NEARBY Pak. court removes Sharif from oce through … · Visakhapatnam . Thiruvananthapuram . Kochi...

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Pakistan’s Supreme Court onFriday disqualified PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif fromoffice over undeclared assetsand ordered registration ofcorruption cases against himand his children, plungingthe country into a politicalturmoil.

In an unprecedented judg-ment by five judges, headedby Justice Asif Saeed Khosa,the court also set a timelinefor quick disposal of the cor-ruption cases against theSharifs under the supervi-sion of a Supreme Courtjudge. Attorney-GeneralAshtar Ausaf said the dis-qualification is for life, end-ing any hope for the three-time Prime Minister to re-turn to active politics.

“He is no more eligible tobe an honest member of theParliament, and he ceases to

be holding the office ofPrime Minister,” Judge EjazAfzal Khan said in court. TheElection Commission issueda notification of his disquali-fication as member of Parlia-ment and the Prime Ministerannounced his resignation.

Mr. Sharif quickly

resigned but in a statementhis spokesman said therewere “serious reservations”about the judicial process.Mr. Sharif ’s party, PakistanMuslim League-Nawaz, saidit would file a review in theSupreme Court.

Earlier, a Supreme Court-

appointed joint investigationteam had concluded that Mr.Sharif ’s family had assetsbeyond known sources of in-come.

Historic, says Opposition Opposition parties termedthe verdict “historic” and“win for the people ofPakistan.” Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Imran Khan,who filed the petition againstMr. Sharif in the SupremeCourt, said the decisionraised hopes for accountabil-ity of the corrupt who havestashed assets abroad.“Today is a victory day forPakistan,” Mr. Khan said.“Today onward, big thieveswill be caught.”

At an emergency meeting,the ruling party agreed toname Mr. Sharif ’s brotherand Punjab Chief MinisterShahbaz Sharif as the nextPrime Minister. An interim

Prime Minister will benamed for 45 days before Mr.Shahbaz Sharif gets electedto the National Assembly.

The court also sent thecases of Mr. Nawaz Sharifand his children to the Na-tional Accountability Bureauand directed their disposalwithin six months.

As the verdict was an-nounced, Opposition sup-porters erupted in applausein Islamabad, rushing intothe street chanting slogansand handing out sweets incelebration. But in Lahore,capital of Mr. Sharif ’s powerbase Punjab province,sporadic protests broke out,with his supporters burningtyres on the road and block-ing streets.

Pak. court removes Sharif from o�ce Brother Shahbaz Sharif to become next Prime Minister; timeline set for disposal of corruption cases

Mubashir Zaidi

KARACHI

Time to celebrate: Supporters of Opposition parties celebratein Peshawar on Friday after Mr. Sharif was disquali�ed. * AP

A SETBACK TO DIALOGUE AND

DEMOCRACY A PAGE 9

PML-N LEADERS RALLY BEHIND

SHARIF A PAGE 9

SC rejects abortion pleaof 10-year-old NEW DELHI

A 10-year-old rape victim has

been left with no choice but

to continue with her

pregnancy after a medical

panel informed the Supreme

Court on Friday that an

abortion will endanger both

the girl and her 32-week-old

foetus.

NATION A PAGE 5

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Consider junking “foreign-influenced” convocationattire of gown and cap, andopt for a dress that reflectsIndian culture.

That was CommerceMinister NirmalaSitharaman’s advice onFriday to the IndianInstitute of Foreign Trade(IIFT), at its convocation.The premier institute onforeign trade managementshould do internalbrainstorming, she added,and even take help from theNational Institute of FashionTechnology.

Ms. Sitharaman’s pitchechoes similar demandsmade in BJP-ruled MadhyaPradesh, Uttar Pradesh andUttarakhand. Dressed in ablue sari and blouse, shesaid she “somehow neverfelt comfortable in a gownand cap [the squareacademic cap], though thisis not because I disrespectit.”“I think we need toreview this, like we reviewthe Foreign Trade Policyand other policies,” shesaid. Ms. Sitharaman worethe gown and cap at theIIFT convocation last year.

In Uttar Pradesh, IIT-

Kanpur has adopted salwarsuits with churidars forwomen, and cream kurtasand Aligarhi white pyjamasfor men. Even the business-focussed Institute ofCompany Secretaries ofIndia (ICSI) has dwelt on‘Indian attire’. On July 24,the ICSI quoted itspresident, Shyam Agrawal,as saying that “the ICSI hasadopted traditional attire asits Convocation Dress Codeand has decided to do awaywith the Western attire ofgowns and caps...”

The dress code for theICSI event is now kurtapyjama for boys and sari/suit for girls, it said. TheInstitute also introduced anangavastra or stole/uttariyamade of khadi for students.

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Think global, but dresslocal at convocation

Desi colours: CommerceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanat the convocation of theinstitute on Friday. * IIFT

Arun S.

NEW DELHI

Wary glances: Schoolchildren walk on a Srinagar street on Friday after authorities imposed restrictions on the movement ofcivilians in �ve police station areas, in view of a protest called by separatists. * NISSAR AHMAD

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No missed lessons

Three more Congress legis-lators from Gujarat resignedon Friday, taking the num-ber of such MLAs to six.

The resignations have puta question mark on the elec-tion to the Rajya Sabha ofparty veteran Ahmed Patel,who faces what might provethe toughest battle of his lifewith the BJP fielding hisprotégé Balwantsinh Rajput,who resigned as CongressMLA on Thursday.

The three MLAs whoresigned on Friday includeMansinh Chauhan, Ch-hanabhai Chaudhary and

Ramsinh Parmar, a veteranleader and chairman ofAmul Dairy. They have notjoined the saffron party butare likely to do so in the nextfew days. The Congressstrength in the 182 memberAssembly has shrunk to 51now. Besides six memberswho have resigned, an equalnumber are likely to followsuit, according to partysources.

“Six have gone and six toseven more will go,” a partyleader said.

Three more CongressMLAs quit in GujaratExodus to hurt Ahmed Patel’s RS hopes

Mahesh Langa

AHMEDABAD

CONTINUED ON A PAGE 8

MONEY PLAY IN GUJARAT,

SAYS CONGRESS A PAGE 8

A day after taking oath, Bi-har Chief Minister Nitish Ku-mar on Friday won a trustvote in the State Assemblywith 131 legislators support-ing him while 108 votedagainst.

Participating in the de-bate, Mr. Kumar reiteratedthat he took the decision topart ways with the Grand Al-liance government “in theinterest of Bihar and for itsdevelopment.” Leader ofthe Opposition Tejashwi Ya-dav, however, said the newalliance between the JD(U)and BJP was “murder ofdemocracy”.

Demand rejectedAt the one-day special As-sembly session, Mr. Te-jashwi Yadav’s demand forvoting through secret ballotwas turned down bySpeaker Vijay KumarChoudhary, who proposed avoice vote to decide the con-fidence motion moved bythe Nitish Kumargovernment.

When it was not decidedthrough voice vote, the

Speaker later opted for alobby division in which le-gislators put their signaturesindividually on a register tocast their vote — for oragainst the motion. In a fewmoments, it was announcedby the Speaker that 131MLAs supported the trustvote while 108 opposed it.Four MLAs, including theSpeaker, couldn’t cast theirvote. The total strength ofthe Assembly is 243.

People insultedEarlier in the debate aheadof the vote, Mr. Tejashwi Ya-dav charged Mr. Kumar with“betraying the mandate ofthe people of Bihar given forthe Grand Alliance govern-ment in 2015.”

“The people of Bihar hadgiven a mandate for theGrand Alliance governmentin the last Assembly elec-tions and not for the BJP togovern… It’s an insult of thatmandate… it’s a murder ofdemocracy,” Mr. Yadav said.

Nitish Kumar sails through trust voteLeader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadavsays people’s mandate betrayed

Amarnath Tewary

Patna

In jubilant mood: Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modishowing the victory sign after the NDA government won thetrust vote in the Bihar Assembly on Friday. * RANJEET KUMAR

ADVANTAGE NDA IN

RAJYA SABHA A PAGE 8


LJP TO JOIN CABINET A PAGE 8

National Security AdviserAjit Doval has called uponthe Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS)grouping, to exercise inter-national leadership in coun-

tering terrorism. During his opening re-

marks on Friday at the sev-enth BRICS meeting of Na-tional Security Advisers(NSAs), Mr. Doval, withoutreferring to any country,urged the BRICS countries

“to show leadership in coun-tering terrorism.”

As part of his remarks, healso advocated that the fiveemerging economies shouldwork towards setting theagenda “on strategic issuesof regional and global im-

portance.” Later, accompan-ied by the security chiefs ofother BRICS members, Mr.Doval called on ChinesePresident Xi Jinping.

Though the meeting wasmeant to iron out the secur-ity agenda of the BRICS sum-

mit, slated for September,Mr. Doval’s call on Mr. Xi, ac-quired a sharp bilateral con-text, in view of the on-goingmilitary face-off between In-dian and Chinese troops inDoklam.

Doval wants BRICS to step up �ght against terrorismAtul Aneja

Beijing


NEARBY

DELHI METRO A 6 PAGES

https://telegram.me/TheHindu_Zone https://telegram.me/PDF4EXAMS

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NOIDA/DELHI THE HINDU

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NORTH

DELHI Timings

Saturday, July 29

RISE 05:41 SET 19:14

RISE 11:24 SET 23:23

Sunday, July 30

RISE 05:42 SET 19:14

RISE 12:17 SET 23:58

Monday, July 31

RISE 05:42 SET 19:13

RISE 13:11 SET 00:00

The Bhim Army hasthreatened to launch amassive agitation over re-ports of an attack on itsfounder Chandrashekhar injail. The members of theDalit outfit staged a protestoutside the office of the Dis-trict Magistrate on Fridayand demanded a probe intothe issue.

The protesters submitteda memorandum to seniordistrict officials demandingimmediate medical help toChandrashekhar and an in-dependent probe into the al-leged attack.

They gave an ultimatumof 24 hours to the adminis-

tration to “come clean onthe issue and take actionagainst those who attackedthe Bhim Army leadership”.

Cong supportImran Masood, vice-presid-ent of the U.P. Pradesh Con-gress Committee, came outin support of the BhimArmy’s demand. “I heard re-ports of an attack onChandrashekhar. The ad-ministration must provideimmediate medical help tohim if this is true,” Mr.Masood told The Hindu onphone.

“We have received amemorandum in this regardand we are probing the mat-ter,” said a senior official of

Saharanpur district adminis-tration.

Later, jail superintendentDr. Viresh Sharma rejectedthe reports of attack as“baseless”.“Chandrashekhar is keptalone in a separate barrackwhich is not accessible by anordinary prisoner. He wasnot attacked by anyone,” hetold the media.

Chandrashekhar, thefounder of the Dalit group,was accused of instigating vi-olent attacks on policemenon May 9 when Dalits weredenied permission to protestagainst atrocities during theThakur-Dalit clash whicherupted in Shabbirpur vil-lage in May.

Bhim Army claims itsfounder attacked in jailDalit out�t has threatened to launch a massive agitation

Staff reporter

Meerut

Reeling under a huge debt, a45-year-old farmer allegedlycommitted suicide on Fri-day by consuming pesticidein a village here, the policesaid.

Jasveer Singh took the ex-treme step at his village. Heis survived by a wife andtwo children, they said.

His family told the policethat the farmer had taken aloan of ₹1.75 lakh from abank and he had to borrowanother sum of ₹30,000which he took from a com-mission agent. He also bor-rowed ₹17,000 from anothersource.

The police said Singh wasunable to pay back all thesedebt due to which he endedhis life. Villagers and somefarmers’ union leaders ofthe area demanded com-plete waiving of Singh’sloans and a job to one of hisfamily members.

Waiver planAs part of its debt waiverplan, the Punjab govern-ment had last month an-nounced waiver of entire

crop loan up to ₹ 2 lakh forsmall and marginal farmers(up to 5 acres), and a flat ₹ 2lakh relief for all other mar-ginal farmers, irrespectiveof their loan amount, whichwould benefit a total of10.25 lakh farmers, includ-ing 8.75 lakh farmers up to 5acres in the state.

Chief Minister AmarinderSingh had met Union Fin-ance Minister Arun Jaitley inDelhi on July 20 seekingone-time settlement of ₹6,000 crore worth of loanstaken by the state’s farmersfrom national and privatebanks.

Such a settlement wouldbenefit 4.5 lakh beleagueredfarmers of the state.

However, the oppositionShiromani Akali Dal had al-leged that debt-ridden farm-ers continue to end theirlives in Punjab despite theCongress-led governmentannouncing loan waiver forthem.

Opposition parties haveaccused the State govern-ment of committing fraudagainst the growers byproviding a “minuscule”amount as waiver.

Debt-ridden Punjabfarmer commits suicide

Villagers demand total loan waiver

Press Trust of India

Bathinda (Punjab)

A car overturned and fellinto the Hemawas canal inPali district, killing twopersons, the police said onFriday.

The driver lost control

over the car on Thursdaynight after which it over-turned and fell into thecanal.

Lucky Sindhi (22) andRomil Singhvi (20), whowere travelling in the car,drowned, they said.

Car falls into canal: 2 drown Press trust of india

Jaipur



THE HINDU NOIDA/DELHI

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EAST

The Airports Authority ofIndia has written to clarifythat a photograph, issuedby PTI and published onJuly 28 with a caption thatdescribed “a water-loggedSardar Patel InternationalAirport in Ahmedabad onThursday”, was not takenat that airport. It was a pic-ture taken at the Chennaiairport in 2015. PTI hassince acknowledged this.The error is regretted.

Correction

Despite making the highestcollection under the DistrictMineral Foundation (DMF)in the country, Odisha hasnot got its priority right asfar as fund utilisation is con-cerned, the Centre for Sci-ence and Environment, aNew Delhi-based advocacygroup, said on Friday.

Odisha’s six districts, in-cluding resource rich Keon-jhar, Sundargarh and Jhar-suguda, have largely ignoredvital areas like healthcareand welfare of women andchildren in spite of faringvery poorly on health, mor-tality and nutrition indicat-ors, said CSE Deputy Dir-ector General ChandraBhushan, addressing a re-gional meeting on ‘DMFs im-plementation and roadahead’.

Odisha remains at the topwith total cumulative collec-tion of ₹1,932.5 crore fol-lowed by Jharkhand with

₹1,056.2 crore and Chhattis-garh with ₹1,042 crore.

According to CSE, whichhas come up with an ana-lysis on DMF implementa-tion, only about 3% of ruralhouseholds in Keonjhar andSundargarh districts gettreated tap water while thesame is 4% in Jharsuguda.

Drinking water“Keonjhar has allocated thehighest share of DMF budget(33%) for drinking water, butthe kind of work the moneyhas been allocated for ispoorly conceived. Nearly80% of drinking waterbudget is for building tube-wells. In mining areas,where water contaminationis already high, tube-wellsare certainly not the bestsolution for clean drinkingwater,” it says.

Jhuarsuguda’s budget hasallocated the maximumfunds to urban centres, des-pite the fact that about 60%of people live in rural areas

of the district with poor ac-cess to clean drinking. Morethan 91% of drinking waterbudget has been allotted tomunicipalities, the CSEpoints out.

According to the group,primary healthcare facilitiesfor rural and tribal popula-tions were substandard inKeonjhar and they provideservice to huge population.

Health budget“About 90% of Keonjhar’s₹60 crore health budget hasbeen earmarked for a med-ical college in Keonjhar townwhile Jharsuguda has alsoearmarked more than 92%of medical budget for a can-cer hospital,” says the CSEfindings.

Mr. Bhushan said: “TheDMFs should focus onstrengthening human re-source capabilities in themining areas instead of di-verting money for infra-structure improvements, es-pecially in constructions.”

Priority not right in DMFfund utilisation, says CSEOdisha districts ignore areas such as healthcare, welfare

Staff Reporter

BHUBANESWAR

A social organisation hasblamed lack of training andinadequate gadgets for fre-quent deaths of electricitystaff workers in Tripura.

It claimed 21 employeesworking under differentcategories of the TripuraState Electricity Corpora-tion Limited (TSECL) diedafter being electrocutedover the past five years.

NIRVOY, a platform ofprominent citizens fromvarious occupations,claimed insufficient train-ing and absence of protect-ive gadgets were causingdeath of staffs of the TSECLwhile working on highvoltage overhead electriccables. “21 deaths occurredduring the past five yearsand more will follow if thesituation remains un-changed,” said a NIRVOYoffice-bearer.

The NGO has demandedadequate compensationand pension for families ofvictims.

NGO blames

poor training

for power

workers’ death

Staff Reporter

Agartala

An illegal arms factorywas unearthed in thecity’s Tiljala area and fivepersons were arrested fortheir alleged involvementwith it, the police said onFriday.

Acting on a tip-off, apolice team conducted a

raid at a residence inTiljala’s Gulshan Matharea late on Thursdaynight, a senior police offi-cial said. “We have arres-ted the owner of thebuilding and four others.Several country-made pis-tols and a machine usedfor the manufacturingwere seized,” he said.

Illegal arms factoryunearthed in Kolkata Press Trust of India

Kolkata





CMYK

NATION

A 10-year-old rape victim hasbeen left with no choice butto continue with her preg-nancy after a medical panelinformed the Supreme Courton Friday that an abortionwill endanger both the girland her 32-week-old foetus.

On July 24, a Bench led byChief Justice of India J.S.Khehar had directed doctorsfrom P.G.I., Chandigarh, tomedically examine the girland file a report in court onwhether the “health of thegirl child concerned, who isstated to be of the age of 10years, and also that of thefoetus, would be adverselyaffected, if the pregnancy iscontinued for the full term”.

In a short hearing, thecourt perused the reportfiled by the doctors in asealed cover and denied per-mission for an abortion.

“In view of the reasons re-corded, it would neither bein interest of the girl childnor her foetus of 32 weeks toorder abortion,” the courtobserved.

Permanent boards But the Bench went on tourge the government, repres-ented by Solicitor GeneralRanjit Kumar, to considersetting up permanent med-ical boards across the Statesso that women, especiallychild rape victims, could re-ceive expedient access tomedical care.

The Medical Termination

of Pregnancy Act of 1971 barsabortion if the foetus hascrossed the 20-week mark.An exception to the law ismade if a registered medicalpractitioner certifies to acourt that the continuedpregnancy is life-threateningfor either the mother or thebaby.

Presently, women areforced to undertake the cum-bersome process of ap-proaching different courts,from district courts to highcourts and finally the Su-

preme Court, for permissionto medically terminate theirpregnancies which are over20 weeks.

The frequent number ofsuch cases which have cometo the Supreme Court rangefrom child rape victims todestitute women to womenwith substantial foetusabnormalities.

“In all such cases, time isvery short. We are consider-ing those cases under Article142 (orders passed by theapex court to do complete

justice). Can a permanentmedical board be set up atState-level to examine thecases till the Bill is pendingfor amendment into thelaw?” the Bench asked Mr.Kumar.

Amendment pendingAn amended Bill of the 1971law which extends the barfrom 20 to 24 weeks hasbeen in the cold storage forthe past three years. Thisdraft Bill allows women,whose pregnancies are

within 24 weeks, reproduct-ive rights in consultationwith their medical practi-tioners. The draft Bill also al-lows abortion beyond 24weeks in case the foetus suf-fers from substantialabnormalities.

As of now, women whohave crossed the 20-weeklimit need a judicial order toeven get medically examinedon their plea for abortion.

In the case of the 10-year-old, a Chandigarh districtcourt had refused to let the

victim undergo abortion onJuly 18.

Time lostSubsequently, the PIL peti-tion by advocate Alakh AlokSrivastava for medical ter-mination of her pregnancywas urgently mentioned inthe Supreme Court on July21. The child was medicallyexamined only on July 26 onthe orders of the apex court.She was allegedly raped byher maternal uncle. An FIRhas been registered.

SC rejects abortion plea of 10-year-old It would be in the interest of neither girl child nor foetus, says court; calls for State-level medical boards to hear urgent cases

Krishnadas Rajagopal

NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court onFriday allowed a plea by aMumbai-based woman toabort her 24-week-oldfoetus followingconfirmation by a medicalboard that it suffers fromneurological disorders.

A Bench led by JusticeDipak Misra had earlierordered the woman to beexamined by a panel ofdoctors consisting of theheads of the departmentsof gynaecology, neurologyand cardiology at JJHospital in Mumbai.

The woman had soughtthe medical terminationof her pregnancy on theopinion of a paediatricneurologist that her foetuswas suffering from aneurological problemwhich would likelyaggravate with time.

Her lawyer had arguedthat the problem “mayincrease significantlybefore the deliverycausing harm to thedeveloping brain andpossibly cognitiveimpairment” and requireextensive neurosurgicalprocedure.

Mumbai woman gets court nodFoetus had neurological disorders

Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI

Bollywood actor Inder Kumar dies MUMBAI

Bollywood actor Inder Kumar,

who starred in Salman Khan’s

Wanted, died following a

massive heart attack at his

residence here on Friday. He

was 43. He worked in several

films and in TV soap Kyunki

Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. The

actor hit headlines in 2014

when a model accused him of

raping her. PTI

IN BRIEF

Plane lands safely inJodhpur after bird hit MUMBAI/JODHPUR

A Jet Airways flight from

Mumbai to Jodhpur with 167

people on board suffered a

bird hit, which caused one of

its engines to emit sparks and

smoke, a senior official said.

The Boeing 737-800 finally

landed safely at the Jodhpur

civil enclave airport. PTI

₹200 will be introducedsoon, says MinisterNEW DELHI

With rumours of withdrawal

of ₹2,000 notes doing the

rounds, Minister of State for

Finance Santosh Kumar

Gangwar said there was no

such move, adding that ₹200

notes would be in circulation

soon. A top government

official said the ₹200 note

would be introduced in

August. IANS

Deposing before the spe-cial Central Bureau of In-vestigation court, Shyam-var Rai, who worked as adriver for IndraniMukerjea, reiterated hisearlier statement, whichhad said that Mukerjeawanted to kill Sheena Boraand Mikhail Bora.

Rai, earlier an accusedand now an approver inthe case, in his confes-sional statement underSection 164 of the Code ofCriminal Procedure onNovember 16, had said thathe and Mukerjea hadtalked over Skype to planthe killings of not justSheena but Mikhail as well.

He said on Friday thatMukerjea contacted himtowards the end of March2011, via Skype, and that allfurther communicationabout the plan for themurder had been via thesame online service.

His statement said, “In-drani madam told me overSkype that Sheena andMikhail had been defamingher as their mother, andthat she wanted to killthem.

“She told me that a manfrom Calcutta (SanjeevKhanna, her former hus-band) will arrive shortly toexecute the killings.”

Rai’s deposition willcontinue on August 1.

Sheena’smurder wasplanned onSkype: driver Sonam Saigal

Mumbai

A performance audit of In-dia’s private hospitals has re-vealed that a majority of theinstitutions is evading tax.The report by the Comp-troller and Auditor General(CAG), released on Friday,pointed out that data on‘non-filers’ of income taxwas available only in threestates — West Bengal, Assamand Gujarat.

The auditors found thatDelhi, Kerala, Rajasthan andTamil Nadu had no processof identifying hospitals thatwere evading tax.

“The detailed list of non-filers along with action takenthereof could be furnished inrespect of West Bengal, As-

sam and Gujarat only, whereout of 18,333 cases, Income-Tax Department had closed3,627 cases and the remain-ing 14,706 cases were “underverification/action pending”or were yet to be closed.Audit found that no such

process of identification onnon-filers through a monit-oring system existed inDelhi, Kerala, Rajasthan andTamil Nadu,” the audit said.

The private sector ac-counts for 80% of out patientcare and 60% of in patientcare in the country. Accord-ing to State-wide data fromthe Department of IndustrialPolicy and Promotion(DIPP), the health sector at-tracted Foreign Direct In-vestment of ₹23, 169.91 crorebetween April 2000 andSeptember 2016. Yet, the re-port states that most privatehospitals and practitionersdid not submit valid Perman-ent Account Numbers (PAN).

In West Bengal, out of19,822 registered practition-

ers, PAN registration of only4,849 cases could be traced.

Unjustified exemptionsIn Maharashtra, a study ofcharitable hospitals — thatavail a tax exemption —found that private hospitalsavailed “unjustified exemp-tions” amounting to ₹249.66crore involving a revenue im-pact of ₹77.14 crore.

