DELHI, FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 2015

Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08 RNI No. TNENG/2012/49940 ISSN 0971 - 751X Vol. 5 No. 2 CITY EDITION 20 Pages Rs. 8.00 www.thehindu.in

CONGRESS
FIRST LIST OUT
PAGE 5

RAJNATH VOWS
FITTING REPLY

LAKHVI BACK
IN CUSTODY

STOKE HOLDS
MAN UNITED

PAGE 11

PAGE 12

PAGE 16

Printed at Chennai, Coimbatore, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Madurai, Noida, Visakhapatnam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Vijayawada, Mangaluru, Tiruchirapalli, Kolkata, Hubballi, Mohali, Allahabad and Malappuram

INSIDE
STAMPEDE

36 killed in Shanghai

BEIJING: A stampede, caused

by the rush to grab coupons
resembling 100-dollar bills by
revellers thronging a popular
venue in Shanghai, killed 36 on
Wednesday. Witnesses said the
coupons were being emptied
from the third floor of a
building in the Bund area.

INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 12

LAND ORDINANCE

Ministers meet Pranab

NEW DELHI: Three senior Union
Ministers had met President
Pranab Mukherjee to explain
the urgency in promulgating
the ordinance on land
acquisition before he cleared it.

NEWS | PAGE 10
EDITORIAL | PAGE 8

FRIDAY REVIEW
- 4 Pages

SUCCESSOR TO PLANNING COMMISSION

NITI Aayog is new policy body

PM Modi to head panel that will give strategic advice
Puja Mehra
Its aniti,
NEW DELHI: On New Years Day,
the Modi government set up
durniti, says
NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India)
Opposition
in place of the Planning Commission. The Prime Minister
will head the new institution
tasked with the role of formulating policies and direction
for the government. Its governing council will comprise
the Chief Ministers and the
Lieutenant Governors of
Union Territories.
The Prime Minister will appoint the Aayogs Vice-Chairperson and Chief Executive
Officer. Asian Development
Banks former Chief Economist Arvind Panagariya is
tipped to be the rst
Vice-Chairperson.
The government plans to
adopt a Bharatiya approach
to development, says the resolution of the Union Cabinet
for setting up the Aayog. India
needs an administration paradigm in which the government is an enabler rather than
a provider of rst and last resort, it says.
The Aayog will recommend
a national agenda, including
strategic and technical advice
on elements of policy and economic matters. It will also develop
mechanisms
for
village-level plans and aggregate these progressively at
higher levels of government.

Asian Development
Banks former Chief
Economist Arvind
Panagariya is tipped
to be the first
Vice-Chairperson
The institutions of governance and policy have to adapt
to new challenges and must
be built on the founding principles of the Constitution, the
resolution says. On the planning process, it says that there
is a need to separate the process from the strategy of
governance.

Transforming India, it further says, will involve changes

of two types consequences
of market forces and those
that would be planned. The
maturing of our institutions
and polity also entails a diminished role for centralised
planning, which itself needs
to be redened.
A state-of-the-art resource
centre for good governance
practices is also proposed.
The Planning Commission
was set up in March 1950
through a Cabinet Resolution,
which the Modi government
scrapped in August 2014.
BHARATIYA MODEL
UNVEILED | PAGE 10

NEW DELHI: The Opposition on

Thursday criticised as mere
fluff and gimmickry the
governments decision to
restructure the Planning
Commission and rename it NITI
Aayog, and voiced
apprehension that it would
discriminate against the States
and help corporates call the
shots in policymaking.
CPI(M) Polit Bureau member
Sitaram Yechury termed the
renaming of the Planning
Commission as aniti and
durniti [no policy and bad
policy]. If the government
wants to greet people with fluff
and not substance on the first
day of 2015, then there is
nothing more that can be said,
he said. It being the
stakeholder in the process, I am
afraid, is going to discriminate
against the States, Congress
leader Manish Tewari said.
Veteran CPI leader Gurudas
Dasgupta said dismantling of
the Planning Commission would
lead to an unregulated
economy. It is not a change of
name. The Planning Commission
is being abolished because they
[government] dont believe in
planning, he said. PTI

