: The Board of Control
for Cricket in India on Friday
said Rohit Sharma, who sus-
tained a thigh injury during the
final ODI match against New
Zealand at Visakhapatnam,
would be out of action for a
minimum period of 10-12
weeks.
He will travel to London
Olympic years
In March 2014, the IOC
wrote (back) to me stating
clearly that the election is for a
period of four years, however
some did raise questions (that
it should be in 2016 and not in
18). IOC said the term is from
Feb. 2014 to Feb. 2018 as per
the new constitution of IOA.
The constitution doesnt say
that elections have to be held
in the Olympic year.
On the All-India Tennis
Association (AITA) being
de-recognised by the Sports
Ministry
It is a debatable decision.
The IOA has a view while the
ministry has a diferent one.
The IOA is going to meet the
ministry with all senior IOA
members, and impress upon it
that there are issues which
need further clarification. The
On whether the peace deal
with Narinder Batra (associate
vice-president of IOA and
president of Hockey India) was
done with an eye on the 2018
elections
We didnt do it for the elec-
tions. We did this so that there
is no infighting within the
IOA. It was a genuine efort
from both sides to ensure
Swanns prediction
Weve got a really good team with really good
cricketers, but we will lose in India. We are
hamstrung by the fact that we treat spinners as
third-class citizens
Graeme Swann, former England spinner
Stuart Broad. PHOTO: PTI
only 13. Anderson, who has en-
dured nagging injury issues,
has not recovered from a
shoulder ailment and was not
included in the team an-
nounced on October 26 for the
five-Test series in India.
Anderson, who has taken 82
wickets against India, is at
Loughborough University for
fitness tests. There is specula-
tion that he may join the team
either at Rajkot or Visakhapat-
nam.
We will know that in the
next 24 hours, said Danny Re-
uben, head of team communi-
cations, ECB.
early next week for specialist
consultation with a possibility
to undergo surgery.
The BCCI medical team will
extend all support to Rohit
Sharma, to regain full fitness
and further contribute to Indi-
an cricket, said a BCCI press
release. Special
Correspondent
sports development goes
forward.
Will you contest in the 2018
elections?
It is a long way ahead. As far
as I am concerned, I am look-
ing at this term which is till
Feb. 2018. After that what hap-
pens is a diferent issue.
On the infighting within
various NSFs
We will advise all NSFs that
if they have issues, they will
have to go by the IOA
constitution. Otherwise, the
IOA will see how best they can
take action against NSFs.
There are disputes in gym-
nastics, basketball and boxing.
We will sit down with both
groups and decide how best to
resolve them. A report will be
submitted to the IOA within
two months time.
On two factions in volleyball
The matter has been de-
cided in court. The lawyers of
both groups agreed in the
Madras High Court for an ar-
bitration. The arbiter (Judge
K. Chandru) is giving orders
like the Lodha Commitee. The
IOA cannot interfere.
Elections will be held only
for the presidents post.
Whatever decision Chandru
takes, the VFI has to abide.
| 17
Dynamos down
Blasters
NEW DELHI: Delhi Dynamos fi-
nally broke its winless streak at
home as it struck twice early
into the second half to notch
up a comfortable 2-0 win over
Kerala Blasters to move to the
top of the standings in the Indi-
an Super League (ISL), here on
Friday.
After a fruitless first half,
Kean Francis Lewis struck the
opener in the 56th minute of a
Richard Gadze assist, while
Marcelinho doubled the lead
when he found the back of the
net of marquee signing
Florent Maloudas pass in the
60th minute.
Dynamos dislodged Atletico
de Kolkata from the top spot
with three wins, four draws
and a loss from eight matches.
Kerala Blasters remained
sixth with two wins, three
draws and three defeats from
as many appearances as Dy-
namos. PTI
Kochhar youngest
to win PGTI title
Kochhar. PHOTO: PTI
Y.B. SARANGI
KOLKATA: Karandeep Kochhar
carded the best round of the
tournament, a sensational
eight-under 62, in the third and
final round to record a total of
14-under 196 and ensure a com-
fortable three-stroke victory in
the PGTI Players Champion-
ship here on Friday.
Kochhar, with two junior
titles under his belt this year, is
the first Indian amateur to win
a PGTI event. Bangladeshs
Mohammad Zamal Hossain
Mollah was the only other
player to have won a PGTI
tournament as an amateur.
On a rainy day, the Chand-
igarh boy rewrote another rec-
ord by becoming the youngest
player to win a PGTI event at 17
years and five months, erasing
Shubhankar Sharmas feat of
winning in Kochi in 2014 at 17
years and eight months.
Kochhar, who had scores of
66 and 68 in first two rounds,
collected nine birdies, includ-
ing five on the back nine,
against a bogey on par-three
eighth hole.
Kochhar displayed some fab-
ulous drives on 14th, 15th and
16th holes, resulting in birdies.
His 15-footer on 16th spoke a lot
about his confidence. Its an
unbelievable. It has set me
thinking about the right time to
turn professional, he said.
Om Prakash Chouhan was
second with an error-free
round of six-under 64 and an
aggregate of 199. He bagged Rs.
4.5 lakh for being the best
professional.
The scores: Karandeep Kochhar
(A) (66, 68, 62) 196; Om Prakash
Chouhan (68, 67, 64) 199; Khalin
Joshi (67, 65, 68) and Digvijay Singh
(63, 67, 70) 200; M. Dharma (69, 69,
64) and Shamim Khan (71, 67, 64)
202; Mohd. Zamal Hossain Mollah
(68, 70, 65) and Shankar Das (67, 67,
69) 203.
ND-ND
18 | SPORT
NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016

Steyn may be out Skippers keep a wary eye on the weather

for six months M.R. PRAVEEN CHANDRAN
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Sharp
showers greeted the Delhi
team when it came for practice
at the KCA-St. Xaviers Col-
lege stadium here on Friday.
The practice session was
restricted to just some warm-
up and stretching. With more
showers forecast in the com-
ing days, the Ranji Trophy
match between Delhi and
Jharkhand, beginning here on
Saturday, may be a truncated
one.
Delhi captain Unmukt
Chand was disappointed with
the prevailing weather and
said his side was desperate for
a win. Delhi, with 11 points
from four matches, is third in
the group behind Jharkhand,
which has 16 points from the
MESSY: Australias Usman Khawaja looks back to see his citadel breached by a Kagiso Rabada same number of matches.
special on the second day of the first Test on Friday. PHOTO: REUTERS
Desperate for a win
per Gautham Gambir and
Ishant Sharma, both of whom
were included in the India
team for the Tests against
England.
We will miss their expe-
rience, but we have a very
capable side and if we play to
our potential we can be un-
beatable, he said.
Seeking consistency
Delhis coach Bhaskar Pillai
called for more consistency
from his bowlers who were
unable to pick up 20 wickets in
a match.
But the coach was pretty
happy with his batsmens
form. He said Jharkhand was a
good side and his team needed
to play at its best.
Jharkhand has done exceed-
ingly well so far despite the ab-
sence of injured strike bowler
Varun Aaron.
It is second in the group, but

South Africa bowlers

Dale Steyn... big blow. Unmukt Chand reflected on
PHOTO: REUTERS the lost opportunity against
Odisha where his team failed
PERTH: The playing future of South to close out the match despite
African fast bowler Dale Steyn enjoying the upper hand.
like Delhi rues the missed op-
portunity when it let Vidarbha
of the hook and had to settle
for a draw.
Disappointed not to win