On the basis of data fromCharity Commissioner inMumbai, the CAG analysed10 trust hospitals and foundthat none of them fulfilledthe conditions of BombayPublic Trust Act. “Bed occu-pancy in eight out of 10 hos-pitals was less than the man-dated 10% for weakersections,” the report added.

Most private hospitals evade tax: CAGNo process to track non-�lers in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Delhi, says reportSpecial Correspondent

New Delhi

‘Most private practitionersdo not submit valid PAN’

A leading American oceano-grapher said here that it wasa “difficult” time for climate-related research in theUnited States but there washope that research partner-ships with countries such asIndia would help sustainlong-term programmes.

“There is concern in theU.S. about how budgets forresearch may fare in the cur-rent political climate,” Mi-chael McPhaden, senior re-searcher at the U.S.’ NationalOceanic & Atmospheric Ad-ministration (NOAA) told TheHindu.

“We may stumble, butwe’ll weather this and I don’t

think we’ll fall off the table.”U.S. President Donald

Trump, who last monthpulled the United States outof the Paris Accord, had in2016 proposed deep cuts —worth millions of dollars — toseveral agencies that fundclimate-change research.These are still to be ratifiedby the U.S. Congress.

McPhaden is creditedwith leading programmes inthe 1980s and 1990s to estab-lish a system of sensors in

the Pacific and AtlanticOceans to warn of impend-ing El Ninos.

Productive collaborationSpeaking at an event organ-ised by the Union Earth Sci-ences Ministry, he said that adecade-old project with In-dia to moor buoys and floatsin the Indian Ocean to getbetter data on sea surfacetemperatures was a highlyproductive collaboration.

“It could serve as an ex-emplar of the kind of pro-jects which would continueto be supported by theTrump administration,” hesaid. The dynamical climatemodel that India uses toforecast the monsoon was

developed at the NOAA.McPhaden is an expert on

the El Nino phenomenon,which is known to adverselyaffect six out of ten Indiansummer monsoons. He saidit was still too early to saywhether there is a linkbetween global warming anda rise in the frequency andseverity of the El Nino phe-nomenon.

“If we continue to pumpout greenhouse gases as wenow do, we will begin to seechanges in the El Nino cycle(usually a 3-5 year oscillationof sea surface temperatures).But so far there’s no determ-ining finger-print of howmuch global warming haschanged it,” he said.

We may stumble but we’ll weather this , says U.S. scientist Michael McPhaden

Jacob Koshy

NEW DELHI

‘Di�cult time for climate research’

<> There is concern in

the U.S. about how

budgets may fare

in the current

political climate

The Supreme Court on Fridaysought a response from the Ma-harashtra government on a pleachallenging the Bombay HighCourt order granting bail to Sad-hvi Pragya Singh Thakur, an ac-cused in the 2008 Malegaon blastcase.

A Bench led by Justice R.K.Agarwal also listed the bail pleaof Thakur’s co-accused ShrikantPurohit for August 14.

The petition challenging thebail for Thakur was filed by NisarAhmed Haji Sayed Bilal, father ofsome of the blast victims. Itwants a stay of the April 25 HighCourt order.

“The High Court failed to ap-preciate that Sadhvi Pragya SinghThakur is an influential person

and is likely to wield her powerand influence in an illegal andunlawful manner to tamper withevidence and influence wit-nesses,” the petition contended.

But in an affidavit, the National

Investigation Agency (NIA)countered that it had not found“sufficient evidence” to prosec-ute Thakur. However, on theother hand, the agency conten-ded that there were “several in-criminating circumstances”against Purohit to prove “hisdeep involvement and complicityin the crime.”

‘No question of parity’Thakur was granted bail by theHigh Court, which, however, hadrefused a similar relief to Purohit.The NIA contended that therewas no question of paritybetween the two accused and theHigh Court did not err in grantingbail to Thakur.

Seven persons were killed in abomb blast on September 29,2008, at Malegaon.

She can tamper with evidence and in�uence witnesses: petitioner

Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI

Pragya Singh Thakur

Maharashtra’s reply sought onplea against bail to Pragya Singh

Toddy has a distinct identityfrom what constitutes liquor andshould not be included in the Su-preme Court’s nationwide ban onsale of alcohol within 500 metresof national and State highways.

“Toddy is even exempted ondry days [days on which sale ofalcohol is prohibited],” toddytraders from Kerala told the Su-preme Court on Friday.

A Bench led by Justice RanjanGogoi, after some preliminaryquestions on “what is this toddy,”

sought responses from theCentre and the Kerala govern-ment on the plea made by theToddy Shop LicenseeAssociation.

The traders, represented byadvocate Beena Madhavan,dubbed toddy as a natural drinksourced from coconut trees inthe State and with such “minus-cule” alcohol content that it can-not be clubbed with any form ofliquor.

“Traditionally toddy has beenconsidered differently from otherforms of liquor,” their petition

contended. They submitted incourt that the ban has led to theclosure of toddy shops and af-fected the livelihood of analready vulnerable community,which includes the traditionaltoddy tappers.

The traders argued that eventhe State of Kerala treats toddydifferently from liquor or otheralcoholic drinks. The Kerala Ab-kari Act of 1902 distinctly definestoddy from spirit, beer, liquorand arrack. Even the Kerala Ab-kari Shops Disposal Rules of 2002gives toddy a distinct identity.

With ‘minuscule’ alcohol content it cannot be termed liquor: petition

Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI

Supreme Court seeks Kerala’sresponse on toddy traders’ plea

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EDITORIAL

In a system that sets much store by retaining the

power to censor �lms in the name of certifying them,

random attempts by petitioners seeking cuts or even

a ban often add to the pre-release anxieties of �lm-

makers. While rejecting the petition �led by a person

claiming to be the daughter of the late Sanjay Gandhi to

set aside the certi�cate granted to Indu Sarkar, a �lm

directed by Madhur Bhandarkar, the Supreme Court

has rightly banked on a well-established principle that

freedom of expression cannot be curtailed without a

valid reason. It has reiterated that the �lm is nothing but

artistic expression within the parameters of law and

that there is no warrant or justi�cation to curtail it.

Earlier, the Central Board of Film Certi�cation, which

under its present director, Pahlaj Nihalani, has not ex-

actly distinguished itself, had granted a certi�cate to the

�lm after suggesting 14 cuts. The Revision Committee

had reduced the number of cuts, leaving nothing to be

adjudicated as far as the suitability of the �lm for exhibi-

tion is concerned. Yet, a single individual managed to

create some uncertainty over the release of the �lm by

approaching the courts. The �lm relates to events set

during the 1975-77 Emergency and, going by the direct-

or’s disclaimer, its factual content is limited to 30%.

Apart from the expression of concern by some Con-

gress functionaries, there was little to suggest that any-

one would take seriously the claim that the party’s lead-

ers may be convincingly shown “in a bad light”.

Recent experience suggests that the CBFC does not

always see itself as a certifying authority, but rather

plays the censor quite merrily. In the case of Udta Pun-

jab last year, it was seeking to be the guardian of Pun-

jab’s honour against the depiction of the high preval-

ence of drug addiction in the State. The Bombay High

Court had to remind the CBFC that certi�cation, and

not censorship, is its primary role and that its power to

order changes and cuts must be exercised in accord-

ance with constitutional principles. More recently, the

CBFC sought to play the moral censor with regard to

Lipstick Under My Burkha, a �lm it thought was too

“lady-oriented” to be given a certi�cate, presumably

because it depicts their fantasies. The Film Certi�cation

Appellate Tribunal had to intervene to secure the re-

lease of the �lm, with an ‘A’ certi�cate. These instances

demonstrate that challenges to freedom come from

both within the systemic framework and outside. It is a

matter of satisfaction that the courts prefer to protect

the right to free expression rather than entertain ex-

cuses such as maintenance of law and order and public

tranquillity, or someone’s sense of hurt or the fear of

someone being portrayed in a bad light. It is disconcert-

ing, nonetheless, that the battle for free expression is

having to be fought so often these days.

Cinema & censorshipSadly, the battle for free expression is having

to be fought so often these days

The potential of India’s district hospital system to

dramatically expand access to quality secondary

and tertiary health care has never really been

realised. The majority of patients today use the facilities

created mostly by for-pro�t urban hospitals. That asym-

metry could potentially be o�set, though only in small

part, through the proposal of the NITI Aayog and the

Union Health Ministry to allow private entities to use

the premises of the district hospitals to provide treat-

ment for cardiac and pulmonary diseases and cancer.

Viewed in perspective, a quick scaling-up of care for

such non-communicable diseases is possible under the

arrangement, because there are 763 functional district

hospitals, with just �ve States led by Uttar Pradesh ac-

counting for over 42% of the facilities. Yet, contracting

out services in a virtually unregulated and largely com-

mercial private system is fraught with risks. One major

concern in such an arrangement is to ensure that the

bulk of health spending, whether from government

funds, subsidy or private insurance, goes into actual

care provision, and that administrative expenditure is

capped under the contract. Moreover, in consonance

with the goal to provide health for all under the National

Health Policy, care should be universal, and free at the

point of delivery. A market-driven approach to provid-

ing district hospital beds for only those with the means

would defeat the objective.

Providing 50 or 100 beds in a district hospital may ex-

pand access to care, but such arrangements do not o�er

a cure for the larger problem of the growing non-com-

municable disease burden. Lifestyle choices and social

determinants, such as tobacco and alcohol use, and en-

vironmental pollution, are often linked to such dis-

eases. Controlling the epidemic, therefore, requires

other policy approaches too. Given the already high

prevalence of cardiac and pulmonary conditions, some

arising from diabetes and hypertension, and cancers,

having more beds for treatment is a necessity. It is in-

congruous, however, to opt for contracts of 30 years,

given the move towards achieving universal health cov-

erage and, aspirationally, a single-payer government-

led model that mainly relies on public facilities. Strong

oversight is also necessary to ensure that ethical and ra-

tional treatment protocols are followed in the new facil-

ities, and procurement and distribution of drugs are

centralised to keep costs under control. Ultimately, the

success of such systems depends on medical outcomes

on the one hand, and community satisfaction on the

other. Both dimensions must �nd place in a contract,

and be assessed periodically. A provision for audits,

penalties and cancellation of contracts is essential.

Given the recourse to tax funds for viability gap funding

and use of public infrastructure, the operations should

be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

The state’s domainThe proposal to allow the private sector

to run district hospitals has its risks

Jayaprakash Narayan must beturning in his proverbial gravewondering what is happening

to Bihar and his beloved socialism.After the Emergency, socialism as abrand name got associated withtwo political �gures who domin-ated the Bihari landscape. One wasLalu Prasad, who covered up thepolitics of corruption as the polit-ics of cornucopia. The other wasNitish Kumar, who played the polit-ics of resentment and responsibil-ity, creating not music but theritual of musical chairs as politics.Between the two, socialism degen-erated to populism and post-Emer-gency hopes became a set of elect-oral gimmicks.

Mr. Prasad and Mr. Kumar havealmost become folklore charactersof Bihari politics, enacting out aPunch and Judy routine whichseems unbelievable. They seemeddoomed together but often built di-vorce as a part of a dynamic rela-tionship. Mr. Prasad was alwayscloser to the Congress, consideringit another family party. Mr. Kumar,portrayed as single and singular,was more prone to �irt with otherpolitical possibilities. Despite theirsocialism, despite the populism,both loved power. It was the oneaphrodisiac that kept them going.A party without power was subjectto impotency. A party withoutpower lacked patronage, andwithout patronage the multipliere�ect of corruption wouldn’twork.

There was a di�erence in stylehowever. Mr. Prasad was more pre-occupied with power to help himplay welfare state to his ever ex-panding family. Sometimes withhis association with the likes of

Sadhu Yadav and other criminalelements, one wondered whetherthere was a clear line betweencrime and politics. The taint of cor-ruption has always haunted Mr.Prasad as he turned politics into anact of conspicuous corruption.What redeemed him at least tosome people was his commitmentto secularism and identity, whichthe likes of himself and MulayamSingh Yadav wore like a halo in na-tional politics.

Obsession with powerWhile Mr. Prasad’s was a blatantpolitics of revelry, there was some-thing calculated, almost repressed,with Mr. Kumar. He seemed ob-sessed with power, narcissisticabout his image, paranoid aboutsurvival. It is almost as if everymove of his was tactical, even �ght-ing corruption. Apart from Naren-dra Modi, one cannot think of any-one more preoccupied with powerand retaining power. He wanted tobe a national leader, but Mr. Prasadwas more e�ective as a vote-catcher. There was a sense of beingsecond, even secondary, to Mr. Ku-mar’s career in front of the likes ofMr. Prasad and Mr. Modi. Theywere more colourful personalities.His dreams of governance were nomatch for Mr. Modi’s. His popular-ity lagged behind Mr. Prasad’s. Psy-chologically all this must haverankled. In fact his curriculum

vitae shows that this opportunisticpolitician was a master at playingthe shifting sounds of politics. Mr.Prasad got it wrong when he com-plained that Mr. Kumar hasslapped the nation. Rather than be-ing “anti-national”, he was loyal tohimself and that seems the ulti-mate patriotism of electoral polit-ics today.

His career of twist and turns isamazing. He appeared as a JP-itesocialist, an uneasy twin to Mr.Prasad, in the mid-1980s andswitched towards the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) a decade later.During the Vajpayee regime he wasa cabinet minister, content to besecond or even third �ddle. In2005, he became the Chief Minis-ter of Bihar with the BJP’s support.In 2013 he broke his alliance withthe BJP. In 2017 he has abandonedhis dreams of a Mahagathbandhanand done another Ghar Wapsi,back to the BJP fold.

What opposition?One thing is clear in the ensuingwar of words. The old idea of op-position has been blown tosmithereens. Nitish Kumar’schances of being elected as an op-position candidate seem over. Allin all, it was like a B-grade moviewith predictable lines and withoutthe Bhojpuri cameos that wouldhave at least provided musical orcomic relief. Watching Mr. Kumar’s

body language, both his despera-tion and his opportunism are obvi-ous. The attention is back on him,and he is ready to script a new rolefor himself. One thing is clear, hehates being left out of power or his-tory. Conscience, loyalty and patri-otism are casualty words in thisgame of politics. He realises that heis condemned to being a medium-level Machiavelli in the age of Nar-endra Modi and Amit Shah. Hesenses that his days creating an op-position Camelot are over, that noone takes the idea of the opposi-tion seriously. He now under-stands it cannot be his next vehicleto national politics. He himself ad-mits a reactive opposition is no op-position. It has neither vision, mis-sion or even the makings of astrategy. At one level, one feels Mr.Kumar has added a sense of cyn-icism to politics. At another, onesenses his hormonal need forpower, his desperate need forcentre stage. His current tacticshave been exhausted. His despera-tion is the fable of the Opposition’sdesperation as the Modi jugger-naut rolls across India. There is joyin the Modi camp as Mr. Kumar’sdecision becomes “the need of thehour”. Somehow clichés and crisesseem wedded together in India. Itis obvious that elections are notaround the corner. Mr. Kumar’s al-liance with the BJP will rule till newoptions become available.

The so-called Nitish Kumar sagahas to be seen as a fable of the op-position letting down the people.As one watches the Opposition,one senses desperation. TheDravida Munnetra Kazhagam andthe All India Anna Dravida Mun-netra Kazhagam look outdated.M.K. Stalin appears like a localpolitician out of his depth. SitaramYechury looks tired, like the ideo-logy he espouses. Mamata Baner-jee is too worried about WestBengal and Gorkhaland to worryabout a nation. The Congress’sstandard one-line remarks movebetween the cryptic and the un-

aware. It is almost as if the dissipa-tion of the Congress has caught upwith the opposition. One can sensethe desperation of Mr. Kumar as hesees any viable future disappearbefore him. To survive, he choosessecond-best. The BJP must bechuckling to itself wondering howBihar or Tamil Nadu are falling intoits basket like ripe mangoes. All ithas to do is to continue behavinglike a party whose time in everysense has come. Mr. Kumar’s op-tions are limited. He can stay inpower but is beholden to a partywhich understands his only loyaltyis to power.

The BJP juggernautBihar today exempli�es the mean-ing of a word which is wonderfullyappropriate to it. It was coined inthe Second World War as an ac-ronym by soldiers forced into futileerrands. The word is SNAFU and itmeans Situation Normal, AllFouled Up. Bihar is a mess suchthat no one seems to be bothered.Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad, Te-jashwi Yadav, all seem to be symp-toms of the ailment we call elect-oral democracy. Each of them hasdecided that what is personallygood for them is good for Bihar.The hypothecation of Bihar togreed, pomposity and ambitionseems complete, and Mr. Modi,quick to exploit the situation, hailsit as a patriotic act. It is almost as ifthe opposition died its numerousdeaths this week, recognising theprospect of facing the BJP jugger-naut is futile. As parties becomeempty and enervated, the BJP’smajoritarianism sounds more andmore authoritarian. The so-calledMahagathbandhan has destroyedthe dreams of JP, content to beknee-jerk in its commitment todemocracy. Musical chairs is thenew ritual of electoral politics.

Shiv Visvanathan is Professor, JindalGlobal Law School and Director, Centrefor the Study of Knowledge Systems, O.P.Jindal Global University

The curious case of Nitish KumarAs the opposition parties become empty and enervated, the BJP’s majoritarianism sounds more authoritarian

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On Friday, the Supreme Courtof India declined the abor-tion request of a 10-year-old

rape survivor who was reportedly32 weeks pregnant. Doctors whoexamined the adolescent opinedthat an abortion at this stage poseda risk to her life. Under the circum-stances, the court could not havedone much else. But this decisionmust be looked at in contrast to therecent landmark decision by theSupreme Court allowing an adultmother to abort her over-20 weekfoetus. The top court’s decisionwas not the �rst time that it hadmade an exception from the exist-ing law. Like always, it relied on areport of a medical board whichsaid that the infant was likely to suf-fer from a severe mental injury orcardiac problems that would re-quire multiple surgeries. As is evid-ent, leniency is not always exten-ded from the existing legislation.

An arbitrary capThe Medical Termination of Preg-nancy Act stipulates a cap of 20weeks within which an abortioncan be performed. While advisingan abortion, medical practitionersare expected to evaluate whethercontinuing with the pregnancy

would involve a risk to the life ofthe mother or cause grave injury toher physical and mental health. Al-ternatively, the decision is basedon whether there would be a sub-stantial risk of the child being han-dicapped by physical or mental ab-normalities. Notably, the Act alsoprovides that if any of these med-ical eventualities is likely to arise,then the mother’s actual or fore-seeable environment must also betaken into consideration.

The 20-week cap is somewhatarbitrary and has drawn rightfulcriticism. Foetal impairments of-ten get detected at the ultrasounddone between 18 to 22 weeks,when the foetus is said to have“substantially developed”. But in acountry where a majority of ex-pectant mothers still seek advicefrom midwives and Accredited So-cial Health Activists (ASHA), ultra-sounds are only done when some-thing “unusual” is suspected.Perhaps taking note of this, thegovernment, in 2016, launched thePradhan Mantri Surakshit MatritvaAbhiyan under which doctors atprivate and government facilitiesare required to provide freeantenatal care on the ninth ofevery month. While ultrasoundsare also covered, some ASHAs re-port that free ultrasounds are oftennot o�ered.

In fact, even before this pro-gramme, the government, in 2014,introduced the Medical Termina-tion of Pregnancy (Amendment)Bill. A step forward, it proposed in-creasing the abortion ceiling limit

from 20 to 24 weeks. It introducedthe concept of “substantial foetalabnormalities” — in which case thetime period of pregnancy is irrelev-ant — and widened the scope ofwho could carry out the abortionsby introducing the term “re-gistered health care provider”,which included recognised practi-tioners of Ayurveda, Unani and ho-moeopathy.

Unfortunately, the Bill is stillawaiting approval. The Prime Min-ister’s O�ce is reported to have re-turned the proposed amendmentsand called for stricter implementa-tion of the law. It believes thatamendments to the Act are likely togive rise to illegal sex selection andabortion rackets.

Downside to legal restrictionsIn contrast, the World Health Or-ganisation notes: “Legal restric-tions on abortion do not result infewer abortions nor do they resultin signi�cant increases in birthrates. Conversely, laws and policies

that facilitate access to safe abor-tion do not increase the rate ornumber of abortions. The prin-cipal e�ect is to shift previouslyclandestine, unsafe procedures tolegal and safe ones. Restrictinglegal access to abortion does notdecrease the need for abortion,but it is likely to increase the num-ber of women seeking illegal andunsafe abortions, leading to in-creased morbidity and mortality.Legal restrictions also lead manywomen to seek services in othercountries/states, which is costly,delays access and creates social in-equities.”

The WHO report also says that“laws and policies on abortionshould protect women’s healthand their human rights. Regulat-ory, policy and programmatic bar-riers that hinder access to andtimely provision of safe abortioncare should be removed.” While atpresent, petitions questioning theconstitutional validity of the Actare pending before the SupremeCourt in India, in the past, provi-sions of the Act have been held tobe reasonable restrictions placedon the exercise of reproductivechoices. The court has observedthat in the case of pregnant wo-men, there is also a “compellingstate interest” in protecting the lifeof the prospective child. There-fore, the termination of a preg-nancy is only permitted when theconditions speci�ed are ful�lled.

But from a women’s rights per-spective, should not a pregnantmother have the right to decide

whether to go through full-termwhen there is even the slightestchance of a foetal in�rmity and not“substantial foetal abnormalities”?It is fair to state that no woman whovoluntarily chose to get pregnant islikely to seek an abortion unlessthere are compelling circum-stances. Should not the wishes anddesires of the person who will bethe caretaker be considered?

Abortion the world over is asensitive topic. Arguments cutboth ways. Each country has itsown time limit within which thepregnancy may be terminated, butin most cases it’s more than 20weeks. Given the advancements inmedical science, a lot of abnormal-ities can be determined by an ultra-sound midway through a preg-nancy. Unfortunately, thereappear to be no guidelines relatingto the conduct of ultrasounds. As astarting point, we need uniformityin medical standards. Simultan-eously, the long-pending Bill,which took into account some ofthe changed circumstances, needsto get passed. It would be helpfulalongside to also lay down object-ive standards to be followed byhealth-care providers so that everycase does not fall in the court’scradle. If the cord isn’t cut, we willcontinue to rely on court-orderedtermination of pregnancies,which, most times, is not the de-sired route for the delivery ofjustice in abortion cases.

