AAP, Cong plan to meet halfway - The Pioneer...2019/04/07 · party manifesto. Sinha said Rahul is...

ED, MICHEL SEEK ENQUIRYINTO CHARGESHEET LEAKNew Delhi: The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) and British-national Christian Michel, allegedmiddleman arrested in theAgustaWestland VVIP choppercase, on Saturday sought beforea Delhi court an enquiry into thepurported leakage of thesupplementary chargesheet filedin the case to media.

MAMATA SLAMS EC OVERTRANSFER OF TOP COPSKolkata: West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee onSaturday wrote to the ElectionCommission protesting transfersof four IPS officers, includingKolkata and Bidhannagar policecommissioners. The EC decisionis “unfortunate”, “highlyarbitrary, motivated and biased”and taken at the behest of BJP,the letter said, urging the pollpanel to review its decision.

CONG PLANS TO DILUTEFORCES POWERS: MODISundargarh (Odisha): PrimeMinister Narendra Modi said onSaturday that past Governmentsdid not have the courage to crossthe border and kill terrorists, andhit out at Congress saying whilethe “chowkidar” showed guts tohit terrorist safe havens insidePak, the Cong wants to dilutepowers of the armed forces.

2 TERRORISTS KILLED INSHOPIAN GUNFIGHT Srinagar: Two terrorists werekilled in a brief gunbattle withsecurity forces in Jammu &Kashmir’s Shopian district onSaturday, police said.

CAPSULE

USUALSUSPECTSSWAPAN DASGUPTA

T

here is a temptation in some circles to dismiss Congress

president Rahul Gandhi as a complete Pappu and an

airhead. While this perception may well be grounded in

perceptions of his personality, it has no place in serious

political analysis. Rahul as an individual may be important

but what is relevant is that he happens to be the head, some

would say owner, of a political party that, despite its

diminishing fortunes over the years, is still relevant as a

social and political force. The Congress is a huge network

and regardless of the leadership attributes of its President,

must be assessed in terms of its larger relevance as the

principal-but by no means the only-Opposition to the BJP

and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

That the importance of the Congress extends well

beyond the 44 Lok Sabha seats it won in 2014 is obvious. A

few months ago the Congress won three important State

Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and

Rajasthan. Additionally, it controls the State Government in

Punjab and is the mainstay of the coalition Government in

Karnataka. More important, however, is the influence the

Congress exercises over an important and influential section

of the Establishment in India. There is, for example, a section

of the bureaucracy that is inherently comfortable with the

Congress. Likewise, a significant section of the intelligentsia,

particularly those that have links with the State, are more at

ease with the Congress than with, say, the BJP. This is also

true for that section of Indian business that values the use of

discretionary powers of the Government to advance its

prospects. Patronage politics is central to the Congress, and

the influence its exercises as a consequence of this hasn’t

died out with its electoral misfortune.

This election has witnessed a momentary revival of the

Congress ecosystem. This didn’t happen because Rahul

took over the mantle of the

party from his mother. The

leadership change was

incidental to the process. It

happened because the

outcome of the three

Assembly elections and the

electoral alliance of the

Samajwadi Party and the

Bahujan Samaj Party

conveyed an impression, at

least at the beginning of

2019, that the BJP and

Modi would find it very

difficult to repeat its 2014

performance in 2019.

Regardless of whether or not such an assessment was

accurate, it was very real and was reflected in the chatter

that another UPA-style Government was imminent. It was

also felt that circumstances would propel Rahul to the Prime

Minister’s post.

This may explain two developments. First, the exodus of

politicians whose main motivation for being in politics is to

exercise power away from the Congress was temporarily

halted. Many Congress leaders, intensely disheartened by

the loss of power, felt that maybe the party was headed for

better days and that it was preferable to remain in the party

rather than forge new relationships. Within the Congress

there is a feeling, based on the experiences with Indira

Gandhi, that the first family has enormous resilience and is

capable of leading the party back to relevance, overcoming

setbacks.

Secondly, many notables who were dissatisfied with

Modi’s style of functioning and who were anxious to regain

their lost prominence felt that some association with the

Congress would be beneficial. This included individuals

who, while alarmed by Modi’s ‘idea of India’, always stopped

shy of actually endorsing the Congress. By early-2019 more

and more individuals emerged from hibernation to discover

the virtues of Rahul’s leadership. These included economists

who found fault with demonetisation, former diplomats who

were opposed to facets of foreign policy and public

intellectuals that rued their own loss of relevance in the Modi

dispensation.

This is not to imply that the Congress was merely

reverting to its original role as a pillar of the Old

Establishment. Of course, to some extent it was. But there

was an additional dimension. One of the big changes

brought about by Sonia Gandhi was the injection of the

NGOs into the Congress ecosystem. To this was added the

extraordinary cosiness that developed between the Left and

the Congress, particularly after Sitaram Yechuri became

General Secretary of the CPI(M). Under Rahul, this NAC-

isation of the Congress has continued without interruption.

The Congress manifesto reveals the sharp Left turn of a

party that was once associated with the Establishment. It

has combined profligate welfarism and fiscal recklessness

with a socio-political orientation that includes

accommodation of the ultra-Left. The demand for the dilution

of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, an open door

policy on asylum seekers that will transform the

demographic balance in the North-East and the scrapping

of sedition laws are aimed at ingratiating the Congress with

the political fringe and even using it politically. This is

combined with an enthusiastic endorsement of minority

communities. Rahul’s decision to contest from Wayanad in

Kerala is an example of this, not least of which was the

ostentatious presence of the Muslim League at his

nomination rally.

At the same time, the Congress appears to be anxious

to keep an arm’s length distance from the middle class

values that are at the heart of the BJP. Despite feeble

assertions by the likes of P Chidambaram and even Rahul

himself, there are indications that any Congress-led

Government would lead to income tax hike and higher

inflation. The Congress appears to have concluded that the

middle classes have been too ensnared by the BJP to be

worth wooing and that it is preferable to focus on other

sections particularly its traditional vote bank of the poor and

minorities. The only difference is that this is coupled with a

strong Left-liberal roofing.

Rahul’s own understanding of politics may well be

wanting but this does not mean the Congress isn’t working to

a plan — the restoration of dynastic hegemony at all costs.

That the importance of theCongress extends wellbeyond the 44 LS seats itwon in 2014 is obvious. Itexercises influence over animportant section of theEstablishment in India. Also asection of the bureaucracy isinherently comfortable withthe Congress

Cong still relevantas political force

RAJESH KUMAR n NEW DELHI

After weeks of deliberationsand negotiation with

Arvind Kejriwal-led AamAadmi Party (AAP), theCongress has agreed in princi-ple to enter into an alliancewith its bitter rival in thenational Capital in the LokSabha polls.

Congress president RahulGandhi on Saturday held ahigh-level meeting with DelhiCongress president and formerChief Minister Sheila Dikshit,AICC general secretary andDelhi affair incharge PCChacko, KC Venugopal andother senior leaders at his res-idence, where it was reported-ly decided to go ahead withalliance with the AAP.

While the Congress hasdecided to join hands withAAP, the Kejriwal outfit is stilltight-lipped about the seatsharing. The AAP wants theCongress to forge alliance inHaryana and Chandigarh asquid pro quo and alsounequivocally support fullStatehood demand for Delhi.

“An alliance with theCongress is possible only if theparty agrees to do it for 10 seatsin Haryana, seven seats inDelhi and the Chandigarh LokSabha seat. Also, the partyshould also openly declare sup-port to full Statehood for Delhiif it wants to forge an alliance

with the AAP,” the source said.The AAP has reportedly

conveyed to the Congress thatit would support the grand oldparty in Chandigarh only if itgets to contest three seats inHaryana — Faridabad,Gurgaon and Karnal. “Theparty wanted to include Punjab

in the pre-conditions for analliance, but that was left outconsidering Chief MinisterAmarinder Singh’s rigid stance,”the source said.

Although the AAP is press-ing for a 5:2 (five for AAP andtwo for Congress), theCongress has demanded “noth-

ing less than” three seats inDelhi. The AAP may concedeto the Congress demand if theparty reciprocates to AAP’sdemand.

As per the seat-sharingformula being worked out, theCongress may get New Delhi,Chandni Chowk and North

West Delhi seats while theAAP may contest from EastDelhi, South Delhi, West Delhiand North East Delhi. Thefinal seat sharing announce-ment is expected to be soon.

This could have seriousimplication for the BJP whichwon all even seats in Delhi in2014 polls.

According to sources in theCongress, “Its formula forDelhi is based on a 3:4 ratio(Congress-3 and AAP-4) iscalculated on the basis of seatswon by them in the 2017Municipal polls in Delhi. theAAP had won 49 seats and theCongress 31 after getting 26 percent and 21 per cent vote sharerespectively.

In the 2014 Lok Sabhapolls, the AAP polled 33 percent of the vote share while theCongress got only 15 per cent.Put together, the vote share ofCongress and AAP was 48 percent, just two per cent morethan the BJP vote share of 46per cent.

Majority of the DelhiCongress leaders as well asmembers of the CongressWorking Committee are for analliance with AAP because it isthe only way that the Congresscan win seats in Delhi.

Several senior Oppositionleaders, including SharadPawar and Mamata Banerjee,had urged the Congress for tie-up with the AAP.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Actor-turned-politician andrebel BJP leader

Shatrughan Sinha (72) onSaturday officially joined theCongress at the party head-quarters in the national Capital,on the foundation day of theBJP. The four-term parliamen-tarian has been fielded as theCongress candidate from PatnaSahib. He will be contestingagainst BJP nominee andUnion Law Minister RaviShankar Prasad.

After joining the Congress,Sinha lashed out at the BJPleadership, describing the saf-fron outfit as a “one man show”and “two man army”.

“In the one-man show,two-man army, everythinghappens from Prime Minister’sOffice... the Ministers can’twork freely anyway,” he said,adding “We have seen howdemocracy turned into autocracy.”

The Bihari Babu, as he isknown, lauded Congress pres-ident Rahul Gandhi for bring-ing in NYAY scheme in theparty manifesto. Sinha saidRahul is a “tried, tested and

successful dynamic leader, whois the face of the nation and itsfuture.”

“Providing `6,000 to everypoor so that his basic mini-mum income could rise up to`12,000 per month is really acommendable step,” said Sinha.

Taking a jibe at the BJPover the snub to veteran leaderLK Advani by not retaininghim from Gandhinagar, Sinhasaid, “Advaniji was sent toMargdarshak Mandal whichhasn’t held even a single meet-ing so far. They did the same to

Jaswant Singh, YashwantSinha... I was even told that Ihave been a critic and that I willnot be given a Cabinet post...but my image has been clean.”

He slammed PrimeMinister Narendra Modi on theissue of demonetisation.Calling demonetisation “prob-ably the world’s biggest scam”,Sinha said, “It was a mindlessdecision... Several people died...Modiji’s mother was in thequeue and we were told it wasnormal.”

Turn to Page 6

PNS n NEW DELHI

Amid concerns expressedby some countries, includ-

ing the US, over the dangerposed by debris caused by theanti-satellite (A-SAT) missiletest conducted by India onMarch 27, Defence Researchand Development Organisation(DRDO) chief G SatheeshReddy said here on Saturdaythat there was no such threat asthe debris was decaying.

He also said the entiredebris will be dissolved within45 days from the day the testwas conducted.

His observations camedays after National Aeronauticsand Space Administration(NASA) expressed concernover the possibility of spread ofdebris. The US termed as a “ter-rible thing” India’s shootingdown of its own satellite sayingthe mission created about 400pieces of debris.

Allaying such apprehen-sions, Reddy asserted that thefirst ten days after the test arecrucial and Saturday was thelast day of the countdown

since India carried out theimportant operation namedMission Shakti.

The DRDO chief saidIndian scientists decided toknock out the “enemy satellite”in a “hit to kill” mission inlower orbit at an altitude of 300km to avoid any debris fall outand ensure safety of otherspace stations. He also saidthere was no need for anothertest as the demonstration hithad achieved all the missionparameters adding havingdeterrence is the best defence.

Turn to Page 6

MOHIT KANDHARI n JEORAFARM, INTERNATIONALBORDER, RS PURA SECTOR

As the Lok Sabha electioncampaign for the first

phase of polling on April 11 ison its last legs, hundreds ofmembers of the Gujjar com-munity, living in the direct lineof Pakistan Rangers fire alongthe International Border inJeora farms area of RS Pura sec-tor, are eagerly awaiting theirturn to participate in the festi-val of democracy.

Facing brunt of the bordershelling for past several years,life was never so easy for theseresidents in the area till a fewmonths back.

Every time PakistanRangers violated ceasefireagreement in the area, theirsmall hamlet came on theradar. During torrents ofshelling from Pakistan, theyscurried for imagined safety. In

repeated incidents of cross-border firing, several lives werelost and livestock suffered fatalinjuries leading to huge losses.

All these years they were atthe receiving end and struggleda lot to receive adequate com-pensation from theGovernment. Their repeatedreminders and passionateappeals to authorities didn’tprovide the required succour.

However, for the last oneyear, their lives have turnedaround. At present, life is goingon smoothly under the “con-crete safety”. To secure theirlives the Central Governmentconstructed 38 individual and3 community bunkers in theJeora farms for about 210 families.

Jeora farms SarpanchLiyaqat Ali told The Pioneer,“For several years, we were fac-ing the brunt of cross-borderfiring, but the Narendra ModiGovernment has provided us

with all the basic facilities inour village. We want him tobecome Prime Minister again.”

He said, “This Governmenthas enhanced the compensa-tion per animal from `30,000to `50,000. We can claim thecompensation amount for totalnumber of animals lost.”

Liyaqat said, “Under PrimeMinister Awas Yojna (PMAY-G), 56 ‘pucca’ houses havebeen constructed for thosefamilies who had lost their tem-porary houses in mortarshelling during last year”.

Liyaqat is not the only onehappy with the performance ofthe Modi Government.

Alam Hussain, engaged inthe business of dairy farmingtold The Pioneer , “ThisGovernment fulfilled all itspromises and provided us withsafe housing and bunkers inour own village. Modi is a trueleader, we will vote for him.”

Turn to Page 6

AAP, Cong plan to meet halfway

AAP may give in to Cong demand of 3 seats in Delhi if tie-ups in Haryana, Chd sealed

Shotgun joins Congress, to take on Ravi Shankar

All A-SAT debris will

dissolve in 45 days,

India allays US fears

Saved from Pak, Jeora farms pledge Modi votes

Shatrughan Sinha gestures while joining the Congress, at AICC headquarters inNew Delhi on Saturday PTI

Ghafoor Ali outside his pucca house constructed under PMAY-G in Jeora farms along the International Border in RS PuraSector Pioneer photo

Deputy National Security AdviserPankaj Saran (R) and DRDO chief GSatish Reddy address a Pressconference on Mission Shakti project,in New Delhi on Saturday PTI

BJP’s definition

of patriotism

excludes India’s

diversity: Sonia

PNS n NEW DELHI

In her first poll rally in 2019ahead of the upcoming Lok

Sabha polls, chairperson of theUnited Progressive Alliance(UPA) Sonia Gandhi onSaturday tore into the BJP onthe issue of nationalism, sayingpeople who refused to acceptthe diversity of India are call-ing themselves patriots.

Addressing People’sAgenda-Jan Sarokar 2019 inNew Delhi, Sonia said theModi Government has“destroyed the institutions”during the past five years.

“The way the soul of ournation is being trampled for thepast some time through a well-planned conspiracy is a matterof great concern,” she said,adding, “Regressive forces havesystematically dismantled ourinstitutions. The currentGovernment has underminedthe welfare architecture thatwas laid down over last 65years.”

Sonia hit out at the BJPalleging that it does not respectdiversity of India.

Detailed report on P5

* Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday held a high-level meeting with Delhi Congress presidentand former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit among others where it was reportedly decided to go ahead withalliance with the AAP

* AAP wants Congress to forge alliance in Haryana and Chandigarh as quid pro quo and also unequivocallysupport full Statehood demand for Delhi

* As per the seat-sharing formula being worked out, the Congress may get New Delhi, Chandni Chowk andNorth West Delhi seats while the AAP may contest from East Delhi, South Delhi, West Delhi and NorthEast Delhi

* The final seat sharing announcement is expected to be soon

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Be it known to all that in mypassport no. F-9545774 my namementioned ISTISHAM HASANwhere as my correct name isEHTISHAM HASAN (S/oShahid Hasan R/o MIG-B-15, Sector-C, Aliganj, Lucknow).My correct name should be men-tioned in my passport - EhtishamHasan.

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Lost my valuable docu-ments containing 10th and12th marksheets and certifi-cate. 10th standard : year ofpassing 2014, 12th standardyear of passing 2016, indexnumber 5690942, school ofpassing city Montessori school.The finder may contact Ms.Awantika, 9653072964.

Lucknow: PragatisheelSamajwadi Party (Lohia) led byShivpal Singh Yadav announced10 more candidates, includingformer Chambal dacoitMalkhan Singh fromDhaurahra. The party has field-ed Dr Ramesh Kumar Thukralagainst Union Home MinisterRajnath Singh from Lucknow.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Congress general secre-tary and party in-chargeof eastern Uttar Pradesh,

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, heldan impressive roadshow forparty candidate Rakesh Sachanin Fatehpur parliamentary con-stituency on Saturday.

On reaching Fatehpurfrom Kanpur, Priyanka wasgiven a rousing welcome every-where she went. People show-ered petals on her and raisedpro-Congress slogans.

While speaking to womenresidents at Aunga locality , theCongress leader assured themthat her brother and Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi nevermade any false promises.

“You will get Rs 72,000 inyour accounts directly. Do notheed to any criticism and donot be misguided by anyone,”Priyanka assured them.

The women in turn saidthat on coming to power, theCongress should ban liquor inthe region as it was affectingtheir families. They also askedfor jobs.

Addressing people at road-side meetings during the road-show, Priyanka narrated thebenefits of Congress mani-festo, particularly NYAYthrough which the poor havebeen promised Rs 72,000 ayear.

“Rahul bhaiya has studiedall the implications about

NYAY and after being satisfiedthat it will have no adverseimpact on the country’s econ-omy, he announced thescheme,” Priyanka said amidcheers from the crowd.

At another meeting,Priyanka alleged that theBharatiya Janata Party was dis-criminating against martyrs. “Amartyr’s family has to be givenrespect and honour acrosspolitical lines but the BJP is try-ing to divide martyrdom onpolitical lines, which is con-demnable,” she said.

The Congress general sec-retary also alleged that the BJPhad weakened the MGNREGA

as now small works in villageswere being done by machines.

During the entire 2-km-long roadshow, Priyanka keptwaving at the enthusiastic crowdand party workers and heldsmall meetings wherever shefound people in large numbers.

At Kanpur airport,

Priyanka was welcomed byformer Union minister andCongress candidate Sri PrakashJaiswal and other party leaders.

Priyanka was expected toreturn to Delhi late Saturdayevening after visiting somelocalities to campaign forCongress candidate from

Kanpur, Sri Prakash Jaiswal. Earlier on Friday, Priyanka

participated in a roadshow infavour of party candidate DollySharma in Ghaziabad parlia-mentary constituency. Sharmais pitted against sitting MP andBJP candidate General(Retired) VK Singh.

PNS n LUCKNOW

The SP-BSP-RLD alliance inUttar Pradesh will kick-

start its joint campaign for theLok Sabha election on Sundayby holding its first rally inDeoband town of Saharanpur.

Deoband is known for theIslamic seminary Darul UloomDeoband.

Top leaders of SamajwadiParty, Bahujan Samaj Partyand Rashtriya Lok Dal willaddress the Sunday’s rally atDeoband. Saharanpur andseven other constituencies ofwestern UP will go to polls inthe first phase of Lok Sabhaelections on April 11.

Candidates and cadre ofthe three parties fromSaharanpur, Kairana, Bijnorand Muzaffarnagar will par-ticipate in the Deoband rally.

‘’The first rally of thealliance partners will be joint-ly addressed by Mayawati,Akhilesh Yadav and Ajit Singhon the second day of Navratrion April 7. The rally will beheld near Jamia Tibbiya inDeoband. A total of 11 suchrallies have been plannedacross the state in a systemat-ic manner and the last one willbe held at Varanasi on May 16,”SP spokesman RajendraChaudhary said in Lucknow onSaturday.

The alliance will have ajoint flag with pictures ofMayawati and Akhilesh Yadavwhile instructions have beengiven to all candidates andleaders that all hoardings are tohave pictures of both leadersand the picture of the candidateshould not be bigger than thatof the two party chiefs.

The alliance will hold ral-lies in Budaun on April 13,Agra on April 16, Mainpuri onApril 19, Rampur on April 20followed by on in Firozabad.

Joint rallies will also beheld in Kannauj on April 25,Faizabad on May 1 andAzamgarh on May 8.

While SP patron MulayamSingh is the candidate fromMainpuri, SP chief AkhileshYadav is trying his luck fromAzamgarh and his wife Dimplefrom Kannauj.

The alliance will alsoorganise rallies at Gorakhpurand Varanasi, the bastions ofChief Minister Yogi Adityanathand Prime Minister NarendraModi, respectively.

While the rally atGorakhpur is scheduled onMay 13, the one at Varanasi willbe held on May 16.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday announcedfour more candidates for the Lok Sabha elec-

tions in Uttar Pradesh.With this, the party has announced its can-

didates for 70 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP andin the process, it has so far denied tickets to 15sitting MPs.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded formerchairperson of Prayagraj district panchayat, KesriDevi Patel, from Phulpur and Neelam Sonkar fromLalganj (Reserved) constituency.

Anurag Sharma has been fielded from Jhansi,replacing Union minister Uma Bharti, who wonthe seat in 2014 but has declined to contest elec-tion from there.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has changed thecandidate from Banda Lok Sabha seat and field-ed RK Patel in place of sitting Lok Sabha mem-ber BP Mishra.

For the bypoll to Nighasan assembly seat inLakhimpur Kheri, the party has fielded formerMLA Ram Kumar Verma’s son Shashank Verma.The bypoll has been necessitated due to theuntimely death of sitting legislator Ram KumarVerma.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Samajwadi Party candidateand sitting MP Dimple

Yadav filed her nominationpapers from Kannauj LokSabha constituency onSaturday.

She was accompanied byher husband and SP chiefAkhilesh Yadav, party’s RajyaSabha member Jaya Bachchanand Bahujan Samaj Party gen-eral secretary Satish ChandraMishra.

Dimple Yadav has repre-sented Kannauj in the LokSabha since 2012, after theseat was vacated by her hus-band who became the ChiefMinister of Uttar Pradesh.

After filing her papers,Dimple claimed that the victo-ry margin would be “bigger”this time with the SP and BSPentering into an alliance for theLok Sabha polls in UP.

She alleged that theBharatiya Janata Party did notfulfil its promises and wasusing the Armed forces todivert public attention frompressing issues.

Before filing her papers,Dimple along with AkhileshYadav took part in a roadshowatop a rath (chariot) fromFaguha Bhutta in the presenceof a large number of SP andBSP workers and leaders who

raised slogans. The roadshow, which

stopped at the local SP office,was given a rousing receptionby SP’s women workers whobraved the heat and showeredpetals at their leaders.

On the sidelines, SP chiefAkhilesh Yadav said, “A wavefor change is blowing across thecountry and an alliance gov-

ernment will come to power inwhich the role of BSP, SP andRLD will be important.”

Recalling that Kannauj hadsent socialist thinker RamManohar Lohia and SP founderMulayam Singh Yadav toParliament, Akhilesh said thathe too was elected from thisseat and exuded confidencethat Dimple Yadav would winby a ‘record margin’ as the peo-ple of Kannauj were themselvesfighting this election.

Mentioning developmentworks undertaken during hisregime, including construc-tion of Agra-LucknowExpressway, Akhilesh Yadavalleged that the BJP hadstopped development and wasworking against the promises itmade leading to unemploy-ment.

“Everyone, from youth tofarmers to labourers to traders,is feeling harassed today. TheBJP only spreads hatred,” hesaid.

Responding to questionsfrom news persons, Akhileshsaid that surveys by the mediawere showing that the SP-BSP-RLD alliance was gainingground.

“The BJP has entered intoan alliance with 40 parties andyet they are raising fingers atthe alliance of opposition par-ties,” he said.

Lucknow (PNS): BahujanSamaj Party chief Mayawati onSaturday attacked the NarendraModi government at the Centreciting a blog post of BharatiyaJanata Party veteran Lal KrishnaAdvani. Mayawati said thatAdvani’s remark was a “realitycheck” on the functioning of theBJP government led by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

Advani had posted in a blogthat the BJP never consideredthose who disagreed with itpolitically as ‘anti-national’ or‘enemies’ but only as adver-saries.

In a tweet, Mayawati said,“BJP patriarch LK Advani’s real-ity check admonition on thefunctioning of the BJP/Modigovt on the party’s foundationday is a serious no-confidenceagainst them besides a ferventappeal to the people that thisdespotic/anti-people Modi govtis unworthy of returning back topower (sic).”

PNS n LUCKNOW

Hitting out at Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for his jibe at

Rashtriya Lok Dal leaders Ajit Singhand Jayant Chaudhary at a recentpublic meeting, party spokesmanAnil Dubey said in Lucknow onSaturday the Bharatiya Janata Partywas blaming others for the 2014communal riots in west UP to gainmileage out of it.

“The BJP leaders have realisedthat their pet communal card has nowbecome a dud for 2019 Lok Sabhaelection and their caste politics hasalso been discarded by the people.Assessing that poll defeat is imminent,the PM is dishing out cheap com-ments which do not suit a politicianof his stature,” he said.

Dubey said that farmers andyouths were fed up with the falsepromises of BJP leaders on prosper-ity and employment.

“The BJP’s poll plank ‘Sabkasaath, sabka vikas’ in last Lok Sabhaelection has turned out to be a farceand every section of society hasremained at the receiving end. Theirdirty tricks will decimate the party inthe election,” he said.

The RLD spokesman said thatproblems of farmers and youths wouldbe the core issues in western UP whichgoes to polls in the first phase.

“Cane and potato growers havenot forgotten the hardship they havefaced in the BJP rule. The BJP regimedid not implement the recommen-dation of Swaminathan Committeeand also did not implement itspromise of raising minimum supportprice of sugarcane by 1.5 times of theexisting price. Cane growers are stillto get cane arrears of more than`16,000 crore. The people in westernUP are fuming and they will give theBJP a befitting reply in the election,”Dubey said.

PGV assures people of Cong NYAY

BJP announces 4

more candidates

RK Chaudhary now in CongressPNS n LUCKNOW

Keeping its door open forturncoats, Congress on

Saturday welcomed BahujanSamaj Party’s former leader RKChaudhary into its fold.

Chaudhary is likely toreplace Ramashankar Bhargava,the Congress candidate fromMohanlalganj (Reserved) par-liamentary constituency.

