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USUALSUSPECTS
SWAPAN DASGUPTA
Political titans swamp Varanasi
Insulate campuses from ‘In UP, SP Govt chants List 10 works by you,
activism, not politics Gayatri Prajapati mantra’ Akhilesh dares PM
here is an inclination, particularly in the mainstream and
social media, that there is an exceptional degree of
T
uniqueness associated with events in India. Throughout the
preceding week, for example, the combatants linked with a
brawl that began in Ramjas College of Delhi University and
then quickly engulfed a daughter of a Kargil martyr, sundry
sports personalities and media pundits who find Twitter a
convenient handle to air their elementary wisdom, have been
engaged in a silly but emotive battle. Although nominally the
battle involves the far-Left AISA and the nationalist ABVP,
there has been an inclination to extend the scope of the
tremors within the student community of Delhi University
and, maybe, Jawaharlal Nehru University — an institution
that revels in getting into the news for all the wrong reasons.
It is being suggested that the battle on the streets and
on social media platforms have resulted from the Narendra
Modi Government’s determination to cripple India’s
universities and destroy their openness. The other side
rejects the suggestion but insists that the campuses cannot
become safe havens for a “coalition of subversives” — Arun
Jaitley’s catchy phrase. It is doubtful whether either side will
engage in a civil conversation with the other.
The first feature of this battle that must be borne in mind is
that it is not exclusively an Indian phenomenon. In the past
eight decades or so, but particularly in the wake of the
Vietnam War, a significant chunk of the student community
has been inclined towards showy anti-Establishment
posturing. In the 1930s, the students of a privileged
Cambridge University voted in a debate to never fight for King
and country. The outside world was not amused. To be fair,
however, when war broke out in 1939, most of the very same
students ended up in a uniform fighting against a common
enemy. Likewise many of the devoted Leftists in the American
campuses of the 1960s, went on to become founders of the
neo-conservative grouping in the Republican Party. Indeed a
very large of thinking adults will readily admit to have flirted
with zany radical politics
during their student days.
Whether the problem
There is always an
that began in Ramjas
important line of separation
what constitutes
was less a consequence between
‘good fun’ and what is
of student overdeathly serious politics. I
can say with a degree of
zealousness and more
certainty that most of those
due to irresponsible
who are shaking their fists
teacher encouragement angrily at the cameras will
become good citizens of
is worth exploring.
India and look back at this
However, the activism of week’s events with quiet
amusement and
the teaching staff is
embarrassment.
resulting in the
The second point to
note is that there is
campuses losing their
simultaneously an explicit
versatility and becoming political dimension to the
troubles. Initially it was
dreary citadels of
imagined by both the
sloganeering.
English-language media
and the parliamentary
Increasingly, there is
Opposition that a
now a crying need to
combination of
insulate campuses from demonetisation and
Opposition unity would
political activism, not
cripple the Narendra Modi
politics. One is a
Government in the
aftermath of the Uttar
squandering of time in
Pradesh. With the votes still
an increasingly
to be counted, purely
anecdotal evidence of the
competitive
election campaigns
environment, the other is suggest that the Prime
Minister’s vulnerability has
a part of education
been grossly exaggerated.
What is more, his standing among the youth seems to be
relatively unaffected by the unrelenting war waged against
him by the rarefied, NDTV-watching classes that have a
cultural problem with the present regime. Consequently there
appears to be a slight desperation among the professional
dissidents to try and steal a page or two from the campaign
manual of the angst-ridden anti-Trump protesters in the US.
However, imagination being in short supply the promotion of
India’s balkanisation and fraternity with Pakistan seem to be
only red rag they can flaunt at the regime.
The posturing in favour of a separate Kashmir and the
complete disintegration of India is not calculated to woo
public opinion. It is merely aimed at enhancing the internal
solidarity of those who equate the campus with the world.
Perhaps they should have been left alone to talk and shout
among themselves. That they were subjected to counterdemonstration suggests that the ‘nationalist’ side feels (and
maybe rightly) that rubbishing the fringe elements actually
delights the ordinary people who see the AISA lot as
treacherous weirdos.
Finally, there is the issue of the warped sense of freedom
that is prevalent in some campuses. This week the Adam
Smith Institute in London published a research paper
entitled ‘Lackademia’ that documents the alarming extent to
which the Left has acquired control over the humanities and
social science departments. This phenomenon, visible on
both sides of the Atlantic, has fostered ideological
conformity, intellectual censorship and political cronyism.
Whether the problem that began in Ramjas was less a
consequence of student over-zealousness and more due to
irresponsible teacher encouragement is worth exploring.
However, the activism of the teaching staff is resulting in the
campuses losing their versatility and becoming dreary
citadels of sloganeering. It is worth exploring how much of
this phenomenon is replicated in the Indian campuses,
particularly those that have a social science and humanities
bias. This is not a prescription for an ideological witch-hunt
but a plea for greater diversity so that impressionable minds
are not made into cannon fodder for dodgy causes, as
happened in the late-1960s.
Increasingly, there is now a crying need to insulate
campuses from political activism, not politics. One is a
squandering of time in an increasingly competitive
environment, the other is a part of education.
PM’s visit to Kashi
temples turns into
4-hour roadshow
rime Minister Narendra
P
Modi on Saturday slammed
the Opposition Congress and
Prime Minister Modi greets the crowd at a roadshow in Varanasi on Saturday
Government chants the
Gayatri-Prajapati mantra,”
Modi said, to laughs.
At Jaunpur, the PM also
said that the Centre was going
to enact a legislation by which
miscreants grabbing houses,
land and other properties
would be jailed for seven years.
Modi strongly raised the matter as east UP has been flooded with such complaints.
Earlier, marshalling his
resources articulately and using
his charisma to the hilt, Modi
on Saturday transformed his
temple darshan into a sevenkilometre long roadshow
breaking security protocol to
Manipur sees
Communal
84% polling
in Phase 1
ommunal violence that
C
erupted in Lakhimpur
Kheri on Thursday has now
PNS n LUCKNOW
ANUP SHARMA n GUWAHATI
espite the ongoing blockade of the two National
Highways, Manipur on
Saturday recorded 84 per cent
peaceful polling in the first
phase. Thirty-eight of the total
60 legislative Assembly constituencies in the militancy
ravaged State went to polls on
Saturday. Chief Electoral
Officer of Manipur Vivek
Kumar Dewangan said that 84
per cent polling was recorded
till the evening but the percentage was likely to go up.
“So far we have recorded 84
per cent polling. However, the
figures are tentative as we are
yet to receive polling figures
from 28 per cent of polling stations, which are from no communication areas,” he said
while addressing the media
on Saturday evening. He said
that the polling remained largely peaceful except one incident
where suspected militants
attacked one of the party candidates contesting the polls.
“We heard that there is an incident of attack on one of the
party candidates, Erendro
Leichombam,” said the Chief
Electoral Officer.
Detailed report on P6
D
PTI n VARANASI
SP chief Mayawati on
Saturday said that those
B
seen at Prime Minister
RAMESH K SINGH n
VARANASI/JAUNPUR
Samajwadi Party (SP) for “questioning the country’s Army
and the surgical strikes” and
called the SP “corrupt and
good-for-nothing” and a party
that has “scant regard for the
safety of women.”
Modi was addressing a
campaign rally in Jaunpur in
Uttar Pradesh, after a roadshow
at Varanasi which goes to the
polls on March 8.
The PM criticised UP’s
Akhilesh Yadav Government
for paying scant attention to the
safety of women. To prove his
point he referred to a former SP
Minister Gayatri Prajapati who
is accused of rape and has gone
into hiding . “When people do
good deeds they chant the
Gayatri mantra. The UP
Prayers won’t
help BJP
now: Maya
spread to Moradabad where
members of two communities
exchanged fire in which five
persons of a particular community were seriously injured.
They were admitted to a hospital and a heavy police force
has been deployed to maintain
peace.
As per reports, a youth
belonging to the minority community in Sheelpur hamlet of
Kundaraki area went to a betel
shop to purchase ‘beedi’ on
PTI
undertake the slow tedious
journey in a roof-open SUV in
Varanasi.
Turn to Page 4
57% voter turnout
in penultimate
phase of UP polls
Lucknow: Hundreds of thousands of voters came out to
cast their ballots in the penultimate phase of the Uttar
Pradesh Assembly elections
on Saturday, with around 57
per cent turnout recorded.P6
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his wife
Dimple Yadav and other leaders during their roadshow in Varanasi on Saturday
PTI
RAMATMA SRIVASTAVA/PNS n
VARANASI/BHADOHI
ountering Prime Minister
C
Narendra Modi’s visit to
shrines and the subsequent
roadshow in Varanasi on
Saturday, Samajwadi Party chief
Akhilesh Yadav and Congress
vice-president Rahul Gandhi
conducted an equally impres-
tension in Moradabad
Saturday morning. Some locals
of another community abused
and cursed him for not voting
for a particular party. When the
youth objected, the locals
roughed him up.
The tiff took an ugly turn
when some other residents
rushed to the youth’s rescue.
After a scuffle, the local residents opened fire in which the
youth and his sympathisers
were critically injured.
The local police, led by
Circle Officer Chakra Mani
Tripathi, rushed to the spot and
chased away the troublemakers
and shifted the injured to a
hospital.
The police detained three
youths who opened fire but no
case was registered till late on
Saturday afternoon.
Meanwhile in Lakhimpur
Kheri, curfew was relaxed for
12 hours on Saturday as no
fresh incident of violence was
reported.
However, educational institutions remained closed as a
precautionary measure.
“Curfew was relaxed from
6 am to 6 pm on Saturday.
Banks and offices will be
allowed to open. However,
schools and colleges will
remain closed. Security
Turn to Page 4
Prajapati’s passport impounded
PNS n LUCKNOW
acing the heat for taking a
F
soft stand in arresting SP
minister Gayatri Prasad
Prajapati and his aides wanted
in gang rape case and POCSO
Act, the Lucknow police on
Saturday impounded his passport and a look-out notice was
issued.
“Passport of rape accused
minister Gayatri Prasad
Prajapati has been impounded,”
ADG (Law and Order) Daljit
Chaudhary said. He said UP
police will approach the
Ministry of External Affairs to
get the passport cancelled.
Chaudhary said Non-Bailable
Warrant (NBW) had been
issued against Prajapati and six
other.
Saturday’s action came a
day after airports across the
country were alerted about the
possibility of Prajapati trying to
flee the country.
Chaudhary said to ensure
that Pajapati was arrested soon,
the Special Task Force of UP
police was roped in especially
to prevent him from crossing
the country’s borders. Uttar
Pradesh has a long porous
border with Nepal and is
manned by SSB, a border
guarding force of the Union
Home Ministry which has also
been alerted about the possibility of such a move by
Prajapati. Official sources said
a Letter of Cancellation (LC)
will soon be opened against
Prajapati and all airports have
been alerted to prevent the 49year-old SP leader from fleeing
Turn to Page 4
sive roadshow with youths and
Muslims making up the numbers. Later, at an election rally
in Bhadohi, Akhilesh also challenged Prime Minister
Narendra Modi to list out the
work done by him.
“I told you about 10 works
done by my Government. Can
he (Modi) list 10 works?
Turn to Page 4
July 1 rollout on
track as CGST,
IGST final draft
gets council nod
New Delhi: The GST Council
on Saturday fixed a 5 per cent
tax rate on small hotels and
restaurants and approved draft
of key supporting legislations to
enable rollout of the new indirect tax regime from July 1.
The all-powerful Council
approved the final draft of
Central GST (C-GST) and
Integrated GST (I-GST) and
will take up for approval the
State-GST (S-GST) and Union
Territory-GST (UT-GST) laws
at its next meeting on March 16.
The C-GST, which will give
powers to Centre to levy GST on
goods and services after union
levies like excise and service tax
are subsumed, and I-GST that is
to be levied on inter-state supplies, will go to Parliament for
approval in the second half of
the Budget session beginning
March 9, Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley said.
The S-GST, which will
allow States to levy the tax after
VAT and other State levies are
subsumed in the GST, will
have to be passed by each of the
State Legislative Assemblies.
UT-GST will also go to
Parliament for approval.
Detailed report on P5
Narendra Modi’s roadshow
here were “mere spectators”
brought in from other States
and districts in Uttar Pradesh
where voting had already
taken place. Taking a dig at
Modi’s visit to Kashi
Vishwanath and Kaal Bhairav
temples, the BSP supremo
said prayers offered at the
shrines would be of no avail
to the party now.
Addressing a rally in
Rohaniya, 20 km away from
Varanasi, she also asserted
that the BJP and the SPCongress combine were
fighting for second and third
place in UP polls.
“The BJP is gloating over
the massive crowds that had
turned up at Modi’s
roadshow here.
Turn to
Page 4
Second autopsy
done as Army
jawan’s family
cries foul play
Kollam/Thiruvananthapuram:
A jawan, who allegedly committed suicide after a sting
video on the “abuse” of buddy
system in the Army went viral,
was laid to rest in Kollam district after a fresh autopsy was
conducted following insistence
of his family, who raised doubts
over his demise.
Mathew was found hanging from the ceiling of a room
in an abandoned barrack in
Deolali cantonment in
Maharashtra’s Nasik on
Thursday.
His relatives refused to
accept that he would have
ended his life.
Alleging that there were
marks of beating on his feet and
blood had clotted in some
parts, his relatives, including
wife Finy, refused to accept the
body until a fresh post-mortem
was conducted in Kerala.
Following the plea of the
family, a re-post-mortem was
conducted
at
the
Thiruvananthapuram medical
college hospital after which
the body was taken to Karuvelil
in Ezhukon in Kollam district
for the funeral at a local church.
Visible from Pak, India’s tallest Delhi Police to change `20 cr in
Tiranga to stand tall at Attari old notes through 13 bank a/cs
DEEPAK KUMAR JHA n
NEW DELHI/ATTARI
he country’s tallest ‘Tiranga’
will flutter proudly at Attari
on the Indo-Pak border from
Sunday. The gigantic flag
weighing around 65 kilos
would measure 120 by 80 feet
and could be visible also from
Lahore and far flung localities
of Pakistan. The flag will be
hoisted on a 110 meter metal
pillar making it the highest in
India.
The Tricolour christened as
— Pride of India — will be
hoisted by Punjab Cabinet
Minister Anil Joshi amidst the
Punjab Police bands, cultural
extravaganza by local people
and school students and several
other activities lined up similar to the simultaneous military
drill practised by the uniformed men from both side of
T
The project will cost `3.6 crore, and the
all-weather flag will be based on motorised
mechanism. The flag will
be hoisted on a 110 meter
metal pillar making it the
highest in India
the borders.
The project will cost `3.6
crore, and the all-weather flag
will be based on motorised
mechanism. It will be lowered
only for changing in case of
wear and tear. The organisers
have given 12 same size flags to
the Border Security Forces
(BSF) to do the changeovers.
However, in case of ‘The Pride
of India’ the rituals followed at
Attari border complex of hoisting the tricolor in the morning
and bringing it down in the
evening, will be dispended
with.
Joshi is Minister for Local
Bodies, Medical Education &
Research in the incumbent
Punjab Government and represents Amritsar North
Constituency as BJP MLA.
Fifty-two-year-old Joshi has
sought re-election from this
constituency in the just-concluded Assembly election.
Turn to Page 4
SOUVIK MITRA n NEW DELHI
he Delhi Police is going to
open 13 bank accounts
with a bank in the name of the
DCP of each district in order
to deposit scrapped demonetised currency amounting to
several crores, seized by it.
While the deadline given
by the Central Government for
depositing the demonetised
notes has passed, the Delhi
Police has been granted permission by the concerned
courts to carry on this exercise.
Talking to The Pioneer on condition of anonymity, a senior
police officer said old notes to
the tune of `20 crore in
denominations of `500 and
`1,000 had to be deposited.
“This money is case property seized by the Delhi Police
in several cases. It was kept in
T
While the deadline given by the Centre
for depositing the demonetised notes
has passed, the Delhi Police has been
granted permission
by the concerned
courts to carry out
this exercise
the Malkahna of all the police
stations in Delhi. Generally, in
most of the cases cash property is given back to the persons
to whom it belongs. But after
demonetisation this cash had
become junk,” the officer said.
Worried officials discussed
the matter with the Legal Cell.
“The Legal Cell directed us to
open bank accounts with the
RBI in the name of concerned
district DCP. The Malkhana
in-charge of each police station
was asked to get a permission
letter/order from the concerned Magistrate. All the
Malkhana incharges moved
separate pleas with the court
which were allowed,” the
source said.
The police official said that
most of the currency seized as
case property will now be
deposited with the RBI and
they will be given new notes.
city 02
LUCKNOW | SUNDAY | MARCH 5, 2017
LMC employees raise
issue of encroachment
Lucknow (PNS): Lucknow
Municipal Corporation (LMC)
employees union has once again
AUCTION NOTICE
16.03.2017. 10:00 A.M.,
A.M.C. Centre and College.
C.Q.M. department. Neellines.
Lucknow
Auction
of
Unserviceable Regimental
Stores Items. Security Rs.
5,000/- cash, Identity Proof
Compulsory. Govt. Auctioneer
I.P. Singh.
raised the issue of land being
occupied by encroachers. “At
present, LMC does not have
proper record of properties
owned by it. The issue of
encroachment has been raised
on numerous occasions but
the property department has
failed to identify and maintain
a record of properties and
land owned by LMC,” president of Nagar Nigam
Karmachari Sangh (NNKS)
Anand Verma said on
Saturday.
Earlier, the LMC House
had passed a resolution asking
the tehsildar and his team to
prepare a list of land and
properties in the city. He was
also directed to identify properties or land which have been
encroached and to launch an
anti-encroachment drive.
“It is only when a complaint is filed by anyone or the
media reports about illegal
occupation of LMC-owned
land that the department
becomes aware about properties but they have not prepared
the complete list,” Verma
alleged. Sometime back, after
a survey was conducted on the
demand of NNKS, the LMC
had asked illegal occupants to
vacate the houses constructed
for corporation employees at
Charbagh. “There are many
such places like Chaupad
Hospital, LMC-run dispensaries and chungis which have
been occupied by encraochers.
But LMC officials prefer to
remain silent over it,” he said.
NNKS has also raised
questions on non-implementation of double entry system,
which was to be done in
JNNURM project but was
delayed due to unknown reasons. Verma said if the LMC
had implemented the ‘Double
Entry System’ properly, it
would have helped in identifying LMC properties. In this
system, while preparing the
balance sheet, LMC officials
will have to put in the details
of immovable assets.
“After preparing the complete records of the LMC
owned properties, a specific
department be given responsibility to maintain and monitor them. At present, Rent
department and Property
department are working parallel to each other,” he added.
When asked, additional
municipal commissioner PK
Srivastava said: “There are
some issues in preparing
records of the LMC-owned
properties. The property wing
is working on it and we have
some records available with
us.”
CITYBRIEFS
closing ceremony on March 10.
SOLAR SUMMIT
Dignitaries on the second day of Solar Summit
CONFERENCE
Integral Institute of
Medical Science and Research
(IIMS&R) of Integral
University is organising a twoday national conference on
consortium against rabies
which was on Saturday. The
chief guest on the occasion was
DGME (UP) VN Tripathi, who
said that Indian Academy of
Pediatrics had now included
vaccination of rabies in its
national immunisation schedule.
EXHIBITION
Col Anil Mehrotra’s exhibition titled ‘Aks’ was inaugurated at Lalit Kala Akademi in
Aliganj on Saturday. Mehrotra
said the photographs showcased at the exhibition were on
canvas rather than on paper.
should not be limited by RPO
obligation but be self-sustaining and income generating.
She shared an innovative plan
of generating solar power
through floating solar panels in
the 22 square kilometer area of
Tehri Dam in Uttarakhand
where more than 2000
SAFETY WEEK
Lucknow Metro Rail
Corporation observed ‘Safety
Week 2017’ which started with
a pledge ceremony at the
administrative block of LMRC,
followed by distribution of
safety badges to officers. The
occasion witnessed the presence of LMRC managing director Kumar Keshav and other
officials. Safety training for
LMRC employees will be conducted on March 6, safety
training for contractors on
March 7, quiz competition on
March 8 on 9 and the award
and certificate distribution and
megawatt solar power will be
generated in the Tehri Hydro
project. Sangeeta Singh spoke
about the efforts UPNEDA is
making in this sector. She said
UPNEDA was also making
efforts to create awareness
about CST. Solar rooftop, PV
technique and subsidies available for solar sector were discussed in detail. A panel discussion round was also held
wherein the queries of industrialists, students, prospective
entrepreneurs were answered
by members on the dais.
PROTEST
Opposing fee hike in a private school, parents gathered
assembled to register peaceful
protest on Saturday. The parents
said that there had been 70 per
cent fee hike since 2013. At first,
the principal was unwilling to
meet the protesting parents
but as the crowd increased, she
called them for an audience.
Governor Ram
Naik at Col Anil
Mehrotra’s
exhibition
Lucknow (PNS): The Young Business
Leaders Forum of PHD Chambers of
Commerce and Industry, UP, and
Anupama Foundation, in association with
Taana Baana, organised an empowered session ‘I-inspire’, a discussion on women
empowerment with panel of experts on
Saturday.
The panel discussion kicked off with
the welcome remark of PHDCCI (UP)
director RK Saran. President of Anupama
Foundation Anupama Singh said empowerment of women means recognising and
valuing the work of all women, for them
to achieve their full potential.
Chairperson of Young Business
09.03.2017. 12:00 Noon.
S.I.B., 110 Mall Road, Lucknow
Auction of Unserviceable Tata
SUMO-1
(Make-2007).
Security Rs. 10,000/-, Hero
Honda Splendor + Motorcycle1 (Make-2010) Security Rs.
5,000/Deposited
by
Cash/Bank Draft In Favour
"D.D.O., S.I.B., Lucknow".
Govt. Auctioneer I.P. Singh.
uhykeh lwpuk
REQUIRED
Parents protesting over fee hike
Panel discussion on women empowerment
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“The photographs which I have
taken have been printed on
canvas. When they are presented in this manner, they
seem like paintings,” he said.
The second day of ‘North
India Solar Summit- 2017’,
organised by Indian Industries
Association (IIA), witnessed
the presence of additional secretary, Energy (Uttarakhand)
and UREDA director Jyoti
Neeraj Khiarwal. She inaugurated the conclave while
UPNEDA director Sangeeta
Singh was the guest of honour.
Khiarwal said that the dynamics of solar rooftop was different in different states depending upon the availability of
power and the costs at which
they are available and the
amount of subsidy available for
them. The challenges faced in
net metering and gross metering system were explained in
detail. She said that solar
Girls taking part in a painting contest organised by Aminabad Inter College on Saturday
Pioneer
Tagore Library
celebrates
Foundation Day
he urologists discussed
issues related to bladder
T
and bowel dysfunction on the
second day of International
Paediatric and Adolescent
Urology workshop being
organised at Sanjay Gandhi
Postgraduate Institute of
Medical Sciences (SGPGI) on
Saturday.
“The issues associated
with urinating or passing
stools are referred to as bladder and bowel dysfunction.
Bladder and bowel problems
often originate with nerve or
muscle dysfunction as these
systems control the flow of
urine and the release of stool,”
organising secretary of the
workshop and senior paedi-
atric urologist Dr MS Ansari
said. Highlighting causes of
bladder or bowel dysfunction, he said: “The side effects
of various medicines lead to
bladder dysfunction in many
patients. Other prominent
causes of the disorder include
stress, neurogenic diseases,
diabetes, haemorrhoids and
pelvic floor disorders. A large
number of patients are diagnosed with the bowel dysfunction.”
He added that surgery
was considered the most reliable corrective measure to
treat the problem of bowel
dysfunction. He also suggested electrical stimulation exercise for patients diagnosed
with the problem of bowel or
bladder dysfunction.
hancellor of Central
University of Gujarat and
C
former Union minister
He advised parents to consult an urologist if they found
their child having similar
symptoms as early diagnosis
reduced the need of performing surgery as a corrective
measure.
Besides, the urologist discussed treatment for sexual
disorders
through
Testosterone therapy. “A
Testosterone therapy may be
followed for patients diagnosed with the lack of masculine appearance due to chromosomal abnormality. Such a
therapy restores a more masculine appearance in men.
Similarly, patients with lack of
feminine traits are advised to
undergo a reduction mammoplasty technique,” Dr
Ansari said.
Lucknow (PNS): Tagore
Library, Lucknow University,
celebrated its 80th Foundation
Day on Saturday and also
organised a workshop on
‘Empowering library towards a
digital revolution’ in collaboration with Proquest India.
The function was inaugurated
by Pro Vice-Chancellor UN
Dwivedi, who garlanded the
portrait of Walter Burley Giffin,
an American architect who
designed the Tagore Library
building in 1935. Honorary
librarian Aroop Chakravarti
welcomed the guest and spoke
about the historical importance of the day. Deputy librarian Jyoti Misra spoke about the
history of Tagore Library building and threw light on theme
of the workshop.
thoughts over the excellence in
everything, values, global
thinking, service to the entire
humanity etc through scintillating educational-cultural
items. The students who scored
the highest in various competitions and in the annual examinations were awarded and
honoured. CMS founder
Jagdish Gandhi said that character building qualities must be
instilled at the young age in
children because it happens to
be the right time for that.
SCHOOLSCAN
DIVINE EDU CONFERENCE
City Montessori School,
Station Road campus, organised its ‘Divine Education
Conference’ at Kanpur Road
auditorium on Saturday. The
students showcased their
knowledge and moral and
divine teachings they received
in the school. The students presented their meaningful
Papola memorial
lecture at GIDS
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW
Bladder, bowel disorder
discussed at workshop
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW
Leaders Forum, PHD CCI (UP) Gaurav
Prakash said: “I firmly believe that there
is a huge potential that can be unblocked
simply by valuing and empowering
women”. The panel discussion focused on
the women empowerment in the area of
education, economic empowerment, access
to resources, gender equality, health, safety and security of women.
“Women are powerful with unique
gifts that are far reaching. Women are specially tuned to walk in both spiritual world
and mundane world. They are particularly adept at creating energy and change,”
said Mahant Devya Giri. The panel discussion was followed by a fashion show.
Yoginder K Alagh delivered the
first TS Papola memorial lecture on the issue of climate
change at Giri Institute of
Development Studies (GIDS)
on Saturday.
Alagh argued how climate
change-related challenges facing India were severe. “It will
have a determining impact in
the not too distant future.
Whenever policy responded
to such needs, the Indian
farmer was not found wanting.
It is obvious that a lot of work
is needed to operationalise the
incentives to turn terms of
trade towards agriculture and
to plan and implement the
required infrastructure support, as well as integrated water
and land resources management. Resources are unfortunately scarce and declining.
Gross investment as a ratio of
GDP is the most distressing.
Efforts are required to get out
of this trap. It would require
better tools of economic analysis of climate change on agriculture and other sectors per se
for effective policy action,” he
said. A book titled ‘Labour and
Development: Essays in honour
of Prof TS Papola’ was also
released by Alagh. The book is
written by labour economists
KP Kannan, Rajendra P
Mamgain and Preet Rustagi.
SPORTS DAY
Little Millennium School’s
Aliganj branch on Saturday
celebrated its 8th Sports Day at
Sahara States sports ground
where students of playgroup,
nursery, LKG and UKG took
part.
Printed and Published by Vijay Prakash Singh for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., 4th Floor, Sahara Shopping Centre, Faizabad Road, Lucknow-226016 and Printed at Tin Tin Printech Pvt Ltd., C-33 Amausi Industrial Area, Nadarganj, Lucknow. Tel: (0522) 2438656 / 9336266608.
Editor: Chandan Mitra. Resident Editor: Vijay Prakash Singh. RNI No. 2016/57. Lucknow Telephones: EPABX: 4036600 Fax: 2345582. Allahabad Office: (95532) 2420818, 2421018, 3290460. Kanpur Office: (95512) 2304006, 2304416. Varanasi Office: (95542) 2414294, 2414295. Delhi
Office: Link House, II Floor, 3 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi 110 002. Tel: (011) 23755271-274, 41509074.
city 03
LUCKNOW | SUNDAY | MARCH 5, 2017
BSP leader accused of rape Property worth lakhs gutted
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW
fter Samajwadi Party leaders Gayatri Prasad
Prajapati and Arun Kumar
Verma, and Peace Party chief
Dr Ayub, now Bahujan Samaj
Party leader and candidate
from Ayodhya, Bazmi Siddiqui,
has been accused of gang-rape
by a local woman. Police registered a case but arrested no
one, including Siddiqui.
Earlier also, the BSP candidate was let off the hook by
the local police after similar
charges were levelled against
him. On his part, Siddiqui
termed the sequence of events
as a “conspiracy” to tarnish his
image. As per reports, a woman
from Ayodhya alleged that
Siddiqui along with half-adozen of his cronies, including
Rehan, Gaffar, Chand, Pappu,
Parvez, barged into her house
when she was with her disabled
relative on Thursday. She
alleged that the accused assaulted and raped her before fleeing
the scene.
The woman further
charged that earlier too,
Siddiqui was involved in similar offences but while the cops
acted against the other accused,
they let Siddiqui off the hook.
The police said that matter was
under investigation and action
would be taken after probe.
About a fortnight back, SP
MLA from Sultanpur, Arun
Kumar Verma, was charged
with rape and murder of a girl.
The victim had levelled rape
charges against Verma in her
A
CM to be responsible
if Prajapati flees the
country, says Maurya
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW
haratiya Janata Party state
president Keshav Prasad
B
Maurya said that Chief
Minister Akhilesh Yadav
would be responsible if rape
accused minister Gayatri
Prasad Prajapati fled the
country.
A case of gang-rape and
POCSO Act have been registered against Prajapati and his
cronies on the direction of the
Supreme Court in February.
Maurya said in a statement on Saturday that the
CM should tell the people
where he had hidden
Prajapati. Earlier on Friday,
Maurya had alleged that
Prajapati was hiding at the
CM’s official residence on
Kalidas Marg and the police
were enacting the drama of
searching the minister.
Maurya had also said that
if the CM so desired, Prajapati
would be behind the bars in
10 minutes. The police, after
lodging an FIR, took no
action against the minister
and he freely campaigned for
complaint in 2013. After her
body was recovered near her
house some days back, her
his election in Amethi
Assembly constituency where
polling was held on February
27. The CM had also campaigned for the minister.
After the FIR was registered, the state government
withdrew the Y category
security provided to Prajapati.
The police in the last six
days raided Prajapati’s official
residence at Gautampalli in
the state capital and in
Amethi but did not find hem
there. The police later
obtained non-bailable warrants against the minister
and also initiated proceedings
for cancellation of his passport.
father charged the SP MLA of
orchestrating her murder.
Another SP MLA from
ARTO, his team attacked
during checking drive
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW
n a daring incident, unidentified bike-borne miscreants
Iattacked
the assistant regional
transport officer (Enforcement)
and his team when they were
on a checking drive in
Madiaon. The ARTO and his
team members suffered injuries
in the attack. He had given a
complaint in this regard and
the police registered a case of
rioting, assault and use of criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging his duty.
The police also slapped 7
Criminal Law Amendment Act
on unidentified miscreants.
As per reports, ARTO Alok
Kumar, along with his team,
was
checking
autos/tempos/public transport
plying illegally. Around 3 pm,
when the team reached near
Chattha Meel locality, the miscreants riding a bike surrounded the official vehicle
and started pelting stones on
the team from all sides. The
team members got panicky
and they hid themselves inside
the vehicle. Some commuters
informed the police control
room about the incident and a
police team reached the place
for investigation into the case.
Later, the ARTO lodged a case
in this connection.
Police said a case was registered and efforts to identify
the miscreants were on.
It surfaced during investigation that some auto/tempo
drivers were piqued over regular checking by the ARTO in
the locality. “It seemed that the
attack was planned by some
disgruntled group. In the recent
past, some auto/tempo drivers
had alleged that the enforcement team was committing
excesses in the name of checking. The team used to slap fine
on vehicles even though they
had all papers,” sources said.
The police said they had no
information of the discord
between the ARTO team and
the auto/tempo drivers. The
police said the ARTO and his
team was checking fitness of
vehicles and tax arrears.
STUDENT FEARED DROWNED
A female BTC student
jumped into Indira canal to end
her life in Chinhat on Saturday
afternoon. Divers were pressed
into service but could not find
her. The woman, identified as
Preeti Kumar of Barabanki, is
pursuing BTC from a college in
Indira Nagar. She is married to
one Virendra Kumar, also of
Barabanki. Around 4.45 pm,
some commuters saw her
jumping into the canal and
alerted the police. The cops
recovered her purse from the
embankment and her identity
was ascertained on the basis of
documents found it.
Amethi and minister, Gayatri
Prasad Prajapati, is also accused
of rape of a woman and a case
has been registered against
him on the order of the
Supreme Court. He too is
absconding and the police have
sent a look-out notice for him
at all airports of the country to
prevent Prajapati from fleeing
the country.
Last week, Peace Party
chief Dr Ayub was accused of
sexual exploitation and murder.
The victim in her 20’s was
admitted to KGMU, Lucknow
in a serious condition where
she died due to damaged liver
and kidneys. The girl’s brother lodged an FIR against Ayub
charging him of sexually
exploiting the girl and administering medicines which damaged her liver and kidneys.
The complainant said that
Ayub had brought the girl to
Lucknow five years ago from
Khalilabad in Sant Kabir Nagar
on the pretext of providing her
better education. Later he sexually exploited her before plotting her murder.
A case was registered
under sections 376 (punishment for rape), 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not
amounting to murder) and
506 (punishment for criminal
intimidation) of the Indian
Penal Code against Ayub.
Dr Ayub, who owns a
number of hospitals in the
state, is the sitting MLA from
Khalilabad Assembly constituency and is contesting the
election from the same seat.
Upset over family
strife, woman
commits suicide
Lucknow (PNS): Upset
over family discord, a 25-yearold woman ended her life in
Gomti Nagar on Saturday
morning.
The woman, identified as
Preeti, was married to Rajendra
Gautam and was living with
him and her two-year-old son
in Ujariaon locality of Gomti
Nagar. Her father Udal of
Gosainganj informed the police
that he got the news of his
daughter’s death on Saturday
morning. “I was informed on
phone that Preeti had ended
her life by hanging herself
from the ceiling of a room. I
was also told that she was
hanging with a stole tied
around her neck,” he told
Gomti Nagar police.