Satvik Varma is a litigation counsel andcorporate attorney based in New Delhi

Not just a question of weeksParliament needs to take up the long-pending bill on updating provisions for abortion

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Fission in BiharThe various comments byCentral and State leaders ofthe now defunct ‘grandalliance’ in Bihar, thoughdiametrically opposing,have one thing in common.Namely, they all interpretthe same ‘mandate of thepeople’ and politicians’commitment to the State.These, by all means, are intune with our corrupted andcriminalised politics of theday. Ideally, whateverpeople voted for, a split inpre-election alliance,whether ruling orOpposition, indicates a lossof the mandate or the needfor a fresh mandate for theparticular combine.Creating post-electionpolitical groups for power-sharing does not have voterconsent. The absence ofpurposeful laws to ensureadherence to the above willof the people is a challengeto the common man. Thecontinued public demand

for legislating on a ‘recall ofelected representatives’ isbeing ignored by politicalleaders and parties.Perhaps, only the ElectionCommission and/or theSupreme Court can save thesituation.P.R.V. Raja,

Pandalam, Kerala

■ The drama enacted byNitish Kumar and the BJP isnot the �rst instance of itskind that has tarnished thefundamentals of Indiandemocracy. In a coalition,there are bound to beinternal troubles. When theMahagathbandhan wasformed, Mr. Kumar wouldsurely have been aware ofthe corruption chargeshaunting Lalu Prasad. Andthe people of Bihar voted foran anti-BJP alliance. We havenot forgotten that it was thesame Mr. Kumar who led theJanata Dal (United) awayfrom the BJP as he hadproblems with Narendra

Modi being the primeministerial candidate andthe party’s communal slant.If Mr. Kumar was deeplydissatis�ed with hiscoalition partners, heshould have dissolved theState Assembly and gone tothe people for a fresh vote.His act now shows that his“resolve” to ensure acorruption-free State andhis commitment tosecularism are just mattersof convenience. S.K. Khosla,

Chandigarh

■ The sudden turn onceagain impels us to questionthe suitability of coalitionpolitics in India. That thecoalition between the JD(U)and the RJD — which seemedto be a cordial alliance tillyesterday — suddenlybecoming an alliance ofdiscomfort for the JD(U),demands a clearexplanation. The nowformer Deputy CM of Bihar

was never asked to resign byMr. Kumar despiteallegations of corruptionagainst Tejashwi Yadav. Insuch circumstances, itbecomes di�cult to believethat the CM had to resignonly because of hardshipsfaced in working with acorrupt coalition partnerand waging a war againstcorruption. At the sametime, it drives home theperception that the newcoalition in place is more ofconvenience than one ofhonest politics. Despite theRJD having more seats in theBihar Assembly, it was theJD(U) which was allowed tolead the government.Though not writtenexplicitly in theConstitution, suchinterpretation of theGovernor’s discretion inselecting the CM needs arelook. However, this debateis not unique to Bihar. If thenew alliance was formed tokeep the public’s trust in the

government intact and servethe people better, therewere other means to do so,one of them being theformer Deputy CM’sresignation. After all, isn’tchanging political partnersfrequently by a ruling partyin itself a betrayal of thetrust of the public? We needa conclusive solution to thisproblem before it startsgetting replicatedelsewhere. Nikita Goyal,

New Delhi

State of the RailwaysThe CAG report’s �ndingson the state of the IndianRailways are no surprise tofrequent travellers. Makingideal regulations on paperwithout strict monitoring onthe ground are as good as

having none. Due to thesubstandard quality of foodsupplied, passengers arecompelled to buy food fromunauthorised vendors.However, looking at thereport as a guide to improveonly IRCTC’s food serviceswill do little good. Makingtrains free of illegalpassengers itself will cut theburden of railways by a largeamount. Help centres ateach station wherecomplaints can beregistered regarding anysubstandard service, whileon board and theirimmediate recti�cation,could be a step in thisdirection.Kiran Babasaheb Ransing,

New Delhi

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters emailed to [email protected] must carry the full postal address and the full name or the name with initials.

more letters online:

www.hindu.com/opinion/letters/

corrections & clarifications:

The graphic titled “BJP – growing gains” ( July 28, 2017) erro-neously included Himachal Pradesh among the States where theBJP is in power.

The Readers’ Editor’s office can be contacted by Telephone: +91-44-28418297/28576300;

E-mail:[email protected]


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Over the last three months, PhuongNguyen has learned a lot of Tamil, athing or two about Dravidian politicsand has figured out why Kattappa killedBaahubali. She has watched the multi-language blockbuster Baahubali 2thrice. This afternoon, she and threeother U.S. Foreign Service Officers(FSOs) learning Tamil at the U.S. StateDepartment’s Foreign Service Institute(FSI) before deployment to Chennai arediscussing the weather there, aided by avideo clip of a weather report from aTamil news channel. “Enakku veppampidikkum (I like the heat),” says GregBauer, an Iowan who had earlierworked as a Peace Corps Volunteer inCambodia. “In Chennai it is 105o

(Fahrenheit) today,” the instructor toldhim, in a promising tone, last week.

The contingent is relishing theirTamil films and can’t wait to be in Chen-nai to test their language skills and smellthe filter coffee. “He has even startedteaching us lessons from theThirukkural,” Nguyen says of Pandiya-raju Arumugan, the Tamil instructor. “Ihave really enjoyed learning aboutDravidian language, culture, and his-tory,” adds the fresh FSO recruit whocame to the U.S. from Vietnam as a five-year-old. It helps that Arumugan, fromMadurai, Tamil Nadu, has shrunken hisDravidian identity to ‘Raju’, in a conces-sion to the American tongue. “Raju iswonderful and very open in sharing hiswisdom and culture,” says Nguyen.

Readying for the roleThe FSI trains the world’s biggest con-tingent of diplomats in a sprawling 74-acre campus in the suburbs of the U.S.capital, before they are deployed to thecountry’s 270 missions around theworld. There are 14,029 FSOs under theDepartment of State and thousands ofothers are drawn from other U.S. De-partments such as aviation and agricul-ture for postings at diplomatic missions.The deployment of defence personnelattached to U.S. missions adds to it. TheState Department does not releasecountry-wise staffing details, but an offi-cial said “the U.S. Mission to India is oneof our largest diplomatic missions in theworld”. The four officers in the Tamilclass are new recruits, and by early nextyear, they will start working at the U.S.consulate in Chennai.

A few rooms apart, MichaelRosenthal is polishing his Hindi skills,aided by Pushpa Patel, the most seniorHindi instructor at the FSI’s languageschool. Rosenthal will be heading toNew Delhi next month as First SecretaryPolitical at the U.S. Embassy. He needs aproficiency level that will equip him toconverse with Indian politicians andparliamentarians. “Political officersneed to not merely converse, but alsohave to understand the cultural uni-verse,” says Sandhya Thapar, anotherHindi instructor. Visa officers learn thelocal language with a more functionalperspective. Patel has trained dozens ofAmerican diplomats in Hindi since 1992at the institute and at least four of themhave risen to become U.S. ambassadors— among them, the current U.S. Ambas-sador to Sri Lanka, Atul Keshap.

Rosenthal has travelled to India onceto attend a friend’s marriage — growingup in Los Angeles, he made several In-dian-American friends — and spent timein a houseboat in Kerala backwaters,but this will be his first posting in India.A fluent Russian and Polish speaker, heis amused by the similarities he is dis-covering between Hindi and Europeanlanguages. More amused is he by thenumber of people that attend an Indianmarriage. And he is yet to see them atthe political rallies in India.

‘Digital India ke Angute Chhap’ — di-gital India’s illiterates — is a Hindi newsfeature clip that he is discussing with in-structor Patel this morning. India hasmore Internet users than the entirepopulation of the U.S. but a large major-ity of them are barely literate in com-puter usage, he explains in Hindi afterwatching the clip.

India 101 and more

Comprehending Indian paradoxes suchas these could be a lifelong exercise foranyone, but diplomats need to pick upsome soft skills quickly before they hitthe Indian road. Among them, how towrap a six-metre piece of cloth calledsaree around your body; how to moutha golgappa without creating a diplo-matic crisis of sorts by splashing it allover at a social gathering. Eating withthe hand, most of them master soonenough, but breaking a tandoori roti us-ing only one hand is a steep climb formost, says Neeti Ahluwalia, anotherHindi instructor. “That takes someteaching and learning,” she giggles.

Instructors organise a desi cookingsession at one of their homes during thecourse. “They go shopping for desi gro-cery, and each one makes a dish,” saysVinod Kumar, instructor. Some developa special interest in Indian cuisines.Matt Williger, now posted in the Mum-bai consulate, supplied flasks of masalachai every day during the course to in-structors and classmates. “He made theperfect masala tea… with ginger, car-damom and all the rest,” recalls Kumar,an English postgraduate from Lucknowwho now teaches Hindi.

Pictures of Chola Bronzes and Indianlandmarks adorn the walls in languageclassrooms. “Those are too hard for

them at the beginning,” Thapar says ofthe Panchatantra Kahaniyan on theshelf. “Learning begins with simplewords — kalam (pen), kitab (book), etc.”

Instructors warn India-bound diplo-mats that at times, even a minor mix-upin pronunciation could a turn a politeintent into unintended addition of spiceinto the talk; and that for some wordsand phrases, English would serve betterthan Hindi or Tamil.

The institute has four schools — lan-guage studies, professional and areastudies, applied information technologyand leadership and management. De-pending on a particular diplomat’sforthcoming posting, they undertake abouquet of courses picked from mul-tiple schools. For instance, the groupheaded to Chennai has already spent afew weeks learning about South andCentral Asia in the School of Profes-sional and Area Studies, before theymoved to the School of Language Stud-ies. They will also undergo some train-ing specific to their next role — for in-stance, those who are taking up aconsular job which involves visa inter-views get that training. Between twopostings diplomats come back to the FSI— to learn a new language, a region orboth. For someone like Rosenthal, whois prepping for his fifth tour in foreignservice, and having worked on the Indiadesk at the State Department, only lan-guage training is required. This is histhird long-term stint at the FSI since2007, learning Hindi for the last nine

months.“The concept is to provide training

continuously. We try to keep a balancebetween high academic standards andprofessional training,” says Kiran Per-vez, South and Central Asia (SCA) Stud-ies Course Chair. India comes in the SCAregion.

Offering a ‘lived experience’“Bahut accha (Very good),” saysRosenthal of his learning progress.“Lekin shikshak nahin maanti (But theteacher does not agree),” he addsquickly, pausing for Patel’s response.But she doesn’t take the bait. With thenon-committal Indian streak thatRosenthal will encounter at closer quar-ters in the coming months, Patel de-clares: “Next month is his exam.” Yes,they do take a language test to ensurethe required level of proficiency for thenext role.

Stereotypes are an entry point to dis-cussions on India and South Asia, andPervez makes it a point to have a sessionwith a South Asian-American stand-upcomedian for each batch. “Visa jokesand wife-and-husband jokes from theregion often provide insights into SouthAsian societal make-up,” she says. “Tobegin with, some are very surprised tolearn that all Indians are not vegetari-ans. The range of knowledge of thosewho attend these courses vary. Someknow very little, some like Mr.Rosenthal know much more than us,”says Ahluwalia.

Area studies and language classesboth run with the objective of familiar-ising India and the region as a “lived ex-perience”. Strategic issues related to theregion are introduced through talks byoutside experts, some of them talking tothe officers through Skype from the re-gion, and also through interactions withState Department’s own desk officersdealing with a particular region. Pervez

invites South Asian film-makers andwriters to talk to South Asia-bound dip-lomats, and stories of the Partitionmake a lasting impact on most trainees.Pervez shows part of an Indian film dur-ing lunch break every day, finishing oneover several days. Diplomats clamouredfor an uninterrupted viewing ofBajrangi Bhaijaan, a poignant 2015 filmset against the backdrop of India-Pakistan rivalry.

Language instructors relate learningto American cultural context. EricaCover, the lone student at entry level, isinto her fourth session of Hindi, prepar-ing for an administrative job at the U.S.embassy in New Delhi. Her instructorKashefa Nagameiea is excited about thestrides that Cover has made already —letters, numbers up to 10 and days ofthe week, all in four sessions.Nagameiea, who came to the U.S. in2004 from Mumbai, has devised uniquememory techniques that are helpingCover. Budhvar (Wednesday) is associ-ated with Buddha — the most famous In-dian for many Americans, certainly be-fore Narendra Modi. What follows isGuruvar (Thursday) — as Buddha be-came a guru later, and guru is verymuch an English word. “Shukravar isFriday. Shukriya means thanks. So, re-member TGI Fridays,” she tells Cover,who is Nagameiea’s fifth student sinceshe started teaching at the FSI last year.“Hindi letters are very similar to one an-other and trying to distinguish each oneis not easy,” says Cover. She has just re-turned from Azerbaijan, and is excited

about being in New Delhi.From Icelandic to Arabic, the school

teaches 70 languages, among themHindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bangla and Urdu.Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanishare the most sought-after languages.“Adult learners of a new language ex-perience peaks and valleys. After theinitial honeymoon, they hit a plateau.But then they motivate themselves,”says Ann Keller-Lally, School of Lan-guage Studies Division Director. Thereare 700 language learners at the schoolcurrently, and the number goes up to1,600 during February and March, thebusy months.

Helaena White is learning Urdu — shealready knows Hindi and Tamil — beforetaking over as the first full-time Hindi-Urdu spokesperson of the U.S. State De-partment. White will be based in Lon-don, and she will give interviews inHindi and Urdu. Her job will be to“amplify the podium of the State De-partment spokesperson,” she says. So,she won’t be speaking only on SouthAsia, but on American policy anywherefor a South Asian audience. “It is notthat Hindi or Urdu media platforms can-not translate what we say in English. Itdemonstrates the value that the U.S.puts in these relationships, particularlywith India,” says White. She has done aposting each in New Delhi andColombo, and lived in Rajasthan as aHindi student.

Selection and postingsAmericans diplomats are drawn fromdiverse ethnic and educational back-grounds. Medical doctors, military vet-erans, lawyers and pharmacists applyfor roughly 80 posts in each batch ofFSOs. The selection could take placemore than once a year. Around 20,000aspirants compete through a writtenexam and face-to-face interviews beforemaking the final cut. Some like AshlieMenard — the third Tamil student —might have already worked for the StateDepartment before being selected anFSO. Rosenthal worked in U.S. Congressand was a Fulbright Scholar in Russiabefore he joined the foreign service. He

has a master’s from the Johns HopkinsSchool of Advanced International Stud-ies in Washington DC.

While filling in the form, aspirantstick their preferred streams — political,economic, public diplomacy, adminis-tration and management or consular.Most part of their diplomatic life will bespent in their chosen field.

Rosenthal is a political officer, but hespent one tour in Kyrgyzstan, the firstformer Soviet republic where the U.S.set up a military base, as a public dip-lomacy officer, often talking to studentswho shouted slogans against “Americanimperialism”. He also worked on theNATO desk at the State Department.

All the new recruits spend the first sixweeks at the FSI doing a common pro-gramme. At the end of six weeks, on adesignated day, they get to know theirfirst posting — which involves a lot ofdrama and excitement. First the namesof the countries will be announced, tobe followed by the names of diplomatsassigned there. They will be handedover a flag of the country they areheaded to. At times fiancées could endup oceans apart, at times one would betrying to hide their excitement aboutgoing to Afghanistan or Iraq from aspouse or a lover. Some don’t share withtheir loved ones the preferences theyhave filled in for posting, apprehendingpushback. “That day is intense,” saysRosenthal. “Some are always looking foradventure, some are always nervous. Soon that day, you might see someonewho has just got Kabul all very excited,and someone who got Mumbai all verytense,” says Pervez. Those who get Eng-lish-speaking countries will leave withinsix months, while those who requirelanguage training will take up to a yearbefore heading to their first post.

Subsequent postings for a diplomatare based on a match between availableposts and the particular diplomat’s in-clination. Of the nearly 500 jobs avail-able across the world this year,Rosenthal chose New Delhi. “So you arelooking at different jobs and the em-bassy is looking at different people. It ismostly the diplomat’s choice, but theembassy has to agree,” he says.

The area studies classes usually endwith a presentation by each of the out-going diplomats. “Each one chooses thetopic. Someone did one on Diwali re-leases in Bollywood last year, someonecould do one on GST for instance,” saysPervez. Holi, Diwali and Id celebrationshave become a part of life in FSI. Theylearn about South Asia’s unique notionof secularism, and about the religion ofcricket, and gods such as Sachin Ten-dulkar. South Asia-bound diplomatsalso play some cricket on the manicuredgrounds of the FSI, not much appreci-ated by the estate manager who ac-quires flower plants from all over theworld and nurtures them here with a lotof passion. “A diplomat is a diplomat 24hours a day, all day of the year. So thetraining is aimed to equip them negoti-ate with a foreign culture with ease andcomfort,” says Pervez.

Diplomacy at work: “The FSI trains the diplomats in a sprawling campus in the suburbs of Washington before they are deployed to missions around the world.” * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

The making of American diplomacyThe Foreign Service Institute of the U.S. State Department trains the largest contingent of diplomats in the world. Varghese K. George spends a day with U.S.diplomats preparing to take up positions in India, and their trainers

Putting her through her paces: “Shukravar is Friday. Shukriya means thanks....,” instructor Kashefa Nagameiea tells Erica Cover.

Future face: Helaena White is learningUrdu. She knows Tamil and Hindi. She willbe the �rst full time Hindi-Urduspokesperson of the U.S. StateDepartment.

<> Visa jokes and

wife-and-husband jokes from

the region often provide

insights into South Asian

societal make-up.

Kiran Pervez,

South and Central Asia (SCA) Studies Course Chair


CMYK

A ND-NDE




NEWS

FROM PAGE ONE

Rajya Sabha contest exceed-ingly close for Mr. Patel.

“It’s a touch-and-go situ-ation for him. If more than15 MLAs resign, then it willbe difficult for him. How-ever, a lone MLA of the Gu-jarat Parivartan Party (GPP),which was formed and sub-sequently disbanded byformer CM Keshubhai Patel,Nalin Kotadia, has extendedhis support to the Congressnominee,” a party legislatorsaid.

A close aide of the Nehru-Gandhi family, Ahmed Pa-tel, has been struggling tokeep the flock together andensure his victory againstthe combined efforts of BJPand rebel leaderShankersinh Vaghela.

Meanwhile, stunned by theexodus of its legislators, theCongress has decided to fly44 MLAs to a resort nearBengaluru in Congress-gov-erned Karnataka.

“We have decided to flyall MLAs because the BJP istrying to poach them, usingmoney and muscle powerand misusing governmentmachinery,” chief whipShailesh Parmar said.

“There is severe infight-ing and factionalism in theparty so it will not be able toform the government in theState,” Mansinh Chauhan, asenior legislator and formerminister told the media afterhe submitted his resignationto the Speaker.

The exodus has made the

3 more CongressMLAs quit in Gujarat

clined…so, what shouldhave I done?”

Later, the Chief Ministersaid he would respondevery word point-by-point,“but at an appropriatetime”. He reiterated that hehad taken decision to partways with grand alliance “inthe interest of Bihar and itsdevelopment”.

“I had got mandate forwork and I worked withthem [Grand Alliance] forone-third of the time but itwas not possible for me tocontinue further,” Mr. Ku-mar said.

‘No support to graft’“If anyone will do politicsfor amassing wealth I’ll notsupport them…and, nobodycan teach me about secular-ism…secularism is not tocover-up corruption”, saidMr. Kumar, adding, “now,for the first time the mo-ment has come for the samegovernment at the Centreand the State and it will helpin the State’s development”.

In his 45-minute speech, hetook on both the Chief Min-ister and his new deputy inthe Cabinet Sushil KumarModi for their “unholy alli-ance.”

“Bihar chief minister andhis partymen always used tospeak volumes about zerotolerance on corruptionbut, did Nitish Kumar notknow that my father LaluPrasad Yadav was a convictin a fodder scam case? Thenwhy did he forge an alliancewith him in 2015?” Mr Yadavasked and added that, “infact the plot was hatchedlong ago by Nitish Kumar tosit in the lap of the BJP-RSS”.

Resignation dramaHe also said if Mr Kumarhad asked for his resigna-tion, he would havetendered it happily but “noone asked me for this…evenI asked Nitish Kumar to draftthe copy of my explanationthat his party had soughtover the corruption chargesmade against me but he de-

Nitish Kumar sails through trust vote

ing military tensions withChina, during Mr. Doval’svisit.

Contradictory tiesThe contradictory relation-ship, where collaborationco-exists with serious differ-ences, was evident whenMr. Doval met with China’sState Councillor Yang Jicheion Thursday evening.

The Xinhua news agencyreported that in the threeseparate meetings that heheld with the visiting NSAs,Mr. Yang exchanged viewson “bilateral relations, inter-national and regional issuesand multilateral affairs, andset forth China’s position onbilateral issues and majorproblems.”

The meeting between Mr.Doval and Mr. Yang, who arealso both serving SpecialRepresentatives on theChina-India boundary talks,comes amid modest expect-ations that a framework fora gradual de-escalation ofthe Doklam crisis mayemerge.

President Xi said that havingsuccessfully completed itsfirst 10 years, the BRICS inthe coming decade can fo-cus on three areas: securitycommunication and co-ordination, financial co-operation as well as culturalexchanges. He added thatthese three aspects shouldguide the BRICS mechan-ism, to enable the stablegrowth of the five emergingeconomies.

Mr. Doval, in his earlierremarks, proposed that theBRICS should pull its collect-ive weight in shaping the in-ternational system, bypointing out that the group-ing had grown in “global sig-nificance over the years.”

“It is natural we shouldhold a BRICS forum to dis-cuss security issues that im-pact global peace and stabil-ity.”

Along with seeking com-mon ground on major se-curity threats with its emer-ging economy partners,India also appeared simul-taneously engaged in resolv-

Doval wants BRICS to �ght terrorism

With the Janata Dal(U) win-ning a vote of confidence inthe Bihar Assembly with thehelp of the Bharatiya JanataParty on Friday, a change inthe balance of power in theRajya Sabha seems to be inthe offing. It’s happening al-most a year in advance of theruling party’s calculations.

If the nine MPs of the JD(U) fall in line with thewishes of party presidentand Bihar Chief Minister Nit-ish Kumar and switch to vot-ing with the government, theNational Democratic Alli-ance will achieve parity inthe 245-member UpperHouse by August-end.

“Once the BJP-led NDAachieves parity — and itlooks likely that once someof the JD(U) MPs who are un-happy with Nitish’s decisionare offered ministerialberths, they will agree toback the BJP — then the gov-ernment will be able to pushthrough whatever Bills itwishes to. So far, the govern-

ment has had to think twicebefore doing so in the RajyaSabha,” a senior CongressMP told The Hindu.

Incremental progressEver since it came to powerat the Centre in 2014, theNDA has been struggling toincrease its numbers in theRajya Sabha, but with MPsretiring in batches, progresshas only been incremental,

making it hard to pushthrough key legislation.

Indeed, if the politicalchange in Bihar had nottaken place now, the rulingalliance would not have beenable to achieve parity tillmid-2018, when the numberof government MPs will bemore than those in the Op-position. That would be justone year before the next LokSabha elections.

Apart from these nineseats held by the JD(U), elec-tions are due to 10 seats thatfall vacant in July and Au-gust.

The BJP currently holdstwo of these seats, but willincrease that number tothree, with it wresting a Con-gress-held seat in Goa, in thewake of the changed com-position of the Goa Assemblypost-elections. Indeed, at theend of the elections to theUpper House, the BJP andthe Congress will have 57seats each.

(The remaining six seatsthat will be contested in Au-gust are from West Bengal.The tally of the TrinamoolCongress will go up fromfour to five, at the expense ofthe CPI(M), and the Congresswill retain the sixth.)

In Gujarat, the BJP will re-tain the two seats it holds —Union Textile Minister SmritiIrani has been renominated,and BJP president Amit Shahwill be take the second seatand making his entry to theRajya Sabha.

But now, the BJP hasfielded a third person, Bal-wantsinh Rajput, a CongressMLA who joined the BJP onThursday, to take on AhmedPatel, his former mentor andpolitical secretary to Con-gress president SoniaGandhi, who is seeking re-election to the seat he cur-rently holds.

Shrinking numbersMr. Patel needs 44 votes towin, but Congress numbershave been shrinking, withseven party MLAs crossingover to the BJP sinceThursday. If this continues,Mr. Patel’s seat may be injeopardy.

So the BJP will add oneseat — and if lucky, two seats— to its Rajya Sabha tally nextmonth. If the JD(U) MPs, too,decide to back it, it can addanother nine seats to its sideof the House.

Add to that Mr. Shah, andthe BJP strength will be en-hanced in the Upper House,making the already batteredOpposition’s task harder.

It’s advantage NDA in Rajya SabhaWith support of nine JD(U) members, ruling alliance has achieved parity in the 245-member House

An Opposition protest in the Rajya Sabha on Friday. The NDAhas been struggling to raise its numbers in the House. * PTI

Smita Gupta

New Delhi

With at least six CongressMLAs from Gujarat resign-ing from the party over thepast 48 hours, senior Con-gress leader AbhishekManu Singhvi on Friday al-leged that crores of rupeeshave been spent in horse-trading in Gujarat by theBharatiya Janata Party(BJP).

He also hinted that theCongress may invoke theprovisions of the anti-de-fection law to take some ofthe errant MLAs to task. Ifsuccessful, these MLAswould be barred from con-testing any elections for sixyears. Pointing out that“the anti-defection law issupreme”, he said the Su-preme Court has on morethan one occasion “calleddefections a constitutionalsin”.

He alleged that one Con-gress MLA from Gujarat,Punabhai Gavit, wasoffered ₹10 crore by theBJP to cross over.

Money playin Gujarat,says Cong.Special Correspondent

New Delhi

BJP president Amit Shah,Union Minister Smriti Iraniand Balwantsinh Rajput,Congress MLA who resignedon Thursday and joined thesaffron party, filed theirnomination papers on Fri-day for the Rajya Sabha elec-tions in Gujarat on August 8.

While Mr. Shah and Ms. Ir-ani were nominated by thecentral leadership a few daysago, Mr. Rajput, who wasCongress chief whip in theAssembly, was declared theBJP’s third candidate shortlyafter he quit from the Houseand the party.