A former Member ofParliament from Mishrikh inSitapur, Bhargava is also a turn-coat. He had recently joined theCongress after resigning fromSamajwadi Party. On the otherhand, Chaudhary had contest-ed the 2014 Lok Sabha poll onBSP ticket from Mohanlalganjbut was defeated by BharatiyaJanata Party candidate KaushalKishore by nearly 1.45 lakhvotes. While Chaudhary polled3.10 lakh votes, Kaushal Kishore

received 4.55 lakh votes in the2014 election.

Now, with Kaushal Kishoreonce again being fielded by theBJP from Mohanlalganj, theelectoral fight for the seat isbound to become triangularwith the Congress and SP-BSP-RLD alliance candidates vyingfor the seat. ThoughChaudhary’s name has not offi-cially been announced as can-didate so far, sources in the UPCongress said that findingChaudhary and his supportersactive in the constituency, amajority of the local party lead-ers asked the party brass toreplace Bhargava with him.

The sources claimed thatsome more leaders were ontheir way to join the Congressand hence the party had delayedthe announcement of candi-dates for key constituencieslike Varanasi, Allahabad,

Gorakhpur, Lucknow etc. The sources said that

another senior BSP leader,Rakesh Dhar Tripathi, was like-ly to join Congress and was cer-tain to be fielded fromAllahabad. Similarly,Shatrughan Sinha’s wifePoonam was also tipped to bethe joint candidate of SP-BSP-RLD alliance and Congress totake on Union Home MinisterRajnath Singh in Lucknow.

The sources in Congressclaimed that beside RKChaudhary, sitting BJP MPfrom Barabanki, PriyankaRawat, was also in touch withsenior party leaders and wasinterested in fighting fromMohanlalganj parliamentaryconstituency. It is now to beseen whether the Congress willfield Chaudhary or wait furtherand induct Rawat to push herin the fray from Mohanlalganj.

Dimple files papers,holds roadshow

‘A wave forchange is blowingacross thecountry and analliancegovernment willcome to power inwhich the role ofBSP, SP and RLDwill be important.’— SP chief Akhilesh Yadav

SP-BSP-RLD alliance

rally in Deoband today

Mayawati citesAdvani’s remark to slam PM

RLD assails Modi’s remark against Ajit, Jayant

In the fresh list, while sevencandidates have announced forUttar Pradesh, the rest three are forMaharashtra, Madhya Pradesh andKarnataka

As per the list, RK Thukral hasbeen fielded from Lucknow,Malkhan Singh from Dhaurahra,Sunita Devi from Banda, Rajdevfrom Kaushambi, KutubuddinKhan alias Diamond from Gonda,Surendra Prasad Bharati fromBansgaon while the candidate fromJaunpur, Dr RS Yadav, has beenreplaced by Sangita Yadav.Kutubuddin Khan joined the partyon Friday after being denied tick-et by the Congress.

The party also announcedKunj Bihar Jugal Kishore as partycandidate from Aurangabad inMaharashtra, Dhara Sharma fromMorena in Madhya Pradesh andDayanand Chikkmat from Belagaviin Karnataka. PNS

Malkhan Singh gets

PSPL ticket

VHP organises mantra jaap for Ram temple

Lucknow (PNS): Thousandsof ‘vijay mahamantra jaapanushthans’ were organised byVishwa Hindu Parishad across thestate on Saturday, the first day ofthe auspicious Navratri.

VHP leaders said in Lucknowon Saturday that nation-widemass awareness programme wasorganised with the objective ofremoving obstacles in construc-tion of Ram temple at Ayodhya onthe direction given by saints atPrayag Dharma Sansad.


PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

Devotees were urged to go out andvote on the day of polling as they

paid obeisance to the deity at theNavratri celebrations organised by aish-bagh Ramlila Samiti at Ramlila ground.Samiti’s secretary Pandit AdutyaDwivedi said a play titled ‘Loktantra’was staged during the celebrations onSaturday. “The play was staged by UttarPradesh Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthanam.I had asked them to prepare the play insuch a way that we could appeal to thevoters to exercise their franchise on thepolling day (May 6),” he said. The cel-ebrations started with ‘Sunderkandpujan’ followed by ‘devi geet’.

Meanwhile, the first day of Navratriwas celebrated with traditional gaietyacross the city. Devotees throngedDurga temples to pay obeisance to thedeity. They also celebrated at theirhomes and observed fast.


Arecidivist criminal, jailedin a case of murderous

assault on a girl in Thakurganj,was arrested on Saturday formurdering 26-year-old womanreceptionist of a hotel ReenaKanaujia at her house inAurangabad Jageer area underAshiyana police station. Shewas found murdered at herhouse on April 4 morning.

The accused identified asDeepu Verma of Sitapur, is anauto-driver and met the girlsome time back in Charbagh.As he ferried the girl to herhouse more often, he devel-oped good rapport with thegirl. “On the fateful day, Deepuhad a verbal spat with the girlon some issue. They laterfought over the fare thatDeepu owed to her for ferry-ing her home for a long time.

In a fit of rage, he strangulat-ed the girl and fled the scene,”Ashiyana SHO Brijesh Singhsaid. He said the police gotfootages of a CCTV installedin Charbagh during investi-gation and it was found thatboth were friendly to oneanother. “We showed the pho-tos to some auto-drivers and,subsequently, Deepu’s cellnumber was obtained. Welater obtained the call detailrecord of Deepu’s cell number

and it figured out that the loca-tion of his phone was inAurangabad Jageer localityand also close to location ofgirl’s cell phone. On this basis,we started Deepu’s hunt andnabbed him from BanglaBazaar,” the SHO said.

The girl, who was a resi-dent of Sarojini Nagar, was liv-ing at a house on rent in thelocality and was working in ahotel. The house where shelived is owned by Vinod Singh.

On the day of the incident,a friend of the girl informedher landlord about the inci-dent and later police reachedthe place. Singh said Deepu,along with his aides, hadserved a jail term for murder-ous assault on a girl inThakurganj. After he wasreleased on bail, he took toauto-driving and used to ferrypassengers from Charbagh.


Even as the Lucknow police aredrawing flak in the case of the

mysterious death of a missing 28-year-old girl whose stark naked bodywas recovered from a drain near theDGP’s office in Hazratganj, the flus-tered cops came up with a theory thatthe girl was suffering from hyperdepressive disorder and she ended herlife as she was shunned by her lover.

“The girl was suffering from highdepressive disorder and was undertreatment at a doctor’s clinic inMahanagar,” the police said onSaturday reiterating their claim thatthe girl committed suicide. The policeapparently failed to explain the rea-son, except the battered claim that shefelt cheated after her lover desertedher. The police failed to explain whatmade the girl visit a secluded place(the forest cover) where even com-mon men hesitate to go. “The place

is frequented by drug addicts. It usu-ally remains occupied by rickshaw-pullers or labourers. It is also not ameeting place of love birds,” thesources said.

The police failed to explain whygirl’s clothes were found packed in apolythene bag which was put insidethe Lord Shiva temple in the forestcover. More interestingly, the policeinspected the place on April 2 a dayafter her missing report was lodgedat Hazratganj Kotwali. “But on thatday, the investigators recovered herclothes and diary but they could notlocate her. On April 3, the policerecovered the body which was float-ing in the drain. Can the body of aperson float in muddied water,” thesources pointed out raising questionson the police claim.

The police said the suspect hadbeen detained from Ghaziabad, thedistrict to which he belonged. “He wasbeing questioned by a team of police

to know the exact sequence of herboyfriend’s chat with the girl that ledto her death later,” the police said.

The sources argued that the loca-tion of the suspect was not found inLucknow on the day of incident.“Under these conditions, it will be atough legal fight for the Lucknowpolice to corroborate charges of abet-ment to suicide,” the sources said.

ASP, East, SC Rawat said the girlwas suffering from hyper depressivedisorder since 2013.”The disease hasdangerous syndrome and a personsuffering from such disease may takeany extreme decision. The girl wasseen moving to the scene all alone. Ifthere was any assault, there should besigns of struggle or girl’s clotheswould have been torn. No telltalesigns of marks of struggle weredetected during the investigation,” theASP said. He said the girl was chat-ting with the suspect and police wereinitiating an action accordingly.


Managing director of LucknowMetro Rail Corporation Kumar

Keshav on Saturday inspected theoperational stations from Munshipuliato IT College. He reviewed all thefacilities related to cleaning and pas-senger safety. He also communicatedwith the commuters about their expe-rience and sought their feedback.

He oversaw the parking and green-ery area in between the stations. Healso directed the security commis-sioner to take stern action againstthose sticking banners and posters onthe pillars and walls of LMRC. “We aretrying to make LMRC the most cus-tomer-centric company and all thenecessary actions and implementa-tions will be considered to achieve thegoal,” he added.

Earlier, LMRC participated in aseminar on ‘Lucknow Metro-A DreamCome True’, organised by Babu BanarsiDas University (BBDU) on Friday. Theseminar was attended by 150 students.Director (Operations), LMRC, SushilKumar addressed the gathering anddelivered a lecture on the journey of

Lucknow Metro. Earlier, he was wel-comed and felicitated by BBDU Vice-Chancellor AK Mittal. The seminar wasorganised as a part of the special Metroawareness programmes aimed at creat-ing awareness about the optimum use of

Metro for daily commute. “LMRC isstriving hard to enhance the travellingexperience for people with the inclusionof world-class amenities, especially for thespecially-abled, like wheelchairs, drink-ing water, washrooms and periodic pub-

lic announcements at the stations. Thereis also a facility of talkback with push but-ton incorporated in the Metro trains forcommunication with train operators incase of emergency,” Kumar said. He intro-duced the concept of ‘Metro Marvels’ tothe students. LMRC will build a team ofvolunteers who will get an opportunityto get associated with Metro in the formof Metro depot visits, thereby under-standing and learning the operations.Kumar also responded to the queries ofthe students. The cultural department ofBBDU will conduct different activitiesevery 15 days to encourage people toadopt Metro for daily commute.

Meanwhile, Oxford Universitymusical duo Jack Remmington and JoelFishel, popularly known as Jack andJoel, presented a live concert atHazratganj Metro station. Director ofstrategy, CMS, Roshan Gandhi alsoperformed with the duo. Besides, agroup of 20 members of LucknowPratishtha Lions Club took a Metroride on Friday. They arrived at KDSingh station and travelled to the CCAAirport station. They were briefedabout the technical features and char-acteristics of the project.


The mutilated body of awoman which wasrecovered from railway

tracks in Kakori police stationarea on Saturday fuelled spec-ulation that the woman wasdone to death by miscreants.A large number of residentsin the locality flocked thescene and remained there tillthe police investigation con-cluded. As per reports, someresidents spotted the body onSaturday morning and thenews spread like wild fire. Butthe cops responded only afterstation master of Kakori rail-way station sent a memo tothe police informing aboutthe body which was lying onthe tracks.

The residents booed thepolice for delayed responseand the investigation startedamid the protest of villagerswho accused police of beingcomplacent. While the inves-tigation was underway, a fam-ily of Ulrapur village in Kakorireached the scene and identi-fied the body to be of Kamla.Her husband is a farmer. Thepolice spokesman said thebody had been sent for autop-sy and further investigationswere on.”The woman had lefther house in the morning anddid not return home. We areinvestigating under which con-dition and purpose she left thehouse,” the police spokesmansaid. He said the police werealso investigating if it was anaccidental death or somebodypushed her before a train.

Woman done to death,

mutilated body found


The recovery of a series ofbodies of women in the

state capital in the last fortnighthas made the city police reelunder pressure as casesinvolved long hours of investi-gations coupled with mediacriticism for failing to stopcrime against women.

In yet another incident, thebody of a 20-year-old girl wasrecovered from a forest coverunder Bakshi-Ka-Talab policestation area on Saturday. Policeheaved a sigh of relief after theidentity of the girl was ascer-tained. The girl was missingfrom her house since April 3and was found hanging from atree with a dupatta tied aroundher neck. Police said the fam-ily identified the dupatta to bethat of the girl and on that basisthey claimed that the girl endedher life on her own. However,the cops were apparently at aloss of words when asked aboutthe possible reason whichdrove the girl to end her life.

Initial investigation dis-closed that the girl had left herhouse on her own after inform-ing her family that she was vis-iting the house of her maternalgrandmother in neighbouringvillage Gulalpur. However,when her father reachedGulalpur village the next day,he was told that the girl did notvisit there. Police said girl’sfather was told that she wouldhave gone to the house of hermother’s sister who lived inanother village and so the fam-ily did not inform police that

she had gone missing.Investigation officer Brijesh

Singh said the girl ended herlife. “We have a gut feeling thatshe ended her life. No traces ofstruggle of assault were foundat the crime scene and this sug-gested that she ended her lifeon her own. She probably tookthe step due to some personalreason. We are trying to findout the same,” he said.

The sources said the crimescene was at a deserted placeand seldom any one visitedthere at night. “If the girlreached the place during theday time, it would have cometo the notice of cattle grazerswho spent their days near theforest cover,” they said.

When asked if the girl wassubjected to sexual assault, thepolice spokesman said thesame could be ascertained onlyafter the autopsy report camein. “The police are doing theprocess and the autopsy reportwas awaited,” he said.

Earlier, an unidentifiedwoman’s dismembered parts ofbody sans torso stuffed in a bagwas recovered from oppositeRam Manohar Lohia LawUniversity in Krishna Nagar afortnight back and on the nextan unidentified woman’s torsostuffed in a gunny bag wasrecovered in Para. After failingin ascertaining the identity ofthe women in both the cases,the police claimed that boththe body parts was of thesame woman. To buttress theirclaim, the police said theirfinding was based on forensicexperts’ opinion.

Girl’s body recoveredfrom forest cover

Mayor Sanyukta Bhatia among others offering ‘arghya’ to the rising sun at Kudia Ghat on the occasion of Nav Samvatsar on Saturday. (Right) Devotees paying obeisance to the deity at Kali temple in Chowk on thefirst day on Navratri Pioneer

Devotees urged

to cast votes

28-yr-old girl found dead in drain was

suffering from depression: Police

Receptionist’s killer arrested

LMRC MD reviews facilities at stations

Lucknow (PNS): Vice-Chancellor of KhwajaMoinuddin Chishti Urdu-Arabi-Farsi University Mahrukh Mirzasaid on Saturday that the foodpoisoning incident reported inthe media was a conspiracy todefame the university.Addressing mediapersons onSaturday, he said a probe wouldbe carried out.

He alleged that the con-spiracy was possibly hatched bysome students of the universi-ty and former officials. Theincident of food poisoning was

reported on April 2. He said hehad formed a committee toconduct a probe into the inci-dent and it would be presidedover by Somesh Kumar Shuklafrom LU. Mirza said there wereseveral indicators whichshowed that it could be a con-spiracy. “Only two studentswere hospitalised and one ofthem had chronic problems.Eighteen others who were stat-ed to have been hospitalisedwere not hospitalised and sur-prisingly, all of them are BEdstudents,” he said.

Food poisoning incident a ployto defame KMCU, says V-C


Ayouth looking for a job ina government department

was duped of Rs 10 lakh by twoof his acquaintances in VibhutiKhand. Ajeet Singh of Chinhatis pursuing law graduation froma college in Chinhat and is anative of Azamgarh. Hisacquaintances identified asSaurabh and Shivam, both ofAzamgarh, promised him a jobafter he asked them to help himin getting the job.

Both the accused, who livein Vibhuti Khand, demanded

the sum which Ajeet gave themin several installments. “Aftertaking the cash, they did not domy work. When I asked them toreturn the same, they threatenedme,” Ajeet alleged.

Meanwhile, unidentifiedmiscreants riding a bike looteda bag containing Rs 31,000from an ASHA worker JanakDulari in Mohanlalganj onSaturday afternoon. The womanwas returning home after with-drawing the cash. Police said thewoman took a tempo for herhouse and was struck when shewas walking down to her house.

ROAD MISHAPIn a freak accident, Ashu

Kashyap of Jankipuram diedafter his bike skidded as heapplied brakes seeing a motor-cycle coming from a wrongdirection on Saturday. Ashuwas returning home when themishap occurred. He appliedbrakes but the bike skidded andhe got his head banged againsta road divider. Due to excessiveblood loss, he died on the wayto hospital. Some residentsthrashed the man on themotorcycle even though hewas not at fault.

Job-seeker duped of `10 lakh



Director of Central Institutefor Subtropical

Horticulture Shailendra Rajansaid on Friday that they werehelping mango farmersthrough real-time advisories.He said pest and mangodynamics were considered tobe the most important factorsdeciding profits from orchards.

“CISH-initiated NationalInnovations on ClimateResilient Agriculture (NICRA)is a network project of theIndian Council of AgriculturalResearch at Lucknow onmango diseases and pests atCISH, Rehmankhera, since2012. The major objective ofthis project has been to deter-mine the real time pest dynam-ics in mango orchards and toestablish the relationship withweather and climate change.CISH is working in collabora-tion with six centres across thecountry. The data generatedhas been uploaded to ICAR-IARI-NCIPM (New Delhi)server for analysis and use inpolicy making,” Rajan said.

About the problems whichthe farmers face, he said:“Mostly, it is not well under-stood by all farmers and they

take many unwarranted stepsto control the diseases andpests in haste as fear losing thecrop because of previous expe-riences,” he said.

Rajan said that mostly, pes-ticide dealers acted as advisorsand incomplete understandingnot only allowed pests toincrease their population in theorchards but also develop resis-tance ultimately and it was dif-ficult to manage by the farm-ers. “The real time dynamicsbecome important as decisionfor use of control measures areto be taken instantly and as persituation,” he added.

He pointed out that data on

all important diseases, insectpests and friendly insects wasrecorded because it shows widevariations in relation to cropphenology and weather condi-tions. “The most important hasbeen shift in the incidence ofpests. New, insect pests likethrips, fruit borer and leafwebber have become majorpests along with hopper andscale as ever. The incidence ofmealy bug has gone down.The incidence of powderymildew has gone down andblossom blight has becomemore damaging. Anthracnoseincidence is almost the samebut shoulder browning of fruits

has become a severe constraint.The incidence of dieback dis-ease has decreased but thesame pathogen is causing twig,branch blight severely. Mangowilt has emerged at an alarm-ing status and has become asevere constraint in mangoindustry throughout the coun-try,” the CISH director noted.

CISH scientists PK Shuklaand Dr Gundappa are studyingthe disease and pest scenarionot only in different parts of thestate but also in importantmango-growing areas. “Theshifts in the incidence of pestsand diseases have been most-ly due to shifts in weather pat-terns. Unseasonal rains duringblossom period, increasednumber of storms during fruit-ing, disturbed rain pattern dur-ing monsoon months,decreased number of foggydays during winter and increas-ing air pollution are someidentified factors affecting pestsas well as crop. Lowering downof soil water table and scarcityof irrigation water or longduration waterlogging duringrainy seasons are also impor-tant factors responsible forincrease lethal diseases likebranch blight and wilt,” Rajansaid.

PROGRAMME ONNUTRITION

‘Nutrition for health: Foodas medicine, a public forumprogramme, will be held atKalam Centre, KGMU, onApril 7 and 8. Secretary gen-eral, Indian Society ofChronomedicine, NarsinghVerma said the programmewas organised by InternationalSociety of Food and Nutritionand Indian Society ofChronomedicine. “The aim isto create awareness aboutnutrition and medical food in

society. Our main focus isdoing research in field of med-ical food and nutrition alongwith creating our food safetyand security system stronger.Our main objective is to makeIndia healthy,” Verma said.There will be doctors, scien-tists and dieticians from var-ious parts of India on one plat-form to share their knowledgeon nutrition and food, preven-tion with food and food dur-ing treatments and diseases.Nutrition tips will be given bychef Pankaj Bhadouria while

CMO, Central Reserve PoliceForces, Dr Kenjom Ngomdirand Vice-Chancellor ofKGMU Dr MLB Bhatt willalso be present on the occa-sion.

AWARENESS CAMPSVoter awareness and regis-

tration camps were held by thedistrict administration in con-ference halls of Central BarAssociation on Saturday.Officials said the exercise wasaimed at facilitating all advo-cates, their helping staff andother associated people to reg-ister as voters on the spot. Theywere required to bring twophotographs and photocopiesof their address proofs. Therewas also a mock polling usingEVMs and VVPATs. Peoplealso searched their namesonline with the help of com-puter operators present there.


Actress SushmitaMukherjee, who is known

for her role as ‘Kitty’ in the yes-teryear’s popular show‘Karamchand’, believes thatthe International Children’sFilm Fest being held at CityMontessori School was anamazing initiative. The actress,who was present at the filmfest as a celebrity guest onSaturday, said: “Getting 101films from across the worldand over 10,000 children par-ticipating in the 9-day fest isjust wonderful.”

She said children weretomorrow's future and they gotto see so many colours of lifeand a variety of culturesthrough these films. “Bywatching these films, they willnot get a polarised view of theworld but will develop whatcan be termed a more compas-sionate worldview,” she said.

When asked if with somuch of bad content availableon the internet, will the good

cinema make a difference tothe children, she said it wasimportant to bring them to thepoint of churning. “Manthanhappens when you are servedboth the good and the bad.Duality exists everywhere but


The MSME sector hasemerged as a highly vibrant

and dynamic sector of Indianeconomy over the last fivedecades. It contributes signifi-cantly to the economic andsocial development of thecountry by fostering entrepre-neurship and generating largestemployment opportunities atcomparatively lower capitalcost, next only to agriculture.

These views wereexpressed by Secretary, MSMEand Export Promotion,Bhuvnesh Kumar at a pro-gramme organised by PHDChambers of Commerce. TheUP chapter of PHD Commerceand Industry, in associationwith Konrad Adenauer Stiftung(KAS), organised an informa-tion-packed seminar on‘Entrepreneurship and innova-tion for the growth of MSME’on Saturday in the presence ofseveral entrepreneurs, start-ups and enthusiastic studentspursuing professional courses.

The aim was to createawareness about the opportu-nities, policies and innova-tions for the growth of MSMEssector which acts as crucialoriginator of entrepreneurshipand innovation as they provideemployment to large number ofpeople and also contribute sig-nificantly to the growth ofnation’s economy.

Kumar said there were

63.35 million enterprises invarious industries employingapproximately 111 million peo-ple in India, out of which 89.99lakh enterprises in variousindustries employing approxi-mately 165.26 lakh people werein UP. He also spoke about thevarious schemes throughwhich the government hasbrought in several major pol-icy initiatives to promote and

support this sector. He saiddespite all the efforts, the chal-lenge to the policy-framerswas how to keep MSMEshealthy, growing and con-tributing to the Indian econo-my. He concluded his motiva-tional speech by encouragingthe audience to establish theircareers in MSMEs.

The theme presentationfor the seminar was given byco-chairman of PHD Chamberof Commerce and Industry,UP chapter, Mukesh BahadurSingh. He briefed about therole of MSME sector and saidMSMEs were the backbone forthe development of the econ-omy and for promoting MSMEindustries, the governmenthad also started some mean-ingful schemes in order toencourage start-ups in thestate. The seminar was fol-lowed by a technical sessionwhere the experts of differentfields enlightened the audiencewith their knowledge andexpertise in their respectivedomains.

LIVE CONCERTThe duo of Jack and Joel,

from the University of Oxford,UK, wowed the audience atCMS Gomti Nagar ExtensionAuditorium at a special musi-cal evening on Saturday. Theschool has specially invitedthe musical duo to showcasetheir talent and motivate thestudents in western pop music.

FUN DAY WITH FAMILYThe students of DPS

Eldeco and their parents wereenthralled by fun-filled set-upon the campus on Saturday.The school warmly welcomedthe parents on ‘Fun Day withFamily’ and provided them anopportunity to be familiar withthe school and teaching staff.The school offered a rejuvenat-

ing and energetic session ofrhythmic aerobics to the par-ents and allowed them to trytheir hands in art and painting.A puppet show was the mainattraction and it had everyoneglued to their seats. The chil-dren treated their parents at thepizza and ice-cream corner.Principal Deepti Dwivedi wasalso present on the occasion.

SCHOOLSCANCITYBRIEFS

‘MSME has emerged as vibrant,

dynamic sector of economy’

since children are smart, letthem them make their choic-es. How much bad content canthey watch? They will ulti-mately get tired. But one needsto monitor them because it isthe responsibility of parents,”she said. The actress pointedout that there were films fromall kinds of cultures presentedat the film fest, includingthose from Cuba, Russia,Africa and other countries.“The best part of these films isthat all the stories have a heartand are being enjoyed by thechildren. What we may haveseen in our times was not seenby our parents and may not beseen by the children of today,”she said.

The actress is writing ‘Meand Juhi Baby’, which is a filmabout mothers, daughters andfilm industry, and it revolvesaround four cities. She said shewas also working in two showsand was actively involved inBundelkhand art and culture.About her husband RajaBundela, she said he was happydoing development activitiesas the vice-chairmanBundelkhand Development

Board. About the way timeshave changed in the televisionindustry in which she hadworked for so many years, theactress said: “The actors todayflaunt their work on social net-working sites unlike our timeswhen we did not have any suchplatform.” About her visit toLucknow, she said she has beencoming here quite often and hadshot for several films in the city.

Meanwhile, more than12,000 students from variousschools of Lucknow watchedmovies on the third day ofthe film fest on Saturday.Earlier, the programme wasinaugurated by CDO ManishBansal. Other celebrity guestson the occasion were NanditaOm Puri, Suhani Bhatnagarand Naman Jain. Addressingthe gathering, Bansal saidmoral values and character-building virtues must bewidely propagated. Heexpressed hope that theeducative and motivationalfilms screened at the festivalwould be able to impartmoral and character-buildingtraits in the minds and heartsof children.

ICCF a wonderful initiative: Sushmita

The poster of a web series on Prime Minister Narendra Modi comes up at Hussainganj on Saturday Pioneer

CISH helping mango farmers

through real-time advisories

Gauri Foods launched several productsat a city hotel on Friday

Lucknow: A leopard wasbeaten to death by villagersafter it attacked and injured atleast six people in UttarPradesh’s Bahraich district,officials said. The locals wereworking at a sugarcane field ina village adjacent to theKakraha range of KatarniaghatWildlife Sanctuary on Friday.The three-year-old leopardattacked and injured six ofthem, following which the vil-

lagers chased the leopard andattacked it with sticks, officialssaid. After receiving the infor-mation, forest department offi-cials reached the spot andcaught the leopard. The animalwas brought to the range hos-pital where it succumbed toinjuries, the officials said,adding that the injured hadbeen admitted to a communi-ty health centre.

Divisional Forest Officer G

P Singh said a post-mortemwould be conducted. An FIRhas been filed against twonamed and 50-100 unnamedpersons. Action will be takenagainst all those involved, theofficer added. According tolocals, the leopard had attackedseveral people since February28 and three villagers had died.