He said that when he
reached the house, he found the
body placed on the floor in a
room. “I was told that Preeti
was brought down from the
noose and was taken to a hospital where she was declared
brought dead,” he said.
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW
roperty worth several lakh
rupees was damaged in a
P
fire that engulfed three shops
selling readymade garments
in the busy Aminabad market
on Saturday morning. Twelve
fire tenders were pressed into
service and the flames were
doused after hours.
The fire broke out in a
readymade garment shop
owned by Umesh Kumar
around 7.15 am. Pavement
dwellers and vendors saw
smokes billowing out of the
shop and they alerted the
owner. By the time, the fire
tenders and policemen reached
the place, the fire had engulfed
two adjoining garment shops.
“Luckily, the fire was controlled in time or the damages
would have been huge. There
are a number of shops, including small and big ones, in the
market. Some owners also have
shops in the basement. Had the
flames reached there, it would
have been disastrous,” chief
fire officer AB Pandey said.
The firemen had to face a
lot of problems in reaching the
place as it is located deep
inside the market and the narrow bylanes have been
encroached by vendors.
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW
sserting that mental and
physical health of an indiA
vidual shared a unique relationship, senior psychiatrist
from PGI, Chandigarh, Dr Ajit
Awasthi, said mental health
problems played a big role in
recovering from various physical disorders like heart ailments and diabetes.
He also pointed out that
mental health determined how
long a patient would continue
to suffer from chronic disease
like cancer and the chances of
his or her survival. He said
hypertension and mental disorder decreased immunity and
gave impetus to heart and
metabolism problems.
Dr Awasthi advocated
reform in medical education to
provide simultaneous treatment for both mental as well as
physical disorders to a patient.
“The medical education
over the world has been undergoing a shift in the way physical disorders are treated. A new
healthcare system is being
Firefighters in action at Aminabad on Saturday
Mental, physical health
closely related: Doc
developed in many countries
under which a patient could be
treated for physical disorder
along with associated mental
health problem. Such a system
of combined healthcare is yet
to evolve in India,” said the
head of Psychiatry department
of Post-Graduate Institute of
Medical Education and
Research, Chandigarh.
Dr Awasthi was speaking at
Officials told to
keep vigil during
counting, Holi
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW
he District Magistrate
directed all officials related
T
to law and order to remain alert
Girls at a flower exhibition at E-Park
in Mahanagar on Saturday Pioneer
from March 11 to March 13 in
view of the counting of votes
and the Holi festival.
“All SDMs, ACMs and circle officers should conduct
joint inspection in their respective areas. They should inspect
spots where ‘Holika dahan’
will be performed and if there
is any dispute regarding the
spot it should be sorted out at
the earliest,” the DM said at a
meeting held at Collectorate on
Saturday. Giving directives to
civic authorities, the Lucknow
Municipal Corporation (LMC)
was asked to carry out cleanliness drive across the city and
ensure proper water supply to
the people on the festival day
while the Electricity department will ensure uninterrupted power supply. “The local
police stations should hold
meetings with members of
peace committees in their
respective areas and prepare a
Raids conducted in BKT to Ravindran to take over
as OTA Commandant
check illegal mining
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW
DM, Bakshi-Ka-Talab
(BKT), Jyotsna Yadav conducted raids at midnight on
Friday to check illegal mining
in the district. During the raid,
several JCBs were seized and
half a dozen persons were
arrested.
SDM, BKT, Jyotsna Yadav
got the information about
illegal mining going on in
Bakshi-Ka-Talab areas. Acting
on the information, SDM,
along with her team, conducted raids in Madiaon-
S
Itaunja areas in which several cases of illegal mining were
detected.
In Bagaah area, the team
of the district administration
found three JCB machines
and tractor trolley being used
in illegal mining
works. Similarly, in
Madiaon, the team found
some people trying to hide a
JCB machine and a dumper
which were seized.
The SDM, Bakshi-KaTalab, said all JCB machines
and other vehicles were seized
and sent to the nearest police
station. Besides, some half a
dozen persons were arrested
in connection with illegal
mining. “The officials are
directed to keep a tab on the
mining taking place in the
area and if it is being done illegally immediate action should
be taken,” she added.
District Magistrate GS
Priyadarshi appreciated raids
conducted by the SDM,
Bakshi-Ka-Talab, and hoped
that in future more extensive
drive would be launched
against illegal mining in the
district.
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW
t Gen Rajan Ravindran has
relinquished the appointL
ment of Chief of Staff, Central
Command, and will be taking
over as Commandant, Officers
Training Academy, Chennai,
on Monday.
As Chief of Staff, Central
Command, since May 23 2016,
he has given a facelift to entire
Lucknow Cantonment with
special emphasis on the
Command Headquarters complex and its institutions.
Lt Gen Ravindran is a
graduate from Loyola College,
Chennai, and an alumnus of
Officers Training Academy,
Chennai. During his illustrious
career spanning almost 38
years, the General Officer has
held varied command and staff
appointments.
Pioneer
specific plan to maintain law
and order,” he said.
With the Holi festival
round the corner, the Food
Safety and Drug Authority
(FSDA) was directed to conduct extensive drive against
adulteration in khoya and
sweets. It was asked to conduct
raids and destroy adulterated
products on the spot. SSP,
Lucknow, Manzil Saini said
police officials were asked to
keep special focus on sensitive
areas in their circles or police
station. ADM-West Jai Shankar
Dubey stated that the chief
medical officer (CMO) was
asked to make arrangements at
hospitals and deploy ambulances in the city to provide
treatment in emergency cases.
the 46th Foundation Day function of the Psychiatry department of King George’s Medical
University (KGMU) at Kalam
Centre on Saturday.
Saying that sex education
was necessary, Dr Awasthi
highlighted the disadvantages
of learning about sex from
wrong resources. “Several psycho-sexual disorders are on the
rise in youths. Sex related dis-
orders like premature ejaculation and common myths associated with sex are increasing.
The youths hesitate in talking
about these problems. Such
problems could be effectively
treated after timely diagnosis,”
he stated.
KGMU Vice-Chancellor
Prof Ravi Kant called upon specialists of different departments like psychiatry, cardiology, urology and others to
relate the common disorders
for embarking on the methodology of common healthcare.
Head of KGMU Psychiatry
department Prof PK Dalal presented the annual report of the
department. Other senior faculty members of KGMU,
including Prof Vinita Das, Prof
UB Mishra, Prof SC Tiwari and
others attended the function.
nation 04
LUCKNOW | SUNDAY | MARCH 5, 2017
steps aside from
P Chidambaram calls BJP
Mumbai Mayor race
Jaya regime ‘corrupt’
PTI n CHENNAI
amil Nadu re-elected a
“corrupt government” led
T
by J Jayalalithaa during the pre-
Missing JNU student Najeeb's mother and sister participate in a protest march
PTI
against ABVP in New Delhi on Saturday
vious Assembly elections,
senior Congress leader P
Chidambaram on Saturday
alleged and called for swift and
deterrent punishment to end
graft. “In Tamil Nadu, a corrupt
government was re-elected...
The head of that government,
may her soul rest in peace, was
convicted by the Supreme
Court and fined Rs 100 crore.
That government got re-elected only last year,” he said.
He said he does not think
re-election is a test of good
government, “it is a test of
good politics, good election
management”. Responding to
questions after launching his
book “Fearless in Opposition”
here, he said the BJP returning
to power in states like Madhya
Pradesh was not “unusual”
and that Congress government got re-elected for three
decades after Independence.
He said the Congress was
the party of “natural governance” but has “indeed lost its
standing”. “We must rebuild it...
I accept the fact that we are in
no major state except
Karnataka,” he said. Replying
to query on corruption, the
former Union finance minister
said, “Corruption eats into
growth and I am not denying
that... But how do you put an
end to corruption? Graft can
be ended only by changing
behaviour and by punishing
misbehaviour.” “You have to
change the behaviour and
those who continue to behave
in a bad manner must be punished quickly... Our legal systems do not punish quickly... If
you punish people quickly say
within a year or two, you will
find that corruption goes down
considerably,” he said.
If it takes 20 years to punish anyone, people assume
that the system is slow, the
Congress leader said, adding
“we must have a swift and
deterrent punishment for corruption”. Opposing media trials, he said it was completely
opposed to the ethics of journalism.
particularly youth turned up in
thousands. The huge crowd
presence brought smiles to
the both leaders. Party workers of SP and Congress welcomed their leaders with slogans of ‘Jai Akhilesh’ and
‘Rahul Gandhi zindabad’.
As the SP-Congress
reached Muslim-dominated
area of Alaipura, much enthusiasm was noticed with the
locals from minority community showering petals on both
leaders. Muslim women also
showed their enthusiasm by
welcoming Akhilesh and
Rahul. With a large number of
supporters and onlookers
accompanying the motorcade,
the roadshow trudged its way
and took almost an hour and
a half to reach neighbouring
Pilikothi - another Muslimdominated area. Curiosity and
enthusiasm were seen among
Muslims including women to
see both the leaders, who
accepted their greetings with
smiles and waved hands. If
Saturday’s enthusiasm among
the local Muslims is any indicator, then the BSP leadership
might have to thrash out other
ways and means to woo the
Muslim voters of Varanasi.
Both leaders chose the
Muslim-dominated localities
on their route to send across
a strong signal to the community that they were the
‘real’ well wishers and if they
voted en block for their candidates, the results of some
segments of the Holy City
could seen a change this time.
In Maidagin and Chowk
localities of City Assembly
segment too which is considered BJP bastion, both leaders
were given a rousing welcome
as they drove by. The roadshow ended at Godoulia but
the turnout might just have
kindled the hope among the
two SP-Congress poster boys
on wresting at least one seat
from the BJP this time round.
on February 27 in Amethi. The
policemen, who were deployed
in the security of the minister,
were yet to report to police officers despite an order for the
same was issue two days back.
The police sources said the
police teams raided some hostels and places in Kanpur,
Lucknow and Amethi but
returned empty-handed. “The
police are under heavy pressure
on the high profile issue. Senior
officers are taking calculative
move and thinking twice before
taking an action in the case,”
the sources said.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
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As his motorcade meandered through the byzantine
lanes of the mythological city
for over four hours, the
Varanasi MP greeted people by
folding hands, waving to them
and showering those cheering
from the roadside with petals
that had piled up on his SUV,
even as the frenzied crowd
bombarded the leader with
slogans of ‘Har Har Modi,
Ghar Ghar Modi’.
Although elected to the
Lok Sabha from Varanasi in
2014, Modi’s visit to the temple town have been few and
Saturday’s road show was his
maiden one in his constituency. The only other time Modi
was seen passing through
Varanasi roads was during his
nomination in the 2014 elections. On some occasions
however, the PM did offer
prayers at the Kashi
Vishwanath temple and visit
the BJP office in a covered
vehicle. The administration
had refused him permission to
travel in an open vehicle with
Japanese counterpart Shinzo
Abe to watch Ganga-Arti at
Dashaswamedh Ghat two
years back. Throughout
Modi’s road show, there was a
natural flow of people thronging the roads in overwhelming
numbers which must have
troubled his political rivals to
the core.
Modi’s visit was not without controversy as Congress
leader Rajeev Shukla claimed
that the BJP did not take permission for the road show
while BJP leaders explained
that the locals decided to
accompany the PM on their
own. Modi reached the BHU
helipad and was greeted by
party leaders and workers and
later started his ‘yatra’ by garlanding Pt. Madan Mohan
Malviya’s statue near BHU
gate. Thousands of students,
teachers’ locals and others
greeted Modi from the roadside and from rooftop and
showered petals on him at the
start point at Lanka. The scene
continued throughout the
route as the motorcade passed
through the narrow lanes of
Assi and Bhaidhaini where a
group of Batuks (Sanskrit students) welcomed him reciting
Manglacharan. The security
personnel had a tough time
controlling the surging mob at
the narrow lanes near Assi and
sensitive Sonarpura and
Muslim-dominated
Madanpura areas. At
Godowlia, the hearts of the
city as well as the saffron
forces, thousands of people
assembled on all four corners
raising slogans like ‘Har Har
Mahadev’, ‘Jai Sriram’,
‘Vandematra’ etc.
At Kashi Vishwanath temple, Modi offered prayers
guided by five priests. “We
made all arrangements to
maintain peace during this
huge show,” said Divisional
Commissioner Nitin Ramesh
Gokarn who along with other
officers were present there.
After coming out of
Gyanvapi premises, Modi continued his journey through
various localities and by the
time his motorcade reached
Maidagin, it was almost covered with huge layers of
marigold petals.
On reaching Kaal Bhairav
temple, Modi offered prayers
and stayed for a few minutes
and later returned to the BHU
helipad in a covered vehicle
and then flew to Jaunpur to
address a poll meeting.
At Jaunpur, the Prime
minister said that the Centre
was going to enact a legislation
by which miscreants grabbing houses, land and other
properties would be jailed for
seven years. Modi strongly
raised the matter as east UP
has been flooded with such
complaints.Expressing confidence over BJP’s victory in the
elections, Modi said “We’d
already won the elections and
now Jaunpur’s people would
give us a bonus. Koi
bahanebazi ab nahi chalengi,”
he said adding that if the BJP
came to power it would give all
accounts of its work to the
people after five years.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA: MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
RESEARCH, DESIGNS & STANDARDS ORGANISATION
MANAK NAGAR, LUCKNOW-226 011.
ELECTRICAL MAINTENANCE SECTION
OPEN TENDER NOTICE
Sealed offers against open tenders are invited by Electrical Maintenance Section,
RDSO, Manak Nagar, Lucknow, for & on behalf of President of India, to be
opened on 05.04.2017 at 15.00 hrs. in the tender room situated in RPF post
near TEN office. In case, the date of opening of tender happens to be a
holiday, the tenders will be opened on the next working day at specified time
and place.
Tender
Description of Work
Approx. Cost Earnest Cost of Tender Completion
Notice No.
Of Work
Money
Document
Time
Replacement of 750 KVA,
1000.00
25/2016-17 11/0.415 KV transformer
OR
Forty Five
winding at Lab Substation
2,95,097
5,910
1500.00
Days
of RDSO
(By Post)
Tender documents (Non-transferable) can be obtained from the office of the
undersigned on any working day between 10.00 hrs to 17.00 hrs. w.e.f.
06.03.2017 to 04.04.2017 and till 12.00 hrs. on 05.04.2017. The cost of Tender
Document as mentioned above is non-refundable. Cost of tender documents
is to be submitted in the form of Demand Draft of State Bank of India or of
any of the Nationalized/Scheduled Banks in favour of Executive Director
Finance, RDSO, Lucknow at the time of purchase / submission of the tender.
For purchasing tender set by post, Demand Draft of State Bank of India or of
any of the Nationalized/Scheduled Banks in favour of Exe. Director
Finance/RDSO, Lucknow is required to be sent to ADE/EMS office. Department
will not take any responsibility on account of delay/loss or miss-delivery of Tender
Sets/Offers sent by post. This shall be submitted separately and in addition to
the earnest money, failing which the tender offer will be rejected summarily.
Earnest Money shall be furnished in any form mentioned in the Tender documents. Tenders not accompanied with requisite Earnest Money are liable to be
summarily rejected.
A Self attested Copy of the License for 'A' Class Electrical Contractor license,
issued by Director, Electrical Safety of State Govt. of U.P. or of equal Status of
any other State Govt shall be submitted. with tender documents and the original copy shall be produced to the office whenever required for verification. In
the absence of the above tender shall be liable for rejection.
Tenderer shall submit necessary self attested copies of works carried out during previous three years and current financial year, balance sheet/SARAL with
the tender documents mentioned in tender paper" Section - 1 "PREAMBLE
AND GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS TO TENDERERS" - S.No.11-Tender's credentials" without the above documents the tender shall be liable for rejection.
'Certificates from private individuals for whom such works are executed/being
executed should not be accepted."
Tender documents are also available at RDSO web-site www.rdso.indianrailways.gov.in and can be downloaded along-with the application form for participation in tender.
Tender offers shall be submitted from 21.03.2017 to 04.04.2017 and up to
14.30 hrs. on 05.04.2017 in the Green Colour Tender Box only kept for the
purpose (for EMS Tender) in the tender room situated in RPF post near
TEN office on or before the specified date of opening.
Case No.: EL/9/16.1.1(Pt.)
Asstt. Design Engineer {EMS}
Dated: 23.02.2017
for Exe. Director Admin.& EMS.
Attacking the SP-Congress
alliance, Modi said, “Akhilesh
told me that if I drove on
Agra-Lucknow Expressway, I
would myself vote for the SP.
But I advised Akhilesh to ride
his cycle with his new ‘yaar’
(Rahul) on Khetasarai to
Kuthan road and I assured that
he would himself vote for
Lotus.” Modi also attacked the
SP regime for falsely claiming
on 24 hour power supply and
asked the people about their
opinion. He later trained his
guns at the dismal law and
order situation saying that the
women folk were wary of
going out of their homes.
Modi also flayed the CM
for protecting rape accused
Gayatri Prajapati and campaigning for the tainted
Minister. To wooing the gathering, Modi termed Jaunpur as
aa ‘land of brave martyrs’ and
expressed his elation to see
such a huge crowds at the
meeting.
LIST 10 WORKS...
I am ready to give the performance report of my fiveyear Government. But, he
should give the report of three
years of rule at the Centre,” he
said. Taking a jibe at his political rivals, he said, “I heard that
voters are being given money.
My advice to you is to keep the
money and vote for the bicycle (SP’s election symbol).”
On giving a significant
number of seats to its alliance
partner Congress in the ongoing State Assembly elections,
the SP national president said
friendship cannot run by being
a miser. The SP is contesting
on 298 of the total 403
Assembly seats in the State
elections, with Congress trying
its luck in remaining 105 seats.
Mounting attack on BSP
supremo Mayawati, Akhilesh
said, “She got her memorials
made even when she was alive.
Now her language has undergone significant change, she is
also speaking the language of
development. But, since she
reads out her speech, people
listening to her tend to fall
asleep.”
“She (Mayawati) is my
bua (aunt), but she may go for
Rakshabandhan (possible
post-poll alliance with BJP).
Hence, you have to be very
careful,” he alleged.
The Samajwadi Party
leader also asserted that his
Government had performed
in the past five years, and if
voted to power again, the
quantum of work would certainly increase. He assured
the audience that poor women
would get Rs 1,000 pension.
“Apart from this, BhadohiMirzapur Road would be
made in such a way that it
effectively lasts for 40 years,” he
added. Meanwhile, a wall on
which a large number of people had perched themselves,
collapsed after the meeting,
damaging around 25 bicycles
and eight motorcycles. Around
five persons were injured in
the incident.
Hours
before
the
Akhilesh-Rahul roadshow, PM
Modi had stamped his charisma by taking out an impressive
roadshow from BHU gate to
Kashi Vishwanath Temple
with people in lakhs lining up
along roadside to welcome
the local MP. Though, Modi
was to visit KVT for offering
puja, his visit assumed the
form of a roadshow as he
decided to receive greetings of
the local people by making the
trip in an open jeep.
Meanwhile, Akhilesh and
Rahul reached Ambedkar
crossing two hours from
scheduled time, around 2.40
pm, and by that time people
COMMUNAL TENSION...
arrangements will be in
place to avert any untoward
incident. The situation would
be reviewed and appropriate
decision would be taken,”
District Magistrate Akashdeep
told reporters on Saturday.
There were reports from
some areas of burning of
makeshift shops by miscreants.
Administrative officials held a
peace committee meeting and
took out a peace march in
which people from different
communities participated on
Saturday.
Shops and markets were
open and normal activity was
witnessed on roads under the
gaze of heavy police deployment.
Mobile police vans have
been deployed at all crossings
and sensitive localities.
IG (Lucknow Zone) A
Satish Ganesh and DIG Pravin
Kumar are camping in the city.
The twin cities of Kheri
and Lakhimpur were gripped
by tension after a video hurting religious sentiments went
viral on the social media. Two
students who circulated the
objectionable clip were later
arrested and sent to judicial
custody by the court.
Despite prompt action by
the police, protests started on
the streets and markets were
closed in panic. Curfew was
imposed on Thursday night
and was relaxed for three
hours on Friday.
PRAJAPATI’S
PASSPORT...
the country. On the other
hands, the team hunting for
Gayatri failed to get any clue
about the minister. Gayatri’s
cell phones were last operated
VISIBLE FROM PAK...
“The flag will instill nationalism among the citizens and
will be symbol of pride for the
country. Our teams have
worked very hard and are
working overtime to get ready
for the big day when thousands
of proud Indians would see the
tricolour unfurled. We are now
working overtime to get ready
for the big day when thousands
of proud Indians will see the
flag being unfurled. This is really a historic occasion,” Joshi
told The Pioneer. The flag has
been installed within the
Punjab Tourism Complex with
a beautiful landscaped court,
amphitheater seating arrangements and several other amenities for the visitors and tourists.
Amritsar
Improvement
appointed Bharat Electricals
Pvt Ltd to install the flag and
Ingenious Studio Pvt Ltd from
Gurgaon near the national
Capital as Project Management
Consultants which at present is
also building the tallest religious structure of World at
Vrindavan Chandrodaya
Mandir.
PRAYERS WON’T...
They have focused their
energies on bringing in crowds
from far and wide. But it is the
locals who vote in an election
anywhere. Our huge rally here
is attended by local crowds,
which proves that it is the BSP
which enjoys actual public support and is poised to form the
next Government in the State,”
Mayawati said.
To appoint
Upalokayukta in
tactical move to
keep leash on
Sena in BMC
TN RAGHUNATHA n MUMBAI
n a tactical retreat aimed
apparently at keeping its
Iunhappy
ally Shiv Sena both
in good humour and on leash
and also ensuring the stability of its Government in
Maharashtra, the ruling BJP
on Saturday announced that it
would not contest the
Mumbai mayoral and deputy
mayoral polls and also not
seek elections to the posts of
chairmen of the Standing
Committee, BEST and various
ward committees in the BMC
“in
the
interest
of
Mumbai”.
In a surprising decision
that took the wind out of the
sails of the Shiv Sena leadership, the ruling BJP not only
gave the power in the BMC on
a platter to the Sena but also
put the Uddhav Thackeray-led
party in a dilemma by deciding to appoint a Upalokayukta
for Mumbai to bring about
transparency in the governance of Asia’s biggest civic
body.
In effect, Maharashtra
Chief Minister Devendra
Fadnavis — in a master stroke
— nipped in the bud the possibility of the Shiv Sena walking out of the BJP-led saffron
alliance Government and also
sent out a clear-cut message to
Uddhav Thackeray that
through the to-be appointed
Upalokayukta, his party would
keep a close watch on the ruling Sena in the BMC, which
has been ridden with massive
corruption in recent years.
With the BJP withdrawing
its claim over the BMC’s two
elected posts, the Mumbai
mayoral and deputy mayor
polls have become a mere
formality. As a result,
Vishwanath Pandurang
Mahadeshwar and Hemangi
Warlikar — who filed nominations on Saturday — will in
all likelihood be elected as
Mumbai’s Mayor and Deputy
Mayor respectively. This is
notwithstanding the fact that
the Congress, which has
strength of 31 members in the
227-member BMC, has put up
Vittal Govind Lokhare and
Vinni D’souza as its candidates
for the posts of Mayor and
deputy Mayor respectively.
An hour before the deadline for filing the nominations
for the posts of Mayor and
deputy Mayor ended at 5.30
pm, talking to mediapersons
at his official residence
‘Varsha,’ the Chief Minister
said: “The BJP will not contest
the mayoral and deputy mayoral polls. Though both the
BJP and Sena will have equal
strength of 10 seats in the civic
standing committee, we will
not contest the chairmanship’s post in this committee.
Similarly in other committees
like the improvement committee, education committee
and BEST committee where
both the BJP will have equal
number members, we will
contest the elections to the
posts of chairman in these
committees as well”.
Reacting to the BJP’s decision not to contest the
Mumbai mayoral polls, senior
Shiv Sena leader and Minister
in the Fadnavis Cabinet
Diwakar Raote said, “We are
happy that the BJP will not
contest the BMC mayoral
polls. That’s means the BJP has
accepted the mandate given by
Mumbaikars in the BMC polls
in favour of the Shive Sena.
We thank the Chief Minister
for the BJP’s decision and
congratulate our party president Uddhav Thackeray for
the development.”
However, Maharashtra
Congress chief Ashok Chavan
slammed Fadnavis.
news 05
LUCKNOW | SUNDAY MARCH 5, 2017
GST Council vets CGST, IGST
laws; 5% tax on small hotels
PTI n NEW DELHI
he GST Council on Saturday fixed
a 5 per cent tax rate on small hotels
T
and restaurants and approved draft of
key supporting legislations to enable
rollout of the new indirect tax regime
from July 1. The all-powerful Council
approved the final draft of Central
GST (C-GST) and Integrated GST (IGST) and will take up for approval the
State-GST and Union Territory-GST
(UT-GST) laws at its next meeting on
March 16. The C-GST, which will give
powers to Centre to levy GST on
goods and services after union levies
like excise and service tax are subsumed, and I-GST that is to be levied
on inter-state supplies, will go to
Parliament for approval in the second
half of the Budget session beginning
March 9, Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley said. The S-GST, which will
allow states to levy the tax after VAT
and other state levies are subsumed in
the GST, will have to be passed by each
of the state legislative assemblies. UTGST will also go to Parliament for
approval. Jaitley said the model GST
Law will have a clause to enable levy
of up to 40 per cent tax (20 per cent
by the Centre and an equal amount by
the states) but the effective tax rates will
be kept at the previously approved levels of 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent. “The
rates will be what has been decided by
the Council. There won’t be a higher
rate of taxation. But the cap rate in the
legislation is always put at a higher level
to leave a headspace, just as in the
Customs Act you have a difference
between the bound rate and applied
rate. So the applied rate is going to be
what the council has decided,” Jaitley
said. This is being done to obviate the
need for going to Parliament in case
the levy is to be raised on certain goods
and services. This will also help in a
scenario where the cess on de-merit
goods being proposed to compensate
states for loss of revenue from GST, is
to be merged with the tax rate itself,
he told reporters after the meeting.
“As it looks like, it looks on track.
Hopefully the laws would be before
Parliament this session and subject to
the Parliament approving them, July
1 this year now optimistically looks like
the possible date for GST implementation,” he said. The Council, headed
by Jaitley and comprising representatives of all states, decided to levy a 5
per cent GST (2.5 per cent by Centre
and 2.5 per cent by state) on small
hotels, restaurants and dhabas with an
annual turnover of up to Rs 50 lakh.
Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia
said there were demands that restaurants should be included in the composition scheme. “So the Council
decided that there would be a composition scheme for restaurants up to
a turnover of Rs 50 lakh and the rate
for them is 5 per cent. So the remaining restaurants, they will come in the
regular service tax rate,” Adhia said.
Adhia said the first meeting of
GST Council had decided that composition scheme in GST regime would
be applicable on trading and manufacturing units with up to Rs 50 lakh
turnover. The composition scheme
provides for a easier method of calculating tax liability and allows GST
registration for dealers with turnover
below the compounding cut-off. The
scheme has been introduced to reduce
the administrative cost associated
with collection of tax from small
traders. Hence, businesses below a
turnover of Rs 50 lakh can pay taxes
at a defined floor rate of 1 per cent, and
manufacturers can pay at 2 per cent,
much lower than the GST rate. For services, it would be 5 per cent. Jaitley said
the Council will have its 12th meeting on March 16 in which SGST and
UTGST bills will be cleared. “In a nutshell, compensation law was approved
in last meeting (and) today (GST
Council) approved the CGST and
IGST law and in next meeting we will
be approving the SGST and UTGST
law which will then complete the legislative exercise.”
J&K: Ops called
off after militants
manage to flee
PTI n SRINAGAR
he overnight anti-militancy operation in
south Kashmir’s Shopian district was called
T
off on Saturday as the militants managed to
escape from the security forces’ cordon.
Security forces launched a cordon and
search operation in Chillipora village of the district last night following information about the
presence of militants there, a police official said.
He said a gunfight broke out between the
two sides as the security forces were closing on
the militants’ positions. The exchange of fire
between the two sides ended late Friday night
but the security forces did not lift the cordon
with the aim of stopping the militants from fleeing. “House-to-house searches were launched
at day break today but no arrests were made.
The militants had apparently managed to
escape last night itself,” the official said.
There were no casualties reported in the
encounter.
Meanwhile, six CRPF personnel sustained
injuries as their mobile bunker vehicle turned
turtle while chasing a group of “miscreants” at
Heff area of the district, the official said.
He said several persons had assembled by
the roadside at Heff and were holding protests
against the operation of the security forces in
the nearby area. The CRPF vehicle skid off the
road and turned turtle, resulting in injuries to
six jawans, he said, adding that the injured personnel were admitted to a local hospital.
Prez advocates Gandhian model to Govt should resolve
address jobless industrial growth Kashmiri people’s
issue: Sinha
PNS n NEW DELHI
n the times of weak global
economy, and industrial
growth becoming more jobless
in nature, even in emerging
economies, the Gandhian
model of decentralised, distributed and diversified innovation-based enterprises can be
the best way forward to solve
the problems, President Pranab
Mukherjee said on Saturday.
"Gandhiji had always wanted to blend modern science
and technology with community knowledge and institutions. His message has become
extremely relevant in today's
context," Mukherjee said while
presenting the 9th National
Biennial Awards for Grassroots
Innovations and Outstanding
Traditional Knowledge at
Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Speaking at the occasion,
President said to further enrich
the eco-system around inclusive innovations, all public and
private systems around grassroots innovations is needed to
become empathetic enablers.
"And we need to do it, not just
for India, but for the whole
I
* Gandhiji had always wanted to blend modern science and technology
with community knowledge and institutions. His message has become
extremely relevant in today's context," Mukherjee said while presenting
the 9th National Biennial Awards for Grassroots Innovations and
Outstanding Traditional Knowledge at Rashtrapati Bhavan
* Speaking at the occasion, President said to further enrich the ecosystem around inclusive innovations, all public and private systems
around grassroots innovations is needed to become empathetic
enablers. "And we need to do it, not just
for India, but for the whole world. The
emergence of an inclusive innovation
eco-system uniquely suited to India
requires several more steps than what has
already been taken by the Government
and civil society," President said
world. The emergence of an
inclusive innovation eco-system uniquely suited to India
requires several more steps
than what has already been
taken by the Government and
civil society," President said.
He added that it is important to imbibe in children a
spirit of scientific inquiry. "We
must encourage them to pursue their curiosity and creativity. We must help them discover the fascination of creating something new. India is
poised to take the fruits of
development through initiatives like Start-up India, Digital
India and Swachchh India to all
corners of the country. Ideas of
innovators will make a true difference only if all of us in different roles and institutions join
hands in creating samvedansheelta and srijan-sheelta (compassion and creativity) in the
country," he said.
The President also met with
the innovation scholars, artists
and writers who are staying in
Rashtrapati Bhavan as part of
In-Residence Programme as
well as inaugurated an
Innovation Exhibition of grassroots innovators from across the
country on the occasion.
‘If they want solution
to oft-erupting
violence in the State’
PNS n NEW DELHI
ormer External Affairs
Minister Yashwant Sinha
F
on Saturday said that the
Government should work to
settle the issues of Kashmiri
people, if it wants solution to
oft-erupting violence in the
State. He added alienating
Kashmiris by not solving their
issues would only lead to
Pakistan taking advantage of
the situation.
"The road to Islamabad is
via Srinagar and not the other
way around. It is not to Srinagar
via Islamabad. I have been
involved in the Kashmir issue
for the last few months and I
have come to this conclusion
that the issues of our people
(Kashmiris) should be settled
first in order to tackle the disputes with Pakistan. They have
been alienated which will only
let Pakistan to take advantage
of the situation," Sinha said at
a book release function of
'India's Foreign Policy —
Selected Writings' compiled by
late academician ML Sondhi
and edited by Harsh Pant.
He added that once the
issues of people in the State
were settled, solving the ones
involving Pakistan would
become easier through joint
efforts with the Kashmiris.
Commenting on India's
current foreign policy, Sinha
said it had too many rigidities.
"What happened 40 years ago
has become an article of faith.
Though we have changed a
lot, we should do away with
the remaining rigidities," he
said, adding that a country's
foreign policy must be based
on `flexibility'.
"In today's changing world,
that flexibility should be evident on a day-to-day basis as
well," he said while adding
small associations of countries
such as the BRICS were "much
more effective" than those with
"too many members".
Jaishankar: Trump Admn
‘very positive’ on India ties
Advances
Indian position
on H-1B visa
PNS/S RAJAGOPALAN n
WASHINGTON
he Trump administration
has a “very positive view”
T
of India and is keen on taking
the US-India relationship forward, Foreign Secretary S
Jaishankar said after talks with
senior Cabinet members of
the new administration here
over the past three days.
“We saw a lot of goodwill
and interest in taking the relationship forward,” Jaishankar
told reporters after holding
talks with Secretary of State Rex
Tillerson, Commerce Secretary
Wilbur Ross, Homeland
Security Secretary John Kelly,
National Security Advisor Lt
Gen HR McMaster and Deputy
Assistant to the President Ken
Juster.
“Overall, it has been a very
productive visit,” said the
Foreign Secretary, who was
accompanied by Commerce
Secretary Rita Teotia and
Indian Ambassador Navtej
Sarna in what was the first formal interaction between the
Narendra Modi Government
and the Trump Administration.
As he put it, “The sense was
certainly – We like to do more
with India.”
Indicating that the next
round of India-US Strategic
and Commercial Dialogue will
be held in New Delhi later this
year, Jaishankar said both
Tillerson and Ross have accepted invitations to visit India.
The two sides held wideranging discussions on various
facets of the bilateral relationship, said Jaishankar, confirming that the contentious issue of
H-1B visas – an area of acute
concern for Indian IT firms
and software professionals –
did come up at a number of
meetings.
With the Trump administration still to spell out its
plans for the future of H-1B
visas the bulk of which have
been used by Indian companies
and professionals over the
years, Jaishankar expressed the
view that the United States will
actually need more skilled professionals under the H-1B
scheme in furtherance of
Trump’s plans to bring back
American companies.