repay the compliment

appeared in grave doubt on Friday,
with the cricketer expected to need
surgery on his troublesome right
shoulder as he faces the prospect of
being sidelined for at least six months.
Steyn, who first hurt his shoulder
late last year, aggravated the problem
on Friday as his further participation in
the series came to a premature end.
The 33-year-old right-armer had just
bowled the fourth ball in his 13th over
when he clutched at the right shoulder
and left the field. Scans revealed a
fracture and he will return to South
Africa for possible surgery at the
conclusion of the Test.
He will return home and see an
orthopaedic surgeon in Cape Town and
a decision will be made on what the
best method of treatment will be. I
assume in all likelihood that he will
need surgery.
The estimated return date we will
have to wait and see, the literature
says six months, but we dont know,
said the team doctor Mohammed
Moosajee. He said Steyn had
experienced some discomfort in the
shoulder during a warm-up match in
Adelaide, but scans had revealed no
problems.
Moosajee said Steyn was extremely
disappointed and admitted the
bowlers future was up in the air.
Time will tell, but only when
healing has occurred will we be able to
make a call on whether he can come
back and play, he said. Reuters
China beats India
SINGAPORE: India tasted its first
defeat in the fourth womens
Asian Champions Trophy
hockey tournament here on
Friday, losing 3-2 to China in
its final league encounter and
will take on the same oppon-
ents in the summit clash on
Saturday.
Poonam Rani and Vandana
Kataria scored for India.
PTI
Indian girls lose
to Vietnam
HANOI: Losing concentration at
crucial junctures cost Indian
girls dear as they lost 0-4 to
hosts Vietnam in their second
match of the AFC U-19 Cham-
pionships 2017 qualifiers here
on Friday.
With this result, India bow-
ed out of the Championship
with one point from two
matches. Vietnam will take on
Iran in the last League match
to decide the group winner.
The result: Vietnam 4 (Tuyet
Ngan 35, 43, Thi Nu 82, Ha Thi 90+)
bt India 0. PTI
CRICKET / Australian batting collapses dramatically
PERTH: South Africas bowlers
rallied magnificently after the
loss of pace spearhead Dale
Steyn before their batsmen
pushed to an 102-run lead at
the close on day two of the first
Test against Australia on
Friday.
Steyn left the field with a
shoulder injury before lunch
and was later ruled out of the
series with a stress fracture in
a hammer blow for the touring
side.
But the remaining Proteas
bowlers ripped out the host for
244 before tea before Dean El-
gar (46 not out) and J-P. Du-
miny (36 not out) combined
for an unbroken 59-run stand
to steady the innings after two
early wickets in the final
session.
South Africa was 104 for two
at stumps having fought back
strongly after Australia had
dominated the first day.
Philander picks up four
Vernon Philander took four
for 56, teaming up brilliantly
with debutant left-arm spin-
ner Keshav Maharaj (three for
RACING
War Envoy for Madras Race Club Trophy
BENGALURU: War Envoy, who in fine
fettle, may score an encore in the
Madras Race Club Trophy (1,400m),
the chief event of the races to be held
here on Saturday (Nov. 5).
False rails (width about 8m from
1,600m to the winning post) will be
in position.
1 MASTER KEY PLATE (Div.
II), (1,200m), rated 15 to 35, 1-45
p.m.: 1. Mayweather (1) Cedric
Segeon 60, 2. Royal Serenity (7)
Suraj Narredu 59.5, 3. Daisy Duke
(2) S. John 58.5, 4. Countrys Bloom
(11) A. Imran Khan 57.5, 5. Loveis-
intheair (10) B. Harish 57.5, 6. Ma-
hogany (5) P. Trevor 57.5, 7.
Ignition (4) Rayan Ahmed 57, 8.
Now U Know (8) D. Patel 57, 9. Old
Gold (6) Adarsh 57, 10. Golden
Friend (3) Nitin Singh 56.5 and 11.
Island Pearl (9) Kiran Rai 56.5.
1. Daisy Duke, 2. Royal Serenity,
3. Mahogany
2 KALINADI PLATE (1,600m),
rated 60 & above, 2-15: 1. Mickey
Mouse (5) K. Raghu 63.5, 2. Ambi-
tious Reward (6) A. Sandesh 54.5, 3.
Secret Dimension (3) Arshad Alam
54, 4. Summer Dawn (1) Ramesh
Kumar 54, 5. Supreme Dominator
(4) Suraj Narredu 54, 6. Southern
Fantasy (7) Jagadeesh 52.5 and 7.
Jersey Wonder (2) P.P. Dhebe 51.
56) as Australia lost 10 wickets
for 84 runs after resuming in
the morning at 105 without
loss.
Rising pace talent Kagiso
Rabada took three wickets,
with Steyn grabbing the first of
the day to deny Warner a
century.
Marsh was given out lbw in
the final over before lunch and
the rot continued after the
break.
Adam Voges showed some
SCOREBOARD
South Africa 1st innings: 242.
Australia 1st innings: D.
Warner c Amla b Steyn 97, S. Marsh
lbw b Philander 63, U. Khawaja b Ra-
bada 4, S. Smith lbw b Maharaj 0, A.
Voges c & b Rabada 27, M. Marsh lbw
b Philander 0, P. Nevill c Amla b Maha-
raj 23, M. Starc c du Plessis b Maharaj
0, P. Siddle (not out) 18, J. Hazlewood
c Duminy b Philander 4, N. Lyon c
Elgar b Philander 0; Extras (lb-3,
nb-5): 8; Total (in 70.2 overs): 244.
Fall of wickets: 1-158, 2-167, 3-
168, 4-181, 5-181, 6-202, 7-203, 8-
232, 9-243.
South Africa bowling: Steyn
1. Jersey Wonder,
2. Supreme Dominator,
3. Secret Dimension
3 AGUMBE PLATE (1,200m),
rated 00 to 20, 4-y-o & over, 2-45:
1. Winter Bloom (9) Shobhan 60, 2.
New Era (7) A. Ramu 58.5, 3. An-
gelic Love (5) T.M. Prashanth 57.5,
4. Churchill (6) Irvan Singh 57.5, 5.
High Profile (4) A. Imran Khan 57,
6. Splendid Brave (3) Srinath 56, 7.
Atlantic City (8) Praveen Shinde
55.5, 8. Oriental Belle (2) M. Ku-
mar 54.5 and 9. Resemblance (1)
Jagadeesh 50.5.
1. High Profile, 2. Splendid
Brave, 3. Winter Bloom
4 MADRAS RACE CLUB
TROPHY (1,400m), 3-y-o,
(Terms), 3-15: 1. Royal Sceptre (4)
Cedric Segeon 58.5, 2. Ant-
ananarivo (6) S. John 57, 3. Captain
Morgan (2) P. Trevor 55.5, 4. War
Envoy (7) Srinath 55.5, 5. Admiral
One (5) Suraj Narredu 54, 6. Ari-
zona (3) Jagadeesh 54 and 7. Ser-
ena Ballerina (1) A. Sandesh 50.
1. War Envoy,
2. Captain Morgan,
3. Royal Sceptre
5 MASTER KEY PLATE (Div.
I), (1,200m), rated 15 to 35, 3-45: 1.
Shivalik Girl (7) Mallikarjun 60, 2.
resistance but Rabada caught a
leading edge of his own bowl-
ing to dismiss him for 27.
Mitchell Starc lasted only
six balls before holing out for a
duck of Maharaj, driving to
South Africa captain Faf du
Plessis at midwicket.
Wicketkeeper Peter Nevill
managed 23 before Josh Hazle-
wood (4) and Nathan Lyon,
the fourth duck of the innings,
fell quickly to wrap up the
Australian innings. Reuters
12.4-3-51-1, Philander 19.2-2-56-4,
Rabada 20-1-78-2, Maharaj
18.2-5-56-3.
South Africa 2nd innings: S.
Cook c S. Marsh b Siddle 12, D. Elgar
(batting) 46, H. Amla b Hazlewood 1,
J-P. Duminy (batting) 34; Extras (lb-5,
w-5, nb-1): 11; Total (for two wkts. in
40 overs): 104.
Fall of wickets: 1-35, 2-45.
Australia bowling: Starc 9-4-
18-0, Hazlewood 10-2-31-1, Siddle 8-
4-12-1, Marsh 4-1-11-0, Lyon 9-2-
27-0.
African Emperor (5) R. Marshall
59.5, 3. Brunaldo (2) Syed Imran
58.5, 4. Jack Of Hearts (4) A. Imran
Khan 57.5, 5. Bellerophon (9)
Cedric Segeon 56.5, 6. Bluebird
(10) Kiran Rai 56.5, 7. Florencia (3)
Rayan Ahmed 56.5, 8. Flirting Eyes
(6) Jagadeesh 54.5, 9. Hit Again (8)
R. Pradeep 54 and 10. Bold Runner
(1) P.P. Dhebe 53.5.
1. African Emperor,
2. Bellerophon,
3. Flirting Eyes
6 AIR FORCE TROPHY
(1,400m), rated 30 to 50, 4-15: 1.
Duke Of Clarence (1) P. Trevor 60,
2. Proserpine (9) A. Sandesh 59.5,
3. Super Strong (6) A. Velu 58.5, 4.
Fabulous (7) S. John 58, 5. Fire
Glow (10) A. Imran Khan 57.5, 6.
Lunar Storm (11) Srinath 57.5, 7.
Topaz (2) Darshan 56.5, 8. Ghoonj
(3) Shobhan 55.5, 9. Legacy Dream
(5) R. Pradeep 55, 10. Reczai (8)
Ramesh Kumar 55, 11. Wrekin (4)
Kiran Rai 54.5 and 12. Export Qual-
ity (12) Nitin Singh 53.5.
1. Fire Glow, 2. Proserpine,
3. Fabulous
7 MALAPRABHA PLATE
(1,200m), rated 30 to 50, 4-y-o &
over, 4-45: 1. Ive Got Clout (12) S.
John 60, 2. Afore (11) Janardhan P
59, 3. Ambleside (8) A. Sandesh
We should have won
against Odisha. We had them
on the ropes but the ninth-
wicket pair thwarted our
chances. We are desperate for
a win against Jharkhand.
But certain things, like the
weather, are not in our hands. I
hope there will not be big
delays over the next four
days, he said.
Unmukt put up a brave front
on losing the services of skip-
Bumrah, Axar reinforce Gujarat against Bengal
RAKESH RAO
NEW DELHI: If there was a clash
needed to decide the Group A
leader, it comes up from Sat-
urday when Bengal and Gu-
jarat face of at the Ferozeshah
Kotla ground here.
Armed with 15 points from
three outings, these teams will
be looking for their third vic-
tory of the Ranji Trophy
season over the next four days.
Gujarat, boosted by the re-
turn of Jaspreet Bumrah and
Axar Patel, has reasons to feel
upbeat. It was important for
the team to have a better attack
against Bengal, that bats deep.
Bengal, on the other hand,
will feel the absence of wicket-
keeper-batsman Wriddhiman
58.5, 4. J Gatsby (9) Jagadeesh 58.5,
5. Noble Sapphire (4) R. Pradeep
58.5, 6. Only Princess (2) Suraj
Narredu 57.5, 7. Majestic Style (1)
Srinath 56, 8. Indian Brahmos (7)
Nitin Singh 55, 9. Rapid Advance
(5) P. Surya 55, 10. Atlantis (3) M.
Prabhakaran 54, 11. Cool Springs
(10) Kiran Rai 53 and 12. Ramon (6)
P.P. Dhebe 51.
1. Ambleside, 2. Only Princess,
3. Ive Got Clout
8 TROMBAY
(1,400m), rated 15 to 35, 4-y-o &
PLATE
over, 5-15: 1. Firing Line (12)
Srinath 60, 2. Fotogenic (1) P.P.
Dhebe 60, 3. Goodwill Warrior (2)
Rayan Ahmed 59, 4. Opening Act
(3) P. Trevor 59, 5. Surnaturel (10)
Ashok Kumar 59, 6. Tuscano (4)
A. Imran Khan 59, 7. Helios (9)
Kiran Rai 57.5, 8. Reformer (7) Ir-
van Singh 56, 9. Sharpshooter (8)
Mark 56, 10. Real Generous (5) R.
Pradeep 54.5, 11. Nagarjuna (11)
Adarsh 53 and 12. Pure Esteem (6)
Jagadeesh 50.
1. Fotogenic, 2. Firing Line,
3. Opening Act
Days best: War Envoy
Double: Daisy Duke Fire
Glow
Jkt: 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8; Tr (i): 3, 4 and 5;
(ii): 6, 7 and 8.
against Vidarbha, but it was a
good efort from the boys. If
the weather holds good, it will
be an interesting match.
We know how good Delhi
is. I am banking on our bowlers
to come good again. I am
happy with the way we are
playing now. Of course, there
is scope for improvement,
said Jharkhand captain Saur-
abh Tiwary.
The teams: Jharkhand: Saurabh
Saha, back on National duty.
On the eve of the match, the
teams remembered the match
played here last week that saw
Baroda score 529 and Punjab
respond with 670.
But, I think, we will get a
better pitch that wont be so
much in favour of the bats-
men, said Bengal coach Sairaj
Bahutule. We are aware that
Bumrah and Axar are part of
the Gujarat squad. But we will
focus on our strengths and take
it session by session.
So far, our fast bowlers have good battle featuring some
done the job. Here, I expect the
spinners, too, to come into
play. Our batsmen have done
well in the opportunities
theyve got and the wickets
they played on, he added.
Bold Command triumphs
BENGALURU: Bold Command
(Srinath up) won the Rajyotsava
Trophy, the feature event of the
races held here on Friday (Nov. 4).
The winner is owned by M.A.M.
Ramaswamy Chettiar of Chettinad
Charitable Trust rep. by. Mr. A.C.
Muthiah and trained by S.
Ganapathy.
1. NOVEMBER PLATE (Div.
II), (1,100m), maiden 3-y-o only,
(Terms): Siyouni (Suraj Narredu) 1,
Zafran (P. Trevor) 2, Call Me Maybe
(A. Imran Khan) 3 and Tudor Prince
(Ashok Kumar) 4. Snk, 11 and 3/4. 1m
07.51s. Rs. 37 (w), 14, 12 and 25 (p),
SHP: Rs. 38, FP: Rs. 69, Q: Rs. 34,
Trinella: Rs. 256 and Rs. 184, Exacta:
Rs. 3,927 and Rs. 2,475. Favourite: Za-
fran. Owner: Mrs. Radhika Narredu.
Trainer: S. Narredu.
2. DANDELI PLATE (1,200m),
rated 15 to 35, 5-y-o & over: Celestial
Storm (Ashok Kumar) 1, Rock N
Rolla (Rayan Ahmed) 2, Lovely
Dancer (Janardhan P) 3 and Icepick
Willie (Jagadeesh) 4. Lnk, 3-1/2 and
3-3/4. 1m 14.87. Rs. 274 (w), 38, 14 and
54 (p), SHP: Rs. 34, FP: Rs. 2,040, Q:
Rs. 531, Trinella: Rs. 24,096 and Rs.
6,196, Exacta: Rs. 1,10,858 (carried
over). Favourite: Luc Divine. Owner
and Trainer: Mr. S. Inayathulla.
3. CHICKBALLAPUR PLATE
(1,600m), rated 30 to 50: Watchmy-
script (Zervan) 1, Towering
Heights (S. John) 2, Reference (Suraj
Narredu) 3 and Magistero (P.P.
Dhebe) 4. 5-3/4, Nk and Hd. 1m
37.81s. Rs. 35 (w), 13, 25 and 17 (p),
Tiwary (capt.), Ishan Kishan, S.P.
Gautam, Virat Singh, Ishank Jaggi,
Anand Singh, Kaushal Singh, Praty-
ush Singh, Ajay Yadav, Vikash Singh,
Shahbaz Nadeem, Samar Quadri,
Sunny Gupta and Ashish Kumar.
Delhi: Unmukt Chand (capt.),
Skipper Manoj Tiwary
thought that on the slow and
low track at the Kotla, Amit
Kuila could be replaced by left-
arm spinner Pragyan Ojha,
now fully fit and raring to go.
Bumrah, pleased to be back
for the Ranji campaign, said he
was looking forward to the
challenge. It is always nice to
be playing Ranji Trophy. I
think, it is easier to return to
four-day cricket from one-day-
ers than vice versa.
The match promises to be a
very seasoned pace bowlers in
both camps. R.P. Singh, the
former UP bowler now turning
out for Gujarat, and Bumrah
could present a stif challenge
to the in-form Bengal
SHP: Rs. 64, FP: Rs. 146, Q: Rs. 110,
Trinella: Rs. 493 and Rs. 166, Exacta:
Rs. 2,092 and Rs. 957. Favourite: Ma-
gistero. Owners: M/s. Marthand
Singh Mahindra, Nitin Kumar Adiga
& Irfan Ghatala. Trainer: Irfan
Ghatala.
4. SARB-KLA PLATE
(1,400m), rated 15 to 35: Szable (P.
Trevor) 1, Rare Rhythm (A. Imran
Khan) 2, Tamara (D. Patel) 3 and Per-
fect Prince (Arshad Alam) 4. Not
run: Black Lightning and Celtic Mist.
3/4, 5 and Snk. 1m 29.41s. Rs. 21 (w), 11,
12 and 28 (p), SHP: Rs. 32, FP: Rs. 34,
Q: Rs. 16, Trinella: Rs. 126 and Rs. 92,
Exacta: Rs. 1,569 and Rs. 830. Favour-
ite: Szable. Owners: United Racing &
Bloodstock Breeders Ltd rep by. Mr
& Mrs. Vijay Mallya. Trainer: S.
Attaollahi.
5. GARDEN CITY TROPHY
(Div. I), (1,200m), rated 45 to 65, 4-
y-o & over: Downton Abbey (S.
John) 1, Super Success (T.M. Prash-
anth) 2, Trapezoid (Irvan Singh) 3
and All In (Jagadeesh) 4. 5-1/4, Shd
and 1-1/4. 1m 13.79s. Rs. 20 (w), 10, 19
and 45 (p), SHP: Rs. 62, FP: Rs. 68, Q:
Rs. 51, Trinella: Rs. 586 and Rs. 341,
Exacta: Rs. 9,354. Favourite: Down-
ton Abbey. Owner: Sarainaga Racing
Pvt Ltd. Trainer: Arjun
Mangalorkar.
Note: In this race, following the
Stewards enquiry Life Awaits has
been declared non starter.
6. RAJYOTSAVA TROPHY
(1,400m), 3-y-o & over, (Terms):
Bold Command (Srinath) 1, Ace
Vaibhav Rawal, Milind Kumar, Nitish
Rana, Manan Sharma, Dhruv Shorey,
Rishabh Pant, Mohit Sharma, Pulkit
Narang, Varun Sood, Parvinder
Awana, Navdeep Saini, Pradeep
Sangwan, Pawan Suyal and Vikas
Tokas.
top-order.
Similarly, the Bengal pace at-
tack involving Ashoke Dinda,
Sayan Ghosh or Amit Kuila
could seriously test Parthiv Pa-
tel and his boys.
The teams (from):
Bengal: Manoj Tiwary (capt.) Ab-
himanyu Easwaran, Sayan Mondal,
Sudip Chatterjee, Agniv Pan, Pankaj
Shaw, Pragyan Ojha, Shreevats Gos-
wami, Ayan Bhattacharya, Ashoke
Dinda, Amit Kuila, Writtick Chatter-
jee, Aamir Gani, Ishan Porel and
Prosenjit Das.
Gujarat: Parthiv Patel (capt.),
Manpreet Juneja, Dhruv Rawal, Priy-
ank Panchal, Ishwar Choudhary,
Samit Goel, Axar Patel, Chirag Gandhi,
Chintan Gaga, Bhargav Merai, Jas-
preet Bumrah, Karan Patel, Hardik Pa-
tel, Rush Kalaria and R.P. Singh.
Bucephalus (Suraj Narredu) 2, Sans
Peur (P. Trevor) 3 and Smile Stone
(Jagadeesh) 4. 1, 1-3/4 and 1. 1m 25.33s.
Rs. 49 (w), 19, 21 and 16 (p), SHP: Rs.
58, FP: Rs. 259, Q: Rs. 198, Trinella: Rs.
685 and Rs. 376, Exacta: Rs. 14,862
and Rs. 7,643. Favourite: Booker
Jones. Owners: M.A.M. Ramaswamy
Chettiar of Chettinad Charitable
Trust rep. by. Mr. A.C. Muthiah.
Trainer: S. Ganapathy.
7. GARDEN CITY TROPHY
(Div. II), (1,200m), rated 45 to 65, 4-
y-o & over: Millrose (S. John) 1,
Mariko (Darshan) 2, I Smile (M.
Naveen) 3 and Private Paradise (R.
Girish) 4. 1, 1 and 3/4. 1m 14.27s. Rs. 46
(w), 16, 22 and 31 (p), SHP: Rs. 63, FP:
Rs. 346, Q: Rs. 191, Trinella: Rs. 1,537
and Rs. 723, Exacta: Rs. 17, 873 and Rs.
11,489. Favourite: Akha Teej. Owner:
Irish Racing & Livestock Pvt Ltd.
Trainer: Arjun Mangalorkar.
8. NOVEMBER PLATE (Div.
I), (1,100m), maiden 3-y-o only
(Terms): Romantic Helen (Suraj
Narredu) 1, Santorini Secret
(Srinath) 2, Find (S. John) 3 and
Kristine (Irvan Singh) 4. 5-1/2, 1 and
Nk. 1m 08.18s. Rs. 21 (w), 13, 27 and 62
(p), SHP: Rs. 74, FP: Rs. 125, Q: Rs. 123,
Trinella: Rs. 1,769 and Rs. 654, Ex-
acta: Rs. 1,46,594 (carried over). Fa-
vourite: Romantic Helen. Owner:
Mrs. Shanti Devi. Trainer: Samar
Singh.
Jackpot: Rs. 1,233 (557 tkts.); Run-
ner-up: Rs. 225 (1,308 tkts.); Treble
(i): Rs. 103 (180 tkts.); (ii): Rs. 758 (43
tkts.).

VARIETY
THE HINDU CROSSWORD 11844 (set by Arden) FAITH TODAY'S
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 What successful climbers are? change one goes home (7) 25 Game will weaken over a period Hallmarks of great works SOLUTIONS
(8,6) 14 Climber refuses a spike (5) (7) T E S T I N E MA L L I N S
9 Faith is based on the acceptance of the authority of the
10 Base rule made by 16 Similar state after I depress one
R N R L J A I E
27 Hope chest makes USA so, true Vedas which are considered sacred and believed to be of A U E R O D E R O U S S E T
10 11 mathematician (5) (9) or false? (9) divine origin, and not the outcome or efort of any human
T C C W I I T I
11 Prince consort rejected Nero 19 It's a revelation to watch the P A S T I M E A R C A S S C
becoming recruit (9) batsman (3,6) 28 Here codes essentially being. A R R R X
12 13 12 Natural choice is fear, as 20 Like to choose short dish (5) deteriorate (5) It is also believed that the seers and rishis in the E R A S P I C Y E O P E N E

Upanishads have been endowed with the power to

N R A V P O
pressure becomes constant (7) 22 Body's cold car crashed over 29 Doctor listens, ailment is in the D E N T I C A L I A N A I L
discover and see the Veda mantras which are unmanifest.
13 Woman will animal (7) digestive system (5,9)
S A R T I
14 15 16 17 18 Such divine power or inspiration alone is behind the words S H E L T E R R G A N I C O

and works of great masters, acharyas, seers, poets and

K H O H S O O C
O N S C R I P T U L E R C E
thinkers is what Adi Sankara asserts most emphatically,
SU | DO | KU
A R D N A P E R
19 20 21 pointed out Sri B. Sundarkumar in a discourse. L YMO B I L E U PWA R D

F ACROSS Adi Sankara himself is an example of a compassionate

acharya whose works include not only philosophical
22 23 24 25 26 treatises on the Vedanta but also devotional hymns to
deities that teach one to seek spiritual grace and succour.
In a verse in the Saundarya Lahari, Adi Sankara describes
27 28 the form of the Goddess as pure like the autumnal
moonlight, who wears the moon on her crown made up of
the jada or mass of twisted hair; and of Her hands that
G
DOWN
29 grant all boons and promise protection from fear and also
hold the crystal beads and a book of knowledge.
He asks, how can the poetic works of people, who bowed
to Her and got Her blessings, not be fully charged with the
2 Friends are serious and noble (9) anything not a fool (5) 18 Island oats, say for the goat (9) sweetness of honey, milk and grape juice, analogies that
3 Protective clothing for one is 19 Turns on, in addition almost gets are pure and natural sources of sweetness and benefit all.
8 Draw the line out, not wide The Ramayana is noted for its sublime content and sheer
worn (5) please (7) it (7)
4 Solution code broken work lucidity. It has the power to inspire and confers spiritual Sudoku is a mind game and a
9 Regular urgency? there's bribe 21 Said to be raw yarn (6) puzzle that you solve with
hasn't started (9) grace while the poetic excellences continue to give delight
and kickback (6) 23 Wine and port, sailors cut 50 and aesthetic satisfaction. reasoning and logic.
5 Animals assume name of per cent (5) Fill in the grid with digits in such a
Americans (5) 15 Rating a midshipman as April is Likewise great works are the result of divine inspiration
24 10 per cent support small mug manner that every row, every
6 Players choice short game or stormy (9) that confers on them unsurpassed greatness, sweetness
(5) column and every 3x3 box
art appreciation (9) 17 Transport maybe near, it's fine to and grace. They are valuable assets. This truth accounts accommodates the digits 1 to 9,
7 Girl wearing hardly get tense (9) 26 Uphill without a clue (5) for the strain of humility of the composers. without repeating any.