Meanwhile, inMuzaffarnagar, a woman wasattacked with sharp-edged

weapons by a group of peopleafter her son eloped with a girlof his village, police said onSaturday. Guddu eloped with agirl of Vilayat Nagar village.Infuriated over the incident, agroup of villagers attacked hismother on Friday, injuring herseriously. According to StationHouse Officer G S Gill, policehave registered a case. Theinjured woman is undergoingtreatment at a hospital.

Leopard attacks villagers, beaten to death

Actor Naman Jain, who was the celebrity guest, waves to children on the third day of ICCF

Childrenreturn fromschool on ahot day inLucknow onSaturday

Pioneer

landmark 05LUCKNOW | SUNDAY | APRIL 7, 2019

PNS n NEW DELHI

The BJP on Saturday criti-cised the Opposition par-

ties alleging that they werestrengthening the hands ofthose harbouring terrorism by“distrusting” the Governmentand the armed forces. The rul-ing party was reacting toqueries on Pakistan PrimeMinister Imran Khan accusingthe BJP of “whipping up warhysteria” and making a “falseclaim” of downing an F-16aircraft.

Railway Minister PiyushGoyal said it was deplorablethat the Opposition was tryingto strengthen the argument ofthe neighbouring country withits attitude. “Here the PrimeMinister Modi sends the airforce to cross the line of con-trol, get into Pakistan, attackterrorism at its roots in Balakot,and on the other hand, theOpposition is trying to

strengthen the arguments ofthe neighbouring country,” hesaid.

“When you have peoplelike Sam Pitroda and FarooqAbdullah and other Congressleaders, distrusting their ownGovernment and their ownarmed forces, obviously you aregoing to strengthen the hand ofthe people and the parties,and the countries, who areharbouring terrorism,” the BJPleader said at a press conferencewhen asked about Khan’sremarks. Goyal said, “It is ashame and completelydeplorable attitude of theOpposition parties.”

National Conference pres-ident Farooq Abdullah onSaturday accused the Modi-ledGovernment of “lying” to thenation on the Balakot air strikeand shooting down of aPakistani F-16 in the aerialdogfight between the IndianAir Force (IAF) and the

Pakistan Air Force (PAF).“He (Modi) said we shot

down their (Pakistani) fighter

plane F-16. Now, the US hascome up saying all thePakistani F-16s are counted.

Not one has been shot down.There must be some basis foreven lies, Modi ji. How long

will you lie to people. And didyou win (the battle)? HasPakistan disappeared? Whyare you lying? Do you think theHindus will buy into all this?”Abdullah said.

Pitroda, Indian OverseasCongress chief, had last monthtold media that one cannot“jump on entire nation”(Pakistan) just because somepeople from there “came hereand attacked”. In an apparent

reference to Pulwama terrorattack, the Congress leadersaid attacks happen all thetime and then referred to theMumbai terror attack in 2008when the Congress-led UPAwas in power, saying the thengovernment could have sent itsplanes but that is “not theright approach”.

Taking to Twitter, PakistanPrime Minister Imran Khansaid on Saturday, “The truth

always prevails and is alwaysthe best policy. BJP’s attempt towin elections through whip-ping up war hysteria and falseclaims of downing a Pak F-16has backfired with US Defenceofficials also confirming that noF-16 was missing fromPakistan’s fleet.”

Washington-based ForeignPolicy magazine reported onThursday that American per-sonnel had recently countedthe Pakistan Air Force (PAF) F-16s and found none of theplanes missing.

It had quoted two seniorUS defence officials with directknowledge of the situation.The Indian Air Force, howev-er, stuck to its stand on Friday,saying that it had conclusiveproof of shooting down a PAFF-16 on February 27.

Reacting to the ForeignPolicy report, Prime MinisterKhan took to Twitter to criti-cise the ruling BJP.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Situation on the border espe-cially Line of Control (LoC)

with Pakistan post Pulwamaattack on February 14 withceasefire violations on the LoCunabated and operational pre-paredness to deal with anythreat on the Line of ActualControl (LAC) facing Chinawill figure prominently duringthe week long Army comman-ders conference here beginningMonday.

The top brass will reviewthe situation in Jammu &Kashmir after India carriedout air strikes on February 26and Pakistan’s retaliation onFebruary 27. Since then theLoC is “hot” with Pakistanrelentlessly violating ceasefire.

“Important issues that arelikely to be discussed are man-agement of the extant securitydynamics, mitigation of futuresecurity threats and enhance-ment of combat edge overpotential adversaries,” theArmy said in a statement issuedon Saturday.

It said the conference, to bechaired by Chief of Army StaffGeneral Bipin Rawat, willdeliberate on specific issuesrelating to Army formationsand the Army as a whole. Thecommanders will also deliber-ate on infrastructure develop-ment along India’s border withChina, laying of strategic rail-way lines and ways to optimise“limited budget” to ensuremaking up of critical deficien-cy in ammunition, officialssaid. They said implementa-tion of critical projects includ-ing construction of several keyroads along the border withChina will also be discussed.

Issues relating to adminis-

tration and welfare of troopswill be discussed in detail forplanning and execution, theArmy said adding the com-manders will also deliberate onEx-servicemen ContributoryHealth Scheme (ECHS). TheArmy commanders will alsoreview implementation of var-ious reform measures in theforce.

The opening address atthe conference, to be held fromApril 8 to 14, will be deliveredby Defence Minister NirmalaSitharaman. Army comman-ders’ conference is held bian-nually for formulating impor-tant policy decisions throughcollegiate deliberations.

Opp strengthening those harbouring terrorism: BJP

Union Minister Piyush Goyal after the Press conference at BJP headquarters in New Delhi on Saturday PTI

2 The ruling party was reacting to queries on Pakistan PrimeMinister Imran Khan accusing the BJP of “whipping up warhysteria” and making a “false claim” of downing an F-16 aircraft

2 Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said it was deplorable that theOpposition was trying to strengthen the argument of theneighbouring country with its attitude. “Here the Prime MinisterModi sends the air force to cross the line of control, get intoPakistan, attack terrorism at its roots in Balakot, and on the otherhand, the Opposition is trying to strengthen the arguments of theneighbouring country,” he said

2 Goyal said, “It is a shame and completely deplorable attitude ofthe Opposition parties

PNS n NEW DELHI

External Affairs Minister andsenior BJP leader Sushma

Swaraj on Saturday askedCongress president RahulGandhi to “try to maintainsome decorum”, responding tohis comment that PrimeMinister Narendra Modikicked his guru LK Advani out.

Her rebuke on Twittercame a day after the Congresspresident slammed the BJPand PM Modi over denial ofticket to veteran leader LKAdvani in Gujarat’sGandhinagar, the parliamen-tary seat he won six times.

“BJP talks of Hinduism. In

Hinduism, the guru is supreme.It talks of guru-shishya tradi-tion. Who is Modi’s guru?Advani. Modi just kickedAdvani out,” Rahul had said.

Swaraj, in a sharp rebuttal,

tweeted: “#Advaniji Rahulji -Advani ji is our father figure.Your words have hurt usdeeply. Please try to maintainsome decorum of your speech.(sic)”

DEEPAK K UPRETI n NEW DELHI

The BJP on Saturdayreplaced Union Minister

Uma Bharti with AnuragSharma as party’s nomineefrom Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh,Lok Sabha while dropping tensitting MPs. Anurag Sharma,the new candidate from Jhansi,is the owner of BaidhyanathGroup.

Bharti had alreadyannounced that she would notcontest the elections . Anotherwoman Union MinisterSushma Swaraj (MP fromVidisha, MP) had also optedout from Lok Sabha poll citinghealth reasons. This weekSpeaker Sumitra Mahajan saidshe was not aspiring for the LokSabha ticket and party was freeto nominate anyone from herIndore, MP, seat.

The party announced 24candidates includes eight can-didates in Haryana, four eachin Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan,and three each in MadhyaPradesh and Jharkhand. Partyhas dropped ten sitting MPs

including Bharti and five-timeMP from Ranchi Ram TahalChoudhary. BJP has alsodropped Banda (UP) LokSabha MP Bhairon PrasadMishra and replaced him byRK Patel, while Nilam Sonkarhas retained her Lalganj seat.From Phulpur, the party hasfielded Keshri Devi Patel.

The BJP also announced its

candidates for one seat each inWest Bengal and Odisha.

With this, the party has sofar announced 407 candidatesfor the seven-phase Lok Sabhapolls which will start on April11 and continue till May 19.The counting of the votes willtake place on May 23.

According to sources, BJP’slist of seven candidates forDelhi is ready and will bereleased the moment Congress-AAP take a official call on theirtie-up. A decision on thealliance may come within a dayor two. BJP may drop some ofthe exiting party MPs. Formercricket Guatam Gambir whojoined BJP recently is said tobe a potential candidate one ofthe seats, sources said.

Meanwhile Former vicechief of Army staff LieutenantGeneral (retd) Sarath Chandjoined the BJP on Saturday inpresence of External AffairsMinister Sushma Swaraj.

Sarath Chand was com-missioned into the GarhwalRifles in June 1979 and retiredas vice chief of Indian Army on

June 1 last year. He has been inactive combat leadership rolesat every stage of command inthe Army.

“In today’s global scenario,the country needs a strongleadership. I was inspired byPrime Minister NarendraModi’s leadership that’s why Iam joining BJP,” said Chand.

Continuing its attack onthe Congress close to the firstphase of poll on April 11, theBJP on accused the Congress ofmaking multiple false promis-es in its election manifestos of2004 and 2009 and said peopleare smart enough to not bemisled by such promises thistime. “For us, manifesto is avery important document. Theway Congress takes its mani-festo, and the way it has beenmaking false promises...Thiscountry’s people are smartenough to reject such falsepromises,” said RailwayMinister Piyush Goyal at apress conference at the BJPoffice here.

“Through lying and bymaking false statements, this

country’s people can not bemisled,” he added.

Going into the detail,Goyal said, “Congress made bigpromises in all of its previousmanifestos. In 2004 and in2009, the Congress promisedthat it will provide directincome to farmers. After run-ning the government for 10years, they did not do anythingabout it.”

Goyal said it was under theModi government that a deci-sion was taken to give `6,000to poor farmers. “It was imple-mented within 24 days, andcurrently, all poor farmers havestarted getting annual `6,000assistance,” he said, referring tothe first installment of `2,000released by the government.

Goyal also accused theCongress of making the falsepromise of providing electric-ity to every home in the coun-try in 2004 — and again in2009. “The then Congress pres-ident even said in 2004 thatwithin 3-5 years, we will pro-vide electricity to every home,”he said.

BJP fields Anurag on Uma seat, drops 10 sitting MPs

BJP senior leader Sushma Swaraj welcomes Lieutenant General (retd) SarathChand as he joins the party in New Delhi on Saturday PTI

Rahul’s barb ‘Modi kickedhis guru out’ upsets SushmaMin asks Congchief to maintainsome decorum

PNS n NEW DELHI

In her first address in 2019ahead of the upcoming Lok

Sabha polls, chairperson of theUnited Progressive Alliance(UPA) Sonia Gandhi onSaturday tore into the BJP onthe issue of nationalism, sayingpeople who refused to acceptthe diversity of India were call-ing themselves patriots.

Addressing People’sAgenda-Jan Sarokar 2019 inNew Delhi, Sonia said theModi Government has“destroyed the institutions”during the past five years.

“The way the soul of ournation is being trampled for thepast some time through a well-planned conspiracy is a matterof great concern,” she saidadding, “Regressive forces havesystematically dismantled ourinstitutions. The currentGovernment has underminedthe welfare architecture thatwas laid down over last 65

years.”Sonia hit out at the BJP

alleging that it does not respectdiversity of India. “New defin-ition of patriotism is beingtaught to us today. Thoserejecting diversity are beinglabeled as patriots.Discrimination among ourown citizen is being justified onthe basis of caste, religion andideology,” the UPA chairpersonsaid.

The Congress leaderclaimed that the ManmohanSingh led UPA Government

worked spearheaded policiesthat helped shaping the dreamsand aspirations of crores ofIndians.

“When the UPA was inpower, under the leadership ofDr. Manmohan Singh, theGovernment and civil societyworked together. It wasn’t aneasy task, but with the supportof civil society, ourGovernment spearheaded poli-cies that gave shape to thedreams and aspirations ofcrores of fellow Indians,” shesaid.

The UPA chairpersonquoted Congress leader andcountry’s first Prime MinisterJawaharlal Nehru’s remarksthat there is no place for con-venience or comfort while cre-ating a future. “There should beno difference in the words andactions of the Government.We have shown this before andwill do it even further,” she said.

The UPA chairperson’ssharp criticism of the ModiGovernment has come close onthe heels of a similar referenceby the party veteran LKAdvani. Writing in a blogrecently, Advani said his partyhas never regarded those whodisagreed with it politically as“anti-nationals” or “enemies”.Many observers viewedAdvani’s blog as a message tothe BJP current leadership.

On Saturday, Sonia, in aveiled reference to controver-sies involving alleged con-sumption of beef and the BJP’sstrong opposition to it, said, “It

is being expected of us that inthe matters of food, dresses andfreedom of speech, we shouldaccept the whims of a fewpeople. The present govern-ment is not ready to respectdisagreement at all.”

“If people are assaulted forstaying true to their belief, theGovernment turns blind eye tothem. It refuses to implementthe rule of law, its basic duty,”she said.

Sonia also alleged that theBJP-led Government was notready to fulfill its duty ofenforcing rule of law in thecountry. On the Congress’s pollpromises, the UPA chairpersonsaid if the party comes topower, a system will be devel-oped to monitor their imple-mentations.

“I have no doubts about thepromises we have made. Afterour Government is formed, asystem will be in place to mon-itor their implementation,” shesaid.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) on Saturday

arrested an operative ofPakistan-based terror groupJaish-e-Mohammed in con-nection with the 2017 terrorattack on a CRPF camp inSouth Kashmir.

Syed Hilal Andrabi, 35, ofJammu & Kashmir’s Pulwamadistrict, was produced before acourt which sent him to fivedays’ police custody.

According to NIA, he wasarrested from Jammu by theNIA in connection with theattack on the CRPF camp atLethpora in South Kashmir onDecember 30 night in 2017, inwhich five personnel werekilled. Three Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists werekilled during the 36-hour-longgunfight.

The UN-proscribed JeMhad sent two suicide attackersto the camp, including the 16-year-old son of a policemanwho had joined the outfit a fewmonths before the attack.

An active over groundworker of the JeM, Andrabi is

a key conspirator who provid-ed logistic support in the formof sheltering the terrorists andconducting reconnaissance ofthe CRPF group centre beforethe attack, the NIA said.

Andrabi’s arrest came daysafter Nisar Ahmed Tantray,whose brother Noor Trali isbelieved to have helped revivethe JeM in Jammu andKashmir, was arrested by theNIA after being deported fromthe UAE in the same case.

NIA said that with thearrest of Andrabi, total no ofaccused arrested in this casehas risen to four.

Earlier last month, the NIAarrested Fayaz Ahmed Magrayfrom Pulwama for allegedlybeing the “key conspirator” ofthe 2017 attack and accusedhim of providing logisticalsupport such as shelter to themilitants and conductingreconnaissance of the CRPFGroup Centre, Lethpora beforethe attack.

The JeM has claimedresponsibility for the February14 attack on a CRPF convoy inPulwama, in which 40 person-nel were killed.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Congress leader PChidambaram on Saturday

alleged that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi was misleadingby commenting that theOpposition party will removeimmunity of the armed forcesunder Armed Forces SpecialPowers Act (AFSPA) if voted topower. He asserted theCongress manifesto only Statesthat there would be no immu-nity for armed forces only incases of “enforced disappear-ance, sexual violence or tor-ture”.

Chidambaram sought toknow whether Modi supports“enforced disappearance, sex-ual violence and torture”, theallegations which are commonin areas where AFSPA is inforce. “Mr Modi is lying whenhe says that Congress will

remove the immunity to armedforces. Congress Manifesto saysthere will be no immunityonly in cases of enforced dis-appearance, sexual violence ortorture,” he said in a tweet.

In another tweet, he said,“Mr Modi must also answerthis question: why did he total-ly withdraw AFSPA fromTripura, Meghalaya and threedistricts of ArunachalPradesh?”

The Congress and the BJP

have been engaged in a war ofwords over the former’s pledgein its manifesto to review theAFSPA in Jammu and Kashmir.The prime minister had onFriday accused the Congress ofhurting the morale of thearmed forces by seeking areview of the AFSPA in Jammu& Kashmir.

“What will happen to thecountry (if they do so)? You arecommitting the sin of remov-ing the protective cover fromthe security personnel forvotes? Shame on you for yourpolitics. Any terrorist can fileany kind of FIR against theArmy and security personnel ifthe AFSPA is withdrawn,”Modi had said.

The controversial AFSPAgives a degree of immunityfrom prosecution to the secu-rity forces deployed in “dis-turbed areas”.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Indian Union MuslimLeague (IUML) on

Saturday lodged a complaintwith the Election Commission(EC) against Uttar PradeshChief Minister Yogi Adityanathfor calling the party a “muslimvirus” remarks.

After meeting with ECofficials, IUML national secre-tary Khorram Anis Omer said;“We met ECI to file a complaintin regards to claims made byUP CM and by Delhi MLA MSSirsa. They called us terrorists,virus and all kind of things. BJPtroll army is behind it. We haveasked EC to file FIR, they aregoing to look into the matterand immediately respond tous.”

On Friday, Adityanath, inan indirect reference to thegreen flags of IUML, made acomparison with pre-Independence Muslim Leagueand alleged that the MuslimLeague had once led toPartition of the country.

“Muslim League ek virushai. Ek aisa virus jis se koi

sankramit ho gaya to wo bachnahi sakta aur aaj to mukhyavipakshi dal Congress hi is sesankramit ho chuka hai..Sochiyeagar yeh jeet gayi toh kya hoga?Yeh virus poore desh mein phailjayega (Muslim League is avirus, with which if someone isinfected once, he cannot besaved. Today, the mainOpposition party, Congress isinfected with it. Think, if theywin then what will happen?This virus will spread in theentire country),” YogiAdityanath had tweeted.

Comparing the MuslimLeague with that of pre-Independence, Adityanath said,“1857 ke swatantrata sangrammein Mangal Pandey ke sathpura desh Angrezon ke khilafmil kar lad raha tha, phir yehMuslim League ka virus aayaaur aisa phaila ki poore desh kahi batwara ho gaya,” saidAdityanath, adding, “Aaj phirvahi Khatra mandra raha hai,Hare jhande phir se lehar rahe.Congress Muslim leagure virusse sankramit ha, savdhanrahiye.” (In 1857 freedomstruggle, the entire country

was fighting against Britishwith Mangal Pandey. But thenMuslim League virus cameand spread in such a mannerthat there was partition of thecountry. Today again samethreat is looming. Green flagsare being waved again.Congress is infected withMuslim League virus, beaware…)

On Friday, the EC issued acensure to UP CM Yogi overhis “Modi ki Sena” remark.Censure is to express disap-proval of someone/somethingin a formal statement. The EChas advised Adityanath to bemore careful in the future as a“senior political leader.”

Responding to the contro-versy surrounding the wavingof “green f lags” duringCongress president RahulGandhi’s roadshow inWayanad, Omer said, “Therehas been a controversy goingon about Pakistani flags beingwaved at Rahul Gandhi’s rally in Wayanad, Kerala, whichis false and misleading, and isan attempt to malign both parties.”

Top Army brass to reviewsecurity situation in J&K

JeM man arrested for 2017

terror attack on CRPF camp

IUML complaints to ECagainst Yogi’s ‘virus’ remark

Sonia raps BJP over new definition of patriotismModi misleading when he says Cong

will remove immunity of forces: PC

nation 06LUCKNOW | SUNDAY | APRIL 7, 2019

From Page 1Elaborating on all the

aspects of the A-SAT test dur-ing a media conference, healso said India now has thecapability of hitting a satelliteat a height of more than 1,000kms. Reddy’s claim comes inthe backdrop of China havingthe capability to destroy amissile at a range of nearly 800kms as demonstrated in a testin space some years back.

Despite having the capa-bility to hit a satellite at 1,000km, India as a responsiblenation committed to peacefuluse of space, chose a muchlower orbit at 300 km with thepurpose of avoiding threat ofdebries to the global spaceassets. This ensured debriswould decay in a matter ofweeks, Reddy said addingeven the US carries such testsat altitudes of 250 to 300 kms.He also said there was nothreat to the InternationalSpace Station (ISS) asexpressed by the NASA.

The Indian scientists con-ducted endless simulationexercises to avoid threat ofdebris, said Reddy, addingthere could be a possibility ofsome debris going up but it did

not pose any danger as indi-cated by the NASA reports inthe last two days.

Explaining the precau-tions taken, he said the inter-ceptor missile, whichdestroyed the “enemy” satellitelaunched by India in Januarythis year, hit it from the sideat 283 kms altitude in astraight angle instead of com-ing from below or at an angle.The straight line hit from theside ensured that debris didnot spread upwards and theprecision hit to kill was tencms which the DRDO chieftermed as an achievement forthe Indian scientists.

Giving the background ofthe test, he said it was in 2014that the Government asked theDRDO to start working onspace programme and thefinal nod for the A-SAT testwas given in 2016. More than150 to 200 scientists including40 to 50 women scientistsworked tirelessly conductingsimulation exercises and otherrelated drills, said the DRDOchief, adding the entire effortwas indigenous with morethan 90 per cent componentsmanufactured in the country.Nearly 50 companies manu-factured 2,000 componentsincluding nozzles, avionicsand other critical parts withthe DRDO scientists keepingstrict quality control checks.

Fielding a question aboutsenior Congress leader and

former Finance Minister PChidambaram sayingannouncing the A-SAT testexposed India’s defence capa-bilities thereby harming itsinterests, the DRDO chief saidsuch tests cannot be hidden assatellites from all over theworld monitor such pro-grammes from various sta-tions. Therefore, such mis-sions cannot be kept a secret,Reddy said.

Taking exception to PrimeMinister Narendra Modiannouncing the successful test,Chidambaram had said only a“foolish Government” wouldmake such a disclosure and“betray” a defence secret. Healso said in a tweet, “The capa-bility to shoot down a satellitehas existed for many years. Awise Government will keep thecapability secret. Only a fool-ish Government will discloseit and betray a defence secret.”

Asked about the timing ofthe test, Deputy NationalSecurity Advisor (NSA)Pankaj Saran it was techno-logically and scientifically dri-ven. Responding to anotherquery whether US and othercountries were informed inadvance about the test, hesaid without answering direct-ly that India’s space pro-gramme is in collaborationwith several countries andinteracts with them constant-ly as part of international outreach.

From Page 1Another villager, Ghafoor

Ali said, “In the past every timeI stepped out of the house I wasworried about the safety of myfamily. But now theGovernment has constructedbunkers in our village andprovided us with ‘pucca’ hous-es. He said, “We feel secureeven while we continue to livein the direct line of fire ofPakistan Rangers”

Mustaq Ali, a student said,“Due to border firing we usedto vacate our houses. Our stud-ies also suffered a lot but nowwe are feeling secured afterbunkers have been construct-ed in our village”.

Liyaqat Ali, villagesarpanch told The Pioneer,“Our next target is to upgradeprimary school in the area to amiddle school so that childrencan study up to Class 8 in ourown village.” He said, theGovernment has black toppedthe road connecting our villagewith RS Pura. Now we do notface any problem as travellingon the road has become easi-er.

“In the past, we faced manyhardships while shifting injuredpersons, during border firing,due to poor condition of theroad,” he added.

From Page 1The former BJP leader,

who served under Vajpayeeregime as Union HealthMinister, besides ShippingMinister, lamented that seniorand talented people were notgiven due respect in NarendraModi-Amit Shah dispensation.

In an association that hadbeen souring for years, theproverbial last straw was theBJP snubbing Shatrughan Sinhaand naming a different candi-date, Union Minister RaviShankar Prasad, for his PatnaSahib constituency.

Sinha said that RashtriyaJanata Dal chief Lalu Yadav hasbeen “instrumental in my deci-sion” to join the Congress.

There were reports thatSinha’s big bang admission intothe Congress was delayed by theparty’s tussle with the RJD overhim. Sinha has been openlycritical of the PM and AmitShah and over the past year, histweet-a-day barbs have beenincreasingly provocative for theparty. In January, he even joinedOpposition leaders in a megarally in Kolkata hosted byBengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee.

Meanwhile, Congress hasannounced that formerHimachal Pradesh MinisterRamlal Thakur will contestfrom the Hamirpur Lok Sabhaseat in the State against sittingBJP MP Anurag Thakur.

In Punjab, the party field-ed Jasbir Singh Gill Dimpafrom Khadoor Sahib, formerIAS officer Amar Singh fromFatehgarh Sahib (reserve), andfolk singer Mohammed Sadiquefrom the Faridkot Lok Sabhaseat.

With the latest list of fivecandidates, a total of 377 nameshave been announced by theparty for the Lok Sabha elec-tions.

The names wereannounced after party leadersfrom Punjab, HimachalPradesh and Bihar metCongress president RahulGandhi earlier during the day.

Among those present dur-ing the meeting were: PunjabChief Minister AmarinderSingh, AICC secretary and theparty’s Punjab affairs in-chargeAsha Kumari, HimachalPradesh Congress chiefKuldeep Rathore and State CLPleader Mukesh Agnihotri.

All A-SAT

debris...

Shotgun joins Congress,to take on Ravi Shankar

Saved fromPak, Jeora...

KUMAR CHELLAPPAN n

CHENNAI

There is no confusion in theCongress or among the

Opposition parties over thePrime Ministerial candidate,according to Congress strong-man and the party’s chief ide-ologue P Chidambaram.

He said at Madurai onSaturday that the PrimeMinisterial candidate of theOpposition, including that ofthe Congress, would be select-ed after the election is over.Chidambaram was address-ing the media at Madurai afterreleasing the manifesto of theCongress which is said to bedrafted by him.

“I have been associatedwith the selection of the PrimeMinisterial candidate of theparty as well as the Oppositionfor more than fifty years. Asthe ideologue of the Congressparty, I can tell you withauthority that the party hasnever contested the electionprojecting a candidate as thePrime Minister. It has been outof style,” said Chidambaram, aformer union finance as well asHome Minister under theCongress dispensation as wellas under the Opposition withthe support of the Congress.

He pointed out that evenin 1977, the Opposition whichwon the election had not pro-jected any Prime Ministerialcandidate. “Morarji Desai waselected the Prime Ministeronly after the general election.The same was the case with VP Singh, Chandrasekhar, DeveGowda, IK Gujral andManmohan Singh. They wereall selected by the MPs after theelection. I had a major say inthe selection of these personsas Prime Ministers,” saidChidambaram hinting indi-rectly that he too was in therace for the top job.

Chidambaram’s son Kartiis engaged in a direct fightagainst BJP’s H Raja in theadjoining Sivaganga parlia-

mentary constituency. Thesenior Congress leader isspending most of his time inthe constituency campaigningfor his son.