Patel’s rivalMr. Rajput is pitted againstsenior Congress leaderAhmed Patel, who has beenrenominated.

Of the 11 Rajya Sabhamembers from the State, theterm of three — Ms. Irani and

Dilipbhai Pandya (both BJP)and Mr. Patel — is ending onAugust 18.

The Congress nomineecan sail through if hemusters the support of 47

MLAs. In the 182-memberAssembly, the strength of theparty has gone down to 51,as six of its MLAs haveresigned. While three MLAs,including Mr. Rajput, quit on

Thursday and joined the rul-ing party, an equal numberresigned on Friday. It is be-lieved that the resignationshave been orchestrated byShankersinh Vaghela.

Shah, Smriti in Rajya Sabha frayFile nomination papers in Gujarat, where Congress has been hit by defections


Gandhinagar

Ready for the race: Union Minister Smriti Irani �les her nomination for Rajya Sabha electionfrom Gujarat, in Gandhinagar, on Friday. * PTI

The united Opposition ofthe Left and the Congressin West Bengal flounderedon the last day of nomina-tion for the Rajya Sabhapolls on Friday, with theTrinamool putting itsweight behind Congressnominee PradipBhattacharya.

The Left Front alsojumped into the contest bynominating former KolkataMayor and CPI(M) leaderBikash Bhattacharya.

Chief Minister MinisterMamata Banerjee an-nounced her support tothe Congress nominee, andsaid that her party wouldvote for Mr. Bhattacharya.Earlier, she had said thather party would supportCongress leader andformer Lok Sabha SpeakerMeira Kumar for a seat inthe Upper House.

Trinamoolbacks Cong.nomineeSpecial Correspondent

Kolkata

Cow protection in India hasbecome the equivalent ofblasphemy laws in Pakistanin promoting state-sanc-tioned mob violence againstpeople, said panellists at adiscussion on religious ma-joritarianism in South Asiaon Friday.

Think tanks in the U.S.capital have been generallyvery bullish about PM Nar-endra Modi and his style ofgovernance that they find‘decisive’ and ‘reformfriendly’ and the event atthe Stimson Centre was afirst of sorts. “This is an un-orthodox topic for a discus-sion here,” said Sameer Lal-

wani, senior associate anddeputy director of the SouthAsia Programme at the Stim-son Centre.

Comparing the incidentsof lynching in Pakistan onunverifiable charges of blas-phemy and those by cow vi-gilantes in India, PervezHoodbhoy, distinguishedprofessor of Physics andMathematics, Forman Chris-tian College in Lahore said,liberals in Pakistan, whohad once looked up to Indiaas a model are nowsaddened. “The mob thatlynched a university studentrecently in Pakistan for rais-ing questions about Islamon Facebook included hisown roommate,” he said.

Panellists equate it to blasphemy laws

Varghese K. George

Washington

‘Cow protection servesas cover for violence’

Trinamool Congress MPand historian Sugata Boseasked the Union govern-ment to celebrate the cen-tenary of RabindranathTagore’s book Nationalism

this year, in the prevailingatmosphere that has seenthe rise of incidents of mobviolence in the country.

Raising the issue duringZero Hour in the LokSabha, Mr. Bose read out apassage from the book thatwarned that a narrow defin-ition of nationalism shouldnot be allowed to prevailover human values. “Ra-bindranath Tagore’s idea ofnationalism must be celeb-rated when ‘engines of co-

ercion are snuffing out livesof people’,” he said, quotingthe book in reference tomob lynching.

“I welcome the HumanResource DevelopmentMinister’s assurance thatthe government had noplans to remove the writ-

ings of RabindranathTagore from school text-books. In fact, I would urgehim to increase the numberof Tagore’s works in schoolbooks,” he said.

Concern over proposalMr. Bose’s reference was toa news report that the RSS-affiliated Shiksha SanskritiUtthan Nyas headed byDina Nath Batra had, in itsrecommendations to theNational Council of Educa-tional Research and Train-ing, suggested the removalof Rabindranath Tagore’sworks from school text-books. The Lok Sabha hasalso been agitating for a dis-cussion on mob lynchingfor the past week.

Learn Tagore’s idea ofnationalism: Trinamool MPWants celebration of centenary of poet’s book on subject

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI

The Lok Sabha on Fridaypassed a Bill to grant IndianInstitutes of Managementthe power to grant degreesinstead of postgraduate dip-lomas. It also allows stu-dents to acquire Ph.D de-grees from the IIMs.

Human Resource Devel-opment Minister PrakashJavadekar said, “It is be-cause the fellowships of IIMswere not regarded by manyas Ph.Ds that there were lessstudents for Ph.Ds to be-come Fellows. They used togo after doing Diplomahere. They used to go to for-eign countries and do re-search. Now research willbe (done) here.”

The Bill confers on the 20IIMs the status of institu-tions of national importance

and also grants them greaterfunctional autonomy by re-stricting the role of the gov-ernment in them.

At present, the Centrehas a role in the functioningof the IIMs, including theappointment of the chair-persons to the Boards of theIIMs, their directors and fix-ing the pay of the directors.As per the IIM Bill, 2017, aBoard of Governors will ap-point the director of eachIIM. A search-cum-selec-tion-committee will recom-mend the names. And thedirector will be eligible forvariable pay determined bythe Board.

Mr. Javadekar came in forpraise from Oppositionmembers like Shashi Thar-oor for having given the IIMsgreater autonomy and “sur-rendering his powers”.

LS passes Bill for moreautonomy to IIMs

It allows them to grant degrees

Vikas Pathak

NEW DELHI

Rabindranath Tagore

The strategic missile system,a medium range supersonicsurface to air missile systemto counter aerial threatswere “deficient in quality”,according to a report tabledby the Comptroller and Aud-itor General in Parliamenton Friday.

Over 70% of the undervehicle scanners (UVS) in-stalled at Indian Air Force(IAF) bases were non-func-tional, the report said. It alsosaid that the IL series of air-craft, which provides vitaltransport support to the IAFduring contingencies, “hasnot been upgraded, and con-tinue to fly with 1985 vintageavionics”.

The report comes amidincreased threat perception

to defence installations inthe wake of terrorist attackat the Pathankot airbase inJanuary 2016.

The IAF in February saidthat out of the 57 UVS sys-tems, 52 had been installedand only five were yet to beinstalled.

However, 35 systems still

remained in “unserviceablecondition”.

Not enhanced“Even as on February 2017,over 70% of the procuredUVS systems were not func-tioning or were uninstalled.Thus the security systemsprocured at a cost of ₹17.09crore could not be utilisedfully for the security of theair bases even after aboutfive years. Besides, the se-curity of the air bases couldnot be enhanced as envis-aged,” the report said.

“Strategic missile systemis vital for the country’s airdefence and deterrence cap-ability. Audit found that thesystem delivered by BharatElectricals Limited was defi-cient in quality,” the reportadded.

CAG spots weaknesses inmissile defence system70% scanners in Air Force bases are ‘non-functional’


New Delhi

A �le photo of a missile beingtest-�red. * PTI

The Lok Jan Shakti Party,led by Union Minister RamVilas Paswan, will join theNitish Kumar governmentin Bihar. Mr. Paswan onFriday congratulated Mr.Kumar for joining the NDAonce again.

“Better late than never,”he said.

“Yes, the party hastaken the decision that itwill join the new govern-ment of Nitish Kumar …but who will be in the Cab-inet from our party,though, has not been de-cided,” LJP MP ChiragPaswan told presspersonsin Patna.

However, party sourcestold The Hindu thatPashupati Kumar Paras,State LJP chief and youngerbrother of Ram VilasPaswan, is likely to join theNitish Cabinet.

LJP to joinBiharCabinet Amarnath Tewary

Patna

In stepped-up activity overThursday and Friday, milit-ants attacked a policeman,a police station, a formercounter-insurgent and thehouse of a Superintendentof Police in Kashmir.

The policeman was firedupon in Kulgam onThursday. Suspected milit-ants ransacked an officer’shome and the house of acounter-insurgent was seton fire by militants at Ba-chroo. The spurt in attacksis being attributed to thepolice action against thefamily of a militant,Tauseef Sheikh, whose roleis being probed in thekilling of a policeman,Nazir Ahmad Tantray.

Militantstarget policein KashmirPeerzada Ashiq

Srinagar

Controversial Islamicpreacher Zakir Naik hasbeen declared a proclaimedoffender and the process toattach his assets has beeninitiated, the National In-vestigation Agency (NIA)said on Friday.

It said the order declaringMr. Naik a proclaimed of-fender was issued recentlyby a special court in Mum-bai, after which the processof attachment of his assets“under Section 83 of theCriminal Procedure Code(Cr.PC) has been initiated”.

Mr. Naik is being probedunder terror and money

laundering charges by theNIA.

He fled from India on July1, 2016 after terrorists inneighbouring Bangladeshclaimed that they were in-spired by his speeches onwaging a ‘jihad’ (holy war).

According to the ‘MiddleEast Monitor’, an onlinenews portal, Mr. Naik hasalready been granted cit-izenship by Saudi Arabia.

Renewed passportHowever, there has not beenany independent verifica-tion of this claim so far. Mr.Naik had his passport re-newed in January, 2016 for10 years.

The NIA, on November18, 2016, had registered acriminal case against thecontroversial preacher at itsMumbai branch under vari-ous sections of the IndianPenal Code and UnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Act.

He was recently declared a proclaimed o�ender by court


New Delhi

Zakir Naik

Attachment of Zakir Naik’sassets under way, says NIA


CMYK




NEWS

It’s just a beginning: ImranISLAMABAD

“It is just a beginning,” Imran Khan,

Pakistan’s Opposition leader and a

petitioner in the Panama case, said

on Friday as he hailed the Supreme

Court’s decision to disqualify Prime

Minister Nawaz Sharif. “It’s clear that

we can put a check on corruption.” PTI

The game will go on: Shahbaz Sr.KARACHI

Pakistan Hockey Federation Secretary

Shahbaz Senior insisted that Nawaz

Sharif’s disquali�cation will not a�ect

the functioning of the sport’s body.

He said the former Prime Minister’s

role in the operations of the

federation was minimal. ANI

‘Price for being democratic’NEW DELHI

Defence expert Qamar Agha on

Friday said that ‘disquali�ed’

Pakistan Prime Minster Nawaz Sharif

had paid the price for being

democratic in a military-dominated

country. He wanted the government

to have a greater say. ANI

My father will return: MaryamISLAMABAD

Another elected PM has been “sent

home”, Nawaz Sharif’s daughter

Maryam said on Friday but asserted

that her father’s disquali�cation

would not deter him from staging a

comeback. It would lead to his

victory in 2018, she said. PTI

The Pakistani SupremeCourt judgment that has dis-qualified Nawaz Sharif is re-markable for severalreasons.

Clearly, the court has es-tablished its independenceas well as its power in apolitical system where mostauthority lies with theArmy, although the PrimeMinister is considered thechief executive.

However, in this specificinstance, the court’s judg-ment has raised worryingconcerns. They need to beborne in mind before weform a firm opinion aboutits outcome.

First, Mr. Sharif was un-seated because the courtdeemed him to be in breach

of Articles 62 and 63 of thePakistani Constitution. Art-icle 62 requires the PM to besadiq (truthful), while Art-icle 63 stipulates he shouldbe ameen (righteous).

The only case the courthas is that Mr. Sharif did notdisclose a salary he never re-ceived as chairman of aDubai-based companycalled Capital FZE, but wasentitled to, as an asset in hisnomination papers in 2013.Mr. Sharif argued that anunreceived salary is not anasset. The court disagreed.

On technical groundsThe glaring paradox is thatthe substantial chargeagainst Mr. Sharif is one ofcorruption. The SupremeCourt has referred the mat-ter to the National Account-ability Bureau and asked itto file criminal charges. Thismeans the original charge ofcorruption has yet to beproved — and, conceivably,may never be — but the

Prime Minister has alreadybeen found on technicalgrounds to be dishonest andunrighteous. This is not justdisconcerting, it doesn’t feellike full and proper justice.

However, that’s not all.The Bench had two judgeswho in April had concludedhe should be dismissed onthe basis of the Joint Invest-igation Team report.

At that time, when a five-judge Bench ruled 3-2 in Mr.Sharif ’s favour, an imple-mentation Bench compris-ing the three judges whosupported Mr. Sharif was setup to examine and form anopinion on the JIT report.

Thereafter, from April tillnow, whenever lawyers de-bated and dissected the JITreport, it was done in frontof the three judges compris-ing the implementationBench. But, suddenly, onThursday night, it was an-nounced that a five-judgeBench would deliver theverdict.

Third, the Chief Justicewas not part of this five-judge Bench. Ordinarily, insuch a critical matter, onewould expect the ChiefJustice to preside.

Concerns about the pro-cedure by which the courtconducted the Sharif casego further. The JIT it appoin-ted included representativesfrom military intelligenceand the ISI. Why? A properexplanation has never beengiven.

None of this, of course,exonerates Mr. Sharif andhis family. It’s even possiblehe will be found corruptand, therefore, dishonestand unrighteous. But justiceis as much about procedureand fairness as it is aboutthe verdict. Could this bethe right judgment butreached in the wrong way?

Karan Thapar is abroadcast journalist

It’s not full andproper justiceOrder based on technical grounds

Karan Thapar

NEWS ANALYSISLeaders of Pakistan MuslimLeague (Nawaz) on Fridaymounted criticism on theSupreme Court’s decision todisqualify Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif from office,saying the ruling party wasdenied justice, and vowed tofile a review petition in theSupreme Court.

Maryam Nawaz, Mr.Sharif’s daughter and who islargely considered as hisheir apparent, said: “An-other elected Prime Minis-ter sent home, but only tosee him return with greaterforce & support & soonest.Insha’Allah. Stay strongPMLN.” She said in anothertweet: “PMLN standsunited, more resolute & un-fazed. That’s also unpreced-ented. Alhamdolillah!”

‘Review petition’“This decision is not accept-able and we will file a reviewpetition in court,” said partyleader and former RailwayMinister Saad Rafique in apress conference. Former

Law Minister Zahid Hamidsaid the ruling did not giveany finding on Panama Pa-pers allegations and hasonly sent the case for invest-igation to the National Ac-countability Bureau.

However, Oppositionparties welcomed the rul-ing. “This was not a per-sonal fight between me andthe Sharifs. I fought for thesupremacy of law and con-stitution. Today, I am happyand express my gratitude tothe Supreme Court and JIT,”Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insafleader Imran Khan said.

PML(N) leaders rallybehind Sharif

Say ruling party being denied justice

Mubashir Zaidi

Karachi

Pakistani lawyers celebratethe Supreme Court verdictagainst Nawaz Sharif. * AFP

Diplomats and experts onFriday said the resignation ofPrime Minister Nawaz Sharifwas a setback to the processof dialogue with India andthe internal democracy ofPakistan.

Speaking to The Hinduformer diplomats said Indiawould have to be ready for aspell of instability inPakistan following the sud-den changes.

“Out of all the Prime Min-isters of Pakistan since 1947,Nawaz Sharif is the only onewho has held the largestnumber of meetings — 15 to20 — with Indian Prime Min-isters, mostly in third coun-tries. It is another matterthat he has not travelled toIndia very often, but he didtravel once during RajivGandhi’s funeral in 1991 andthen during the swearing-inceremony of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi in 2014. Hisdeparture amounts to the re-moval of a partner in dia-logue with a country which

has been India’s main con-cern,” said Satinder K. Lam-bah, former Special Envoy ofthe Prime Minister of Indiafor Afghanistan andPakistan. Mr. Lambah ex-pressed concern over thepossible instability inPakistan over the next fewmonths.

“It is unfortunate that nota single Prime Minister inPakistan’s history has com-pleted a full term and thathas been proved with theresignation of Nawaz Sharif,”said TCA Raghavan, former

Indian High Commissionerto Pakistan.

Ties stuckIndia-Pakistan ties are atpresent stuck over the dis-turbances in Kashmir andcross-border terrorism fromPakistan targeting India.

Pakistan on the otherhand has been accusing In-dia of fomenting trouble inthe restive province of Ba-lochistan. Diplomats and ex-perts said the biggest loss,however, would be internalto Pakistan where a pro-

peace lobby was emerging. Experts said it was un-

likely however, that Mr.Sharif’s exit will have any im-pact on the KulbhushanJadhav case or the Kashmirissue. “As of now there isvery little bilateral contact sothere is unlikely to be anymajor impact on critical bi-lateral issues,” Mr. Lambahsaid. Pakistan is likely to gofor an election early nextyear when a new prime min-ister will be elected. Thenext prime minister likely tobe elected shortly will have abrief stint.

Irony evident“A lot in India-Pakistan tieswill depend on how thetransition to the next care-taker prime minister will beundertaken,” said strategicaffairs commentator UdayBhaskar, who pointed outthe irony that Mr. Sharifbegan his political career asa creature of the military es-tablishment.

“He emerged as the fa-vourite of the militaryheadquarters in Rawalpindi,but finally had to fight themduring the Pervez Musharrafera starting in 1999,” Mr.Bhaskar said.

‘Dialogue, democracy in peril’India must bracefor a spell ofinstability in Pak.

Support base: Activists of the Pakistan Muslim League(Nawaz) protest against the court’s decision in Lahore. * AFP

Kallol Bhattacherjee

NEW DELHI

Perhaps, the most import-ant observation regardingthe Supreme Court ofPakistan’s dismissal of PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif andhis disqualification from allfuture public office — ongrounds which seem to bebased on him holding aniqama (work permit) from aDubai-based company — isthat a former President ofPakistan, former Chief of theArmy Staff, General PervezMusharraf (retd), who hasbeen accused of treasonagainst the state of Pakistanand is under trial, was al-lowed to leave the countrythrough a deal cut by themilitary, and has been de-clared by the courts to be an“absconder” and lives in os-tentatious comfort in hisapartments in London andDubai.

The verdict was based onthe fact that Mr. Sharif didnot disclose asset details ofthe UAE-based Capital FZEcompany, from which he re-ceived some income, whilefiling nomination papers forthe elections and hence filedfalse declarations.

Lawyers and jurists havealready started discussingthe nature of the SupremeCourt judgment and the im-plications for other Mem-bers of Parliament, includ-ing Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf

(PTI) chief Imran Khan, aprime ministerial aspirantwho also supposedly has off-shore investments. With Mr.Sharif ’s resignation, whileParliament still stands, theFederal Cabinet no longerexists and Pakistan has noPrime Minister, and evenhas no government.

What’s different?Of course, this is not the firsttime such events have takenplace in Pakistan. Since 1971,except for Zulfikar AliBhutto, who himself calledearly elections, no electedPrime Minister has had a fullfive-year term. In the past,when the Prime Ministerwas dismissed, Parliamentwas also dissolved. Not sothis time, much like the dis-qualification of formerPakistan Peoples PartyPrime Minister Yousuf Raza

Gilani, the Prime Ministerfollowing the 2008 electionsafter Benazir Bhutto’s assas-sination. Yet, things are dif-ferent today compared withthe more distant or even re-cent past.

Three things are evidentnow, which are differentfrom the past. One, thatdemocracy — despite thisdisqualification of the PrimeMinister — is much strongerin Pakistan than it has everbeen.

The disqualification ofMr. Sharif was instigated byelected representatives, par-ticularly Mr. Khan. It was thePTI leader’s efforts whichbrought constant pressureupon the Election Commis-sion of Pakistan and the Su-preme Court to examine al-legations — now proven, itseems — against the PrimeMinister.

If the transition to replaceMr. Sharif goes smoothlyand Parliament still func-tions, albeit differently,democratisation will gatherstronger roots in Pakistan.

The second major changehas been the proactive roleof the Supreme Court fol-lowing the lawyers’ move-

ment of 2007. Perhaps, fi-nally, the superior judgeshave undone their past re-cord and become far moreindependent than ever be-fore, and taken decisions

which they believe are basedon fact, on the law, and inthe public interest. Finally,and most importantly, per-haps for the first time since1977, the military may nothave been involved in thedismissal of a PrimeMinister.

Mr. Sharif ’s party won themost seats and the mostvotes in the 2013 electionsand is still very popular, infact more than people anti-cipate. His brother is still theChief Minister of Punjabprovince, and whoever rulesPunjab rules Pakistan. Themany politicians who hopeto replace Mr. Sharif in theimmediate present, orwhenever elections takeplace, might still have a long

wait. In fact, the court’s de-cision, which they celebrateat this juncture, might justcome back to bite them in-stead. Mr. Sharif might havebeen removed as Prime Min-ister, but his popularity andpublic presence will still en-dure. Victimhood and mar-tyrdom dominate Pakistan’spolitics.

It works both waysOne final point worth em-phasising is that given thisdismissal of an elected PrimeMinister who was held ac-countable for not declaringhis assets and income by theSupreme Court of Pakistan,perhaps elected civilian rep-resentatives can gain theconfidence to pressure thesame court to hold account-able the numerous militarygenerals and officials whohave done the same, andmuch more. That might bethe true indication ofPakistan’s real democratictransition.

S. Akbar Zaidi is a politicaleconomist based in Karachi.He teaches at Columbia Uni-versity in New York, and atthe Institute of Business Ad-ministration in Karachi

Will Pakistan’s elected representatives now pressure the Supreme Court to hold Generals to account?

S. Akbar Zaidi

Where Generals go free, PMs are removed

NEWS ANALYSIS <> Democracy, despite

this disquali�cation

of the PM, is much

stronger in Pakistan

than it has ever been

Amid an ongoing standoff inDoklam with China, DefenceMinister Arun Jaitley told theLok Sabha on Friday that theIndian armed forces werefully equipped to face anycontingency.

Referring to observationsby the Comptroller and Aud-itor General about shortageof ammunition supplies, hesaid it was for a particularperiod and that any shortage

would be expeditiouslymade up. The CAG had criti-cised the Ordnance FactoryBoard for critical deficiencyin availability of ammunitionto the Army. “The armedforces are fully equipped toface any contingency andany shortage of ammunitionwould be expeditiouslymade up,” Mr. Jaitley saidduring Question Hour.

Regarding CAG reports,Mr. Jaitley said as per pro-cedure, after tabling in Par-

liament, they go to the Pub-lic Accounts Committee andif the latter makes some re-commendations, then actionwould be taken.

On ammunition quantity“If any action is to be taken,it will be taken,” Mr. Jaitleysaid, in response to querieson whether any actionwould be taken against offi-cials following observationsin the CAG report.

When a member wanted

Besides, the governmenthad approved a proposal formanufacturing of ammuni-tion for the Army by the In-dian industry, he said. “Sincethe proposal is at RFP stage,grant of permission to anyprivate company for manu-facturing ammunition inpartnership with foreignvendors/companies whichhave been blacklisted/banned for wrong doings/corrupt practices, does notarise,” he added.

to know about the amount ofammunition required andother details, Mr. Jaitley saidit was better in public in-terest not to make any suchdisclosure.

On strategic partnershipsin the defence sector, he saidit was intended to institu-tionalise a “transparent, ob-jective and functional mech-anism” to encourage broaderparticipation of the privatesector in the manufacture ofdefence equipment.

Armed forces equipped to face any crisis: Jaitley Defence Minister tells Lok Sabha that any shortage of ammunition will be expeditiously taken care of


NEW DELHI


CMYK

A ND-NDE




WORLD

Terminally-ill Britishbaby Charlie Gard diesLONDON

Charlie Gard, the terminally-

ill British baby died on Friday.

His parents, Connie Yates and

Chris Gard, had fought a

lengthy legal battle to allow

him to be taken to the U.S.

for treatment for a rare

genetic condition. He died

exactly one week short of his

�rst birthday. AFP

ELSEWHERE

Palestinian shot deadwhile attacking soldiersJERUSALEM

Muslim prayers at a major

Jerusalem shrine ended

peacefully, the Israeli police

said on Friday but violence

continued in the West Bank,

where a Palestinian was killed

attacking soldiers as forces

were on high alert following

two weeks of violence over

the sacred site, holy to both

Muslims and Jews. AP

Qatar govt. refuses to‘outsource foreign policy’DOHA

Qatar has refused to bow to

Saudi-led demands to

“outsource” its foreign policy

to resolve the Gulf crisis, its

government spokesman told

AFP in an interview. Sheikh

Saif bin Ahmed Al-Thani, who

holds ministerial rank,

accused Doha’s adversaries in

the crisis of meddling in

Qatar’s internal affairs. AFP

Brexit transition couldlast until 2022: MinisterLONDON

Britain will try to keep as

many aspects of its EU

membership in place as

possible during a transition

period of up to three years

after Brexit, Finance Minister

Philip Hammond said on

Friday. “Many things will look

similar” even after the

scheduled departure from EU

in March 2019, he added. AFP

The U.S. Senate is sending apackage of stiff financialsanctions against Russia toPresident Donald Trump tosign after the Bill receivedoverwhelming support inCongress. Moscow hasalready responded, orderinga reduction in the number ofU.S. diplomats in Russia andclosing the U.S. embassy’srecreation retreat.