The Indian side also sought
to convey to the US officials
that H-1B visas, being dealt
with by Washington as part of
immigration reform, should
really be considered as a trade
and services issue. Teotia spoke
of the strong recognition
among US officials of the contributions of the Indian tech
sector.
At the meetings, the recent
Kansas shooting in which
Indian engineer Srinivas
Kuchibhotla also figured
prominently with the US side
seeking to reassure that it was
the “act of an individual” and
that the American justice system will bring the perpetrator
to justice, with the incident
being prosecuted as a hate
crime.
The Foreign Secretary
spoke of the broad continuity
of India-US relations, which
have enjoyed bipartisan support and been on a steady
upward trajectory under the
three previous demonstrations
of Bill Clinton, George W.
Bush and Barack Obama.
While conceding that the
Trump administration looks at
the world with a different perspective, he said India would
need to adapt to the situation.
At the same time, he expressed
the view that India was being
seen as a solid economic partner and a country with which
the US has strong strategic and
security convergence.
Besides interactions with
the top administration officials,
the Indian delegation also held
meetings with leaders from
both parties, including Speaker
Paul Ryan, House Minority
Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate
Foreign Relations Committee
Chairman Bob Corker, House
Foreign Affairs Committee
Chairman
Ed
Royce,
Democratic co-chair of Senate
India Caucus Mark Warner,
Republican co-chair of House
India Caucus George Holding
and Democratic lawmaker
Tulsi Gabbard.
Jaishankar spoke of the US
Congress’s “extraordinary support” for growing the India
relationship over the years.
The Indian officials also had an
interaction with the US India
Business Council.
Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Arun Jaitley with Minister of State for Finance
Santosh Gangwar, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia and others at a GST Council meeting at
Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Saturday
Alwin Singh | Pioneer
Procedural hurdle to Gopal Ansal’s plea for parity Google India inks MoU
PNS n NEW DELHI
he Supreme Court Registry
has put a spoke into the latest attempt made by real estate
tycoon Gopal Ansal to circumvent the jail sentence in the
Uphaar fire tragedy case.
Asked to surrender before
March 9 to undergo seven
months sentence remaining of
his one-year jail term, the SC
Registrar has issued an order
refusing to register an application filed by Ansal to modify
the February 9, 2017 order
directing his surrender. The
application sought modification of the February 9 order to
the extent allowing him to be
treated at par with his elder
brother Sushil Ansal, who was
exempted from going to jail
due to his old age.
T
Monday before a bench of
Justices Ranjan Gogoi and
Navin Sinha. This is so because
the Chief Justice of India on
Friday had allowed listing of
the application on Monday
after Ansal's lawyer senior
advocate Ram Jethmalani mentioned before CJI's bench complaining of the non-listing of
the application.
The Registrar order has
been annexed to the application
to demonstrate how Ansal has
tried to subvert the provisions
of the Supreme Court Rules
2013 that does not permit an
application in open court for
challenging an order passed in
a review petition. The Registrar
in his order stated, "It is not a
case that some typographical
mistake is sought to be rectified…The applicant/petitioner
intends to seek parity with the
other accused…in the aforesaid
circumstances, the only challenge which can apparently be
made is by way of a curative
petition. The grounds available
in review possibly cannot be reagitated by way of a modification simplicitor."
In his application, Ansal
has claimed that the benefit provided to his elder brother must
be extended to him as well as his
medical condition is equally, if
not more worse than his brother. Attaching medical records to
prove his case, Ansal said that he
has to spend close to seven
months in jail leading to further
deterioration of his health. Both
Ansal brothers were found guilty
of negligence in causing death of
59 persons in the Uphaar fire
tragedy of June 13, 1997.
with Telangana Govt
PNS n NEW DELHI/HYDERABAD
Telangana Minister for IT and
Industries K T Rama Rao and
Google India representatives.
Other initiatives as a part of
the agreement include, making all government websites
mobile friendly and introduce programmes to help
local small and medium businesses go online and stay safe
online.
"Additionally Google as
part of Google Cultural
Institute project will work
with the Culture and Tourism
Department of the state to create a digital repository of the
architectural and cultural heritage of the state, its history
and imagery and make it
accessible globally," it said.
Speaking after the meeting, Chetan Krishnaswamy,
Director — Public Policy,
Google India, said, "We are
delighted to support the government of Telangana in its
vision of a digitally empowered state. We look forward to
work with the State
Government to create an
enabling environment and
ecosystem to help women,
students, small and medium
businesses and entrepreneurs."
As part of the MoU,
Google India and the
Telangana Government will
also work on promoting digital literacy among rural
women through programme
'Internet Saathi'.
Mali to join hands with India in combating terrorism Cong wants EC to book Modi for
For holding
roadshow in Varanasi
without permission
According to Registrar, the
February 9 order was passed on
a review petition and as per the
Supreme Court Rules, any modification of the same requires the
aggrieved party to file a curative
petition. Pointing this objection
as the ground to refuse registration of the application, the
Registrar (Judicial) Chirag
Bhanu Singh said, "In substance,
he (Ansal) seeks parity for reduc-
ing the sentence so imposed on
him…Seeking parity with the
other accused certainly cannot
be a ground for modification per
se. After the disposal of the
appeal and review petition there
is no reasonable cause to accept
the present application for
registration."
Despite the Registrar denying permission to register, the
application will still be listed on
PNS n NEW DELHI
ndia and Mali have agreed to
cooperate on terrorism.
During the Minister of State in
the Ministry of External Affairs
MJ Akbar's visit to Mali recently, both sides identified terrorism as a grave threat and
agreed to co-operate at a bilateral, regional and multi-lateral level to combat this menace.
Akbar visited Mali on a bilateral official visit from March 23, 2017 during which he cochaired the first ever Joint
Commission Meeting (JCM)
between India and Mali along
with the Foreign Minister of
Mali Abdoulaye Diop.
Mali was a target of terror
attacks by Al Qaeeda in 2016.
The African country's cultural heritage sites particularly the
mausoleums and shrines were
also destroyed by radical
I
Islamist militia. Mali's
Timbaktu is a historical city
which was a centre for Islamic
learning during the 15th and
16th centuries.
India has provided assistance in reconstruction $0.5
million for the reconstruction
of the world heritage of
Timbuktu. MEA said in a state-
ment that Mali thanked India
for its generous assistance.
India would be hosting the
largest exhibition of Timbuktu
manuscripts titled `When Taj
Mahal meets Timbuktu' later
this year.
The JCM discussions
reviewed the bilateral engagement between the countries in
various sectors like agriculture,
energy etc and laid out areas of
future co-operation, particularly in security and technology. Both sides also exchanged
views on issues of common
interest such as UN reforms,
development issues, SouthSouth co-operation and promotion of renewable energy.
Akbar reiterated India's
commitment to Mali's geographical and ideological
integrity and assured India's
support for its sovereignty and
territorial integrity. Both sides
expressed satisfaction at the
outcome of the first JCM and
agreed to hold the next meeting in 2019. Akbar's visit would
be followed by a series of highlevel visits from Mali to India
including the visit of Minister
of Culture and Minister of
Investment Promotion and
Private Sector.
he
Telangana
Government has entered
T
into an agreement with
Google India to give a fillip
to the digitisation efforts of
the State.
Google India will provide
Google Cloud credits and
access to all cloud platform
products to eligible startups
engaged with Telangana government's T-Hub initiative
and through its Developer
Relations team provide technical mentorship and advisory support to various startups.
According to a press
release , an MoU was signed
on Friday in the presence of
alleged violation of model code
PNS n NEW DELHI
he Congress has alleged
that Prime Minister
T
Narendra Modi violated the
model code of conduct by
holding a roadshow in Varanasi
without the permission of the
poll authorities and asked the
Election Commission to file an
FIR against him and other
senior BJP leaders. The party
will also approach the poll
watchdog questioning poll
ethics prtaining to the presence
of BHU Vice-Chancellor Girish
Chandra Tripathi.
In a letter to the EC, the
party alleged that Modi took out
the road show in Varanasi from
BHU (Banaras Hindu
University) "without the necessary permission from the competent authority". Interestingly,
p In a letter to the EC, the Congress alleged that Modi took out the road
show in Varanasi from BHU (Banaras Hindu University) "without the
necessary permission from the competent authority". Interestingly,
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Congress Vice
President Rahul Gandhi too held a road shown in the city which also
led to clash between the party workers of BJP and Congress-SP
combine
p The opposition party said the entire video recording of the road show
has been shown by various channels and election authorities must
also have recorded the same. Mittal said the road show covers three
assembly seats of Varanasi South, Varanasi Cantt and Varanasi North
and Modi also visited the Kashi Vishwanath Temple and Kaal Bhairo
Temple during the event
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister
Akhilesh Yadav and Congress
Vice President Rahul Gandhi
too held a road shown in the city
which also led to clash between
the party workers of BJP and
Congress-SP combine.
"It is requested that action
may be taken and FIR registered
against all BJP leaders including
Narendra Modi who were part
of the road show," said K C
Mittal, AICC secretary incharge
of legal and human rights cell.
The opposition party said
the entire video recording of
the road show has been shown
by various channels and election authorities must also have
recorded the same. Mittal said
the road show covers three
assembly seats of Varanasi
South, Varanasi Cantt and
Varanasi North and Modi also
visited the Kashi Vishwanath
Temple and Kaal Bhairo
Temple during the event.
"All this was done without
any requisite permission for
conducting the road show from
the competent authority of the
Election Commission," Mittal
said. His road show was held
on a day when 49 constituencies went to polls in the sixth
phase of UP Assembly elections
and people in large numbers
turned out as Modi's cavalcade
moved at a snail's pace. On the
other hand, the party is gathering manuals to check the veracity of presence of BHU V-C and
several of his staff at PM's road
show. Tripathi is close to the RSS.
nation 06
LUCKNOW | SUNDAY | MARCH 5, 2017
UP poll: 57.3% turnout in 6th phase Prohibition on exit polls
PNS n LUCKNOW
n estimated 57.3 per cent
voter turnout was recorded
in the sixth phase of polling for
the UP Assembly elections on
Saturday. Polling for 49 seats
spread across seven east UP districts were peaceful barring
stray incidents of clash among
supporters of different parties.
For the total of 1.73 crore
voters in this phase, the
Election Commission had set
up 17,926 polling booths out of
which 2,146 booths were
marked as hypersensitive.
In 2012 Assembly elections, 55.4 percent voters
turnout was recorded in sixth
phase of the assembly election
and in 2014 Lok Sabha polls the
polling percentage was 54.72.
Polling started at 7 am and
ended in a smooth note at 5 pm
in the 49 segments bordering
north Bihar and Nepal. The fate
of 635 candidates, including 63
women, was sealed in this
polling. Of the total candidates,
20 per cent had criminal backgrounds and 25 per cent were
crorepatis.
Chief Electoral Officer of
UP, T Venkatesh said that the
official polling figure till 9 am
was around 11 per cent, 23.28
per cent at 11 am, 37.85 per
cent at 1pm and 48.73 per cent
at 3 pm . Voting percentage at
5 pm was around 57 per cent.
A
Voters in queue to cast their votes at a polling station during the sixth phase of the
State Assembly election in Gorakhpur on Saturday
PTI
The voter turnout in
Gorakhpur was 56 per cent,
Maharajganj 61 per cent,
Azamgarh 57 per cent, Mau 59
per cent, Ballia 57.6 per cent,
Deoria 58 per cent and
Manipur sees 84%
polling in Phase 1
ANUP SHARMA n GUWAHATI
espite the ongoing blockade of the two National
Highways, Manipur on
Saturday recorded 84 per cent
peaceful polling in the first
phase. Thirty-eight of the total
60 legislative Assembly constituencies in the militancy
ravaged State went to polls on
Saturday.
Chief Electoral Officer of
Manipur Vivek Kumar
Dewangan said that 84 per
cent polling was recorded till
the evening but the percentage
was likely to go up. “So far we
have recorded 84 per cent
polling. However, the figures
are tentative as we are
yet to receive polling figures from 28 per cent of
polling stations, which are
from no communication
areas,” he said while addressing the media on Saturday
evening.
He said that the polling
remained largely peaceful
except one incident where
suspected militants attacked
one of the party candidates
contesting the polls.
“We heard that there is an
D
incident of attack on one of the
party candidates, Erendro
Leichombam. We had urged
him to take security but he
refused,” said the Chief
Electoral Officer.
Suspected
militants
stopped the vehicle of
Leichombam and attacked
him. Leichombam was travelling in his private vehicle
along with some of his family
members at the time of attack.
He is contesting from the
Thangmeiband constituency
and is the convener of PRJA
(Peoples’ Resurgence and
Justice Alliance), a political
party he co-founded with
Manipur’s Iron lady Irom
Sharmila Chanu and few
others.
Polls were held under tight
security in the State and
according to the statistics of
the office of the Chief Electoral
Office, over 9,000 security
personnel were deployed
across the polling stations
including State Police and
Central Paramilitary Forces
(CPMF).
Besides the State Police,
250 companies of the CPMF
had been deployed in the State
Protest over class
12 paper in Jammu;
girl, cop hurt
to ensure a smooth polling.
Around 30 of them were
deployed along the National
Highway No 53 and National
Highway No 2, which
remained under an economic
blockade called by the United
Naga Council (UNC), an apex
body of the Nagas living in
Manipur.
While there are 168 candidates in the fray for the 38
constituencies that went to
polls on Saturday, only seven
women candidates are in the
fray. The second phase of
polling will be held for 22 constituencies on March 8 and the
counting of polls will be held
on March 11.
While the ruling Congress,
which has been in power for
last 15 years, is contesting the
polls on the issue framework
agreement signed by the BJPled NDA Government at the
Centre with the NSCN (IM)
that will jeopardize the territorial integrity of Manipur, the
BJP is contesting the polls on
the agenda of development
and ‘parivartan’ (change), a
mantra that did the wonders
for the saffron party in Assam
last year.
Kushinagar 59.3 per cent.
Venkatesh said that as several voters were in the queue
when polling was closed at 5
pm hence the final poll percentage could increase marginally. He said that a minor
incident was reported in Ballia
where SP and BSP workers
came to a head. While no one
was injured, some persons were
arrested.
After casting his vote in
Gorakhpur, local BJP MP Yogi
Adityanath claimed that the
BJP was coming to power in
UP. This phase will test the
political influence of Union
Minister and Decoria MP
Kalraj Mishra, Mahant
Adityanath of Gorakhpur and
Samajwadi Party patron and
Azamgarh MP Mulayam Singh
Yadav, who has so far stayed
away from campaigning.
Prominent candidates
include jailed don Mokhtar
Ansari from Mau, his son
Abbas from Ghosi, former UP
Legislative Council chairman
Ganesh Shanker Pandey from
Paniyara, former UP Assembly
Speaker Sukhdeo Rajbhar from
Didarganj — all of whom have
been fielded by the BSP.
Former Leader of the
Opposition in UP Assembly
and now BJP candidate Swami
Prasad Maurya from Padrauna,
murder convict Amarmani
Tripathi’ son Amanmani
Tripathi is contesting as an
Independent from Nautanwa of
Maharajganj.
Around 2 lakh security
personnel, including 700 companies of Central forces were
deployed for this phase.
In the sixth phase, the BSP
had fielded candidates in all 49
seats while the BJP in 45, SP in
40 and Congress in 10 seats.
Besides, there are 248 candidates of recognised parties and
174 independents. In one seat,
despite electoral alliance both
the SP and Congress have
fielded candidates.
Mau Assembly seat had
the highest number of 4.41 lakh
voters while the lowest is at
Sikanderpur of Ballia with 2.88
lakh voters. The maximum
number of candidates of 23
were in Gorakhpur (City) seat
while the lowest of 7 each were
in Azamgarh and Gohna seats
In 2012 Assembly polls, SP
had won 27 of the 49 seats, BSP
9, BJP 7, Congress 4 and Others
2. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls,
the BJP was ahead on most
Assembly segments except for
Azamgarh from where
Mulayam Singh had won the
elections.
The last phase of polling
would be held on March 8 in
40 seats and the counting of
votes of all the seven phases
would be taken up on March
11.
Clashes in Kashmir
after cordon, search
operation ends
Fierce gunbattle
between militants,
security forces in Tral
KHURSHEED WANI n SRINAGAR
he security forces fired aerial shots to disperse protesters in a village in south
Kashmir’s Shopian area on
Saturday moments after a prolonged cordon and search
operation was lifted.
The area was under siege
since Friday evening following
reports that a group of militants
was hiding in the area. Except
for a brief exchange of fire
Friday night, there was no firing between the two sides.
Source said a brief encounter
erupted late on Friday evening
after Army and counter-insurgency wing of police launched a
cordon and search operation in
Chilipora-Sugan-Heff pocket of
Zainapora in Shopian district.
They had information that
militants were hiding in that
belt. However, after the initial
exchange of fire, there was a
complete lull throughout the
night.
T
During the searches in the
area since Saturday morning, no
contact was established with the
militants. Local sources said that
the militants managed to escape
from the area. Security sources
said the operation ended without any causality from either side.
Reports said that while the
cordon was being lifted, some
youngsters hurled stones on the
security men while shouting
slogans. The security personnel
fired aerial shots to disperse the
stone-pelters.
A fierce gunbattle broke
out late on Saturday evening in
Tral on the city outskirts here
after security forces cordoned
off a house where three to five
top Hizbul Mujahideen militants were holed up.
Officials sources said special forces of army were
deployed to carry out a combing operation in the area.
Curfew has been clamped
in this area, 10 km from here,
as protesters had gathered near
the encounter site, they said.
Half of the house was
brought down by the security
forces but militants were still
firing on them.
extended till March 9
IANS n NEW DELHI
he Election Commission
on Saturday extended the
T
ban on exit polls for the assembly elections in Goa, Manipur,
Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar
Pradesh by a day to March 9,
following the death of two
candidates.
"Conducting of exit poll
and disseminating result of
any exit poll now stands prohibited till 5.30 pm of March 9,
2017," the poll panel said, as it
during peak hours, taxi fares were
exorbitant," Raote said. "Due to this
decision, fares of web-based taxi
services will be regularised. Apart
from GPS/GPRS system in the
vehicle and with the driver, there
will be a display of the route and
fare to be recovered for the same.
This move will help to bring
transparency in the tariffs," he said.
"As per the new regulation, the
service provider will have to
register in the city where he wishes
to operate the taxi service," said the
Minister. "These taxi services will
have separate permits and will be
air-conditioned. They will run on
clean fuel. The black and yellow
taxis can also upgrade to airconditioned and register as appbased service," he added.
"However, they will not be allowed
to shift back again to meter
system. It is mandatory to give the
commuters a bill for the payment
made. Government will formulate
the maximum and minimum fare.
The fares will be different for small
taxis, medium luxury taxis and
large taxis," said Raote.
PTI
PTI n BHADOHI (UP)
amajwadi Party president
Akhilesh Yadav is the latest
Saddition
to the list of leaders
who have asked the electorate
to take money from other
outfits but cast vote for their
respective parties.
“I (have) heard that voters
are being given money. My
advice to you is to keep the
money and vote for the bicycle,” he said at an election
meeting here on Saturday.
‘Bicycle’ is the election
symbol of the Samajwadi
13 fishing boats,
70 fishermen
from India
abducted by Pak
PNS n GANDHINAGAR
ore than 70 Indian
fishermen were abducted
M
by Pakistan Marine Security
Agency (PMSA) personnel on
Saturday off Kutch coast.
Manish Lodhari, General
Secretary of National Fish
Workers’ Union said that he
received message from mid-sea
pertaining to abduction of Indian
fishermen on Saturday evening.
In the last six
months around
100 innocent
fishermen were
kidnapped by
PMSA off Jakhau
coast
According to him, the
PMSA personnel also seized 13
Indian boats – nine from
Porbander and four from
coastal Okha town.
On last Wednesday, PMSA
had kidnapped 24 fishermen
along with their four fishing
trawlers. As many as 36 fishermen on board six Indian
boats were abducted in on
December 28, 2016 from the
same place.
denies charge of
threatening domestic
help to withdraw case
PTI n NEW DELHI
xpelled AIADMK MP
Sasikala Pushpa on
Saturday denied allegations of
threatening one of the two
women who had accused her
husband and son of sexual
harassment.
E
Over 17K BJP cadre held,
released in Tripura
PTI n AGARTALA
Students block the road during a protest demanding for cancellation of 12th class
Physics exam in Jammu on Saturday
PTI
PTI n JAMMU
girl and a policeman were
injured after students
A
protesting an “out of syllabus”
paper in their 12th board
exams clashed with police here,
who resorted to a cane charge
and teargas shelling to disperse
them.
The students, who gathered at Rehari Chowk here, had
blocked traffic on the JammuSrinagar highway demanding
cancelation of the Physics
paper prepared by the State
Board of School Education
and a fresh examination.
Additional DC Arun
Manhas said the protesting
students pelted stones at police
following which the cops
resorted to a cane charge and
teargas shelling. Two persons
— a class 12 girl and a policeman were injured. The students
also allegedly broke panes of
some vehicles. “The situation
has been brought under control
and students have dispersed,”
Deputy Commissioner Jammu
Simrandeep Singh said.
Authorities have constituted a committee to look into
the allegation that an “out of
syllabus” paper was prepared
by the State Board of School
Education (BOSE). The committe will come out with a
report on Tuesday.
CPI-(M) cadres at Dalapati village in Dhalai district last year
and despite lodging the FIR, no
action was taken by the police.
ver 17,000 Tripura BJP
activists, including party
O
president Biplab Deb, were on
Saturday arrested for protesting
against the alleged killing of a
party cadre by ruling CPI-M
activists, and were later
released. Altogether 17,331
party activists were arrested,
police said.
However, BJP spokesperson Victor Shom claimed that
36,414 activists of the party
were arrested from different
parts of the State and later
released. He also alleged that
112 activists were injured during the clashes with the police
and 18 persons were admitted
to different hospitals in the
State.
The party spokesperson
alleged that Chanmohan
Tripura was killed by a group of
An injured BJP supporter is carried for treatment after police action during a protest
rally against the poor law and order condition of the Tripura State and chit fund
issue, in Agartala on Satuday
PTI
adjourned, to March 9, the poll
in Uttar Pradesh's Alapur and
Uttarakhand's Karna Prayag.
The adjournment came
after the deaths of Chand
Shekhar, the Samajwadi Party
candidate from Alapur (SC)
and Kanwasi, the Bahujan
Samaj Party candidate in Karna
Prayag.
The Commission on
January 27 had notified the
period of prohibition of conduct of exit polls for the ongoing assembly polls from
February 4 (7 am) to March 8
(5.30 pm).
Akhilesh asks voters to accept money
MAHA GOVT TO REGULATE WEB-BASED TAXI SERVICES Sasikala Pushpa
Mumbai: Maharashtra Government
on Saturday decided to regulate the
web-based taxi services in the
State to ensure affordable travel for
commuters. Transport Minister
Diwakar Raote told reporters here
that Maharashtra City Taxi
Regulations 2017 will be
implemented in the State. He said
web-based taxis like Ola, Uber, Taxi
for Sure were operating in big
cities. "There were complaints that
taxi fares were charged as per
demands of commuters and supply
of the taxi services. Due to this
‘Conducting of exit
poll and
disseminating result
of any exit poll now
stands prohibited
till 5.30 pm of
March 9, 2017,’ the
poll panel said
Bhanumathi, a domestic
help who was employed by
Pushpa, had filed a police complaint last year alleging that she
and her sister were sexually
harassed by Pushpa's husband
T Lingesvara Thilakan and son
L Pradeep Raja.
“Bhanumathi, who had
gone missing, reached the DGP
office and filed a complaint
against me for threatening her
to withdraw the sexual harassment case. This is false and fabricated. I am not involved in the
episode as I am in Delhi on
Parliament work,” Pushpa
claimed in a complaint to the
Tamil Nadu DGP.
Bhanumathi (22), a resident of Tirunelveli district in
Tamil Nadu, had reportedly
been missing since Wednesday
night.
Party. Last month, the Election
Commission had ser ved
Defence Minister Manohar
Parrikar a notice over allegations that during an poll
speech in Goa, he had said
“...You vote him by taking
`2,000 from someone. It is
okay, somebody will hold a
rally, there is no objection,
someone roams there with
`500. But vote shall be for
lotus....”
The EC, which took cognisance of the matter, had
asked Parrikar to be more circumspect and careful while
making any statement in
future when the Model Code
of Conduct is in place.
Decision on Ram
Temple ‘within a
week’: Togadia
PTI n MATHURA
HP leader Praveen Togadia
on Saturday hinted at the
V
Hindutva outfit contemplating
some move for the construction of the Ram Temple in
Ayodhya, claiming a decision
on the issue may be taken
“within a week”.
“Karenge (we shall do
something),”
VHP
International President Togadia
replied when asked if VHP
would take steps for the construction of Ram Temple owing
to indifferent attitude of union
government on the issue.
“Decision for the construction
of Ram Temple in Ayodhya
may be taken within a week,” he
said when asked why the temple construction has been put
in abeyance despite a powerful
BJP-led government at the centre. “Decision can be taken
within one hour, after calling
special session of the
Parliament,” he stated adding
the process does not require
even a week. “Decision about
construction of Ram temple in
Ayodhya may be taken and for-
malities of construction of
temple may be completed later
gradually,” he said. He termed
the Trump administration’s
decisions affecting US-based
Indians as “unfortunate”. “The
government should do everything for protecting Hindus living in different countries like
Australia, America, Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia etc,”
he demanded when asked
about steps the government
should take to ensure security
of Hindus abroad especially in
the US. Togadia demanded
withdrawal of advisory issued
against cow protectors due to
alleged increase in cow slaughter. He said the order terming
‘Gaurakshaks’ as “vigilantes” is
absolutely wrong since they
only protect cows from slaug
hter. “In fact the culprits are
‘Kasai’ (butchers) since they
enter into cow slaughtering,” he
said adding butchers are the
ones who deserve punishment.
“The order of the government is absolutely wrong as
such orders had never been
given in the past,” Togadia
commented.
J&K CM to Red Cross:
Train more volunteers
in disaster response
PTI n JAMMU
hief Minister Mehbooba
Mufti on Saturday asked
C
the Red Cross to train more
and more volunteers in disaster response and other related
subjects in the State. She said
this while inaugurating a twoday Red Cross mela here.
Mufti, who is also the vicechairperson of Jammu &
Kashmir State Red Cross
(SRC), advised the organisation
to widen its activities in the
State by including programmes
on children and women's
health, training in emergency
response and first-aid.
By doing so, she said, the
SRC would also be helping in
successful execution of many of
the Government programmes.
Terming Red Cross as the
emblem of humanity, the Chief
Minister lauded its role in providing humanitarian aid and
assistance across the globe during war, famine, floods and
other natural or man-made
disturbances.
Vice Chairman of Indian
Red Cross Society (IRCS),
Avinash Rai Khanna, also
underscored the need for more
involvement of Red Cross in
the humanitarian activities and
assured all support to the SRC.
J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti
during a the Red Cross Mela at Gulshan
Ground in Jammu on Saturday
PTI
world 07
LUCKNOW | SUNDAY | MARCH 5, 2017
s defence spending in 2017
Indian bizman shot dead in US China’
to rise around 7 per cent
PTI n NEW YORK
43-year-old Indian-origin
store owner in the US has
A
been shot dead outside his
home, just days after an Indian
engineer was killed in Kansas
in a hate crime shooting that
had sent shockwaves across the
country.
Harnish Patel, 43, the
owner of a convenience store in
Lancaster County, South
Carolina, was found dead of
gunshot wounds in the front
yard of his home on Thursday,
coroner and police officials
said.
Patel closed his store and
drove in his silver minivan to
his nearby home where authorities believe he was confronted
by his killer. The store is about
6 km from his house, The
Herald reported.
He had locked up his nearby store less than 10 minutes
before he was found dead,
police said.
Patel was found in the yard
a few minutes before midnight, according to a statement
from the Lancaster County
Coroner’s Office.
Lancaster County police
received calls at 11:33 PM after
Harnish Patel was shot dead outside his house in Lancaster, reports said.
people called 911 to say that
they heard screaming and gunshots.
Sheriff Barry Faile said the
Indian ethnicity of Patel does
not appear to be a factor in the
crime.
“I don’t have any reason to
believe that this was racially
motivated,” Faile said
Friends and customers
were in shock and were visiting Patel’s home to offer condolences to his family.
“Who would do anything
like this to him, as good as he
is to everybody,” Nicole Jones,
a frequent customer at Patel’s
store, told WBTV.
Jones and other friends
said Patel was not always worried about the bottom line of
his business.
“If you didn’t have the
money, he’d let people have
food,” Jones said.
Mario Sadler, another customer and friend, said Patel had
offered him jobs before, and
did anything he could to help
out in tough times.
“He’s watched my kids
grow up, which is why it’s
painful. From day one he’s
been amazing, just awesome,
and I just don’t understand the
sense behind it,” Sadler said.
Dilipkumar Gajjar, a close
friend of Patel and the owner
the ABC store next to the
Speedee Mart, said Patel came
over to this country to better
his family’s life, and did that.
Patel’s death comes close
on the heels of the shooting in
Kansas of a 32-year-old Indian
engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla,
who was killed when 51-yearold US Navy veteran Adam
Purinton opened fire at him
and his friend Alok Madasani
at a bar before yelling “get out
of my country.”
The shooting last month
had sent shockwaves across the
Indian-American community
with people expressing concerns over their safety in an
enviornment of xenophobic
and racist rhetoric in the country. US President Donald
Trump had condemned the
Kansas shooting. He had said
America stands united in condemning hate and evil in all its
forms.
PTI n BEIJING
hina
on
Saturday
announced that it will
C
increase its defence spending
by around seven per cent this
year, the slowest hike since
2010, even as it vowed to guard
against “outside forces” interfering in its territorial disputes.
The increase in defence
spending announced by Fu
Ying, the spokesperson of
China’s parliament, the
National People’s Congress
(NPC), is expected to take the
country’s defence budget to
about 1.02 trillion yuan, which
is three times bigger than
India’s new defence budget of
USD 53.5 billion.
The exact figure for this
year’s defence budget will be
announced in Premier Li
Keqiang’s work report to the
NPC on Sunday when China’s
largely rubber-stamp parliament begins its annual session.
The nearly seven per cent
increase could be China’s slowest defence budget rise in at
least a decade, marking the second time for the defence bud-
get increase to dip into the single digit since 2010, state-run
Xinhua news agency reported.
Last year, China increased
its defence spending by 7.6 per
cent, allocating about 954 billion yuan (around USD 143.7
billion).
A year before that, China
increased the defence spending
by about 15 per cent as part of
its efforts to modernise the
world’s largest military of 2.3
million troops.
China’s announcement to
increase defence spending
comes after US President
Donald Trump vowed a 10 per
cent increase in America’s military spending of about USD
600 billion.
Much of China’s budget
this year was expected to go for
the development of navy as the
second largest economy looks
to expand its influence beyond
its shores.
China’s claims in the South
China Sea and East China Sea
have caused a lot of concern in
the region.
China currently has one
aircraft carrier and is building
another. Chinese defence offi-
cials say that the third is also in
the pipeline to match the growing strength of US navy in
hotspots like the disputed
South China Sea.
“China’s military capacity
building will be continued.
This is the requirement for
safeguarding our national sovereignty and security,” Fu told
media.
She said China’s defence
budget accounted for 1.3 per
cent of the country’s GDP,
compared with NATO members’ pledge to dedicate at least
two per cent of GDP to
defence.
“You should ask them what
their intentions are,” Fu told
reporters, adding that China
has “never inflicted harm on
other countries.”
“Of all the conflicts and
wars in the world that have
killed and displaced so many
people and caused significant
losses of property, which one is
China to blame for?” she asked.
On China’s disputes with
neighbouring countries, Fu
said China advocates dialogue
and peaceful solutions in
addressing those issues.
H-1B visa reform part of Trump accuses Obama Jordan hangs 15 convicts
immigration package: US of tapping his phone at dawn, most in years
PTI n WASHINGTON
he US has assured India that
the H-1B visas issue was not
T
a priority for it and would be
part of the larger immigration
reforms package that the new
Trump administration is working on.
The assurance came amid
an ongoing debate in the US and
reported moves by the Trump
administration to bring out an
executive order to curtail the use
of H-1B visas.
“There was a sense that
there is a recognition of the contribution of the Indian tech sector. Certainly this is not very
much...not a priority of the
government. They are concerned with the immigration
issue...most of the issues are
quite different,” visiting
Commerce Secretary Rita Teotia
told reporters at a news conference here.
“Nevertheless when it is
addressed, it would be part of
the overall immigration package,” Teotia said.
Teotia, along with Foreign
Secretary S Jaishankar, is cur-
PTI n WASHINGTON
rently in the US meeting top
officials of the Trump administration and the Congressional
leadership. India has been
trongly taking up the case of H1B visas with the Trump administration.
During their meetings with
the top administration officials,
including Commerce Secretary
William Ross, Homeland
Security Secretary John Kelly
and with the Congressional
leadership, the visiting Indian
officials conveyed that H-1B is
a “category of trade and services” which actually helps
American economy to be more
competitive.
“If
the
Trump
Administration’s intention is to
bring back American companies to America and attract
more foreign investment in
America and therefore have
more growth in the near term,
then it was important growing
America remains competitive.
So, there would actually be (a)
growing need for this partnership,” Jaishankar said.
H-1B, he noted, was a trade
and business issue and not an
economic issue, even though in
the US context it was seen as
part of the immigration basket.
“What I would remind you
that the President himself in his
address to the Congress preferred a merit-based approach
to the subject. We heard across
the board a lot of respect
expressed for Indian skills in the
United States,” Jaishankar said.
“We have certainly made
our point quite forcefully both
in the Congress and the
Administration. We believe it
has been met with a degree of
understanding,” he said in
response to a question.
The US on Saturday
announced that from April 3 it
will temporarily suspend the
‘premium processing’ of H-1B
visas that allowed some companies to jump the queue as part
of its efforts to clear the backlog.