Regarding the manifesto ofhis party, Chidambaram said itwas a document orientedtowards the farmers and agri-culture. He came down heav-ily on the Modi Governmentfor its failure in all sectors ofthe economy. “The peoplewould not have faced anyproblems had a Congress-ledgovernment been in place inNew Delhi. Narendra Modigovernment was a total failureas it lacked the will power toimplement innovativeschemes,” said the formerFinance Minister.

No confusion on PM

candidate in Opp: PC

Srinagar: National Conference presi-dent Farooq Abdullah has accusedPrime Minister Narendra Modi-ledGovernment of “lying” to the nation onthe Balakot air strike and shooting downof a Pakistani F-16 in the aerial dogfightbetween the IAF and the PAF.

Abdullah, who is contesting theLok Sabha elections from the Srinagarconstituency, said the BJP-led centralgovernment carried out the aerialstrike as the Prime Minister had"failed" in delivering on his promisesmade during the last general electionsin the country.

"He (Modi) had promised that `15lakh will be put in your accounts, didyou get Rs 15 lakh? When he failed inall these things, his head was hangingwhenever I used to see him in

Parliament during the last few days ashe realised that his power is gone.

"At that time, some MPs wouldsay that he would dosomething...Attack Pakistan so that

everyone feels that Hanuman ji hascome. What did he do? For a few sec-onds, he sent three planes to the bor-der which is known as Balakot anddropped bombs there," Abdullah saidaddressing an election rally in theFakir Gujri area here Friday. The for-mer chief minister said the govern-ment claimed that a number of ter-rorists were killed but there is no clar-ity. "Some people said 500 were killedand some others even said 700 werekilled. Here if one person is killed, thewhole world comes to know. Wouldno one know if 300 were killed?" heasked. On the report in a US journalthat the US count claims no F-16 jetwas shot down by IAF's MiG-21Bison, Abdullah asked the primeminister why he was "lying" to the

people of the country."He (Modi) said we shot down

their (Pakistani) fighter plane F-16.Now, the US has come up saying allthe Pakistani F-16s are counted. Notone has been shot down. There mustbe some basis for even lies, Modi ji.How long will you lie to people. Anddid you win (the battle)? Has Pakistandisappeared? Why are you lying? Doyou think the Hindus will buy into allthis?" he said.

Hoping that the BJP will notreturn to power at the Centre,Abdullah said whichever party comesto power "they will definitely talk toPakistan and Jammu & Kashmir willbe the first priority". "We can't bearliving like this ...That deaths take placeeveryday," he said. PTI

Ahmedabad: BJP chief andthe party’s Gandhinagar con-testant Amit Shah onSaturday held a roadshowhere, where he made peoplechant a slogan that "entireKashmir belongs to us".

His slogan-chanting comesin the wake of PDP chief andformer Jammu and Kashmirchief minister MehboobaMufti's criticism that Shahwas "daydreaming" about abro-gating Article 370 of theConstitution that provides spe-cial status to the state.

Shah held the roadshow inthe city as part of his electioncampaign, which comes on theday of his party's 39th foun-dation day.

Before embarking on theroadshow from Sarkhej area inAhmedabad around 9 am,Shah garlanded the pho-tographs of Jan Sangh foundersDeendayal Upadhyaya andSyama Prasad Mookerjee.

Shah made the people pre-sent there chant, "Jaha hue bal-idan Mookerjee, woh Kashmirhamara hai... Sara ka sarahamara hai. (Where Mookerjeesacrificed his life, that Kashmiris ours, that entire Kashmir isours)."Reacting to the report-ed remarks made by Shahunderscoring the BJP's com-mitment to abrogate Articles370 and 35-A, Mufti hadrecently said if the constitu-

tional provision was removed,mainstream politicians, includ-ing her, will have to reconsid-er their future course of action.

"I want to tell Amit Shahthat you are daydreaming ifyou think you will abrogateArticle 370," Mufti had said.

Article 370 grants specialstatus to Jammu and Kashmirand limits Parliament's powerto make laws concerning thestate. Shah conducted theroadshow in an open vehiclewith BJP's state unit presidentJitu Vaghani. It covered sever-al parts of Ahmedabad city thatfalls under the Gandhinagarconstituency.

Apart from Vejalpur,Anandnagar, Jivraj Park, MansiCross road areas, the road-show also passed through theMuslim-dominated Juhapuraarea. It ended at Haveli inVastrapur area around 1 pm.

The roadshow coveredboth rural as well as posh cityareas, where people came outto greet Shah despite thescorching heat. The BJP chiefreciprocated by waving hishand at them throughout theroadshow, which coveredaround 10 kms.

Shah is scheduled to holdone more roadshow onSaturday evening in Sabarmatiarea of the city, which also fallsunder Gandhinagar con-stituency. PTI

Agartala: A BSF constable fromAndhra Pradesh committed sui-cide with his service rifle, afterfiring at two of his colleagues ina camp at North Tripura district,police said on Saturday.

The constable, B Durga Rao(38), was talking to a familymember when he suddenly shotat one of his colleagues, AnilKumar, on Friday night inPanisagar area, SP BhanupadaChakraborty said. Hearing thesound of gunfire, another BSFjawan, Dhanraj, rushed to thespot to overpower him andduring an ensuing scuffle, Raoshot at himself and died on thespot, Chakraborty said. Dhanrajalso received bullet injuries inthe tussle, he said. Both theinjured jawans, whose conditionis stated to be out of danger, areundergoing treatment at GBPant Hospital here, BSF sourcessaid. PTI

BSF jawan

shoots himself

dead, injures 2

colleagues

A man dressed as god Vishnu participates in a procession to mark Gudi Padwa in Mumbai on Saturday AP

Shah holds roadshowin Ahmedabad, says‘entire Kashmir is ours'

117 all-women polling stations in Mizoram: CEO

PTI n HOJAI (ASSAM)

Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath

Saturday alleged that theCongress has entered into an"unholy alliance" with theMuslim League which was evi-dent from the green flags seenwhen Rahul Gandhi went tofile nomination in a processionfrom Wayanad Lok Sabha seatin Kerala.

Gandhi filed his nomina-tion paper from Wayanadwhich has a sizable Muslimpopulation, on Thursday.

A video of Gandhi's pro-cession while going to filenomination at Wayanad hasgone viral. It was recordedfrom a spot that showed greenflags of the Muslim League flut-tering over the procession.

"Gandhi ran away fromUttar Pradesh and filed hisnomination from a seat in

Kerala. In his procession therewas neither the IndianTricolour nor the Congresssymbol 'hand' but only theMuslim League's green flagwith stars and mooon," heclaimed while addressing anelection rally here in CentralAssam.

"This unholy alliance hasexposed the mindset of theCongress. The Muslim League

was responsible for the parti-tion of the country and thekilling of lakhs of people dur-ing that time. Now theCongress has a political alliancewith the same party," the UPchief minister said.

In Assam too, the Congresshas entered into an under-standing with BadruddinAjmal's AIUDF which isresponsible for myriad prob-lems in the state, he alleged.

"The Congress has com-promised the national securi-ty and your security by enter-ing into both these alliances,"he told the rally.

He asserted that Indiaunder Modi has emerged as aglobal economic power attain-ing the sixth position from theearlier 11th place under theUPA regime.

Adityanath was campaign-ing for BJP's Nowgong candi-date Rupak Sarmah.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Congress on Saturdayquestioned the Election

Commission’s letting off ofYogi Adityanath with a light rapfor his “Modiji ki sena” remark,saying that the Uttar PradeshChief Minister “insults” theIndian Army and the poll bodywrites a “love letter” to him.

The Opposition party alsocame down hard on the ECcommunication to NITI Aayogvice chairman Rajiv Kumar,saying he criticised the party’sproposed minimum incomescheme NYAY and the pollbody told him “don’t do it infuture”.

“Has the MCC nowbecome ‘Modi Code ofConduct’. Adityanath insultsthe Indian Army — EC writesa love letter to him,” Congress’

chief spokesperson RandeepSurjewala tweeted. “NITIAayog vice chairman criticisesthe NYAY scheme — EC says‘don’t do it in future’,” he said.Why is the EC shying awayfrom showing the mirror oftruth to those in power,Surjewala asked.

The EC was learnt to havelet off Adityanath with a lightrap for his “Modiji ki sena”remark, asking him to be morecareful in the future. Not sat-isfied with the remarks, the ECwas learnt to have told himthat be “more careful in hisutterances in future”, sourceshad said.

EC writes love letterto Yogi for insultingArmy, says Congress

Cong’s unholy pact with

Muslim League: Yogi

Modi Govt lying on Balakot air strike: Farooq

Aizaw l: Mizoram ChiefElectoral Officer (CEO) AshishKundra on Saturday said therewould be 117 al l womenpolling stations, manned bywomen polling officials andwomen security staff for thelone Lok Sabha seat in theState. Polling for the lone LokSabha seat in Mizoram and thebypoll to the Aizawl West

Assembly constituency willbe held on April 11.

Addressing the media,Kundra said that he had vis-ited the districts of the stateto oversee the poll pre-paredness and was fully sat-isf ied that the elect ionmachineries were fully pre-pared to deliver on thepromises of polls.

"All the districts havecompleted commissioningof e lectronic vot ingmachines (EVMs) and thethird and final round oftraining of polling officialswould be completed byMonday," he said.

This time, there wouldbe 117 all women polling sta-tions, manned by womenpolling officials and womensecurity staff, on the polling

day due to huge positiveresponse in the StateAssembly polls held late lastyear, the CEO said. He said256 voters awareness forumwere formed across the statebesides formation of youngvoters club by social mediaenthusiasts. A few pollingparties going to far andremote poll ing stat ionswould leave from the respec-tive district headquarters onTuesday, most of the pollingparties would be despatchedon Wednesday. He said thatwhile six companies of cen-tral armed police force(CAPF) personnel werebeing deployed six addition-al CAPF companies collected from within thestate would a lso be deployed. PTI

world 07LUCKNOW | SUNDAY | APRIL 7, 2019

AFP n CALEXICO

President Donald Trumpwent on Friday to the

Mexican border to deliver amessage to would be illegalimmigrants: The United Stateshas no room left to take them.

Trump sees his campaignagainst a “crisis” on the borderas key to his 2020 reelectionbid, and his trip to Calexico inCalifornia was meant to keepthat message in the headlines.

Numbers of migrants andasylum seekers fleeing vio-lence in Central America haverisen sharply, although thereare enormous political divideson whether this constitutesthe “national emergency” thatTrump has declared.

At a meeting with borderpatrol agents and other officialsin Calexico, he said “it’s over-whelming our immigrationsystem and we can’t let thathappen.” Then in a messageto those heading for the UnitedStates, he said: “The system isfull and we can’t take you any-more.... Our country is full.”

“So turn around, that’s theway it is,” he said.

Around 200 protesters,accompanied by a giant inflat-able balloon depicting Trumpas a baby, were waiting for thepresident in Mexicali, thetown on the Mexican side ofthe frontier. Waving US andMexican flags, the protesterscarried signs with messagessuch as “Stop separating fam-ilies” and “If you build the wall,my generation will tear itdown.” On the US side,dozens of people lined theroad that Trump’s motorcade

took from the airport, demon-strating support for his policies.“Build the wall,” said oneplacard. Trump is determinedto pursue a hard line. Beforeleaving Washington earlier,Trump said that his previousthreats to shut down the bor-der had been successful inpersuading Mexican authoritiesto clamp down by stoppingmigrants on their journeynorth. “Mexico, I have to say,has been very, very good...Over the last four days since Italked about shutting down theborder,” he said.

AFP n LONDON

BBritish Finance Minister Philip Hammondsaid on Saturday the Government had “no red

lines” in talks with the main opposition party tobreak the deadlock in parliament over Brexit.

“Our approach to these discussions withLabour is that we have no red lines,” he toldreporters at a meeting of European FinanceMinisters in Bucharest.

“We are expecting to exchange more textswith the Labour Party today, so this is an ongo-ing process and I expect we will reach some formof agreement,” Hammond added.

Senior Ministers are negotiating with Labourleaders in a bid to find a compromise to endmonths of political crisis and allow Britain toleave the European Union smoothly after 46 yearsof membership.

But after three days of discussions, Laboursaid on Friday it was “disappointed” by the fail-ure to offer “real change or compromise” to PrimeMinister Theresa May’s unpopular Brexit divorcedeal. MPs have rejected her agreement finalisedwith European leaders last November three times,delaying Britain’s original March 29 exit date andthrowing the process into chaos. Ahead of an EUsummit on Wednesday, May was forced to askfor another extension, until June 30, to preventthe country crashing out the bloc next Friday.

However with European leaders growingincreasingly impatient at the paralysis inWestminster, they could offer just a shorter post-

ponement — a longer period of up to a year.The other 27 EU nations must give unani-

mous backing to any deadline extension.Hammond, who backed Remain in Britain’s

2016 referendum and is seen as favouring as softa Brexit as possible, urged his dividedConservative colleagues to show flexibility.

“We should be open to listen to suggestionsthat others have made and some people in theLabour Party are making other suggestions,” hesaid. Labour is pushing May to accept a muchcloser post-Brexit alliance with the EU thatincludes participation in a customs union.

The Prime Ministers has previously dismissedthe idea because it bars Britain from striking itsown trade deals with global giants such as Chinaand the United States.

But after Brexit hardliners in her own partyrepeatedly refused to back her plan over fears itwould keep the country too closely aligned withEurope, she last week turned to Labour — infu-riating many Conservatives.

Labour’s home affairs spokeswoman DianeAbbott said her party was engaged in the talks“in good faith”, but May’s team appear unwillingto compromise.

“There is concern that the governmentdoesn’t want to alter the political declaration,” shetold the BBC, referring to the part of May’s dealoutlining the future relationship with the EU.

“The government perhaps has to show a lit-tle more flexibility than it seems to have done sofar.”

AFP n UNITED NATIONS

The UN Security Council onFriday called on Libyan

forces under Khalifa Haftar tohalt their advance on Tripoli,warning the military move wasputting Libya’s stability at risk.

Haftar, the commander ofthe self-proclaimed LibyanNational Army (LNA),launched an offensive onThursday to take the capital,held by a UN-backed unitygovernment and an array ofmilitias.

The council “called onLNA forces to halt all militarymovements,” GermanAmbassador ChristophHeusgen, who holds the coun-cil presidency, told reportersfollowing a closed-door meet-ing. “The members of theSecurity Council expresseddeep concern at the military

activity near Tripoli whichrisks Libyan stability andprospects for UN mediationand a comprehensive politicalsolution to the crisis,” he said.

The appeal for Haftar tohalt his offensive was unani-mously backed by the council,including Russia, which hassupported the strongman.

Armed clashes broke outearlier Friday south of Tripolibetween a pro-governmentalliance and forces loyal toHaftar, raising fears of anassault on the city.

The council expressed itsintention “to hold thoseresponsible for further conflictaccountable,” said Heusgen.

UN Secretary-GeneralAntonio Guterres, who metwith Haftar in Benghazi ear-lier, said he hoped that a“bloody confrontation” couldbe avoided.

AP n KABUL

Multiple Taliban attacks havekilled at least seven police-

men and three civilians acrossAfghanistan on Saturday, asinsurgents continue with neardaily assaults on Governmentand civilian targets.

Taliban killed at least fourpolicemen when they stormeda security check point in north-ern Sari Pul province, a provin-cial official said.

Mohammad NoorRahmani, head of the provincialcouncil, said five others werewounded in Saturday’s attack onthe outskirts of the province’scapital city.

In a separate report formeastern Ghazni province, Talibanlaunched attacks on securitycheckpoints on Saturday, killingthree personnel and woundingseven others. A spokesman forthe provincial police chief,Ahmad Khan Serat, said policekilled seven insurgents duringthe gun battle.

AP n BANGKOK

The leader of a popular newThai political party that

ran a strong third in lastmonth’s elections on Saturdaydenied the criminal charges ofsedition filed againsthim by the ruling militaryjunta and expressed concernthat he will be tried in a mili-tary court.

T h a n a t h o r nJuangroongruangkit was greet-ed by hundreds of supporterschanting “Keep fighting,Thanathorn!” as he arrived atthe Pathumwan police stationin Bangkok to answer a policesummons on complaints ofsedition, assisting criminalsand illegal assembly filed by ajunta officer. The charges carrya maximum prison sentence ofup to nine years.

“I’m concerned becausethis case is under the militarycourt instead of the criminalcourt,” he said in a statement toreporters.

“That is quite unsettling.”He said he was treated fairly bypolice and added: “There aremany citizens in Thailand thathave been charged with (sedi-tion under Article) 116 includ-ing those that have not receivedany public attention. Theregime creates fear for the

society to silence us,”Thanathorn said. “I insist I aminnocent I am ready to standfirm in the court proceedings.I urge all Thais and the inter-national community to call forcivil rights to stand for humanrights for the betterment of oursociety.” Police Gen. SrivaraRansibrahmanakul, deputychief of police, said onWednesday that the chargesagainst Thanathorn stem fromhis role in a student demonstration on June 24,2015.

He said the case had stalledbecause of several reshufflesamong the responsible officers.

Thanathorn said he viewsthe case as politically motivat-ed because “the timing could-n’t have been more coinciden-tal than this — just one weekafter elections.”

AFP n MALE

The Maldives on Saturdayheld its first parliamentary

election since former strong-man leader Abdulla Yameenwas forced to stand down, withhis arch-rival expected to makea big comeback in the vote.

Mohamed Nasheed,another former president, is thehighest profile candidate up forelection for the 87-memberPeople’s Majlis, or parliament.

He returned from anenforced exile abroad afterYameen lost an election inSeptember to Nasheed’s deputy,Mohamed Ibrahim Solih.

Solih said he expectedSaturday’s poll to return astrong legislature led by hisMaldivian Democratic Party(MDP). “I want to stress that Iwould like the next parlia-ment to be made up of mem-bers who are familiar with ourpolicies, and fully support it,”Solih told a campaign rally onThursday night.

Nasheed is widely expect-ed to play a key role in the newlegislature.

He was jailed for 13 yearson a controversial terrorismcharge when Yameen was inpower. However, the convictionwas overturned last year afterthe presidency changed.

The opposition coalitionthat helped Solih win has comeapart, with constituent partiesgoing their separate ways forSaturday’s election.

Election commissionerAhmed Shareef told reporterspreparations had been com-pleted for Saturday’s vote andthere had been no complaintsof irregularities.

Voting will take place foroverseas Maldivians in neigh-bouring India and Sri Lanka,as well as London.

Former president Yameenis not a candidate, but hisProgressive Party of Maldivesis seen as the main challengerto the MDP.

Last week, the High Courtordered authorities to lift afreeze on Yameen’s bankaccounts holding about $6.5million. But it said a moneylaundering case against himwould proceed.

PTI n WASHINGTON

The US Citizenship and ImmigrationServices (USCIS) said it has

reached Congressionally-mandated65,000 H-1B visa cap for the fiscal year2020, after it started receiving theapplications for the most sought-afterwork visa among foreign, includingIndian, professionals.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrantvisa that allows the US companies toemploy foreign workers in specialityoccupations that require theoretical ortechnical expertise. The technologycompanies depend on it to hire tens ofthousands of employees each yearfrom countries like India and China.

The USCIS, the federal agencymandated with task of approving suchapplications, on Friday said “it hasreceived a sufficient number of peti-tions projected as needed to reach thecongressionally-mandated 65,000 H-1B visa regular cap for fiscal year 2020.”

The fiscal year begins October 1,2019 and it the USCIS started receiv-ing the visa petitions from April 1.

However, the agency did notrevealed the number of petitionsreceived by it in the first five days.

The USCIS, said, it will next deter-mine if it has received a sufficient num-ber of petitions to meet the 20,000 H-1B visa US advanced degree exemp-tion, known as the master’s cap.

The agency said it will reject andreturn visa fees for all unselected cap-subject petitions that are not prohibit-ed multiple filings. It will continue toaccept and process petitions that areotherwise exempt from the cap.

Petitions filed for current H-1Bworkers who have been counted pre-viously against the cap, and who still

retain their cap number, are exemptfrom the FY 2020 H-1B, the USCISsaid. It did not say if it would resort tocomputerised draw of lots as was thecase in the last several years.

Last year, the USCIS received190,000 cap-subjected H-1B petitions.In 2018, it received 199,000 applicationswhile in 2017, 236,000 petitions in thefirst five days after it started receivingthe applications. The USCIS received232,972 H-1B cap-subject petitions in2016 and in 2015, it received 172,581cap-subjected petitions.

This is the first season of H-1B peti-tions after the USCIS announcedenforcing new rules for the mostsought-after US work visa applicationsfor foreign professionals.

The new rules give preferences tothose who have completed their post-graduation degree course from any USeducational institutions.

This year the USCIS has suspendthe electronic registration requirementfor the fiscal year 2020 cap season tocomplete user testing and ensure thesystem and process are fully function-

al.Under the news system, the USCIS

first selects H-1B petitions submittedon behalf of all beneficiaries, includingthose that may be eligible for theadvanced degree exemption.

Thereafter, the USCIS will selectfrom the remaining eligible petitions,a number projected to reach theadvanced degree exemption. Changing

the order in which the USCIScounts these allocations will likelyincrease the number of petitions forbeneficiaries with a master’s or high-er degree from a US institution of high-er education to be selected under theH-1B numerical allocations.

The USCIS says that the change willresult in an estimated increase of upto 16 per cent (or 5,340 workers) in thenumber of selected petitions for H-1Bbeneficiaries with a master’s degree orhigher from a US institution of high-er education. “These simple and smartchanges are a positive benefit foremployers, the foreign workers theyseek to employ, and the agency’s adju-dicators,

AFP n WASHINGTON

The arrest of a Chinesewoman who allegedly

brought malicious software toPresident Donald Trump’sFlorida resort shows thatBeijing poses a threat, Secretaryof State Mike Pompeo saidFriday.

Zhang Yujing was arrestedlast week at Mar-a-Lago, whereTrump was on one of his fre-quent visits, after attempting toenter while carrying multiplemobile phones and a thumbdrive containing malware,according to court documents.

“I think this tells theAmerican people the threatthat China poses, the effortsthat they’re making here insidethe United States not onlyagainst government officials,but more broadly,” Pompeosaid in an interview with CBSNews.

“The theft of Americanintellectual property is a bigbusiness to the tune of hun-dreds of billions of dollars,and President Trump is deter-mined to push back against it,”

he said.He was referring to ongo-

ing trade talks in which theUnited States is pressing Chinato take action to protect intel-lectual property.

Pompeo said the adminis-tration was looking closely atthe arrest but declined furthercomment, saying the investi-gation was ongoing.

There has been no evi-dence presented publicly thatZhang was sent by the Chinesegovernment, although Beijingsays it is providing consularassistance.

Zhang was accused ofmaking false statements tofederal officers after firstclaiming to be a memberwho wanted to use the pool,and then saying she wasattending a non-existentChinese-American friend-ship event.

AFP n TEHRAN

Iranian authorities orderedthe evacuation of six cities

along the Karkheh river insouthwestern Khuzestanprovince on Saturday after morerain sparked fears of new flood-ing, state news agency IRNAsaid.

Six cities alongside Karkhehriver in southwestern Iran “mustbe evacuated as soon as possi-ble,” Khuzestan governorGholamreza Shariati toldIRNA. The oil-rich province ofKhuzestan has an extensiverange of dams, which have

swelled upstream due to freshdownpours.

The floodwater’s intensityhas forced authorities to openemergency discharges atKarkheh dam, one of the largestin the area, thus sparking fearsof fresh flooding.

The situation appears to be“critical”, he said. “We advise allwomen and children to be evac-uated to shelters and youngstersto remain and help,” he added.Interior Minister AbdolrezaRahmani Fazli warned that upto 400,000 people in Khuzestancould be exposed to the floods,IRNA reported.

The US is full: Trump

at Mexico border

UK Fin Min: Govt open to Brexitcompromise with Opposition

UN calls on Haftar’s forces to halt Libya advance

Thai party leader says he

faces military trial over sedition

Iran orders new evacuations

Taliban attackskill 7 cops

Maldives ex-leader makescomeback in landmark vote

French yellow vestprotesters hit streetsfor 21st weekendParis: Protesters from the yel-low vest movement are takingto the streets of France for a21st straight weekend, withhundreds gathered for a marchacross Paris, one of numerousprotests around the country.

Paris police have fine-tuned their strategy of beingmore mobile and proactive tocounter eventual violence sincethe first Saturday of protestsNov. 17.

The Champs-Elyseesavenue is off-limits to protest-ers after it was hit by riotinglast month.

Hundreds gathered inRouen, in Normandy, a pastflashpoint, and hundreds morein eastern Paris at the Place dela Republique, the start of amarch to the business districton the capital’s western edge.

The yellow vest movement,demanding social and eco-nomic justice, has attracteddwindling crowds but stillremains a challenge toPresident Emmanuel Macron.

AP

Pompeo says Trump resortarrest shows China’s threat

US reaches H-1B visa cap for 2020

LUCKNOW | SUNDAY | APRIL 7, 2019 films & tv 08

SHAZAM!

*ing: Zachary Levi, Mark Strong,

Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer,

Djimon Hounsou

Rated: 6/10

What if somebody was to tellyou that a superhero movie iscute, sweet and funny? The

reaction would be — that is notpossible. But the latest film based onDC Comics — Shazam! is not onlylight-hearted, the good part is that it isless angry as well.

The main reason is our hero hereis a 14-year-old who turns into anadult suoerhero with all the trimmings.He is bullet proof, he can fly, he can liftbuses, he has speed and he shoots lightbolts from his fingers! Sound familiar?Yes, he is many superheros rolled intoone. But unlike the other superheros,Shazam (Zachary Levi) aka Billy(Asher Angel) is absolutely delightfulbecause Levi has to act like youraverage American teenager who isinterested in tasting beer, having apeek inside an adult club and makingvideos on his indestructible abilities.And then take money from peoplewho want a selfie with this superhero.

But he is a superhero, there has tobe a super villain who has seven deadlysins — envy, sloth, wrath, pride,gluttony, greed and lust — riding onhis shoulder , whom our kid superherohas to fight.

No prize for guessing who wins.What makes this film a must watch isthat it is refreshing and makes youlaugh.

— Shalini Saksena

SHOW TIME Absolutelydelightful

ROMEO AKBAR WALTER

*ing: John Abraham, Mouni Roy, Jackie

Shroff, Sikandar Kher

Rated: 5.5/10

After Ghazi Attack and Raazi, Bollywoodhas suddenly become interested inmaking movies on subjects and events

that changed the course of history. The latestto join the list is Romeo, Akbar, Walter —RAW. The makers of course, have chosen thenames for a specific reason which is quiteevident.

There are a couple of reasons why JohnAbraham plays the lead. First, he is buff. As anundercover agent, one has to look the partthat he can outrun the enemy. Second, theRocky Handsome star is not known to beexpressive. An agent has to have a poker facewith no tells. Abraham is all this and muchmore.