Mr. Trump’s likelihood ofsupporting the measure is aremarkable concession thatthe President has yet to sellhis party on his hopes forforging a warmer relation-ship with Moscow. Mr.Trump’s vow to extend ahand of cooperation to Rus-sian President VladimirPutin has been met with res-istance as sceptical law-makers look to limit the ex-ecutive power’s leeway to goeasy on Moscow over its al-leged meddling in the 2016presidential election.

Veto proofThe Senate passed the Bill,98-2, two days after theHouse pushed the measurethrough by an overwhelmingmargin, 419-3. Both are vetoproof numbers as the WhiteHouse has wavered onwhether the President wouldsign the measure into law.

Never in doubt, however,was a cornerstone of the le-gislation that bars Mr. Trumpfrom easing or waiving theadditional penalties on Rus-sia unless Congress agrees.The provisions were in-cluded to assuage concernsamong U.S. lawmakers thatthe President’s push for bet-ter relations with Moscowmight lead him to relax thepenalties without first secur-ing concessions from theKremlin. The legislation isaimed at punishing Moscow

for interfering in the 2016presidential election and forits military aggression inUkraine and Syria, where theKremlin has backed Presid-ent Bashar al-Assad.

It also imposes financialsanctions against Iran andNorth Korea.

Senator John McCain saidthe Bill’s passage was longoverdue, a jab at Mr. Trumpand the GOP-controlled Con-gress. Mr. McCain, chairmanof the Armed Services Com-mittee, has called Mr. Putin amurderer and a thug. “Overthe last eight months whatprice has Russia paid for at-tacking our elections?” Sen.McCain asked. “Very little”.

Russia’s Foreign Ministryon Friday said it had orderedthe U.S. Embassy in Russia toreduce the number of its dip-lomats by September 1.

Russia will also closedown the embassy’s recre-ational retreat as well aswarehouse facilities.

U.S. sanctions Bill targetsRussia, Iran and North KoreaKremlin orders reduction in number of American diplomats, closes down retreat

Congressional oversight: The U.S. Embassy in Moscow. The legislation bars President DonaldTrump from easing or waiving additional penalties on Russia unless Congress agrees. * AP

Associated Press

Washington A long night of suspense anddrama in the U.S. Senateended early morning on Fri-day with senior RepublicanSenator John McCain break-ing ranks with his party col-leagues and President Don-ald Trump in casting acrucial vote that stalled therepeal of the existing healthcare system in the country,popularly known as theObamacare.

The Senate voted 51 to 49against the repeal legisla-tion, secretly drafted by theRepublican leadershipwithout public hearings orany debate within or withDemocratic senators.

Republican SenatorsSusan Collins from Maineand Lisa Murkowski fromAlaska had already declaredthat they would vote againstthe move, making Mr. Mc-Cain’s vote decisive. Repub-licans have a narrow 52-48majority in the Senate.

Mr. McCain, who travelledfrom Arizona immediatelyafter a surgery to remove abrain tumour last week,walked into the chamber at1.29 a.m. on Friday, andvoted ‘no’ with a thumbsdown sign. “3 Republicansand 48 Democrats let theAmerican people down. As Isaid from the beginning, letObamaCare implode, thendeal. Watch!” Mr. Trumpposted on Twitter.

The Republican push todismantle Obamacare in-volves provisions that aim tocut down or eliminate statesupport for medial care forthe aged and the financiallyweaker sections and under-mining the method ofhealthy, younger cohortcontributing to the kitty tokeep care affordable for theaged and the sick. Republic-ans sought to end the ‘man-dates’ or the provision that

makes it mandatory for all tobuy insurance.

The Republican argumenthas been that these meas-ures will increase choice andmarket competition and re-duce premiums. Critics havepointed out that these pro-posals will lead to millions ofuninsured people and a dra-matic increase in premiumsfor people who are old orsick. It has been estimatedthat 15 million more peoplewould be uninsured nextyear, and 16 million more in2026, if the Republican pro-posals were to be passed.The legislation voted on Fri-day included parts of suchproposals.

Before Mr. McCain voted,Vice-President Mike Pencewas seen talking to him for20 minutes on the floor ofthe Senate chamber. Hethen went out to take aphone call, reportedly fromMr. Trump. He returned tothe chamber within minutesand voted ‘no’.

Presidential pressure The Republican leadershipand the White Housebrought immense pressureon Senators to fall in line.Mr. McCain’s negative votewas also intended to givecover to many other Senat-

ors, who cannot withstandthe ire of the President, ac-cording to reports. The wo-men Senators withstoodpressure , arguing that it willlead to denial of medical ac-cess to many.

In a statement, Mr. Mc-Cain called for bipartisan de-liberations in the Senate.“From the beginning, I havebelieved that Obamacareshould be repealed and re-placed with a solution thatincreases competition,lowers costs, and improvescare for the Americanpeople. The so-called‘skinny repeal’ amendmentthe Senate voted on todaywould not accomplish thosegoals. While the amendmentwould have repealed someof Obamacare’s most bur-densome regulations, itoffered no replacement toactually reform our health-care system,” he said.

He called upon the Re-publican leadership to “re-turn to the correct way of le-gislating and send the Billback to committee, holdhearings, receive input fromboth sides of aisle, heed therecommendations of na-tion's governors, and pro-duce a bill that finally deliv-ers affordable health carefor the American people.”

51 lawmakers, including 3 Republicans, voted against Bill

Varghese K. George

Washington

Decisive vote: Senator John McCain, who travelled fromArizona immediately after a brain surgery, voted ‘no’. * AP

In blow to Trump, Senaterejects Obamacare repeal

Major disaster averted: A commuter train slammed into the end of a platform during the morning rush hour at Barcelona’s Franciastation on Friday. At least 50 people were injured in the crash, which occurred on the �rst day of a strike by railway employees inCatalonia and elsewhere in Spain. The employees are protesting planned job cuts across the railway system. * AFP

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End of the line

U.S. President DonaldTrump’s new communica-tions director exploded thesmouldering tensions at theWhite House into a full-fledged conflagration onThursday, angrily daring Mr.Trump’s Chief of Staff todeny he’s a “leaker” and ex-posing West Wing back-stabbing in language moresuitable to a mobster moviethan a seat of presidentialstability.

In a pull-no-punches, im-promptu CNN interview thathe said was authorised bythe President, AnthonyScaramucci went after Chiefof Staff Reince Priebus ingraphic terms. “The fishstinks from the head down,”he said. “I can tell you twofish that don’t stink, andthat’s me and the President.”

Not even a week into hisnew job, Mr. Scaramucci ac-cused unidentified senior of-ficials of trying to sabotage

him and committing a felonyby leaking information. Butthe personal financial in-formation that he saidsomeone had “leaked”about him had simply beenobtained through a publicrecords request.

Then in an expletive-laden interview publishedby The New Yorker late onThursday, an angry Mr.Scaramucci accused Mr.Priebus of being a “[explet-ive] paranoid schizo-

phrenic”. He also used agraphic sexual reference tomake the point that he be-lieves White House chiefstrategist Steve Bannon usedTrump’s election win toburnish his own reputation.

No regret“They’ll all be fired by me,”Mr. Scaramucci told themagazine. “I fired one guythe other day. I have three tofour people I’ll fire tomor-row. I’ll get to the personwho leaked that to you. Re-ince Priebus if you want toleak something he’ll beasked to resign very shortly.”

By day’s end Mr. Scara-mucci sounded calmer,though not regretful.

“I sometimes use colorfullanguage. I will refrain inthis arena but not give upthe passionate fight for real-DonaldTrump’s agenda.#MAGA,” he tweeted. Thetag at the end stands for Mr.Trump’s “Make AmericaGreat Again”.

Dares Chief of Sta� Reince Preibus to deny he is a ‘leaker’

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Anthony Scaramucci * AP

Scaramucci tirade ignitessmouldering WH tensions

Japan’s hawkish DefenceMinister resigned on Fri-day over a long-brewingscandal involving the hand-ling of military documents,in a major political blow toPrime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Mr. Abe, who has seenhis popularity plummet inrecent weeks over severalcontroversies, apologisedfor the saga. “I apologisefrom the bottom of myheart to the people for thissituation in which a minis-ter resigns,” Mr. Abe toldreporters after Tomomi In-ada quit.

Mr. Abe added he “mustseriously accept thepeople’s severe criticism”.

Ms. Inada’s nearly year-long stint was character-ised by controversy, butshe resigned over criticismof her Ministry’s handlingof log reports filed by Ja-panese peacekeepers inSouth Sudan showingworsening security. An-nouncing her resignation,Ms. Inada said: “I feel akeen responsibility.”

Japan’sdefencechief resignsAgence France-Presse

Tokyo

Sri Lanka will proceed withthe billion-dollar sale of adeep sea port to China des-pite protests in an effort toslash its foreign debt, PrimeMinister Ranil Wickremes-inghe said on Friday.

The Hambantota portstraddles the world’s busiesteast-west shipping routeand several countries, in-cluding neighbouring India,had raised concerns Chinacould use it for its own milit-ary needs.

The port, built in 2010with a massive loan fromChina and named afterformer President MahindaRajapaksa, has failed to gen-erate enough business to

even pay staff salaries. Portworkers had called for astrike on Friday to protestthe deal, but cancelled itafter the government usedtough laws to outlaw indus-trial action.

Mr. Wickremesinghe saidthe government would signoff Saturday on the $1.12 bil-lion deal with China Mer-chants Port Holdings tojointly manage the facility.Cash from the firm’s major-ity stake will be used to re-pay part of the island na-tion’s huge foreign debt.

An Opposition factionloyal to Mr. Rajapaksascuttled a parliamentary de-bate on the sale on Friday,calling it a move to privatisethe country’s assets.

Sri Lanka set to signHambantota port deal

It will slash our foreign debt, says PM

Agence France-Presse

Colombo

Venezuela careened towardsa showdown on Fridaybetween anti-governmentprotesters and securityforces, as the death toll frommonths of demonstrationsagainst embattled PresidentNicolas Maduro mounted —as did international concernabout the spiralling violence.

The Opposition has calledfresh nationwide demonstra-tions in defiance of a newgovernment ban on ralliesahead of Sunday’s controver-sial vote to elect a body to re-write the Constitution.

Four months of protestsagainst Mr. Maduro havealready claimed 113 lives, ac-cording to prosecutors —eight of them during a two-day general strike that ended

on Thursday. Among thedead was a police officerwho was shot in the head inthe northwestern town ofEjido, prosecutors said on

Friday. Tensions went up anotch on Thursday when Mr.Maduro issued a decree ban-ning protests and warningthat anyone who marches

against his planned electionof a “Constituent Assembly”risks up to 10 years in prison.

The Opposition coalition,the Democratic UnityRoundtable, shot back onTwitter: “The regime de-clared we can't demon-strate... We will respond withthe TAKING OFVENEZUELA.”

It called mass protests forFriday, Saturday and Sunday.“The whole country musttell the world this Constitu-ent Assembly has no legitim-acy,” Opposition lawmakerFreddy Guevara told a pressconference.

Fear of open conflictMr. Maduro countered by ur-ging the Opposition to“abandon the road toinsurrection”.

He urged immediate dia-logue, but signalled he wasnot backing down. Any talks,he said, should happen “be-fore the election and installa-tion of the ConstituentAssembly”.

Fears of open civil conflicthave prompted thousands ofVenezuelans to join an ex-odus into neighbouringColombia.

International concern hasmounted, with the UnitedStates, European Union,United Nations and majorLatin American nations ur-ging Mr. Maduro to halt hisplan. The United States hasimposed sanctions on 13 cur-rent and former Venezuelanofficials to try to force achange — measures Mr. Ma-duro said were “illegal” and“insolent”.

Showdown looms in crisis-hit Venezuela Opposition calls for fresh nationwide protests ahead of Sunday’s vote to elect a Constituent Assembly


Caracas

Out of control: Four months of anti-government protests haveclaimed 113 lives. According to prosecutors, eight of them diedduring a two-day general strike that ended on Thursday. * AP

A man killed one personand wounded several oth-ers in a knife attack at a su-permarket in the Germancity of Hamburg on Fridaybefore being detained bythe police.

“There is no valid in-formation yet on themotive or the number ofpeople injured” by theman, who “entered a su-permarket and suddenlybegan attacking custom-ers”, said the police,adding that one victim diedfrom severe wounds. Bild

published a photo of the al-leged attacker in the backof a police car with ablood-soaked bag over hishead, and reported that hecried “Allahu Akbar”.

One dead inHamburgknife attackAgence France-Presse

Hamburg

North Korea launched aballistic missile on Friday,just hours after the U.S. andJapan moved to step upsanctions againstPyongyang following itsrecent test of anintercontinental ballisticmissile (ICBM) capable ofreaching parts of the UnitedStates.

South Korean, U.S. andJapanese monitors alldetected the unusual late-night test, with JapanesePrime Minister Shinzo Abesaying the missile may havelanded within Japan’smaritime exclusiveeconomic zone.

The South Koreanmilitary said the missile waslaunched shortly beforemidnight, and Japanesemonitors said it flew for 45minutes before splashingdown in the Sea of Japan.

The launch came a dayafter North Koreacelebrated what it calls“Victory Day” — theanniversary of the end ofthe Korean War. Pyongyangregularly times its missiletests to coincide withsymbolic dates. There wasno immediate confirmationof the type of missile, butthe flight time was longerthan that of the ICBM theNorth successfully testedfor the first time on July 4.

Pyongyang replies by�ring ballistic missileAgence France-Presse

Seoul


CMYK

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Bharti Airtel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413.30. . . . . . . . -2.75

Bosch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23804.40. . . -178.20

BPCL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475.60. . . . . . . . -1.60

Cipla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566.10. . . . . . . . -2.60

Coal India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251.55. . . . . . . . -3.70

Dr Reddys Lab . . . . . . . .. . . . 2464.95. . . -155.40

Eicher Motors. . . . . . . . .. 29388.40. . . . . 286.15

GAIL (India). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379.95. . . . . . . . . 1.25

HCL Tech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 893.10. . . . . . . . . 2.85

HDFC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1785.35. . . . . . . 57.15

HDFC Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1778.50. . . . . . -11.15

Hero MotoCorp . . . . . .. . . . 3630.30. . . . . . -73.25

Hindalco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215.85. . . . . . . . -5.40

Hind Unilever . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1153.85. . . . . . -18.05

Indiabulls HFL . . . . . . . .. . . . 1175.50. . . . . . . 16.65

ICICI Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296.15. . . . . . -11.05

IndusInd Bank . . . . . . . .. . . . 1628.35. . . . . . . 21.65

Bharti Infratel . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 403.90. . . . . . . . -7.15

Infosys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 997.35. . . . . . . 26.30

Indian OilCorp . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 367.80. . . . . . . . -1.10

ITC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291.55. . . . . . . . . 3.00

Kotak Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1012.70. . . . . . . 14.55

L&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1161.40. . . . . . -20.65

Lupin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1063.90. . . . . . -46.15

M&M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1392.20. . . . . . . . -6.00

Maurti Suzuki . . . . . . . . .. . . . 7630.45. . . . . . . 30.85

NTPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163.90. . . . . . . . -1.50

ONGC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164.75. . . . . . . . . 1.85

PowerGrid Corp . . . . .. . . . . . 214.65. . . . . . . . -2.00

Reliance Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1594.45. . . . . . . . -0.35

State Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299.10. . . . . . . . . 0.75

Sun Pharma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550.80. . . . . . -21.30

Tata Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445.85. . . . . . . . . 0.45

Tata Motors DVR. . . .. . . . . . 261.95. . . . . . . . -0.35

Tata Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82.15. . . . . . . . . 0.15

Tata Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551.90. . . . . . . . -9.35

TCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2484.30. . . . . . . . . 2.60

Tech Mahindra . . . . . . .. . . . . . 381.30. . . . . . . . . 4.05

UltraTech Cement. .. . . . 4024.20. . . . . . -18.75

Vedanta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274.60. . . . . . . . -5.30

Wipro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289.05. . . . . . . . -0.65

YES Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1841.85. . . . . . . 56.00

Zee Entertainment . . . . . . 540.60. . . . . . . . . 1.30

EXCHANGE RATES

Indicative direct rates in rupees a unitexcept yen at 4 p.m. on July 28

CURRENCY TT BUY TT SELL

US Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 63.95. . . . . . . 64.27

Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 74.90. . . . . . . 75.28

British Pound. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 83.70. . . . . . . 84.12

Japanese Yen (100) . .. . 57.48. . . . . . . 57.77

Chinese Yuan . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 9.48. . . . . . . . . 9.53

Swiss Franc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 65.75. . . . . . . 66.08

Singapore Dollar . . . . . . .. . 47.01. . . . . . . 47.24

Canadian Dollar. . . . . . . . .. . 51.00. . . . . . . 51.25

Malaysian Ringitt . . . . . .. . 14.94. . . . . . . 15.02

Source:Indian Bank

BULLION RATES CHENNAI

July 28 rates in rupees with previousrates in parentheses

Retail Silver (1g) . . . . . . . . . . . 41.00. . . . . (41.30)

22 ct gold (1 g) . .. . . . . . . . . . . 2,723. . . . . (2,730)

market watch

28-07-2017 % CHANGE

Sensex dddddddddddddddddddddd 32,310 ddddddddddddd-0.23

US Dollardddddddddddddddddddd 64.15 ddddddddddddd-0.67

Gold ddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 29,300 ddddddddddddd-0.51

Brent oil ddddddddddddddddddddd 52.46 ddddddddddddddddd 2.4

Commerce Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Fridaysought inputs from the aca-demia on three topics — For-eign Trade Policy (FTP) re-view, the proposed revampof manufacturing and indus-trial policies and India’s pro-posal at the World Trade Or-ganisation (WTO) onservices sectorliberalisation.

Delivering the convoca-tion address at the Indian In-stitute of Foreign Trade(IIFT), Ms. Sitharaman saidshe would like to receive in-puts from the students andfaculty as soon as possibleon the FTP 2015-20 so that acomprehensively reviewedFTP can be released bySeptember.

In the backdrop of theCentre working on a newmanufacturing and indus-trial policy to increase thecontribution of the manufac-turing sector in the coun-try’s GDP to 25% by 2020from the current level ofabout 16%, the Minister saidas the (global) Industrial Re-volution 4.0 is happening,the country needs more re-search on this emerging areashowing how Artificial Intel-ligence (AI), robotics and In-ternet of Things (IoT) willimpact India’s manufactur-ing and services.

It is learnt that India’snew manufacturing and in-dustrial policies will bringmanufacturing and servicescloser to ensure an increasein the contribution of ser-vices to manufacturing.Since India is already a part

of many ‘global valuechains’, the two new policieswill aim to make India aglobal manufacturing hub initems including textile, phar-maceuticals and electronics.The Centre is working onthese new policies to alignthe current manufacturingpolicy (of 2011) and the in-dustrial policy (of 2009)with the Fourth IndustrialRevolution that includes AI,robotics and IoT.

TFS pactReferring to India’s proposalat the WTO on a Trade Facil-itation in Services (TFS)Agreement for easingnorms, including on move-ment of foreign profession-als and skilled workersacross borders for short-term work, Ms. Sitharamansaid during a recent visit tothe WTO headquarters, shewas informed that the TFSproposal was gaining trac-tion. She said, therefore, theCentre for WTO Studies atthe IIFT and others from the

academia should contributeon what more can India doin the area of global servicestrade.

In her address, Com-merce Secretary Rita Teaotiasaid, “India needs to gener-ate good quality manpowerin large numbers at all stagesof the knowledge pyramid ifit has to become globallycompetitive in the manufac-turing sector.” She saidmany policy-level challengeshave retarded growth in themanufacturing sector in In-dia.

These include, amongothers, difficult business en-vironment, infrastructuralconstraints, including peakpower deficit, labour marketlimitations including a sur-feit of labour legislation(s)and trade unionism as wellas the difficulty in availingcommercial bank credit par-ticularly for small firms.

Earlier, Ms. Sitharamansaid a new campus of IIFTwill be opened soon in Kak-inada (Andhra Pradesh).

Centre seeks inputs on trade,industrial policies, servicesAcademia has to do research in emerging areas: Sitharaman

ARUN S

New Delhi

Manufacturing power: ‘India needs good quality manpower inlarge numbers to become competitive in manufacturing.’

Paddy, pulses and othercrops are being sown on75% of the average sowingarea so far in the kharif sea-son with coverage ofpaddy, pulses, cotton andsugarcane higher, the Agri-culture Ministry said.

75% of kharifsowing doneso far: Govt.PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

NEW DELHI

With the stock markets hit-ting record highs, state-runinsurance behemoth Life In-surance Corporation of India(LIC) netted a profit of₹6,100 crore from its equityinvestments for the April-June period, a 145% jumpover the same period of theprevious year, its ChairmanV.K. Sharma told reporters.

The 30-share Sensex hasgained 21.4% in the currentcalendar year and is amongthe best performing equityindexes across regions in2017. In the quarter endedJune 30, the Sensex gained1,301.11 points, or 4.39%.

LIC has invested about₹15,000 crore in the currentfinancial year, Mr. Sharmasaid.

“You will see double-digitgrowth in equity invest-ments in this financial year[as compared to the previousfiscal],” Mr. Sharma said.

LIC had invested ₹43,800crore in the previous finan-cial year in the equitysegment.

LIC is the largest domesticfinancial institution in the

equity market with exposureacross sectors. It holds signi-ficant stakes including LICHousing Finance (40.3%),TCM (23.7%), Simplex Realty(22.9%), Corporation Bank(18.9%), ITC (16.2%), L&T(15.7%), Nalco (14.5%), NTPC(12.1%), Tata Power (12.3%)and Tata Steel (11.9%).

LIC is also among thelargest shareholders in thebanking segment with largestakes in Bank of India, Alla-habad Bank, Central Bank ofIndia, Axis Bank, IDBI Bank,Canara Bank, Punjab Na-

tional Bank and Dena Bankamong others.

When asked whether LICwould participate in the pub-lic issues of state-run entit-ies, Mr. Sharma said the cor-poration would definitelyparticipate in the public is-sue of GIC Re — the state-runreinsurer.

He also said the insuranceregulator had asked LIC tocut its stake below 15%wherever the investmentwas not ‘strategic’ in nature.

LIC said it expects to postdouble-digit growth in new

business premium in thecurrent financial year.

Claims in flood-hit areasMr. Sharma said LIC hadtaken several measures tobeef up the claim settlementprocess in the flood affectedareas of Gujarat and Assam.

“The death certificate isnot insisted on and LIC willaccept the certificate fromauthorised government offi-cials or the proof that theclaimant has received ex-gra-tia from the government asalternate proof of death.”

LIC had also extended latefees on premium for 6months and said duplicatepolicies would be issued freeof cost to customers whohad lost their policies.

“In respect of social secur-ity schemes including Pra-dhan Mantri Jeevan JyotiBima Yojana and PradhanMantri Jan Dhan Yojana, theIndian Banks’ Association(IBA) and the partner banksfor PMJJBY are being in-formed about the specialprocedures and relaxationsin claim requirements so asto expedite the settlement ofclaims,” LIC said.

LIC nets ₹6,100 cr. from stocksState-owned insurer’s equity investments yield 145% pro�t growth in April-June

Windfall gains: LIC MD Usha Sangwan, left, and ChairmanSharma announcing investment gains on Friday. * PAUL NOROHNA

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Mumbai

ITC will foray into fruits, ve-getables and other perish-ables segment, said chair-man Y.C. Deveshwar.

“Investments are underway to create climate-con-trolled infrastructure for anefficient supply-chain,” hesaid addressing sharehold-ers on Friday.

Elaborating, he said thiswould help create jobs in themanufacturing sector whilepreventing agriculturewaste. Investments had alsobeen made in farming foraromatic and medicinalplants in line with ITC’s fo-cus on agri-based health andwellness products.