CM ND-ND
YK
 SPORT | 19
NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016

Verma siblings
in last eight
SAARBRUCKEN (GERMANY): The
Verma brothers Sourabh
and Sameer notched up
straight-game wins to advance
to the mens singles quarterfi-
nals at the $120,000 Bitburger
Open GP Gold badminton
tournament here on Thursday.
The results (pre-quarterfi-
nals): Mens singles: Sourabh
Verma bt Ihsan Maulana Mustofa
(Ina) 21-11, 22-20; Sameer Verma bt
Kieran Merrilees (Sco) 21-17, 21-17.
Mixed doubles: Kian Meng Tan &
Pei Jing Lai (Mas) bt Prajakta Sawant
& Yogendran Khrishnan (Mas) 21-15,
21-11. PTI
Balaji-Prashanth
pair bows out
CANBERRA: Fourth seeds Sriram
Balaji and Vijay Sundar Prash-
anth were beaten 7-6(4), 7-5 by
second seeds Luke Saville and
Jordan Thompson of Australia
in the doubles semifinals of the
$50,000 mens Challenger ten-
nis tournament on Friday.
The results: $50,000 Chal-
lenger men, Canberra, Australia.
Doubles (semifinals): Luke Saville
& Jordan Thompson (Aus) bt Sriram
Balaji & Vijay Sundar Prashanth 7-6
(4), 7-5.
$10,000 ITF men, Thu Dau Mot
City, Vietnam Singles (quarterfi-
nals): Evan Song (US) bt Sasi Kumar
Mukund 7-6(3), 7-5.
$10,000 ITF men, Sharm El
Sheikh, Egypt: Doubles
(quarterfinals): Issam Haitham
Taweel (Egy) & Mateusz Terczynski
(Pol) bt Vladyslav Orlov (Ukr) &
Aryan Goveas 4-6, 6-1, [11-9].
Sports Bureau
India makes
final stage
BILBAO (SPAIN): The Indian colts
reached the final stage of the
BWF World junior mixed
team badminton champion-
ship after thrashing France 3-0
in their play-of group G-1
match on Friday.
Mahima Aggarwal and
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy de-
feated Delphine Delrue and
Thom Gicquel 21-14, 23-21.
Lakshya Sen then edged out
Toma Junior Popov 21-16, 23-
21. In womens singles, Aakar-
shi Kashyap rallied back to
score a 23-25, 21-15, 21-12 win
over Yaelle Hoyaux. PTI
Cilic dumps Djokovic
TENNIS / Murray two wins away from the No. 1 spot
PARIS: Marin Cilic dumped a
struggling Novak Djokovic out
of the Paris Masters quarterfi-
nals on Friday to pave the way
for Andy Murray to become
the new World No.1.
Cilic had lost all 14 previous
meetings with Djokovic but
cast the Serbs 122-week reign
at the top of the rankings into
serious doubt with a 6-4, 7-6
(2) victory.
Earlier in the third round,
Murray advanced demolish-
ing Frances Lucas Pouille 6-3,
6-0.
The Scot next plays Czech
seventh seed Tomas Berdych
who ousted Frenchman Gilles
Simon 6-4, 6-3.
I thought I returned well
today. I had chances in almost
all of his service games
throughout the match, said
Murray. On this surface,
when its a bit quicker, thats
good. If you can get a lot of re-
turns back in play, it puts pres-
sure on the server.
Local favourite Jo-Wilfried
Tsonga overcame a woeful
start to down Japanese fifth
seed Kei Nishikori 0-6, 6-3,
7-6(3).
Djokovic, Murray, Stan
Wawrinka, Raonic, Nishikori
and Gael Monfils have already
qualified for the November 13-
MRC chairman striving to make Chennai a premier racing centre again
M.O. BADSHA
CHENNAI: The Madras Race Club
(MRC)s immediate past was tense
and turbulent, but the future looks
bright and rosy, said R.
Ramakrishnan (RK), chairman of
the club, in an interview on
Thursday, when the local racing
season got under way.
It was an encouraging start to
the season. Many railbirds were
happy with the fair and clean
competition and despite being
mid-week, the response was good
reminding one of MRCs pristine
glory, he said.
Though Dr. M.A.M. Ramaswamy,
a doyen of racing and the second-
biggest owner this side of Asia
(after the Maktoum brothers of
Dubai), brought a lot of glory to
MRC, thanks to his passion for the
sport, somewhere he lost control
and decay slowly set in.
PRIZE SCALP: Croatias Marin Cilic, who had lost all 14 previous
meetings with Novak Djokovic, cast the Serbs 122-week reign
at the top of the rankings into serious doubt with a
memorable win. PHOTO: AFP
20 tournament in London.
The results:
Quarterfinals: Marin Cilic bt
Novak Djokovic 6-4, 7-6(2); John Is-
ner bt Jack Sock 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-4.
Third round: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
After years of decline and
monopolistic racing, RK and his
dedicated committee members are
sparing no efforts to take racing to
greater heights and make Chennai
a premier centre once again.
Encouraged by the tremendous
success of the Invitation Cup held
in March, they are striving to get
MRC its rightful place among the
Turf authorities. It is a gigantic
task to set right the disorder but
am confident of reaching the goal
in the near future said RK.
Top-class facilities
Guindy had the best of facilities
but somehow lost its place for
strange reasons.
There was a time when one
could boast of its best analytical
lab, veterinary hospital, spacious
stables and the expanse of the
course.
The champion English jockey,
bt Kei Nishikori 0-6, 6-3, 7-6(3).
Andy Murray bt Lucas Pouille 6-3,
6-0; Isner bt Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4,
6-7(4), 6-3.
Tomas Berdych bt Gilles Simon
6-4, 6-3. AFP
R. Ramakrishnan, chairman,
Madras Race Club.
PHOTO: M. SATHYAMOORTHI
Lester Piggott, who won the
Invitation Cup race here in the
1980s certified that the course was
world class, adding he had never
ridden in a better racecourse
anywhere in the world.
The track then used to be
shipshape, well watered and safest.
No one to blame
for Hughess
death: coroner
SYDNEY: A minuscule
misjudgement by
Australian Phillip Hughes
when facing a bouncer
led to his death, a coroner
ruled on Friday, saying
neither the bowler nor
anyone else was to blame
for the tragedy.
Hughes died from
bleeding on the brain in
November 2014 after
being hit on the neck by a
rising ball in a domestic
match here. A minuscule
misjudgement or a slight
error of execution caused
him to miss the ball
which crashed into his
neck with fatal
consequences, said
NSW coroner Michael
Barnes in his findings.
There was no suggestion
the ball was bowled with
malicious intent. Neither
the bowler nor anyone
else was to blame. He
added his death would
not have been prevented
even if he was wearing
more modern head
protection, and a quicker
medical response would
have made no diference
to the unsurvivable
injuries. AFP
Top trainers and jockeys plied their
trade and exhibited their skills.
Champion thoroughbreds
produced rich fare and the
composition of the Board of
Stewards was of high order.
Doyens like M.A. Chidambaram,
Zamindar of Chikkavaram, P.T.
Rajan, Kumararaja of Chettinad, K.
Srinivasan, G. Narasimhan, G.
Kasturi, S. Rangarajan and J.
Thomas, with the assistance of
competent officials like D.R. Dogra,
R.C. Chaube and R.M. Seth, ensured
top drawer racing.
RK, who is passionate about the
sport, has liked horses from his
riding days. From a racing journalist
to a turf administrator, he became
the youngest steward in 1972.
He has the distinction of being
the only committee member to be
elected as steward of two turf
authorities (Madras and Bangalore)
at the same time. His dedication
CHESS
Vijayalakshmi and Padmini
keep winning
RAKESH RAO
NEW DELHI: Defending cham-
pion Padmini Rout and six-
time winner S. Vijayalakshmi
won, again in contrasting
ways, to stay ahead following
another day of engrossing
battles in the National
womens chess championship
here on Friday.
Like on the opening day, the
second round, too, saw four
decisive games beginning with
Vijayalakshmis conquest of
Swati Ghate in a 30-move
battle involving two of the old-
est players in the fray.
Padmini, again like on Fri-
day, was made to battle for
over five hours. After Pratuy-
sha Bodda, it was the turn of 15-
year-old R. Vaishali to make
Padmini work hard for a vic-
tory in their Ruy Lopez game.
Padmini, up two pawns in
the end game, was surprised to
find Vaishali play on from the
59th to the 77th move, hoping
to escape with an improbable
draw.
Vijayalakshmi, playing
white, was never under any
threat from Swati. Following
the opening lines of Tar-
takower and Modern Defence,
Vijayalakshmi gained from a
and loyalty have won him
widespread respect and popularity
in his four decades of stewardship.
Improved infrastructure
Now in his second innings as
chairman, RKs priorities are to
improve the infrastructure, give a
facelift to stands, improve facilities
for the public, constitute an
arbitrary tribunal, appoint auditors
to cancel membership of those
who have got in through
irregularities and enforce the rules
strictly.
The pot of gold which racing is
entitled to receive from the bets
suddenly vanished as the poor
mans betting window was giving
little to no returns.
The thrill of wagering was lost
over a period of time. So one of RKs
first tasks is to introduce a state-of-
the art totaliser.
He is happy that the turnover is
Padmini Rout.
tactical stroke that saw her
gain a rook for a knight and a
central pawn. Soon thereafter,
Swati gave up.
Interesting battle
Soumya Swaminathan and
M. Mahalakshmi were locked
in an interesting battle in Sym-
metrical English. After a series
of exchanges, Soumya man-
aged to establish a queenside
passed pawn. Mahalakshmi re-
alised the futility of continuing
and resigned after 42 moves.
Top seed Eesha Karavade
tamed Pratyusha Bodda in 48
growing and the collection in every
pool is going up by the day.
His ambition is to see that the
Club is second to none and educate
the public that racing is not
gambling but a sport of skill.
Every horse is tried and the best
horse wins. To make the fields
competitive, the club is throwing
open races by extending the
deadline for outstation horses to
arrive and increase the stakes.
The MRC is stepping up stakes
for youngsters which will put other
centres to shame.
As the season progresses there
will be high quality racing with
wider participation from outstation
horses. There are also plans to start
a racing academy and revive the
apprentice jockey school.
Initiating steps to ensure
quality horses are available in
Chennai, the annual auction sales is
being revived, he concluded.
moves. It was a keenly fought
battle until Eeshas two con-
nected passed pawns on the
queenside clearly gave her the
edge. Pratyusha rightly
gauged the potential of Eeshas
extra pawns and gave up.
P. Bala Kannamma almost
joined the two leaders but
missed an opportunity to beat
Kiran Manisha Mohanty. Bala
traded her crucial knight on
the 44th move for a bishop and
thereafter, a relieved Kiran
played on till 92 moves to sal-
vage half a point. Kolkata-
mates Mary Ann Gomes and
Nisha Mohota drew 26 moves
in an unclear position after an
intriguing position was fol-
lowing Reti Opening.
The results (second round): S.
Vijayalakshmi (2) bt Swati Ghate (0)
in 30 moves; Padmini Rout (2) bt R.
Vaishali (0) in 77 moves; Soumya
Swaminathan (1.5) bt M. Mahalak-
shmi (1) in 42 moves; Eesha Kara-
vade (1.5) bt Pratyusha Bodda (0) in
48 moves; P. Bala Kannamma (1.5)
drew with Kiran Manisha Mohanty
(0.5) in 92 moves; Mary Ann Gomes
(0.5) drew with Nisha Mohota (1) in
26 moves.
Third round pairings: Praty-
usha-Mary; Vaishali-Eesha; Kiran-
Padmini; Swati-Bala; Soumya-Vijay-
alakshmi; Nisha-Mahalakshmi.
Carolina Marin
aims to return
at China Open
MADRID: Rio Olympic gold
medal-winning shuttler Car-
olina Marin will aim to return
to her prime form and fitness
when she takes part in the
China Open Superseries start-
ing from November 15.
Marin, who had recovered
from the thigh injury and gast-
roenteritis that hampered her
performance at last months
Denmark Open, said on
Thursday that she is ready to
give her best shot in the up-
coming events. The Spaniard
lost in the semifinals to Japans
Akane Yamaguchi 15-21, 21-19,
18-21. I forced it a little, but
this week Im back training
and Im now eager for the next
tournament I have in China,
Marin said. IANS

FOOTBALL Prithviraj Treat every game like a final:

Struggling NorthEast looking to
upset formidable Mumbai City
AMITABHA DAS SHARMA
GUWAHATI: With form deserting
it after a bright start, host
NorthEast United FC is look-
ing for desperate measures
ahead of its eighth outing of
the Indian Super League
which will be against an in-
from Mumbai City FC.
Two successive losses at
home, against Chennaiyin FC
and Atletico de Kolkata here at
the Indira Gandhi Stadium,
have seen the host slump to
the fifth position after ruling
the top for a record 25 days.
Coach Nelo Vingada lamen-
ted on the luck factor and the
need for a greater efort from
his players to wrest ascend-
ence, which would be possible
only if the team wins in its fifth
outing on the home turf.
CRICKET
Injury problems and a mis-
firing attack-line have been
the major reasons bothering
the hosts, while the visitors are
looking to
scale the
rungs with a
new-found
enthusiasm
generated
around their
marquee
player Diego Forlan.
Mumbai Citys fortunes
soared owing to its perform-
ance in the last two away
matches where it picked up
four points from a win (against
Atletico de Kolkata) and a
draw (with Chennaiyin FC).
Even after crossing the half-
way stage, the league is still
evenly balance, with only six
points separating the top and
bottom-placed teams.
Mumbai may have the ad-
vantage here with an interna-
tional star striker like Forlan
urging the team to play more
ofensive. The Uruguayan
World Cupper, though slowed
down a lot compared to his
prime playing days, inspires
the creative aspect of Mum-
bais game which is further
augmented by the presence of
the Haitian Sony Norde,
Brazilian Leo Costa, Hun-
garian Krisztian Vadocz and
Argentine Matias Defederico,
the last-named uncertain ow-
ing to an injury.
Mumbais Costa Rican
coach Alexandre Guimaraes
drew strength from the con-
sistency his side has shown
since the start.
The team, which is cur-
rently tied with Atletico de
Kolkata on 12 points on top of
the charts, has never dropped
out of the top-half.
Main worry
For Vingada, the main
worry has been in the ofens-
ive where Uruguayan Emili-
ano Alfaro finds himself alone
most of the occasion. Argen-
tine Noclas Velez is nursing an
injury, while the doughty
Costa Rican Romaric, who is
another key man in the central
midfield, is also not in the best
of fitness.
Given the situation,
Vingada will have to string to-
gether a side that could sustain
the pressure of Mumbais on-
slaughts while creating op-
portunities for itself to regain
the winning form.
misses chance
for a medal
SPORTS BUREAU
ABU DHABI: Overnight leader
Prithviraj Tondaiman lost the
race for a medal in shoot-of
after the semifinals in mens
trap in the 6th Asian Shotgun
Championship in Abu Dhabi
on Friday.
After shooting 75 out of 75 in
the first three rounds,
Prithviraj stumbled to 22 and
24 this morning, but made the
knock-out phase comfortably
with a total of 121.
In the semifinals, he shot 12
and lost the tie-shoot 4-5 to
Abdulrahman Al Faihan of
Kuwait, competing as an In-
dependent Shooting
Participant (ISP).
However, the Indian trio of
Zoravar Singh Sandhu (119)
and Kynan Chenai (115), along
with Prithviraj, managed to
bag the team silver behind the
Independent Participants
who swept the individual
medals.
Former World champion
NEUFC coach to his players
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
GUWAHATI: The players need to
put extra efort and treat every
game like a final, said North-
East United FC coach Nelo
Vingada ahead of his teams
meeting against Mumbai City
FC.
Tomorrow [Saturday] is a
crucial game for us. If we are
targeting the classification
stage (semifinals), I would be
looking for something more
from the players. They need to
play like they are playing in the
final, said Vingada.
We may have made some
suicidal mistakes in the last
two matches, but on the whole,
our game has been quite orga-
nised. I am generally satisfied
with the way we have played,
he added.
Vingada, while stressing
that the side had not been for-
BASKETBALL
There is a
matter of luck
and we (NEUFC)
have been unlucky.
Nelo Vingada
tunate despite putting in its
best in the last few rounds,
hoped for better luck in the
second leg.
There is a matter of luck
and we have been unlucky. I
feel a lot of teams have been
lucky at diferent stages, said
Vingada.
About the ISL, the Por-
tuguese coach was balanced in
his assessment. The mistakes
by the referees are part of the
game and there have been mis-
takes from our side as well.
Mistakes happen and some
sides gain, but till now, we
havent had the benefit of any-
thing, he said.
Consistency, the key
Mumbai City coach Alexan-
dre Guimaraes said consist-
ency was the sides strength.
From our first game, we
have been in the top four. We
will try very hard to keep that
position. The teams are now
starting to play with a greater
tempo and we are fighting to
keep our rhythm intact. We
have to continue in the same
vein, Guimaraes said.
The Costa Rican said his
players have risen well to the
challenge. I am very pleased. I
had told the squad before the
season that everyone has to be
ready at all times in this kind of
league. They are all prepared
and none has disappointed us.
We can count on all of them in
each position, he said.

Abhishek Nayar Resilience personified Khaled Almudhaf won the

AMOL KARHADKAR
MYSORE: When Abhishek Nayar
banged his head on the ground
while fielding during the 2014-
15 Ranji Trophy semifinal,
some in the Mumbai cricket
fraternity wondered whether
that would be the last straw in
the all-rounders First Class
career.
A string of injuries, ordinary
form and very low confidence-
levels meant Nayar had, not
for the first time, reached a
nowhere to go situation.
Cut to Friday and the all-
rounder is not only the most
experienced but also the most
respected member of the
Mumbai squad.
After playing a stellar role in
Mumbais 41st Ranji Trophy ti-
tle last season, Nayar has
bailed the team out with the
bat and ball in each of its three
games so far.
No wonder he recalled the
horrific three seasons without
breaking his voice even once.
Its the worst place to be
in, Nayar says, referring to
the nowhere to go situation,
before breaking into a smile.
Luckily I have been through it
so much in my career that it
kind of helps. I am not doing
well or getting dropped or be-
ing told that I am not good
CM
YK
Praveen Amres return re-
stored his confidence in the
following season and Nayar
was back in his best frame of
mind at the beginning of
2015-16.
It was possible due to a
frank chat with coach
Chandrakant Pandit and chief
selector Milind Rege told him
they believed in him.
Captain Aditya Tare passed
on a variety of responsibilities,
including making youngsters
comfortable, on to Nayars
shoulders.
That has resulted in Nayars
reincarnation as a vital cog in
Mumbais change room.
FIGHTING SPIRIT: Abhishek Nayar has not let the several ups and Besides the mentoring roles,
downs in his career affect his determination or confidence. Nayar also returned to the role
PHOTO: AKHILESH KUMAR of the No. 7 batsman, with the
burden of batting with the tail.
enough. I have heard it Jharkhand (in 2013-14) and in I just enjoy it. To be honest,
enough, so I think it doesnt the following game, I was when I was in school, I used to
hurt me as much as it should. dropped as skipper, he said. love batting with the tail. You
Barring the last two seasons, I think Sulu (then coach Su- get a free hand. I know people
including the ongoing one, and lakshan Kulkarni) wasnt very think its a lot of pressure but
the dream run of the first six happy with me which is its actually no pressure, he
years in the Mumbai camp, okay, he never liked me and said.
Nayar had a rough three-year I have never had a problem Theres no pressure be-
patch in between. with that, so it automatically cause the opposition is kind of
He was appointed captain, showed in his decisions. defending against you and try-
only to be stripped of it after a That time I had kind of lost ing to get the other person out,
solitary game, followed by a my confidence as to whether so you have all the liberty to go
string of injuries. What really the team management had after them and play your shots.
caused the lull? confidence in me because I Yes, execution becomes a
I think the most insecurity had put in a lot of efort in the problem but I think I have al-
was when I led the side against past three years. ways enjoyed that.
gold 14-13 against Talal
Alrashidi.
Interestingly, Khaled won
the shoot-of with Savate
Sresthaporn of Thailand to be
eligible for the gold match
after being tied on 13 in the
semifinals. He had topped the
qualification with 122.
Zoravar Singh Sandhu also
tumbled in the fourth round
with a score of 22, and
eventually placed seventh
with a total of 119, as he missed
the final by one point.
The young Olympian Kynan
Chenai kept improving with
rounds of 21, 23, 24 and 25, but
slipped to 22 on the last round.
He had conceded much
ground in the first three
rounds to be able to fight for a
final berth.
Seema Tomar had given a
vibrant start to the Indian
challenge with the womens
trap silver and the team gold
along with Shreyasi Singh and
Rajeshwari Kumari.
The results:
Mens trap: 1. Khaled Almudhaf
(ISP) 14 (13) 1 (122); 2. Talal Alrashidi
(ISP) 13(14) 121; 3. Abdulrahman Al
Faihan (ISP) 13 (12) 5 (120); 4. Savate
Sresthaporn (Tha) 12 (13) 0 (121).
5. Prithviraj Tondaiman 12(4) 121;
7. Zoravar Singh Sandhu 119; 16.
Kynan Chenai 115.
Team: 1. Independent Shooting
Participants 363; 2. India 355; 3. Le-
banon 351.
Durant dazzles as Warriors best Thunder
LOS ANGELES: Kevin Durants
39-point display lifted the
Golden State Warriors to a
122-96 victory over the Ok-
lahoma City Thunder on
Thursday in the first clash be-
tween Durant and his former
NBA team.
Amid speculation as to just
what the meeting between
Durant and former teammate
Russell Westbrook would
look like, the Warriors ended
the suspense by halftime.
Durant scored 29 points in
the first half as the Warriors
erased an early deficit to took
a 68-43 halftime lead.
He matched his career high
with seven three-pointers,
pulled down seven rebounds
and blocked a shot as the
Warriors handed Westbrook
and the Thunder their first
defeat of the young season
after four straight victories.
LeBron James scored 20 of
his season-high 30 points in
the third period and added 12
assists for the Cavaliers, who
are 5-0 for the first time since
the 1976-77 season when they
started 8-0.
The results: Orlando 102 bt Sac-
ramento 94; Milwaukee 125 bt
Indiana 107; Denver 102 bt Min-
nesota 99; Cleveland 128 bt Boston
122; Golden State 122 bt Oklahoma UNSTOPABLE: Kevin Durant, with 39 points, was the man of the
City 96. Agencies moment for the Golden State Warriors. PHOTO: AFP
ND-ND
20
| THE HINDU SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016
Mars rover spots meteorite
A globular, golf-ball-size object discovered by
NASAs Curiosity rover on Mars has been
confirmed as a rare iron-nickel meteorite.
International bloggers
to showcase Goa
PRAKASH KAMAT
PANAJI: The Goa Tourism
Development Corporation
Limited is set to welcome
15 global travel bloggers to
the State this month to
showcase the rich cultural
diversity, history, food, ad-
venture and experience of
the State.
The event, billed as Es-
cape2Goa, partners with
social enterprise, Leave
UR Mark, and is expected
to digitally reach 4.5 mil-
lion people across 30 coun-
tries, five languages and
eight diferent social media
platforms, said a spokes-
person for Goa Tourism.
The bloggers will expe-
rience the best of Goa its
heritage, hinterlands, cul-
ture and cuisine.
The bloggers tour in-
cludes the forts of Tiracol,
Reis Magos, Cabo de Rama,
insights into Goas heritage
sites at Old Goa, the Heri-
tage walk at Fontainhas,
visits to old Goan houses,
churches and temples, ad-
venture tourism and Goa
Tourisms new initiatives,
spice plantations, wellness
and spas aside from the
famed beaches.
Some other highlights of
the trip will be cooking
classes from Goas top
chefs, sunrise yoga on the
beach, trekking through
sanctuaries, cycling
through villages, stay at a
heritage home stay and vol-
Global conservation team visits Odishas Bhitarkanika park
KENDRAPARA (ODISHA): A two-
member technical evalu-
ation mission team of Inter-
national Union for Conser-
vation of Nature (IUCN),
deputed by UNESCO,
visited the Bhitarkanika Na-
tional Park on Friday.
The visit is to perform
field assessment of the
unique mangrove ecosystem
of the park, which figured on
the tentative list of future
heritage sites of UNESCO in
2009 and made its way to the
final list in 2014. The na-
tional park presently figures
in the listed of protected
wetlands under the Ramsar
Convention.
The Odisha government
had submitted a dossier,
compiled by Dehradun-
based Wildlife Institute of
Goa gets set for
Paradise run
PRAKASH KAMAT
PANAJI: Goa is set to witness
the sporting spectacle
Paradise Trails, one of the
States most challenging run-
ning events, on November 12.
Organised by Uphill EMG,
a company with repute in the
sporting scene in the coun-
try, and supported by Goa
Tourism, Paradise Trails Goa
will cover beaches and deep
forests, all the way to peaks
with majestic views.
Organisers said they ex-
pected 55-60 participants
from within the country and
abroad in this first-of-its-
kind race in the tourist hub.
Runners will embark on a
journey expected to be a
unique experience. The
trails ofer a variety of as-
cents and descents akin to
some of the hill and moun-
tain races conducted in Eu-
rope where runners need to
be fully aware of the natural
obstacles. They will also
have to adapt themselves to
the challenging nature of the
trails.
Another highlight is that
the trails will lead runners
through two wildlife sanctu-
aries Netravali, situated in
the Sanguem taluk in Eastern
Goa and Cotigao, located in
the Canacona taluk in South
Goa. The reserves are home
to some of the magnificent
animals, birds and foliage.
Runners will be making
their way under a canopy of
trees that grow as tall as 40-
50 feet. The highest altitude
the runners are required to
conquer comes up to about
350 feet at a hill called Ravan
Dongar.
The race comprises two
challenging segments 25K
Trail Run and 101K Ultra
Trail Run.
CM
YK
The forts of Tiracol,
Reis Magos and
Cabo de Rama, and
Goan churches are
part of the itinerary
unteering with children to
empower them through
art.
The 15 adventure, food
and luxury bloggers in-
clude Brian Baldrati from
Brazil, Nicola Easterby
from Australia, Brendan
Van Son and Scott Rankin
from Canada, Claudia Ay-
uso, Maria Cadepe and
Melo from Spain, Kirsten
Alana and Erin Marie from
United States, Sofiya Ben-
zakour from Morocco,
Bouchra Benhalima from
Dubai, Nienke Krook from
Netherlands, Emilie
Franzo and Megane from
France and Alex Tienda
from Mexico.
We are excited to have
bloggers experience Goas
rich cultural heritage.
Through food and nature
and luxury, the bloggers
will share authentic first-
hand travel tips and show-
case Goa in totally unique
ways, said Nikhil Desai,
Managing Director of Goa
Tourism Development
Corporation.
The blogs will be pro-
moted across social media
platforms with hashtag es-
cape2goa between
November 12 and 22.
India, recommending to
UNESCO that the park be
declared a World Heritage
Site.
In 1984, UNESCO had de-
clared the Sun Temple at
Konark in Odisha as a World
Heritage Site.
We hope Bhitarkanika
gets the tag on merit and the
visit of IUCN team is a move
towards this direction. This
will enable the park to get
more funding from the gov-
ernment and international
agencies and will also attract
more tourists, said Bimal
Prasanna Acharya, divi-
sional forest oicer, Rajn-
agar mangrove (wildlife)
forest division.
Mr. Acharya said the local
economy would receive a
boost if the park was de-
Burning bright
FACE TO FACE: A boy watches tiger Tabea through a glass pane in the zoo in Frankfurt, Germany, on Friday. PHOTO: AP
Zebrafish ofers hope for spinal cord repair
WASHINGTON: The Zebrafish,
which can completely regen-
erate its severed spinal cord,
might hold promise for re-
search into tissue repair in
humans, researchers said on
Thursday.
Scientists are looking at
one protein in particular that
is key to this accomplish-
ment in the fish, the re-
searchers said.
This is one of nature's
most remarkable feats of re-
generation, said the studys
senior investigator Kenneth
Poss, a professor of cell bio-
logy at Duke University.
Given the limited number
of successful therapies avail-
able today for repairing lost
tissues, we need to look to
Want to beat facial recognition?
Accessorize with geeky glasses C
Researchers show that biometric systems can be fooled into misidentification
ALEX HERN
A
team of research-
ers from Pitts-
burghs Carnegie
Mellon University
have created sets of eye-
glasses that can prevent
wearers from being identi-
fied by facial recognition
systems, or even fool the
technology into identifying
them as completely unre-
lated individuals.
In their paper, Accessorize
to a crime: Real and stealthy
attacks on state-of-the-art
face recognition, presented
at the 2016 Computer and
Communications Security
conference, the researchers
present their system for what
they describe as physically
realisable and inconspicu-
ous attacks on facial bio-
metric systems, which are
designed to exclusively
identify a particular
individual.
The attack works by taking
advantage of diferences in
how humans and computers
understand faces. By se-
lectively changing pixels in
an image, its possible to
leave the human-compre-
hensible facial image largely
unchanged, while flummox-
ing a facial recognition sys-
tem trying to categorise the
person in the picture.
ECOLOGICAL HOTSPOT: Bhitarkanika Park in Odisha is a favoured destination for migratory birds
such as the ruddy shelduck. FILE PHOTO: LINGARAJ PANDA
clared a heritage site.
M. Doak and Remco van
Merm, members of the
IUCN technical evaluation
team, said, The dossier
provided to us by Odisha
government has presented
graphic details of Bhitarkani-
Scientists in U.S. are
studying one protein
that helps the fish
regenerate severed
spinal cord
animals like zebrafish for
new clues about how to stim-
ulate regeneration, said
Prof. Poss, whose study was
published in the journal
Science.
When the severed spinal
cord of the zebrafish under-
goes regeneration, a bridge
forms.
Nerve cells follow and
within eight weeks new
nerve tissue has plugged the
gap, allowing the fish to re-
LIFE
Earthworm sets a record in U.K.
An earthworm measuring 40 cm and weighing
26 gm has wriggled into the record books as
the largest ever found in the U.K.
Patterns printed on eyewear frames can make it difficult for
computers to identify faces. FILE PHOTO: K.R. DEEPAK
Where the researchers ive. The glasses were able to
struck gold was the realisa- fool both commercial facial
tion that a large (but not recognition software Face++,
overly large pair of glasses) as well as a more specific
could act to change the model trained exclusively on hybrids of fashion and anti-
pixels even in a real photo. five researchers and five surveillance tech.
By picking a pair of geek celebrities.
frames, with relatively large
rims, the researchers were Impersonation too
able to obscure about 6.5 per With just the pair of
cent of the pixels in any given glasses on their faces, the re-
facial picture. Printing a pat- searchers were able to suc-
tern over those frames then cessfully prevent the soft-
had the efect of manipulat- ware from recognising their
ing the image. faces at all, as well as imper-
But because computers sonate each other and ce-
dont read faces the same lebrities including Milla
way people do, the patterns Jovovich and Carson Daly.
printed over the frames look The work is not without its
to an untrained eye like a limitations. The researchers
regular, if garish, tortoise- warn that the variations in
shell pattern. imaging conditions that we
The end result is impress- investigate in this work are
kas rich flora and fauna fringes of the forest area.
along with its unique man- The team plans to tour the
grove ecosystem. We are vis- core area of the national park
iting today and would stay and the surrounding water
here for four days to assess bodies. Wheelers Island and
the biodiversity. the Gahirmatha marine
The team interacted with sanctuary are also on the it-
local residents living on the inerary.
verse their paralysis com- many genes, and human
pletely, the Poss team CTGF protein is nearly 90
reported. percent similar in its amino
To figure out what is going acid components to that of
on, scientists searched for all zebra fish.
of the genes whose activity Inserting human CTGF
abruptly changed after into the injury site in fish
spinal cord injury. helped the regeneration
Seven of these were found process. The fish go from
to code for proteins secreted paralysed to swimming in
from cells. the tank. The efect of the
One of these proteins, protein is striking, said
called CTGF connective Mayssa Mokalled, a postdoc-
tissue growth factor was toral fellow in Prof. Posss
intriguing because its levels group. But CTGF alone is
rose in supporting cells that probably not enough for peo-
formed the bridge in the first ple to regenerate their spinal
two weeks following injury. cords, the team said.
When the protein was de- The process is more com-
leted genetically, those fish plex in mammals, in part be-
failed to regenerate. cause scar tissue forms
People and zebrafish share around an injury. AFP
narrower than can be en-
countered in practice.
The researchers took pho-
tos in a room with no ex-
ternal windows to control
lighting, for instance. But
they point out that many
uses of facial recognition
software, including biomet-
ric entry to a building, have
similarly limited variations.
In other cases, that control
is lost, of course: An attacker
may not be able to control
the lighting or her distance
from the camera when [a fa-
cial recognition system] is
deployed in the street for
surveillance purposes, the
researchers say.
The CMU team arent the
first to demonstrate unusual
Artist and technologist
Adam Harvey first
demonstrated his CV Dazzle
face-detection camouflage
in 2010, which is subtle in its
own way: rather than trying
the disguise the anti-surveil-
lance system as conventional
eyewear, Mr. Harvey hides it
in plain sight. Bold makeup
and hairstyles serve to bale
facial recognition techno-
logy while appearing to a hu-
man observer not as a sub-
versive anti-tech kit, but as
an outlandish style choice.
Guardian News Service
The biodiversity, ecosys-
tem and local human hab-
itation and socio-economic
condition of locals and their
dependence on forest pro-
duce will be assessed.
Bhitarkanika is a unique
ecosystem, highly dynamic
and at the same time fragile.
The delta, the river mouth,
the sea, mangrove forest,
avian fauna, reptiles, am-
phibians and fauna and flora
contribute to the parks bio-
logical diversity.
In 1974, the Ministry of
Forests, in collaboration
with UNDP, had started a
crocodile hatchery project at
Dangmal in the park.
The crocodile population
in the park has increased
from 96 in 1974 to 1,665 this
January. PTI
Model, DJ and grandfather
Meet the 80-year-old Chinese making waves on and off the ramp
DIDI KIRSTEN TATLOW
BEIJING: Before cranking up
the techno music at his 80th
birthday party, the man
known as Chinas hottest
grandpa paused from his DJ
duties to poke fun at the
countrys staid traditional
celebrations for the elderly.
I should wear a long robe,
with the word longevity
embroidered on the front,
the birthday boy, Wang De-
shun, said at his party in
September. Far from looking
frail, the silver-haired actor,
model and artist wore a crisp
white shirt and black jeans,
his back straight and his eyes
glittering with humour.
Two young maidens
should help me into an old-
style wooden chair, he add-
ed, pretending to hobble.
Determined to avoid men-
tal and physical stagnation,
Wang has explored new
skills and ideas while devot-
ing ample time to daily exer-
cise. Last year, he walked the
runway for the first time, his
physique causing a national
sensation. He takes obvious
joy in subverting Chinas im-
age of what it means to be
old. Wang has not escaped
being called grandpa he
has two children and a two-
year-old granddaughter
but the honorific is accom-
panied by accolades for his
vigour and his embrace of
the new.
Grandpa, youre my idol!
one admirer wrote on
Wangs Weibo social media
account, one of thousands of
similar comments.
Sex appeal is part of the
mix. Grandpa, your stom-
ach is so gorgeous! Incred-
ibly handsome! another
person wrote next to a photo
NOIDA/DELHI
Curb online food marketing to children
Governments must do more to protect children
from sophisticated online methods used to
market unhealthy foods, the WHO has said.
STAR TREK
Sood-starrer Chinas official entry to Oscars
hina has selected historical adventure film Xuanzang, which
also stars Bollywood actor Sonu Sood, as its official entry
for the 89th Academy Awards.
The 43-year-old star, who is making his
debut in the Chinese film industry with the
movie, is playing the character named
Harsha. Sonu shared the news on Twitter
and posted his look from the film. Xuanzang
an official entry to Oscars. Fingers crossed, he
wrote.
Directed by Huo Jianqi, it also stars Indian
actors Neha Sharma and Ali Fazal. Sonu
is also part of the Indo-Chinese co-
production Kung Fu Yoga starring
Jackie Chan in the lead role. The
project is a part of a three-film
agreement signed between India and
China during Chinese President Xi
Jinpings visit to the country. PTI
Modi-print dress lands Rakhi in trouble
W
earing an attire with pictures of
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
has landed Bollywood actor
Rakhi Sawant in trouble. An FIR has been
lodged against her at Rajasthans Kankroli
police station for allegedly indulging in
obscenity and defaming the PM. On the
basis of the photos circulated on social
media, a local advocate Prajeet Tiwari had
lodged the complaint yesterday, SHO
Kankroli police station Laxman Ram said. PTI
Cumberbatch struggled to say sorcerer
A
ctor Benedict Cumberbatch says
he had a tough time saying
sorcerer in an American accent
in Doctor Strange, reported Female First.
The 40-year-old actor plays the lead role
as the Marvel superhero Doctor Stephen
Strange in the fantasy film. Funny
enough, sorcerer is really hard [to say]
for some reason. And that is a very
important word for the character. Theres
a lot of Rs going on in that one, Cumberbatch said. The British star
took help from films director Scott Derrickson to get the accent
right. The majority of the crew were English. We had American
producers and Scott, and that was sort of it. PTI
Tarantino confirms retirement after two films
O
scar-winning director Quentin Tarantino has announced
that he will retire from filmmaking after his two last films.
Speaking at the Adobe Max conference in San Diego, the
writer-director of hit films like Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, and
Django Unchained reiterated that he intended to make only two
more feature films, reported Entertainment Weekly. Drop the mic.
Boom. Tell everybody, Match that,he said.
The 53-year-old director told the crowd that he was focussing on a
historical non-fiction project at the moment. For four
years, Tarantino had been been engaged in
studying the year 1970, one he considers the
most pivotal in the history of cinema. It could
be a book, a documentary, a five-part
podcast, he said. Tarantino also shared what
success means to him. Hopefully, the way I
define success is when Im finished with the
career, Im considered one of the
greatest filmmakers who ever lived.
That would be successful. And
then to go further than that, I
would be considered a great
artist and not just a film
director, he said. PTI
Wang Deshun displays a new creation by Chinese fashion
designer Sheguang Hu during the fall/winter 2015 China
Fashion Week in Beijing last year. PHOTO: THE NEW YORK TIMES
of Wang topless in a gym, his took a job at a military fact-
skin smooth and pectorals ory and joined its art troupe.
buf.
Wang said he was always
Sometimes they entertained
soldiers.
athletic. An avid swimmer as His appearance on the
a child, he still swims more runway earned him a cult-
than half a mile each day. like following. Some fans call
Morning is my learning him laoxianrou old fresh
time, he said. I read books meat, making a play on the
and news. From 3 to 6 p.m. is word for teen idol: xiaoxian-
my exercise time, in a gym rou, or young fresh meat.
near my home. I am not So has old fresh meat re-
picky at all about what I eat. I placed young fresh meat?
eat whatever I want. Perhaps not. But Wangs
Wang was born in the physicality, notable in a soci-
northeastern city of ety where men rarely high-
Shenyang in 1936, one of nine light their attractiveness,
children of a cook and a stay- also sets an example in a na-
at-home mother. At 14, a year tion that is growing older
after the Communist Party fast.
came to power in 1949, he For Wang, fulfilment
began working as a streetcar comes in many forms: acting,
conductor. modelling, exercising and
At the Workers Cultural creating art. And one day
Palace in Shenyang, he took soon, he said, parachuting.
free lessons in singing, act- That is the plan. The New
ing and dancing. He later York Times News Service
ND-ND