But RAW is not your usual high speedchase kind of spy thriller. It is a slow burner.Director Robbie Grewal is in no hurry tospeed things despite the suspense and thethrill quotient. Kudos to him. The twists andturns keep up on the edge till the very endespecially the climax.

Go see this one in the name of all thosepeople who have been serving the countryknowing that their work will never bring themaccolades and that if caught,death stares themin the face.

— Shalini Saksena

This one is a

slow burner

‘Acting is like cooking’

nTell us about your character in TenaliRama?

I play Shaikh Chilli. This character hasnot been seen on TV before, so itinteresting to play it. I haven’t startedshooting yet, but I have read the script andit is very exciting. Shaikh Chilli is a verylazy person and wants everyone to be lazytoo. He is influential. Woh dusron ko bhibolta hai ki chhoro na kaam kyun karnahai kya zaroorat hai, apney aap ho jayega.He influences everyone in the village tobecome lazy aur gaon mein itna aalas phailjata hai ki raja usko apney mahal bulatahai par vo raja ko bhi aalsi bana dega.That’s where Tenali will come and try tosolve all this and remove all the lazyness.Whether he will be successful or not, willbe shown in the upcoming episodes.nWhat are the pointers that you payattention to when such a role comes up?

I am planning different ways in whichI can play Shaikh Chilli so that justice canbe done to the character. But no matterhow many plans you make or what ideasyou come up with, once you start shootingeverything happens organically. Creativitycomes naturally. Once I will reach the setsthen I will get to know the details of thecharacter and it will help me to portray itin a better way.nWhat prompted you to say yes?

After a long time a channel hasoffered me a role. When a channel callsyou, it is big thing and you have to respectit. I am happy that I am getting to workwith SAB TV because I have neverworked with them before. I do comedy,this is my forte. I am coming back to TVafter four years. In between, I was offereda lot small roles but I didn’t want to dothem. I found this character interestingand unique so I decided to give it a try.And I am very positive about this.nHow did you come up with the idea ofPammi Aunty?

When I left Sasural Simar Ka, I tooka break from work. Then one day aesey hibethe-bethe mere mann mein do-chaarlines aayi aur maine woh Facebook aurInstagram par daal di. People liked themvery much. It went on for sometime andI didn’t even realise when did thesevideos went viral. The rest is history. Nowit has been three years since I am playingPammi Aunty and making videos onYouTube and I have won almost 20awards worldwide for this till now. Mazak-mazak mein awards bhi jeet liye. (laughs)nFrom Code Red to Comedy NightsBachao, how have things changed foryou?

Acting is like cooking. Jitna zyadakhana aap banayengey utna aap improvekarengey. Samegoes with acting, the moreyou work, the more you improve as anactor. When you are working on a project,and if the creative team knows what theywant to sab kuch naturally acha hota hai.When I did Code Red, the director wasMohit Hussein and he knew what hewanted and sab kuch waisa hi ubhar karaaya. The same thing was with Comedy

Nights Bachao, maine bahut kuch seekhavahan se. The gist of the things is the moreyou work, the more you learn and themore you will improve.nHow was the experience playingShailendra Bhardwaj in Sasural SimarKa?

It was my TV debut. When I went onthe sets on day one, I had no idea of thecamera or the shooting process becauseI was from theatre. Now, when Iremember those days I laugh at thestupid mistakes I made back then. Oncemy director told me to do a cheek shot onthe camera aur main itna confuse hogayathha ki cheek matlab kya, kya look doon.I have learn a lot from that serial and I owemy success to the show. It was where I gotmy training from because I had so manygood actors around me like Jayati Bhatiawho is with me in Tenali Rama also. Thereason that I am still surviving in theindustry, jahan bahut log aake chaley jateyhain, is because my base is strong.nDid you always want to be an actor?

No. I never thought of doing acting.Kabhi kabhi khyaal aata thha par itnihimmat nahin thhi. Mujhe lagta thhashayad main acting sey utne paisey nahi

kama paaunga ya career nahin hota issfield mein. I come from a business familyso it has been taught to us to look outfor a secure job. But I started doing smalllevel theatre work, went abroad for myMBA degree. I worked there for 10 years,but felt that something was missing inmy life. Main yeh sab nahi karna chahatathha. Mujhe acting hi karni hai, so I cameback to India. Then I started doingtheatre actively and got offers. I thoughtlet’s see ki sab theek chalta hai ki nahin.nYou have been also known for yourresemblance with ShahRukh Khan.How was you reaction to it?

I have been getting complimentssince I was in school. It is a very big thingfor me but sirf looks sey kuch nahin hota,mera talent bhi unkey jesa ho jaye,acting unki jesi kar paun, ya bankbalance unkey jesa ho tab kuch baat ho.(laughs)nWhat is there in the pipeline?

Apart from TV, I am doing differentthings. I am a part of jury in the panelof a film festival, so I am busy with that.I am also planning to become a producer,so writing scripts for the same. Whetherthey work out or not, time will tell.

Sasural Simar Ka fame actor SSUMEIR PASRICHA talks to MUSBAHASHMI about his return on TV with Tenali Ram

GAURAV BACK AFTER BREAK

Astory of love, mysticism, and deceit,Zee TV’s next high-strung fiction

offering Ek Shakti...Ek Aghori willshatter all the stereotypes surroundinglove and happy endings and present anever-seen-before love story.

The show revolves around the livesof Kamakshi and Ishan (Gaurav Chopraa)who fall in love with each other and takevows of spending their lives together. Butshe is oblivious to the world that Ishanbelongs to and about his aghori lineage.It can be traced back to Guru Rudranathwho swore by the aghori way of livingand took Ishan under his wing. He toldIshan that if wish to seek spiritualenlightenment and immortality, he musttrick his wife Kamakshi into sacrificingher life and in return, he will becomemighty and powerful. Ishan is anemotional, loyal, fearless and strong-willed person.

Speaking about being a part of theshow, Chopraa said: “Many years back, Imade my debut on Zee TV and its such asweet coincidence that post my break, Iam starting my second innings with ZeeTV and it feels great to be back. For thelast two-and-a-half years, I was focussingon the digital platforms. I wanted toexperiment with contrasting and differentroles.

“An actor always tries to showcase avariety in their roles and I feel I waslucky to do so and in the line of thoseshows, came an offer which was veryhard to refuse. Ek Shakti...Ek Aghori’sconcept is unheard of and the intrigueand eccentricity surrounding the showalong with the different layers of thecharacter are what drew me to thecharacter. I am happy and excited about

the show. I am really looking forward tothe audience to like it.”

DRASHTI IN GATHBANDHANGudipadwa is known to be a spring

festival that symbolises the beginning of anew year for Maharashtrians in India.Colors' Gathbandhan that highlights agritting love story between a gangsterand a righteous IPS officer will soonwitness a track on the festival. In thecurrent storyline, Dhanak (Shruti Sharma)is recovering from a critical healthcondition and her family is anxiouslywaiting for her to return home. To thankgod for saving Dhanak's life, the entirefamily host GudiPadwa puja in theirsociety.

To make the celebration a grandaffair, popular actress Dhrasti Dhami willbe coming as Savitri's special guest tograce the festivities. Dressed up in atraditional pink and green Navaree saree,Drashti will give a spectacularperformance on the popular songs likePinga, Fitoori and Sapno Mein Milti Haialong with Dhanak and Savitri.

Commenting on her performanceDhami said: “I was extremely delighted tobe a part of the the celebrations. I got a

chance to look like a proper Marathimulgi. Dancing is something that Ialways enjoy and I couldn't deny it when Iwas approached for a dance performanceon the show. I hope the viewers enjoy it,as I enjoyed shaking a leg on some of themost famous Bollywood songs alongwith the cast. I had a great time with theentire cast and crew and I wish the bestfor them.”

JUDGE RICHA WALKS OUT The upcoming episode of Zee TV’s

Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Lil’ Champs will seemusical maestros Amit Kumar and BappiLahiri visit the sets to enjoy a musicalevening and guide/encourage the kids.

The contestants perform toevergreen hits of legendary musician Lt.Kishore Kumar ji and create a greatatmosphere with their melodious voices.This episode will turn out to be extremelyspecial as the contestant’s grandparentsvisit the sets to support them/motivatethem to give their best performance.Contestant Ritik Gupta’s performance toRafta Rafta mesmerises all and he takesthe opportunity to express the void in hisheart and shares how he misses hisparents. But guess what happens next?

Upon hearing Ritik, judge RichaSharma feels extremely disappointed anddecides to walk out.

Talking about this she said” “Ritik,you are one of the most maturecontestants here. I treat you like myfamily, just like I am your real elder sisterbut you always tend to say you have no-one here for you. I just need a break.”She further walks out and Ritik followsher to persuade her and as he steps outshe has a beautiful surprise planned forhim. Ritik’s father is waiting for him witha big smile and this leaves him extremelyelated.

Well, Richa’s prank turned out to befruitful and brought a huge smile onRitik’s face. She further added, “Aseveryone’s parents and grandparents arehere, I wanted to surprise our Ritik andwanted to see his reaction and I hope heliked the beautiful surprise.”

Moreover, Ritik’s father thanks RichaSharma for taking care of his son andtreats her and the other judges with somedelicious malpua.

TELLYTALEPlanYour

Sunday

Summer CoolersVenue: All outlets of SmaaashCost: `175

It’s that time of the year again when the sunbeats down with all its mighty glory. The only

thing that gives relief from the scorching heat is aglassful of chilled beverage. So, head to Smaaashfor an ultimate punch of Virtual Reality andArcade games that can be relished with theirawesomesummercoolers.Feel the tropicalparadise withyour friendsand familyrelishing thesedelicious fruitsmoothies.They haveintroducedsome new and refreshing flavours like BerryCookie Smoothie, Black Forest Smoothie, MangoCheese Smoothie, Blueberry CheesecakeSmoothie and Salted Caramel Popcorn Smoothieto keep you cool and going. Do try these delightful summer coolers and letthe game begin, sip by sip at Smaaash.

Navratri MenuVenue: All outlets of Cafe Delhi HeightsDate: Till April 13, 2019Cost: `445 plus taxesTimings: 12pm to 12 am

City's favourite All-Day Neighbourhood Cafe isgoing all healthy and green with a special "Go

Green Navratra menu" this Navratra week. Feastas you fast with specially curated Cafe DelhiHeights delectable Navratra offerings from freshlysqueezed Citrus Delights to delicious SaboodanaKhichadi. From a healthy crunchy salad JoyousOne By One to Kutu ki Roti and Chef SignatureCourtesy by Cottage Cheese and Wonder AlooChat with pineapple Pina Raita and homemadePhalahari Kheer.Tickle your taste buds and go green and healthywith Cafe Delhi Heights Navratra Specials.

Parag’s unbelievable transformation

One’s instant visualisation of anAghori is that of an ash-smearedman with intense eyes, sporting

dreadlocks and reciting verses of Shivaand spirituality. While it may not be apleasant sight, getting into the characterof an Aghori is even more tediousaccording to actor Parag Tyagi whoessays the character of Aghori Rudranathin Zee TV’s upcoming show Ek Shakti..Ek Aghori. Moving away from his usuallook, Parag is taking all efforts to lendcredibility to his role and transformconvincingly into an Aghori prototype.

It might sound unbelievable at firstbut the changeover is a big investmentand Parag takes close to five hours to getinto his character look. The make-up isa detailed and technical process as his wigweighs 4 kilograms and is 3 feet long. Theoverall makeup and styling take almost4 hours while a lot of time also goes intosmearing ash all over his body.

Elaborating on the process of getting

the look right, Parag said: “I am veryexcited about the show and this uniquecharacter that I am playing. To get intothe skin of an Aghori is not easy and itrequires a lot of preparation and time. Iam not a big fan of long hair but my lookdemands it along with dreadlocks whichis a tiring process. Transformation forroles has become a regular affair for meas for the last few movies which I wasfilming down South, I had to bulk up.On the other hand, for Ek Shakti.. EkAghori, I had to lose six-seven inches. Ilike to believe that convincing portrayalof any role is very important and I amalways up for a little challenge. I havealways had the support of a great themand I hope the viewers like our work andappreciate our efforts.”

A story of love, mysticism, anddeceit, Zee TV’s next high-strung fictionoffering Ek Shakti.. Ek Aghori will shatterall the stereotypes surrounding love andhappy endings

It’s celebration time for the cast of ZeeTV’s Manmohini as the show hits a

century. The show, so far, intrigued theviewers with an unconventional fantasydrama of 500-year-old long last timelesslove, revenge, desire, and obsession ofa sorceress featuring lead actors AnkitSiwach (Ram and Rana sa), ReyhnaPandit (Mohini) and Garima SinghRathore (Siya). In a short span of time,the show received a lot of appreciationfrom the audience and had themrooting for their favorite on-screencharacters. Recently, the cast and crewgot together on the sets of the show tocelebrate this milestone and cut a caketo mark the occasion.

Manmohini started off by theinteresting journey of Ram travellingto Behraamgarh and an enchantressMohini desperately attempting toremind him of their past. But at everystep, Mohini was countered by Ram’swife Siya who tried to stop Mohinifrom using her malicious powers. Asthe drama continues to unfold, viewerswill be in for an interesting twist as theshow is now set to take 1-year leap. Postleap, the storyline will focus on Ramand Mohini wherein Ram is nowcompletely in control of Mohini and

has no memory of Siya or of beingmarried to her. On the other hand, Siyais in a faraway land and decides to cometo Behraamgarh haveli in a disguise sothat Ram and Mohini don’t recogniseher.

Talking about the celebrations,excited Ankit said: “The show has givenme a lot of recognition in a very shortspan of time. Playing Ram characterhas been an enriching experience andthe unconditional love and supportshowered by all my fans and viewershas motivated me to do good work. Iwould like to thank my fans from thebottom of my heart and hope that theywill continue to support the show in thefuture as well.” Popular actor ReyhnaPandit added, “It feels really great thatour show has successfully completed100 episodes. I am really thankful to allthe fans who have loved Mohini andManmohini and supported us throughthis incredible journey. It feels greatwhen your hard work pays off and itdefinitely calls for a celebration. GarimaShared, “I am extremely elated asManmohini is my very first show andI feel great to receive so much love fromthe audience and I can’t thank everyoneenough.”

Century of celebrationsIt’s truly said that the recipe of a successful

marriage never comes with a manual. But itseems like popular actor Hussain Kuwajerwalahas his own secret recipe to keep the spark alive.Gracing the sets of Kitchen Champion with hiswife Tina as his companion, Hussain will be seencompeting against his close friend Iqbal Khanwho will be joined by his wife Sneha.

The romantic duo, Hussain and Tina areinseparable and are known to give high couplegoals. Witnessing their fabulous chemistry,host Arjun Bijlani curiously asked Hussain aboutthe success of their happy married life duringthe cook off battle. An excited Hussainresponded that the secret behind this is the ‘threeS’ which captured the attention of the viewers.

Replying to Arjun, Hussain Kuwajerwalasaid, “I believe that every marriage has its ownbeauty. For me the success of our marriage is thethree ‘S’ that I follow. They stand for ‘Sorry’, ‘Sunraha hoon na baby’ and ‘Silence’, when youreligiously follow this at the right time, you areat the merrier side of it. Hence, Tina and I don’tfight at all”

Secrets told

special 09LUCKNOW | SUNDAY | APRIL 7, 2019

You stand at the departuregate of the IGI Airport, bid-ding farewell to your parents.Though they call US theland of opportunities, one

can’t help but prevent the sea of emo-tions that come to mind — the promis-es you’ve made to the family back home;the fear of starting a job in a new coun-try. With a steady hand you make itthrough the first six months. Youcouldn’t be happier. To share this joy,you decide to surprise your parents witha section of your pay. Let’s say a $1,000.You get online to TransferWire, amoney transfer agent and hurriedly typethe details of your new company cred-it card. But as you swipe your cursoracross the screen to click on the final‘send’, you get flummoxed at the sightof an unfamiliar note — a whopping$38.90 fee for your transfer.

The amount of money being movedacross international borders has risenhugely over recent years. While this isa direct consequence of globalisation;of businesses working increasingly withcustomers and clients overseas, a hugefactor to this is economic migration.According to a 2018 report by the WorldBank, globally, an astonishing $689 bil-lion were sent by expat workers to theirhome countries.

Among these, India leads the chartwith the highest number of remittanceinflow, topping at $68.97 billion, a major11.8 per cent of the world. “As more andmore Indians have decided to relocateand work abroad, the amount of moneysent back home has risen significantly,”says Sunil Kumar, an investment bankerand a financial analyst.

Kumar says this inflow has beenextremely beneficial to India and ourGDP. “These remittance inflows con-stitute about 2.8 per cent of our nation-al GDP. This number is the highest inthe world,” he tells you.

This high rate helped India post the2009-10 financial crisis, where theinflow helped cover up the nearly 45 percent merchandise trade deficit of ourcountry. “During that fiscal year, Indiareceived $69.6 billion worth of remit-tances, while it received only $21.5 bil-lion as its Foreign Direct Investment(FDI). If it were not for the remittances,India’s current account deficit wouldhave swelled to 5.1 per cent of GDP,”Kumar explains.

However, while these remittanceshave helped the nation, individually, theimmigrants have suffered. Out of thetotal $68.97 billion remittance inflow,Indians lost a total of $2.35 billion in justremittance fees — the commissionmoney transfer agents and banks chargeas service fees, along with the stipulat-ed cost decided by governments forcross-border transfers.

Nitin Verma, an NRI residing inCanada, regularly sends money to hismother. “We had moved to Canada withmy family about three years back.Since then, sending money every monthhome is a usual thing.” In the initialyears, Verma had mobilised the fundsthrough money transfer agents, but withthe growing age of his mother, reluc-tantly shifted to the online transfersdirectly between bank accounts. He

said: “We were finding the cheapestways to send the money home. For thefirst two years, money agents workedout the best for us as they were thecheapest option. My mother couldwalk up to any nearby Western Unionstore and collect the money. They usu-ally charged about CAD$7. But, thisyear, we had to resort to the much cost-lier way of sending money directly toher bank account. This method, whilecosting us a lot, is the most convenientfor her at this stage.”

While there are some who can takea hit on their banks with this processfees, Rohit Saran, executive editor of theTimes of India, reminds us that “not allimmigrants are rich.” He added that amajority of these expat workers don’thave the hefty bank accounts that pro-vide them benefits against high remit-tance costs.

Adesh Singh, for example, is cur-rently in New Zealand, completing hisstudies to become a doctor. “While I’mpursuing my degree, I’ve been doingodd jobs to make a living. Even with asmall budget, I make sure some of themoney goes back to my family inKerala. But, I am always caught on thehigh fees. Even for small amounts, as lit-tle as $150, I am stuck paying around$12 just as transfer fees. This begins topile up as the money goes out everyweek,” Singh says.

As Editor of Khaleej Times inDubai, Saran sent money back home toIndia. This money transfer, due to hisprivilege account with ICICI Bank, costhim a fraction of the usual transactionfees. “But these benefits are only for the

credit card holders that can maintain abig balance. Banking, in every sense, isthe same as any other market; they areout to make profits. And these banksand money agents look to make a lot ofprofits off these transfers,” he tells you.

This is true. Remittances are a veryprofitable business for large operators.According to their yearly financial datapublished online, Western Union com-pleted 268 million customer-to-cus-tomer transfers in 2016, with a value of$80 billion. With a total revenue for theyear exceeded $5 billion, the net prof-its of the company surpassed $250 mil-lion. On the other hand, Yes Bank India,for example, earns upward of $400 mil-lion just off transaction fees.

Ajai Kumar, the interim CEO of YesBank India, said: “With over 200 coun-tries sending to 200 countries, there areover 40,000 corridors. Every nation,sending or receiving has its own regu-lation, currency controls and reportingrequirements. In India, there are over180 currencies in use, including over 20restricted currencies.”

While money agents put the blameof high remittance fees on the high ser-vice tax charged by Governments, forbanks, these high prices are a directresult of the additional cost incurred onthem to meet the Know Your Customer(KYC) standards the governmentexpects banks to maintain.

Kumar said: “Every transactionneeds a KYC proof of ID, captured andverified. Every sender and receivermust be checked against over 500 sanc-tion lists in real-time. All this and thefunds must be available to collect, any-

where globally in less than five minutes,with the receiver being named and ver-ified upon collection. Get it wrong, andnational regulators will fine you hun-dreds of millions of rupees,” he warns.

At present, there may seem nostrong judgement on lowering theremittance fees, however, world eco-nomic forums are debating on how tomake the market more efficient in han-dling this huge loss of money.

Kumar tells you that in July 2009 theleaders of the largest advancedeconomies, the G8, pledged to reducethe cost of remittances to 5 per cent —a commitment endorsed by the G20 in2011 and again in 2014, and includedin the UN’s Sustainable DevelopmentGoals in 2015. After eight years, theglobal average is roughly half-waythere at about 7.6 per cent from the pre-vious 14 per cent.” Ajai Kumar point-ed out the World Bank’s effort inlaunching Greenback 2.0, an educationprogramme aimed at increasing the effi-ciency of the market for remittances.

Moreover, with the beginning of thedigital India age, more and more peo-ple have shifted to online remittanceservices than the traditional ways ofusing banks or money transfer agents.

Ajai Kumar says that this is goodnews since in a world where fees are dri-ven by costs, switching to more digitalmethods lead to costs coming down.“Lower costs mean lower consumer feeand lower barriers to entry, meaninglower consumer costs, lower agentfees. It appears that the expandingmobile technology will help squeezeremittance costs,” he opines.

Kumar feels this shift to a digitalIndia is extremely beneficial in launch-ing new schemes to counter theseremittance costs. “Blockchain compa-nies like Ripple will be the next majorshift in cross-border currency flowswhich will bring costs and complexitydown, hopefully bringing down backoffice costs for operators, providingsafer and cheaper methods of transfer-ring money by eliminating the middle-men who charge the hefty remittancefees,” says Kumar.

Saran says that the route of thefuture is constructing a mass basedcrypto-currency model that is moreaffordable. He feels that Bitcoins are tooexpensive for the masses in India andpointed towards more efforts by theglobal communities in launching newoptions.

“In January this year, Americanuniversities MIT, Stanford and UCBerkley came together to develop a masscrypto-currency. Even the InternationalMonetary Fund is looking to back newcrypto-currencies,” he says.

All in all, whether you need to paya one-off remittance, or you're an over-seas worker regularly sending cashhome to your loved ones, it’s worthunderstanding how remittances work,and what the world is doing to changethat. In the near future, you might findthat there’s a way to move your moneysafely and quickly, and with almost nofees. That way, more of your hard-earned cash gets to where you want it— and less is eaten up by bank or trans-fer service fees.

It is largely not known that Indian expats pay a whopping $68.97 billion as remittancesto transfer their own hard money home. KARAN BENIWAL looks at the issue in detail

HURTS

THAT

CUT

n Indian residents of the UAE accountedfor 34.2 per cent of total remittances inthe fourth quarter of 2018, whichamounts for Dh39.9 billion, according tothe Central Bank of the UAE. Money sentback home in the last quarter of 2018was 7.7 per cent down against the sameperiod in 2017, according to Central Bankdata published on the state-run newsagency Wam.nTrailing India was Pakistan, wherebeneficiaries received 9.4 per cent of totalremittances from the UAE. ThePhilippines was the third country with 7.2per cent.nThe US was the fourth recipient with5.9 per cent of total remittances, followedby Egyptians with 5.5 per cent.nGlobally, sending remittances costs anaverage of 7.01 per cent of the amountsent, according to the World Bank.nAccording to the organisation, thecheapest way to fund a remittancetransaction globally in the fourth quarterof last year was Mobile Money at 4.9 percent. The average cost when using a debitor credit card was 6.13 per cent. Sendingmoney using cash cost 7.012 per cent,while funding the transaction using abank account incurred an average cost of7.11 per cent.nWorldwide, an estimated $625 billionwas sent by migrants to individuals intheir home countries in 2017, a 7%

increase from 2016, when the amountwas $586 billion, according toeconomists at the World Bank. Thisincrease follows two consecutive years ofdecline.nTracking remittance paymentsworldwide is difficult because manycountries do not track funds that are sentor received. Based on data the WorldBank is able to collect, a statistical modelis used to estimate the amount of moneycoming from each sending country toeach receiving country. n Inward remittances edged up 10.28 percent year-on-year to $11.87 billion in ninemonths to March this year thanks to thesteady depreciation of taka against dollar.nMajority of the banks have taken stepsto boost foreign exchanges because oftheir higher import payments than exportearnings, bankers said.n In recent months, many banks offeredbetween Tk 86 and Tk 87 per dollar toencourage remitters to send moneythrough foreign exchange houses, anofficial of a commercial bank said.nThe BC selling rate, which is used forimport payments and has put a positiveimpact on the inflow, hovered between Tk84.20 and Tk 84.30 per dollar last month.A year ago, it was between Tk 82.95 andTk 83. The inter-bank exchange rate stoodat Tk 84.25 on March 30, up from Tk82.96 a year earlier.

F I G U R A T I V E L Y S P E A K I N G

LUCKNOW | SUNDAY | APRIL 7, 2019

10

}RUNS 264 David Warner (SRH)

WICKETS 9 Y Chahal (RCB)

6S 236

4S 552{LEADERBOARD

We keep putting Russell in toughsituations and he keeps lifting his game.He is a billion dollar man for KKR— CHRIS LYNN

Up Next

Match After

PTI n BENGALURU

No ground is big enough for me, Andre Russellsaid after yet another unbelievable display of

power hitting by the Jamaican in the IndianPremier League.

Russell smashed an unbeaten 48 off 13 ballsas Kolkata Knight Riders plundered 66 runs infour overs to script a memorable win over RoyalChallengers Bangalore on Friday night.

The all-rounder said that he had thoughtAustralian grounds were massive, only to surprisehimself by sending a few into the stands DownUnder.

"A few groundsin Australia andthen I surprisedmyself there by hit-ting a few into thestands. No groundis big enough forme I guess, I justtrust my strengthand trust mypower. I have goodbat speed. I trustthat as well," Russellsaid after hisexploits in KKR'sfive-wicket win atthe ChinnaswamyStadium.

Needing 66runs off 24 balls,KKR were upagainst it before Russell came in and smashedthem to complete the job with five balls to spare.His knock comprised seven sixes and one four.

"The support is good from the boys and I amin a good space so that I can express myself. I tryshort arm jabs as extending the arms can put youin trouble. Can't explain much, rather show thaton the field," Russell said.

KKR were kept alive in the chase throughopener Chris Lynn (43 off 31), Robbie Uthappa(33 off 25) and Nitish Rana (37 off 23) beforeRussell singlehandedly got the job done in thedeath overs.