Frozen prawnsThe firm had already un-veiled frozen prawns underits ‘Master Chef ’ brand,which would soon be rolledout nationally.

Mr. Deveshwar said ITCwas now looking for a CEO

who would build a plan for ahealthcare venture. ITCwould build multi-specialityhospitals where doctors’ in-come would not be linked tothe hospital’s revenue, butwith the patient’s well-be-ing. He, however, declinedto divulge details.

Mr. Deveshwar said theGST rollout had been “sur-prisingly smooth”, barringsome initial hiccups, and hedid not foresee any issuesdue to destocking by whole-salers, especially if con-

sumer demand was ‘good’.

Chocolates, coffee beansCEO Sanjiv Puri said ITC

had released for retail intro-duction its chocolates andcoffee beans after incubat-ing them within its own out-lets. A board puzzle madeout of child-friendly plasticwas now being incubated asan early learning tool by theeducation and stationery di-vision. “ITC will outgrow in-dustry in its new FMCG busi-ness,” Mr. Puri said.

Company scouts for CEO to build multi-speciality hospitals


KOLKATA

Food fad: ITC chairman Y.C. Deveshwar,left, and executivedirector Rajiv Tandon addressing shareholders on Friday. * PTI

ITC to foray into perishablesby adding vegetables, fruits

Better performance of its in-frastructure and financialservices businesses helpedLarsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T)report 46% growth in con-solidated net profit for thefirst quarter ending June 30,2017.

The engineering and con-struction major’s consolid-ated net profit stood at ₹893crore for the first quarter ascompared with ₹610 crore inthe year earlier period.

During the period, grossrevenue rose 10% to ₹23,990crore. International revenueat ₹8,233 crore constituted34% of the total revenue, thecompany said.

New ordersOn a consolidated basis, thecompany won new ordersworth ₹26,352 crore despitea challenging business envir-onment. International or-ders at ₹7,885 crore consti-tuted 30% of the total orderinflow. Major orders duringthe quarter were secured byinfrastructure segment, thefirm said.

Consolidated order book

of the group stood at₹2,62,860 crore as on June30, 2017, higher by 2% ascompared with the yearearlier period. Internationalorder book constituted 26%of the total order book.

Infrastructure segmentachieved revenue of ₹10,539crore, up 16% driven by bet-ter project execution intransportation infrastruc-ture, smart world commu-nication and water and efflu-ent treatment businesses.

International revenueconstituted 32% of the totalcustomer revenue of the seg-

ment during the quarter.The infrastructure seg-

ment secured orders worth₹14,961 crore during thequarter ended June 30, 2017.International orders contrib-uted to 30% of the total or-der inflow of the segmentduring the quarter.

The power segment re-ported revenue growth of2%, heavy engineering busi-ness reported 5% drop inrevenue.

Revenue from electricaland automation segmentrose 21% while hydrocarbonsegment grew 19%. IT andTechnology services seg-ment reported revenuegrowth of 8%, while the fin-ancial services segmentgrew 10% in revenue.

In the coming quarters,the company said, its focuswill be on selective order in-take, working capital reduc-tion, cost optimisation andproductivity enhancementthrough digitalization.

“The company is optim-istic of its growth aspirationsin the medium term as theeconomic outlook im-proves,” L&T said in astatement.

Infrastructure, �nancial services aid earnings growth


MUMBAI

The company won new ordersworth ₹26,352 crore despitea challenging environment.

L&T Q1 pro�t rises 46%

The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) is expected to cut in-terest rates when it meetson August 2, responding toan inflation rate runningwell below target, but animproving economy islikely to keep it on the side-lines for a long time there-after, a Reuters pollshowed.

A significant moderationin retail inflation over thepast three months has rein-forced calls for furthermonetary policy easingfrom the central bank,which changed its stance toneutral from accommodat-ive at the start of the year.

Weak consumer spend-ing following the govern-ment’s ban on high-valuecurrency notes late lastyear as well as lower foodprices have kept inflationbelow the RBI’s 4% mid-term target for the pasteight months.

Inflation eased to itsslowest pace in more thanfive years in June.

RBI may cutrate on lowerin�ation: pollReuters

BENGALURU

The Centre’s ‘In-dradhanush’ scheme to re-capitalise public sectorbanks (PSBs) based on theirperformance was not imple-mented in a manner envis-aged, according to a reportby the Comptroller andAuditor General of India(CAG)

According to the CAG re-port tabled in Parliament onFriday, as per the scheme, aportion of the recapitalisa-tion was to be based on thebank’ performance. How-ever, this was not followedduring disbursal of funds.

Rising NPAsThe CAG report said grossNPAs with PSBs had risensharply in recent years,from ₹2.27 lakh crore as ofMarch 31, 2014 to about ₹5.4lakh crore at the end ofMarch 2016.

The parameters used todetermine whether banksrequired capital changed

from year to year and insome years the rationale forcapitalising banks was noteven recorded. The audit re-port said the scheme’s tar-get of raising ₹1.1 lakh crorefrom the markets by 2018-19was not likely to be met.

“Audit noticed that the es-timation of the parametersbased on which capital wasinfused altered from year toyear and often within differ-ent tranches of the sameyear,” the report, an audit ofbank recapitalisation effortsby the government between2008-09 and 2016-17, found.

“Audit also noticed that insome cases the rationale fordistribution of GOI capitalamong different PSBs (Pub-lic Sector Banks) was not onrecord.”

The report added thatsaid some banks that did notqualify for additional capitalas per the decided norms,were infused with capital,and in some cases, bankswere infused with more cap-ital than required.

‘Scheme for banks notapplied as envisaged’

Recapitalisation norms not met: CAG


NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court on Fri-day dismissed the appealsof budget carrier SpiceJetchallenging the Delhi HighCourt verdict asking it todeposit ₹579 crore in con-nection with a share trans-fer dispute with its previ-ous owner KalanithiMaran.

“We are rejecting (theappeals),” a bench com-prising Justices R.F. Nar-iman and S.K. Kaul saidwhile upholding the Julythree judgement of thehigh court. The appealswere filed in the apex courtby the airline and its co-founder Ajay Singh.

A division bench of thehigh court had asked Spice-Jet to deposit the money,saying, “there is nothingworthwhile” in the peti-tions to show its financeswere precarious or that itscash position was sostretched that it could notcomply with its singlejudge order asking it to de-posit the amount.

SpiceJetmust deposit₹579 cr.: SCPRESS TRUST OF INDIA

NEW DELHI


BUSINESSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



IN BRIEF

KVB net pro�t inches upamid higher provisioning CHENNAI

Karur Vysya Bank Ltd. (KVB)

reported 1.37% growth in its

standalone net pro�t for the

�rst quarter ended June 30,

2017, at ₹148 crore against

₹146 crore in the year earlier

period on higher

provisioning. During the

quarter, KVB’s gross non-

performing assets (NPAs)

more than doubled to ₹1,807

crore (₹702 crore) and net

NPAs surged to ₹1,189 crore

(₹306 crore). The provision

coverage ratio was 57%.

Panel defers meeting onAir India disinvestmentNEW DELHI

The Parliamentary Standing

Committee on Transport,

Tourism and Culture, which

was scheduled to meet on

Friday to get details from the

Centre on Air India’s

disinvestment, postponed its

meeting to August 8. The

committee had asked the

Ministry of Civil Aviation, the

Department of Investment

and Public Asset

Management and Air India to

share details on the

government’s decision to go

in for a stake sale in Air India.

Samsung hopes to leadrefrigeration segment CHENNAI

Samsung India Electronics

Pvt. Ltd. aims to become a

leading player in the overall

domestic refrigeration

segment soon, said a

company o�cial. “Currently,

we have an all India market

share of 30.5% in

refrigerators. When we reach

35%, we will become a

leading player overall,” said

Rishi Suri, director, consumer

electronics, Samsung India.

“We hope to achieve it by

Diwali,” he said.

India’s financial sector regu-lators should stop hinderingideas in the financial techno-logy sector and instead optfor a regulatory sandbox ap-proach to nurture innovativefinancial technology applica-tions, Niti Aayog CEO Amit-abh Kant said on Friday.

“It is very important thatwe allow technology tomove forward and the regu-lators don’t become restrict-ors, which very often theydo, but become facilitatorsand creators,” Mr. Kant said,stressing that the role of In-dia’s regulators needed toevolve as they often becamerestrictors of growth.

A regulatory sandbox isan experimental oversightmechanism for innovativeproducts and services thatdo not fall into an existingregulatory regime or cutacross traditional regulators’domains. Such innovationsare permitted to operate fora limited period of time at alimited scale to understandtheir efficacy and implica-tions, so that the best altern-atives for regulation can beevolved based on concernsthat emerge.

‘Consumer-centric lens’“The sandbox needs to bedesigned to adopt this uni-fied consumer-centric lensthrough a single integratedsandbox, serving all four fin-ancial sector regulators…technology will always beahead of regulation,” saidMr. Kant, speaking at a CIIevent on making India aglobal fintech hub.

He was referring to theReserve Bank of India (RBI),the Securities ExchangeBoard of India (SEBI), the In-surance Regulatory and De-velopment Authority of In-dia (IRDAI) and the PensionFund Regulatory and Devel-

opment Authority (PFRDA).“The (sandbox) option

can be a great way to unlockinnovations for mass publicadoption, because a regulat-ory sandbox balances thetwin objectives of nurturingfinancial innovation andsafeguarding consumer in-terests,” the Niti Aayog CEOsaid.

Stressing that there areover 600 start-ups in thecountry in the financial tech-nology (fintech) space, Mr.Kant said that letting themoperate in a ‘live, but con-trolled environment withsome regulations relaxed…will provide a solid evidencebase’ on their strengths andweaknesses.

More than 30 of thosestart-ups are focused on thepeer-to-peer lending spacealone and their market po-tential is expected to reach$5 billion by 2020. Severalstart-ups are working inareas such as virtual curren-cies like Bitcoins, Block-chain-based settlements andso on. The total fintech mar-ket in India is estimated tobe worth $8 billion and is ex-pected to grow to about $14billion by 2020.

“With more than $17 bil-lion funding and over 1,400

deals in 2016, FinTech is oneof the most promising sec-tors globally. With nearly$270 million funding in2016, India is rankedamongst the top ten FinTechmarkets globally,” said a CII-Deloitte report on the sub-ject released on Friday.

Globally, regulatory sand-boxes have been introducedin the U.K., Singapore, Aus-tralia, Malaysia and UAE.Each country has a certain“target group” for whichsandboxing is done. Allthese countries have so farcreated a sandboxed envir-onment to support financialinstitutions (FIs) and fintechfirms, the report noted.

CryptocurrenciesIn India, for instance, sincecryptocurrencies are not re-cognised officially, virtualcurrencies stored in e-wal-lets are exposed to hackingand users are exposed to alack of recourse in case ofany problems or disputes.The RBI has been cautioningusers about the risks of dab-bling in virtual currenciesthat it does not recognise,since 2013.

The finance ministry hasset up a panel to study regu-lation of virtual currencies.

‘Regulators shouldn’trestrain innovation’Sandbox approach needed to help nurture �ntech: Kant

Freeing innovators: A sandbox can be a great way to unlockinnovations for mass adoption, says Kant. * GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCK

Vikas Dhoot

NEW DELHI The latent effect of demon-etisation, a halt in offtake ofcement ahead of the Goodsand Services Tax (GST) rol-lout and a severe river sandshortage in Tamil Nadu allcombined to put pressureon the profits of The IndiaCements Ltd. (ICL) duringthe quarter ended June 2017.

ICL’s profit after tax de-creased to ₹26.44 crore inthe first quarter from ₹43.98crore in the year-earlierperiod. The company repor-ted a total income of ₹1,466crore in the quarter(₹1,205.72 crore).

The steep increase inprices of pet coke and coalsince March and the rise instaff cost due to ESOPs (em-ployee stock option plan)provision further added tothe pressure. The figures,

however, are not compar-able. For June 2017, thenumbers also included thoseof the merged entities ofTrinetra Cements andTrishul Concrete Products.

N. Srinivasan, vice-chair-man and managing director,told the media on Fridaythat ICL had lost a substan-tial volume in Tamil Nadu,

its main market, due tosevere sand shortage.“Things are back to normalin Tamil Nadu in the last oneweek or so,” he added. Thehigher net plant realisation(₹3,604 a tonne in Q1 com-pared with ₹3,430 in thepreceding quarter) helpedmitigate the cost-push effectsomewhat, he said.

Positive growthMr. Srinivasan said July hadbeen “decent” for the com-pany. He expected the cur-rent quarter to be much bet-ter. Stating that the “worst isbehind us,” he indicated thecement industry would postpositive growth this year.

His optimism stemmedfrom his expectation thatthe government would stepup spending in infrastruc-ture-related areas in thecoming months.

Sand shortage in T.N., higher input costs added to pressure

K.T. Jagannathan

CHENNAI

N. Srinivasan

India Cements’ net slips asdemonetisation, GST hurt

IL&FS Transportation onFriday said it had emergedas the lowest bidder for the₹4,899-crore Zojila passtunnel in Jammu and Kash-mir. Last year, the RoadTransport and HighwaysMinistry had ordered “re-bidding” for the projectawarded to IRB Infrastruc-ture. The project aims atproviding all-weather con-nectivity between Kashmirvalley and Ladakh, whichremains cut off from therest of the world duringwinters due to heavysnowfall.

“We wish to inform thatthe company has emergedas the lowest bidder for theaforesaid (Zojila tunnel)project,” IL&FS Transport-ation said. The projectwould be “constructed in aperiod of 2,555 days (7years),” the company saidin a filing to the BSE.

IL&FS winsJ&K tunnelproject rebidPRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi

Fast Track Pvt Ltd., whichruns cab services, is plan-ning to raise about $50 mil-lion from investors by dilut-ing the promoters’ stake, atop company official said.“The money will be de-ployed for expanding opera-tions and to take on cab ag-gregators such as Ola andUber,” said M. Prabhu,chairman, Fast Track.

Stake dilution“We are not funded likethem (Ola and Uber). We areplanning to dilute our stakeby 51-60% to meet our ambi-tious growth. Even, if we get50% of the valuation, it will

be sufficient,” he said.Company president and

managing director R.C. Am-bigapathy said: “We havenow decided to explore rais-ing funds from investors. Wehave started doing due dili-gence and very soon we willtake a call.”

Fast Track to take onOla, Uber with $50 mn

Cab operator eyes funds to expand


CHENNAI

M. Prabhu

Adrenalin eSystems Ltd., agroup company of IntellectDesign Arena Ltd., is plan-ning to raise funds for mar-ket expansion, said a topofficial.

“We will be raisingmoney for product innova-tion, market expansion andtalent acquisition,” saidKrishna V. Giri, chairmanand CEO, Adrenalin eSys-tems. “Talks are on and wewill raise funds over thenext six months.”

The Chennai-based firmoffers comprehensive hu-man capital management(HCM) solutions to firmsfrom ‘hire to retire.’ It is azero-debt company in

which Intellect DesignArena holds about 40%stake.

“We are currently work-ing towards positioning Ad-renalin in the premiumHCM product segment,” hesaid. “Adrenalin will be ex-panding its overseas foot-print by entering Australiaand Japan and in increasingthe brand presence inMiddle East and Asia Pacificregion.”

Adrenalin also plans to in-vest in product innovationto enhance user interface,predictive analytics, gami-fication and machine learn-ing. Last year, Adrenalin re-gistered a turnover of ₹100crore, which it plans todouble by 2020.

Adrenalin eSystemseyes capital to growFirm to expand overseas footprint N. Anand

CHENNAI


CMYK

A ND-NDE




SPORT

Warner hitsback at CA SYDNEY

Australia vice-captain DavidWarner has accused CricketAustralia of wrongly blamingplayers for not resolving abitter pay dispute saga whichthreatens next month’s Testtour of Bangladesh. “ThisBaggy Green (cap) means theworld to me,” he wrote onInstagram late on Thursday.“We offered $24 million ofour money to grassroots as apeace plan. It was ignored.We asked for mediation twicebefore and it was rejected.Now CA says there is a crisis,”Warner said. AFP

IN BRIEF

Sri Lanka vs India: 1st Test:Sony Six, Sony Six HD, SonyTEN 3 & Sony TEN 3 HD, 9.45a.m.England vs South Africa:3rd Test: SS Select 1 & Select1 HD, 3.30 p.m.Formula One: Hungarian GP,qualifying session, SS Select2 & Select 2 HD, 5.30 p.m.Ultimate Table Tennis: SSSelect 2 & Select 2 HD, 7.40p.m.ProKabaddi League: STARSports 2 & 2 HD, 7.50 p.m.

TV PICKS

A sunny Friday featuring arain-interlude ebbed awaywith a rainbow in the sky. In-side the Galle InternationalStadium, India’s fortunesmirrored the inter-play ofnature. It featured SriLanka’s resistance beforeVirat Kohli’s men secured a309-run first-innings lead.

When the third day of thefirst Test drew to a close, thevisitor, powered by Kohli’sunbeaten 76 and AbhinavMukund’s 81, scored 189 forthree in the second inningsand was ahead by 498 runs.

There was no encore fromfirst-innings centurionsShikhar Dhawan andCheteshwar Pujara. The duofell cheaply but Abhinavstayed at the crease andoffered the exaggerated leaveoutside the off-stump, thesharp cut and a straight bat.Dhawan, in trying to cut off-spinner Dilruwan Perera,found the ball a touch lateand chipped straight topoint.

Pujara on-drove a few andas dark clouds cast a shadowon the Indian Ocean andmoved over the ground, thebatsman flicked Lahiru Ku-mara straight to a jugglingKusal Mendis at leg-gully.

Just as the clock turned2.09 p.m., the tropicalshowers commenced. It wasan intense but short spell for-cing the players to run for

cover. The skies cleared in abit, tea was sipped duringthe intervening period andwhen play resumed at 3.55p.m., Abhinav and Kohliwere unperturbed.

The drives were on view,Kohli’s laced with his charac-teristic punch, and Abhinav’sa reflection of a southpaw’spenchant for the off-side.Nuwan Pradeep felt the heatof Kohli’s bat and when hebounced Abhinav, theopener moved a touch insideand lashed it away to thesquare-leg fence.

Together, Kohli and Abh-inav added 133 runs in athird-wicket partnership thatended when the latter felllbw to part-timer DanushkaGunathilaka.

The alliance helped Indiapursue a mammoth lead thatwill hurt Sri Lanka in thefourth innings, provided theweather gods don’t getfinicky.

Earlier, India bowled outSri Lanka for 291 in thesecond over after lunch. Re-suming at 154 for five andtrailing India’s 600, SriLanka sought assurancefrom Angelo Mathews (83)and Perera (92 n.o.).

The batsmen refused to bebogged down in their 62-runsixth-wicket partnership.Mathews cut Umesh Yadavand pulled R. Ashwin whoalso watched Perera dancedown the track and despatchone above the ropes.

Against the run of play,Mathews, in trying to loftRavindra Jadeja over the in-

field, holed out to Kohli atshort-cover. At 205 for six,Sri Lanka was technicallyseven wickets down as the in-jured Asela Gunaratne can-not play.

The gloomy scenario didnot hinder Perera. He waswatchful against the spinnersas Ashwin tested him withdip and turn, while Jadeja

was accurate. But when anopportunity arose, Pererahad no hesitation in cashingin.

Ashwin was hoisted downthe ground and pulled overmid-wicket and when ad-judged lbw to Jadeja, Perera,then on 38, opted for a re-view that showed the deliv-ery missing the stumps.

Skipper Rangana Herathwhittled some runs throughthe reverse-sweep. The samestroke undid him, as a Jadejadelivery skimmed the bats-man’s glove and lobbed toAjinkya Rahane.

Undaunted by the sight ofretreating partners, Pereraplayed his shots. He cutUmesh Yadav fine, toppled

under the riposte — a nastybouncer, got up and upper-cut the next delivery for four.

Perera then slog-sweptJadeja for four and six, whilefor India, debutant HardikPandya got his maiden Testwicket, castling Pradeep.

When No. 10 Lahiru Ku-mara became Jadeja’s thirdvictim, Perera was stranded

in the nineties. Like the fan wearing a La-

sith Malinga-inspired golden-hued wig and holding aloftthe Sri Lanka flag all throughthe morning session,

Perera played the lonehand on the pitch. An effortthat marginally delayed In-dia’s strangle-hold of thecontest.

Abhinav, Kohli tighten the noose around Sri Lanka With a lead of 498 runs and seven second-innings wickets in hand, India will look to �nish the job in quick time

Standing �rm: Dilruwan Perera played the lone hand for Sri Lanka on the third day and hisunbeaten 92 checked India’s charge to some extent. * AP

INDIA IN LANKA

K.C. Vijaya Kumar

Galle

Dilruwan Perera helped SriLanka stretch its first in-nings. The off-spinner saidthe Galle pitch in the firstTest isn’t the usual surfaceassociated with the venue.

“There isn’t too muchturn. This is not the typicalGalle pitch. Even on Sat-urday, I don’t think we canlook forward to that muchof a turn.

“However, this pitch isvery slow. When the ball isnew, it was turning a bit.When the ball gets old, it’seasy to score runs,” Pereratold the media on Friday.

Perera reiterated that heworked hard on his batting.“Everyday, I try to improvemy batting because teamneeds runs from me when Ibat at number seven oreight.

“It’s disappointing tomiss a century and this is aTest century.”

About the aggressive wayhe batted, Perera explained:“I was batting according tothe situation. I had just twowickets around me. So I was

trying to get runs off everypossible ball but I didn’twant to lose my wicket.”

Asked about chasing amassive target in the fourthinnings, Perera replied: “Wewill have to look at what tar-get we are going to get andthen take a decision. Weshouldn’t think of a targetbut bat the way we can bat.”

‘Batted accordingto the situation’ Special Correspondent

GALLEAbhinav Mukund is asporadic presence atop theIndian batting tree.

Ever since his Test debutin the West Indies in 2011, in-cluding that game, theopener had played just sixmatches before getting an-other chance here. In thefirst innings, Abhinav wasdismissed for 12 but he madeamends in the second dig,scoring 81, and sharing a vitalstand with Virat Kohli.

The Tamil Nadu south-paw, a prolific batsman at thedomestic level, spoke aboutbeing patient for acomeback, the phase hewanted to quit the game, andthe agony of dropping Aus-tralian captain Steve Smithon 37 in the Pune Test,earlier this year. Excerpts Not being the first-choice: Ihave the opportunity to dosomething in this Test. Idon’t want to think about thenext Test. Being the first-choice opener or second-choice opener doesn’t makea difference. When you get achance in the middle, youwould want to capitalise.

Brilliant fielding, im-proved confidence: Thecatch (Niroshan Dickwella)and the run-out (Upul Thar-anga) gave me a lot of confid-ence. I have worked hard inthe off season. I wanted toimprove on my close-in field-ing and also my batting. I wasquite disappointed it didn’tcome off on the first day, but

then it happens. Dropping Steve Smith: Iwas quite disappointed afterthe Pune Test because Idropped a sitter off SteveSmith. I wanted to do wellbecause I wanted to be a spe-cialist somewhere. In the In-dian team, it is very import-ant that you be a specialistfielder somewhere. I workeda lot with (fielding coach) R.Sridhar. The fitness aspect aswell. It is important that youare fit to stand under the hel-met for 70-80 overs, so a lotof credit to S. Basu (fitnesstrainer).The dark days: There was apoint of time when I was hes-itant to even put on thewhites. I wasn’t part of anyteam, I was dropped frommy own first-class team. To(now) have this opportunityto be part of the Indian teamis such a huge bonus. Galle pitch: When the ballgot old, there was assistancefor Dilruwan Perera. Therewas turn towards the end ofthe day. There are a coupleof balls that are skidding on. Ithink there will be a lot moreassistance for Ashwin andRavindra Jadeja.

‘Being part of the Indian team is a huge bonus’Abhinav Mukund makes good use of his opportunity in the second digSpecial Correspondent

GALLE

Making amends: Abhinav Mukund played some pleasing shotsduring his 81 in the second innings. * AP

Former left-arm spinnerSunil Subramaniam cameclose to donning the Indiacap — only to find the hon-our eluding him by a narrowmargin.

Now he will be with theIndia team in a different ca-pacity — as its administrativemanager. “It feels good,” washis response when the newsbroke out on Friday.