COMMENT P2
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME
YOU VISITED A MUSEUM
IN INDIA?
Admit two
Exhibition
Art Exhibition titled Tara:
21 Avatars of the Goddess.
Curators Arjun Sawhney,
Tania Lefebvre and Sharan
Appa Rao in collaboration
with master Buddhist
artist, Zeiko have put
together the exhibition to
showcase Bhutanese
Thangkas, which is slowly
declining.
Date: November 10
Venue: The Lodhi, Lodhi
Road, New Delhi
Time: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Theatre
Sansaptak is staging a
series of seven multilingual
plays 7 Raison detre (7
Reasons of Being). Written
by Torit Mitra, the play have
been directed by Sreemoyee
Dasgupta Bose. It will be a
multi-disciplinary theatre
performance.
Date: November 6
Venue: Bipin Chandra Pal
Auditorium, A-81,
Chittaranjan Park
Time: 7 p.m.
Perks of being
a Disney star
Tom Hanks is still having fun
with his old Toy Story role.
The 60-year-old Inferno
actor is about to start work
voicing cowboy doll Woody
for Toy Story 4. It translates
into great Disneyland
freebies for the star.
I can just go down there
right now and just have lunch
and spend the day, boasts
Tom of the perks of his latest
Johnny Depp
Depp in
Fantastic
Beasts sequel
Actor Johnny Depp will star
in the sequel to the upcoming
Harry Potter spin-off
Fantastic Beasts and Where
to Find Them . The sequel
will be directed by David
Yates and written by J.K.
Rowling (in her screen-
writing debut), based on
Rowlings book of the same
name, reports deadline.com.
Details about the 53-year-
olds role are still under
wraps, but he is said to make
a brief appearance in the first
movie. Fantastic Beasts and
Where to Find Them is set to
release on November 18The
film is set in 1926, with
Redmayne arriving in New
York as part of a global
excursion to research and
rescue magical creatures.
CM
YK
IANS
Workshop
Alto Delhi Comic Con
presents a special Cosplay
workshop on crafting your
costumes by Gaurav
Thakur. It will explain from
where to obtain costumes,
props and wigs in order to
create that perfect
costume.
Date: November 6
Venue: Unplugged
Courtyard, L23/7, Middle
Circle,
Connaught Place
Time: 5 p.m.
Music
Concert featuring piano
recital by Judit Gabos from
Hungary. She will present
the works of Mozart,
Chopin, Bartok and Liszt.
Concert is being organised
by Hungarian Information
and Cultural Centre and
Delhi Music Society
Date: November 8
Venue: India International
Centre, 40 Max Mueller
Marg
Time: 6.30 p.m.
job.
Its one of the best things
about working with Disney
and being lucky enough to be
involved with those movies.
Notes from the green room
Grooming expert Rita Gangwani explains how she is seeking to reach out to
aspiring models from non-urban areas
MADHUR TANKHA
On a vacation on the foothills
of Himalayas, Rita Gangwani
came upon an advertisement
splashed on the window of a
hotel for a model hunt. Those
were the early 1980s when
designer fashion was yet to
hit most Indians. Her
diminutive figure did not
come in the way of
impressing the judges and
walking away as winner in
the competition. She worked
in the Army for five years
before becoming a mentor of
models in order to conquer
their dreams in beauty
pageants in both India and
abroad.
Today, Rita has become a
role model for aspiring
pageants. Giving grooming
tips in metros is not enough
and now on her radar are
girls living in remote regions.
To show them the roadmap
on how to fulfil their dream,
she has now penned a book
The Beauty Pageants
Greenroom. Its foreword
has been written by Sushmita
Sen whose journey, as we
know, has been an
THE RELUCTANT GOURMET P3
WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO EAT
WHEN ITS SET TO RAIN?
D
uring a fashion
week, all eyes are
glued on the
ramp but few
know what goes behind the
scenes, the music, the walk,
the lights, in short the way
the whole show is
executed. Translating the
vision of a designer
requires creativity and
commitment. And this is
where Rashmi Virmani
comes in. For years, the
seasoned choreographer
and show director, is giving
shape to designer dreams
in fashion weeks.Unlike the
set of a film, the show is
live and there can be no
retakes.
Rashmi gives the
example of the recent
fashion week where she
choreographed the show
for designer Samant
Chauhan. Samant wanted
us to use snow flakes in the
show. I wanted to know
exactly where snow flakes
were thrown so that my
models dont slip. So I saw
how it becomes a soft rock.
And then we did fittings,
says Rashmi, while sitting
in her house at Gulmohar
Park, which is known as a
colony of the scribes.
In early nineties when
fashion was in its infancy
and designers like Rohit
Bal, J.J. Valaya, Rina
Dhaka were learning the
ropes, Rashmi, a fashion
journalist then, was
nurturing a desire to direct
their shows.
During that time,
Madhu Jain was doing
detailed work on weaves.
So I had an opportunity to
work with her. She cast an
impression on my career.
Rohit Khosla taught me
importance of the finale
and how it leaves a good
taste in everybodys mind.
Rina Dhaka had a creative
way of presenting Indian
ensembles and fusion. I
worked very closely with
Gudda and JJ Valaya. We
were all growing up
together. Ritu Beri listened
to her own heart and did
what she wanted to. And
that is the reason where
she is today, reflects
Rashmi who is working
with Ritu on her next show
in Kathmandu.
Coming to her craft,
Rashmi says green room is
the nerve centre of a
fashion show. Life in
green room has to be easy
while the finishing touches
for the show are being
done. I make sure that my
green room is a peaceful
place. Make-up artists in
inspiration.
During summer of 1982 I
had gone to Shimla as a
tourist and came across this
pageant. And I decided to
make the most of this
opportunity. Those days
pageants were judged by their
intelligence quotient, the way
participants conversed and
their knowledge about the
world around them. My
height did not come in the
way. Being four feet ten inch,
I was pitted against two tall
imposing girls yet when the
results were declared I was
proclaimed Himachal
Queen, says Rita, while
recounting the experience of
her first brush with
modelling.
From modelling in 1980s
The benchmark for
height was set by
Sushmita Sen and
Aishwarya Rai when
they won Miss
Universe and Miss
World respectively.
,,
Rules of the runway
Ace fashion choreographer Rashmi Virmani tells MADHUR TANKHA
how she gives shape to designer dreams
BEYOND THE GLAMOUR Rashmi Virmani at work
green room create lot of
chaos. So they are
forbidden. Food and
beverage, including coffee
machines, are placed
outside.
Experience has made
Rashmi extremely sensitive
to wine. Once in Chennai,
there was a show in which
a supermodel consumed
wine in excess in the green
room. Models waited for
her on the ramp. When she
came, she walked in an
asymmetrical manner and
exited. Fortunately, other
models took the ramp and
saved the day. I was sitting
at technical console and
knew that she had goofed
up. I never touched her
after that and do not allow
wine inside the green
room. A peg before a show
is okay but as a
professional you need to
know how much you can
handle.
till now modelling has seen a
huge change and known
names like Jesse Randhawa,
Noyonika Chatterjee and
Jesse Randhawa even dwarf
some Bollywood hunks.
The benchmark for height
was set by Sushmita Sen and
Aishwarya Rai when they
won Miss Universe and Miss
World respectively. I cannot
answer the genetic reason
behind this sudden increase
in height as far as Indian girls
are concerned but the truth is
that now our girls do match
the international standard of
five feet eight inches of
height.
While Sushmita and
Aishwarya made the nation
proud, there is still no
formula to crack beauty
pageants. After Priyanka
Chopra, none of the Miss
Indias has been able ot make
a mark on the global stage.
Many models come for
the auditions without
knowing what is in store of
them. As they are not clear in
their head they end up losing
a great deal of money. So I am
offering these models a
complete guideline on how to
The walk of the models,
Rashmi says, depends on
what the story is. Music
sets the tone. It is defined
by the designer and show
director. The goal is that
attention has to remain on
the garment. At times walk
is stiffer, guided by
silhouette. There is no
fixed rule here, it depends
on what the designer
wants. These days many
want to express energy.
Talking about the impact
of Bollywood on
choreography and ramp
design, Rashmi says of late,
the sensibilities of
Bollywood are matching
those of fashion world.
Bollywood films are not
what they used to be. If
you see a Sanjay Leela
Bhansalis set it has 20
fashion show sets of
couture embedded in that.
So our direction has come
a long way. A lot of money
handle their career at various
stages. Right from filling up
the form to winning the tiara
everything has been
explained. Every
requirement needs to be
fulfilled at the highest level.
So the book is all about
improving their personality,
polishing social etiquette,
being articulate, perfecting
their dressing style and
projecting an image that
makes them stands out.
The book is also targeted
towards prospective models
from non-urban areas. Most
of the girls who come into the
finale of beauty pageants are
from the Armed Forces
background . So they have
advantage of speaking fluent
English, knowing table
etiquettes and mannerisms.
Therefore, I am addressing
girls from the interiors of
Haryana from where we are
now getting aspiring beauty
queens. Monika Swami, who
comes from the State,
recently walked at India
Runway Fashion Week and
Gurgaon Fashion Week.
Then we have girls from
villages of North East States
www.facebook.com/thehindumetroplus
Saturday, November 5, 2016
PERSONALITY P4
MANSOOR KHAN ON
NASIR HUSAINS LEGACY
is being spent. Our best
make-up artists are now
keen to go there. I have
lost lot of make up artists
to Bollywood. They would
rather work there because
money is so good there.
Bollywood used to
influence fashion world but
then came a time when it
became a taboo to fashion.
Now there is a revival
because Bollywood is once
again setting trends. You
have Manish Malhotra who
has one foot in Bollywood
and one foot in fashion and
he is dictating trends to an
extent. Look at Anju Modi,
how beautifully she has
extended her talent to
Bollywood. These designers
are an assets to Bollywood
and they are contributing
in taking costumes to a
level which is fantastic. We
needed to move away from
dresswala. A lot of
upcoming designer in
like Meghalaya. Sometimes,
making them thorough with
English is not possible so I
teach them 100 small yet
efficacious sentences. In
order to fill in the gap, I take
these girls to restaurants and
teach them how to handle
forks and knives, says Rita,
who is witnessing a sudden
increase in prospective
models from rural areas as
well as urban girls from low
income groups.
Institutes with grooming
experts have mushroomed in
various cities offering a
solution to wannabe models.
We have institutes who help
girls to walk on the ramp,
apply make-up but there is no
institute which gives them
comprehensive course on
grooming. Even after a
contestant is declared as a
winner still there is a
question mark on what she
would do next. Some go for
films, others head for serials.
But, sometimes, they do not
understand elementary
things like how to fulfil the
cause they have taken up. All
these things are covered in
this book.
Follow us on
www.twitter.com/thmetroplus
metroplus.thehindu.com
Delhi
fashion institutes want to
draw influence from films.
Sometimes, film music
and regional tunes also
play an important role in
getting attention to the
outfits. Rashmi recalls a
show that she
choreographed in
Hyderabad. We used nice
music for a pret show of
sari. We got regular claps.
Then, organisers and I
decided to do tamasha
because bookings had been
done. For the second show
we put in regional music
and I saw 3,000 phones
flashing up on models.
Then I realised when you
put local music or
Bollywood it brings instant
response. So localising
fashion sensibilities also
might work. Bollywood
music works but it depends
on the tone of the show.
Like for Anushree Reddy
show at Lakme Fashion
Week, we used film music.
In fact, Kanika Kapoor
sang Chitiya Kalaiya live.
Coming to individual
designers, Rashmi says
designers vision has to be
translated in an aesthetic
seamless manner. Rina
Dhaka is very clear about
Once in Chennai,
there was a show in
which a supermodel
consumed wine in
excess in the green
room. Models waited
for her on the ramp.
When she came, she
walked in an
asymmetrical
manner and exited
,,
POLISHING TALENT Rita Gangwani
the look she wants. She
decides who would be
walking in her clothes. A
man of few words, Rajesh
Pratap Singh is clear in his
vision. I was pleasantly
surprised when he sent me
the music he wanted for
his Woolmark show. Some
designers like Mandira
Wirk leave everything to
the choreographer. Gaurav
Jai Gupta likes working on
challenges. We did a show
with him where he
managed to make the
oversized trousers look
beautiful. Young designer
may not be knowing about
lighting and technicalities
but know what they want
from their shows. They are
clear headed and trust you
Ultimately, it is the
model who essays the story
on the ramp. Height is
extremely important. We
are not casting for a film;
we dont see only the face
but things in totality like
bone structure, attitude
and how good they are in
picking up instructions. If
there are 16 models in a
group and I am friendly
with ten of them then it
does not mean I would
take all of them. It depends
on requirement of my
show. I would cast a model
only if she fits in my show.
How flexible she is in a
catwalk; whether she is
lean or slim bodied every
show has a different
favourite.
Initially, Rashmi recalls,
model hunting was not
easy in India considering
that there were not many
long legged ramp scorchers.
During that time
whenever you found a tall
girl you had no option but
to take her. We have tall
models even today like
Sana Sheikh but now we
also have an influx of
foreign models. When we
want a tall bunch of
models, we go for foreign
models. Their number is as
many as Indian models.
Today, it is all about
mixing ethnicities on the
ramp.
In lingerie shows,
Rashmi observes, Indian
models do have a problem.
Bumcheek is a big issue
with them. Of course, we
have Carol, Bhavna
Somaiya, Joey Mathews
who get ten on ten on body
toning but options are
limited.
Finally, what gives her
satisfaction? When the
show goes off really well it
gives me a high, says
Rashmi as a parting shot.
ND-ND
spectrum MELANGE THE HINDU
NOIDA/DELHI