The US Citizenship and
Immigration Services (USCIS)
announced that it would start
accepting the H-1B visa applications for the fiscal year 2018
beginning October 1, 2017,
from April 3.
resident Donald Trump on
Saturday accused his predecessor Barack Obama of
“wire tapping” his office in New
York just before the 2016 presidential elections and likened
the alleged surveillance of his
communications to the
“Watergate” scandal.
Trump made the allegations in a series of tweets, but
did not provide any evidence to
substantiate his claims.
“Terrible! Just found out
that Obama had my “wires
tapped” in Trump Tower just
before the victory. Nothing
found. This is McCarthyism!”
Trump said. “Is it legal for a sitting President to be “wire tapping” a race for president prior
to an election? Turned down by
court earlier. A NEW LOW!,”
he said, claiming that Obama
had defied a court rejection to
tap his office.
Trump also called Obama
a “Bad (or sick) guy!” and compared the alleged tapping of his
New York office to the
“Watergate”, the scandal in the
early 1970s which brought
P
down President Richard Nixon.
“How low has President
Obama gone to tapp my
phones during the very sacred
election process. This is
Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick)
guy!” he said.
“I’d bet a good lawyer could
make a great case out of the fact
that President Obama was tapping my phones in October,
just prior to Election!” Trump
tweeted. There was no immediate reaction from the office of
the former US President.
He also tried to defend Jeff
Sessions, the US attorney general facing questions over his
meeting with the Russian
ambassador to Washington
during the 2016 presidential
election campaign.
“The first meeting Jeff
Sessions had with the Russian
Amb was set up by the Obama
Administration under education programme for 100
Ambs......,” he said.
“Just out: The same
Russian Ambassador that met
Jeff Sessions visited the Obama
White House 22 times, and 4
times last year alone,” Trump
said in another tweet.
AFP n AMMAN
ordan hanged 15 death row
prisoners at dawn on
JSaturday,
its information minister said, in a further break
with the moratorium on executions it had obser ved
between 2006 and 2014.
Ten of those put to death
had been convicted of terrorism offences and five of
“heinous” crimes including
rape, Mahmud al-Momani told
the official Petra news agency.
All were Jordanians and
they were hanged in Suaga
prison south of the capital
Amman.
Among the terrorism
offences were a 2006 attack on
tourists at Amman’s Roman
amphitheatre which killed a
Briton and a June 2016 attack
on an intelligence service base
north of the capital that left five
agents dead.
They also included the
September 2016 murder of
Christian writer Nahed Hattar
as he stood trial for publishing
a cartoon deemed offensive to
Islam. King Abdullah II had
FILE: In this Monday, Sept. 26, 2016,
file photo, relatives of Jordanian writer
Nahed Hattar hold up signs protesting
his death, in front of Jordanian Prime
Ministry in Amman, Jordan. Nahad
Hattar, the writer, had been on trial for
posting a cartoon deemed offensive to
Islam on social media when an
assailant killed him outside the
courthouse. The shooter was a former
mosque prayer leader motivated by
anger over the cartoon, officials said
at the time
AP
said in 2005 that Jordan aimed
to become the first Middle
Eastern country to halt executions in line with most
European nations.
Courts continued to hand
down death sentences but they
were not carried out.
However, public opinion
blamed a rise in crime on the
policy and in December 2014
Jordan hanged 11 men convicted of murder, drawing criticism from human rights
groups.
Opinion hardened after
the murder by the Islamic State
group of captured Jordanian
pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh whose
plane had crashed in a jihadistheld region of Syria in
December 2014 while serving
with a US-led coalition.
Grisly footage posted in
February the following year of
him being burnt alive in a cage
outraged the public.
Swiftly afterwards, Jordan
hanged two people convicted of
terrorism offences, one of them
Sajida al-Rishawi.
She had taken part in a
2005 suicide attack on luxury
hotels in Amman organised by
IS’s forebear, Al-Qaeda in Iraq,
but her explosives failed to detonate.
According to judicial
sources, 94 people remain on
death row in Jordan, most of
them convicted of murder or
rape.
Forces of Libya strongman Tens of thousands flee clashes GLOBE
concede loss of terminal between Syria army, IS
TROTTING
AFP n BENGHAZI
he forces of eastern Libya’s
military strongman Khalifa
Haftar have lost control of a key
oil export terminal they had
seized last year, a spokesman
conceded on Saturday.
Colonel Ahmad al-Mismari
said that the rival forces had
overrun the main airfield in the
oil port of Ras Lanuf and identified them as Islamists of the
Benghazi Defence Brigades.
An array of forces, most of
them loyal to the UN-backed
government in Tripoli, have
been involved in efforts to oust
Haftar from the oil ports, whose
seizure enabled him to pose a
major challenge to its authority.
But the Tripoli government on
Friday evening denied any
involvement in the renewed
offensive on the oil ports, con-
T
demning it as a “military escalation”. The forces involved in the
latest assault are a mixture of
Islamist militias, eastern tribes
opposed to Haftar and members
of the Petroleum Facilities Guard
which controlled the ports
before Haftar’s takeover.
“The attackers were armed
with modern tanks and a radar
to neutralise our air force,”
Mismari said. “But the battle is
ongoing. The situation in the Oil
Crescent remains under control.”
There are four ports along the
Oil Crescent on the eastern
part of the Gulf of Sirte which
account for the lion’s share of
Libya’s oil exports. H a f t a r ’s
forces seized Zueitina, Brega, Ras
Lanuf and Al-Sidra in a lightning offensive last September
that dealt a major blow to the
UN-backed Government of
National Accord.
AFP n MANBIJ
ens of thousands of Syrian civilians have fled
ferocious fighting between Russian-backed
regime forces and Islamic State group jihadists
over the past week in the country’s ravaged
north.
Supported by Russian air power and artillery,
Syrian government forces have waged a fierce
offensive against IS, seizing around 90 villages
from the jihadists since mid-January.
Their aim, according to the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights monitoring
group, is IS-held Khafsah, the main station
pumping water into Aleppo.
Residents of Syria’s second city have been
without mains water for 47 days after the
jihadists cut the supply.
The fighting over the past week has sparked
an exodus of “more than 30,000 civilians, most
of them women and children,” Observatory head
Rami Abdel Rahman said Saturday.
Most of the displaced went to areas around
Manbij, under the control of the Syrian
T
Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish
and Arab fighters backed by the United States
that is also fighting IS, the monitor said.
An AFP correspondent in Manbij saw
dozens of displaced families speeding towards
the relative safety of the town on motorcycles
and in small buses and cars.
Many of them looked exhausted as they
lined up at a checkpoint manned by the Manbij
Military Council, the SDF unit that controls the
town, to be searched and get permission to enter.
Ibrahim al-Quftan, co-chair of Manbij’s civil
administration, told AFP that as many as
40,000 displaced people had arrived in the town
in recent days.
“The numbers of displaced people here are
still rising because of the clashes between the
Syrian regime and Daesh (IS),” Quftan said.
“These people are suffering very difficult circumstances.” Manbij is already hosting “tens of
thousands of displaced people that fled previous clashes in the area and are living in difficult circumstances,” according to Abdel
Rahman.
Pak eatery uses robot ‘waitress’ to serve diners
PTI n ISLAMABAD
fast food restaurant in Pakistan has
become the first eatery in the
A
country to use a robot ‘waitress’ for serving the diners.
Pizza.com, located in the city of
Multan in the Punjab province, is seeing unusual rush of customers after the
local media reported about the robot
serving food.
Dawn newspaper reported that the
robot has been developed by pizzeria
owner’s son, an electrical engineering
graduate from National University of
Science and Technology in Islamabad.
“Soon after the news of the robotic waitress spread, there is a long queue
of customers outside the shop who want
to dine here,” said Syed Aziz Ahmed
Jafari, the owner.
He said his son, Syed Osama Aziz,
gave the unique idea of making a
robotic waitress to give a boost to the
business.
“My son was interested in going to
the United States for further studies, but
I asked him to do something for our
country, particularly this city (Multan).
I am also feeling proud as a Multani; we
have left Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad
behind,” Jafari said.
He said the people were coming to
his pizzeria not only from Multan but
even from the adjoining districts.
While Jafari was interested in introducing four more robotic waitresses, he
said he would not reduce the number
of human waiters as he did not want to
make anybody jobless. He also urged
the government to come forward and
help his son in improving this technology.
The robot is able to navigate to the
customer’s table, greet the customer,
serve the meal and come back to the
counter, said Aziz, the developer.
Weighing 25 kilograms and capable of carrying up to five kilograms of
food, the robot also detects and requests
the obstacle in its way to give way.
“Much is needed to improve it. I
took the basic idea from China where
robots are working and serving in
restaurants already,” he said.
“The female body shape is helping
the machine to maintain the weight it
is carrying. We have put a scarf in her
neck to make clear that it is a female
robot,” Aziz said. He said that all the
components, both electrical and
mechanical, used in the machine were
made in Pakistan. He has also received
calls from businessmen who expressed
their interest in such machines, he said.
Aziz said at present the waitress was
unable to take orders, but he would
enhance her functionality.
“People are asking it to take orders.
They don’t give orders until the machine
comes to their table. Moreover, the
robot doesn’t have a name as yet. But I
am thinking to give her a name,” he said.
Miranda Kerr celebrates with
Snapchat fiance Evan Spiegel
California:
Shares of Snap,
the parent of
Snapchat, have
surged 41 per
cent in their
debut, as this
year’s mosthyped technology
public
offering joins
the bourse.
Snap began
trading on
Saturday, with
its
shares
surged from
their offer price
of
$US17
(NZ$24) to
$ U S 2 4
(NZ$34), giving the company a market cap of
more than $US33 billion (NZ$46.9 billion). The
California-based company raised $US3.4 billion in the IPO, with net proceeds of about
$US2.3 billion. Snapchat’s CEO Evan Spiegel
earned $A272 million by sharing 16 million of
his shares in the offering. His fiancee Australian
supermodel Miranda Kerr was also at there to
support her husband-to-be, and she took snaps
with fans on the New York Stock Exchange
floor. He is said to be worth $US4 billion ($5.3
billion) according to Forbes. Today he made
$US1.6 billion ($A2.1 billion). Kerr and her
mother Therese also posted their congrats to
Spiegel on Instagram.
Natalie Portman gives
birth to second baby
Los Angeles: “Jackie” actress Natalie Portman
and husband Benjamin Millepied have welcomed their second child. Portman, 35, gave
birth to a baby girl on February 22, just days
before the Oscars in which she was nominated for best actress, reported People magazine.
“Natalie Portman and her husband Benjamin
Millepied welcomed a baby girl, Amalia
Millepied, on
Feb. 22,” her representative said.
“Mother and
baby are happy
and healthy.” It’s
the second child
for the “Black
Swan” star and
her husband,
who is a French
choreographer.
Their first son
named Aleph
was born in June
2011. A year
later, they tied
the knot in an intimate Jewish ceremony in Big
Sur, California. The couple recently moved
from Paris to Los Angeles.
JLo can’t believe her kids
are little adults now
L os Angeles:
Pop diva Jennifer
Lopez says she
is having a tough
time realising
her children are
growing up with
ever y passing
day. The 47-yearold songstress
gushes about her
nine-year-old
twins, Emme
and Max and
says it is quite
an unbelievable
experience as a
mother for her,
reported
E!
online. “They’re
nine now, which I can’t even believe they’ve
turned nine. They’re turning into... They’re like
little adults now, you know?” The singeractress, who plays detective Harlee Santos on
the crime drama, also said, “I can have proper conversations with them, they’re not babies
anymore.”
films & tv 08
LUCKNOW | SUNDAY | MARCH 5, 2017
MALE-DOMINATED HOUSEHOLDS
WOMEN POWER ON TV
hough women play a central
Tcharacter in the shows, they
still have a long way to go both
in projecting the lives onscreen and off-screen. We need
to have progressive outlook
towards women. In shows,
men don’t come across as the
central character but they do
come across as the dominant
factor in the households that these women are a
part of. For me women empowerment is that you
believe in yourself and in your power and wisdom
and have confidence in you that you can achieve
your dreams and aspirations.
Aishwarya Sakhuja who plays Soumya
in Shakti-Astitva Ke Ehsaas Ki on SAB TV
Ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8, TV actresses talk
about women being the real agents of change, women-oriented
issues in the industry and what it means to be empowered.
SUNDAY PIONEER reports
‘I get to play a
complex character’
Kylie Bunbury aka Ginny Baker in Pitch, a
popular America drama, talks about her role
and the challenges she faced
lWhat made you say yes to Pitch?
I was empowered by reading
the script. That’s how TV and film
should make you feel. It’s a unique
and riveting show and so different
from others. It has a powerful
message too.
lHow was it like playing the first
woman baseball player in the big
leagues?
I’m trying not to focus on the
spectacle of being the first woman
in baseball. There are a lot of
parallels going on. I do feel I have
a responsibility to empower women
and inspire them. And not just
women — anyone who has a
dream. To tell them: ‘You don’t need
to forego your dreams. You can
achieve them and be any size,
shape, colour gender, creed,
whatever it is, you can do it’. In
terms of being a vessel for female
empowerment and a role model for
young girls, I take it on gladly and
seriously, but I hope people
remember that I’m just a regular
person and I’m not perfect.
lWhat is the best part about
playing such a diverse character?
One of the first things that
attracted me to this project was I
get to play a complex character. She
is strong, but she is also vulnerable.
The coolest part for me is the fact
that I, as a woman of colour, gets
to play a strong, complex character
with so many dimensions. That was
intriguing. I really feel like the
proper representation of women, in
TV and film, is really important
and vital. We’re strong, we’re
vulnerable, we’re flawed, we’re
beautiful, and we’re all of these
things. That’s what we need to see
on screen.
lThere has been criticism...
It baffles me when I hear
people are knocking the show
because they think feminism is
being shoved down their throats.
Whenever there’s some backlash, it
comes from when there are people
resisting change. And it’s great
because it means it’s starting a
conversation.
l What’s
been the most
challenging thing to being No 1
on the call sheet, every day?
To balance all of it and staying
sane, at the same time. I’ve to work
on the baseball, my acting and also
saving a bit of myself for myself. I
feel this enormous amount of
pressure, but it is good. There are
a lot of parallels going on with
Ginny and me, as myself. I’m still
figuring out who I’m and learning
things about myself, and so is
Ginny.
EACH ONE OF IS A HERO
BE FEARLESS & INDEPENDENT
STAND UP AGAINST INJUSTICE
A
T
LNiyati in
ctresses play very powerful women
oriented roles in TV shows. In real
life, do you think women in
all statra of society are
getting opportunity to be
as strong and powerful
like heroins? Not only
are we female
protagonists of our own
lives but each one of
us are very
powerful in our
own way. It’s just
that we don’t
realise our
potential unless
a situation arises
where we have
to push
ourselves
beyond our
limits. I feel that
all of us inherent
the same potential,
possess the same
zest and élan which
makes us the hero or
heroine of our own
lives. Also the stories
or the characters that
we see on TV are
somewhere inspired
by real life
incidences
surrounding real
life heroes. So I
do believe that
each one of us
is a hero or
heroine of
own lives
in a very
unique
way.
Rubina Dilaik who plays Soumya in
Shakti — Astitva Ke Ehsaas Ki on Colors
here are many women out there
who don’t get heard & appreciated
for all the sacrifices they make in for
their family. Some women purposely
keep themselves in the background in
order to let others shine. Being a
homemaker can be a thankless job. I
come from a very sheltered and
protected life where I have always
been treated as my brother’s equal.
We need to celebrate women every
single day because women are
special and beautiful. The country
unanimously along with the
Government and people in
authority should take steps to create policies that ensure a
safe environment for women. We need to raise our girls to be
fearless and independent rather than scared or insecure.
Ridhi Dogra who plays Nisha Jindal in Woh Apna Sa on Zee TV
DEALING WITH PAY OR GENDER GAP
In TV industry, the
issue that most of
the women are
facing is either
related to their
income and the
gender gap. I
believe that women
who are working
behind the scene in
TV shows are
strong. Sometimes
they struggle with
people taking them
seriously. There's
also a major issue
when it comes to
taking an opinion of a woman. We have to
struggle. I think sexism is omnipresent and its
everywhere and in TV too. In real life, we
struggle but once we find that one single thread
towards empowerment, we are unstoppable.
— Sneha Wagh, who will be seen in a new show—
Sher-E-Punjab: Maharaja Ranjit Singh on Life OK
ike my character
Khwaabon Ki
Zamin Par, I firmly
believe in
empowering
women. I believe
women are capable
of successfully
playing different
roles in life. Every
woman must have
her own identity,
work towards
achieving her dreams and should not give it up
for anyone. We should all stand up against any
kind of injustice happening against us and fight
for our rights.
—Megha Chakraborty from KKZP on Zindagi
RAISE YOUR SON TO RESPECT WOMEN
n our family, for the last three generations, women are
Icelebrated throughout the year. All the men in our family
strongly believe that women are more important and hence their
opinion matters on everything. It is the
way men our raised in our family. My
grandfather always looked up to my
grandmother for support and
guidance and so did my father. As
far as changes in the society are
concerned, I feel it is for women to
raise their sons to respect other
women. It starts from there as
parents are the roots of your value
systems. Many a times, I have
stopped my son from going out
to parties as much as I have
restricted my daughter. It’s not
about fighting for equal rights
but making men aware of how
important it is to respect
women at all times. That’ll
make a world of difference!
Deeya Singh, Producer of
Kaala Teeka on Zee TV
WOMEN PLAYING DIVERSE ROLES
Women have been already
ruling TV for more than a
decade now. We’ve roles
specially written for the female
actors both positive &
negative & the entire story
revolving around them.
Female protagonists are the
real heroes of TV.
Juhi Parmar who plays Chhaya in Karmafal Daata Shani
on Colors.
WOMEN ARE OBJECTIFIED A LOT
Till today, women in the TV industry are not payed
as equally as the male
protagonist. Males are
given more liberties and
are promoted more than
compared to women’s.
Sexism do exists and
women are objectified a
lot in the industry. Anyone
who faces this issue
should fight back and take
necessary action against
those people. Women
working behind the sets
spend more than fourteen
hours of their day on the
sets. Some are divorced,
some are married with
children who are working day and night so that they
can earn money. I have also seen old women
working who have no one to take care of them
everyone has a story. They should be taken into
consideration when they have family issues and
payed well. I have seen so many women working till
late when someone in their family is sick because
they have the fear of getting their money cut.
—Niti Taylor who plays Shivani in Ghulaam on Life OK
SHOW TIME
A great
Stunts are brilliant action film
LOGAN
*ing: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Richard E
Grant, Boyd Holbrook, Stephen Merchant, Dafne Keen
Rated: 6/10
hose who love Hugh Jackman, especially his
character of Wolverine, are bound to shed a tear or
two now that the series is over. Directed by James
Mangold, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scott Frank
and Michael Green, from a story by Mangold, the film
follows Logan, amuh older version (he is now old) taking
a road trip into the future for one final mission.
It is year 2029 and the mutants are on the brink of
extinction due to a virus. Logan has aged because his
healing abilities have begun to fade; he has become a junkie
and the steel in his body is poisoning him. He works as
a chauffeur and lives with mutant outcast Caliban in
Mexico, where they care for a senile Charles Xavier. It is
all very sad. Until the bad guys come and everything
changes.
Some may say that Logan could have been given a
better send off, but then it would be difficult to top the
first two in the series as has been the trend — the last is
usually the worst. Still, Jackman needs to be lauded for
his raw performance here since it fits perfectly with all
the motional rollercoaster ride that this last installment
takes one on.
The film tilts more towards being a Western rather
than DC comic. So the Clint Eastwood act may not go
down well with Eastwood fans. But now that Wolverine
is no more, there is a sense of nostalgia and one may want
to go and see this one.
T
COMMANDO 2: THE BLACK MONEY TRAIL
*ing: Vidyut Jamwal, Adah Sharma, Freddy
Daruwala, Thakur Anoop Singh, Esha
Gupta, Adil Hussain, Suhail Nayyar
Rated: 5.5/10
e may have made his debut as a baddie
but Vidyut jamwal soon found his
calling in and as Commando. However,
he is not the first actor to have started his
career as a bad
boy. Shatrughan
Sinha and even
Shah Rukh Khan
have done negative
roles
and
continued to be
hero material in
the later films. So
it is not surprising
when Commando
was released with
jamwal as the
hero.
It was not so
much as the story
that was the star
attraction here. It
was some fantastic
action that our
hero did. Not that
we had not seen
anything like this
before. Hollywood
movies have some
amazing stunts.
Fast and Furious
and
Mission
Impossible series
are just a couple of
examples to prove
that we (in India)
have seen some
awesome
and
mindboggling
action-thrillers.
What made
our desi Commando stand out and people took
notice was that this was perhaps the first film
H
where one got to see this level of action and
stunts. So it was obvious that the second
installment would create some stir. More so
since it deals with a very topical issue — crack
down on black money.
Since the opening scene is brilliant, one
would expect that director Deven Bhojani
would keep up the pace with the action. And
it sure does. Jamwal flexing his six-packs and
muscles rushes to ‘desh ki sewa mein’.’
In fact, movies
that are purely based
on action should not
try to change their
USP. People are
sitting there to see
action that should
not look forced.
The plot is not
overly complicated.
The protagonist
(Jamwal
as
Karanveer Singh
Dogra)
is
a
commando who is
highly skilled in
many aspects of
survival, weaponry,
hand-to-hand
combat and is on a
mission to eradicate
black money, which
has been sent to
banks abroad with
the help of a team
whether he succeeds
or not is the twist in
the tale.
Of course, there
are no prizes being
given away to guess
what happens in the
end. And it is
unfortunate that an
action-thriller such
as this one gets let
down
by
its
predictability. Go see this one if it is action
that gives you an adrenaline rush.
TELLYTALE
DOCUMENTARY ON JIMMY CONNORS
From the duo that gave us films like Ocean’s Thirteen
and The Illusionist, comes a story from the first
golden age of Tennis, a time that made tennis feel less
like a country club
pastime and more like a
hard-nosed, full contact
sport. ESPN Films brings
to you the documentary
film This is What They
Want directed by Brian
Koppelman and David
Levien and chronicles
the career of Jimmy Connors and the impact strong
tennis personalities had on the first decade of the
‘Open’ era, and the legacy it has left behind.
Tune in to SONY ESPN and SONY ESPN HD channels
today March 5, 2017 at 1 pm.
FEEL ALIVE WITH SONY BBC EARTH
Sony BBC Earth, a new factual entertainment
channel which has been launched recently in India, is
all set to go live on March 6, 2017 at 8pm. Brought to
you by MSM Worldwide Factual Media – a joint
venture between Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN)
and BBC Worldwide, the channel promises to make the
viewers Feel Alive through its offering of mind blowing
visuals, never-seen-before content, and positive
insightful storytelling. The channel has created a
unique brand film with its ‘Feel Alive’ Ambassador
Kareena Kapoor Khan.
The channel will bring award-winning, premium
factual content from the BBC to over 500 million of
SPN’s viewers across India, and will feature some of
the world's foremost factual film-makers and
extraordinary storytellers like Sir David Attenborough
—The Godfather of Natural History. Other well-known
BBC Earth personalities includes Bafta-winning English
naturalist, writer and television presenter Steve
Backshall; author, broadcaster and writer, Ben Fogle; Dr
Michael Mosley — a medical doctor, and awardwinning science journalist as well as award-winning
wildlife cameraman, presenter and film maker, Gordon
Buchanan.
As a key
differentiator in its
category, the channel will
have defined
programming slots —
Why, How and What on
Earth at 8 PM for fun
and insightful science;
Wild Wild Earth at 9 PM
for nature and wildlife,
and Earth Explorers at
10 PM for adventure and human interest stories.
Weekends will showcase distinctive stories with a
special slot; Earth Specials. Key launch shows include
The Hunt, Where The Wild Men Are with Ben Fogle,
Trust Me I’m A Doctor, Snow Chick and the iconic,
greatly anticipated series, Planet Earth II amongst
others.
Sony BBC Earth will be available in both SD and
HD in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.
SABSE ANOKHI FAMILY AWARDS
Sony SAB announces the launch of SABse Anokhi
Family Awards that aims to capture audiences by the
storm to get them online and demonstrate their
‘Anokhapan’ as a family. There are five different
categories like Anokhi Selfie Crazy Family, Anokhi
Costume Family, Anokhi Ser-Sapata Family, Anokhi
Foodie Family, Anokhi Cricket Fan Family. SAB invites
families to simply click a picture of
themselves,
corresponding and
fitting to the category
they would like to apply
to and upload it on
www.sabtv.com. For
instance, if you wish to
apply for Anokhi Selfie
Crazy Family, all you have to do is upload the most
craziest selfie of your family. The select pictures of
Anokhi families will get a chance of being featured on
the channel during primetime. The finalists of the
categories also stand a chance of being felicitated by
SAB artistes in a mega on-ground award function.
Karan and Alia help Siddharth
with online shopping
ollywood actor Sidharth Malhotra says
he loves shopping online and takes help
B
from filmmaker Karan Johar and actress Alia
Bhatt.
“I do shop online. It’s very easy, very
convenient and it has loads of options to
choose from. Karan and Alia suggested me
some online websites to shop. They suggest
me some names,” Sidharth told reporters.
The 32-year-old actor was speaking at
the launch of New Era sports brand with
Jabong here last night.
On the work front, the “Kapoor & Sons”
actor is busy shooting for the remake
version of the 1969 murder mystery “Ittefaq”
opposite Sonakshi Sinha. The film originally
featured Rajesh Khanna and actress Nanda.
The remake is being produced by Red
Chillies, Dharma Productions and BR films.
Sidharth says the movie is more of an
“adaptation” and pays a tribute to the
suspense genre.
“It is a murder mystery like the old one.
We are remaking it, we are adapting it, that’s
the correct word. It is adapted by the same
family.. Abhay Chopra is directing it. It is a
true homage to murder mystery genre.”
special 09
LUCKNOW | SUNDAY | MARCH 5, 2017
WONDER WOMEN
SANGEETA YADAV speaks to women of grit who have carved out a niche for themselves in male-dominated professions
‘I never gave up’
he is India’s only woman commando trainer who holds a 7th-degree
black belt in military martial arts.
She is a combat shooting instructor,
a firefighter, Professional
Association of Diving Instructors in scuba
diving and Himalayan Mountaineering
Institute medalist in rock climbing. If this
was not enough to add to her kitty, she was
Mrs India World pageant finalist as well! She
is also one of the 10 women in the world certified in Jeet Kune Do, a unique martial art
form created by Bruce Lee in the 1960s.
Meet 48-year-old Seema Rao who has
been practising martial arts since the age of
12. A daughter of freedom fighter, Prof
Ramakant Sinari, who helped in the liberation of Goa from the Portuguese, Seema
grew up listening to stories of India’s struggle for independence and always wanted to
serve her country.
“I was a very weak child and used to get
bullied by the seniors when I was studying
in Mount Carmel High School in Bandra,
Mumbai. They used to hit me with a book
and snatch away the lunch box. People
around me laughed but I wanted to change
the attitude children had and become
stronger. My father was a freedom fighter
in the Goa Freedom struggle against
Portuguese and listening to the stories sowed
the seeds of patriotism in me. Stories about
how my father and his friend escaped from
jail, swam across the Mandovi river and
reach safety to continue his work for freedom struggle inspired me. I always thought
that if life would give me an opportunity, I
too would serve the country. My destiny gave
me my heart’s desire,” Rao says who is one
of winners of Women of Pure Wonder
Awards by Vodafone Foundation.
This dream came true when Rao met
Major Deepak Rao, a medical student who
was a martial artist as well. They fell in love
and she got married at the age of 18. “My
husband was into martial arts and I understood that this is what will make me strong
and I wanted to be in a position where I
could do things on my own. He became my
teacher,” Rao says and recounts an incident
that occurred on Chowpatty one day with
the rag pickers who passed some lewd
S
WOMEN TODAY ARE
DOING BETTER THAN
MEN. TO PROTECT
YOURSELF AND NOT BE
DEPENDENT ON
SOMEBODY EMPOWER A
WOMAN. THERE IS NEED
TO DROP THE
CONDITIONING THAT
SAYS MEN ARE
SUPERIOR TO US
remarks when she was training with her husband.
“On our way back, we saw the boys at
a distance and my husband said: ‘Those are
the guys and it is your fight’. Saying this, he
moved away. When I walked past them, they
started whistling and one of the guys came
in front of me and blocked my way. I looked
at his face and slapped him. He got angry
and attacked me. This time I tackled him
with my leg. That’s when I realised that martial arts is necessary for every women. I was
no longer weak,” Rao tells you.
From there, she went on to learn boxing, wrestling, Bruce Lee’s art Jeet Kune Do,
Stand-up for yourself
he is funny, witty, bold, a
go-getter with a no nonsense attitude. 29 year-old
comedian Aditi Mittal
speaks her mind and can
have you in splits narrating
stereotypical and hypocritical
views about women and the society. From becoming one of the
first five Indians to be featured in
an Indians only stand-up show —
Local Heroes to her first solo show
Things They Wouldn’t Let Me
Say and her recently launched
Bad Girl web-series, Mittal has
done it all with much élan.
“My masi always says ‘when
will you get an actual job?’ I tell
her laughter is my job,” Mittal
laughs.
While pursuing her undergrad in the US, Mittal took up
odd jobs like giving pedicuremanicure, work as a bartender,
baby sit and even worked in a
production house. Comedy
became a part of her life when she
came back to India after the
2009 recession. She stayed jobless
for months. It was then she got to
know about open mics and tried
her luck at it.
“The function of comedy for
me is a about people coming
together. That people in the
crowd instantly laugh and think
‘Oh I never thought of this that
way’, or ‘I know exactly what she
is talking about’. For me the
sound of laughter is the sound of
unity. It’s amazing when the audience react in the same way, to the
same thought at the same time,”
Mittal says who is one of winners
of Women of Pure Wonder Awards
by Vodafone Foundation.
For a woman, to get into the
business of comedy was no cakewalk. Like in any other fields,
men had an upper hand in Standup Comedy. “It’s been a journey
of standing up for what I believe
in. The comedy industry for
women has a sticky feet and a
glass ceiling. For the longest
time, we have seen disapproval,
been asked to shut up and
mansplaining ( to comment on or
explain something to a woman in
S
NO MATTER WHAT
FIELD YOU ARE IN,
SELF-SUFFICIENCY,
WHETHER
ECONOMIC
RELATED OR
HEALTH, MENTAL
OR EMOTIONAL, IS
IMPORTANT FOR A
WOMAN
a condescending, overconfident,
and often inaccurate way by a
man) or man being the main narrative. For instance, if you are sitting in a room full of men, you
will not be allowed to talk or you
will be told to shut up. As if I don’t
count and my point of view is
immaterial,” Mittal says.
Though she faced a lot of failure, she never stopped trying.
“Failure is the most important element for a person to succeed
especially in comedy. Comedy
teaches you how insignificant
you are in the larger scheme of
things. One should not be
ashamed of one’s failure. When
you fail, you work harder,” Mittal
opines.
Her stand-up act on underwear was not received well. She
was trolled on social media and
people hurled abuses and questioned her character. “My idea to
shooting, etc. Soon she started getting
invites to train people.
“I never wanted to be a commando
trainer but it just happened. I started training commandos in Close Quarter Battle art
and reflex shooting method,” Rao says.
In 1996, the husband and wife were
approached by the Service Chiefs of Army,
Navy, BSF & NSG who wanted to introduce
their training programmes to the jawans.
This meant that for the next eight months
in a year, Rao would to travel in remote locations to give training. She never asked for
any payment in return.
She was working in a male-dominated
do comedy has been to make fun
of things that are more powerful
than you are. That way, comedy
makes an impact. In the first two
years of my stand-up, I went
through a tough time. It made me
question my decision to pursue
this line. I thought I was the stupid person here. It was overwhelming for me to deal with
everything thing then. Now, I
don’t think. My masi gets horrified. She tells me: ‘Aditi tu khandaan ke samne kya kya baat kerti
rehti hai’. And I tell her that mujhe
farak nahi padta. The price of
being a feminist woman is much
higher than if you are a feminist
man. The feminist men get praise
and money and the feminist
women get to hear that you are
too loud,” Mittal tells you.
Self-sufficiency is what Mittal
aims for and considers it important. “I want to be self-sufficient.
It gets rid of sticky feet. It’s about
you saying I am capable of doing
something and I will do this
because this is what I want to do.
No matter what field you are in,
self-sufficiency, whether it is economic, health, mental or emotional, is very important for a
woman,” Mittal explains.
For most people, comedy is
about making fun of women and
propagating sexism and one such
incident left Mittal horrified. “I
was doing a parody award show
and we were asked to write a joke
on supporting actress. The men
come up with an idea to display
the picture of the actor’s boobs
and write their name below with
nominations. I was aghast and
told them that you aren’t just
making a statement but propagating sexism. I refused to stand
on the stage with a projector at
the back with someone’s boobs on
it and people making awful jokes
about it. I fought with them and
came up with 40 other things that
we could do. The idea was
dropped, but I knew if I had not
been there in the room, the men
would have felt proud to come up
with this idea. When you hear
comedians propagate old ideology on a progressive platform like
comedy, it irks me. Would you
joke about disable people? Yes.
But not of them, but of the society,” Mittal says, who gets her
environment and Rao could sense bias
because she was a woman. “Some were
reluctant to learn from me because I am a
woman. But I believed in myself and live by
giving personal example. For instance, if any
task needed to be done, I would do first.
Having to prove myself was something that
I had to do time and again. I felt that was
how I would have an upper hand with the
men trainees,” she says.
And then there were financial hardships as well since the couple would train
others for free. “We were broke and I had
to sell my jewellery to meet our expenses.
But that didn’t deter us. We also consciously
strong-headedness from her masi.
“My mother passed away
when I was very young. It is my
masi, (I call her mom), who
brought my brother and me like
her own children. Being a single
woman in1980s and to bring up
two children and manager her life
was a brave step. The way she has
taught and encouraged us has
made me what I am today. I
learnt to laugh even the worst of
situations because of her,” Mittal
says.
Looking at women doing
comedy, many started treating it as
a separate genre and called it
woman humour. “When I started
doing comedy people would come
and say ‘arrey wah, you are doing
woman humour’. I’m not doing
woman humour. I am doing
humour. The understanding that
woman is a genre is rubbish to me.