It was only on July 15 thatthe 50-year-old Sunil saw apop-up from the BCCI appon his mobile that indicatedto him that the Board waslooking for an administrativemanager. His son Siddarth, apromising sailor, had acloser look at it and said,“Dad you fit all the BCCI cri-teria for the job. You shoulddefinitely have a crack atthis.”

Recalled Sunil in a chatwith The Hindu, “We thenhad brainstorming sessionsover the next three dayswhere every aspect of thejob was dissected. I did fitthe bill.”

On July 20, Sunil appliedfor the job. On 25th, he flewdown to Mumbai where hewas interviewed by DianaEdulji, a CoA member, andthen interacted with BCCI

CEO Rahul Johri via Skype.And now comes his appoint-ment. Sunil will travel toMumbai on Monday wherehe will be briefed about hisexact role.

Sunil’s tenure will be for ayear — an extension is alwaysa possibility — and he willjoin the team before thesecond Test in Sri Lanka.

In a job where he willhave to interact closely withthe India captain and coach,Sunil said, “The team has afantastic support staff. I haveplayed with some of them.”

One of Sunil’s jobs will beto send his reports to theBCCI on “what the playersdo on and off the field, thegeneral atmosphere in theteam.”

New role for SunilAppointed Indian team’sadministrative manager S. Dinakar

CHENNAI

Sunil Subramaniam.* FILE PHOTO: R. RAVINDRAN.

Debutant England bowlerToby Roland-Jones rippedthrough South Africa’s topbatting in the second Teston Friday, taking four wick-ets as the tourists collapsedto 126 for eight at the closein reply to England’s first353, losing seven wickets inthe final session.

The 29-year-old Roland-Jones removed both open-ers and then claimed thekey scalps of Hashim Amlaand Quinton de Kock in de-but Test.

James Anderson took twofor 16 and Ben Stokes, whoearlier in the day scored asparkling century, and Stu-art Broad each took onewicket, leaving South Africafacing defeat in the third ofthe four-match series.

The series is currentlytied 1-1.

Temba Bavuma andKagiso Rabada put on 53 forthe eighth wicket, but thiswas the only resistance.

Vernon Philander, thepick of South Africa’s bowl-ing on the first day at theOval, sent down five oversbut then left the field againfor treatment, apparentlyfor a stomach ailment thatalso forced him off the fieldon the first day.

Roland-Jones breaks SA’s backBelligerent century from Ben Stokes

Agencies

London

Cutting loose: Nine short of his century and with No. 11 JamesAnderson at the other end, Ben Stokes carted Keshav Maharajfor consecutive sixes to bring up his milestone. * AFP

He may be an eight-timeNBA All-Star and twice MVP,but on Friday, Kevin Durantwas all about shooting hoopsand mingling with kids, andguiding the first batch oftrainees in having fun withbasketball at the NBAAcademy in Greater Noida.

On his maiden visit to In-dia, the Golden State Warri-ors forward spoke of how ex-cited he was to be here.While observing that therewas a long way to go for bas-ketball to make serious in-roads in the country, he ex-pressed hope that an Indianwould make it through tothe most popular basketballleague in the world soonerthan later.

“I haven’t played cricketbefore but I know how deepthe sport is in the culturehere. It will take some timefor basketball to take over.But we had to start some-where and this is a greatstart,” said the 6-feet-10 Dur-ant said in a brief interactionwith the media.

“We want to keep growingthe game and see more andmore kids start playing.”

When asked about thepossibility of Indians makingthe cut in the NBA, the 28-year old Durant said: “It’s on

us NBA players to inspirenew basketball players, play-ers that haven’t really en-joyed the game before. It’son us and you guys (the me-dia) to show them what thegame is all about. I think thebuzz around basketball hereis just growing. Just be pa-tient and we will see more.It’s a great market and agreat place to be in.”

Only two Indians — Pal-preet Singh Brar and SatnamSingh Bhamara — have man-aged to get picked up in theNBA draft so far and found aplace in the DevelopmentLeague.

Having won the NBA

championship with the War-riors last year, Durant is nowconcentrating on workingon his fitness at the momentand preparing for the up-coming season.

“There are a lot of youngplayers coming through, soit’s exciting to see them inthe league,” he said.

Durant then got togetherwith 831 kids here, alongwith others spread acrossKolkata, Hyderabad, Chen-nai and Bengaluru for a totalof 3,459 kids, in a new Guin-ness record for a simultan-eous practice session.

The previous record wasaround 600 children.

Indians’ time will come: Durant The Finals MVP holds a clinic at the NBA Academy

Watch and learn, kids: The Kevin Durant clinic gave the juniortrainees at the NBA Academy the chance of a lifetime toobserve an All-Star’s methods from up close. * AP

UTHRA GANESAN

GREATER NOIDA

England — 1st innings: A. Cooklbw b Morkel 88, K. Jennings cElgar b Philander 0, T. Westleyc du Plessis b Morris 25, J. Rootc de Kock b Philander 29, D.Malan b Rabada 1, B. Stokes cRabada b Morkel 112, J. Bair-stow c du Plessis b Rabada 36,M. Ali c de Kock b Morkel 16, T.Roland-Jones lbw b Maharaj25, S. Broad c Amla b Rabada 3,J. Anderson (not out) 1; Extras(b-7, lb-7, w-3): 17; Total (in103.2 overs): 353.

Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-64, 3-113, 4-120, 5-183, 6-258, 7-279, 8-316, 9-331.

South Africa bowling: Morkel28.2-7-70-3, Philander 17-6-32-2, Rabada 26-4-85-3, Ma-haraj 15-1-61-1, Morris17-1-91-1.

South Africa — 1st innings: D.Elgar c Bairstow b Roland-Jones 8, H. Kuhn lbw b Roland-Jones 15, H. Amla c Bairstow bRoland-Jones 6, Q. de Kock cStokes b Roland-Jones 17, F. duPlessis lbw b Anderson 1, T.Bavuma (batting) 34, C. Morrisc & b Anderson 2, K. Maharaj cCook b Stokes 5, K. Rabada bBroad 30, M. Morkel (batting)2; Extras (lb-4, nb-2): 6; Total(for 8 wickets in 43 overs): 126.

Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-23, 3-30, 4-47, 5-47, 6-51,7-61,8-114.

England bowling: Anderson10-5-16-2, Broad 10-4-28-1,Roland-Jones 11-3-39-4,Stokes 7-1-26-1, Root 2-0-5-0,Moeen 3-0-8-0.

SCOREBOARD ENGLAND VS SOUTH AFRICA

Sri Lanka captainRangana Herath suffereda blow to his left middlefinger during India’ssecond innings on Friday.

The host team’scricket manager AsankaGurusinha stressed thatthere is no fracture and acall on Herath’s furtherparticipation in the Testwill be taken on Saturdaymorning.

Herathinjured Special

Correspondent

GALLE

The Supreme Court on Fri-day asked the BCCI to re-spond on a petition filed byBJP leader SubramanianSwamy to e-auction the me-dia rights of T20 IndianPremier League.

A Bench led by JusticeDipak Misra asked thecricket board to file itsreply within two weeks andposted the matter for fur-ther hearing on August 22before the tender processconcludes.

Swamy said that e-auc-tion of the media rightsshould be done to ensuretransparency, as it is to begiven for the next fiveyears.

Senior advocate Ab-hishek Manu Singhvi, ap-pearing for Chief Eexecut-ive Officer (CEO) of theboard, said that the tenderprocess has been approvedby the Vinod Rai, chairmanof the apex court-appoin-ted Committee of Adminis-trators (CoA).

The court also askedsenior advocate Parag Tri-pathi, appearing for CoA inthe main BCCI matterpending before the court,to assist.

Swamy contended thatthe amount involved in theaward of IPL media rightswas to the tune of Rs30,000 crore and the issueshould not be decided in an“opaque” manner.

SC’s newdirective to BCCIKrishnadas Rajagopal

NEW DELHI


CMYK

A ND-NDE




SPORT

SUDOKU

Solution to puzzle 12071 Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

This whole universe works systematically, being controlledby the Supreme Life-Principle, the Supreme Brahman. TheUpanishads state that none can transgress the rule of thisBrahman. By fear of this Supreme Being, fire burns, the sunshines, Indra and Vayu perform their functions and deathdoes its duty.

Krishna draws attention to the universal law that appliesto human beings as well, who partake the natural benefitssuch as air, water, etc., pointed out Sri Jamadagni in a lec-ture. He highlights their moral responsibility to preserve thewealth of Nature which is offered to them. Nature helps withrains that in turn help the growth of plants and animals.

Performance of yagas and yagnas is recommended for themutual interdependence between the sections of the multi-layered universe. These are sacrificial rituals involving pro-pitiating the celestial beings through offerings made to Agni.Fire is seen as a deity who can carry the offerings of the hu-man beings to the gods who in turn keep the world prosper-ous with rains that sustain life on earth. The celestial beingsare sustained by the sacrificial offerings during yagnas.

Food sustains life and the rains are the cause of food. Thisis explained through the symbolic representation of the Ve-das in scriptures as a tree which is upside down with rootshigh above and branches extending to the earth. Human be-ings draw their sustenance from these branches. Perform-ance of yagas and yagnas by which fire and the gods are pro-pitiated is the only means by which the roots situated abovecan be watered and the tree preserved. The phenomenalworld is enveloped in the three gunas and bound by Timeand Space. All creation manifested as Nature is in essenceBrahma swaroopa. Following the dictates of the Vedas thathave their source in the Brahman in the right spirit is con-sidered to be on a par with the performance of a yaga.

FAITH

Signi�cance of yagnas 4 Coin tossed by Kohli, perhaps

(4)

5 Playgirl controls wild mob (6)

6 Urge to look around in the

same place (6)

8 Land on site — a lay out (7)

9 Martial art — �oor takes over

(5)

13 Clearing bill, leaving later

(10)

15 Ghastly to see carriage ram

into horse (7)

16 Neck exposed, still

transported (8)

17 Issue about a �ower — it's a

scoop (5)

18 Know any stray subject? (6)

20 Spot weightlifting is good

(3,3)

22 No help using disinfectant (6)

24 The part left in the egg (4)

13 Girl under cover �nds

something crawling (7)

14 Iraq must see settlement in

Manhattan (5,6)

19 Cure reported across the

continent (7)

21 Time in the middle is outdated,

nothing moves (7)

23 About to be framed in gold, at

this time of the year (7)

25 Treatment for those people

accepting guilt (7)

26 Strategy to make an orchestra

keep quiet (4,4)

27 Hunter about to cross port (5)

■ DOWN

1 Extremely unusual to stride

away after royal address (8)

2 Friendly setter gets in a turmoil

(6)

3 Word of comparison between

two continents — no rope for

mercy killing (10)

(set by Arden)

■ ACROSS

6 Subject review in college — I'll

follow (5)

7 US government fences central

camp (5,3)

10 Brush in use to polish (7)

11 Shirker's excuse is well known

(7)

12 Delay's ok while wearing dress

(5,2)

THE HINDU CROSSWORD 12072

Spain, Belgium replaceIndia in Pro LeagueNEW DELHI

The International Hockey

Federation on Friday

confirmed the inclusion of

Spain men and Belgium

women as replacements for

India in the Hockey Pro

League set to take off in

January 2019.

The teams were approved as

the first reserves earlier in

June and their inclusion in

the HPL was confirmed by

the FIH on Thursday.

Interestingly, the teams

attended the first-ever

Hockey Pro League

Workshop, from July 17-19 —

making their confirmation a

mere formality.

Akshay joins hands withBengal WarriorsKOLKATA

Noted film star Akshay

Kumar has joined ProKabaddi

League side Bengal Warriors

as a minority stake holder.

Welcoming Akshay Kumar,

Bengal Warriors CEO Sandip

Tarkas said, “There couldn’t

be a better partner than

Akshay Kumar, who apart

from being a versatile actor,

is known for his extreme

fitness routines. This

ownership will certainly

boost the morale and energy

of the team.”

Besides, the team hopes to

draw more fans because of its

association with Akshay

Kumar. The actor said, I am

delighted to partner with the

Future Group to promote a

home-grown sport like

kabaddi.”

Chase Kalisz continuedAmerica’s dominance of themen’s 200 metres individualmedley as the United Statesenjoyed a memorable even-ing at the World AquaticsChampionships onThursday.

Kalisz’s win set the tonebefore rising U.S. star CaelebDressel snatched victory inthe men’s 100 metres free-style and the American quar-tet powered to gold in thewomen’s 4x200 freestylerelay.

Michael Phelps and RyanLochte had dominated the200m medley event since2003 and the only Americanin the field delivered again asKalisz posted one minute55.56 seconds at the DunaArena.

Local favourite KatinkaHosszu of Hungary hadbriefly lifted the arena noiseto deafening heights in thewomen’s 200m butterfly fi-nal. Hosszu, 28, set the pacein the opening stages of arace won defiantly by Mireia

Belmonte of Spain in twominutes 05.26 seconds.

The results:

Men: 200m medley: 1. ChaseKalisz (USA) 1:55.56s, 2. KosukeHagino (Jpn) 1:56.01, 3. WangShun (Chn) 1:56.28; 100m free-

style: 1. Caeleb Dressel (USA)47.17, 2. Nathan Adrian (USA)47.87, 3. Mehdy Metella (Fra)47.89.Women: 50m backstroke: 1.Etienne Medeiros (Bra) 27.14s,2. Fu Yuanhui (Chn) 27.15, 3.Aliaksandra Herasimenia (Blr)

27.23; 200m butterfly: 1. MireiaBelmonte (Esp) 2:05.26, 2.Franziska Hentke (Ger) 2:05.39,3. Katinka Hosszu (Hun)2:06.02. 4x200m freestyle: 1. USA7:43.39, 2. China 7:44.96, 3.Australia 7:48.51.

Kalisz and Dressel scintillateMireia Belmonte upstages Hosszu in 200m butter�yAgencies

BUDAPEST

Smooth! Chase Kalisz scythes through the water on his way to the 200m medley gold. * AFP

HYDERABAD: Ashwa Raftar has anedge over his rivals in the Sri S. Ra-makrishnam Raju Memorial Cup(1,200m), the main event of theraces (postponed from Friday) tobe held here on Saturday ( July 29).

1 RANI LAXMI BAI PLATE (Div. I),(1,400m), maiden 3-y-o only

(Cat. II), (Terms), 1-45 p.m.: 1. Ar-row Arrow Arrow (6) Aneel 56, 2.Exclusive Striker (3) Ajeeth Kumar56, 3. Kohinoor Legend (8) N.Rawal 56, 4. Recumbentibus (10)Kiran Naidu 56, 5. Reunion (4) C.Umesh 56, 6. Royal Victory (11) K.Mukesh Kumar 56, 7. San Vinto (7)S. Sreekant 56, 8. Cannon Dear (5)Kunal Bunde 54.5, 9. Dance OhDance (2) Kuldeep Singh 54.5, 10.Halo’s Princess (1) Akshay Kumar54.5 and 11. Tough Princess (9) B.R. Kumar 54.5.1. EXCLUSIVE STRIKER, 2. SAN

VINTO, 3. TOUGH PRINCESS

2 RANI LAXMI BAI PLATE (Div.II), (1,400m), maiden 3-y-o only

(Cat. II), (Terms), 2-15: 1. DreamCatcher (2) K. Sai Kiran 56, 2.Golden Hope (10) Akshay Kumar56, 3. Kohinoor Prince (7) K.Mukesh Kumar 56, 4. Proud N Ar-rogant (3) Kiran Naidu 56, 5. Rapi-damente (9) Hannam 56, 6. Rus-tom (8) Ajit Singh 56, 7. Starlight(5) N. Rawal 56, 8. Dean’s Gal (6) G.Naresh 54.5, 9. Good Strike (4) C.

Umesh 54.5 and 10. Negress Prin-cess (1) B.R. Kumar 54.5.1. RAPIDAMENTE, 2. GOOD STRIKE,

3. KOHINOOR PRINCE

3 CUPID PLATE (Div. II),(1,400m), 4-y-o & over (which

have not won a race since 1stNovember 2016), rated upto 30(Cat. III), 2-50: 1. Vijays Delight (3)P. Gaddam 60, 2. Sea Change (4)Kiran Naidu 56, 3. Penthesilea (5)Deepak Singh 54, 4. Sunday Carni-val (2) Akshay Kumar 53, 5. Whis-per (10) K. Mukesh Kumar 53, 6.Zensational (12) Md. Ismail 52.5, 7.Old Faithful (11) K. Sai Kiran 52, 8.Take A Bow (7) Nakhat Singh 51.5,9. Cannon King (9) Kunal Bunde50, 10. Mastaani (8) Sai Kumar 50,11. Rainbow Blues (6) Ajeeth Ku-mar 50 and 12. War Lady (1) G.Naresh 50.1. VIJAYS DELIGHT, 2. PEN-

THESILEA, 3. SEA CHANGE

4 WARANGAL PLATE (1,400m), 4-y-o only, rated 26 to 46 (Cat.

III), 3-25: 1. George Cross (8) C.Umesh 60, 2. Mirfield (4) S.S. Tan-war 58, 3. Bharat Queen (7) B.R.Kumar 57.5, 4. Sweet March (3)Deepak Singh 57.5, 5. AshwaAshoka (9) Hannam 57, 6. NegressPearl (5) Akshay Kumar 56.5, 7. CitiColors (2) K. Mukesh Kumar 54, 8.Scooby Dooby Doo (6) Ajit Singh53.5 and 9. Telangana Queen (1) G.

Naresh 51.5. 1. SWEET MARCH, 2. ASHWA

ASHOKA, 3. NEGRESS PEARL

5 SRI S. RAMAKRISHNAM RAJU

MEMORIAL CUP (1,200m), 3-y-o & over, rated 58 to 78 (Cat.II), 4-00: 1. Mangalyaan (1)Ajeeth Kumar 60, 2. FoundMoney (7) Rafique Sk. 59.5, 3.Net Champ (8) Deepak Singh 57,4. Ashwa Raftar (10) C. Umesh56, 5. Morning Miracle (2) Han-nam 56, 6. City Of Wonders (14)K. Sai Kiran 54, 7. Vijay Sakhi (4)Deep Shanker 54, 8. Tiger (5) P.Gaddam 53.5, 9. CommandingBoy (12) N. Rawal 53, 10. O MsAkilah (3) K. Mukesh Kumar 53,11. Vallee Secrete (11) Akshay Ku-mar 53, 12. Altruist (13) Aneel52.5, 13. Numinous (6) KiranNaidu 52.5 and 14. That’s MyDarling (9) Md. Ismail 52.5. 1. ASHWA RAFTAR, 2. CITY OF

WONDERS, 3. ALTRUIST

6 AUXILIARY PLATE (1,200m),5-y-o & over, rated 26 to 46

(Cat. III), 4-35: 1. Rebellion (14)Sai Kumar 60, 2. Kireeti (5)Koushik 58.5, 3. The Blue (7)Kunal Bunde 58, 4. AstonDoulton (8) Rafique Sk. 57, 5.Dublin (3) N. Rawal 57, 6. Roi’sCruise (4) Rohit Kumar 57, 7.Symbol Of Glory (11) G. Naresh56.5, 8. Act In Time (2) B.R. Ku-

mar 55, 9. Apache Gal (6) GopalSingh 54.5, 10. Charming Beauty(9) Akshay Kumar 54.5, 11. Dolce(13) Ajeeth Kumar 54, 12. RoyalRajkumari (10) Ajit Singh 54, 13.True Pearl (1) Kiran Naidu 53.5and 14. Matica (12) KhurshadAlam 52.5.

1. ACT IN TIME, 2. KIREETI, 3.

ROYAL RAJKUMARI

7 CUPID PLATE (Div. I),(1,400m), 4-y-o & over

(which have not won a racesince 1st November 2016), ratedupto 30 (Cat. III), 5-10: 1. Naamd-hari (7) A.A. Vikrant 62, 2. WarCry (11) Koushuk 57, 3. Sir WalterRaleigh (3) Kuldeep Singh 55.5,4. Monte Rosa (10) S. Sreekant53.5, 5. Surprise Party (8) Na-khat Singh 53, 6. Cannon Hope(12) Kiran Naidu 52.5, 7. GoodTaste (2) K. Sai Kiran 52, 8. Mo-lon Labe (6) Ajit Singh 52, 9. Bei-jos (9) N. Rawal 50, 10. Invasion(5) Md. Ismail 50, 11. Oh Pharaoh(4) P. Gaddam 50 and 12. Seek-ing Alpha (1) Rafique Sk. 50.

1. WAR CRY, 2. NAAMDHARI, 3.

SIR WALTER RALEIGH

Day’s best: ASHWA RAFTAR

Double: SWEET MARCH — ACT IN

TIME

Jkt: 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7; Tr (i): 2, 3 & 4;(ii): 5, 6 & 6; Tla: all races.

Ashwa Raftar fancied for feature event

Fifth seed WGM BhaktiKulkarni (8.5 points) beatovernight leader and top-seed WGM Soumya Swam-inathan (7.5) to take sole leadafter ten rounds of the 44thNational women challengerschess championship 2017here on Friday.

Mary Ann Gomes (8) is

placed second. Important results (10thround): Soumya Swaminathan(7.5) lost to Bhakti Kulkarni(8.5), Nisha Mohota (6.5) lostto Mary Ann Gomes (8),Meenakshi Subbaraman (6.5)lost P. Bala Kannamma (7.5);Srishti Pandey (7.5) bt KiranManisha Mohanty (6.5), G.Sandhya (7) drew with ParnaliS. Dharia (7), Jyotsna L. (7)drew with Sakshi Chitlange (7),

Arpita Mukherjee (7) bt Lak-shmi C. (6.5), Sanskriti Goyal(6) lost P.V. Nandhidhaa (7),Rucha Pujari (7) bt Divya Lak-shmi (6); Samriddhaa Ghosh (7)bt Harshitha G. (6), Swati Ghate(6.5) bt Aashna Makhija (5.5),N.L.V. Anusha (5.5) lost SrijaSeshadri (6.5), P. MichelleCatherine (6) drew withSiddhali Shetye (6), M. Ma-halakshmi (6.5) bt Stuti Bhanot(5.5).

Bhakti beats SoumyaCorrespondent

Mysuru

Gurmeet Virdi (co-driverKirpal Singh Tung) of GerrariOffroaders Chandigarh man-aged to retain the top spotwith 1307 points out of 1800amidst tight competition atthe end of day four in theForce Gurkha Rain ForestChallenge India.

He is followed by TeamBODA’s (Bangalore OffroadDrivers Association) Sid-dartha Santosh (PrithvirajAC) with 1306 points and vet-eran rallyist Jagat Nanjappa(Chetan Changappa) of Co-org-based Team V5 Offroad-ers with 1267 points.

The fourth day of themega off-road motorsportevent was held at Maina inQuepem where three SpecialStages — Predator SS 16 to SS18 — ran live and the teams

were tested on their abilityto react and respond in crit-ical settings while preservingtheir vehicles for the upcom-ing days.

The participants had totackle an exciting mixed-bagof some speed tasks, winch-ing tasks and water cross-ings. SS 16 had them gradu-

ally ascend a craggy terrainto hit an eight feet tall cliffand winch out of it to moveanti-clockwise towards thefinish box through a seriousof irregular rocks andboulders.

(The writer is in Goa at theinvitation of Cougar Motors-port Pvt. Ltd.)

Virdi holds on to the top spot

Tough going: Satish Kumar and his co-driver YanrenthungJamio negotiating their o�roader over a tricky terrain.

* SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

S. Dipak Ragav

QUEPEM (Goa)

Railway Sports PromotionBoard (RSPB) warmed up forthe title defence with an au-thoritative 6-2 win overBengaluru HA in a Pool Amatch of the 91st MCC-Mur-ugappa Gold Cup all-Indiahockey tournament here onFriday.

In a similar vein, formerchampion ONGC trouncedHockey Odisha 7-1 in a Pool Bcontest, augmented by a hat-trick by former InternationalDiwakar Ram.

The last match of the daywasn’t as one-sided as the

earlier ones. Punjab & Sind Bank (PSB)

edged out BPCL in an evenlycontested Pool A tie,through a solitary goal bySanta Singh.The results:

Pool A: RSPB 6 (Ajmer Singh 4,Raju Paul 32, Ranjan Aiyappa49, 62, Manpreet Singh Chahal56, Kunjan Topno 59) btBengaluru HA 2 (V.R.Raghunath 18, K.A. Nilesh 68);PSB 1 (Santa Singh 65) bt BPCL0.