Saturday, November 5, 2016 P2

Comment

A trip to the museum

When was the last time you visited a museum in India? These storehouses of history and culture are often
considered dull and uninviting. Its high time we explored them, writes SHAILAJA TRIPATHI

W
e dont go to
museums. We
prefer malls,
cinema halls
and restaurants. Visiting a
museum is best left to
schools which make it
mandatory. After all, it is
an academic exercise. And
what entertainment can
these places possibly
offer? I agree India
doesnt boast the greatest
of museums, but you cant
doubt the collection of
artefacts in these
repositories of heritage,
even for a second. Our
eventful history has
bequeathed us numerous
masterpieces, but
unfortunately, we dont
find them compelling
enough. Cultural historian
and museologist Jyotindra
Jain says that the habit of
going to museums has just
not been inculcated in us.
Strangely though,
whenever abroad, Indians
enthusiastically visit The
Louvre (Paris), Victoria
and Albert Museum
(London), Tate (London),
Museum of Modern Art
(MoMA) (New York).
While a few of them offer
free admission to visit
their permanent
collection, visitors are
charged for special
exhibitions. At The Louvre
and MoMA, tickets are
priced at 15 Euros and
$25 respectively. Back
home, one of the best
museums of the country,
National Museum in Delhi
charges a mere Rs. 20.
According to Joyoti Roy,
outreach consultant,
National Museum, it
receives between 6,00,000
to 7,00,000 visitors each
year and anything
between 2,500 and 3,000
per day. The mix includes
Indians, foreigners and
school students. For an
Indian museum, it is an
astounding figure, but still
nowhere close to the
footfalls museums, we
consider the finest, get.
In its annual report for
2014-15, Tate declared it
the best year ever for
visits with 7.9 million in
all and a record 5.7
million visits to Tate
Modern. Tate had the
highest number of visits
by young people for any
art museum in the world,
with over 3.5 million
under the age of 35.
It has not been many
days since National
Gallery of Modern Art,
Bangalore, hosted A.
Ramachandrans expansive
retrospective covering five
decades of his artistic
journey. As we sat outside
the first-floor gallery after
Ramachandran walked me
through his sketches,
sculptures and paintings,
the senior artist, a tad
disappointed said, Had an
exhibition of this scale
taken place abroad, people
would have come in
thousands.
There were about three-
five visitors inside the
gallery at that time. Jain,
who has also helmed
institutions like the Crafts
Museum and Indira
Gandhi National Centre
for the Arts in Delhi, puts
the onus on museums.
Crafts Museum as well.
Museums need to rethink
their strategies and
outreach should be a
major point of concern for
them.
In 2010, UNESCO
brought out a report on
the terrible conditions at
Indias top eight
museums, citing sub-
standard maintenance,
lighting and signage,
among other issues. The
Ministry of Culture put
together a 14-point
museum reforms agenda
and things have moved
forward since then.
Things took a 360-
degree turn for the
National Museum with the
appointment of IAS officer
Venu Vasudevan as its
director general in 2013.
According to the
information provided to
us by Dr. Bhau Daji Lad
Museum, the oldest
museum in Mumbai has
received 3,00,000 visitors
We developed the over the past year. On an
museums but didnt evolve average, the museum
the infrastructure around witnesses 500 visitors
it. And it is the museums every day, with an average
responsibility to do it. of 2,000 visitors over
When you know people weekends. Not big
are not going to come to numbers again, but
you, you have to go to impressive enough in the
them. Crafts Museum Indian context. And this is
shares its wall with India when the museum re-
Trade Promotion emerged after a revamp in
Organisation. It receives 2008 with an extensive
lakhs of people during the exhibition programme.
trade fair. I fought tooth Collaborations, screenings
and nail to get that door of movies of different
opened during my tenure genres and workshops for
(1984-89) so that the adults and children
visitors spill over to the contributed to the
increase in the number of
footfalls. The public-
private partnership model
of the museum is unique
and can be replicated in
other cases as well.
Entry of private players
like Kiran Nadar Museum
of Art in 2011 has upped
the game. In the last six
years, KNMA has been
visited by around 1,20,000
visitors from all over the
world. And this is despite
a stellar collection of
contemporary art from
India and the
subcontinent, impressive
exhibitions, more than
400 workshops like paper
sculpture workshop with
students of Sarvodaya
Kanya Vidyalaya, Pushp
Vihar, a family art
workshop etc. KNMA has
been at it admirably.
Robust publicity of
exhibitions and creating
links between different art
spaces can also fetch the
audience. Different art
institutions located in
close proximity can host a
series of events to be held
in each one of them
simultaneously. Museums
also need to transform
their cafes, upgrade their
museum shops and most
importantly, invest in
their human resource. So,
what do we do until then?
Lets go and explore these
storehouses of history,
culture and knowledge,
because unless and until
we claim them, they will
remain indifferent to our
needs.
Kim Kardashian
A movie on
Kims
robbery
ordeal
R eality TV personality
Kris Jenner wants to
turn her daughter Kim
Kardashians traumatic Paris
robbery experience into a
film. She is looking to turn
her daughters ordeal into yet
another of her business
ventures, reports
radaronline.com.
Shes frantically
assembling a movie concept
to pitch to the studios. She
sees it as a glamorous thriller
to rival The People v. O.J.
Simpson: American Crime
Story , said a source. Kim
was reportedly held up at
gunpoint, tied up and locked
in a bathroom of her Paris
hotel room, and she was
robbed of jewellery and other
items. Kris hopes to make
millions from any potential
film deal based on the crime.
She wants to see only
A-list actors in starring roles.
Kris is fantasising about Mila
Kunis or Natalie Portman
playing Kim.
But how likely is this to
happen? According to the
source, Kris is used to
getting her own way.
IANS

Burger diet Making sense of the world

for Lily
Supermodel Lily Aldridge
insists shes found a way to
work burgers into her
rigorous supermodel regime.
The 30-year-old mother-of-
one is currently working out
in readiness for her role as
one of the Angels of this
years Victorias Secret
Fashion Show, which takes
place on December 5 in Paris.
Glossing over
I truly do enjoy eating
healthy, its part of my
lifestyle, but I am a
Californian girl and I love a
cheeseburger, says Lily.
I dont think they are bad
for you, especially if you
make them with good
ingredients. I dont eat them
regularly, but I do love a good
burger.
As the Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF) 2016 makes waves,
festival directors Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam talk about the highlights
S. RAVI imagine the state of their
island city in ten years time
Having carved a niche over and come up with stories
the last five years, the that cut to the heart of Hong
Dharamshala International Kongs troubled relationship
Film Festival (DIFF) 2016, with China.
which opened this Thursday On the indie cinema
CALIFORNIAN GIRL Lily Aldridge with Raam Reddys critically scene
acclaimed film Thithi , Ever since we started the
promises to be bigger and festival, weve been amazed
more vibrant than ever at the sheer diversity and
before. quality of burgeoning indie
Edited excerpts from an film scene in India. Over the
e-mail interaction with years, weve watched so
festival directors Ritu Sarin many great indie films from

From the artists den and Tenzing Sonam:

Every now and then,
makeup artists come out
with a brand of products,
usually based on years of
experience and on what
they feel the industry lacks.
Most of the time, they put
in an amazing array of
products that is almost
drool-worthy. They know
their textures, pigmentation,
skin types and what most
women want. And out of
that, their products are
born. So, let me introduce
you to some of my personal
favourite brands.
By Terry
Started by Terry de
Gunzburg, this brand stands
for everything I personally
love. Natural-looking make-
up that is made in
conjuncture with
ingredients that benefit the
skin, all while enhancing a
persons natural look,
instead of masking it. Terry
is probably most well-
known as being Yves Saint
Laurents International
Makeup Designer, followed
by International Director of
Creating and Marketing,
during which time she
created the YSL cult classic
Touche clat. If you are a
lover of this product which
works like a dream on all
skin types, but especially on
mature skin, you know for
certain this isnt a brand
you miss out on.
Recommendations: The
Densiliss Foundation,
Baume de Rose and Ombre
Blackstar.
Charlotte Tilbury
With the slogan, Give a
woman the right makeup
and she can conquer the
world, Charlotte Tilbury is
all about creating instant
CM
YK
confidence and glamour
with her make-up. Having
worked with everyone from
Steven Klein to Kate Moss,
with published work in
Vogue , Vanity Fair , GQ and
pretty much every red
carpet, Charlotte Tilbury is
a powerhouse of a makeup
artist. Her products are
beautifully curated to suit
various iconic looks, each
inspired by an actor or
model who encompasses the
said look.
Recommendations: The
iconic Charlottes Magic
Cream, Goddess Skin Clay
Mask, K.I.S.S.I.N.G Lipstick
in Bitch Perfect and The
Dolce Vita Palette.
Natasha Denona
Starting out as a dancer-
turned-model, who
eventually found her way
into makeup artistry,
Natasha Denona has worked
with numerous brand
campaigns, winning multiple
awards and starting her own
Natasha Denona Makeup
Academy in Tel Aviv. Her
brand revolves around
beautiful dewy skin and her
products do just that. Her
eyeshadows are a dream to
work with, and probably the
best high-end formula I
have tried.
Recommendations:
Natasha Denona 5 Pan
Eyeshadow palette in 04,
Blush Duo in 07 (the perfect
highlight and bronzer) and
Face Glow Cream Shimmer
in 02.
Kevyn Aucoin
A photographer and
author, as well as a makeup
artist, Kevyn Aucoins
career is proof that hard
work, persistence and
passion always pays off. In
the 80s, for the first time
ever, he created a line of
makeup catering to all skin
colours, while he was
heading Revlons Ultima II
at the age of 21. The line,
called the New Nakeds,
featured foundations with
yellow undertones (in
addition to pink) and
neutral shades of browns for
deeper skin tones
something that is still used
today by prominent brands.
After working with
supermodel Cindy
Crawford, his career
boomed. So much so, that
he worked on nine Vogue
covers in a row, as well as
seven Cosmopolitan covers.
After working for Shiseido,
he eventually launched his
own brand. For makeup
lovers such as myself, his
book The Art of Makeup is
a must-have.
Recommendations: Kevyn
Aucoin Sensual Skin
Enhancer, The Sculpting
Powder, The Celestial
Powder in Candlelight and
The Eyelash Curler.
There are so many more
brands such as Pixi by
Petra, Surratt Beauty, Fiona
Stiles... but for now, try
some of these brands.
Theyre available on both
Cult Beauty and Beauty Bay
and certainly worth it.
SHRUTILAYA
RAMANATHAN
is a make up artist and
hairstylist
On the selection
process
Right from the beginning,
our selection criteria was
simply to showcase films
that represent the best of
independent cinema, films
that demonstrate cinematic
excellence, that push the
boundaries of filmmaking
and tackle unusual and
important subject matters.
This year, too, our slate of
films are drawn from all
corners of India and the
world and we believe each
one of them exemplifies this
ideal.
On the highlights of
this edition
The main difference this
year from previous editions
is the change of venue.
Earlier, we had used the
auditorium of the Tibetan
Institute of Performing Arts
(TIPA) and the Club House
in McLeodganj, but this
year, due to TIPA being
rebuilt, we have had to
relocate to the campus of
the Tibetan Childrens
Village. Unlike previous
editions where the
screenings were split
between two venues that
were some distance apart,
this year all the screenings
and activities of the festival
will be consolidated in one
location. This will make it
much easier for our
audiences to enjoy the
festival.
This year we also have
more filmmakers coming
than ever before 13
filmmakers from India and
11 international filmmakers.
On the films making
their premire at DIFF
2016
A total of 18 films are
having their Asian premieres
at DIFF 2016. We did not
set out to get premieres
since that is not an
important consideration. We
IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam
PHOTO: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
do, however, only look at
films that have been
released in the past two
years. the fact that we have
so many India premieres is a
reflection of the kinds of
films that we are interested
in showcasing, something
that other festivals in India
may not be interested in or
aware of. Among our India
premieres are: Apprentice
(Singapore's Oscar entry for
this year; Brothers (Poland);
Heart of a Dog (USA); Island
Funeral (Thailand); A
Korean in Paris (South
Korea); The Last Dalai
Lama? (USA); Sonita (Iran);
A Syrian Love Story ( UK);
10 Years (Hong Kong);
Vietnam, the Movie
(Vietnam); Whats in the
Darkness (China); and The
Wounded Angel
(Kazakhstan).
On the documentaries
being showcased
Our documentary
highlights this year are
Sonita by Iranian director
Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami
and A Syrian Love Story by
British director Sean
McAllister. Sonita tells the
story of Sonita, a young
Afghan refugee living in
Tehran, whose only dream is
to become a rapper. Her
defiant lyrics describe life as
a teenager at odds with
Afghanistans patriarchal
norms. When her mother
decides to take Sonita home
to sell as a bride, director
Rokhsareh must decide
whether to remain an
objective filmmaker or to
intervene in Sonitas fate.
In A Syrian Love Story ,
director Sean McAllister
follows the troubled
relationship of Amer Daoud,
a Palestinian freedom
fighter, and Raghda Hassana,
a Syran activist, who met
and fell in love while in jail.
Tracking them intimately
over a period of five years,
the documentary tells a
powerful and universal story
of love in the time of
conflict.
On the Asian line up
Among our Asian films is
the world premiere of
Vietnamese artist/filmmaker
Nguyen Trinh This
Vietnam, a Movie , an
insightful deconstruction of
the Vietnam War made up
entirely of footage from
mainstream Hollywood and
European arthouse films
about the conflict. In
Pimpaka Towiras road
movie, Island Funeral , three
young urban Thais from
Bangkok two of whom are
Muslim make a journey to
the conflict-ridden south of
Thailand and discover
unexpected truths about
themselves and their
country. In Ten Years , five
young Hong Kong directors
all corners of the country,
mostly by young filmmakers
and mostly first films. We
found ourselves instinctively
drawn to showcasing some
of these films and have
consistently had a strong
lineup of Indian indie films.
This year, too, we are
excited to be showcasing a
number of films that are
from different parts of India.
Highlights include Mangesh
Joshis Marathi debut
feature, Lathe Joshi , and
Indias Oscar entry for this
year, Vetrimaarans Tamil
feature, Visaranai .
On the journey so far
It has been tough but
incredibly exciting and
rewarding! We started out as
a volunteer-driven festival
with the primary aim of
bringing good, alternative
cinema to our small town.
In five years, it has carved a
niche for itself as one of
Indias most exciting
destination for independent
films and attracts audiences
from all over the country.
Thats something we could
never have dreamed about.
On the importance of
holding such festivals in
places away from the
metros and big cities
We cannot stress enough
the importance of holding
festivals such as DIFF away
from the metros and big
cities. There is such a
paucity of contemporary
cultural events in small
towns and no opportunity
for the people living there to
be exposed to alternative
cinema, art, literature or
music. Festivals like DIFF
not only provide this
opportunity but by bringing
filmmakers and film lovers
from all over the world to
these faraway places, they
also create platforms for
exchange and interaction
between the visitors and
local inhabitants.
ND-ND
goodfood MELANGE THE HINDU
NOIDA/DELHI

Saturday, November 5, 2016 P3

Pakoras on a cloudy day

Why do we eat what we eat when grey clouds appear on the horizon and that first rain drop hits the
YOU CAN TELL A LOT ground? SHONALI MUTHALALY has some answers. And hashtags.
ABOUT A FELLOW'S CHAR-
ACTER BY HIS WAY OF
W
e look at each
EATING JELLYBEANS. other blankly.
The citys best
- RONALD REAGAN samosas? ven-
tures one colleague. No.
Ooooh. How about chai?
Well do a fun chai trail. No.
Pakoras? Bhajjis? Aloo
CHEW ON THIS parathas? No. Theres an ex-
Make the most of cited high-pitched squeal
from the writer seated beside
Autumn pumpkin me. I got it. Picture this: A
CELEBRATING mania by picking up soup trail. No chance. How
about we make it a trendy
new recipes. Swap soup trail the cover picture
poriyals and aviyals can be a chic model in plum
for pumpkin pie, red boots holding a graphic
hummus and even print umbrella in one hand.
And a bowl of soup in the
sticky golden jam. other. We groan in unison.
I blame the rain.
Its pouring steadily out-
side. Not the comforting
rhythmic pitter patter that
tempts you to throw open a
window and take deep breaths
Bengali Food Festival of that first-day-of-the-mon-
Radisson Blu Kaushambi Delhi NCR is hosting a Bengali soon scent: a cocktail of
Food Festival at Kama for dinner only. An extensive scorched soil, dry leaves and
authentic menu, has been designed for an extraordinary tepid rain. If I could bottle it, it
would be my second choice for
culinary experience with truly Bengali flavours. Some of the
delicacies include macher cutlet, murgi mangsho fry, begun
Mithai. After the a signature perfume. (My first
bhaja platter and dhab chingadi malai. Meal for two is Diwali binge, this is is still the scent of a just-baked
cake. Im convinced I would be
priced at Rs. 2000/- plus taxes. a good time to go irresistible wearing that. *In-
On till: November 20 off sugar for a sert dreamy pause so we can
Time: 7 pm to 11.30 pm.
Where: Kama, Radisson Blu Kaushambi,
while. Still craving all think about a crystal bottle
filled with buttery, sugary
Delhi NCR dessert? Try fruit vanilla magic.*)
Call: 0120 4736200 popsicles - which are This is the kind of rain that
basically frozen fruit. makes you want to call an
Uber, head straight home and
LAUNCHING dive under the blankets. Or
maybe its just me. Ever since
last years rains in Chennai,
Lunch bomb which involved an unnerving
Dhaba by Claridges amount of driving through vi-
olently flooded roads, thats
brings Dhaba da
been my first response to a
Lunch Bomb, a special storm. A few days ago,
unlimited lunch menu someone knocked over a table
with signature Dhaba on the floor above my office,
appetisers and mains and, convinced it was thunder,
in three varying I simultaneously pulled on
options. The price The writer is editor, rain boots, grabbed an um-
starts from Rs. 599 Metroplus brella and dialled a friend to
plus taxes.
Where: Dhaba by Claridges at DLF Place,
Saket and Epicuria Mall, Nehru Place.
When: Monday to Friday, 12 pm to 4 pm.
Call: 011-4175 0555 and 011 2641 0555 Food Spot
under my blanket fort.
Comfort food If you ask the holistic health
brigade, theyll insist your
reminds us of body craves foods it needs. I
skim through a pile of Ay-
family. This is urvedic monsoon eating plans
why we tend to apparently, the rains are a
great time to detox, with
turn to it when kichadi and tea. They also
we feel lonely, recommend more sour, salty
and oily food, as well as an
as well as when extra dose of ginger. In-
we want to triguingly, these guidelines do
align almost perfectly with
celebrate. Its traditional desi rain food.
Finally, the strongest in-
food that has fluence of all: food memories.
TRADITIONAL TREATS Hot chai and fried spicy food are
traditional Indian fare associated with the monsoons meaning, and Comfort food reminds us of
family. This is why we turn to
its food with it when we feel lonely, as well
strong regional as when we want to celebrate.
Its food that has meaning, and
ties its food with strong regional
ties.
I look through various so-
pizza/pasta. The study con- cial media accounts on Ins-
cluded that men prefer the tagram, Facebook and Flickr
more meal-type items be- to see what food Indians turn
cause this gave them a feeling to on rainy days. Unsurpris-
of being spoiled, whereas ingly, its fairly region-specif-
those same foods reminded ic. In the South, its sambar
women of all the work that rice, vadais and filter coffee. In
went into preparing the meal. Delhi, an Instagrammer
Not very helpful for the mon- writes Chole bhatura and
soons considering a plate of lassi are used as anaesthesia in
crunchy onion pakoras takes North India. From Pune,
quite a bit of work. Unless you theres a picture of a classic
can snag it on Swiggy. Parsi breakfast, complete with
ask him if he could loan us his Curious about the psychol- The same study claims we creamy akuri, fluffy brun
emergency boat to get home. ogy behind this, I ask around, eat comfort foods as a reward, maska and chai in a glass: The
Yes. There are people with trying to find out why we crave and not when we are de- place becomes extra awesome
emergency boats stashed in certain types of food when the pressed: About 86 per cent of in monsoons. And a social
their garages in Chennai.
Right now, however, our
sky turns grey. the people surveyed said they media enthusiast trips over
Cornell Universitys Food eat comfort foods while hashtags in a post featuring
problem is coming up with a and Brand Lab polled 1,004 happy, as opposed to the rest samosas and bhajis:
non-food-related lead. Rain in Americans to find out what who said they eat their way #Foodieforlife #Foodgasm
India is always associated with their comfort foods were, and through sadness. Last year, I #Foodislove#Foodobsessed
food. And romance. Fortu- discovered that potato chips would have told you rain #Yummyinmytummy
nately, theres isnt too much topped the list, followed by makes me happy, before or- #Lovefood #Ilovetoeat
coy running around computer steak, pasta, salad and soup. dering myself a steaming gin- #Instayummy. Phew. (Full
monitors at the MetroPlus of- So what about the Bridget ger chai and bag of samosas. disclosure I deleted about a
fice. There is, however, a Jones eating-cake-in-bed This year, it makes me dozen to shorten the word
marked preoccupation with stereotype? They found that nervous. But Im still going to count.) When it comes to
food. Especially today. Weve women chose ice cream, choc- get myself chai. And that bag #MonsoonFood on social
got pakoras, bhajjis and chai olate, and cookies, while men of samosas. The only differ- media, all you need is love.
on our minds. picked ice cream, soup and ence is I intend to eat them Okay, likes.

HAPPENING
Mela time!
A delicious book Come into my Kitchen
(published by HarperCollins)
was launched in the city on
which is the preferred rice
for the Italian risotto, moong
dal, vegetable stock, cumin
refined flour, 1 egg, 1 egg yolk,
2 tablespoons of powdered
sugar, 1 teaspoon cardamom
Social is unveiling its Friday. I have a copy of the seeds, oregano, dried thyme powder, a pinch of saffron
merchandise range called book and whenever I feel the and white wine. soaked in 1 tbsp water, 1
#Maal by Social with a world is hurtling towards The dishes dont just tbsp butter and 1 cup rabri.
Maal Mela this Saturday. RAHUL VERMA disaster (think Trump!), I
pick it up and go through his
celebrate the coming
together of the Orient and
Using a ring mould, cut out
circles of the bread slices. In
It is a chilled out
afternoon affair around
tells us why he little anecdotes and detailed the Occident. You will, for a bowl, combine all the other
recipes. They never fail to lift instance, find Kolkata ingredients except the butter
the lovely Delhi weather doffs his cap to my spirits. shaking hands with Mumbai and the rabri. Beat well. Heat
where you can sip your
chilled beer and take the
Chef Ranveer Brar The book has six sections. in a dish called Kolkata the butter in a pan. Coat the
The first two deal with his chicken stew with chilli bread slices in the batter and
beer glass back home. When he was five, he childhood and career, and his maska pao, or the north and cook till golden brown on
Also, play games like 'Ring the Maal' or hit the bulls-eye and discovered the hustle and food philosophy. The the northeast doing a tango both sides. On a plate, spoon
get a chance to win Socials merchandise. bustle of cooking food in a remaining four deal with with Tandoori chicken out some rabri. Place a
When: 2 pm - 4 pm Gurudwara langar in food: Beautiful breakfasts momos. French toast circle on the
Where: Hauz Khas Social, 9A & 12, Hauz Khas Village Lucknow. When he was 13, and brunches; Small bites; He also encourages you to rabri. Put some rabri on the
he cooked meethey chawal Main meals; and Desserts. cook with whatever you have toast, add another French
sweet rice for the What I find greatly in the larder or the fridge. toast circle, rabri and then
community kitchen. When interesting about Chef Brars Once when he found that French toast again. Finish
COCKTAIL CALL he was 15, he prepared rajma food is the way he melds there was nothing but some with the rabri. Garnish with
at home when his mother cuisines or culinary strawberries and empty tart pistachio flakes, candied
was unwell -- and quite practices. I know that we shells in his fridge, he stewed cherry and mint leaves.
Hit the dance floored his father. often baulk at the word the strawberries into a jam. Now you know why I doff
floor These little tales dont fusion, because in the name He put that in a tart shell, my cap to Chef Brar.
This Saturday, come and dance of fusion, some terrible acts added a big scoop of nutty
like no one is watching you as TEMPTING CREATION Rabri French toast; Chef Ranveer Brar have been committed. But muesli to it, topped it with
members of Qareeb band gear his food union is always some slices of fresh
surprise me at all, for I knew and metaphorically. He set drool-worthy. You will find strawberries and sprinkled
up to set the stage on fire only
that Ranveer Brar wielded up and ran Banq in Boston, a in the book recipes for such powdered sugar on it. This
at Lanterns Kitchen & Bar. The the magic spatula when I first restaurant that went on to dishes as Curry leaf pesto was their wacky breakfast.
Delhi-based five piece band will met him more than 10 years win many awards. He was in crusted fish with daliya Now (he writes) whenever
be entertaining the music lovers ago. He was then the Mumbai Novotel for a while, couscous and Gnocchi sorse his wife is feeling blue or
with Sufi, rock and Bollywood executive chef at The hosted a few food shows on with garlic butter crab wants a pick-me-up, he
numbers. Claridges, the youngest chef television and was one of the khurchan. prepares this for her.
When: 9 pm onwards to hold the post there. He judges of MasterChef India. The dishes straddle I want to try out his Rabri
Where: Lanterns Kitchen & served me a pork dish that I He has been planning out different worlds. For his Dal French toast for I love both
Bar, 163/164, Rajendra Place,. can still recall. restaurants menus. And now khichdi risotto with dried rabri and French toasts. To Rahul Verma is a
Call: 090154 47000 Since then, of course, he he has written a delicious prawn chutney, he cooks the serve two, you need six slices seasoned food critic
has gone places literally book. khichdi with Arborio rice, of a day-old loaf, 1 cups of