I tell everyone that women constitute almost 50 per cent of the
population. We need to stand up
and be counted,” Mittal says.
It was not surprising that her
web-series Bad Girl become viral.
“Facing all the bashing and criticism that made me contemplate on
many things, I started feeling
lonely and started Bad Girl with
another comedian Nidhi Goyal
who is visually disabled. I wanted
to showcase women who are doing
unconventional work. It is said that
well-behaved women rarely make
history. So let’s be bad,” Mittal says.
Her advise to other comediennes: “Get on stage as many
times as you can. Remember
your audience will be your final
boss. If you are good you will get
work. Be quick and think on your
feet. I have realised that comedians never make fun of anything
unless we love it secretly or it
mean something to us. Otherwise
why would we spend time thinking about it? It is very easy to be
in the system and smile and
never disagree. That’s how 80 per
cent of women survive. You
diminish yourself in order to be
accepted by the people which I
am not ready to do. If you see
other women who are doing
something that you may aspire to
do, then just stand-up for yourself. You have women in every
field today who are doing brilliant
work. You can do it too.”
decided not to have a child as most of the
time my husband and I were away training at far off places. Having a child would
have meant to take a break of five years
which I couldn’t afford to do. My husband
supported me,” Rao tells you, who later
adopted a girl.
It was when she met with vertebral
fracture and a severe head injury that made
her rethink her choice of a career. “I fell on
my head and had memory loss for some
time. I also had severe back injuries that
kept me bed ridden for four months. That
was the first time when I thought of quitting. But I knew that martial arts was my
life. There was no way I could give it up. I
recovered and took easy. I got wiser and do
things cautiously now,” Rao says.
She has co-authored many books with
her husband like Encyclopedia of Close
Combat Ops, A Comprehensive Analysis of
World Terrorism and Commando Manual
of Unarmed Combat which are available at
libraries of FBI, INTERPOL, UN, and
SWAT Police the world over. She has also
produced and acted in a film titled
Hathapayi directed by her husband which
revolves around a woman and talks about
Jeet Kune Do for the first time in a movie.
Her journey may have been fraught
with difficulties but she says it has been
worth it. She has also received the World
Peace Award in Malaysia and the US
President’s Volunteer Service Award. In
2011, her husband received the President
of India’s Rank Award for his 20 years of
contribution to the Indian Army.
The couple have designed a programme Defence Against Rape and Eve
Teasing (DARE) for women to help them
deal with harassment, molestation, sexual assault, and rape.
“The programme equips women with
not just being able to defend themselves but
also teaches them how to stop the situation
from getting worse. To protect yourself and
not be dependent on somebody is what
empowers a woman. Women need to drop
the conditioning that says men are superior to them. Women today are doing better than men. If you hit an obstacle, don’t
think it is the end of the world. A woman
has to fight her battles. Understand the
obstacle and address it, it will make you
stronger. If you are getting better each day,
to tackle your problems, you are on the
right path,” Rao says.
‘We have miles to go’
Activist-actress SHABANA AZMI talks
about women empowerment & her NGO to
Sangeeta Yadav
n Mijwan Fashion Show is going to
happen again with Shah Rukh Khan
and Anushka Sharma...
I feel overwhelmed with the support my fraternity has given Mijwan
Welfare Society over the years. It is
also Manish Malhotra’s tremendous
goodwill and Namrata Goyal’s special
magic that has seen the Mijwan
Fashion Show grow from strength to
strength.
n As an woman activist, what are
some of the life lessons you have
learnt from your father?
My father, Kaifi Azmi, believed
that if India is to make real progress,
we will have to turn towards our villages where 70 per cent of the population lives with a focus on the girl
child. Women are equal to men in
every way. The only thing women lack
is opportunity. I have seen how
empowered women become when
they start earning money and become
a part of the decision-making process.
n Do you think movies are been
made keeping in mind women as
heroes? Or do we still need to go a
long way?
Depends on whether you like to
think of the glass as half full or half
empty.
n 99 per cent of the women working
in film and TV industry have experienced sexism. What do you have to
say about it?
For all our progress, we continue
to be a patriarchal society where a boy
is privileged over the girl for being
born male. Sexism has deep roots in
our society in all areas not just in films
but women are negotiating more
space for themselves
n In real life, do you think women
in all strata of society are getting
opportunity to be as strong and powerful like heroins?
Cinema shows a mirror to the
society. All over the world, empowerment of women is being considered
an important yardstick for measuring
progress. However India lives in several centuries simultaneously and
although we have women in powerful positions in politics, the arts and
the corporate world, it is a sad fact that
female foeticide is still practised in
India. We have to deal with these contradictions and create an equal playing field.
n Do you think actresses are getting
their dues in the industry?
It’s a good time for women actors
and although the issue of disparity in
pay scales is yet to be tackled, the fact
is that there are better roles available
to women now than in the 90s. Time
was when an actress’s career was over
at 30. But I have got some of my best
parts in my 60s. But we have miles to
go before we sleep.
n What are your upcoming projects?
I have just won the Best Actress
Award at the Loss Angeles Awards for
my work in the American production
The Black Prince. The film is getting
a worldwide release on May 19, 2017.
Another American production
Signature Move is releasing soon. It has
been mentored by Robert De Niro’s
Tribeca Film Institute and directed by
Jennifer Reeder. Aparna Sen’s Sonata
and Piyush Panjuani’s Idgah are to be
released soon. All these films have
very different roles for me and I’m
looking forward to them.
sport 10
LUCKNOW | SUNDAY | MARCH 5, 2017
PTI ■ BENGALURU
ff-spinner
Nathan Lyon
O
walked into the
record books
with careerbest figures
of 8 for 50
as India
suffered
another batting debacle
to be bundled
out for a paltry 189 on the
first day of the
second cricket
Test
against
Australia here.
On another
dodgy track, India’s
last five wickets fell
for only 15 runs in
9.3 overs after they
were 174 for five at one
stage. A gritty 90 from
opener Lokesh Rahul
was the lone bright spot
in the embarrassing collapse.
At stumps, Australia
were comfortably placed
at 40 for no loss. David
Warner and Matt Renshaw
were batting on 23 and 15
respectively.
Save Rahul, who once
again battled a shoulder niggle to display admirable
application, none of the
Indian top-order batsmen
looked like getting a big score.
He batted for 205 deliveries hitting nine boundaries
with Karun Nair (26) being
the only other batsman to
cross an individual score
of 20.
After Steve O’Keefe’s
12-wicket haul in Pune, it
was senior-pro Lyon’s
turn to torment the
Indian batsmen and he
recorded the best bowling figures in an innings
by an overseas bowler.
In the process, he
also surpassed Brett Lee to
become Australia’s highest
wicket-taker against India
in Test matches.
Virat Kohli won a good
toss and predictably elected to
bat on a track that not only
had turn on offer but also
appreciable bounce which
made Lyon lethal.
Comeback-man Abhinav
Mukund (0) played across the
line to a Mitchell Starc full toss
and was adjudged leg before.
However, Rahul and Cheteshwar
Pujara (17) negotiated the new
ball well adding 61 runs for the
second wicket.
Rahul, on the other
hand, took risks against
the pacers — Starc and
Hazlewood — getting the first five
boundaries in
movement saw him offer a bat-pad
catch off a Lyon delivery to Peter
Handscomb at forward short-leg.
Skipper Virat Kohli (12) cover
drove Lyon for a boundary through
vacant cover region but then misjudged the turn once again that did
him in.
He shouldered arms to a delivery from Lyon thinking it will be an
off-break and the ball didn’t turn
t h e
region
between
third slip and
point.
His innings was
an example of how to
tackle Lyon. There
were times he waited
for the turn and played late. Just
when it looked like India were
going into the lunch with only a
wicket down, Pujara’s unsure foot
Lyon roars in Indian den
enough hitting him in
the middle
and
leg
stump line.
It was a
plumb
legbefore but the
India captain
wasted a review
hoping against hope
that the umpire’s call
will be reversed. It didn’t happen and it was
second time in succession that Kohli paid the
price for an error of judgement.
Ajinkya Rahane’s (17) torrid time during the current
home season continued as he
came down the track with intent
to smother the spin but it was the
straighter one that he missed.
Matthew Wade fumbled in the
first attempt before effecting the
stumping to leave India at 118 for
4.
When Nair joined Rahul, the
two local lads looked comfortable
during their 38-run stand.
India’s second triple centurion
looked in fine nick as he clipped
Starc for a couple of boundaries
when he drifted down the leg.
He played a lovely back cut off
Steve O’Keefe but then came down
the track to a delivery that turned
enough to beat the bat and was
stumped by Wade.
India went into the break with
scoreboard reading 168 for five. But
once the tea break was over, Lyon
went on a rampage as Indian innings
folded without any resistance from
the lower-middle order.
Virat Kohli looks on as Australian cricketers celebrate his dismissal during the first day of the second Test match at Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday
A sharp bouncy off-break saw
Ravichandran Ashwin (7) glove
one to David Warner at the backward short-leg.
Wriddhiman Saha (1) was beaten by the drift and he edged one to
the slip cordon giving Lyon his first
five-for in this series.
Rahul, who had reached the 80s,
was feeling a twitch in his shoulders
as he tried to smack Lyon and BENGALURU: India’s lone performer of the in Pune. So I had to restrict that shot, but in the
O’Keefe with sweep shots.
Lokesh Rahul is hopeful that premier off-spin- last few overs I had to look to take that chance
Ravindra Jadeja (3) could have ner Ravichandran Ashwin would be able to and risk which i knew would give me some pain.
helped Rahul get a well-deserved match Nathan Lyon’s performance on a track that But medical treatment at that time wouldn’t have
hundred but a bat-pad catch went has crumbled on the first day itself.
really done a lot of good for me. So I looked to
to the slip cordon and skipper Steve
Rahul stood tall amidst ruins as Lyon continue and tried to play a few shots which didSmith successfully reviewed the grabbed 8 for 50 in India’s meagre total of 189 n’t go my way,” he said.
appeal.
Rahul observed that dampness in the pitch
on the first day of the second Test.
Sensing that he is already run“We know Ash (Ashwin) is a top class bowler contributed Lyon getting turn.
ning out of partners, Rahul tried to and once he gets a couple of wickets and gets into
“Initially, the new ball was coming onto the
whip Lyon but got a leading edge that rhythm, then he is going to run through the bat really well. Once the spinners came on, I felt
and simple catch was gobbled by Australian batting line-up, which we are very that the wicket was a little damp during the first
Renshaw standing at mid-off.
confident of,” Rahul said at the post-match media session. That’s why they were getting some spin
He was the 9th wicket to fall conference. Rahul also said that Ravindra Jadeja and the ball was holding to the wicket. To drive
and Lyon’s dream day ended with can also prove to be handful if he can use the or to go over the top wasn’t really easy,” he said. ting three to four runs without any risk. That’s
a eight-for when Ishant’s forward roughs as effectively as Lyon has done.
Lyon exploited the rough created by Mitchel when I decided that I will be happy with the sindefensive prod was taken by an
gles and may be then they will pull the fielders
“Jadeja didn’t get to bowl a lot today but like Starc, said Rahul.
alert Handscomb at forward short Lyon, he too has a lot of rough to bowl on to the
“Once the ball got older, and there was more in and i can take a chance. But that didn’t hapleg.
left-handers outside the off-side stump. If he can rough outside the off stump, Lyon exploits the pen because we kept losing wickets at regular
Lyon also became the first over- come in and bowl consistently on the rough, we rough. He kept bowling there consistently and intervals,” he said. He deefended skipper Virat
seas bowler to have three seven will get a lot of wicket,” he said.
got some purchase out of the wicket. That’s about Kohli’s error in judgement.
wicket hauls against India in India
“Virat’s delivery (one he faced) didn’t spin
Rahul said the cracks are opening up and its it,” he said. Asked how difficult was Lyon to face,
and will certainly rank among one only getting harder to bat on this wicket.
Rahul said, “Like I said, there is a big rough that as much. The whole over it was spinning and
of the best overseas spinners to have
Rahul said that the wicket was pretty much Starc creates and we all know Lyon bowls fast bouncing and that ball went straight, which can
graced the Indian turf.
similar to the one that they get while playing for into the rough. It gets a little difficult to play him happen. Karun and Ajinkya looked set, they were
When Australia batted, Virat Karnataka in Ranji Trophy games but cracks if he starts getting some spin and bounce. He was batting on 20 each (Rahane 17), and looked set.
Kohli started with his pacers on a open up a bit during domestic games.
very consistent, kept putting the ball there and We were getting runs quite easily. Our gameplan
wicket that has shown considerable
“I think this is a pretty much the same wick- kept asking questions. He got the rewards this was to attack the spinners when ever we could
signs of wear and tear. Neither et we get for Ranji Trophy. May be the cracks start innings. We will see what we can do in the sec- but sometimes it just doesn’t go your way. We
Ishant Sharma not Umesh Yadav to open up at the end of the second day or the ond innings, come hard at him, find a way to get have to take it in our stride and come back
looked menacing as Warner and third day. But here the wicket was pretty dry and him away.”
stronger,” he added.
Renshaw looked comfortable nego- the cracks were prominent there. Their bowlers,
Asked which knock was satisfying compared
On his gameplan, rahul said: “As soon as the
tiating the two new ball bowlers.
especially when Starc bowls from over the wick- spinner comes in to bowl, it is important for an to Pune, Rahul said he is very happy with both
Ravichandran Ashwin bowled ets, he creates that rough for Lyon which helps opening batsman to not let him settle. So that’s the innings, but felt the need to build more partsix overs and 26 of his 36 deliveries them get that spin and bounce,” he said.
what I tried doing. The wicket was a little damp nerships.
were dot balls but both openers were
“Nothing is satisfying. I am happy that I can
Rahul was feeling his shoulders a lot but said so he was getting a lot of bounce. I felt like if I
comfortable against the Tamil Nadu there was no point taking a medical break.
swept I could get the top edge. They had the field- contribute and it’s my responsibility, batting up
tweaker.
“Medical treatment at that time wouldn’t ers back right from the first ball. We couldn’t real- the order, that I bat as long as I can and get as
Both have so far hit a boundary have really done a lot of good for me. So I looked ly get the big hits or boundaries. So I looked to many runs as I can. I am happy with both
each in the 16 overs that they faced to continue and tried to play a few shots which play time and tire out the bowlers,” he said.
innings and how i batted but may be we need
during the day.
Rahul also said they were getting singles pret- to build more partnerships. That becomes my
didn’t go my way,” said the younsgter, who missed
BRIEF SCORES:
ty easily when he was with Ajinkya Rahane and responsibility also to tell the batsman coming in
out on a well-deserved 100.
India 1st Innings: 189 all out
“I had to look to get as many runs as I can Karun Nair and that’s why he didn’t play too what shots we can play and how we can hold on
Australia 1st Innings: 40/0 in 16 with the last two batsmen there. That was the many big shots.
to this partnerships which didn’t happen in Pune
overs (David Warner 23batting).
“Strike was being rotated and we were get- and here as well,” he said.
stroke which was giving me a bit of a problem
The offie grabs 8-wickets to bundle hosts at 189 runs
‘Ashwin can run through
Australia on this track’
I’m pleased to get wicket of ‘head of snake’ Kohli: Lyon Vinod Rai: Lodha reforms complete
PTI ■ BENGALURU
ustralia’s star performer Nathan
Lyon is pleased to have bagged the
A
prized wicket of ‘head of the snake’ Virat
Kohli but pointed out that the Indian
skipper perished due to his own mistake on the first day of the second Test
here on Saturday.
Off-spinner Lyon, who walked into
the record books with career-best figures of 8 for 50 today, said Kohli committed a mistake by not offering a shot
to get himself out for just 12 as Australia
skittled India out for a paltry 189.
“Everybody wants to compete
against the best and he (Kohli) is one
of the best players in the world. He is
obviously the head of the snake if you
want to put it in Dale Steyn’s terms. So
it’s quite pleasing to take Kohli’s wicket,” Lyon said after first day’s play.
“To take his (Kohli’s) wicket today
was exceptional but we know this
series is a massive one and it’s a long
series. We expect him to bounce back,”
he added.
Asked about the manner he dismissed Kohli in the post-lunch session,
Lyon said, “I think it was his mistake in
the first game and it was the same today.
That ball was nothing special. But as I
said Virat is a world class player and we
expect him to bounce back. We are
lucky enough, it paid of today and it was
a great day for Australia.”
Asked how he motivated himself
against the best players of spin, Lyon
said he loved to bowl against the
Indians and prove himself that he’s a
good bowler.
“It’s pretty easy to get yourself up
against the best players of spin. I like to
challenge myself against the best players and I love to play well against the
best players and prove to myself,” he
said. “I don’t need to prove to anyone
else in the world. I just want to prove
myself that I am good enough and I can
compete hard. It was a very good day
today and very fortunate enough to
ditional way of bowling and he and
Steve O’Keefe hoped to do the same in
the second innings.
“Yeah, I think so. We had to access
the condition and adapt to it early. Steve
O’Keefe was able to get some deliveries jump, so I wanted to look at my
bowling. I put some over-spin on my
balls and tried to get some good
bounce. So it was quite pleasing and
“TO TAKE HIS (KOHLI’S) WICKET TODAY WAS
EXCEPTIONAL BUT WE KNOW THIS SERIES IS A MASSIVE
ONE AND IT’S A LONG SERIES. WE EXPECT HIM TO
BOUNCE BACK”
bowl in great partnership with the other
bowlers. I was the lucky one on the day
I guess,” he added.
On Australia getting India out
cheaply in the last three innings, Lyon
said the visiting side worked on their
plans and did their basics well as they
knew India are a talented side. “We sat
down as a team and we know how good
India are. We wanted to come out and
compete hard against India and I think
we are doing that at the moment.
Cricket is a funny game and they are a
talented squad with full of superstars so
we need to keep working on our plans
and do our basics well,” he said.
“We have got that belief in ourselves
and the atmosphere in the change
room is unbelievable at the moment. If
we can keep doing that then there will
be some good days for Australia.”
Lyon said the pitch helped his tra-
hope we do the same in the second
innings and take another 10 wickets,”
he said. Lyon said he took a leaf out of
Sri Lankan left-arm spinner Rangana
Herath’s book to do well in India.
“The Indians are brilliant players of
spin. SOK (O’Keefe) and the other spinners and myself just said we have to stay
patient and build balls. You look at
Rangana Herath, one of the best spinners in the world, and what does he do:
he hits the same spot over and over
again.
“He said to me after the series in Sri
Lanka: ‘I don’t know if they’re going to
spin either.’ So I’m working on the same
plan as Rangana and he’s going alright,”
Lyon said.
“I’m over the moon with what happened today. I will go back and reflect
on it. I’ve proven enough to myself that
I can compete at this level and I want
to keep doing that for Australia. This is
where my passion lies and I want to
keep doing well for Australia,” he said.
Asked how soon the pitch is likely
to deteriorate, Lyon said it’s an interesting wicket as he did not expect so
many cracks on day one, but hoped that
his team bats well on Sunday.
“I would say the wicket deteriorates
if there is cricket being played on it I
guess. Interesting wicket. It’s what we
expected over here. We knew we were
not going to have much grass on the
wicket. I did not expect so many cracks
on day one but they’re there,” he said.
“I will reassess the wicket after both
teams bat on it. It’s hard to criticise one
team when only one team has batted on
it. The wicket is going to deteriorate and
hopefully we can bat well tomorrow and
get to wherever we get to and come out
and do the same thing we did today:
bowl in partnerships, be patient and do
the basics really well,” he said.
Lyon said after the Sri Lanka tour
he worked very hard in the lead up to
the Big Bash League games and credited John Davison and Darren Berry for
working on his strength. He also said
that he studied what Indian off-spinner
R Ashwin does.
“I have to be brutally true ... After
the tour of Sri Lanka I went home and
reflected on my performance there. I
worked very very hard in the lead up
to the BBL games. I was going down to
the matches two hours before and
bowling in the nets. John Davison and
Darren Berry worked on my strength
and obviously I studied what Ashwin
does,” he said.
implementation in 4-5 months
PTI ■ SINGAPORE
of Lodha
Committee recommendaItionsmplementation
in BCCI will be complete
in the next four-five months,
said Vinod Rai, head of the
Supreme Court-appointed
panel of administrators to manage the cricket board’s affairs.
“We would want to ensure
the structure and system, as
decided by the court, are put
into place at the earliest,” Rai
said.
“As far as BCCI is concerned, we will create a structure, we will create an accounting format, and we will ensure
that certain systems are put in
place by which governance of
the BCCI in the future becomes
smooth and as per the diktats
of the report of the Lodha
committee.
“It should not be a long
process and the committee will
be able to complete all this in
about four to five months at the
most.”
The Supreme Court
appointed the four-member
panel, headed by the former
Comptroller and Auditor
General, in January.
He assured that cricket
will continue to be played as
scheduled in the Board for
Cricket Control in India cal-
“WE WOULD WANT
TO ENSURE THE
STRUCTURE AND
SYSTEM, AS
DECIDED BY THE
COURT, ARE PUT
INTO PLACE AT THE
EARLIEST”
endar.
“We are there to ensure the
Lodha Committee reforms are
implemented in full,” said Rai,
adding that the court-appointed committee will be there till
the next BCCI management
committee is democratically
elected after the implementation of reforms.
The reform parameters
have already been made available to the state cricket associations and other associates at
district club levels.
“We are in the process of
examining to what extent the
state associations have fulfilled
the reform parameters and
what is the undertaking they
have given,” Rai told PTI on the
sidelines of an international
conference on South Asia by
the Institute of South Asian
Studies, a Singapore thinktank.
Some of the associations
have filed affidavits on the
state of implementation this
week.
The court and the Lodha
Committee have laid down
certain guidelines by which the
BCCI elected management
committee members should
function.
Rai leads the management
and supervision committee,
three other members of which
are historian Ramachandra
Guha, Vikram Limaye, managing director and chief executive of IDFC Limited and
former captain of Indian
women cricket team, Diana
Eduljee.
sport 11
LUCKNOW | SUNDAY | MARCH 5, 2017
K’taka beat Hyd to seal quarters berth
PTI ■ KOLKATA
arnataka rode on R Vinay Kumar’s
unbeaten knock under pressure to
secure a thrilling one-run win over
Hyderabad and seal a quarterfinal
berth in the Vijay Hazare Trophy ODI
one-day cricket tournament, here on
Saturday.
Old warhorse Vinay Kumar used
all his experience and remained
unbeaten on 35 to guide Karnataka to
victory after they were tottering for 81
for nine while chasing a paltry 109 run
target at the Eden Gardens.
On a day when their premier batsmen showed lack of patience and got
out playing rash shots, number nine,
Vinay Kumar, playing his first match
of the meet after recovering from an
injury, held on to his nerve and
played a patient 56-ball knock to take
Karnataka to last eight round with five
wins from as many matches.
Karnataka were 28 shy of the target when Vinay Kumar was joined by
number 11 batsman Prasidh Krishna.
Earlier, off-spinner K Gowtham
grabbed a career-best 5 for 28 to bundle out for 108 in 44 overs.
In reply, Karnataka were nine for
two by the fifth over with Chama
Milind striking in his first over with
the left-arm seamer claiming two
wickets in two balls castling Gowtham
(16) and Manish Pandey (0) to reduce
them to 39 for four.
When the need of the hour was to
stay at the crease, Karnataka batsmen
were in a hurry to score runs as Siraj
also took wickets in successive deliveries in the 11th over.
Having stayed there patiently,
2/45, Vipin Singh 2/54) beat Services
232 in 49.3 overs (Soumya Swain 92,
Suraj Yadav 78; Shubham Agarwal
3/26, Pankaj Rao 3/36) by 14 runs.
K
LOCAL EVENTS
UP ENTER FINAL
Uttar Pradesh crushed
Haryana by seven wickets to
enter the final of the 16th
Shakuntla Mishra Memorial
National Cricket Tournament
for Blinds at KD Singh ;’Babu’
Stadium on Saturday. UP will
take on Odisha, which beat
Himachal Pradesh by 141 runs.
LCA CLUB WIN
LCA Club defeated Akhil
Infra Cricket Club by seven
wickets in a league match of
Sagar Khayyami Memorial
Cricket Tournament at LDA
Stadium on Saturday.
BRIEF SCORES:
AICC: 172 (Upendra 90,
Vikasdeep 50; Sagar 10/2,
Jaideo 26/2, Deepak 28/2,
Rahul 42/2)
LCA: 175 (Shaheem 68, Sagar
51, Abhishek 36; Atul 26/2)
ADMISSION TEST
Principal secretary (Sports)
Anita Bhatnagar Jain on
Saturday informed mediapersons that sports department is
conducting a combined preliminary selection test for the
admission to Guru Gobind
Sports College (Lucknow),
Veer Bahadur Singh Sports
College (Gorakhpur) and Saifai
Sports College from March 17
to April 5 at all divisional centres. The tests will be held for
251 seat in athletics, badminton, cricket, gymnastics,
hockey, kabbadi, judo, football,
volleyball, wrestling and swimming.
VIDARBHA BEAT HARYANA
opener Mayank Agarwal was bowled
by Hasan in the 16th over while Stuart
Binny also departed at the same score
when Vinay Kumar arrived at the
crease with Karnataka reeling at 65 for
eight in 16.2 overs.
Meanwhile, in an inconsequential
Group D match, Parvez Rasool
claimed a hat-trick after scoring a
48-ball 53 to hand Jammu and
Kashmir a 23-run win over Saurashtra
at the Bengal Cricket Academy in
Kalyani about 50 kilometeres from
here.
Put into bat, Jammu and Kashmir
were 50 for four when Rasool and
Ram Dayal (50) put together 57 runs
before being bundled out for 170 in
46 overs.
Rasool was on song in the 21st
over when he cleaned up Sheldon
Jackson before dismissing Chirag
Jani and Jaydev Unadkat en route to
his hat-trick.
He also claimed a fourth, dis-
missing Shaurya Sanandia LBW in
the 33rd over for a List A career-best
figure of four for 39 as Saurashtra’s
innings folded for 147 in 34. 3 overs.
Jammu and Kashmir were already
out of the race and this was their first
win from five matches.
BRIEF SCORES:
Hyderabad 108 in 44 overs (K
Gowtham 5/28) lost to Karnataka
109/9 in 29.2 overs (R Vinay Kumar
35 not out; Mohammed Siraj 3/24,
Chama Milind 3/42, Ravi Kiran 2/32)
by one wicket.
Jammu and Kashmir 170 in 46 overs
(Parvez Rasool 53, Ram Dayal 50;
Jaydev Unadkat 3/17, Kushang Patel
3/42, Prerak Mankad 2/32, Shaurya
Sanandia 2/33) beat Saurashtra 147
in 34.3 overs (Mankad 47; Parvez
Rasool 4/39) by 23 runs.
Chhattisgarh 246/7 in 50 overs
(Ashutosh Singh 84, Mohammed Kaif
65, Manoj Singh 49; Diwesh Pathania
South Africa crush New
Zealand, take series 3-2
AFP ■ AUCKLAND
af du Plessis led South
Africa to a resounding sixF
wicket victory over New
Zealand in their crunch oneday international finale in
Auckland today to wrap up the
series 3-2.
South Africa needed less
than 33 overs to overhaul New
Zealand’s 149 with du Plessis
ending the game with a boundary which also brought up his
half century.
The New Zealand innings
folded at the start of their
42nd over and while South
Africa lost early wickets in
reply, du Plessis (51 not out)
held the innings together with
partnerships of 40 with AB de
Villiers and an unbeaten 63
with David Miller.
De Villiers’ 23 was his lowest score and only the third
time he was dismissed in the
series where he averaged 87.33.
But he was at the crease
long enough to assist de Plessis
in turning the innings around
after South Africa, like New
Zealand, started out losing
wickets cheaply. A swash-buckling David Miller then belted
45 off 35 deliveries to partner
du Plessis through to the end.
After New Zealand’s
thumping seven-wicket victory in game four to level the
series at 2-2, South Africa
looked to stamp their mark
Haryana govt yet to fulfil
promise, says Sakshi
early.
When De Villiers won the
toss and opted to bowl, the
world’s number one spinner
Imran Tahir and Kagiso
Rabada led a disciplined attack
that decimated the New
Zealand batting.
Tahir’s 10 overs produced
two for 14, while Rabada took
three for 25 off 7.1.
South Africa’s response was
not all plain sailing with
Quinton de Kock (six), Hashim
Amla (eight) and JP Duminy
(three) out early to have the
tourists three for 48 in the 16th
over, comparable to New
Zealand’s four for 51 at the
same stage. But from there du
Plessis and de Villiers pushed
the score up to 88 before being
joined by Miller through to the
end. New Zealand’s best performer with the bat was Colin
de Grandhomme who made 32
batting at number eight, while
Dean Brownlie, Jimmy
Neesham and Mitchell Santner
all made 24 and were the only
other batsmen to reach double
figures.
Martin Guptill, who tormented South Africa with his
match-winning 180 in the previous encounter, was first out
for four in a brief 16-ball stay.
Kane Williamson (nine)
and Santner were both run out
while Brownlie and Ross Taylor
(eight) fell lbw to Andile
Phehlukwayo.
NEW DELHI: Ganesh Sathish scored
a patient 78 while Apoorv Wankhede
smashed 45-ball 64 as Vidarbha beat
Haryana by 68 runs in a group A
League match of the Vijay Hazare
Trophy, here on Saturday.
Batting first, Vidarbha scored
237 for 9 in 50 overs and then bowled
Haryana out for 169 in 42.3 overs.
Vidarbha’s spin duo of left-armer
Akshay Karnewar (4/29) and off-spinner Akshay Wakhare (3/38) took
bulk of the spoils. Vidarbha are now
on 16 points from five games and have
a real good chance of qualifying for
the knock-outs.
BRIEF SCORES:
Vidarbha 237/9 in 50 overs (Ganesh
Sathish 78, Apoorv Wankhede 64).
Haryana 169 in 42.3 overs (Akshay
Karnewar 4/29, Akshay Wakhare
3/38).
Baroda 233/6 in 50 overs (Krunal
Pandya 72, Pritam Das 3/37). Assam
141 in 42.3 overs (Krunal Pandya
4/20). Baroda won by 92 runs.
Odisha 228/8 (Sandeep Pattanaik 85,
Biplab Samantray 33, Amit Mishra
2/31). Railways 231/4 in 49 overs
(Mahesh Rawat 88, Arindam 45).
DELHI BEAT KERALA
BHUBANESWAR: Opener Unmukt
Chand scored 64 in Delhi's successful run-chase against Kerala in an
inconsequential Vijay Hazare Trophy
encounter, here on Saturday.
Chasing a victory target of 232,
Delhi knocked off the runs in 44.1
overs notching up their second win in
fifth game.
It was a good comeback game for
Unmukt, who was dumped from the
squad initially only to be brought
back after Delhi's campaign ended.
He wasn't exactly fluent but batted responsibly enough as he played
85 balls hitting five boundaries and
a six in the process. Skipper Rishabh
Pant hit 35 off 26 balls with two fours
and three huge sixes. Milind Kumar
hit 40 off 37 balls with six boundaries
and a six.
It was Manan Sharma, who ended
the match with a huge six off Vinod
Kumar's bowling.
Earlier, another comeback man
Pawan Suyal, replacement for an out
of form Pawan Negi grabbed two for
46 while Navdeep Saini took 2 for 49.
BRIEF SCORES
Kerala 231/8 in 50 overs (Sanju
Samson 41, Salman Nizar 59, Pawan
Suyal 2/46).
Delhi 237/6 in 44.1 overs (Unmukt
Chand 64, Milind Kumar 40, Roshabh
Pant 35). Delhi won by 4 wickets
HP 255 in 49.1 overs (Ekant Sen 58,
Ankit Kaushik 72, Mohd Israr 4/33,
Praveen Kumar 2/40)
UP 259/4 in 40.4 overs (Akshdeep
Nath 109, Shivam Chaudhary 75). UP
won by 6 wickets.
Tripura 188/9 (Gurinder Singh 91,
Nikt Dhumal 4/19). Maharashtra
193/6 in 34.1 overs (Kedar Jadhav 48,
Nikhil Naik 46).
Churchill stun Mohun
Bagan 2-1 in I-League
PTI ■ VASCO
hurchill Brothers came
back from behind to end
C
Mohun Bagan’s unbeaten run
with a 2-1 win in the 12th
round of the Hero I-League
football tournament, here on
Saturday.
Prabir Das 24th minute
goal gave Bagan the lead before
Anthony Wolfe(65th) and
Chesterpoul Lyndoh(74th)
struck for the hosts to register
the stunning hard-fought victory. Churchill Brothers’ second
successive win took their tally
to 12 points from as many
matches. The Goan side is
now placed sixth in the standings. Mohun Bagan, who suffered their first defeat,
remained on third place with
21 points from 10 matches, six
points behind table toppers
East Bengal. Play was interrupted in the 80th minute after
floodlights went off and their
was total black out for 40 minutes. The referee R Venkatesh
resumed play after 40 minutes
when the floodlights restored
and Churchill Brothers did
well to held on their lead.
Churchill Brothers looked
a transformed side after
Derrick Pereira took over as
head coach today. The hosts
fielded an unchanged side from
the team that played last against
DSK Shivajians. Mohun Bagan,
who took time to settle down,
Red Devils suffer another setback
United miss chance to climb table after Bournemouth draw
AP n MANCHESTER
anchester United striker
Zlatan Ibrahimovic had a
penalty saved and was fortunate to avoid a red card in an incidentfilled 1-1 draw against 10-man
Bournemouth on Saturday, the latest
Premier League setback at Old Trafford
for Jose Mourinho's team.
A week after winning the League
Cup for United with a double against
Southampton at Wembley Stadium,
Ibrahimovic endured a frustrating
return to league action by seeing his
72nd-minute penalty clawed away by
Artur Boruc.
The Swedish striker was involved
in many of the flashpoints in a thrilling
game, notably when he elbowed
Tyrone Mings in the head moments
after the defender appeared to tread on
the face of Ibrahimovic late in the first
half. The referee missed both incidents
and the two players could face retrospective action by the English Football
Association.