"I was confident when I went out to bat. DK(Dinesh Karthik) was telling me to take a few ballsto see how the pitch is behaving. I was watchingin the dugout on TV and had a fair idea. Whenyou need 68 off 20-odd balls, it doesn't happeneveryday. Need to put your body on the line.

"The nature of T20 is such that one over canchange the momentum. That's why I never giveup. A part of me was saying that the runs need-ed were too much but I wanted to fight and even-tually, we won with five balls spare," Russelladded.

Skipper Karthik was delighted as this wasKKR's third win in four outings, and lavishedpraise on Russell.

Asked about his conversation with Russell,Karthik said, "I think you don't talk too much.He goes out there, and he's happy and gives hisbest for the team.”

PTI n BENGALURU

In charge of a house in com-plete disorder, Virat Kohli

will hope that RoyalChallengers Bangalore play inthe manner that defines hiscricket, when they meet DelhiCapitals in the IPL on Sunday.

RCB have suffered fivestraight losses in this edition,while the visitors are cominginto the game with two winsand three reverses.

After losing the last matchagainst Kolkata Knight Riderson Friday, RCB's position hasbecome precarious, and theyhave to win almost all theirremaining games to keep theirchances alive.

Despite AB de Villiersand Kohli striking form byscoring 63 and 84 respective-ly, RCB bowlers failed torestrict KKR, who was pow-ered by Russell's knock.

The defeat left Kohli frus-trated, and the batting main-stay called it "unacceptable".The Jamaican walloped 29runs in the penultimate over,which helped the visitors pulloff a sensational victory.

Apart from YuzvendraChahal and Pawan Negi, allother RCB bowlers have notbeen among the wickets andconceded far too many runs,which Kohli admitted in thepost-match presentation cer-emony. Against KKR, theyleaked 66 runs in the last fourovers.

RCB's batting has alsobeen dismal.

In their first match againstChennai, RCB were bowledout for a paltry 70 in 17.1 oversafter their top-order crumbled

against Harbhajan Singh andImran Tahir.

Against SunrisersHyderabad, the RCB bowlersallowed SRH to post a mam-moth 232 with centuries fromJonny Bairstow and DavidWarner. RCB then collapsed toan embarrassing 35 for six bythe eighth over, with Kohli andde Villiers contributing just

four runs between them. In theend, they were skittled out for113 to lose the match by amassive 118 runs.

Against Rajasthan Royalstoo, the RCB top-order failed.The RCB think-tank wouldnow be hoping that their top-order batsmen come out goodagainst DC.

Delhi also have their fairshare of worries, having lostthree matches. After making apositive start with a winagainst three-time championsMumbai Indians, their journeyhas been uncomfortable.

Rishabh Pant, who playeda superb knock of 78 againstMumbai in their first match,has been the highest scorer forDelhi, while the likes ofShikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw,Iyer and Colin Ingram, too,have been among the runs.

The bowling departmenthas been spearheaded byKagiso Rabada, and they alsohave Trent Boult and IshantSharma in their ranks.

Young leg-spinnerSandeep Lamichhane has alsoperformed well so far forDelhi.

PTI n BENGALURU

The pitch preparationcontinues to evoke

criticism this IPL withDelhi Capitals' PrithviShaw on Saturday ques-tioning the slow nature ofthe Feroz Shah Kotla trackfor their home matches.

While the young bats-man said the wicket wasnot of their liking, hescored a 99 against KKRin a recent match in NewDelhi.

"The wickets weren'tgood as we were expect-ing it to be. The new ballwas moving slow off thetrack and turning fromball one. Nevertheless, weare just keeping thosethings besides and look-ing for ward to nextgame," he said ahead ofclash against strugglingRoyal ChallengersBangalore.

The slow pitch inChennai also invited crit-icism from CSK skipperMS Dhoni and RCB skip-per Virat Kohli.

Asked if batting sec-ond will be an advantageon the Chinnaswamypitch, Shaw said the wick-et remains the samethroughout the match.

"I don't think it mat-ters too much if you arebatting or bowling first onthis pitch. The wicketremains the samethroughout the 40 overs.There is only the dewfactor that probablycomes in the second

innings," he said.The Capitals started

with a bang but have beenpretty inconsistent. Theyhave won two of the fivematches they have playedso far.

"Everything was goinggood. We are practicinghard and preparing well,but not been able to exe-cute on the ground. It iscricket. It happens.Personally, I don't thinkIPL is very tough. Therewill be ups and downs forteams," he said.

Asked if he fancies thechance of making into theWorld Cup squad aftermaking 99 runs againstKolkata Knight Riders,Shaw said he is not think-ing about it.

"I don't think getting99 can make a big change,so I would rather not thinkabout getting selected forthe World Cup, instead Iwould rather do my jobfirst in the IPL and try andwin games. I think we areat a very crucial stage ofthe IPL," he said.

PTI n CHENNAI

Led by seasonedHarbhajan Singh,Chennai Super Kings

spinners put on a dominatingshow to help the side reclaim thetop position with a 22-run winover Kings XI Punjab in an IPLmatch, here on Saturday.

Defending 160 for three, CSKrestricted Punjab to 138 for 5despite half centuries from K LRahul (55) and Sarfaraz Khan(67).

The visitors scored at a lowpace and required to score 26 offthe last over, bowled by IPL debu-tant Scott Kuggeleijn. The Kiwipaceman had no trouble defend-ing those runs and also dismissedSarfaraz.

Harbhajan was the bestbowler for the hosts with the fig-ures of 4-1-17-2. In a brilliantspell, he bowled a maiden andgrabbed two wickets, includingthat of the 'universal boss' ChrisGayle.

Ravindra Jadeja (4-0-24-0)and Imran Tahir (4-0-20-0)also helped CSK put thebrakes on the rival batsmen.They, along with Harbhajan,

conceded only 61 runs in 12overs even as the required run-ratekept mounting.

Kuggeleijn did not start verywell, being hit for a six off his veryfirst ball, but did well to finish with2 for 37 in his 4 overs.

Harbhajan struck a huge blowto rivals by dismissing the Gayle,having him caught behind by MS Dhoni for 5 in the second over.

Two balls later, he had thestylish Mayank Agarwal, caughtby Faf du Plessis near the bound-ary with the batsman going for abig hit. Harbhajan started off

with a double wicket maiden toput Kings XI on the backfoot early.

In the 13th over, Rahul'smissed sweep saw Dhoni flick theball on to the stumps but the bailsdidn't come off though the LEDlights lit up, ensuring the batsmansurvived despite being short of hiscrease.

The century partnership forthe third wicket between Rahuland Sarfaraz was a productive onebut they consumed a lot of ballsand stymied the Kings XI chase asthe CSK bowlers kept thingstight.

Earlier, du Plessis hit a fine

half-century up the order whileskipper Dhoni and AmbatiRayudu provided the late flourishto help Chennai Super Kingspost a competitive 160 for three.

Du Plessis made 54 off 38balls with the help of two foursand four hits over the fence andtogether with Shane Watson (26)added 56 runs for the first wick-et after opting to bat.

But it was some late hitting byDhoni (37 not out) and Rayudu(21 not out) and their unbeaten60-run fourth wicket partner-ship in 30 balls helped the defend-ing champions reach a respectabletotal.

Thanks to Dhoni andRayudu, CSK scored 52 runs inthe last five overs after a ratherquiet middle period.

Kings XI skipperRavichandran Ashwin was thebest bowler for the visitors, pick-ing up three wickets for 23 runsfrom his four overs. He was on ahat-trick in the 14th over after get-ting half-centurion Du Plessisand Suresh Raina off successivedeliveries.

Watson fell against the run ofplay, attempting a big shot offKings XI captain Ashwin to bewell caught by Sam Curran in thedeep.

Raina (17), who came in atNo 3, strung together an useful44-run partnership with DuPlessis, who kept the scoreboardticking with a mix of attackingshots and judicious runningbetween the wickets.

The partnership was brokenwhen Du Plessis perished whilegoing for a big hit off Ashwin,caught at long-on by David Millerand then a ball later the off-spin-ner cleaned up Raina as the bats-man went for a sweep.

PTI n HYDERABAD

Young West Indies pacer AlzzariJoseph made a dream IPL debut byrecording the best bowling figures

in tournament’s history as MumbaiIndians picked up a 40-run win overSunrisers Hyderabad in a low-scoringgame here on Saturday.

Keiron Pollard hammered an unbeat-en 46 off 26 balls, helping MumbaiIndians recover to 136 for seven after anordinary start.

While Pollard was the stand out bats-man, another West Indian in Josephmade all the difference in the bowlingdepartment, ending with sensational fig-ures of six for 12 in 3.4 overs, bettering theeffort of Pakistan pacer Sohail Tanvir, whohad taken six for 14 in the inaugural IPLedition in 2008. Hyderabad were all outfor 96 in 17.4 overs.

It was the third win for MumbaiIndians in five games while Hyderabadsuffered their second loss in five match-es. Considering the stellar form of open-ers David Warner and Jonny Bairstow, 137was expected to be a comfortable chase forHyderabad. But they both were dismissedcheaply and that exposed the middle orderwhich had not been tested much courtesythe devastating run of the openers. I

It was the first time this season thatHyderabad lost a wicket in the first sixovers.

Young West Indies pacer Josephbowled a dream first over in the IPL, dis-missing Warner in a wicket maiden. In hisfollowing over, the 22-year-old got rid ofVijay Shankar to leave Hyderabad at 43 forthree in seven overs and spice up the con-test. Leggie Rahul Chahar picked up twoimportant wickets to increase the pressureon the home team which was reduced to62 for five in the 12th over.

The hosts needed 53 off the last 30balls and ended up well short of the tar-get with Joseph running through theopposition line-up.

Earlier, it seemed Hyderabad wouldlimit Mumbai to a sub-120 total beforePollard’s brute power came to the fore,

enabling the visitors to collect 39 crucialruns off the final 12 balls.

Until Pollard cut loose, Hyderabad putup an impressive bowling effort on a slowpitch.

While Hyderabad fielded anunchanged side, Mumbai Indians madetwo changes in the playing eleven withIshan Kishan replacing Yuvraj Singh andJoseph coming in for Lasith Malinga, whohas gone back to Sri Lanka to play in adomestic event.

It wasn’t the best of starts for Mumbai,who lost captain Rohit Sharma (11) andSuryakumar Yadav (7) early to be 30 fortwo in six overs. Rohit was dropped in thefirst over by Siddarth Kaul but could notmake much use of that life and was holedout at deep midwicket off MohammadNabi in the fourth over.

Suryakumar, who had hit a crucial 59in the previous game against CSK, too didnot last long and was adjudged leg beforewicket off Sandeep Sharma.

Stroke play was proving to be difficulton a slow surface and the situationbecame worse for the visitors when the in-form opener Quinton de Kock (19)departed after trying to increase thescoring rate.

The batsmen especially struggledagainst Nabi, who ended with envious fig-ures of 13 for one in four overs asMumbai crawled to 52 for three in 10overs.

After Nabi completed his full quota ofovers, his Afghanistan teammate RashidKhan made life tough for the oppositionbatsmen. The Hyderabad pacers —Sharma and Kaul — too were up to thetask, using their pace well on a slow wick-et to stifle the batsmen.

Mumbai’s innings hardly had any flowbefore Pollard provided the much need-ed final flourish in the death overs bysmashing Kaul for three massive sixes inthe 19th over that went for 20 runs.

Bhuvneshwar’s final over went for 19runs with Pollard collecting two fours anda six, giving Mumbai something to bowlat. Poor fielding let Hyderabad downtowards the end of the innings.

PTI n JAIPUR

High on confidence aftertheir maiden victory,

Rajasthan Royals will look tocarry the momentum by exploit-ing familiar conditions whenthey host a rampaging KolkataKnight Riders in the IPL hereSunday.

The visitors will also bebrimming with confidence withtheir batsmen Nitish Rana,Andre Russell, Robin Uthappaand Shubhman Gill in top form.

Rajasthan bowlers JofraArcher, Jaidev Unadkat andBen Stokes have leaked runs inthe death overs. They will haveto rethink their strategy afterRussell's sensational display ofpower hitting (48 off 13 balls)against Royal ChallengersBangalore.

The biggest positive for theRoyals has been Sherays Gopal,who, with his googlies, deceived

the likes of Virat Kohli, A BDvilliers and Shimron Hetmyer,finishing off with 3 for 12.

Despite the victory againstRCB, Royals will still look to ironout certain flaws which haveplagued them recently.They haveoften failed to grab momentslosing to Kings XI Punjab,Sunrisers Hyderabad and

Chennai Super Kings after beingin commanding position.

While star players, includingSteve Smith and Ben Stokes,have failed to live up to theexpectations, the likes of SanjuSamson, who had hit first ton ofthis IPL, Jos Buttler and captainAjinkya Rahane have been good.Smith, although, scored 38against RCB.

Meanwhile, KKR's bowlingdepartment, led by SunilNaraine, Kuldeep Yadav andPiyush Chawla, will look toexploit the wicket at Sawai ManSingh Stadium, which has playedslow and low recently.

KKR will head to the gamewith the belief that the side canwin from any situation, whichthey have demonstrated timeand again.

Both teams will also have todeal with the soaring heat in thethe Pink City with temperaturesnearing 40 degrees celsius.

LAST YEAR’S MATCHES

*Kolkata Knight Riders defeatedRajasthan Royals by 25 runs at Kolkata

*Kolkata Knight Riders beat RajasthanRoyals by 6 wickets at Kolkata

*Kolkata Knight Riders beat RajasthanRoyals by 7 wickets at Jaipur

FOR THE RECORD

*Sanju Samson who completed his 2000runs in IPL in the last match, is one ofthree batsmen who scored centuries inthis IPL.

* Andre Russell smashed 22 sixes in fourinnings which is the most by a batsman inthis IPL.

FAISEL FEATURES

PTI n NEW DELHI

The simmering 'aggression' ofDavid Warner has found its

release in the ongoing IPL and hisdesperation to play well oncomeback makes him adangerous batsman says hisSunrisers Hyderabad teammateYusuf Pathan.

On road to redemption afteran year ban, Warner has hit apurple patch, scoring two half-centuries and an unbeaten centuryin the four matches he has played.

"A successful batsman is theone who comes back after a bigmatch and scores again in thenext. There is a lot of aggressioninside Warner which is helpinghim play so well. It is reflecting inhis batting even after not playingfor a year he has the aggression todo well. Such aggression makeshim a dangerous batsman,"Pathan said.

"He is focussed anddetermined. Watching him bat isso entertaining. It's great for us

and it's a plus point for Australiato have him perform like thisahead of the world Cup," Pathanadded.

On his own preparation forIPL this season, Pathan, whoswitched sides from KKR to SRHlast season, said playing indomestic tournaments has givenhim ample match practice.

"I have been competing in alot of tournaments before headinginto the IPL. I got to focus onareas I wanted to work on. Playingregularly the entire season helpswith match practice, it was veryadvantageous," said Yusuf.

Live on Star Sports 1& 2

JAIPUR

RR vs KKR

SUNDAY | 8:00 PM

HEADTO

HEADM 18

RR 9

KKR 9

MAHI WAY

Dhoni’s power hitting and master planning outshines Ashwin’sbrilliance as Chennai beat Punjab by 22 runs in battle of Kings

IT WAS SOME LATE HITTINGBY DHONI (37 NOT OUT)

AND RAYUDU (21 NOT OUT)AND THEIR UNBEATEN 60-

RUN FOURTH WICKETPARTNERSHIP IN 30 BALLS

HELPED THE DEFENDINGCHAMPIONS REACH ARESPECTABLE TOTAL

POLLARD, ALZARRI

STAR FOR MUMBAI

Pitches in Delhi were not

as per expectations: Shaw

Live on Star Sports 1& 2

BENGALURU

RCB vs DC

SUNDAY | 4:00 PM

HEADTO

HEADM 21

RCB 14

DC 6

RCB host Delhi in Do-or-Die battleNO GROUND ISBIG ENOUGH FORME: RUSSELL

ROYALS TEST FOR KNIGHT RIDERS

‘AGGRESSION MAKES WARNERA DANGEROUS BATSMAN’

Dream IPL debut by West Indies pacer

LUCKNOW | SUNDAY | APRIL 7, 2019 sport 11

AFP n SOUTHAMPTON

Jurgen Klopp insists he never doubtedMohamed Salah as the Egyptianended an eight-game scoring drought

to help fire Liverpool back to the top ofthe Premier League.

Salah returned to scoring form withan outstanding solo run and finish asLiverpool recovered from falling a goalbehind to beat Southampton 3-1 at StMary's and move two points clear ofManchester City.

The title remains in City'shands, however, as the Englishchampions have a game inhand.

However, Liverpoolcontinue to pile on the pressurein their pursuit to end a 29-year waitto win the league.

Klopp's side appeared in danger ofdropping valuable points until Salahintervened in the 80th minute to claimhis 50th Premier League goal forLiverpool in only his second season atthe club.

"It was never in doubt that he was agreat player in my side," said Klopp.

"It was goal number 50 for Liverpool,an incredible number. He's veryconsistent."

Salah has been criticised in recentweeks for being too selfish in front ofgoal in desperation to end his scorelessstreak.

Yet, on this occasion he chose theright option despite the presence ofRoberto Firmino in support.

When asked if he considered playingin the Brazilian, Salah told Sky Sports:"Not at all. As a striker you need to score.I made my decision to shoot."

Liverpool were once again forced todemonstrate their resilience as theystruggled to find their most fluent formafter Southampton established a ninth-minute lead through Shane Long.

Naby Keita equalised in the 36thminute with his first Liverpool goal butit was not until Salah struck that Klopp'sside could be confident of moving two

points ahead of City at the head of thetable.

Jordan Henderson wrapped thingsup in the 86th minute, but Kloppadmitted his side were again not at theirbest, requiring late interventions just asthey had in beating Tottenham Hotspurand Fulham in their previous two leaguegames.

"The performance was not top levelbut it is about fighting," he said.

"People want us to play likeManchester City, we are unable to dothat, we play our own football.

"We have 82 points now, that ismassive in this crazy league and everyoneis waiting for us. I am really proud. It isincredible.

"It is a difficult year for everybody,you need to have 70-75 points for theChampions League and 90-somethingfor the title. We are in the race and thatis nice."

Klopp acknowledged theintroduction of Henderson and JamesMilner midway through the second halffired up Liverpool's late rally.

"Jordan Henderson came on andbrought aggressiveness, verbalaggressiveness, we had direction againafter that," he said.

"We have to work for it, themoment will come but all three goalswere brilliant.

"It is nice for Naby Keita to scorethe first to show Southampton it willnot be easy for them. After that wecontrolled it more. It was good, I likedit."

Southampton remain five pointsclear of the bottom three and managerRalph Hasenhutt l admitted hisdisappointment at his side's failure tohold on.

"If you take the lead after fiveminutes, you are going in the rightdirection," said Hasenhuttl.

"There is still a way to go but if youare a sportsman you are alwaysfrustrated if you are not winning. Notmany have won against them thisseason, we had chances."

AFP n MUNICH

Robert Lewandowskihumiliated his old club on

Saturday as Bayern Munichobliterated Borussia Dortmundwith a scintillating 5-0 win toreclaim their spot at the top of theBundesliga.

Bayern began the day underimmense pressure, havingslipped two points behindDortmund in the title race a weekearlier.

They ended it on cloud nine,after a masterful first-halfperformance left Dortmund inthe dust and put Bayern oncourse for a seventh successiveleague title.

The champions are now justa single point ahead ofDortmund in the title race, butthe two teams were separated bya gargantuan gulf in quality at theAllianz Arena.

Mahmoud Dahoud struck

the post early on for the visitors,but two quick goals from formerDortmund players put adominant Bayern firmly in thedriving seat.

Hummels landed the firstblow on ten minutes, rising highat a corner to head in the openerfor Bayern.

Lewandowski then pounced

on a mistake by Dortmundcentre-back Dan-Axel Zagadouto double the lead.

Having robbed Zagadou ofpossession, Lewandowski thenlooped the ball over goalkeeperRoman Buerki and scissor-kickedit into the open net.

Buerki kept a furious Bayernat bay for a short while, denying

Lewandowski, Hummels andThomas Mueller with a seriesof saves.

But the Dortmundkeeper could do nothing tostop the Bavarians' third, a

blistering strike from the edge ofthe area from Javi Martinez.

With their defence indisarray, Dortmund could onlywatch on as Serge Gnabry headedin Bayern's fourth just beforehalf-time.

Lewandowski rubbed salt inthe wound by netting his secondgoal just before full-time.

The win leaves the title racefinely poised on paper, but withDortmund in the doldrums andBayern bouncing, Niko Kovac'sside are now firm favourites tofinish first.

RB Leipzig and EintrachtFrankfurt remain on course totake the remaining twoChampions League spots afterboth won earlier on Saturday.

AFP n LONDON

Manchester City's quest for aquadruple of trophies

remains intact after Gabriel Jesus'ssolitary early goal was enough tosee off Brighton 1-0 and reach theFA Cup final on Saturday.

Pep Guardiola's men willreturn to Wembley to face eitherWatford or Wolves on May 18 forwhat they hope will be the chanceto clinch the first ever domestictreble in English football history.

City looked set for an easyafternoon when Jesus opened thescoring after just four minutes, butnever hit top gear with one eye ontheir Champions League quarter-final, first leg at Tottenham onTuesday.

And Brighton were left to ruea controversial decision not to

send-off Kyle Walker just after thehalf hour mark for a clash withAlireza Jahanbakhsh.

With City staying in Londonuntil their trip to Tottenham'snew stadium in midweek, SergioAguero had travelled south onFriday but was not risked after aminor muscle injury.

Jesus stepped up in theArgentine's absence by stooping tohead home his 18th goal of theseason, but the Brazilian's openerowed much to a wonderfullyinviting cross from Kevin deBruyne.

That was the third time in asmany games City had struck insidethe first five minutes, but unlike incruising past Fulham and Cardiffin the Premier League, they failedto put the game out of Brighton'sreach before the break.

AFP n TURIN

Teenage sensation MoiseKean scored the

winner to put Juventus onestep away from aneighth consecutiveSerie A title onSaturday as a 2-1comeback win overAC Milan pushedthe champions 21points clear on topof the league.

Kean — the victim ofracist abuse last week inCagliari — came on as asubstitute and fired in thewinner after 84 minutes forhis fifth goal in as manySerie A appearances.

The Turin giants willseal a 35th 'Scudetto' onSunday with a seven gamesto spare — the earliest anyteam has won Serie A — ifsecond-placed Napoli loseat home against Genoa.

Krzysztof Piatek hadput visiting AC Milanahead five minutes beforethe break with his 21stgoal this season. Paulo

Dybala pulled the hostslevel from the spot after anhour.

For Milan, the defeatfurther damages their

Champions Leagueambitions with justone point from theirlast four Serie Agames.

G e n n a r oGattuso's side arefourth but can be

overtaken by Atalanta, whoare just a point behindand travel to third-placedInter Milan on Sunday.

Piatek missed a chanceafter two minutes headingwide from a nice cross bySpanish midfielder Suso.Franck Kessie was also offtarget early.

Sami Khedira came onfor the first time sinceheart surgery a month ago,replacing fellow GermanEmre Can who went offearly with an ankle injury.

Milan were denied apenalty when Alex Sandrohandled interceptingHakan Calhanoglu's cross.

The referee deciding it wasunintentional after a VARviewing.

Minutes later Piatekbroke through to beatfellow Pole WojciechSzczesny following ablunder from former Milandefender LeonardoBonucci, who had beenunder fire for comments hemade over the Kean's racistabuse in Cagliari.

Tiemoue Bakayokopounced on the sloppypass to burst through forPiatek who finished off.

Mandzukic almostgrabbed the equaliserbefore the break but PepeReina, at full stretch, tippedclear the Croat's acrobaticbicycle kick.

A reckless Musacchiofoul on fellow ArgentineDybala allowed the hostspull level on the hour.Keancame on after 65 minutesto replace Dybala and 20minutes later the 19-year-old delivered the winner tothe delight of the homecrowd.

AFP n KUALA LUMPUR

Chinese superstar Lin Dan put on a sensationaldisplay of badminton to power into the Malaysia

Open final, beating compatriot Shi Yuqi, 21-19, 16-21, 21-12 on Saturday.

His victory, which took 65 minutes, sets up a finalagainst another Chinese player, Chen Long.

Five-time world champion Lin allowed Shi todictate the pace at the start of the opening gamebefore seizing back the initiative, and winning 21-19.

A couple of unforced errors paved the way forShi to level with a 16-21 win in the second game, butLin came to life in the decider and clinched the match.It is the second final that Lin has reached this yearbut the two-time Olympic Gold medallist concededit was tough to battle past Shi.

"Now a days the competition within the Chinesemen's singles team is as strongas against others. But I amused to the pressure, and themost important thing is to beconsistent," Lin said Lin willplay Chen in a repeat of the2015 final, which was won byChen.

Chen was equallyimpressive in his 64-minutevictory over Jonatan Christie

of Indonesia, pulling out some powerful forehandsmashes to win 12-21, 21-10, 21-15.

The women's singles saw Taiwanese Tai Tzu-yingset up a final clash against Japan's Akane Yamaguchi.

Tai was impressive in her 21-14, 21-19 win overChina's Chen Yufei, while Yamaguchi was equallyimpressive in her victory over compatriot NozomiOkuhara, winning 21-15, 22-20.

AFP n MADRID

Karim Benzema is one of the few Real Madridplayers to have had his future guaranteed by

Zinedine Zidane and he repaid his coach's faith onSaturday by scoring twice in a 2-1 win over Eibar.

Madrid had to come from behind at theSantiago Bernabeu after a dismal first-halfperformance included Marc Cardona, playing afteran injury to Pedro Leon during the warm-up, gaveEibar a surprise lead.

But Madrid improved, and two excellentBenzema headers ensured the groans and whistlesthat had soured the atmosphere for much of theopening hour turned to cheers and applause at theend.

Much of the frustration was again directed atGareth Bale, who started here after being droppedby Zidane for the defeat to Valencia on Wednesday.

Bale's below-par performances and a lack ofsupport from either coach or fans seem so inter-linked now, it is difficult to know what comes first.He departed again to whistles with 14 minutes left,a conciliatory hand slap from Zidane offering littleconsolation as he trudged off.

Benzema's trajectory has been the opposite, theFrenchman has six goals in five La Liga games, fourof them since Zidane took over.

Madrid's win means they are 10 points adrift ofleaders Barcelona to 10 points andtwo behind Atletico Madrid. Barcaand Atletico play each other later onSaturday. Eibar stay 11th.

Zidane has insisted his playersare not on trial but his changingline-ups at least suggest he isexamining his options before thesummer.

This time Sergio Ramos was rested, whileCasemiro, Toni Kroos and Lucas Vazquez alsodropped out. In came Nacho, Federico Valverde, Iscoand Bale.