A smooth ride
The newly-opened Tourist restaurant promises an incredible
culinary journey
IRFAN AHMAD
Delhi is known for its rich
diversity in culture and food.
The foodie in me is always on
a culinary journey to explore
and experience different
cuisines.
The other day, I was
invited for the launch of
newly opened street food
restaurant and bar, Tourist
in Connaught Place. It serves
street foods from different
parts of world. The menu
which comes in the form of a
passport promises to take
you to four culinary regions
of the world Far West, Far
East, EU & UK and South
Asia. Swaraj Singhi, one of
the partners, said, The
whole idea was to give our
customers a feel of journey
and travel. From decor to
menu everything gives a feel
of travelling.
As suggested by Swaraj, I
started my world street food
journey with Brazilian
shrimps jumbo shrimpitini.
The crispy shrimps are
tossed with iceberg lettuce
and Philadelphia tartar. I got
my start for the lovely
evening.
Staying in South America,
my second serve was rocoto
relleno from Peru. It is red
peppers stuffed with chicken,
onion, garlic and spices and
flash baked with queso
fresco. The salty and tangy
taste of queso fresco fresh
cheese compliments peppers
and chicken nicely. I loved
the taste of this cheese.
Crossing the Atlantic, I
appeased my love for fish
with sole muniere from
France. The crispy lemon
butter fillets of sole fish. were
simply divine.
My next destination at
Tourist was Jordon. I tried
laham arayes. This
Jordonian food is a spiced
mincemeat filled oven baked
flatbreads sandwich served
with hummus. The meat was and airport flip board. Cream Waffles from the U.S.
nicely spiced and it mingled TIME TO EXPLORE A creation on the wall ; a delicacy on offer Customers can also read The cream custard waffles
well with my taste buds. from more than five hundred are frosted with chocolate
Back home, I preferred The spices truly brought me one hundred and twenty books on travel from the in and fruits. Time to get lost!
chandni chaat chatkara from home. dishes in our menu. This house library. Swaraj Address: 1, Scindia
Old Delhi. This Chandni With three floors with place represents the journey promised live music and rock House, Janpath Road,
Chaat Chatkara plate rooftop space and two VIP of a traveller and the dcor band performances. Connaught Place
comprised tawa aalo ki chaat, lounges, Swaraj has a huge like a youth hostel which I ended my journey on a Meal for two: Rs. 2000
chana samosa and dahi vada. space. There are more than reflects hiking, backpacking sweet note with Boston plus taxes

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variety
It was a tasty concoction
Mansoor Khan talks about the cinema of his illustrious father and his
much-awaited come back
ATIF KHAN
I
n an interview on the
sidelines of the book
release of Music,
Masti, Modernity- The
Cinema of Nasir Hussain
written by Akshay Manwani
in New Delhi, Mansoor Khan
puts Nasir Husains
contribution in
perspectiveand shares what
he learnt from his illustrious
father.
The book mentions that
you used to criticise the
kind of films your father
Nasir Hussain made. What
was the turning point
which made you take up
filmmaking?
I always thought I wanted
to do engineering . I did
pursue it for 5 years but
when I was in my last year at
MIT doing computer science
I suddenly felt I did not want
to be in a 9 to 5 job and that
is when my thinking shifted
completely. I dropped out
and returned to India and
though I was trying to find
meaning in life outside the 9
to 5 routine, I was also trying
to find myself and prove to
my father that I could do
something meaningful.
Around this time, I wrote a
short film and shot it on
video with friends. It turned
out quite well in fact and my
father saw it and felt I could
direct. So my father did not
guide me formally but I had
learnt a lot sub-consciously
over the years when I was in
school and college and that is
what I recalled myself in
working along with him on
the script for Qayamat Se
Qayamat Tak ( QSQT).
Nasir Sahab was a
dynamic personality. As a
son, how do you remember
him the best- a writer, a
producer or a director?
Well, I always think of my
father first as a writer, then
director and then producer.
Because that is the order in
which he emerged as a film
personality. So his forte was
writing and he developed a
unique style which was fresh
and counter-current to the
times. And that is apparent
from all his movies he wrote
and directed.
He wrote dialogues for a
number of films but his
dialogue writing was
always under appreciated?
I just feel that he wrote
dialogues with a subtlety
He did not advise
me as such but he
inadvertently led me
to listen to some
bands in the early
,,
70s like Pink Floyd
and Emerson, Lake
and Palmer that
deeply influenced
my taste
Guess Who
Who is this well-known face?
Write in to metroguesswho@gmail.com with your name,
address and telephone number.
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WITH THE FLOW Mansoor Khan PHOTO: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
without being overly
melodramatic. Audiences
tend to remember very
dramatic dialogues and I
guess that is why he was
under-appreciated. And that
applies to his sense of
humour too.
What are the elements
that made him standout in
the league of top
filmmakers?
I think the primary focus
my father had was to
entertain the audience with a
certain finesse and with a
leaning towards what was
new. All this combined with
excellent music and a flare
for hilarious situational
comedy. It was a tasty
concoction that worked time
and again though he made no
bones about the fact that
repeated the basic plot in
most of his films.
Nasir Husain changed
the way Hindi film heroes
behaved on screen. Did you
have any particuklar
image in mind when you
were writing the role for
Aamir in Qayamat Se
Qayamat Tak and then in
Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar ?
The hero is very different
in QSQT and Jo Jeeta Wohi
Sikandar . And obviously the
image in my mind emerged
from the nature of the story
itself. In QSQT he had to be
an earnest, honest character
who both loves his father and
family immensely but is also
true to his feelings for the
girl he falls for. These
counter forces are what I feel
create the endearing
moments in the film. And
quite the opposite is
Sanjaylal in Jo Jeeta.... He is
a brat who wants the easy
way out in life and has a
justification for all his antics.
He needs to grow up and
understand what character
and hard work are all about.
This he learns the hard way
when his actions almost
result in his brother losing
his life and shattering his
fathers dream of him
winning the cycle race. So it
is not as though I have a
particular hero in mind. It
has to be true to the premise
of the story.
What kind of music he
used to listen to and who
were those singers who
influenced him? Did he
also advise you to listen to
some of them?
Indeed, he had a
tremendous intuitive sense
of good melody. It is hard to
pin down which singer he
liked particularly because he
what he went mainly for was
good melody. It could be in
any genre of music from
western pop to Indian folk.
He did not advise me as such
but he inadvertently led me
to listen to some bands in the
early 70s like Pink Floyd and
Emerson, Lake and Palmer
that deeply influenced my
taste. He just bought their
albums on his trips abroad as
he always wanted to stay in
touch with the latest trends
in music. And that is how I
ended up listening to them
for the first time.
Aamir Khan assisted
him for a long time before
he entered the film
industry as an actor. But
the kind of cinema he
Last week's
answer: Cyrus
Mistry
Hena Jabeen Alam
of R.K.Puram, New
Delhi wins a prize.
One lucky reader
receives a special prize
every week.
makes is entirely different
from Nasir sahab's
cinema. Is it to garner
critical appreciation
which eluded Nasir
sahab's films?
I dont think Aamir
calculates things backwards.
He does what he believes in
and he has a tremendous love
for cinema and a great sense
of script. So whatever he
learnt from my father is one
thing and what he does is
another which is governed by
his inner instinct and belief
in a good script. He definitely
is not trying to prove any
point about any particular
kind of cinema. And that
shows in the range of films he
has done ranging from
hardcore mainstream
Bollywood like Dil to
sensitive thought provoking
films like Taare Zameen Par
to a genre breaking film like
Delhi Belly (though he did
not act in it).
Was there any
significant reason behind
not continuing with the
film career or you were
also following your heart
like your father did by
coming to films? Are you
planning for a comeback!
I live peacefully in
Coonoor and I am following
my heart and I was clear
about this even before I
made my first film. I will
continue to follow my heart
and if that leads to a film
then so be it. I will make a
film if it comes to me but that
has to emerge from within.
As of now, I am not planning
it but be optimistic for
future.
In search of true talent
A novel online music competition to tap talented singers
ANU P.
Now singers would not have
to be physically present to
impress the judges. In an
attempt to break the
cumbersome process of
travelling from remote places
to be present in auditions for
reality shows, Sakha Cultural
Society in association with
Rachnashala organisation has
come up with an online music
competition
At the launch recently,
Narinder Singh, chairman of
Rachnashala, announced the
complete online system and
the One Time Password
(OTP) to check the validity.
The event showcased a
practical demonstration of
uploading the audio track for
the competition.
Digitalisation has now
become an instrument to
support the hidden talent
across the country in order to
bring alive their talent for
singing. Participants can
register till November 18
from 6 a.m. till 11.30 p.m.
Amarjit Singh Kohli,
chairman of the Sakha
Cultural Society, introduced
SEPARATE AUDIENCES: Karan Johars Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, a youth-centric film, has been popular in urban areas while Ajay
Devgns Shivaay (left) has dominated small town India PHOTOS: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Bollywoods divisive Diwali
It was a close battle at the box office, with a romantic drama taking a slight
financial edge over an action blockbuster
DEBORAH CORNELIOUS
Its been an uneventful
Diwali for the Bollywood box
office. Despite the fact that
after a gap of four years, the
industry had two
blockbusters clashing on
D-Day. The last time it
happened was in 2012 when
Yash Chopras SRK-starrer
Jab Tak Hai Jaan locked
horns with Ashwni Dhirs
Son of Sardaar starring Ajay
Devgn. This time, Devgns
Shivaay battled it out with
Karan Johars Ae Dil Hai
Mushkil (ADHM ), resulting
in a close battle with the
romantic drama having a
slight financial edge over the
action blockbuster.
After five days for both the
films, ADHM made with
Rs. 92 crore had raked in a
domestic net figure of Rs.
64.54 crore, according to
Shailesh Kapoor, founder of
Ormax Media, an insights
firm specialising in media.
Shivaay sporting a budget
of Rs. 105 crore had
netted Rs. 50.95 crore
domestically.
A tale of two markets
Despite sharing the
release date, the films carved
out different markets for
themselves. ADHM has been
popular in urban areas and
Shivaay , on the other hand,
dominated small-town India.
Deepika on the EMA stage
Get ready for one of the most
sought after award
ceremonies, as The Europe
Music Awards are all set to
bring the best in music
entertainment to Indian
television.
Bringing the worlds best
talent under one roof, the
EMAs promise a night filled
with entertainment, a night
to remember with an epic
clash of the young and bold
with Justin Bieber squaring
off v/s Beyonc as the two
INNOVATIVE STRATEGY Amarjit Singh Kohli and Shanno Khurana
the online competition to
select and promote singers.
In an era of stylish reality
shows and celebrity judges,
the organisation has taken a
leap by designing the music
competition in a way that
participants skills are judged
MELANGE
Shailesh says, Eighty per
cent of ADHM s business has
come from multiplexes and
50 per cent of Shivaay s
business has been from the
single-screen.
Disparity in numbers
The Devgn vehicle is a
pure action film, which has
resonated well in non-urban
areas, where hes got equity
and a fan base, thanks to the
two Singham films. On the
flip side, the word-of-mouth
reviews for it have been
mixed. So the conversion
for it in the younger
audience wont be easy, and
they have an alternative [in
ADHM ], which is more
urban, says Shailesh.
Perhaps another reason
for ADHM s lead (however
little) over Shivaay s
earnings is the films
continuous visibility pre-
release. There was the
controversy over the ban on
Pakistani artistes in
Bollywood films, which kept
it in the limelight.
Perhaps another
reason for ADHMs
lead (however little)
over Shivaay s
earnings is the films
continuous visibility
pre-release.
artists who have bagged
maximum nominations,
followed by renowned artists
such as Lady Gaga, Ariana
Grande, and Shawn Mendes
who are not far behind. With
performance by world
famous musicians like
Martin Garrix, Bruno Mars,
Shawn Mendes, DNCE and
many more and of course
Indias own Deepika
Padukone presenting one of
the awards, this is going to be
a night to remember. I am
solely by their singing
abilities.
To get into the
competition, participants
have to sing any of the songs
from the film 30 Minutes
without chorus or any
instrument. This is being
THE HINDU
Saturday, November 5, 2016
Shivaay couldnt get
headway in terms of
promotions, and you can see
the disparity in the
numbers, says Amul
Mohan, trade expert and
editor-in-chief of Super
Cinema .
The drama didnt end here
though. The Cinema Owners
and Exhibitors Association
of India had released a
directive to halt the release
of ADHM across single-
screen theatres. However,
eventually, the directive
barely affected the
screenings; the single
screens went ahead with the
release anyway. Shailesh
says the issue sorted itself
out, and ultimately, the
decision came down to
individual distributors. I
think to single out one film
was off, says Mohan, adding
that single screens which are
fighting for survival in the
time of multiplexes would
have lost a lot of business if
they had followed the
directive.
Shorts and cuts
This Deepavali also saw
another interesting
development for Bollywood.
At the beginning of the
week, in response to
audience feedback about
Shivaay being too long (it
clocks in a whopping 158
minutes), Devgn decided to
extremely thrilled to be
presenting an award at the
2016 EMAs! Im excited, and
honoured to spend an
evening amidst the worlds
greatest musical talent! 2016
has been an exciting year for
me and hopefully with XXX:
Return of Xander Cage
releasing in January 2017
should be just as fun! says
Deepika. The Europe Music
Awards 2016 is scheduled to
air straight from
Netherlands, on Vh1,
done taking into
consideration singers who
live in remote villages.
Singers will be
compartmentalised into
three categories according to
their age limits.
Participants from abroad
NOIDA/DELHI
P4
make a few alterations. It
was reduced by seven
minutes according to
Devgns team; however,
other sources say a good
11-12 minutes have been
chopped off.
Unfortunately, pundits say
it will do little to add to the
earnings. It wont affect the
box office, says Amod
Mehra, film trade analyst.
[Reductions] have never
worked and once the damage
is done, its done, whether
you re-edit or re-release it.
Defying formula
After Om Shanti Om in
2007, weve not had a true
family film, says Shailesh.
Were not getting family
entertainers and normal
films are grabbing whichever
window they get.
And this year, Shivaay
defies the formula of a
festival film. ADHM , which
was supposed to be an out-
and-out family film, turned
out to be more of a youth-
centric film, but its the
urban youth that determines
a films success now, so all is
well that ends well.
Johars film is expected to
make anything between Rs.
120 to Rs. 130 crore, while
Devgn might manage a
number just short of Rs. 100
crore. Lets see if Golmaal 4
lights things up better in
Diwali 2017.
Monday, 7th November, 6
a.m. onwards, along with a
prime time repeat 9 p.m.
onwards.
are also welcome but
professional singers cannot
apply. This is the first phase
of the competition. Once
selected, singers can sing any
genre of music with
instruments.
The reason behind
choosing the 30 Minutes film
is that it highlights the need
to take up the profession
which we love and about the
need to be punctual.
With no requirement of
physical presence of the
singer and selection being
done solely by their voice
makes the competition for
prospective singers,
especially those hailing from
small towns and villages, a
soothing track to traverse.
The judges too will be
eminent personalities but
their names have not been
revealed to prevent
participants from indirectly
influencing them.
Eminent personalities like
classical singer Shanno
Khurana, Sikha Vohra,
daughter of Anil Biswas,
Anuja Sinha, a playback
singer, promoted the launch
of the unique competition.
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