As part of the same incident,
Andrew Surman was sent off for collecting a second yellow card for pushing Ibrahimovic in an angry reaction
to the striker's challenge on Mings.
Earlier, Marcos Rojo's first Premier
League goal, in the 23rd minute, was
canceled out by former United player Josh King's penalty in the 40th after
Phil Jones fouled Marc Pugh. That was
Bournemouth's only shot on target.
It was a 10th league draw of the
season for United, which was seeking
NAPOLI BEAT ROMA 2-1
M
a victory to climb from sixth place the position where Mourinho's team
has been for the past few months as it
recovers from a poor start to the campaign.
United has now drawn at home to
Stoke,
Burnley,
Hull
and
Bournemouth. "What happened was
that we played phenomenal in the first
half and should have been winning 30 or 4-0 - then it ended up 1-1,"
Mourinho said.
"In the second half, we played different team with a man less. I understand their need for one point in the
survival battle and they just defended to make it difficult for us ... We felt
pressure of the clock running down
and lost the quality of our attacking
football."
United is on 49 points, the same
as fifth-placed Liverpool.
MILAN: Napoli got back on track by
beating nearest rival Roma 2-1, leaving Serie A leader Juventus with the
biggest smile on Saturday.
Napoli remained third but closed
the gap to second-placed Roma to two
points.
Juventus can stretch its advantage
to 10 points with a win at struggling
Udinese on Sunday.
Napoli was all but out of the
Champions League and Italian Cup
after 3-1 defeats to Real Madrid and
Juventus in the first legs. Alongside a
home loss to Atalanta last weekend,
Napoli's season threatened to implode.
The match with Roma was billed
not only as a fight for an automatic
Champions League spot, but also a
fight between two contendors for
league top-scorer: Dries Mertens and
Edin Dzeko. Mertens came out on top
with two goals.
He broke the deadlock in the first
half, springing the offside trap to run
onto a delightful through ball from
Marek Hamsik and dink it over Roma
goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
Mertens celebrated in unusual
fashion, by getting down on all fours,
cocking his leg, and pretending to urinate on the corner flag.
A second score before halftime
was ruled out for his push on Federico
Fazio. His second came five minutes
after the break, when he rushed in at
the back post to tap in Lorenzo
Inisgne's cross.
McIlroy leads by two strokes in Mexico
AFP ■ MEXICO CITY
ory McIlroy, chasing a
return to the world No. 1
R
ranking in his first start in
PTI ■ NEW DELHI
lympics bronze medallist
wrestler Sakshi Malik on
O
Saturday claimed that she has
not yet received the incentives
promised to her by the
Haryana government after her
historic medal at the Rio
Games.
“Medal ka vada maine pura
kiya, Haryana sarkar apna vada
kab pura karegi? (I fulfilled my
promise of winning an
Olympic medal for the country,
when will Haryana government fulfil its promise?),”
tweeted Sakshi.
“Announcements made by
Haryana Government after my
OLYMPIC MEDAL win were
for MEDIA ONLY ?,” she further posted on her twitter handle. Cash rewards and incentives amounting to at least Rs
3.5 crore were announced by
the Haryana government after
Sakshi created history at the
Rio Games last year by becoming the first woman wrestler
from India to win an Olympic
medal.
Government of Haryana
— Sakshi’s state — had
announced before Olympics
Rs 6 crore for gold medallists,
Rs 4 crore for silver and Rs 2.5
crore for bronze winners.
The 24-year-old girl from
Rohtak had clinched a bronze
medal in the 58kg freestyle category.
slowly made dangerous inroads
and had two clear chances to
surge ahead but first Prabir and
latter Darryl Duffy failed to get
past rival keeper Navin Kumar.
However,
Churchill
Brothers’ citadel finally fell in
the 24th minute.
Sony Norde, who was kept
quite by Chesterpoul Lyngdoh,
made a run on the left and send
a perfect cross into the box for
Prabir who leaped high in
between two rival defenders to
head the ball into the net to
give Bagan a 1-0 lead at half
time. Churchill Brothers, who
controlled the proceeding in
the first half, nearly found the
equaliser in the 40th minute
when Brandon Fernandes’ pile
driver from a free kick was kept
away by Bagan goalkeeper
Debjit Majumdar in nick of
time. Churchill Brothers continued in the same fashion in
the second half but they found
keeper Debjit Majumdar a
tough customer under the bar
to beat as he brought off a diving save off angular low drive
from Anthony Wolfe from
inside the box. Bagan retaliated and nearly increased their
lead in the 60th minute when
Darryl Duffy chested down
Sony Norde’s cross from the left
for Jeje, whose low shot was
blocked by Churchill’s keeper
Navin and the rebound was
cleared away by defender
Rowilson.
seven weeks, fired a secondround 65 to grab the lead in the
WGC-Mexico Championship.
The Northern Irishman
vaulted into a two-shot lead
ahead of five-time major winner Phil Mickelson, American
Justin Thomas and England’s
Ross Fisher.
Four-time major champion
McIlroy reached a total of
nine-under 133 at the
Chapultepec Golf Club for his
first 36 hole lead on the
USPGA Tour since the 2014
PGA Championship at
Valhalla.
“I just felt like I had a bit
more energy. I had a bit more
pep in my step,” said McIlroy,
who showed no ill effects of the
stomach trouble he has battled
this week. “I wasn’t just trying
to get through the round today.
I was trying to build on the
score that I had, and it was nice
to feel like that again.”
Mickelson carded threeunder 68 for a seven-under
total of 135. Fisher also posted
a 68 and Thomas signed for a
66.
For a victory to propel
McIlroy back to number one in
the world, current number one
Dustin Johnson would have to
finish in a tie for fourth or
worse.
Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, prepares to putt on the 17th hole green in round two of the Mexico Championship at Chapultepec Golf Club in Mexico City on Friday
Johnson was also in the
hunt after a five-under 66 that
put him in a three-way tie for
fifth on 136 with England’s
Andy Sullivan (65) and Daniel
Berger (66).
A group of seven players,
including Thomas Pieters (69)
and Martin Kaymer (67) were
four shots back at five-under
137.
McIlroy finished with six
birdies, two bogeys and an
eagle on the par-four 14th. His
lead could have been larger but
he missed a four-foot putt on
17 and a three foot putt for
birdie and settled for a par on
18.
“Look, I’m in a great position. But I felt like I could have
been a few more ahead,” said
McIlroy.
McIlroy already has two
WGC victories on his resume,
the 2014 Bridgestone and the
2015 WGC-Cadillac Match
Play in San Francisco. He is try-
ing to join Tiger Woods (18),
Johnson (three) and Geoff
Ogilvy (three) as the only players with three or more wins in
World Golf Championships
events.
Johnson played in the marquee trio Friday with McIlroy
and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama
who shot his second straight
72.
Johnson, who moved to
number one with his victory at
Riviera Country Club two
weeks ago, capped his round
with his seventh birdie of the
day at 18. He had a bogey at 14
but then made birdie on three
of his final four holes to keep
McIlroy in his sights.
“I feel like I am playing
well,” Johnson said. “I have just
been struggling on the greens.
It feels like someone is playing
goalie up by the hole.”
Mickelson, who is oldest
player in the field at 46, birdied
two of his final four holes as he
seeks to end a victory drought
dating to the Open
Championship in 2013.
Mickelson was forced to
play all but five holes of the
round with his brother, Tim
Mickelson, on his bag after his
caddie fell ill.
Mickelson will play with
McIlroy on Saturday, the first
time they have been paired
together.
Thomas is aiming for his
fourth victory of the 2016-17
season.
backpack 12
LUCKNOW | SUNDAY | MARCH 5, 2017
‘Women should bring out their inner shakti’
nTell us about your upcoming film Maatr:
The Mother
The title says it all; it is about a mother and
daughter. It deals with the violence, rape and
molestation our women are facing today; how
somewhere our justice system is kind of failing them by not giving them what they need,
or the fact that the law is not acting as a deterrent for the perpetrators. It is a film dealing
with the plight of the victims and the gratification that comes in the end; your blood boils
when you see or hear about violence against
Talktime
RAVEENA TANDON
Though she made her comeback with
Buddha Hoga Tera Baap in a cameo, Raveena
Tandon will now be seen in Maatr: The
Mother, as the lead. She talks to SHALINI
SAKSENA about why she chose this
film and how Bollywood has
changed for the better for
actresses
women more so when one can’t do anything
about it.
nDo such movies help in creating awareness
or is there a need to change the mindset of
the society?
I do believe that a certain amount is awareness is being created. Even Pink made an
impact. Films like these do make an impact and
act as a platform to send across a message.
nWhy did you choose this subject to make a
comeback?
After the Nirbhaya incident, I had the
opportunity to meet her mother, Usha Devi. She
told me that she has still not stopped crying and
is waiting for justice. It has been years since that
horrific act happened and it has only increased
since then. Every other day, you pick up the
newspaper and there is crime against a woman
or a child. So many go unreported as well.
Children as young as three are being brutally
raped and murdered. Then we have some leaders who turn around and say that women
should not wear provocative clothes or go out
alone at night. They should be talking about
protecting women. And what about a sixmonth-old? What was the baby’s provocation?
These are questions that keep hitting me.
nWhat about your other movie, Shab?
It was not about the need but for Onir.
Actually, the movie was slated to be made sometime in 2000-02 with Sanjay Suri and me in the
lead. But then I got married. When Onir took
up the project again, he told me that there was
no way that he would take a ‘no’ from me. So
that is how Shab happened.
nAre you being choosy with your roles?
Yes, definitely. I have not done too many
films. A lot of films come my way — horror,
comedy, suspense, thrillers. But I have turned
down quite a few. I want to do movies that I
believe in, something that moves me. When I
heard the script of Maatr: The Mother, it
touched me and made me say yes.
nHas the industry changed for the better
when it comes to actresses?
Definitely, the industry has changed. This
has been for the good. There is different kind
of cinema being made in a welcoming manner
and the horizon has broadened. When The
Dirty Picture was released, there were several
media reports and talk about the film being
taken to Cannes. It is not about the superstar
today at the helm, but the substance that the
movie carries.
nAre you reading more scripts?
Not really. I am busy with a reality show —
Sabse Bada Kalakar on Sony TV. My children’s
exams are going on. So my plate is full, at present. But once this show is over and am done
Shab and Maatr…, I will look at something else.
nWhich platform are you enjoying more —
TV or films?
To be very honest, the two are totally different. For TV, there is not too much work
involved. One goes for a couple of days. I was
joking about it to someone that it is the best job
in the world. One wears the best designer clothes
and jewellery, look pretty, criticise someone else
‘Body bruises are my tattoos’
‘Wolverine living
with a purpose’
Action is the real thing for VIDYUT JAMWAL who is a trained kalaripayattu artiste
with big screen ambitions going the right way, says SANGEETA YADAV
e made his Bollywood
debut as a baddie, fighting John Abraham in the
movie Force and swept away the
Filmfare Award for the Most
Promising Debut Award in
2012. But soon, the 36-year-old
kalaripayattu and martial artistturned-actor Vidyut Jamwal,
proved his mettle as a hero in
and as Commando.
He’s got the swagger. He
flaunts his six pack abs and
doesn’t shy away from showing
some flips, kicks and punches
while he ramp walks for fashion
designers. Body bruises, abrasions and stitches are his
favourite tattoos.
This week, this commando
will be back with another story
— as Captain Karanvir Singh
Dogra who is on a mission to
fight black money.
“Black money has always
been a big issue. It is coincidental that Commando 2 is based on
getting the money back into the
country. We had finished shooting before demonetisation happened. But the move worked in
our favour because now the film
will be more relatable,” Jamwal
tells you.
Attributing his success to
Shah, Jamwal says it’s the film
maker’s vision that made him
the actor he is. “Vipul’s vision of
me becoming an onscreen commando worked for both of us.
The first commando created a
new benchmark in the action
world as we used no stuntmen,
wires, cables, nothing. In the
second installment, we have
the greater responsibility of surpassing the benchmark created
by the original,” Jamwal says.
H
ACTORS DO ACTION
SCENES JUST TO BE
IN THE MOVIES. I AM
A TRUE ACTION
HERO WHO HAS
BEEN HIRED AS AN
ACTOR. IF I AM
FIGHTING 10 MEN TO
SAVE A WOMAN ON
SCREEN, I CAN DO
THE SAME THING ON
THE STREETS AS
WELL WHICH NO
ACTOR CAN DO
it up, Jamwal spent time learning kalaripayattu and other
martial art forms. Even after
becoming an actor, nothing has
changed. “I was a very quiet
child but I was not doing what
regular kids were supposed to
do. I used to work hard then and
I continue to do so. Life has not
changed after becoming an
actor. I am still the same person
but people around me start
looking at me in a different way,”
he tells you.
Breaking into the film
industry was difficult. “For a
person with no film background, it is next to impossible
to enter the industry, especially men. But if you have talent
and the fire in you, nobody can
stop you. My passion has kept
me going. I am an actor and I
know that rejections and failure
are a part of life. Whenever I try
to do a new stunt, I fail the first
few times but I never give up.
One should get used to rejections in life and that will make
you stronger,” Jamwal shares.
Jamwal says, it is his martial
art skill that has got him into
acting and that’s what differentiates him from other actors.
“I’m a real martial artist. I came
into the industry because I do
action, not because I was a popular star kid. Actors do action
scenes just to be in the movies.
I am a true action hero who has
been hired as an actor. If I am
fighting 10 men to save a
woman on screen, I can do the
same thing on the streets as well
which no actor can do. That
makes me different from other
actors,” he tells you.
Asked why he is not seen in
Doing stunts himself,
Jamwal has inspired many others and garnered a lot of fan following. “One of the biggest
action heroes in the world,
Scott Adkins, sent me a message
through the social media, saying that my action seems very
promising. It was great. When
I met real commandos in
Jodhpur recently, I felt good
about having impressed them
with my commando skills. I
built a bond with them and they
shared their personal stories
with me. After the first
Commando, I called up my
mother and asked her what she
thought of my work. ‘I don’t
want anything else. You’ve done
what no kid could do. You
made me very proud’, she said.
I felt so happy & all this has been
a bonus to me,” Jamwal says.
When his peers were living
H O L I
and get paid for it. What more can one want?
nDoes celebrating Woman’s Day for just one
day take away what we are trying to achieve
— equality and women empowerment?
This is a recent trend that has taken precedence like Mother’s Day. It is good that we do
have one day designated for women. A steady
progress has to be made. It is all about changing the mindset of the people especially women
themselves. Mentalities need to change. All the
leaders, who make derogatory statements
against women, have mothers too. A mother
influences a child. They need to bring up a son
with the values that there are need to respect a
woman — whether the neighbour’s daughter,
sister or a colleague. You don’t bully someone
who is weaker. Tying firecrackers on a puppy’s
tail is not acceptable. Most men start with petty
crime. This needs to be nipped in the bud.
nA message that you would like to give to the
women.
One thing that I do believe in, and it is not
a message that I want to give to anyone, but it
is self-belief. The Indian woman is very strong.
Our women look after the in-laws, they cook,
go to office, come back home and cook again,
sit with the children and make them do their
homework. This is especially true for all working women — they do manage to work out a
great work-family balance. This is the strength
that the women need to work at — to bring out
their inner shakti; she is a Devi on her own. She
needs to believe that she can do whatever she
puts her mind to.
B-wood parties, he says: “I don’t
enjoy them so I don’t go to the
parties. I also don’t go to premieres because you have to lie
and say you loved the movie. I
also don’t call anyone for the
screening of my movie. I prefer
them buy a ticket and watch it.
I listen to what people say
about my movie.”
There are many actors who
get professional training to learn
martial arts but Jamwal feels that
if it is required in your work,
one should continue it and
develop their personality
around it instead of doing it only
for one movie. “Training for
martial arts is good but one
should not discontinue it after
the film gets over. Even those
who say they are transforming
themselves for the role, risk their
life by not eating carbs which is
food for the brain. If you stop it,
your brain will not be as active
as it should be. I believe we
should have a balanced diet.
What suits me might not suit
you. The more important thing
is to figure out what’s best for
you,” he says.
Has any actor asked him for
action tips? “People are so insecure that they never ask. They
it is belittling. There are very few
learners in the industry.”
After Commando 2, Jamwal
has plenty of projects in his kitty.
“My next film is Yaara with
Tigmanshu Dhuliya which will
release this year. I am starting
another film with Vipul Shah
and another one titled Junglee
with Rohan Sippy and Junglee
Pictures. So, 2017 hold lots of
excitement and some good work
in store for me,” he says.
Hugh Jackman reprises his iconic role as
Logan aka Wolverine who has aged and is
sick. He talks about his movie and the
character
n What transformation
Wolverine has gone
through in Logan?
He’s very lost and
despondent and older. He’s
physically sick and I would
say spiritually, emotionally,
he’s not in a great place. He
finds out that there is a very
high levels of mercury in
his body. Apparently from
eating tins of tuna but I
thought well, what happens when a guy walks
around for 130 years filled
with metal? Even though he
has an immune system and
can heal, at some point
everyone on this planet
starts to slow down. The
body’s ability to fight gets
lesser. He really doesn’t
have much to live for.
nWhat is his living situation?
The way it’s set up, just
before our movie opens maybe six months or a year before—there was some event
involving Charles Xavier, played brilliantly by Patrick Stewart
because he's older too and one thing we explore with his
character is what happens when the most powerful brain
on the planet falls victim to dementia of some kind. We don’t
get into specifics. Is it Alzheimers? Is it dementia? But we
know that he’s now dangerous because when his brain doesn’t work things happen. He has these seizures and people
around him fall into comas. Cars crash, things happen, so
some event like that has happened and because he's pretty much like a father figure to Wolverine in the movies,
Wolverine takes him in.
nTell us about Laura, played by Dafne Keen?
Yes, she’s a mutant as well. And we all three of them
have been hiding out for, and all of a sudden their world
is invaded upon because of Laura. She’s been taken by this
nurse, Gabriella, from a facility and they are looking for
Logan for a very specific purpose.
S P E C I A L
With Holi just a week away, get on to preparing some lip-smacking delicacies like Bhang ki badami pak, bhang ke pakoras and thandai. Sunday Pioneer brings to you some exclusive recipes
BHANG KE PAKODAS
INGREDIENTS
Bhang leaves
Besan
Metha soda
Poatoes medium, chopped 1 nos
Onion medium, sliced
Green chillies, chopped
Ginger, chopped
Ajwain
Black salt to taste
Cooking salt to taste
Turmeric powder
Kuttimirch powder
Coriander seed, crushed
Oil for frying
GARNISH
Chat masala
METHOD
● Pick, wash and drain the
bhang leaves.
● Make a thick batter of
besan, salt and metha soda.
● Now mix all the ingredients
into batter and mix thoroughly and keep aside for ½
hour.
● Heat oil in a heavy bottom
pan.
● Fry the pakodas till golden
brown colour.
● Sprinkle chat masala and
served hot.
THANDAI
BHANG KI BADAMI PAK
QUANTITY
2 tbsp
1½ cup
¼ tsp
1 nos
1 nos
½ tsp
¼ tsp
½ tsp
½ tsp
1 tsp
INGREDIENTS
Almond
Khoya
Bhang leaves
Desi ghee
Rose water
Cardamoms powder
Sugar
Nutmeg, grated
GARNISH
Almond seed, slice
Saffron(soaked in milk)
Sliver leaf
QUANTITY
500 gm
500gm
50 gm
150 gm
2 cups
1 tsp
500 gm
1
½ tsp
few stripes
few leaf
METHOD
PREPARATION
Sugar syrup Melt the sugar in rose water till it attains a light syrupy consistency.
Almond Blanch, fry and grind the almonds.
Bhang Pick,wash and drain the bhang leaves. Take a pan and fry bhang
leaves and drain all the excess oil.
COOKING
● Heat prepared syrup with half of the ghee and cook for 2 minutes.
●Add mawa and keep stirring. Add grind almond to the mawa mixture
along with the remaining ghee. Keep on a low fire and keep stirring.
●When ready to set remove off fire, mix in the fried bhang leaves,
powdered cardamoms and nutmeg powder. Spread on a clean
board or baking tray and cut into roundels.
●Take a dessert plate; put two roundels of badam and garnish with
almond sliced, saffron and sliver leaf and serve.
●If kept in anair tight container it will stay for a week.
INGREDIENTS
Milk, boiled
Almond
Char magaj
Poppy seed
Sunflower seed
Rose petals
Fennel seed
Black peppercorn
Green cardamom
Nutmeg powder
Sugar
Saffron
Rose water
Bhang leaves
GARNISH
Saffron, soaked in hot milk
Pista, chopped
METHOD
● Pick, wash and drain the bhang
leaves.
● Dry roast all fennel seed, black
peppercorn, rose petals, saffron, poppy seed, sunflower
seed and char magaj and keep
aside.
● Balanced and peel almond.
● Now soaked all the ingredients
in the milk for 1 hour and keep
it in a freezer.
● Now make a fine paste, stain,
garnished and served in purvas.
THANDAI
QUANTITY
1 lts
100 gm
50 gm
50 gm
50gm
5 gm
15 gm
15 nos
15 nos
¼ tsp
150 gm
½ gm
20 m
2 ½ tbsp
INGREDIENTS
Milk, boiled
Almond
Char magaj
Poppy seed
Sunflower seed
Rose petals
Fennel seed
Black peppercorn
Green cardamom
Nutmeg powder
Sugar
Saffron
Rose water
GARNISH
Saffron, soaked in hot milk
Pista, chopped
METHOD
● Dry roast all fennel seed, black
peppercorn, rose petals, saffron,
poppy seed, sunflower seed and
char magaj and keep aside.
● Balanced and peel almond.
● Now soaked all the ingredients in
the milk for 1 hour and keep it in
a freezer.
● Now make a fine paste, stain,
garnished and served in purvas.
— All recipes courtesy Chef Ashwani
Kumar of The Leela Ambience Convention
Hotel
QUANTITY
1 lts
100 gm
50 gm
25 gm
50gm
5 gm
15 gm
15 nos
15 nos
¼ tsp
150 gm
¼ gm
20 m
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he term ‘Indian urban middle-class youth’ not only
refers to a pertinent section
of our population but also
has four distinct attributes
in its name itself. It is no longer driven
by manipulative melodrama and social
conformism. This is the age of adventures and experimentation. While the
senior generation may have believed
in certain notions of idealism, the millennials are not preoccupied with such
entitlements. They are relatively, and
to generalise, fascinated by materialism, and how! In the era of smartphones and tablets, even the dictionary suddenly needs a prefix (“urban”
dictionary) to look updated and righteous while informally incorporating
slangs. The change in urban India and
its understanding of entertainment, in
this matter, have exuded much flamboyance and finesse. The youth today
is mobilised by a drive to set themselves apart from the crowd, to walk
off the beaten path, to be innovative.
A house and a car, unlike what they
meant for their parents, are not immediate requirements for survival for the
young lot. They may quit secure jobs
to travel; they may drop out of college
to participate in reality shows; or they
may give up sports to pursue academic
credibilities. Largely, they are opinionated, quirky, reckless, talented and
witty. Keeping this in mind is perhaps
what helped the famous online entertainment network TVF (The Viral
Fever) make history.
TVF is an online entertainment
network founded by Arunabh Kumar
with the objective of providing digital
entertainment particularly to the
young generation. With all members
under 40, this network of young people has made some of the most suc-
T
cessful shows in India such as
Permanent Roommates, Pitchers,
Barely Speaking with Arnub, Chai
Sutta Chronicles, Tech Conversations
with Dad, Tripling, Humorously Yours,
F.A.T.H.E.R.S, among several others.
Today, five years after its very first
video Rowdies (it had one million hits
in less than five days) went viral, TVF
has attained acclaim internationally. It
has been a pioneer in the Indian digital entertainment forum. Rowdies was
India’s first original web content;
TVF’s Gaana Waala Song was the first
digital content created for film promotions; TVF was also the first network
that brought Indian film celebrities to
star in the web shows — from Shah
Rukh Khan to Anurag Kashyap to
Ranveer Singh to Sunny Leone; its
Permanent Roommates was the most
viewed branded web series in the
world in 2014 on YouTube; and its
Pitchers (along with Permanent
Roommates) are the only two Indian
series to be listed on IMDb.
In the IMDb ratings, they even
beat global hits like House of Cards and
Homeland. In fact, in 2013, TVF was
the only YouTube network that represented India at the international
YouTube Fan Fest, while Arunabh was
the only representative from South Asia
who was invited to the 2015 Global
Creators’ Summit in New York. TVF
has also created India’s first online
women-centric channel, Girliyapa.
More recently, the network was also
showcased as the next generation of
story tellers in the world at the biggest
content conference in the world, MIPCOM, the first ever for India at a platform that TVF shared with Snapchat,
Viacom and the Homeland makers.
For three years consecutively
(2015, 2016, 2017), Arunabh was fea-
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tured on Fortune’s “40 under 40” list
of India’s top business leaders. In
2015, he was awarded GQ’s Most
Influential Young Indian award and in
2016, he was GQ’s Man of the Year.
An alumnus of IIT Kharagpur,
Arunabh originally wanted to make a
show for TV. When his idea was
rejected, he conceived TVF, which
today has millions of subscribers all
over the world. As the Creative
Experiment Officer (CEO) of the network, he talks about the work culture
that he has inculcated in the company
and says, “Culture materialises on its
own. It’s organic and cannot be
implanted. Our motto is ‘Lights,
Camera, Experiment’. We subscribe to
the Buddhist philosophy, ‘Be open to
ideas, attach to none’. So, our objective
is to explore. From the CEO to the
intern, we take everyone’s inputs seriously. Today, we are a network of 300
people bound by the common goal to
entertain and experiment.”
Hailing from Muzaffarpur in
Bihar, he reveals, “I come from a place
that hardly anyone outside of Bihar
must have heard of. My hometown
still faces severe electricity shortages.”
That could be quite a bummer for his
family given that TVF is primarily an
online forum. Arunabh laughs, “Well
my nephew is quite intelligent. He
downloads the videos on a pen drive
whenever he can and watches later!”
It’s redounding how this one online
network revolutionised the Indian
online eco-system.
Arunabh explains, “We understand that the young generation is
mostly online. We have a very strong
inhouse team that is adept in data and
technology. We have some of the best
practices in scripting. We were the
first ones to use 5D in our web series
(instead of huge cameras), we were
also the first to use the Adobe premiere pro editing tool. Of course,
that’s also because when we had started we couldn’t afford the expensive
gadgets but we left no stone unturned
in making things work. We also outsource third party studios to collaborate with us. Our programming team
is meticulous and involved right from
conceptualisation to production.
When we launched the TVF app, it
crashed a lot. That’s when we consulted with a tech leadership team from
Silicon Valley to sort our issues. We
have provisions for androids, we’re
still working on iOS and we are also
modifying our chromecast feature.”
How do they manage sponsorship? He
says, “We are an advertisement and
brand-sponsorship made platform so
we have worked with more than hundred brands, more than anybody else
in this country has, I guess. These big
brands tell us that the younger generation is not on TV but on TVF! Every
brand that has the objective of reaching out to the younger generation is
certainly working with us. We work
with them on different models, from
media inventory to innovative ad
cards to social media posts to deep
integration into stories, and so on. At
the same time, we also give them the
effect that even TV could probably
not offer them.”
While Arunabh has been applauded all over for his business skills,
Creative Director Biswapati Sarkar is
as known for his writings. Both
Pitchers and the chat show with
celebrities, Barely Speaking with Arnub
(in which he plays the host) have been
extremely popular with the audience.
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apan is a special country in several ways. For centuries, it
remained isolated and disconnected with the outside world.
But once it opened itself up to the
West with the Convention of
Kanagawa in 1854 by the use of force
by Commodore Matthew Calbraith
Perry of the United States Navy, Japan
has never looked back. In little over two
and half centuries since then, Japan’s
history has traversed through tumultuous journey, leading to the perilous
course of war, militarism, expansionist foreign policy, colonialism till its
final capitulation in 1945 following the
announcement of surrender by the
Showa Emperor Hirohito.
During the next seven decades,
Japan has proudly leapfrogged from
a nation in ruins and ravages of war
into a modern and developed country to emerge as the world’s second
largest economy until it was overtaken by China in 2011. This is in short
Japan’s amazing story.
But what is more amazing is that
in the midst of this transformation
to modernism, the nation has kept
a beautiful blend with its traditional values and culture. The advent of
modernism has not been allowed to
overwhelm the aestheticism and
serenity of Japan’s traditional culture
manifested by such as ekebana, matsuri, manga, film, bonsai, painting,
tea ceremony and many more, which
are truly authentic Japanese. There
is beauty in all these. These have
shaped the mind-set and thought
process of the Japanese people.
Amidst all these the institution of the
Emperor stands tall, which is revered
by all Japanese, barring some negligible extremist elements with deviant
ideological indoctrinations.
Japan’s Emperor is believed to be
the descendent of Amaraterusu, the
Sun God which retains a sense of
divinity in the eyes of the Japanese people through thousands of years of its
being. Though the role of the Emperor
in the affairs of the State in the historical period dating back to centuries
remains in obscurity, historical narratives are flush with roles of shoguns
and daimyos, the various warlords
fighting for power and so on, until the
Meiji Restoration in 1968 and the subsequent dramatic transformation of
Japan as a nation.
What is the Meiji Restoration and
what does it mean in the context of
Japan’s history? In 1868, the Tokugawa
shogun (great general), who ruled
Japan in the feudal period, lost his
power and the emperor was restored
to the supreme position. The emperor took the name Meiji (enlightened
one) as his reign name and this event
was known as the Meiji Restoration.
After the death of Emperor
Komei in January, 1867 his son,
Prince Mutsuhito, then only 15 years
old, ascended the throne as Emperor
Meiji. Powerful clans such as Satsuma,
Choshu and others toppled the rule
of the Tokugawa shogunate. The last
shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu,
resigned and handed power over to
the young emperor. But in May 1868
some two thousand adherents of the
old Tokugawa shogunate tried an uprise but were defeated in a bloody battle at the site of today’s Ueno Park in
Tokyo. In November 1868 the young
emperor moved his official residence
from Kyoto — where his ancestor had
been kept for centuries in a golden
cage — to Tokyo, the new name for
J
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the old shogun’s capital Edo. The institution of the Japanese emperor had
lost control over Japan some 800 years
ago. This path-breaking event is
called in Japan’s modern history as
Meiji Restoration.
In 1868, Japan was primarily an
agricultural country with a weak military and little technological development. The country was controlled by
hundreds of semi-independent feudal
lords. The Western powers — Europe
and the United States — had forced
Japan to sign treaties that limited its
control over its own foreign trade and
required that crimes concerning foreigners in Japan be tried not in
Japanese but in Western courts. When
the Meiji period ended, with the
death of the emperor in 1912, Japan
hada highly centralized, bureaucratic
government, a constitution establishing an elected parliament, a well-developed transport and communication
system, a highly educated population
free of feudal class restrictions, an
established and rapidly growing industrial sector based on the latest technology, anda powerful army and navy.
The Meiji era came to an end with
the death of the emperor in 1912
(1852-1912). It was followed by the
Taisho period coinciding with the reign
of the Emperor Yoshihito (1879-1926),
posthumously known as Taisho, dating from July 30, 1912, to December
25, 1926. Emperor Taisho was a sickly man, which prompted the shift in
political power from the old oligarchic group of elder statesmen
(genro) to the Imperial Diet of Japan
and the democratic parties.
Thus, the era is considered the
time of the liberal movement known
as the “Taish democracy” in Japan; it
is usually distinguished from the preceding chaotic Meiji period and the following militarism — driven by first
part of the Showa period, during which
Japan fought and won two big wars
with China (1894-95) and Russia
(1904-05), heralding hope for an
Asian renaissance. With the death of
Emperor Taisho started the Showa era
when Emperor Hirohito ascended
the throne. This is one of the longest
periods of an emperor’s reign in
Japan’s known history (63 years); it lasted till 1989 when Emperor Hirohito
died on January 7, 1989, at the age of
89. Simply put, the Showa period is a
term used to identify the years between
1926 and 1989 under the reign of
Emperor Hirohito. In accordance with
Japanese customs, Hirohito was
posthumously renamed the 124th
Emperor Showa on January 31, 1989.
The Showa period is followed by
the current Heisei (peace) period,
which started on January 8, 1989, the
day after Emperor Hirohito died, and
his son Emperor Akihito acceded to
the throne as the 125th Emperor in
Japan’s history. The current Emperor’s
reign is in its 29th year. Aged 83 and
having health issues, the current
emperor expressed his desire in July
2016 to abdicate as he is finding it difficult to discharge his national duties.
This has created a buzz in Japan’s political establishment — how to deal with
a new situation if the Emperor abdicates as according to the Imperial
Household Laws, there is no provision
for abdication. This issue shall be dealt
in a separate article.
Except in Japan, nowhere in the
world, there is an Emperor system;
there are Kings elsewhere and they are
called ‘Royals’ but not Emperor and that
makes Japan’s Imperial system unique.
Believed to be the direct descendent of
Sun God (a mythical concept), there
was an element of divinity attached to
the Emperor. For the Japanese people,
the Emperor is seen as next to God.
The element of divinity that the
emperor personified was surrendered when Emperor Hirohito
renounced it after Japan’s defeat in
World War II. Since Japan fought the
War in the name of the Emperor,
many soldiers committed seppuku in
front of the imperial palace with a
sense of guilt that they could not win
the war for the emperor.
Seppuku was a ritual form of suicide used by samurai warriors to
avoid surrender or atone for a shameful act. Ritual suicide by disembowelment carried out by samurai literally
means “stomach cutting”. The role of
the Kamikaze pilots also needs to be
understood from similar perspective.
During World War II, about 3,860
kamikaze pilots died, and about 19 per
cent kamikaze attacks managed to hit
a ship. Kamikaze aircraft were essentially pilot-guided explosive missiles,
purpose-built or converted from conventional aircraft.
After defeat and announcement
of Japan’s surrender by Emperor
Hirohito who was appalled by the
suffering of his countrymen following the dropping of atomic bombs in
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there was
a demand in some of the Allied powers to bring the Emperor for trial on
charges of war crimes before the
International Military Tribunal for
the Far East. General Douglas
MacArthur was matured and farsighted enough to understand the
importance of the institution of the
emperor, which if tampered would
result in nation-wide revolt in Japan
and rejected the demand to bring the
Emperor before the ‘Tokyo trial’.