Bale's half began badly as he failed to controlValverde's overhit pass and then got worse as hemissed a one-on-one when his finish was saved byMarko Dmitrovic.

CHORUS OF WHISTLESThe scattering of whistles became a chorus after

he dragged a shot wide from 25 yards and it was nosurprise his confidence drained away, a poor touchfollowing shortly after.

Bale was not the only one. Madrid lackedprecision or purpose, as opponents were allowedthrough unchecked and passes went astray.

In the 39th minute, as the fans' frustration wasreaching its peak, Eibar scored, a crisp move downthe left ending with a cute pass from GonzaloEscalante to Cardona, who chipped into the net.

The second half started better for Madrid, withBenzema scoring only to be called back for offsidebefore the Frenchman headed in the equaliser justbefore the hour. Marco Asensio did brilliantly toweave into space and dig out the cross.

Bale might have been in but Asensio's pass struckthe back of his heel and the Welshman departed with14 minutes left, to disgruntled whistles.

Madrid scored the winner without him. Kroos'whipped cross was again met by the forehead ofBenzema and, again, the ball found the net.

All’s well that ends well

5 goal Bayern thrash Dortmund Man City stay on

course for quadruple

Juve beat Milan 2-1

Liverpool overcome a goal deficit to beat Southampton 3-1 and regain top spot in Premier League table

It is a difficult year

for everybody. You

need to have 70-75

points for the

Champions League

and 90-something

for the the title. We

are in the race and that is nice."

—JURGEN KLOPP

BENZEMA COMESTO REAL RESCUE

PRAFUL ELECTED AS FIFA COUNCIL MEMBERKuala Lumpur: All India Football Federationpresident Praful Patel was on Saturday elected as aFIFA Council member, becoming the first Indian toenter the prestigious council in a landmarkdevelopment. Patel got 38 out of 46 votes. The AIFFchief was one of the eight candidates vying for thespot in the election which was held during the 29thAFC (Asian Football Confederations) Congress in theMalaysian capital. Patel was accompanied by AIFFgeneral secretary Kushal Das and senior vice-president Subrata Datta. "Mr Patel's victory is a"landmark for Indian football". Congratulations to MrPatel. He fully deserves this honour. His leadershiphas taken Indian football to greater heights. Asianfootball will immensely benefit from his presence asa FIFA Council member," Datta said.

ANUP JOINS PUNE AS NEW COACHPune: Puneri Paltan has appointed ex-India captainAnup Kumar, as the new head coach for theupcoming season 7 of Pro Kabaddi League. AnupKumar, who had led India to the men's kabaddi teamGolds in the 2010 and 2014 Asian Games, retired asa player in season 6 of the league. Anup, who madehis India debut in 2006 at the South Asian Games,had also led the country to the Kabaddi World Cuptitle in 2016. "Kabaddi is my first love and I have giveneverything for the sport. As a coach, this will be myfirst stint and I will concentrate on improving ourteam's skills, fitness and presence of mind on themat," said Anup. Speaking on the appointmentKailash Kandpal, CEO of Puneri Paltan, said, "Anup isvastly experienced in the PKL format and known forhis cool and calm composure. We are banking on hisexpertise to implement new tactics this season forour team."

GLOBAL T20 LEAGUE TO BEGIN IN JULY Mumbai: The power-hitters from the West Indiessuch as Andre Russell and Chris Gayle are expectedto compete in the second edition of Global T20Canada league, scheduled to begin in July inBrampton, the organisers announced on Saturday.Some of the other marquee players like DarrenSammy, Sunil Narine, Dwayne Bravo, Chris Lynn,Lasith Malinga and David Miller are also expected tomake a come-back this year. "We had to postpone thedates of the tournament due to the ICC Cricket WorldCup 2019 which will surely give us more time toprepare the event in a better way. We are in talks withall the teams and players and hoping for most of themto return in a most competitive way," said thepromoter of the league. In the inaugural season,Vancouver Knights emerged Champions in had six-team League. Agencies

SINGLES

PTI n YOKOHAMA

GSathiyan placed himself wellwithin reach of a World

Cup spot after the top-rankedIndian upset World No 14 ChunTing Wong of Hong Kong inpositions 5-8 match at the ITTF-ATTU Asian Cup here onSaturday.

The 28th-ranked beat Wong12-10, 10-12, 11-5, 11-6, 11-8 ina gruelling contest.

The win against Hong Kong'sNo 1 player means that Sathiyanwill take on Lin Yun-Ju ofChinese Taipei on Sunday to grabthe fifth position.

The 17-year-old left-hander,who is seven places ahead ofSathiyan in the ITTF rankings,recently won his first men'ssingles title at the ChallengePlus Oman Open when he beattop-seeded Falck Mattias in thefinal. In the same tournament,Sathiyan had entered thesemifinals.

But it was a tough ask forSathiyan this morning as theIndian failed to go past thesecond-seeded Chinese Ma Longin the quarterfinals when helost 1-4 (5-11, 5-11, 11-6, 6-11,

3-11). Yet he managed to take agame off the reigning world andOlympic champion.

In the classification match,Sathiyan began somewhatpassive before taking the firstgame on extended points. Butthen he lost second after leading9-5 and upped the ante to wrapup the next three games to go upthe ladder. Wong, who never lostto Sathiyan before, did well torecover in the fifth game butSathiyan went from strength tostrength to seal his fate.

Sathiyan admitted it wastough against Long but he had anice rhythm going against theHong Kong player.

"I had the measure of myopponent (Wong) in spite of thefirst two extended games. OnceI took the third and fourthgames, I knew I was close to it(win)," said Sathiyan.

Sathiyan stuns World No 14,step away from WC berth

Lin Dan storms into final

backpack 12

Apoorva Sharda n NEW DELHI

It made headlines in almostall the film festivals. It wasthe opening film at the In

Homochrom Film festival inGermany. And now Indiandaily soap director, RohitDwivedi’s Khejdi (takingrefence from the dying tree —Kejri in Rajasthan) is makingits mark on Indian soil.

The film is a journey of atransgender and her strugglesto lead a normal life within thesociety. The movie is an adap-tation of the short story Sanjhaby Kiran Singh.

Released last year, rightabout the time when theSupreme Court decriminalisedLGBTQ has continued toreceive overwhelmingresponse.

“Decriminalisation ofSection 377 of the IPC hashelped the transgender com-munity who are looking for anidentity in society, directly orindirectly. They can now be

open about their preferencesand not be persecuted for thesame,” Dwivedi says.

Since the film talks abouta transgender and struggles, thesocietal acceptance for themovie took time. “It was awk-ward. The entire film was shotin Rajasthan. When we startedshooting, people were shockedto know the storyline. But afterthe Section 377 ruling hap-pend, there has been no prob-lem. The locals have acceptedthe need to tell this story,”Dwivedi tells you.

He doesn’t see his transi-tion from directing daily soapsto meaningful cinema as aswitch. “I never got the chanceto do meaningful cinema. Butthen this story came to me; itwas hard-hitting and challeng-ing. I wanted to push myselfand see how far we could go

with the subject. But this does-n’t mean that I am not open todirecting commercial films or

I will not go back to directingTV shows,” Dwivedi says andadds that the idea and the story

came from Ashish Sharma whoplays the titular role of Khejdi.

Dwivedi tells you that the

story was penned by Sharmaand his wife Archana Taide.Known for his character exper-imentation, Sharma is a popu-lar face in daily soap. He hasdone shows like Prithvi Vallabh(played the lead) and Siya KeRam (played Ram).

“As an actor, he was verykeen to play a transgender. He(Sharma) loves to experiment,a necessity for an actor eventhough Khejdi came with itsshare of challlenges,” Dwivedisays.

Before the movie went onthe floor, Sharma spent six-eight months to prepare. “Hehad to think like a transgenderto play the role. He had tounderstand the mental make-up of the transgenders and theproblems they face,” Dwiveditells you.

Khejdi is not set for com-mercial release in India asDwivedi feels the audience isnot ready. “However, never saynever. We will release it whenthe time is right,” he asserts.

LUCKNOW | SUNDAY | APRIL 7, 2019

nWhat is the importance of a casting director today?The kind of content that is being made today and such a huge

digital space, there is hunger for the makers and even the chan-nels to come up with different project. They no longer want tobe bound — whether it is TV, web or films. Every person is look-ing to do something new and different or else they will not standout. Casting directors are not attracted to the actors, they are look-ing for the character who can play the role in a project. As a cast-ing director, once the hero has been casted, my job then is tolook for supporting actors who can fit bill to a T.nIn the 60s and 70s we didn’t have casting directors. Whathas changed?

Back then, limited movies were being made. They were lim-ited production houses. People knew whom to approach andwhere to go. Today, almost every gali (Mumbai) has a new pro-duction house. There is so much work happening. This is thebest time for new actors. People are looking for actors who aretailor-made for the role and this is where we step in.nWhat about your journey in the industry?

I was forced to come to Mumbai. I didn’t know anybody inthe industry. But I knew that in order to eat I had to work. I tookup a job with a call centre. I knew a person from the industry.He insisted that I work with him. I worked with as an assistantdirector. This got me a job with a Marathi film which then ledto work with a firm that dealt with casting actors. This line wasnew for me and I enjoyed myself. Now, I have been a casting direc-tor for 11 years and love the challenges that come with it.nIs there is a difference when you cast for TV, films or web?

There isn’t much difference when it comes to casting for webor films. Both mediums are looking for saleable faces. TV is total-ly different since we have time constrain. nWhat are the things that you keep in mind when casting?

Obviously with the leads, we see how popular the actor isand his fan following. But when it comes to supporting cast, weensure that the actor is as near to the character as he can get thathe has to play. There have been instances where we have endedup with a face that has not fit the bill in a movie but has beenperfect for a web project.nWhen you are working on a commercial project how doensure that the audience loves the characters and the makersas well?

If the director, producer and channel are on the same page,there won’t be work for us. There is so much work happening.A particular actor who has been zeroed in may not be free. Wecome in and look for a face who is as close to what they are look-ing for. When there are disagreements it is my job to convincethe stakeholders that the person whom I have got fits the bill.nHow does the work come to you?

I have been lucky that I keep getting work . People who haveappreciated my inputs on a project refer me to others. I keep get-ting projects one after the other. I am thankful to God for thisand hope he continues to bless me like this forever.

ADITYOA SURANNA whohas been part of over 60projects speaks withSHALINI SAKSENA aboutthe importance of a castingdirector today

‘I enjoy my

work which is

challenging’

nWhat is keeping you busy thesedays?

I have been busy with the shoot-ing of a new show for Zee5Originals— Kaafir. We have been doing read-ings, workshops, rehearsals, costumefittings and so much more. My days

have been full of excitement. Ihave an incredible burst of

energy and love for thisnew character that I am

discovering.The most exciting

thing about doing thisshow and playing thispart is that it isinspired by trueevents. It’s a characterthat is central to thenarrative. It is part of

a deeply engaginghuman conflict. It’s been

a time to relish and enjoymy dream role.

nWhat challenges do youface as an actor?

They are two-fold. First,finding parts that resonatestrongly with us. Second, adjust-ing to different systems and

work environment. The fact is thatdespite whatever the circumstancesmay be at a personal level or on thejob, one needs to deliver. That cansometimes be a big challenge, but it isalways amazing to see how we over-come it and we discover a strengththat lies deep within.

I have been on a film shoot oneweek after losing my father and thatwas one of the most difficult things inmy life that I have had to do. Asactors, we learn to accept that workgoes on and that we need to be pre-sent, prepared and we need to deliver.nAny role you want to experimentwith?

The kind of roles I would like toexperiment with are the ones that arerooted in deep human conflict. It isalways interesting to bring out thegrey in people. I always find charac-ters that are not completely black orwhite, interesting. For me it is excitingto play characters that have a little bitof grey in them.nHow has your show Ganga-TheSoul of India changed you?

I have said this many times before,and I will say it again that Ganga-The

Soul Of India has changed me at thecore, at a human level. It really helpedme understand how people think, feeland function at a grass root level. Justtravelling with the river from thesource all the way to the sea, engagingwith real people who I have never metbefore, having real and deep conversa-tions with them, discovering whatmotivated them, acknowledging theirchallenges — every single aspect waslife altering.

When we are so close to theNature, we learn many unforgettablelessons. One profound lesson that Ilearnt was that nature never divideson basis of class, boundary, citizen-ship, culture or religion — humansdo. Nature always gives freely to us,humans and that is the most amazingthing about nature. nWhat is your take on the kind offilms being made today?

Some very powerful stories arebeing told and some incredible filmsare being made, so this is an excitingtime for films. As a producer, actorand as a woman, I feel optimisticabout the fact that we are evolving somuch as an industry, and telling com-

pelling stories. We are using cinema asa medium to help society evolve,bring change, acknowledge and makea difference.nWhat is there in your bucket list?

My bucket list is endless. Thereare many places to see, many things todo, many films to watch and manypeople to meet. I would like to visitMachu Picchu, would love to do deepsea diving, learn to ride a motorbikeand so on. It is a long list.nWhat does fashion mean to you?

Fashion to me has always meant areflection of society, a celebration ofculture, art and a reflection of humanendeavour.nAs a celeb, how important is it tobe in tune with the latest trends?

One would assume that one needsto be in tune with latest trends.Inadvertently because we have a sys-tem that gives us access to latesttrends and clothes that are in trend,we end up wearing them. But at a per-sonal level, I seek out clothes that res-onate with me. That give me anopportunity to express myself, makeme feel good. It is not so much aboutbeing in trend.

‘It’s exciting to play grey characters’

Amidst the deserted area ofBhimbetka lies the ancientcaves from the early human

period. These rock shelters representthe prehistoric era — paleolithic andmesolithic period. It has been recog-nised as the World Heritage site inJuly, 2003. Bhimbetka was discoveredby Professor Vishnu ShridharWakankar in the late 1950s. The areais said to be an accidental discoveryby the professor while he was return-ing to his home in Pune.

It is believed that Bhimbetkaderived its name from theMahabharat, which means ‘sittingplace of Bhima’. The folklore has it thatthe five pandavas took shelter in theplace after they were banished fromthe kingdom.

The area is dry and deserted andthere are no flowers except forbougainvillea which can be foundgrowing on a few trees. A thin, unce-mented road leads you towards thesite. To get to the location, it’s betterto have your vehicle. On your way,around 3 km ahead of the site you canhave a break at Highway Treat andtreat yourself with some nice tasteslike home food.

Around 500 people visit the rockshelters every day and the number risesup to 1,000 during holidays. Thoughthe site is yet to receive its deservedfame which is spread over an area of

10 km with over 750 rock shelters.A total of two hours is needed to

explore each point. So, when planningto visit the site you must have ampletime in hand and must be ready for agood long walk.

On every rock shelter there arepaintings which are said to be madeby the early humans because it wastheir way of communication andexpression of their feelings. The paint-ings are made using two colours —white and red. The red colour, said tohave been derived from blood.

“You can see paintings on everyrock shelter which depicts the activ-ities of the early humans. These earlyhumans are believed to be from theGond tribe. From their hunting prac-tice to their celebrations and to theirdaily activities of doing the householdchores, everything is shown on thesepaintings. Some of the paintingsresemble the Madhubani art form,”Ravi Kumar Yadav, a registered touristguide at Bhimbetka tells you.

These caves are a home to thou-sands of bats which can be seen hang-ing upsuide down during the day. Thepresence of these creatures can also befelt because of the persistent pungentsmell in the caves. The caves have beenmade in such a way that it resemblesour modern day homes. With bed-room to drawing room to diningroom and kitchen, you can figure out

how these caves were used for differ-ent things. Whether it is a mere co-incidence or misinterpretation or if theearly humans truly lived this way, noone can tell. But if they were able todivide the work areas, it says a lotabout the pre-historic man

One of the most significant fea-ture of the site is the auditorium cavewhich is said to be like a catholic envi-ronment because of its gothic archesand the structure resembles a right-angled cross. This rock shelter is sur-rounded by the quartzite towers,which are visible from a several kilo-metres distance also.

Animals like deer, bison, tigers,wild boar, elephants, monkey, antelopeand rhinoceros have been depicted inmost of the paintings on the rock shel-ters. Every painting portrays humanhunting animals or having a feast onthem, but in the biggest painting madeon the boar rock, it shows a huge ani-mal hunting humans.

“In every painting you will findhumans hunting animals, but onepainting on the rocks show that it was

the other way round too. The biggestpainting which is made on the boarrock, shows a horned beast huntinghumans — may be a wild boar. Thereare different types of rock shelters inthe site like the turtle rock, the lionrock, the mushroom rock and others.They all derived their names from theshape which they resemble” Yadav tellsyou adding that some of the paintingsare losing their colour because of thelack of maintenance.

“In 2001, Archaeological Surveyof India tried to do a chemical treat-ment on the rocks to protect them butthe paintings started losing theircolours immediately. The processwas stopped halfway and since thenno preventive measures have beentaken to maintain or protect this her-itage site. Algae has started spreadingover these rocks and it needs to betreated,” Yadav says.

Surendra Singh Baghel, TourismMinister, Madhya Pradesh said: “TheGovernment will take some seriousactions to protect the caves ofBhimbetka and its heritage. We willmake sure that proper care is taken ofthe caves and the paintings. It isindeed very precious for us.”

Yadav explains that in his 14-year-old career he have only met a dozenor so people who truly wanted tostudy the site and explore it, others justcome in for a quick round.

“I have met only 10-12 people tillnow who took interest in knowingmore about the caves and wanted tostudy them. Others just come-in tohave an overview of the place. But, thesite requires time in order to under-stand and know it to some extent. Butdue to lack of time majority of thetourists wants to have an overview ofthe place in just two hours, which isnot possible. The site deserves timeand curiosity,” Yadav tells you.

The site is a true escape from thehustle and bustle of the fast-pacedcities. One can truly have a sigh ofrelief after getting here — from thepollution and stress of the big cities.Visit the place for the love of historicthings and a curiosity to go back in theearly human time.

MUSBA

HASHMI

brings you a

report on the

world’s oldest

rock art

shelters at

Bhimbetka

Talktime

DIA MIRZA

Known for giving stellar performances in films

like Rehnaa Hai Tere Dil Mein, Deewanapan and

Sanju, Mirza talks to Musba Hashmi about her

new project, how cinema is evolving and

making a difference in

society

The Turtle Rock at Bhimbetka rock shelters

ROCKS

SPEAK

HISTORY

EVERY PAINTINGON THE ROCKS

PORTRAYSHUMANS HUNTING

ANIMALS ORFEASTING ON

THEM, BUT IN THEBIGGEST PAINTING

ON THE BOARROCK SHOWS AHUGE ANIMAL

HUNTING HUMANS

Searching for an identity

WHEN WE ARE SOCLOSE TO NATURE, WE

LEARN MANYUNFORGETTABLELESSONS. ONE

PROFOUND LESSONTHAT I LEARNT WASTHAT NATURE NEVERDIVIDES ON BASIS OFCLASS, BOUNDARY,

CITIZENSHIP, CULTUREOR RELIGION —

HUMANS DO

Khejdi Director Rohit Dwivedi

Rock art depiction of wild boarAuditorium cave

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Spain has the longest network ofmotorways in Europe at over15,000 km and many of Spain’smotorways, called the Autovia,have been built or improved in

the past two decades, thanks to moneyfrom the European Union. While Ihave driven in Spain in the past, theyhave mainly been short loops aroundBarcelona and I have always wanted todrive through the Iberian Peninsula.Coupled with my desire to knock offanother major historical monumentfrom my bucket list, which was thegrand fortress of Alhambra in Granadaand the Nasrid Palaces inside, I zeroedin on a drive from Madrid to theprovince of Andalusia, and after beingoffered a car from Ford, the trip was ago. I was travelling with my motherand we would cover over 1,300 km inless than a week.

We started in the Spanish Capitalof Madrid, which is one of those hid-den gems when it comes to travel.Barcelona is quite rightly one of themost popular tourist destinations inthe world, in fact, the second most vis-ited city in Europe after Paris. In thenorthern Basque country, you have therather picturesque Bilbao and the stun-ning Guggenheim Museum. ButMadrid, the Capital of the country, getsmuch more press for its football thanfor the city. The food and wine arespectacular in Madrid, of course, thiswas the city that churros were inventedin and the Chocolateria San Ginesclose to the centre of the city is a mustvisit. And Madrid has one of the nicesturban parks in Europe, the ParqueRetiro. There are some lovely foodstalls in the Anton Martin meat andfish market and some particularly love-ly restaurants in that area, butas all tourists should,

a visit to Mercado di San Miguel nextto the Plaza Mayor is essential. It mightfeel like a bit of a tourist trap and find-ing a place to stand can be a challengebut some of the tapas and sangria onoffer are excellent.

But it is the city’s museums, partic-ularly the art museums, that you mustvisit. The Prado, which is celebratingits bicentennial this year, has an amaz-ing collection of medieval and classicalart, particularly its collection ofFrancisco Goya, including the royalportraits, the famous ‘Maja’ but cru-cially the stunning as well as disturbing‘Black Paintings’. But the vast PradoMuseum, whose size could rival theLouvre in Paris, is outdone by themodern art museum of the city, theReina Sofia, which has a spectacularcollection of works by Pablo Picasso,Salvador Dali, Juan Gris, and JoanMiro — all Spanish artists, all fatherfigures of modern art. It is in thismuseum that you finally comprehendjust how central Spain and its artistswere to modern art. While one mighthesitate to call the Reina Sofia ‘better’than the Orsay in Paris or the Tate inLondon, it has a grand collection,including Picasso’s amazing Guernicain a massive wing dedicated to artfrom Spain’s brutal Civil War that pre-ceded the Second World War.

We left Madrid after a quick visitto the Ford Spain office to pick up theFord Kuga that I would be drivingover the next few days. The roads inand around the Spanish Capital arefairly crowded, but using Ford’s SYNCinfotainment system, which is alsoavailable in their Indian products, Ihad hooked up my iPhone to the carand started Google Maps through

Apple CarPlay. This

told me that the 450-odd km toGranada would take me just over fourhours. This put me in a bit of aquandary, since it was just 10.30 in themorning and we had informed ourapartment host in Granada that wewould reach at 4 in the afternoon. TheAutovia del Sur did what it said on thelabel — the motorway to the south.For kilometres on end, through theplains of La Mancha, made famous inCervantes’ Don Quixote, the road waspoker straight with the compass on themap pointed south, albeit of excellentquality and some grand viaducts andtunnels made it obvious that it hadrecently been upgraded.

Once we crossed into Andalusia,obvious by the sudden appearance ofArabic script in road signs, weswitched over to the highway toGranada, called the Autovia SierraNevada-Costa Tropical, the road thatcut through the Sierra Nevada moun-tains till the Costa del Sol on Spain’sMediterranean coast. And if you areconfused about the Sierra Nevadamountains being near San Francisco,California, well those Sierra Nevadamountains got their name from theseSierra Nevada mountains.

Granada, whose historic heart is aUNESCO protected zone, was the lastMuslim kingdom in Spain to fall afterthe crowns of Castile and Aragonwere merged under Ferdinand II andIsabella. The story of Boabdil, the lastArab (Moor) king of Granada, formsa major plot point in SalmanRushdie’s The Moor’s Last Sigh, andthe gain (or loss) of the province ofAl-Andalus is critical in understand-ing European attitudes towards Islamto this day. The story of Islamic Spainis a long one, and not a subject for a

travel column but an understandingof history helps. The initial conquestof Spain by the North African Berberstook place in 711, around the sametime the first Turkish invaders cameto the subcontinent.

And while Islamic architecturereached huge highs in India in Mughaltimes, the incredible architecturalachievements of the Moorish rulers,such as the Alhambra and theMezquita (Mosque) Cordoba andSeville, are sights to behold. What wasalso remarkable was that, unlike India,the Islamic rulers were on the wholerather secular in Spain, and bothGranada and Cordoba had large Jewishpopulations. In the aftermath of theReconquista (reconquest) of Spain iswhere many believe modern-day anti-semitism was born with Jews beingforced out, most Muslims were eitherforced out of Spain or forced to convertto Catholicism, but clearly looking atmodern Spanish, it is clear that manyhave a mix of genes. Arab culture obvi-ously deeply influenced modern Spain,and many of Spain’s famous and brutalconquistadors of South and LatinAmerica used the same tactics as theirArab forebears and Arab horses.

The Alhambra and the Generalife(Jannat-e-Arif, the architects garden)are on a hilltop overlooking the cityof Granada. The historic heart of thecity does not allow outside vehiclesin, thankfully our host, Juan, hadparking in his modern apartment inthe ‘new’ city; we were however stay-ing in his apartment in the heartof the old city, rightbehind thePlaza

Nueva. “This building is older thanthe United States,” Juan joked, but thesteep staircase and low wooden tiledceiling was worth it because the viewof the fort from the balcony overlook-ing the old Arab and Jewish quartersof the city was stunning.

The one thing you should knowabout the Alhambra and Generalife isthat the Spanish conservationists onlyallow a certain number of visitorsevery day. A regular entrance ticketcosts only 14 Euro but these often getbooked out very fast and you will thenbe forced to join a tour group with aguide where tickets cost upwards of 50Euro. Thanks to being a bit slow off theblocks, we were forced to take the latteroption. At the same time, the numberof visitors to the Nasrid Palaces is alsorestricted, and you can only enter thepalaces at the time written on yourticket, and you must be careful withyour tickets because you will need toscan them multiple times. But the gar-dens, now filled with bitter Sevilleorange trees, are beautiful, and backwhen they were built, the water engi-neering and the plumbing to bring thewater from the mountains was a mas-sive achievement. It is the oldest sur-viving Moorish Gardens and whilemodern gardeners try and makeimprovements, some of the old skillshave clearly been lost.

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Time has played a catalyst inchanging the meaning of thisold proverb from ‘grey shade’

to a ‘positive learning’ and it encom-passes a greater rule to succeed inlife: “Mind your own business”. Thecontinually churning wheels ofevolution have brought infinitedevelopment to life and with all thatdistractions too entered the world.The priority of every individualtoday is to deal with the increasingdistractions, ranging from contin-ually beeping messages and e-mailsto multiple tasks round the clock.And amid all this chaos, it becomesseemingly difficult for people tofocus on important aspects. That iswhere ‘mindful management’comes into the picture.

Mindful leadership is oftendefined as the ability to focus on theinside elements in the present con-text and with careful, non-judgmen-tal evaluation leading the way in acompassionate and thoughtful man-ner. The key to developing this greatability has repeatedly been related topractising self-observation andawareness through meditation,prayer, exercise, and other means.But the true development encom-passes every minute of life as a prac-tice session. Homo sapiens being themost evolved species on earth have

developed great abilities to think,evaluate, and act in every instance.

Leaders accumulate informa-tion from all around regardingevery aspect of business, but theexpert management practicesenable them to process all data bycategorising them on a priority basisand making decisions based on thepresent elements in an unbiased andnon-judgmental approach. Thisbecomes integral for mindful lead-ers to avoid constant distractionsand direct their energies to produc-tive and primary tasks.