Pool B: ONGC 7 (Diwakar Ram7, 9, 60, Machaiah 38, NilamXess 56 & 70+, Jagwant Singh69) bt Hockey Odisha 1 (CyrilLugun 4).

Easy for RailwaysSanta Singh scores PSB’s winner

K. Keerthivasan

CHENNAI

Commanding show: Ranjan Aiyappa scored a brace in Railways’demolition of Bengaluru Hockey Association. * V. GANESAN

IN BRIEF

Tarun Gakhad and LikhitaSrivastava won the under-17titles in the boys’ and girls’sections respectively in theall-India PNB Metlife juniorbadminton championshiphere on Friday.

Tarun beat Abhinn Vaisht21-7, 22-20 in the final, whileLikhita Srivastava beat K.Maheshwari Devi 21-15, 21-11.

It was the grand finale,after about 7000 playershad competed in eight cit-ies, Delhi, Mumbai,Bengaluru, Hyderabad,Chandigarh, Indore, Luc-know and Jamshedpur, tomake the grade.

The guest of honour, bad-minton ace Ashwini Pon-nappa, the CommonwealthGames champion and WorldChampionship medallist,was happy with such astrong initiative for badmin-ton at the junior level.

The results: Boys: U-17 (final):Tarun Gakhad bt Abhinn Vas-isht 21-7, 22-20; Semifinals:Tarun bt Himanshu Dabas 21-17, 21-19; Abhinn bt BharatRaghav 21-15, 21-15.

U-15 (final): Shubham Patel btMannav Choudhary 16-21, 21-19,21-14; Semifinals: Shubhambt Akash 21-10, 21-16; Manavbt B.V. Uneeth Krishna 21-15,21-13.

U-13 (final): Raghav bt Manraj

Singh 21-12, 21-15; Semifinals:Raghav bt Dev Maheshwari 21-10, 21-11; Manraj w/o. LakshaySharma.

U-11 (final): Neer Nehwal btDevang Tomar 21-13, 21-18;Semifinals: Devang bt ChiragChoudhary 21-19, 23-21; Neerbt Ryan Ranjan 21-6, 21-15.

U-9 (final): Aksh Singh btPrateek Koundilya 21-23, 21-19,21-19; semifinals: Aksh bt Mo-hammad Ali Mir 21-10, 21-16;Prateek bt Rehan Ali 15-21, 21-15, 21-18.

Girls: U-17 (final): LikhitaSrivastava bt K. MaheshwariDevi 21-15, 21-11; Semifinals:Likhita bt Priya Konjengbam21-7, 21-16; Maheshwari bt Mi-hika Bhargav 16-21, 21-13, 21-4.

U-15 (final): Maheshwari btAradhyaa Kushwaha 21-15, 21-18; Semifinals: Maheshwari btAnya Chauhan 21-10, 21-18;Aradhyaa bt Sakshi Phogat 11-21, 21-13, 21-17.

U-13 (final): Anya bt HothrisriThatigutla 21-14, 23-21; Semi-finals: Anya bt Pallavi Joshi 21-14, 17-21, 21-9; Hothrisri btParidhi Chaudhari 21-10, 21-14.

U-11 (final): Unnati Hooda btPrashansa Bonam 21-16, 21-11;Semifinals: Prashansa bt Ane-sha Gowda 21-19,2 1-13; Unnatiw/o. Anahat Singh.

U-9 (final): Srija None bt AngelPunera 22-20, 13-21, 24-22;Semifinals: Angel bt R.Spoorthy 21-8, 21-12; Srija btPihu Negi 21-18, 6-6 (retired).

Tarun, Likhita reignSpecial Correspondent

NEW DELHI

Mukhtiar Singh and M.A.K.Reddy scored a stunningfifth race win in the goldfleet of the Hobie 16 inlandNational sailing champion-ships here on Friday.The results: Gold fleet: RaceIV: 1. Kamlesh Kumar Patel &U.B. Rawankar (AYN) 2.Pawan Kumar & M.K. Nithin(AYN) 3. Jaspreet Singh &Nitesh Kumar (AWSA). V: 1.Mukhtiar Singh & M.A.K.Reddy (CESC) 2. Kamlesh &Rawankar 3. Jaspreet &Nitesh. VI:1. Kamlesh &Rawankar 2. Ashish Kumar Pa-tel & Balkrishna Sharma(EMESA) 3. Jaspreet & Nitesh.VII: 1. Kamlesh & Rawankar 2.Ashish & Balkrishna 3 .Jas-preet & Nitesh.Silver Fleet: IV: 1. S. Para-meswaran & Harendra Kumar(EMESA) 2. Veer Singh &Sandip Kumar (AYN) 3. In-dramani Yadav & Hiranmayi(TSSA). V: 1. Parameswaran &Harendra 2. Indramani & Hir-anmayi 3. Veer & Sandip. VI: 1.Veer & Sandip 2. Darshan Dixit& G.G. Sai Sruthi (TSSA) 3.Parameswaran & Harendra.VII: 1. Indramani & Hiranmayi2. Veer & Sandip 3. Para-meswaran & Harendra.

Mukhtiar-Reddy winA. JOSEPH ANTONY

HYDERABAD

Kuheli Gangulee pippedformer world champion Te-jaswini Sawant by 0.4 pointto clinch the gold medal inthe women’s rifle proneevent at the 17th All IndiaKumar Surendra Singhshooting championship inthe Dr. Karni Singh Range,Tughlakabad, on Friday.

Chahat Deep Kaur got thebronze, 1.2 point ahead ofAnju Moudgil.

They were followed by KCHema, N. Gaayathri, LajjaGauswami and Meena Ku-mari in a strong field of 80shooters that had all thebest in the country includ-ing Anjali Bhagwat, Rajku-mari Rathore, ElizabethSusan Koshy.

In the juniors section,Priya beat Sonika by onepoint for the gold while Ay-ushi Podder pipped KinnoriKonar for the bronze oncount-back, by a marginallybetter last card, after thetwo tied on 613.4.

In the junior men rapidfire pistol event, AnishBhanwala pipped AnhadJawanda 26-25 for the gold.Shivam Shukla took thebronze.

The results:

Women: 50m rifle prone: 1.Kuheli Gangulee 619.5; 2. Te-jaswini Sawant 619.1; 3. ChahatDeep Kaur 618.6. Juniors: 1.K.U. Priya 614.5; 2. Sonika613.5; 3. Ayushi Podder 613.4.

Priya pips Sonika to juniors gold

Special correspondent

New Delhi

Kuheli Gangulee* FILE PHOTO: MOHAMMED YOUSUF

Kuheli Ganguleeclaims gold

SHOOTING

Delhi Dynamos on Fridayannounced the signing of29-year-old midfielderPaulinho Dias as the club’sfirst foreign recruit for theupcoming Indian SuperLeague season.

Dynamos is hopeful theBrazilian could make astrong impact in the hold-ing midfield role as he isknown to find the back ofthe net from distance.

Paulinho last played forJoinville in Serie B. Hissigning marks a reunionwith head coach MiguelAngel Portugal who hadinitially signed him in 2014at Atletico Paranaense.

DynamossignPaulinhoSpecial Correspondent

NEW DELHI





SPORT

Yuki Bhambri was beaten4-6, 6-0, 6-3 by fourth seedDenis Shapovalov in thesecond round of the$100,000 Challenger ten-nis tournament in Granby.

In the $15,000 ITF wo-men’s event in Targu Jiu,Romania, Riya Bhatia madethe doubles final with OanaGavrila.

Ankita Raina and SofiaShapatava crashed out ofthe $80,000 ITF women’sevent in Prague.The results: $100,000 Chal-lenger, Granby: Secondround: Denis Shapovalov(Can) bt Yuki Bhambri 4-6,6-0, 6-3.$25,000 Futures, Tianjin,China: Quarterfinals: ShuichiSekiguchi (Jpn) bt KarunudaySingh 6-3, 7-6(3).$25,000 Futures, Xativa,Spain: Second round: JaumePla Malfeito (Esp) bt AhinavSanjeev Shanmugam 6-0,6-0; Marc Giner (Esp) btAryan Goveas 6-2, 7-6(2).$15,000 Futures, Cairo:Quarterfinals: AnirudhChandrasekar & P.C. Vigneshbt Filip Duda (Cze) & IssamHaitham Taweel (Egy) 7-6(2),6-4. $80,000 ITF women,Prague: Quarterfinals: Ana-stasia Potapova (Rus) & Day-ana Yastremska (Ukr) bt SofiaShapatava (Geo) & AnkitaRaina 6-0, 6-1.$15,000 ITF women,Tampere, Finland: Secondround: Daiana Negreanu(Rou) w/o. Kyra Shroff.Doubles quarterfinals: AnnaIakovleva (Rus) & GyulnaraNazarova (Ukr) w/o. DianaNegreanu (Rou) & Kyra Shroff.$15,000 ITF women, HongKong: Semifinals: Zhang Ling(Chn) bt Kanika Vaidya 6-4,6-2.$15,000 ITF women, SharmEl Sheikh: Quarterfinals: OlaAbou Zekry (Egy) & EleniKordolaimi (Gre) bt NadiaEcheverria Alamm (Ven) &Tanisha Rohira 6-0, 6-0.$15,000 ITF women, TarguJiu, Romania: Semifinals:Oana Gavrila (Rou) & RiyaBhatia bt Ioana Gaspar & Gab-riela Talaba (Rou) 6-2, 6-4.

Bhambriloses toShapovalovSports Bureau

Granby, Canada

Strong contender Telugu Ti-tans began its campaign instyle with a 32-27 win overdebutant Tamil Thalaivas inthe opening game of theVivo ProKabaddi League sea-son five at the Gachibowli In-door Stadium here onFriday.

It was apparent from thestart that the Chennai outfitwas struggling to settledown against a relatively ex-perienced opponent.

With Rahul Chaudharionce again leading from thefront, Titans were rarelytested.

Thalaivas, led by AjayThakur, found the goingtough. The skipper later ad-mitted that Rahul’s speedand skills were just too good.

He also said the youngplayers in the team were too“excited” by the ambience ofthe opening game, whichwas watched by team own-ers Sachin Tendulkar and N.Prasad, apart from a host of

other celebrities.Thalaivas fared much bet-

ter in the second session.Ajay made his presence feltand the defence put up afight, with even Rahul re-turning with an empty raid.

Rahul later said it was im-portant for the team to starton a winning note in front ofthe home crowd. “We gotthe momentum now and

hope to continue in thisthree-month-long league,”said a smiling Rahul.

In the second match ofthe evening, Puneri Paltanscored a 33-21 win over UMumba. With DeepakHooda and Sandeep Narwalrising to the occasion, thePune outfit had little diffi-culty in quelling the chal-lenge of the opposition.The results: Telugu Titans btTamil Thalaivas 32-27; PuneriPaltan bt U Mumba 33-21.

V.V. SUBRAHMANYAM

HYDERABAD

Leading from the front: Rahul Chaudhari’s speed and skillswere too good for Tamil Thalaivas. * NAGARA GOPAL

Titans begin campaign in style

PKL

of skilled hoopsters. South-paw Shoa Ting, the quintes-sential forward, skippedthrough the lane and fin-ished near the rim. Whenleft unmarked, she tookclean jump-shots. She wasnot afraid to get physicaleither, using a sharpshoulder charge or two toclear some space.

When Ting drew a double-team, Li Yueru stepped up.The 6’7” centre scored easybuckets with a neat hook-shot from under the board.The two evenly-matchessides went toe to toethroughout the encounter.

From being down 60-69in the final quarter, Japanbrought it to 68-69 throughsome electric fast-breaksfrom Nagaoka Moeko.

A no-look pass from Man-ami to Takada Maki then

Defending champion Japanand powerhouse China puton a scintillating show in theFIBA Women’s Asia Cupsemifinal here on Friday,with Japan emerging a close74-71 winner.

In the absence of injuredstar point guard AsamiYoshida, it was up to ManamiFujioka to lead the Japanside. Equipped with the ac-celeration of a sprinter, to goalong with dazzling ball-handling skills, Manami (19points, 14 assists) proved tobe unstoppable.

The 23-year-old ran upand down the court withmanic energy, and found heropen teammates with a pin-point assists. If China poseda threat as the bigger team,Manami and her teammatesnullified it with speed.

On the other side of thefence, China had its own set

made it 71-69 in Japan’s fa-vour. On the last play, withJapan up 74-71, China’s ShiXiufeng missed a cornerthree-pointer.

Japan takes on Australia inthe Division A final onSaturday.

Host advances

In Division B, India edgedout Lebanon 79-69. P.S.Jeena (20 points), RaspreetSidhu (17 points) and AnithaPaul Durai (13 points) al-lowed the host to claw itsway back from a precariousposition.

Lebanon led 58-56 at theend of the third-quarter, butcrumbled under sustainedpressure in the final period.

India takes on Kazakhstanin the summit clash on Sat-urday.

If the home side emergesvictorious, it will qualify toDivision A for the next edi-tion of the championship.

The results (semifinals):Division A: Australia 81 (KelseyGriffin 16, Alanna Smith 12,Lauren Mansfield 10, SaraBlicavs 10) bt South Korea 64(Sungyoung Sim 14, LeeseulKang 14, Hui Lim Lung 12); Ja-pan 74 (Manami Fujioka 19, YukiMiyazawa 16, Nagaoka Moeka14, Takada Maik 13) bt China 71(Shoa Ting 16, Li Yueru 13, Gao

Song 13).

Division B: Kazakhstan 77 (Za-lina Kurazova 24, NadezhdaKondrakova 18) bt Uzbekistan51 (Anastasiya Sevastyanova 19,Irina Averyanova 13, Aliya Sam-atova 10); India 79 (P.S. Jeena20, Raspreet Sidhu 17, AnithaPaul Durai 13) bt Lebanon 69(Akl Rebecca 20, Charif Chirine17, M. Lama 16).

India downs Lebanon to make the �nalAshwin Achal

Bengaluru

Speedy: Japan’s Manami Fujioka, right, proved to beunstoppable against China. * K. MURALI KUMAR

Japan prevails over China

ASIA CUP

Six uncapped players havebeen named in the Man-preet Singh-led Indianhockey squad for the tour ofBelgium and Netherlands.The European tour beginswith India taking on Bel-gium on August 9 in Boom.The squad:Goalkeepers: Akash Anil

Chikte, Suraj Karkera.

Defenders: Dipsan Tirkey,Kothajit Singh, Gurinder Singh,Amit Rohidas, Varun Kumar.

Midfielders: S.K. Uthappa,Harjeet Singh Manpreet Singh(captain), Chinglensana Singh(vice-captain), Sumit NilakantaSharma; Forwards: MandeepSingh, Ramandeep Singh, LalitKumar Upadhyay, Gurjant Sing-h,Armaan Qureshi.

Six new faces in Indian hockey squadPress Trust of India

New Delhi

P. Harikrishna, playingwhite, bounced back fromthree straight draws to out-class local star Noel Studerin the fourth round of the

Biel Chess Festival here. The win enabled the In-

dian to retain the jointsecond position, along withthree others, with 2-1/2points. Etienne Bacrot leadswith 3 points.

CHESS

Harikrishna registershis �rst winAgencies

Biel (Switzerland)

Inspired by Liam Pitchford’stwo men’s singles wins, Fal-cons TTK demolished Maha-rashtra United 14-5 in thefirst semifinal of the Ceat Ul-timate Table Tennis on Fri-day. The Englishman beatWong Chun Ting 2-1 andHarmeet Desai 3-0.

Wu Yang, too, won herwomen’s singles matches.Falcons kept their nose infront right through andbooked their final berth inthe seventh match. As perthe rule, a team that reaches14 points first will make it tothe final. The last two singlesmatches were not played.

In the seventh contest,Sutirtha Mukherjee claimedthe first game against an off-colour Liu Ja at 11-10, trigger-ing celebrations in Falcons’camp.

Maharashtra started off

well with higher-rankedWong Chun Ting beatingSanil Shetty 2-1. The Indian’srelentless attacking did rattleChun in the second game,but the World No. 8 played

patiently to assert himself inthe third.

Sanil’s hopes of a fight-back were dashed by Wong’ssolid defence and anticipa-tion.

Yang put Falcons back ontrack with a spectacular winover Pooja Sahasrabudhe.

Wong’s return againstPitchford, after a mixeddoubles win by Harmeet De-sai and Fu Yu, had the localfans on their feet.

But the Englishman wastoo good for Chun, winningthe match 11-8, 9-11, 11-4.

The results (semifinal):

Falcons TTC bt MaharashtraUnited 14-5 (Sanil Shetty lost toWong Chun Ting 8-11, 11-5, 3-11;Wu Yang bt Pooja Sahasrabudhe11-2, 11-4, 11-2; Sanil Shetty &Lee Ho Ching lost to HarmeetDesai & Fu Yu 6-11, 11-5, 5-11;Liam Pitchford bt Wong ChunTing 11-8, 9-11, 11-4; Wu Yangbt Liu Jia 11-5, 11-5, 11-6; LiamPitchford bt Harmeet Desai11-6, 11-10, 11-7; SutirthaMukherjee bt Liu Jia 11-10.

Falcons �y into the �nalPitchford and Wu Yang, architects of the win against Maharashtra United

Relentless: Wu Yang played admirably, winning both her matches. * PHOTO: VIVEK BENDRE

Nandakumar Marar

Mumbai ULTIMATE TT


CMYK

A ND-NDE




WEEKEND SPORT


CMYKCMYK



Colbert to make Trumpanimated series NEW YORK

Comedian Stephen Colbert

has signed a deal to produce

an animated series about U.S.

President Donald Trump for

an initial run of 10 episodes

on Showtime. The series will

also star Mr. Trump’s family

and top associates and

“anyone else straying into his

orbit”, the channel said. AFP

IN BRIEF

Freida Pinto to promoteprotection of tigersNEW DELHI

Actor Freida Pinto has

partnered with an initiative by

WWF and Discovery to save

tigers from extinction. Pinto

will promote Project CAT:

Conserving Acres for Tigers,

which highlights the

importance of preserving wild

habitats. IANS

Fire Ball ride orderedshut across the globeCHICAGO

The Dutch manufacturer of an

amusement ride called ‘Fire

Ball’ that broke apart at the

Ohio State Fair, killing one

person and injuring seven

others, has ordered that the

attraction be shut down

worldwide until further

notice. AFP

Scientists are attempting tounlock the secrets of the“lost continent” of Zeal-andia, setting sail on Fridayto investigate the huge un-derwater landmass east ofAustralia that has neverbeen properly studied.

Zealandia, which ismostly submerged beneaththe South Pacific, was oncepart of the Gondwana super-continent but broke awaysome 75 million years ago.

In a paper published inthe Geological Society ofAmerica’s Journal GSA Todayin February, researchersmade the case that it shouldbe considered a newcontinent.

They said it was a distinctgeological entity that met allthe criteria applied toEarth’s other continents, in-cluding elevation above thesurrounding area, distinctivegeology, a well-defined areaand a crust much thickerthan that found on theocean floor.

Large landmassCovering five million squarekilometres, it extends fromsouth of New Zealand north-ward to New Caledonia andwest to the Kenn Plateau offAustralia’s east.

Drill ship Joides Resolutionwill recover sediments androcks lying deep beneath theseabed in a bid to discoverhow the region has behavedover the past tens of millionsof years.

The recovered cores willbe studied onboard, allow-ing scientists to address is-sues such as oceanographichistory, extreme climates,sub-seafloor life, plate tec-

tonics and earthquake-gen-erating zones. Co-chief sci-entist Jerry Dickens, fromRice University in Texas,said the region was a vitalarea to study changes inglobal climate.

“As Australia movednorth and the Tasman Seadeveloped, global circula-tion patterns changed andwater depths over Zealandiafluctuated,” he said. “Thisregion was important in in-fluencing global changes.”

Australian National Uni-versity’s Neville Exon saidthe two-month expeditionwould also help better un-derstand major changes inthe global tectonic configur-

ation that started about 53million years ago.

This is around the timethat the Pacific “Ring ofFire”, a hotspot for volca-noes and earthquakes, cameinto existence.

Hidden from viewIn the February scientific pa-per, lead author Nick Mor-timer said experts had beengathering data to make thecase for Zealandia being acontinent for more than 20years. “If we could pull theplug on the oceans, it wouldbe clear to everybody thatwe have mountain chainsand a big, high-standing con-tinent,” he said.

Samples to be taken by drilling into rock under the waves


Sydney

Sea expedition: Illustration shows Zealandia (marked in grey)to be studied by (below) drill ship Jodies Resolution. * GNS

SCIENCE RESEARCH INSTITUTE/REUTERS/AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY/AFP

Setting sail to unlocksecrets of Zealandia

Bengaluru-based research-ers have found that flat-worms, which are highlyaverse to light and moveaway from it, have the abilityto discern different coloursdespite being colour-blind.

Unlike humans who havethree colour-sensitivephotoreceptors for red, blueand green, flatworms havejust one type.

The study also found thatflatworms were able to movein response to longwavelength ultraviolet lighteven when the head was cut— proof that the wormscould sense light evenwithout their eyes and brain.

The two light-sensing re-sponses — brain-mediatednetwork and eye-independ-ent response — seen in flat-worms (Schmidtea mediter-ranea) show “a typicalhierarchy of dominance”.

While the light sensorsspread across the body (eye-independent response)helped the decapitatedworms move away from UVlight in a reflex-like re-sponse, the brain-mediatedresponse to light becamepredominant when the brain

regenerated, the researchersfrom the Institute for StemCell Biology and Regenerat-ive Medicine (inStem) at theNational Centre for Biolo-gical Sciences (NCBS) found.The results were publishedin the journal ScienceAdvances.

“Our results now make itpossible for us to use flat-worms as a model for eye-brain regeneration, wherethe exact function of the eyeand brain can be studied asregeneration takes place. Wecan identify the moleculesand genes that are respons-ible for functional eye regen-eration in flatworms and testfor their importance in hu-man disease models and hu-man stem cells,” says Dr.Akash Gulyani, the corres-ponding author of the paper.

Flatworms cannot tolerateany colour or amount oflight and tend to move awayfrom it. But when exposed to

two colours, the worms wereable to fully discriminatebetween them.

For instance, when ex-posed to blue and green lightof the same intensity, theworms always tended tomove towards green. “Indi-vidually, the worms hateboth the colour lights used.Since they are forced tomake a choice, the wormswere running away from acolour they hate more,” saysDr. Gulyani. The wormswere able to efficiently differ-entiate light with just 25nanometre wavelength dif-ference. The worms showedmaximum avoidance to lightwith 450-500 nanometrewavelength, with avoidancedropping off on either sideof the peak values.

Sensing light intensityThe researchers proved thatthe choice of colour was notbased on wavelength but onlight intensity.

The worms that initiallypreferred 545 nm over 500nm reversed their choicewhen the intensity of the 545nm light alone was in-creased. “This proves thatworms are converting thedifferent wavelength inform-

ation into intensity informa-tion and trying to discrimin-ate between twowavelengths,” says NishanShettigar, the first author ofthe paper.

To confirm if the brainwas involved in sensing andprocessing a very small dif-ference in wavelength, theresearchers took advantageof the worms’ ability to re-generate any body part andcut the head to study howlight sensing returns.

After five days, a basic eyestructure and part of thebrain were formed again,and the worms were able tosense light and move to dark-ness. But the worms werenot able to differentiatebetween two colours.

Ability to do fine discrim-ination of colours with 25nm difference was restoredafter 12 days.

The researchers alsofound that decapitatedworms could respond to asmall amount of longwavelength UV light.

“They seem to havesensors for long UV light allover the body, enabling de-capitated worms to moveafter sensing UV light,” Dr.Gulyani says.

Colour-blind �atworms can stillchoose between colours: studyNCBS research gives clues to genes, molecules linked to eye-brain regeneration

R. Prasad

CHENNAI

Akash Gulyani

Scientists have developedan experimental surgicalglue inspired by the mucussecreted by slugs thatcould offer an alternativeto sutures and staples forclosing wounds.

The slugs’ trick is to gen-erate a substance that notonly forms strong bondson wet surfaces but alsohas a matrix that dissipatesenergy at the point of ad-hesion, making it highlyflexible.

The man-made versionof this tough adhesive isbased on the same prin-ciples and it was shown toadhere strongly to pig skinand cartilage.

Slug slimeinspires newkind of glue Reuters

London

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