That was definitely a well thoughtout decision. Japanese people then
and now cannot digest any thought
of dishonouring the Emperor as they
attach sanctity and purity to this
institution.
This brings me to the last part of
this article — the Imperial Palace,
which is very well preserved. The East
Garden of the Imperial Palace
(Otemon) adjacent to the palace is
open for public viewing every day for
a specified time. The Sannomaru
Shozokan, the Museum of the Imperil
Collections, which displays the collection of 9,500 pieces of pottery and artefacts including the articles left by the
deceased Empress Kojun, Princess
Chichibu and Princess Takamatsu is
also open to the public. There are ways
to participate in public events at the
Imperial Palace and to visit the Palace
and other establishments.
During my present stay at Reitaku
University as the ICCR India Chair
Visiting Professor, I was privileged to
join a group of 25 students and two
professors (including me) for a guided tour and some activities to the
Imperial Palace, the official residence
of the Emperor and Empress and the
Akasaka Palace, the official residence
of the Crown Prince, the future
Emperor. The program was for five
days from February 20 to 24, 2017.
What struck me was the discipline and
organisational fineness of the programme which was minutely planned
in clock-wise precision to get the maximum benefit and understanding.
During my several previous visits to this great country, I never even
knew that such a programme existed to visit the Imperial Palace till my
colleague in the University casually
told me and I volunteered to join. In
a total gathering of 160 participants
drawn from other Prefectures such as
Iwate, Sendai, Fukushima, Tokyo and
others, I was the only foreigner and
thus easily identifiable. The students
had made prior arrangements for our
stay at International Youth Hostel in
Idabashi, close to the Imperial Palace.
The enthusiasm seen in the youth
reflected their reverence towards the
emperor. One can smell the fragrance of peace and serenity when
one sees the shrines inside the
Imperial Palace dedicated to the
souls of all ancestors of the Imperial
family dating back to Amaraterusu
totalling some 2,000 and to all Gods
and Goddesses of Japan.
Photography inside the Imperial
Palace was prohibited, though official
group photograph for each group
was arranged by a professional photographer, both in the Imperial Palace and
the Akasaka Palace. Though police
checked the identity of each one of us
by asking for our identity cards, the
police never cared to check our bags,
implying the element of trust and honesty that the police reposes on the people, something unthinkable in India.
The high point of the programme
was the audience of the six groups with
the Emperor and Empress in a hall on
February 21 where both met each
group and had two-three minutes’
chats with the group leaders, the
whole thing lasting for around fourteen minutes. The same thing was
repeated at the Akasaka Palace on the
following day, on February 22, when
the Crown Prince and future Emperor
Naruhito met us for the same duration
of time. Though I had seen the
Emperor and the Empress at Jawaharlal
Nehru University (I was a guest faculty then) in New Delhi when they visited India in December 2013, this time
was an occasion when I saw both within the distance of few feet. Given the
exalted status the Emperor enjoys in
Japan, this experience makes it
extremely special.
The lesson learnt is that the
Emperor is going to remain a strong
unifying force for Japan. It has been in
the past and it is going to remain so
even in the future years. The sense of
patriotism that the Japanese people
draw from the institution of the
Emperor is something like nectar
that Japanese people crave to possess.
That makes Japan unique and special.
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ith the spirit of preserving language and culture,
Sahityakala Parishad’s annual “Festival of Letters”, a fiveday long fest, began on February 21 and culminated
on February 26. The theme and focus of the 2017 Sahityotsava
was ‘Folk and Oral Literature’. The Exhibition was inaugurated by the distinguished Sanskrit Scholar, Prof Satyavrat Shastri,
who talked about the greatness of Indian literature. Each day
of the festival ended with a folk performance.
An award ceremony for presenting the Sahitya Akademi
awards for 2016 was held at the Kamani auditorium on February
22 as a part of the festival. A total of 24 awards were presented to writers, writing in various languages. Dr Jayant Vishnu
Narlikar, a well-known Marathi writer and a distinguished physicist, was the chief guest. Dr Narlikar said that though he did
not have depth of literary knowledge, he could still say that that
the effects of science can be best described only through literature and only by litterateurs. He observed that the present-day
technology filled societies should try and preserve literature of
the time, as it is literature that reflects the values and culture
of the society and not technology.
The third day of the festival witnessed a young writers’ meet
and the annual Samvastar lecture for 2017, which was presented by Dr Ramchandra Guha. He talked about Indians, especially Indian historians shying away from writing a historical biography and also about the art of writing a biography. He gave away
several reasons for such a choice of not writing a biography as
it comes with a burden of religious and scholarly inheritance.
Moreover, history’s own inclination towards social sciences over
literature becomes a cause of such a choice. Another reason why
historical biographies never took off in our country according
to him is the author’s need to suppress one’s ego in order to write
about another individual’s ego.
Dr Guha then talked about his first biographical work which
was on the life of Verrier Elwin, anthropologist and tribal activist.
This challenging work of his had changed his literary outlook,
and made him realise the importance of secondary characters
in such a biographical work.
The Akademi organised a National seminar on the topic,
Folklore: Telling’s and Retellings, for the final three days of the
festival. Dr K Sreenivasarao, the Secretary of the Akademi, welcomed all the participants on the first day of the seminar and
spoke about the importance of folklore in preserving the culture and tradition. In his inaugural address, Professor Manoj
Das, eminent writer and Fellow, Sahitya Akademi, stated that
while folklore occupies the largest area of literature, it still
becomes difficult to separate folktales from myths. Professor
Tabish Khair, an eminent English writer was the guest of honour. He stated that stories are the most common, most pervasive and the oldest way of expressing human thoughts where
human beings can live as well.
A Tribal Writers’ meet was held on the second last day of
the festival. Writers writing in ancient and rare languages as well
as languages from the hills of Meghalaya in the North East were
present in the meet. Several myths were retold in the session,
with the linkage of nature to the Creation myths. Kharia, Kurux
and Santali were among the few Creation myths which were
demystified in the session. Poetry in seventeen different tribal languages was also recited by seventeen poets, marking the
end of the second session.
The festival came to an end with another daylong seminar
being held, on the topic Translation as Retelling. The focus of
the seminar was on the importance of preserving the Indian tradition of Retelling stories (Anuvad) in different tongues which
is very different from the western way of translation of texts.
Dr Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari, President, Sahitya Akademi, stated that India’s translation tradition precedes that of European
literature with Ramkatha and Mahabharata being translated way
before in almost all languages of the country. Dr Sumayu
Tripathi, an eminent English scholar, said that translators were
re-creators and extremely important for a literary tradition.
The week-long Festival of Letters thus ended on a hopeful
note, for the literary cultures and traditions of India.
W
5 A > < ?0 6 4 riginally from Rourkela, he is an alumnus
from IIT-K as well. Speaking about what
may trigger an idea in him, Bisso, as he is
popularly known, says, “It could be a line or a
scene that you imagine and then you realise that
you have to make a story out of it and then narrate it. That is the instinct that drives me.
Comedy comes out of anger. It is anger that creates cynicism which in turn creates humour.”
Bisso considers Stephen King, David Mamet
and Quentin Tarantino among his influences. He
adds, “Not that I like only foreign writers but in
India we have very few celebrated writers such as
Salim-Javed, or even Kader Khan. We are a
bunch of IIT-K alumni who were active in the
theatre club of the institute. I used to write short
stories. So when I got the chance to tell our stories with Arunabh, leaving a secure job was easy.
I follow the pattern of ‘therefore, meanwhile’
which means that there should be a reason for
the events that unfold in your story. If a gun, for
instance, appears at a point, there should be a
preset context for it. We also jam a lot. After the
first draft is written, we take the inputs of around
20 people. Following their feedback, the second
draft is made. These rounds of feedback goes on
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till a final script is readied after which the
punching-up sessions start where we sit and
improvise. In these, the script is made more conducive. After the actors are locked, the table
reading sessions begin. Everyone in the team is
respectful of one another and united by the
mutual goal of improving ourselves.”
TVF has also presented to the country some of
the most loved and popular actors in recent time.
Nidhi Bisht (whose new show Bisht Please is ready
to release this month), who is often addressed as
TVF’s casting director, clarifies, “Not many know
that I am actually not a casting director! But yes, I
did cast Mikesh and Tanya (the leads in Permanent
Roommates) and Mandal (Pitchers). I have a theatre background through which I knew resourceful people including these actors and Arunabh. So
casting happened accidentally. In fact, for Pitchers,
Navin’s boss was the only role we had held auditions for. I graduated from Jamia Millia Islamia and
was a lawyer in Delhi for one year. I also did theatre with IPTA. Arunabh was the first person I met
when I had come to Mumbai. He was working for
a Pritish Nandy film back then that never got made.
I was teaching drama in schools and also directing plays back then. It was in 2013 that I took it up
as a full time job.” Nidhi says that it’s sincerity and
instinct along with a fair share of judgement that
has helped her find the right actors for the roles.
Nidhi Singh, who plays the universally adored
Tanya in Permanent Roommates, says, “The good
thing about working with TVF is that there is no
hierarchy. They are organised and diligent.” Nidhi
is originally from Allahabad but has grown up in
Maligaon, Assam. After she completed her studies, she worked in advertising as well as an
Assistant Director. While freelancing, she also dabbled as a theatre actor. She mentions, “My father
is a doctor and mother a teacher. So it took me a
bit to convince them that I wanted to pursue acting. It was in 2010-2011 when I completely
immersed myself in this medium. It’s really overwhelming to see the responses now.”
In a similar way, Navin Kasturia from Pitchers
adds, “Honestly, I think I relate more with Mikesh
than my own character, Navin. But shooting
Pitchers was amazing. I knew Arunabh since 2009.
We had the same social circle of film people. It’s quite
nice to see the kind of reaction our collaboration
has received. It took us 12 days to shoot the first two
episodes and we shot the third after a month. But
we plan to do season 2 at a stretch so let’s see.”
In TV, there is always a safe set of formulae
(plastic surgery, rebirth, amnesia, love triangle,
gaudily dressed vamps, and even snakes and flies
now) that ensures TRPs. The digital medium in
comparison could be quite brutal in terms of criticism because everyone can be anonymous there
as well as because there is no formula for success
for original content. So the way TVF has been reaching the zenith of success is commendable. Arunabh
says, “We are still a couple of years away from it but
I hope someday we create global shows. There are
still talks of collaborations but it’s premature at the
moment. TVF was also believed to be India’s answer
to Netflix, now it’s compared to HBO. Honestly, I
want TVF to be India’s Disney!” As Head of TVF
Originals and director of Permanent Roommates
Sameer Saxena says, “We just write what we strongly feel like, and may be because we come from middle class backgrounds, what we write is what most
of the people easily connect to.”
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ctress Sophia Loren once
said, “Beauty is how you feel
inside, and it reflects in your
eyes. It is not something
physical”. The basic idea
behind The Promise of Beauty and Why
It Matters written by Shakti Maira was to
answer two crucial questions which form
the basis of this book: A) what is beauty
and why it matters, and B) to start new
conversations on this subject. The author
presents his readers with thoughts like
does beauty have to do only with how
things look? Or is it merely prettiness?
Or is it entirely subjective, does it serve a
function? Or is it something more than
just being skin-deep.
Maira is an artist, sculptor and
printmaker. He has had 26 one-person
shows, the first of which was in 1973 in
Mumbai. Since then, his work has been
exhibited in solo and group shows in
Boston, Paris, New York, Washington,
DC, Manchester, Concord, Henniker,
Hollis, Acton, Portland, Newport,
Portsmouth, Santa Fe, Cambridge,
Rotterdam, Colombo, Bangalore,
Chennai, Mumbai and New Delhi. His
work is in the National Gallery of
Modern Art in India, and in private
collections around the world. Maira
recently completed a set of 12 six-foothigh bronze sculpture — The Sangha.
He has been engaged in children’s education and development through art
and has conducted numerous workshops in schools in the US and India.
A
In 2005, he helped organise the
Learning through the Arts in Asia symposium in New Delhi and was invited
by UNESCO to formulate the Asian
Vision of Arts in Education: Learning
through the Arts. In 2006 he was
appointed as a consultant by The India
Foundation of the Arts (IFA). He has
written extensively on art, aesthetics,
education and culture.
Besides all of this, he is also a public speaker on contemporary issues in
aesthetics, beauty, art and culture in
India and abroad and has also been
engaging in a series of dialogues on
beauty with scientists, philosophers
and environmentalists, and was coorganiser of an international conference, The End of Art, and The Promise
of Beauty, in February 2012. He trained
as an economist and business manager
from prestigious colleges in India.
From 1968 to 1990 he balanced careers
as a professional artist with managerial
and consulting assignments with multinational banks and corporations
around the world, including the World
Bank. Since 1990, he has devoted his
time fully to art and writing.
Historically, beauty has been held
in high esteem: “Beauty is truth, truth
beauty,” poet John Keats wrote. Why
then do the high priests of the arts and
the arguably progressive socio-political
thinkers of the day shun it? Maira
explains how the problem lies with the
confused understanding of beauty and
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he fourth novel of Dr
Suchita Malik, a distinguished professor of
English Literature, was
released on February 25,
2017 at the Indian
International Centre, New
Delhi. The book is titled,
Scent of the Soil. The event
was graced by the presence
of Dr Shashi Tharoor
(Congress MP), Amitabh
Kant (member of the IAS
and CEO NITI Ayog), Pavan
K Verma (former diplomat
and author) and Kapish
Mehra (CEO, Rupa
Publications).
The honourable guests
praised the author in their
comments on the book for
inculcating sensitivity and
magic in her words. At the
event, Suchita Malik gave the
credit for the idea for the
novel to her visit to Bhutan
along with her husband and
other bureaucrat families.
She said that she had realised
on the trip how the civil servants were missing out on all
the fun because of their
work commitments.
Malik has been
acclaimed widely for writing
Memsahib’s Chronicles in the
past. Her other books
include Indian Memsahib
and Women Extraordinaire.
T
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This time the author has
presented a deep insight
into a civil servant’s life.
Protagonist Shubhojit
Sarkar feels a massive turmoil in his personal life
even after touching great
heights in the professional
front. His recently won
Prime Minister’s award testifies for that. The relationships with his estranged
wife and children however
cause him great pain and
sense of loneliness. Things
change for Shubhojit when a
sudden health crisis strikes
him causing the whole family to reunite.
He goes down the memory lane into his childhood
days where everything was
much simpler. He realises
that he had more meaningful
friendships at a young age
than now. This makes him
decide to go back to his village to live a more serene
and unencumbered life,
where he could be free of the
structures and rigidity of
society. A decision like this
needed guts and his family’s
approval because he was
nearing his retirement.
The novel revolves
around this decision of his to
go back to his roots and follows the ups and downs in
his life henceforth.
Malik has beautifully
combined the elements of
nature and city to present a
modern-day picture of the
life of a successful bureaucrat. She debunks the glory
and glitter attached to the
field of Civil Services.
he Narendra Modi
Government has completed two years of its
tenure. This book by Sreeram
Chaulia covers all that we
need to know about the current Government’s foreign
policy. This book holds its
importance because of the
Modi factor. Modi is a leader
known for bold and ambitious
decisions. The book tells why
he is the right person to raise
India’s international stature to
a great power.
The book claims neither
to be an account of Indian foreign policy nor a biography of
Modi. It’s a work on his foreign policy and his vision in
international affairs. The book
justifies its title by highlighting the importance of India’s
foreign policy through an
opinion poll carried out by a
popular magazine that
marked 22 percent of Indian
respondents rating ‘Foreign
Policy successes’ as the biggest
achievement of Modi’s
Government.”
Chaulia explains the narrow attitude of former PM IK
Gujral’s doctrine in 1997-98.
And also that in the early
1980s, Indira Gandhi’s doctrine
focused on sub regional without any global scope. Modi’s
doctrine in comparison is
argued to be superior to both,
as it’s the 21st century need and
of worldwide significance.
The Modi doctrine is
derived from the fascinating
foreign policy strategy like
Yashida Doctrine post WWII
and Davutoglu doctrine of
the 2000s by Turkey. These
with beauty becoming superficially
located: Quite literally, on the skin.
What would happen, he asks, if beauty
were to become central to every aspect
of our lives — environment, education,
economies and governance?
He engages 18 eminent thinkers in a
series of conversations around the difficult, enthralling notion of beauty.
Scientists explore whether there is an
evolutionary purpose to it. Philosophers
examine its relationship to truth and
goodness. Artists speak of beauty and its
rejection. Brain-mind experts consider
whether the experience of it strengthen
certain neural pathways connected with
qualities of balance, harmony, rhythm
and proportion. Activists probe how
beauty works in the context of social
systems. What emerges is a deeper
understanding of beauty and how it is a
key to our world: A radical new way of
evaluating problems and finding solutions, from the personal to the political,
the individual to the universal. The
author engages in a dialogue on beauty
with 18 different individuals to get a
conversation going on the importance
of beauty. It is an attempt to look at
what beauty is and why is it important
through several intellectual prisms.
The book has been written in a
unique way: After every three chapters
the author pauses to draw together
some of the strands of what has been
said with his own thinking on beauty.
The central point of this book is the
dialogues on beauty with Fritjof Capra,
Pushpa Mittra Bhargava, Rupert
Sheldrake, Karan Singh, Roger Scruton,
Satish Kumar, Anjolie Ela Menon, Ruth
Padel, Ashok Vajpeyi, Geeta Chandran,
Muzaffar Ali, Gautam Bhatia, Semir
Zeki, Clifford Saron, Tai Situ Rinpoche,
Vandana Shiva, Oliver Letwin, Keibo
Oiwa. What gives the Promise of Beauty
a distinctive quality is the many voices
it contains, as these dialogues are the
heart of this effort. The book has been
divided into five broad categories —
scientists, philosophers, art practitioners, brain-minded scientists, and social
activists. The last question that the
author asked each individual was to
share a personal experience of beauty
that holds a special place in their lives,
and the answers that he got were both
surprising and moving.
My favourite part in this book is
when Maira writes, “As beauty and ugliness are positive and negative signals of
well-being and since we have an innate
ability to perceive and experience both,
paying attention to beauty can help
make our lives better. A skilful use of
saundarya drishti will help us to make
individual and social choices that will
enable wellness and collective flourishing. To do this, we must move beyond
the ambiguity of postmodern attitudes
towards beauty. Of course, the perception of beauty is always a personal act
and it is subject to context and human
individuality. But this does not mean
that beauty doesn’t have a basis or that
it is entirely random and individual. A
development of our innate sense of
beauty, our saundarya drishti, suggests
an open-minded sensitivity and acuity,
rather than a dependence on narrow
beliefs or cultural and personal habits.
Rather than dismiss the importance of
beauty, as postmodernism has done, it
behoves us to pay more attention to it.
The ability to perceive and cognise
beauty and base our actions on it is
really another kind of human intelligence”. This paragraph explains to us in
simple terms the importance of beauty
and how it is so much more than a
visual/seen experience.
In the end, Maira states that there’s
a need for qualitative growth and a
shift away from quantitative economic
growth. He concludes the book by asking his readers to honour, protect and
create beauty in their own world’s and
also to take more responsibility for the
awakening and blossoming of their
own sense of beauty and also perhaps
enable it in others.
This book by Shakti Maira is a
wonderful attempt to change the general perception of the term ‘beauty’.
Maira through his dialogues with eighteen eminent individuals tries to show
how beauty is not just a superficial
term. He hopes that this book will get
the reader to rethink their idea of
beauty and how we all can play a part
in creating a more beautiful world.
7+(02',)$&725
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policy focused on the trade
and FDI for economic development goals. Here, FDI is
defined as ‘First Develop
India’ with the main focus on
overall growth of India.
In the first chapter, effective communication and outreach aspects of the Modi
doctrine are detailed. The
other chapters include his
stances other countries.
Modi’s doctrine also consists of two important element
ie communication and contact
with an approach of
Government to Government,
business to business and people to people affairs. As a promoter of the RSS, he made a
record number of foreign visits to find out what India
needs to learn from Western
countries and what India can
offer them. The author calls
Modi a good orator with a
spirit of resisting oppressive
political authorities.
Ties with the US President
Obama as well as the French
connection or the relations
with his Chinese counterpart
are discussed minutely in this
book. Modi has also maintained friendship with heads
of Governments. Personal
diplomacy is a standout characteristic of his doctrine.
The fourth chapter
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‘Dancing with Diaspora’
focuses on preserving rights
and interest of OCIs and
NRIs. The book highlights
Modi’s achievement of regaining India’s lost commercial
prowess and special status in
the world: “Ideas and actions,
impressions and capacities,
feelings and powers have all
fused in the Modi doctrine to
produce a stronger India in
international affairs.” Making
in India rather than importing things is the motto and
backbone of the ‘Make in
India’ programme. Similarly,
the Modi doctrine has also
helped in boosting India’s
cyber security plans which is
a significant move.
The ‘Neighbourhood
First’ policy is discussed in
chapter five. Modi’s doctrine
combines liberal trade and
commerce. It keeps checks on
rising competition from
China. It is expected that the
‘Neighbourhood First’ policy
will taste success in future. For
SAARC member countries, it’s
the hallmark of a doctrine to
have a systematic treatment of
regions and issues with a dis-
tinct set of policies for each.
Chaulia says that the
Modi doctrine is more than
a grand strategy for India to
conduct its foreign relations.
“I have pointed throughout
this book, placing India in
the middle and augmenting
it as an independent pole in
the international system is
the primary aspiration of the
modi doctrine.”
Modi’s 360 degree foreign
policy is transforming Indian
national identity and outlook
towards the world. His openness to fresh ideas and willingness to experiment are essential traits of moving ahead in
the path of becoming leading
country in the world.
The book questions the
neglecting attitude of the previous Government of
Manmohan Singh that didn’t
define India’s goal. The major
cause of Modi’s predecessor’s
failure is said to be the limited
interest in foreign policy of
India. The differences exist
because of implementation
and timelines strictly followed
by Modi in relation to previous successors: “Lacking
Inspiring leadership in the
political class, India was
struck in bureaucratic inertia
and did not proactively dream
to lead the world.”
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8
ndia’s gross domestic product
(GDP) is growing. The rate has
been differing with different
rating agencies. It remains at
around seven per cent — plus
minus 0.25 per cent to 0.5 per cent.
The latest Central Statistical Office
(CSO) figure of a seven per cent
GDP is within the range.
It will, hence, be better to not
link it with demonetisation. The
figures show an inherent strength of
the Indian economy. On the other
hand, it raises certain questions
about the concept of GDP itself.
Possibly, GDP is not a complete
indicator, though broadly, it provides
a path. But it does not exactly tell all
about the bumpy road conditions.
Data generation in India is largely
considered credible. But the query
can be whether GDP figure could
have been better if demonetisation
was not there? Even the Economic
Survey report 2016 (ES) was not sure
about the impact of demonetisation.
But it did not rule it out either.
But the ‘eight interesting facts’
mentioned in the ES speak volumes.
It says annual work-related migration
has doubled since 2011 to about 90
lakh people. This shows that despite
MGNREGA, people have to move
out to look for jobs. Labour Bureau
statistics too indicate fewer job
creations than targeted.
The credit rating of China to AA
in 2010, despite fall in its growth
shows international bias, ES says.
India, despite improvement in its
indicators, has remained unchanged
at the lowest BBB.
The peak of the growth boost,
due to the demographic dividend, is
fast approaching with southern States
I
peaking soon and the hinterland
States peaking later.
The weak are weak targeting of
social programmes. Welfare spending
suffers from misallocation, districts
with largest number of poor people
suffer from the greatest shortfall of
funds. Districts accounting for the
poorest 40 per cent receive 29 per
cent of the total funding.
India, ES says, has “weak tax
base”. There are only seven taxpayers
for every 100 voters ranking the
country 13 among 18 democratic G
20 peers. It says property tax potential
is also unexploited.
This perception of the ES is
incorrect. It only speaks of incometax. It should be noted that average
income of Indians as per various
reports, including the Arjun Sengpta
panel, is extremely low. Inflationary
situation from 2009 to 2014 further
eroded income value. While calculating tax base, the indirect tax payment
is not included. Indirect taxes —
excise, customs, cess, profession tax,
local levies, tolls etc — are approximately over 40 per cent of one’s
income. It is said that even a beggar in
this country pays at least 40 per cent
as taxes. It has, thus, a tax base of over
47 per cent and not seven per cent, as
the ES stresses. The tax one pays on
property registration is often over 20
per cent of the base price. The ES
arguments need correction.
In many cases, there are multiple
taxes. Take the example of automobiles. Apart from various taxes, road
tax, bulk parking charge, levied at the
time of sale a cess of two per cent per
litre is realised on the sale of petroleum fuel ostensibly for highway construction. But as one moves onto the
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Reader response to
Swapan Dasgupta’s column,
Usual Suspects, published
on February 26:
India’s interest: Americans,
typically known as the
coastal elites who may be
seen as always wanting to be
right and seen as different
from the rest, have been so
rightly been summed up in
Winston Churchill’s comment, “You can always count
on the Americans to do the
right thing after they have
tried everything else.”
US President Donald
Trump’s appreciation of Brexit
was, but expected, given his
own similar xenophobic railing against immigration. The
US is a nation where electioneering takes up good 580 days
(only a wealthy nation as
America can afford) and in
the end, we have placards
waving silliness. Is anyone
impressed by this tokenism?
For us in India, it would
only mean that it is not
necessary to be perturbed, as
hopefully our bright and
energetic youth could be
returning, make it in India!
This possible outcome, albeit
a cathartic one, could be in
India’s interest.
Ashish Rai
Being Indian: Indians need
to be India-centric in their
approach rather than search
for ‘liberal values’. This will
in turn ease the route to
doing business with the
Trump Administration and
also get favorable acceptance
which can go a long way in
building India-US relations.
This can lead to some irreversible decisions which will
come to stay permanently.
Ganesh G
>_dURQ^TYQ^_^YcceUQc
2:@cgUU`c\_SQ\`_\\c
Reader response to
Kanchan Gupta’s column,
Coffee Break, published
on February 26:
National politics: It is pleasant to see that the Congress
has been reduced to a footnote of history. But what is
distressing is that baring the
BJP, there is no other strong
party at the national level.
Regional parties do not have
a broad vision. The Congress
can still survive if it comes
out of its dynasty mindset.
Munukutla Venkateswararao
Splendid win: Maharashtra
Chief Minister Devendra
Fadnavis deserves all credit
for the BJP’s win in the
Mumbai civic bodies poll.
The real test will be the
Uttar Pradesh election.
Zhuanjia
highways, again hefty toll, said to be
the highest in the world, is charged.
Nobody has studied the impact of
multiplicity of taxes on prices and
inflation and growth. Besides, one
also does not understand why, when a
large chunk of the road or kisan vikas
cess remains unutilised, one is made
to pay the toll. In fact, it begins with
capitation fee at nursery school
admissions and continues till highest
medical education.
The GDP increases with every
levy but that does not mean the country is progressing. World over, it has
been observed that GDP growth neither means a comfortable situation
nor progress of a nation and its people. This country also has possibly the
world’s biggest illegal income system.
It is just not by businesses. Many
business houses are forced to do some
of it by those people who the Government employs to check it. Various
trade associations unofficially state
that small and medium business
units’ profit is limited to the unpaid
taxes. In hushed tones, they also say
they have to shell out “doles” to various kinds of enforcers.
India can be more robust if the
travel can be seamless. It is not just
hampered by each toll gate, where
waiting time is 10 to 50 minutes,
causing delays and wastage of fuel.
Every State boundary calls for levying
of an additional road tax and road
barriers giving the impression one is
entering from one enemy territory to
another. In Europe one smoothly
crosses nations.
Apart there are police barriers
almost everywhere adding to further
delays and inconveniences. Of course,
these also “add” to GDP as it is
common knowledge money exchange
hands. There are official beggars who
would not stop without extorting.
This also leads to higher prices and is
virtually a direct tax on the consumer.
Does it add to the progress? The
Modi Government took initiatives to
free the country of corruption. It has
achieved a bit of it through measures
like direct benefit transfer.
But it has not changed the
functioning of State police and
other agencies, including property
registration or tax authorities.
Demonetisation, many would
vouch for, came as a windfall for
many officials. Some were caught
too. Every district border is a
potential point of extortion by the
policemen for all commercial vehicles, including taxis, which are
extorted even in NCR, be it Gurgaon, Jhajjar in Haryana or places
in Uttar Pradesh, or Rajasthan. No
truck can pass a State border without paying the gratification fee, for
which “receipts” are also issued.
Again, for all this, GDP may
increase and so may be income disparity, but as a nation, little could be
done to free it of the blatant illegal
and unethical operations. Can any
digitisation stop the official extorters
in various enforcement agencies? Yes,
the country has the potential to move
faster if these illicit barriers are
removed. Stringent rules will not
solve the problem. It adds to more
illicit ways and higher gratification.
The nation needs to discuss these
issues threadbare and ensure real
progress. It needs to do away with all
barriers to create a new gross progress
indicator and junk the GDP.
(The writer is a senior journalist)
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he parties that oppose the
Congress and level allegations of corruption of crores
of rupees against it might not
accept that the party is actually facing an acute fund shortage.
Some time ago, Motilal Vora wrote to
party MPs and MLAs to deposit donations, but to no avail. What nobody had
fathomed was that the financial crisis
was, in fact, deep-rooted.
It was apparent that the grand old
party was grappling with resource
crunch when it faced defeat in the
Maharashtra and Odisha local body elections. It was said that the party allotted
only C20,000 to its candidates in Odisha.
In Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, people were
willing to contest on Congress tickets
despite the bad state it was in because
they got C25 lakh to fight Assembly
Elections and C60 lakh for Lok Sabha
Elections. The party would shell out
more money if the candidate had a
greater probability of winning.
However, to contest the local body
elections in Odisha, the treasurer of the
party, Motilal Vora, gave C20,000 and the
State committee gave C5,000 to each candidate. That means one Congress candidate fought the election on C25,000 only.
The leaders of the BJP and RSS
camped there continuously. The CMs of
Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand were invited
for campaigning. The Central Minister,
Dharmendra Pradhan, was also roped in.
It is said that leaders of the BJP also used
helicopters for campaigning during the
local body elections.
Apparently, the Congress leaders of
Maharashtra have also complained about
lack of funds. They argued that the fight
was with the BJP and Shiv Sena, which
were the ruling parties right from the
local body to the State and even Centre.
It is being said that the Congress leaders
had lesser money than the NCP candidates, and that is why the latter performed better. Probably, the Congress is
also facing fund crises in UP.
Singh Badal because of his old age.
Not just Kejriwal, Captain
Amarinder Singh’s campaign also hinged
on the promise of putting the Badal family behind bars. He said that if the
Congress comes to power, then the Badal
family will be investigated.
A similar campaign is being run in
the North-East. The Central Minister
Prakash Javadekar has said in Manipur
that if the BJP gains power, it will put
Okram Ibobi Singh in jail. In
Uttarakhand, the BJP has claimed that if
the party wins, there will be an investigation against Harish Rawat. In Karnataka
also, the BJP leaders are levelling corruption charges against CM Siddaramaiah
and have promised an investigation if the
party wins. Earlier, this was not the
scene. Such promises were not made
during election campaigns. This change
is conspicuous after corruption became a
prominent election issue.
T
0CBC0:45>A?0ACH´B B0:4
believe that Prime Minister
Sstakeome
Narendra Modi has put himself at
for the UP elections and he should
not have exhausted himself so much.
This also holds true for the Congress
vice-president Rahul Gandhi. The other
Congress leaders are conspicuous by
their absence in the State. During campaigning, either Rahul’s face is visible or
that of Ghulam Nabi Azad.
The Congress had not played such
politics in Bihar. Rahul had not held joint
rallies either with Lalu Prasad Yadav or
B?2>=6 =>C 8= BH=2
ack of coordination between the
L
Congress and Samajwadi Party for
election campaign is evident now. The
Nitish Kumar. He had addressed rallies at
selected place only. Exactly opposite, he
has now put himself in front. Rahul had
committed a similar blunder in the 2012
elections. At that time, Digvijaya Singh
was his mentor and guide. It must be
noted that Rahul became the target of the
Opposition only after the 2012 UP elections. Before that, he was declared a hero
for the victory of 2009.
However, this time also, people are
saying that it is on the advice of Ghulam
Nabi Azad that Rahul is in this situation.
On the other hand, Priyanka Gandhi is
treading carefully. If the Congress wins,
then she will be given credit for the
alliance with the Samajwadi Party, and if
it loses, then Rahul will be held responsible. Some might also say that the results
would have been better if Priyanka had
campaigned for the party.
Many leaders of the Congress are of
the opinion that Rahul shouldn’t have
campaigned so extensively, and that he
should have stuck to selected rallies like
he did in Punjab, Goa, and
Uttarakhand. It is said that Ghulam
Nabi Azad and Prashant Kishor have
pushed Rahul ahead for their own success. This is for sure that if the Congress
doesn’t win this time, there will be a big
question mark on Rahul’s leadership.
D? ?>;; 45542C>= 1870A
hough Tejashwi Yadav has made it
clear that his ‘Chacha’ Nitish will
T
continue to be the Chief Minister of
Bihar, the reality is different. The RJD is
in a hurry to change the guard. Before
the statement of Tejashwi, Lalu and Rabri
made it clear that they wish to see their
son as the CM as soon as possible.
Sources in the RJD say Lalu is waiting for the results of UP elections. If the
SP and Congress combine wins there,
Lalu will emerge stronger and Nitish’s
problems will increase. Leaders of the
RJD will put pressure for equal power
sharing. The Congress will extend its
support to the RJD out of compulsion,
though. At present, the Congress leaders
are saying that they are with Nitish, but if
the JDU goes with the BJP under compulsion, then the Congress leaders will
have no option than to go with the RJD.
The Congress and RJD jointly have 107
MLAs, and 122 is the number for majority. That means they have to manage only
15 MLAs to grab power.
The JDU leaders are well aware of
this fact, and that is why they have not
taken any step to weaken the BJP in UP.
In private conversations, the JDU leaders
are claiming that the BJP will win in UP.
If that happens, Lalu will face a setback.