Mindfulness is not just a qual-ity but great learning in itself, whichdevelops emotional intelligence,increases productivity, enhancesdecision-making ability, amplifiesability to listen and grasp, andreduces stress and depression to agreat extent. The benefits of mind-fulness have gained great popular-ity in recent times and today, every-one with a zeal to take on leadershiproles is looking forward to develop-ing mindfulness within.

The command over one’s ownabilities to deal with complexitiesand uncertainties without gettingoverpowered by distractions turnsa person into a mindful leader. Withmindfulness going mainstream, anumber of ways have been defined

to inherit this great leadership qual-ity. Although the process of evolv-ing yourself into a mindful leaderisn’t any rocket science, it requiresperseverance, focus, and persis-tence. You are required to focus onyour key priorities to set your goals

and work accordingly. This isn’tabout hard work, instead, it is asmart way to work that pays off. Fora person to become a mindfulleader, he must create and protect anenvironment which promotesorganisational growth along with

individual development. Right from creating appropri-

ate communication channels andmanaging rules that can help in thecultivation of self-awareness, amindful leader requires simulatingand facilitating a nurturing sur-

rounding for others to evolve. Thebest way to inspire others for mind-fulness is through leading by exam-ple, whether it is the work-life bal-ance, stress management, or perfor-mance excellence. From thefounders and CEOs of global indus-try giants to renowned personali-ties, all of them have attributed theirsuccess to mindfulness. They getinvolved in activities such as med-itation, yoga, exercise, jogging,cycling, or creative arts to enhancetheir mindful skills. Practising suchactivities, that help you focus andcreate awareness about your dutiesand priorities, surely paves thepath for you to become a thought-ful, successful, and a mindful leader.

You must help yourself to learnand practice mindfulness beforehelping others learn. The transfor-mation into a mindful leader is agradual process, which begins withdeveloping self-awareness, practis-ing focus, scheduling tasks, andimbibing the positivity within. Smallactions like correcting sitting pos-ture and maintaining a healthybreathing pattern are also a part ofthis process. Moreover, the ability tolive, think, and work in the presentis the most important aspect ofbeing a mindful leader. You mustalways try to be more present.

Focus is one of the fundamen-tals to the formula of success in life.That is why practising mindfulnessleads to better productivity. Oftenpeople don’t realise that to bemindful, all they need to do is tofocus on the present instead of get-ting caught up in the maelstroms oftheir thoughts. It is through prac-tice that one can achieve a state ofmindfulness effortlessly andbecome a true mindful leader.

Avoiding mental distractionsand increasing focus on tasks athand can funnel your brain with theright thoughts. You are also requiredto nurture your creativity and pic-ture a bigger canvas. Quality sleepis also essential for streamliningthoughts and re-energising oneself.

Success isn’t rooted in workinground the clock, instead, it dependson energy harnessed by calmingand creative activities. Traits ofbeing a mindful leader lie in actionsthat inspire others to follow. If youwant to become a mindful leader,start evaluating yourself, observeeverything around, channel yourthoughts, harness your energy,increase your focus, live in the pre-sent, and inspire everyone aroundyou being an example.

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Of course, the Nasridpalaces are stunning, withtheir geometric designsand impressive stucco,stone and tile work, which

is being slowly restored, but they canget very crowded and a lot of peoplein a small space meant it would getvery warm even in the nice earlyMarch weather we were in. Ideally,one would want to admire the palacesa bit slower, but the rush of people canbe a bit much. One has to rememberthat the Alhambra-Generalife is thesecond most visited site in Spain afterthe La Sagrada Familia cathedral inBarcelona, and while it is a place thatone should indeed visit, you can, as anIndian, get caught up in comparingIndian Islamic architecture to theAlhambra, but the scale and the factthat much of this was built long beforethe peak of Mughal architecture inIndia should pique your interest, aswell as understanding the history ofIslam in the Iberian Peninsula.

There is a lovely Alhambra museumas well, that is attached to the unfin-ished palace of Charles V — unfinishedbecause of the expulsion of Muslim arti-sans following the Reconquista. Thatsaid, it is remarkable that the SpanishChristian rulers did not demolish theAlhambra and even kept its Islamicnature, with some changes. Andalthough at places you can see theshield of the Spanish crown along withother modifications, much of the ruinsare in good condition and surprisingly,you learn that Napoleon destroyed a lotof the city on his Spanish campaignsmany centuries later.

From Granada, our plan was todrive down to Cordoba, the erstwhileCapital of the province and then theCaliphate of al-Andalus, but we decidedto take a slight detour. After all, mosthotels in Europe are fairly strict aboutearly check-ins. So instead of headingdue West to Cordoba, we continueddown south on the Autovia CostaTropical and eventually joined theAutovia Mediterrano, the stunninghighway that literally hugs the SpanishCosta del Sol (the Sun coast), and therewe decided to pull into the lovely smalltown of Nerja. Here you see the so-called Balcon d’Europa (the Balcony ofEurope) and the view from the town isspectacular with the cliffs of theSpanish coast melting into the Azurewaters of the Mediterranean. On anoth-er trip, this little town would be a greatplace to stop for a couple of days.

Now we found ourselves needing tomove from Nerja via Malaga towardsCordoba. Malaga, the biggest city onthe Costa del Sol, looks immense fromoutside. This stretch of coastline isimmensely popular with sun worship-pers from northern European countriesand it was in the sale of houses andapartments here that the Spanish eco-nomic boom started and also eventual-ly crashed. We moved back onto theAutovia del Sur, but heading north thistime. Soon after passing the moun-tains, we hit the rolling landscapearound the province of Cordoba, againfilled with olive groves as far as the eyecan see. That olive oil you use fordressing your salad most likely camefrom olives grown around here.

Our hotel in Cordoba was on the

edge of the Jewish Quarter and a shortwalk to the famous Mezquita-Catedralof Cordoba. The Mezquita was built bythe Caliphs of Cordoba as a grandmosque to rival those in Damascus andJerusalem. Walking down to theMezquita, you can see ruins datingback to Roman times; Hispania iswhere the great Roman, Seneca, camefrom and there is a statue of himbeside the old walls as is a more recentstatue of the great Sephardic Jewishphilosopher and theologian,Maimonides, in the Jewish Quarter.Much of the historic town of Cordobais again off-limits for cars but there areseveral hotels and apartments in thearea and you can find several parkingspots with municipal parking.

Unfortunately, we had arrived on aMonday and several museums and siteslike the Alcazar (Palace) were shut, butit is still a lovely walk to the river’s edgewhere the old ‘Roman Bridge’ stillstands, albeit much modified over theyears. Most of the taverns and cafes are

open and you can try several local tapassuch as Salmojero, a type of gazpacho,which is a cold tomato soup but madewith bread with a boiled egg andSpanish ham on top. But the absolutemust-have is the berenjas con miel,which is essentially aubergine frittersdrizzled with local honey. Alongsidelocal wine, you really do not need to eattoo many tapas shared between a cou-ple of people to get full.

We visited the Mezquita the follow-ing morning; the tickets are affordableand despite the fact that it remains afunctioning Catholic church, themoney raised goes towards the contin-uing restoration of the immense hallwith its distinctive double archways.There are several reasons this‘Mezquita’ is unique, even though itwas consecrated as a cathedral after theReconquista, but the biggest singularachievement is the immense scale ofthe monument and the fact that it isone of the few extant mosques thathave actually survived from that time

anywhere in the world. There is a levelof controversy to this day becausemodern Muslims wish to offer prayersin the Mezquita but those attemptshave been actively thwarted by theSpanish authorities. Later on, I climbedup the Bell Tower of the Cathedral,which was once the Minaret, with themodern bell tower built over it. Thisoffers a stunning view of the Mezquita-Catedral and you can see where thereconstruction happened as well as thelovely ‘Court of Oranges’ outside.

For the final evening in Spain, wedecided to visit Cordoba’s public foodmarket, the Mercado Victoria, on themain road, a few steps from our hotel.Much like the Mercado di San Miguelin Madrid, this has several food stallsselling small food items from slices ofSpanish Tortillas (stuffed omelettes)and tapas such as olives. There aresome bars attached as well where youcan catch a cocktail or two, and if youlike Gin, try the lovely Spanish ginfrom Galicia, Nordes.

The drive back from Cordoba toMadrid was long and uneventful;Spanish roads as mentioned before arespectacular, but traffic does get a bitchaotic as you enter the city of Madrid.Traffic is orderly in Spain, much moreso than Italy, for example, so chooseyour lanes well in advance and usingindicators is not an option. On thewhole, a driving holiday in Spain is def-initely worth it. While the country has alovely network of buses and trains, aswell as affordable low-cost flights, hav-ing a car allows you freedom to visitplaces like Nerja or even the shoppingdestination of Las Rozas outsideMadrid. Driving in the West is muchless stressful than in India, as peoplefollow rules and you can easily coverhuge distances like the 600 km betweenMadrid and Barcelona in under sixhours. However, the only thing youmust keep in mind is that parking isoften a challenge in city centres. But adrive through Spain is something thatyou must add to your bucket list.

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Thailand has been undermilitary rule since 2014

after the removal of the popu-larly elected Government ofYingluck Shinawatra.

She happened to be thecountry’s first woman PrimeMinister and the youngestoccupant of the office in morethan half a century. After herouster, the Generals were surethat Shinawatra clan and theirassociates would find it hard tomake a comeback in Thai pol-itics.

Since then, the entire coun-try has turned out to be a fight-ing ground simply among the“Red Shirts”, largely represent-ing former Prime Minister andexiled political strongmanThaksin Shinawatra and“Yellow Shirts”, the Army andthe royalist elites.

To bring in some normal-cy in the country, the currentmilitary leader, General PrayutChan-o-cha who plotted thecoup d’etat, later introduced anew Constitution in 2016 thatstrongly solidified the juntarule across the nation.

Till the conduct of theelection, General Prayut wasfunctioning as the PrimeMinister, heading a vague bodycalled “National Council forPeace and Order”. In fact, therecent political history of thecountry indicates that thisjunta rule is the longest onesince the1970s.

General Prayut has main-tained a tight grip over thecountry with the help of themilitary drafted Constitutionand massive investments ininfrastructure projects.

Besides, he has been usinghis soft power such as writingnationalistic pop songs toimpress the younger genera-tion, and insisting all publicschool students to recite histwelve values. In Thailand’sbitter political struggle betweenthe rural poor — the so-calledbase of the Thaksin and hisallies — and the urban elites,the bastion of the military, itsproxy parties and the royal sup-porters, Prayut presents himself

as a person who has united thecountry, indicating his presenceas the only alternative to theexisting career politicians of thenation.

Simply put, he is viewed asthe only anti-dote of Thaksinin Thai politics.

Frankly speaking what hasemboldened Prayut and hiscronies is the existingConstitution of Thailand. Itwas indeed pushed through areferendum in 2016, afterstrictly banning the criticsfrom campaigning against it.

Interestingly, the Generalscould hardly convince half thevoters to endorse thisConstitution. It gives solepower to the junta to appointall the 250 members of theUpper House (Senate). Further,it also mentions that the PMdoes not need to be an MP.This makes it very clear thatGeneral Prayut, who does notbelong to any political party,can remain in power as the newPrime Minister. The PM will beselected by a joint sitting of thetwo Houses.

To maintain his currentposition, Prayut needs only126 MPs. What is more dan-gerous to the new Governmentis that the General can declarea “20-year plan”, to which allfuture Governments ofThailand will have to obey.

Another important featureof the current Constitution,Section 44 allows the junta totake any steps in the name ofprotecting the monarchy,national security, maintainingpublic order, etc. Add to allthese, a high-level cyber secu-rity law finally allows theGovernment to monitor onlinetraffic in case of “emergency”.

Taking advantage of thepolitical instability, the militaryhas postponed dates for a freshvote quite a number of times inthe past. Finally, the first post-coup General Election for thecountry’s 500-seater LowerHouse, known as the House ofRepresentatives, took place onMarch 24. The ElectionCommission released the first

preliminary results five daysafter the election was held. But,it will announce the officialresults only after May 9, just afew days after the coronation ofKing Vajiralongkorn.

According to this prelimi-nary result, the pro-militaryparty Palang Pracharath Partywon 8.4 million votes, finish-ing anti-military party, PheuThai, the one backed byThaksin that received 7.9 mil-lion votes.

Ironically, it was Pheu Thaithat won most of the con-stituency seats numbering 137,followed by Palang Pracharthwith 97 seats. But it remainsunclear which party will final-ly form the Government.

With widespread suspi-cion of massive election frauds,this week the country’s ElectionCommission has ordered by-

elections in six polling stations.These irregularities includereports of mismatched num-bers, inclusion of unqualifiedvoters in the list of eligible vot-ers’ list, and finally, continuousdelays in the declaration ofresults. Meanwhile, therumours of electoral discrep-ancies led to countrywideprotests, some calling for theimpeachment of ElectionCommissioners and a promi-nent hashtag, “ElectionCommission busted” is trend-ing across social media.

Many Thais believe thatthis election might have beenrigged just to pave the way forjunta leader Prayut to contin-ue as the PM.

This week, in a rare brief-ing, Thai Army Chief ApiratKongsompong told the mediain the heart of the capital that

Thaksin has never admitted hiscrime. Also it is interesting tonote that King MahaVajiralongkorn revoked royaldecorations given to Thaksin inthe past.

The reason behind is thathe fled Thailand after beingsentenced to prison, that isconsidered as “an extremelyinappropriate behaviour”according to a statement posted on the Royal Gazette’swebsite.

On record, Thaksin has notreturned to Thailand since2008, after being accused in acase, he has termed largelypolitically motivated. It must benoted here that since 2001,Thaksin on his own or his allieshas been winning each electionin the country, but unfortu-nately, they are barred fromforming the Government either

by coup or with the help of thejudiciary.

Sadly, this election, onceagain, does not presage therestoration of democracy andcivilian rule in the one of thelargest nations of South EastAsia.

The 69 million voters whocast their ballot in this historicelection will simply witnessconsolidation of junta rule in adisguised form under GeneralPrayut.

Today, what heralds shamenot only for Thai people, butalso for the entire region is thatThailand, the country thatbecame the first nation tobecome a democracy in 1932,has simply slipped into theclutches of the corrupt andgreedy Generals.

It was once the role modelof democracy and an inspira-

tion for the coup-prone region.Thailand used to be the pioneerin taking fast steps towardsindustrialisation immediatelyafter the end of the absolutemonarchy. It has also remainedas a staunch ally of America inthe region bringing in stabili-ty in South East Asia.

Today, many of South EastAsian nations are encounteringproblems such as ageing pop-ulation, slow growth rate, cor-ruption in public space and thepresence of social safety nets,to name a few. Further, an everemerging and aggressiveChinese presence across theregion under President XiJinping has become a perma-nent threat for their security.Looking at all these, Thai juntaand its politicians must see toit that the country remains sta-ble in the coming days. Thecurrent king must take a pro-active role like his deceasedfather, who was popularlyrevered as the “peoples king” inthe past.

Today, creating a hybriddemocracy in Thailand is nota solution to its people’s woes.Simply to foil the coming ofone Thaksin Shinawatra, theGenerals should not take theadvantage of ruling the coun-try with or without the uni-forms. They must understandthe critical issues facing thecommoners. The elite inThailand doesn’t represent thetrue picture of the nation, nei-ther it could run the countryalone.

Further, the Generals,before trying to crush theopposition in entirety, shouldbetter note that democracy atits heart indicates the existenceof differences. The Thaisdeserve much more than whatthe Generals are currentlyoffering. Hope, a true democ-racy, which enables the right toexpress opinions and freedomto resist anything that goesagainst the public, will soonprevail in the “Land of Smiles”.

(The writer is an expert oninternational affairs)

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The Muslim community inManipur, locally known as

Pangals, has been witnessingissues of manufactured inse-curity of late. Despite the tallpromises and claims in therun-up to the 2019 Lok Sabhaelections for the uplift of thePangals, their “marginalisa-tion” and “otherisation” con-tinues.

It seems there is a con-scious and political sideliningof the Pangals in Manipur.Although at present, Pangalstake part in politics, but theydon’t have political represen-tation in institutions.

A second case of a politi-cal snub was the non-inclusionof a representative of Muslimsin the State Level DraftingCommittee of the Bill for theProtection of Manipuri Peopleproposed by the StateGovernment on May 23, 2018.As per the Governmentspokesperson, the proposedBill would ban the entry of ille-gal migrants with an emphasison Rohingyas, leaving othermigrant communities aside.

A communally-chargednarrative was created aroundthe issue by blaming thePangals and its leaders of giv-ing asylum to Rohingyas. Theensuing Bill was seen by thePangals as a deliberate attemptto harm the community. Afteran outburst on social media,

the Chief Minister of Manipurhad verbally assured to includeone representative from thePangal community.

Politics of displacementOn July 2, 2018 around 400

Pangals were evacuated from areserve forest land, KshetriBengoon Mamang AwangChing, for the allegedencroachment. The AllManipur MuslimOrganisations’ CoordinatingCommittee (AMMOCOC)and other representatives of thePangal civil society organisa-tions (CSOs) through a totalshutdown across the State hadon April 10 demanded thewithdrawal of the show-causenotice issued to the residents asthey had been inhabiting theplace since the late 1970s andavailing a host of civic ameni-ties or entitlements of a citizen.

The Government demol-ished the residential structuresdisrespecting the agreementsigned between theGovernment and the CSOs ofPangals, particularly under theleadership of AMMOCOC, onApril 10, 2018. TheGovernment’s indifference andthe politics of de-recognitionaffected the residents. Theaffected people are yet to berehabilitated though lots ofmeetings, agreements andback-end efforts have been

put in by the CSOs.In a case pertaining to the

acquisition of homestead pattaland belonging to the minori-ty community for the con-struction of MLA quarters inthe Mantripukhri area, theManipur Conservation ofPaddy Land and Wetland Act2014 was invoked to displacethe settlers in the name of pro-tecting the area from non-agricultural usages.

However, nothing of thissort happened in certain paddyland in other areas of Manipur.Encouraged by such moves ofthe Government, Nagaram andadjoining areas of KhumanLampak inhabited by manyPangals and running businessestablishments therein havebeen threatened by the localsand asked to vacate the place.

This is in gross violation ofthe Right to Life (Article 3 ofthe Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights) under whichthe right to settlement andright to earn livelihood areenshrined.

MobocracyThe anti-minority senti-

ment in the State led to anoth-er issue in this chronicle oflynching on September 13,2018. There had been manymob justices in the State,including of Pangals, on thepretext of cattle theft, bicy-

cle/bike lifting and other flim-sy grounds. In the past fewyears, the rate of such heinouscrimes shot up. The mostshocking incident was thelynching of Md Farooque Khanfrom Lilong Mayai Leikai,Thoubal district, Manipur.

Immediately after thecrime, videos of torture of thevictim emerged on socialmedia that led to spontaneousoutrage and protests acrossthe State resulting in the pas-sage of The ManipurProtection from Mob Violence,2018 by the Government.

The Government ofManipur constituted a com-mittee to investigate the inci-dent, but the report has notbeen produced to ascertain asto why Farooque was lynched.

Disproportionate representation

The systematic exclusion ofPangals at various levels of pub-lic sphere and governance wasacknowledged and tried toreverse by granting 4 per centreservation to ManipuriMuslim community inGovernment jobs, and highereducation, especially for admis-sion into professional pro-grammes of study in Manipur.

The role of the Statetowards the improvement ofMuslim community inManipur is dismal if the avail-

able data on health, education,employment and other relevantpublic services are any indication.

The number of first classofficials, second class officialsand third class officials aremuch below the 8.4 per cent(the per cent population ofMuslims in Manipur) evenafter 12 years of implementa-tion of the reservation order,reason being the absence of anymention of filling up of thebacklog vacancies in the order.

Several CSOs havedemanded to conduct a socio-economic survey to assess theimpact of reservation and takeappropriate corrective mea-sures, but the Government hasnot paid heed to it. In a pre-pollstunt, the Government hur-riedly picked and chose a few“token intellectuals” who are itsdiscernible apologists to discussand conduct a socio-econom-ic survey by sidelining themost prominent CSO of thePangals, the AMMOCOC.

The AMMOCOC wasinvited to be a part of the ini-tiative, but the apex body couldsomehow sense the hiddenplan of suppressing the unful-filled promises by merely ini-tiating a survey which by allmeans will not be completedbefore the model code of con-duct for the general elections2019 sets in.

Identity crisisThe Pangals are a mixed

breed of Meitei women ofManipur and Muslim soldiersfrom Taraf in Sylhet (the sol-diers were settled in Manipurthrough a political arrange-ment as described in “TheFormation of MuslimCommunity in Manipur dur-ing the seventeenth and eigh-teenth Centuries”), implyingthat they were either born inManipur or assimilated into theManipuri way of life four cen-turies ago, and the then KingKhagemba (in the early 17thcentury) recognised their skillsand enterprising nature andtapped into it by presentingland, women in marriage andservants for settlement.

Because of seven yearsdevastation war (1819-1826CE) many Manipuris, includ-ing Pangals, fled from Manipurto present day Myanmar,Bangladesh and Assam wherethey are now naturalised citi-zens.

Today, Manipuris, in gen-eral, and the Pangals in par-ticular, form a Diaspora inwestern south-east Asia.Manipur’s total population in1951 was 5,77,635, of which37,197 were Muslims (includ-ing non-Pangal migrantMuslims who came in the late19th century or in the early20th century to Manipur). In

2011, corresponding figureswere 28,55,794 and 2,39,836 asper the Census of India. In2011, Muslim growth was -0.4per cent against that of 2001.The increase of Manipur’s totalpopulation around 4.94 timesduring 1951-2011 was slightlyhigher than that of the Hindus(3.4 times), lower than theMuslims (6.45 times), but theChristians added 17.24 times.Since 1901, Manipur’s popula-tion has increased 10 times.The peaceful co-existence ofthe communities started receiv-ing communal blows since the1980s as a consequence ofwhich the minority communi-ty of Pangals has been mar-ginalised, excluded and subju-gated. The identity politics inthe State became competitiveand sub-nationalist forcesemerged resulting in main-streaming of the reactionaryelements that hitherto formedthe fringe of the political dis-course.

The situation has been fur-ther endangered by the politicsof vilifying the Pangals (byblaming that the community’spopulation has increased dra-matically as a result of harbor-ing migrant workers orRohingyas who are alsoMuslims) over the CitizenshipBill 2016 passed by the LokSabha a few months back cre-ating a fresh wave of insecuri-

ty among certain sections of thePangals even though they havebeen considered indigenouspeople in recognition of theirfour-century-long roots in theland. Although there is noempirical data to support themyth of accommodating out-siders, it has been doing therounds for quite some yearsand, no wonder that in thispost-truth world, this propa-ganda has been even endorsedby some self-proclaimed socialscientists and academics.

Hence, the fear and theidentity crisis are here to stay.And, if the systematic margin-alisation as described in theaforementioned instances ofthe Government is takenbeyond its face value, the hid-den agenda seems to “strip offthe nationality, but do not killthe individual”.

(Md. Chingiz Khan is aPhD Scholar at the Centre forHistorical Studies, JawaharlalNehru University, New Delhi;and Mohammad Imtiyaj Khanis an Assistant Professor atGauhati University, Guwahati)

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Sir, you have cast the true picture ofmy son’s present frame of mind.Now I have a question: Ours is a

cultured, religious, and an affluent fami-ly having an overall good home atmos-phere. And we have tried to impart avalue system in him while bringing himup. All that he looked for was madeavailable. Where did he pick up threadsof negativity then?” the lady asked.

Well, so far as the child’s upbringingis concerned, you gave your best to thechild by your self-defined standards. Hewas brought up under a very protectedenvironment. He went to a school whereonly rich children study. So, he had noexposure to the realities of life. He wasbrought up in a way that things wereavailable at his beck and call. He neverhad to digest denial. Now, when youdeny what he is asking for, how can hetake it kindly, no matter how reasonedbe your stand? For, he was never madeto realise the value of money.

In so far as the overall character of aperson is concerned, it is not simplydependent on the family environmentand upbringing. It though makes signif-icant impact, but there is much more toit. The roots are actually grounded in

the Karmic carryover from the past.Remember, life runs in succession. Ondeath, it is just the gross-body thatbecomes dysfunctional and then disin-tegrates. But the subtle body — which isencased in the gross-body that holds thekey to mind functions and their emo-tional reflections — remains intact. Thatgets carried on to the next incarnatebodies with all the memory imprintsacquired during the lifetime.

The sum total of memory imprintspertaining to learning and unlearning,the skill sets acquired, the intellectualdevelopment, good or bad experiences,the unfulfilled desires, if any, during thelifetime sets the premise on which thenext life takes off. These memoryimprints find presence in the nextincarnate body in the form of thought-seeds. They define the mind-traits of aperson — the desire trends, expanse ofvision and level of intellect, likes anddislikes, prejudices and obsessions,habits and attitudes, as well as virtuesand attributes. As and when congenialground becomes available, thosethought-seeds come into play one afterthe other. Had this not been true, twinsbrought up under similar conditions

would not behave differently. “Possibly yes, but how comes the

negative traits were not in evidence tillmy son completed class 10th examina-tion?” the lady asked again. Well, theKarmic carryover doesn’t ordinarilyfind reflection immediately after birth.Even if there are some indications,they invariably get ignored as beingchildish trends that may improve withtime. The true self of a child begins togradually outplay around the eighthyear when a sense of independencebegins to gain ground. It gets firmedup during the teens when the childbegins to exert oneself.

“I had earlier asked you whethersome black magic has been done on mychild? But you have not given a clearanswer,” the lady came up with anotherquestion. Well, truth remains that seedsof the young man’s mind-traits are verymuch in evidence in his astrologicalchart. So, instead of trying to resolve hisissues from the root level, it will be afutile exercise to look for external rea-sons and remedy thereto. If anybodyadvises you to resort to some puja, doyou think the pundit’s words will be ableto strike upon the young man’s innerrealms of mind for necessary correc-tion? If that be true, nobody will suffer

from psychic problems.“What’s the way out then and can

you give a timeline when he is expectedto become normal?” Given the astrolog-ical pointers and his account you haveshared — his sleep disorder and inco-herent thought process — the youngman seems to be suffering from a seri-ous psychiatric disorder, which warrantsimmediate medical intervention. Be itknown that whenever a person is sub-ject to continued stress, the first casual-ty is hormonal imbalance, which inturn, further compounds stress. Theperson, thus, gets trapped in a viciouscycle, difficult to come out of easily. So,towards the first step, immediate psy-chiatric help is required. Unless the hor-monal imbalance is corrected, no otherremedial measure will work. Once, hebecomes calmer and receptive, thenonly even counselling will work, oradvisory, if any, may get registered in hismind. Under such circumstances, it willbe unfair to suggest a timeline either.

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