But if the SP-Congress win, the equation
in Bihar will also change quickly.
?A><8B4B 60;>A4
bizarre election campaign strategy is
A
being followed this time. Leaders are
doing only two things — either they are
distributing freebies or they are taking a
pledge to send CMs of the Opposition
parties to jail. Arvind Kejriwal had started this trend in the 2013 Delhi elections.
He had said that when he would come to
power, he would put Sheila Dikshit, the
then CM of Delhi, behind bars. After
that, Kejriwal won twice, and for the past
two years, his party has been ruling in
Delhi but he has not taken any step
towards keeping his promise.
The same campaign reached Punjab
from Delhi. There too, Kejriwal vowed
that if his party wins, there would be an
investigation against the Badal family and
Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal, and his
brother-in-law would be sent to jail. He
probably didn’t take the name of Parkash
restlessness of leaders of both parties is
for all to see. A Congress leader says
that in many areas, core voters of the
Samajwadi Party — the Yadavas — are
not voting for the Congress candidates.
In the same manner, leaders of the
Samajwadi Party feel that the alliance
with the Congress is not proving to be
very effective. They feel that the
Congress has not brought any vote bank
with it. There is only one benefit of the
alliance — polarisation of Muslim voters
in favour of the SP and Congress.
Apart from this, leaders of both parties are levelling allegations against each
other that they are facing losses due to
each other. Recently, there was news that
the Congress candidate and former MP,
Kamal Kishore Pandey, didn’t want to
show the SP flag on his car. He is of the
view that people are angry with Yadavas
and he can face loss due to this.
Fewer flags of the Congress are
being seen in the joint rallies of the
alliance. The SP leaders feel that their
party will be at loss due to corruption
charges against the Congress. Since the
Congress was defeated in the local body
elections in Maharashtra, the SP leaders
have become more restless. They feel
that they will have to pay a heavy price
for the alliance. They are now indirectly saying that their party should not
have given 105 seats to the Congress.
The SP leaders feel that the chances of
winning on seats where Congress candidates are fighting are bleak.
GR[aRjVV¶dTR]ZScReVU`fecVRTYe`4YZ_R
ndia and China completed the
latest round of Strategic
Dialogue in its rejigged format
in Beijing earlier last month. The
dialogue took place amidst
China’s recalcitrant attitude
towards the terrorist organisation
Jesah-e-Mohammad and its
opposition to India’s bid for membership of the NSG. It augurs well
that in spite of these differences,
there is continuous engagement
and dialogue between the two
countries at various levels.
Given the complexities of the
two countries and competitive
nature of their polity and economy, it is but natural that there
will be differences. But such differences have never stymied the
relationship between the two
countries. One politician and
statesman of great insight and
foresight who has greatly contributed to navigate the terrain of
these complex relations is Atal
Bihari Vajpayee, the former
Prime Minister of India. He built
the institutions of dialogue very
thoughtfully and mindfully and
yet dealt with India’s northern
neighbour on an equal footing.
While dealing with China he
never compromised the national
interest or dignity of the country.
China is India’s neighbour and
engagement with China is a
strategic necessity, rather than a
foreign policy option. As the
Minster of External Affairs in the
cabinet of Prime Minster Morarji
Desai and later as the Prime
Minster of the country in the
NDA regime, he built institutions
of Confidence Building Measures
(CBMS), which have proved their
efficacy in recent times. His
approach to China has a long
view and it didn’t suffer from the
obfuscation of knee-jerk reaction.
Vajpayee’s outreach to China
started soon after the erstwhile
Janata Government was formed
in 1977, when he became India’s
External Affairs Minister in the
cabinet of Morarji Desai. In a
I
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very unorthodox attitude he visited China from February 12 to
18, 1979, after a long chill in the
relationship between the two
countries. The visit was in
response to an earlier invitation
from the Chinese Foreign
Minister. It was originally fixed
for October/November 1978 but
had to be postponed because of
Vajpayee’s indisposition. During
the visit, he held wide ranging
discussions with important
Chinese dignitaries including
Premier Hua Guofeng, Vice
Premier Deng Xiaoping, who
later became the President and
the undisputed leader of China,
and the Chinese Foreign
Minister Huang Hua.
While explaining the steps
taken by India to create climate
of confidence between nations
South of Himalayas on the basis
of scrupulous non-interference
in internal affairs of other countries, he made it clear that while
India does not object to normal
bilateral relations between
Pakistan and China, the
prospects of improvement of
India-China relations would be
impeded if their relations
adversely affect India’s legitimate
interests. He also pointed out
that the attitude on the Kashmir
question taken by Chinese
Government, which contrasted
with the stand they themselves
had taken in the 50s was an
additional and unnecessary complication in the Sino-Indian relations. In this context, he reiterated India’s concern at the construction of the Karakoram
Highway. As far as the bilateral
relations are concerned, in his
discussions with the Chinese
leaders, he emphasised that the
satisfactory solution of the India-
5^a\Ta?aX\T<X]XbcTa0cP[1XWPaXEPY_PhTTSdaX]VWXb2WX]PeXbXcX] (&(
China boundary question was
vital to the restoration of confidence and full normalisation in
the climate of Sino-Indian relations. The discussions held in
Beijing succeeded in unfreezing
the issue and led to the understanding that there should be
further reflection on the possible
ways of resolving this crucial
question. It was agreed that tranquillity should be maintained
along the border. He also
expressed the hope that the
Chinese Government would consider facilitating pilgrimages to
Kailash and Mansarovar.
The two sides also reviewed
the bilateral functional
exchanges which had taken place
since the return of their respective Ambassadors in 1976 and
explored the possibility of further exchanges in various fields
of mutual benefits. Vajpayee was
in Hangchow after the completion of his talks in Beijing when
he received the news about the
Chinese attack on Vietnam on
February 17. He decided to cut
short his visit and returned to
India immediately.
The Sino-Vietnamese war
resonated in India and found its
echo in Parliament. President of
India in his address to the members of Parliament on February
19, 1979, said, “We are gravely
concerned at the latest development on the Sino-Vietnamese
border which carry the potential
to endanger international peace
and stability. Fighting should
end immediately and, as a first
step, Chinese forces should withdraw from Vietnam.” As the
House was adjourned after the
Presidential Address as per the
Parliamentary custom, there was
no discussion on the issue the
same day. Later, when the House
met on February 21, the issue
was raised while Vajpayee was
reading out the statement on his
visit to China. Alluding to the
war in the region, he said, “the
Chinese leaders expressed their
viewpoint on the deterioration
of their relations with Vietnam. I
clearly expressed my concern at
the prevailing tension and
stressed that each of the countries in the region must be
enabled to maintain their independence and was entitled to
respect for their sovereignty and
territorial integrity. This
required adherence to the principle of non-interference.” He
cautioned that there should be
no further developments which
could lead to dangerous deterioration of the situation. Later the
same day in the afternoon the
House discussed the issue. The
discussion resumed for the second day on February 22, 1979.
Responding to the sentiment
expressed in the House, Vajpayee
said that there was complete
unanimity in the House as well
in the country “in our desire to
express our solidarity with the
brave and valiant people of the
Republic of Vietnam who are
facing a new crisis.”
The short lived Janata
Government, led by Prime
Minister Morarji Desai, however,
didn’t last long. Vajpayee
resumed his outreach to China,
when he became the Prime
Minister leading the NDA government. At the invitation of the
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, he
visited China in June 2003. His
five-day visit to China from June
22 to 27 was indeed a milestone
in the relationship between the
two countries. The Joint
Declaration signed by the two
Prime Ministers stated that “the
common interests of the two
sides outweigh their differences.
The two countries are not threats
to each other. Neither side shall
use or threaten to use force
against the other.” During the
visit in a new format of Special
Representatives(ST) the issue of
boundary settlement was institutionalised. Ever since then the
boundary talks are being conducted through this mechanism.
From the Indian side the
National Security Advisor (NSA)
of India participates with his
Chinese counterpart. This high
powered institutional mechanism
has been very useful. Very soon
this year the 20th SR dialogue
will take place in India.
Defence cooperation and
military engagement between
the two countries also received a
boost during his visit to China.
The Joint Declaration between
the two countries signed on June
23, 2003, inter alia, mentioned
that they agreed on the need to
broaden and deepen defence
exchanges between the two
countries, which will help
enhance and deepen mutual
understanding and trust
between the two armed forces.
Both confirmed that the
exchange of visits by their
Defence Ministers and of military officials at various levels
should be strengthened. The
message that emerges from these
engagements is that the security
of the country is not only dependent on defence preparedness,
but also on mutual trust between
both political and military leadership of the two countries.
History will remember his
yeoman contribution when the
two countries signed the
Memorandum on expanding
border trade. It accorded China’s
unequivocal recognition of
India’s sovereignty over Sikkim.
The Memorandum stipulated
that “the Indian side agrees to
designate Changgu of Sikkim
state as the venue for border
trade market, while the Chinese
side agree to designate
Renqinggang of Tibet
Autonomous Region as the
venue for border trade market.”
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tender portrait by Salvador Dalí
of his sister, Ana Maria —
painted a few years before the
devoted siblings fell out so badly that
an attempted deathbed reconciliation
ended in her being thrown out of his
room — is coming up for sale for the
first time since he presented it to her.
Dalí was 21 when he painted
Figura de Perfil (figure in profile) and
chose to include it in his first solo
exhibition in Spain in 1925. Ana
Maria, three years his junior, kept the
picture for years, despite the permafrost of their later relationship,
before giving it to friends whose family has kept it ever since. Bonhams estimates that it will fetch up to £1.2m
when it is auctioned in London.
India Phillips, the head of impressionist and modern art at Bonhams,
described the picture as “laden with
meaning and utterly enigmatic”. She
said the sale was exceptionally rare, as
almost all his work from the period is
in public collections. She added: “It is
one of the most beautiful works I have
had the pleasure of handling.”
A
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Ana Maria was Dalí’s favourite
model when he was beginning his
career and she was a teenager. He
repeatedly drew and painted her from
behind, often gazing out at the view
from their seaside holiday home in
Cadaqués. She recalled that she did not
mind how long she sat for him, and that
the experience gave her a lifelong love
for the landscape, but the angle he
chose has led some of his biographers to
claim he had incestuous feelings for her.
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mma Thompson has confirmed
that she will not be returning for
the belated sequel to Love
Actually, owing to the death of Alan
Rickman, a close friend who played
her husband in the original film.
Speaking to the Press Association,
Thompson said that writer/director
Richard Curtis had written to her
while planning the 10-minute reunion
film, which will be broadcast in the
UK on March 24 for Red Nose Day.
“Richard wrote to me and said,
‘Darling, we can’t write anything for
you because of Alan’, and I said, ‘No,
of course, it would be sad, too sad.’”
“It’s too soon. It’s absolutely right
because it’s supposed to be for comic
relief but there isn’t much comic relief in
the loss of our dear friend, really, just
over a year ago. We thought and thought
[about it] but it just seemed wrong. It
was absolutely the right decision.”
In the 2003 ensemble movie,
Thompson plays the sister of Hugh
Grant and the wife of Rickman, who is
considering an affair with a colleague.
In what many perceive as the film’s
E
few years ago at the World
Economic Forum’s summit
in India, I was part of the
team that curated a public
conversation between
social activist Mallika Sarabhai and
Prince Jaime de Bourbon Parme of
The Netherlands. The 30-minute conversation began with a haunting dance
performance by Sarabhai, in which she
depicted a scene where a rape victim
was ousted and shamed by members
of her community. Sarabhai went on
to then explain on stage with a befitting rage the plight of being a woman
in India and the misogyny that permeates every part of society.
Towards the end of the conversation, Prince Jaime gently asked, “You
try to shock the men, and wake them
up. But you can also bring them on
board?” “I am sure it is possible, I have
not tried it yet,” Sarabhai replied.
The question posed to Sarabhai
stuck to me, and I get reminded of it
each time there is a campaign for
women’s emancipation that threatens to
strike men out of the solution.
Recently there have been a series
of advertisement campaigns on the
theme of gender equality. Some companies such as Nike — who in their Da
Da Ding campaign last year that featured women athletes in an inspiring
action-packed video — emphasised
girl power. Da Da Ding did not relate
women to men. Instead, in two and a
half minutes, it laid out the grace,
energy, and vigour that women have in
their own right. The Nike campaign
did not condemn or shame men, nor
did it demand anything of them. It is
precisely the latter that made girls
come across as powerful.
On the other hand, the United
Colors of Benetton recently released a
A
print and video advertisement called
‘UnitedByHalf ’. The one page newspaper print advertisement read: “We are
not better halves. Or worse. And we are
definitely not the weaker halves. We
won’t settle for less. All we want is our
half. Our half of the space. Our half of
the cake. Our half of the give. Our half
of the strength. Our half of the food on
the table. Our half of the opportunity
for education. Our half of the decisions. In the decision making. Women
have been denied their half for too
long.” The 45-second advertisement
video begins with a young bride standing next to her husband as a woman’s
voice over in a low pitched threatening
tone says: “We are not the better halves
definitely not the weaker halves.” The
rest of the film shows women across
age groups and in different vocations
demanding to be equal to men.
Only the campaign title is about
uniting, while the words and imagery
of the Benetton campaign is
immensely divisive. It seems as if
women and men are two opposing
parties fighting over resources to be
cut into two equal halves. It reduces
the value of merit to gender, by
emphasising that women do not want
more or less but just equal resources
as men. Why? If an individual that
happens to be a girl merits that specific ‘resource’ to the extent of having
more or all, then can she not have it?
“Some people only ask others to do
something. I believe that, why should I
wait for someone else? Why don’t I take
a step and move forward,” said Malala
Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Prize
winner in history, at Harvard’s Sander
Theatre three years ago. Her words
were more powerful than all the 900
people sitting rapt in attention as she
spoke, and certainly more inspiring
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than the utterly regressive United
Colour of Benetton recent campaign.
Strong women and men do not compare, complain or whine, they go ahead
and do what they have to.
Benetton has a reputation for using
shock tactics about social issues to sell
its products. In the past, its billboard
campaigns have included a newborn
with umbilical cord attached, and also
the Pope kissing an Egyptian imam.
However, hardly a year ago, John
Mollanger, the 45-year-old Frenchman
incharge of the Benetton’s brand and
products, had declared: “There was a
period in the 1980s and 1990s where
advertising’s main mission was to create
awareness with shocking creatives but I
believe it was a moment in time. We
have moved away from pointing a finger at what we thought was wrong and
instead we want to actually improve
what we think is wrong.”
The basis of commercial advertisements is in its name — they are commercial. Any social messaging in it is
less driven by altruism and more by
economics. For instance, an important
chapter of womenomics is that if the
woman is won over to buy a product,
then her family does the same.
Yet the wide outreach of media in
India, its rhetoric nature, and its consumption by all classes of society make advertisements an important influencer on society in the digital age. It is in this context
that awareness to new or taboo issues
might come with shock tactics played out
by the media. While improving or urging
change towards solving problems that we
know about well only comes with a more
matured and inclusive approach.
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standout scene, Thompson breaks
down in her bedroom after realising
that a necklace Rickman has purchased
as a romantic Christmas present isn’t for
her. Asked what she thought her character in the film would be doing now,
Thompson replied: “I would be working
on some kind of ward.” In 2015, the
film’s script editor, Emma Freud, said
although Thompson and Rickman’s
characters would have stayed together,
they wouldn’t have been as happy.
CWT8aXbW\P] S`fXYeSj?VeW]Zi
n its latest statement of film
business intent, streaming giant
Netflix has bought worldwide
rights to Martin Scorsese’s upcoming The Irishman, which had been
set up at Hollywood studio
Paramount Pictures.
No figures have been announced
on the value of the deal but according
to a report in Indiewire, which industry sources later confirmed to Variety,
Netflix has acquired the rights once
held by Paramount in North America
and STX Entertainment in the rest of
the world (for which the latter had
paid $50m in 2016).
The change of backer is thought
to have been a result of the disappointing commercial performance of
Scorsese’s most recent film, the
intense historical drama, Silence. With
a $46m production budget, Silence has
so far taken just over $7m in the US
— in stark contrast to Scorsese’s previous film for Paramount, The Wolf of
Wall Street, which took $392m worldwide. The poor returns for Silence are
thought to have contributed to Brad
Grey’s recent decision to step down as
Paramount CEO.
combat speeding drivers. People in the
village of Hopeman posed as police
officers using speed guns to prevent
speedy drivers, who have placed residents in danger by exceeding speeds
of 60 miles per hour along a
stretch of road leading
out of the area.
“It’s very dangerous, the speed that the
traffic is doing through
Hopeman is quite serious, especially when the
kids are going to school in
the morning — it’s quite
alarming,” Moray councilor
Dennis Slater told the BBC.
“This is why some of the residents have resorted to taking
out hairdryers and putting
on hi-vis vests to try to slow
the traffic down.”
Members of the neighborhood have also taken other
strange measures, such as propping ladders against walls to
allow children to pass between
back gardens rather than cross
the dangerous straightaway.
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onald Trump’s presidency has cast a
D
pall over the nation, so now witches
are casting a spell against him. A document making its rounds among the
witch community is asking people who
practice the craft to perform a monthly
binding ritual until the president is
removed from office.
In order to work, the
mass spell must be performed at
midnight
EST on every
waning crescent
moon. The first one
happened on Friday
and will be followed by similar
spell cast events on
March 26, April 24 and
May 23 and beyond.
Unless, of course, Trump is cast
out of office before then.
Michael M Hughes, who
writes about the paranormal, posted the spell at ExtraNewsFeed last
week. He stressed that a binding
spell is different than a curse or
hex. “It’s a restraint, not harm,” he said.
“I see it as self-defense.”
Hughes said he heard that two separate witch groups were planning the
spells and asked if he could take it to a
wider audience. The spell instructions
have gone viral, and there is a group on
Facebook dedicated to answering all the
questions people may have.
Practitioners are supposed to prepare for by writing “Donald J Trump”
on the orange candle stub with a pin or
nail. They then arrange the other items
in a circle and lean the
Tower card against
something so that it’s
standing up. Hughes
suggests reading the
23rd Psalm aloud before
beginning the spell by lighting a white candle.
7dUUX]Vc^]?^bc
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he city of St Louis, Mo,
T
moved a 122-year-old
house about seven-tenths of a
mile to make room for the
National Geospatial-Intelligence
Agency’s new campus.
The home of Charlesetta Taylor,
81, was loaded onto a truck last Sunday
and slowly driven through the city’s
streets to its new location.
Taylor had been a vocal opponent of
the St Louis Development Corp’s plan to
give the National GeospatialIntelligence Agency a 96-acre site for its
new $1.75 billion campus, leading officials to promise Taylor they would move
her home to a new location of her
choosing outside the area of the eminent domain project. “This is making
good on a promise that we made,”
Mayor Francis Slay said in a statement
provided to the St Louis Post-Dispatch.
The process of moving the home,
which was built in 1895 and purchased
by Taylor’s family in 1945, began at 7
am Sunday and the house arrived at its
destination at 1.30 pm. John Matyiko,
owner of Expert House Movers, which
was contracted for the move, said the
house weighs nearly 370 tonnes.
“To put it in proportion, we moved
the original airport terminal in Newark,
New Jersey, and that was 7,000 tonnes,”
he told St Louis Public Radio.
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to the River
Vrareisitors
Thames were treated to a
sight last Sunday — a
young dolphin swimming
through London. Staff at the Thames Rib
Experience, which offers speed boat rides
from Embankment Pier, said the dolphin
was first spotted around midday.
“The staff were at Embankment Pier
and then one of the ladies, Lottie, spotted
the Dolphin and then every time as it
went a bit quiet, when there weren’t a lot
of boats around, then the dolphin would
pop out of the water,” Charlotte
McGlinchey, said a director at the company. Lottie first spotted the dolphin, said it
hung around the pier area for some time.
“It was swimming around for a couple of
hours. It disappeared underwater when
the boats passed, and only appeared
when the water was quiet,” she said.
D?8
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esidents of a neighbourhood in
Scotland have armed themselves
R
with hairdryers and reflective vests to
D?8
he mother of a 10-year-old Ohio girl
T
who messaged police on Facebook
for help with math homework says the
responding officer’s engaging approach
is what counts, though his math was a
little off. Molly Draper’s daughter,
Lena, recently messaged Marion
police about equations involving
addition of numbers in parenthesis as well as multiplication.
Lt BJ Gruber replied. He walked
the fifth-grader through correctly
solving one problem but slipped up
on another, suggesting addition
and multiplication steps in the
wrong order.
Even so, his effort drew wide
praise when Draper shared the
exchange on Facebook. She tells
WCMH-TV it demonstrates her
daughter’s trust in police officers
and good community relationshipbuilding on their part. Gruber
took the math misstep in stride,
joking that he should’ve mentioned his favourite subject
was history.
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n a volatile market economy
companies are seeking stability
and security by focusing their
strategies towards core values
and core purposes rather than
immediate profitability. After all
money is not everything and often
businesses fail to pinpoint the
causative factors leading to their success or failure. Certainty and reliability have become difficult to find in a
market environment which has to
constantly adapt to digitisation,
changing consumer expectations and
disruptive businesses. Therefore, a
more traditional approach to business is evolving wherein trust and
CSR play a bigger role.
This was highlighted by Collins
and Porras way back in 1994: The
proper first response to a changing
world is not to ask, “How should we
change?” but rather to ask, “What
do we stand for and why do we
exist?” This should never change.
And then feel free to change everything else. Put another way, visionary companies distinguish their
timeless core values and enduring
purpose (which should never
change) from their operating practices and business strategies.
This is further confirmed by
Simon Sinek’s famous “Golden
Circle” where he equates a company’s success to its strategy based
more on why than over how and
what (Sinek, 2009).Why questions
define a company’s core values and
purposes and thus gives a company
conviction and character that stays
constant throughout market fluctuations. As Gopalkrishnan, director
of Tata Sons put it, “We do business
the way we do, not because we have
clear evidence it has a better chance
of success. We do it because we
know no other way”(Graham,
2010). This conservative business
mentality works when we really
believe in our core values, because
shareholders and employees will
always lean towards stability and
integrity. In this a company gains
I
hy do I say this? Because
we live with too many
fears. This compromises
the quality of our lives to a great
extent. The next logical question
will be: why don’t we get rid of
them? We want to but the habit of
getting anxious is very difficult to
cure. Because it is deeply ingrained
in our psyche. We try to get rid of
one worry/fear, the mind picks up
another from a group of many
fears, some of them linked together
like what if I die, what will happen
to my family members, how much
pain I will have to endure, etc. And
some fears are independent of one
another like what if our children
don’t do well in studies, etc.
The most common fears are as
follows. I have already mentioned
death, which is the most debilitating. We know that death is
inevitable but we don’t want to
die, and the thought of death
keeps on crossing our minds
when we are seriously sick or
someone of our age known to us
passes away. Going for someone’s
cremation really shakes us about
our own death looming somewhere in the future.
Diseases are similarly scary. It
is Dengue season and we get wor-
W
real trust and public support.
Collins and Porras portray “core
ideology” as a combination of core
values and core purposes. Core values
are the organisation’s essential and
enduring tenets — a small set of general guiding principles, not to be confused with specific cultural or operating practices and never compromised
for financial gain or short-term expediency. Core values need no rational
or external justification, but are naturally present in the company’s management. Core purposes on the other
hand are the organisation’s fundamental reasons for existence beyond
just making money — a perpetual
guiding star on the horizon, not to be
confused with specific goals or business strategies.
How then can we find core principles that will stand the test of time
and that are truly in tune with our
higher principles in life? This is
where many business men remain
ambivalent, wanting to go with
“what works” over what they naturally consider as their inner values.
The marketplace does not respect
weak-hearted entrepreneurs. Sooner
or later businesses built on a weak
foundation are sure to collapse. After
all we all know how sensitive the
stock market is. People can lose their
confidence even upon the slightest
indicator of irregularity. Take for
example 2016’s Brexit poll of the
British Parliament not entering the
EU. Therefore, it is only by true positive intentions that companies pass
the test of time. Their genuine desire
for the welfare of society is felt by
everyone. In short, their principles
are based on dharma(spiritual duty)
and not on mental fluctuations.
The principles that we try to balance always remain common and
sacred. Let us look at how youth
affects us. Many people, when they
are young, listen to a certain type of
music and their tastes never change
as they grow old. Their whole lives
they and their friends and their
whole generation listen to the same
pirituality is catching up with the imagination of
the present century. Has the wheel turned a full
circle? Ancient India was known for spirituality.
But with the advent of medieval and then modern,
things started changing. The western education model
that was popularised by Macaulay was an attempt to
drive home the point that Indian spirituality was
orthodox, unscientific and backward. It succeeded to
quite an extent as science and technology became the
language of the nineteenth and the twentieth century
pushing spirituality to the back seat. But the twentyfirst century appears to be different in the sense that
spirituality is once again being talked about loudly.
Open up any mainstream daily of English or Hindi and
you will find a space dedicated to spirituality. And why
just the main stream dailies. The business dailies
realise that it pays to be spiritual. The electronic media
is no different. Channels dedicated to spirituality are to
be found commonly. Even the business management
schools are finding the subject of spirituality too
attractive to organise national and international seminars, conferences and workshops on. Noted economist
John Keynes had once said that a man shall do all the
rational things, but only after exploring all other possibilities. Is spirituality, then, that rational thing? Well, it
might be. As emptiness and loneliness of people continue to persist despite full coffers, spirituality seems to
be the refuge of large sections of humanity.
Corporations, too, are talking about spirituality, with
spirituality at workplace being a widely discussed subject these days. Taking all these into account there was
an international conference organised by a reasonably
well known management institute of Varanasi, the
School of Management Sciences. The subject they had
chosen was ‘Spirituality and Skill for Leadership and
Sustainable Management’. While it may not be possible
to summarise the deliberations of the conference within the scope of this column, the crux of the subject
spirituality was certainly brought out by the eminent
speakers that included management consultant,
swamis, academics and bishops. This is important as
the subject of spirituality is still surrounded by haze
despite so much of talking. Spirituality is action. It
depends on physical fitness, mental strength and spiritual elevation. Often as we indulge in the psychic
extravaganza wasting a lot of valuable mental energy,
we seem to lose track. Used properly spirituality is the
skill for leadership and sustainable management that is
so crucial in the present times. How to acquire this
skill then becomes the logical question? It needs to be
thought over and there is a hierarchy. From the body,
that is the basic level we need to raise our thoughts to
the mind that is the next level. It is from this level that
we need to rise to the third level which is spirituality
and it deals with the soul. Perhaps, why we go wrong is
because the moment we hear the word ‘spirituality’, saffron and sanyasi are the two images that come to the
mind. But spirituality is not just those. It is much more
and sometimes much else. The essence has to be found
in the concept of Nishkama Karma of the Gita or as
the Western philosopher Kant has put it — moral rigorism, that is duty for the duty’s sake. So, spirituality
has to be practised by doing the job one is supposed to
do dispassionately. The topic of the conference could
well have been spirituality as the skill for leadership
and sustainable management.
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music — the same bands and the
same songs. Kids think that what
their parents listen to is completely
out-dated and uncool. When the
Rolling Stones give a revival tour,
90% of the people are in their sixties,
but young people cannot tolerate the
music their parents were into.
Youth is a very deeply impressive
part of our lives. It deeply influences
us and is different with each generation. Each generation has different
priorities. When the Great
Depression struck America, the
country was suffering from total
poverty. The unemployment rate was
high and many had to leave school as
teenagers, working just so that their
families could eat. There was great
struggle and they were brought up in
that environment. But those who
grew up in the prosperity of the
1950s, after World War II, had a very
different mentality. They would condemn their parents, “Why are you so
concerned about money all the time?
Who cares about money?”There was
no need to care about money. Being
brought up in a different world, they
developed different impressions.
Today it is very crucial that we
balance our deeper principles. This
balance is universal and affects our
morality and values of compassion,
love, family, and of what is the purpose of life. They should be harmonised; not one against the other. A
‘sadhu’ is someone who walks away
from the world for attaining a spiritual life, but the deeper reason for a
sadhu not having a family is that he
can give his or her entire energy to
the entire human family. Everyone
can be a dynamic leader at some
level, in their personal life or in society, by balancing morality with the
necessities to go ahead in business.
Business life is not always a peaceful
affair. A spiritual businessman needs
to know how to apply himself in a
political and dishonest society while
keeping his spiritual ideals and not
getting disheartened.
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ried about the menace of mosquitoes. The extent of fearing and the
reason vary from person to person but no one is exempt from the
fault of fearing. Not that fearing is
all bad but when it takes away our
peace of mind, then, it hurts, and
something needs to be done. I
must point out here that being
cautious — an acceptable version
of fearing is necessary to save us
from many problems.
Then, comes fear about family
and friends, their well-being and
likely separation. Being able to
maintain self is another worry for
most. Likely material losses are
not far behind. Loss of livelihood
is a related fear. Then, there is the
fear of failure, defeat, etc. Getting
humiliated, this possibility is a
major worry. Demotion is another
serious concern. Similar is the loss
of face. And, lastly, violation of
law if one is in the habit of doing
that and consequent loss of freedom really scares us.
What, then, is the solution?
There is just not one solution; we
need to do a lot to get some relief,
and not only do so but keep at it as
long as we live. To begin with, we
should jot down all the different
fears, which affect us. Don’t leave
any fear howsoever insignificant
you feel that is because they all
add up to make us miserable.
There is no shame if the list is
long, this being the starting point.
If one is not honest with oneself,
he or she is not going to succeed
in solving this highly painful problem. And the list should be continuously updated leaving out what
does not scare us anymore and
adding what makes us anxious.
Having done this exercise, we
are ready to tackle this very serious problem. One should begin by
addressing one fear at a time
because getting out of any fear,
especially deeply ingrained ones
like death is very difficult. One
needs a lot of guidance, lots of
discussions with knowledgeable
and spiritually wise people till we
are satisfied. One needs spiritual
intelligence, which means we
must acquaint ourselves with
God’s instructions by reading
scriptures like the Bhagavad Gita.
Then, we come to developing a
strong connection with God. This
is crucial because, ultimately, it is
God, who can remove our fears. As
we experience positive results, our
faith will increase and we will be
on our way to a peaceful existence
— different from being afflicted by
fears and worries. We need enormous patience in this journey. A
big dose of tolerance is necessary
too. Acceptance of reality is another quality we must develop. We
must always be focused on what
we can do rather than worry about
the likely results. Mind control is a
critical requirement, as is the realisation that we are souls. And, lastly, we must accept the theory of
‘karmaphala’ wholeheartedly, ie we
reap what we sow.
This process is a long haul as
pointed out earlier. Even with this
we will not be able to get rid of all
the fears, which is not desirable
also because a totally fearless person is likely to become reckless and
harm himself. Keep on reminding
the self of all the solutions suggested in order not to forget them.
This is a lifelong exercise.
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170A0C17DB70=?03<034>
e all have to think. For,
every action on our part is
necessarily preceded by a
thought. What we seem to forget
though is that how should we think?
The process of right thinking is highly important for our mind to give us
a pleasurable time.
One may have immense potential
but the more important part is to translate it into effect. We bank on our inlaid
potential but seldom remain conscious
of our inherent limitations of mind
playing spoil sport with our worthiness.
The irony of the current situation
in the world is that intelligent people
with immense potential seem to fail
more than the others. The reason
behind it is plain and simple. It is
their complex thought process which
allows them to think far ahead of others, but more often than not, fails to
bring that thought into action. These
people often do not allow orderly
functioning of the thinking apparatus
as if it has stopped working.
As far as the vast processes of
mind are considered, free thinking
gives space for more probable victories. A free thinking mind makes unbiased judgements to weigh inner desires
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and outer data, giving us leads to the
best suited decisions.
The paradox, however, is that since
communication explosion mind seems
to have acquired a speed that is not in
sync with the original chemistry of the
mind. Mind in its usual run needs time
and space for reflection which it does
not seem to get. This trend plays heavy
particularly in intelligent people.
Overawed by their worthiness, ego
takes over the mind’s drive, often identifying itself with the mind’s desires. It
then prompts one to jump into action
without allowing time and space for
due diligence by the discriminatory
faculty. Also, it takes events in the
outer world on their face value, and
accordingly prompts one to respond
impulsively. The discriminatory faculty
once again gets ignored. They expect
the fruit of their action too soon without taking into account the hurdles
that come in the way.
Apart from these general trends,
each individual carries some limitations with them as a reflection of
Karmic carryover from the past. The
high ego which is often associated as a
presence in intelligent people, seldom
cares to work upon them, and is not
open to counsel others’ limitations
either. So they get caught up in the
bind which stands in the way of
potential of a person. The person thus
fails to come out in his best form. On
the contrary, those with average level
of intelligence acknowledge their
weaknesses and seek due guidance.
They may have to take greater pains
and take their own time, but fare better at managing their way.
Let us look at a case study. An
intelligent boy went through extremes
all through his career. He had a quick
success with great gains at a point of
time, but he lost his fortunes later. Let
us have a look at his astrological
pointers which will reveal his basic
fabric of making.
Born in Gemini lagna, he has a
very active mind breeding thoughts
unabated. The lagna lord Mercury,
occupying self-owned lunar constellation is in all strength in a movable
sign. This read together with the Sun
conjunct Mars which arms him with
tremendous energy which make him
keen to move fast in life.
Mercury is beautifully aligned to
Karmic Saturn, intellectually ordained
Uranus and mind signifier Moon. All
these are the signs of a brilliant guy,
armed with extraordinary intelligence and capable of understanding
things in a quick flash. Second, he is
ambitious and innovative. He will be
thorough in his work with his eyes
on every bare detail. He has an excellent communicative skill. The Sun
trine to benevolent Jupiter makes
him a well-meaning person having a
positive bent of mind.
Towards the negative side, the
Moon conjunct Neptune is placed
adverse to Mars, pointing to self-delusional mind nursing fanciful dreams,
often distant from ground realities. He
is vulnerable to being victim of fraud
and cheating, following which he may
develop inferiority complex. Mars
placed adverse to Uranus makes him
temperamental and erratic. Venus illdisposed off tempts him to speculation,
which if carried on in haste makes him
vulnerable to heavy loss.
This study shows how his
infirmities brought his potential
under cloud.
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