INTERNATIONAL NGOS Four more under scanner

Govt. targets climate groups

MHA says it will not compromise on national interest
Suhasini Haidar
& Meena Menon
NEW DELHI: After taking action against the international environment group
Greenpeace, the government has clamped down on
four American NGOs working in the same eld
Avaaz, Bank Information
Centre (BIC), Sierra Club
and 350.org.
Over the past month, the
Ministry of Home Affairs
(MHA) has directed the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to
stop all foreign funding into
the accounts of these NGOs
or their representatives
without MHA clearance. A
letter issued by the Director of the Monitoring unit
for NGOs said it had been
decided to keep a watch on
all the activities funded by
U.S.-based donor agencies
and lists the four groups.
The order could create a
controversy ahead of U.S.
President Barack Obamas
visit to India this month,
given that the U.S. has in
the past issued statements
regarding Indias restrictions on international
NGOs.
In 2013, after India took
similar action against antinuclear groups in Kudankulam, the U.S. State Department had denied it was
linked to the NGOs, but

said such groups are

among the essential building blocks of any healthy
democracy. Later, the
funding for Greenpeace
was also frozen.
As a result of the latest
MHA order, every fund
transfer from abroad for
their activists in India will
be held back pending clearance.
EXCLUSIVE

According to RBI records, the international

NGOs were not registered
with the government. Neither had their employees in
India applied for FCRA
clearance. The MHA is also
going to inquire into all remittances into India from
these groups since January
2013.

Cheaper aviation fuel

will not help fliers

Car, utility vehicles prices in the fast lane RSS plans big rural push

Lalatendu Mishra

CHENNAI/NEW DELHI: Prices of

MUMBAI: With Brent crude

prices touching the $57 per

barrel level, Indian oil marketing companies on Thursday reduced jet fuel (ATF)
prices by 12.5 per cent but
this is not going to translate
into lower airfares.
Aviation Turbine Fuel
prices have reduced by 26
per cent from the June 2014
level, while crude prices
have crashed over 50 per
cent.
Airlines in India, suffering
from high losses by running
below cost of operations, are
unwilling to pass on the benets to air passengers. Had
we run a super-protable
business, we could have reduced fares. Currently, all

Airlines suffering
from high losses are
unwilling to pass on
benefits to passengers
fares are below cost. Revenue
per km in a sector like Delhi
and Mumbai is maximum Rs.
7, which is far cheaper than
auto and taxi fares. Fares in
India are market-driven not
cost-driven, so we are incurring heavy losses. With jet
fuel prices moderating, we
will recover some losses.
There is no scope for slashing
airfares, said the nance
head of an airline.

G. Balachandar &
Yuthika Bhargava
passenger cars and utility vehicles are set to go up in the
New Year following the Union
governments decision to stop
concessional excise duty rates
with effect from December 31.

Car manufacturers such as

Hyundai and Honda have already increased prices, and
Toyota and Maruti may follow
suit.
The UPA government, in
the Interim Budget presented
last February, announced
lower excise duties for automobiles until June 30, 2014,

as support to the industry

which was in the grip of a
slowdown. The new government extended it to until December 31.
(With inputs from Ramnath Subbu in Mumbai)

PRICES OF POPULAR MODELS

ALREADY UP | PAGE 10

Jatin Gandhi

remained an urban and suburban phenomenon, though

NEW DELHI: The Rashtriya its affiliates such as Sewa
Swayamsevak Sangh will Bharti had been working exgive thrust to expanding its tensively in the villages.
base in rural India this year.
Of the 6.5 villages in the
The rural expansion country, our vichaar [ideas]
drive, which was decided at a reach approximately two
three-day meeting in Agra in lakh villages in some form or
the rst week of November, the other, an RSS official
is aimed at recruiting cadres said.
for the Sangh and its affilWhile RSS literature and
iates at the village level.
sewa (social work) reach
After helping the BJP the villages, the penetration
come to power, the RSS feels of shakhas the primary
this is the right time for it to daily unit of RSS activity
consolidate and build a base remains low.
in the villages where it is
RSS official sources in
lacking, informed sources Nagpur, however, undersaid. A cross-section of RSS played the rural thrust.
officials that
The Hindu spoke with adNOT TO REVEAL TARGET FOR CADRE
mitted that the Sangh had EXPANSION | PAGE 10

Last year also saw the

leak of an IB report titled
Concerted efforts by select
foreign-funded NGOs to
take down Indian development projects. It contended
that
several
foreign-funded environmental NGOs were targeting development projects
across the country. Apart
from Greenpeace, Sierra
Club and 350.org were
mentioned in Annexure B
of the IB report in a graph.
Home Ministry and Foreign Ministry officials did
not comment on the order
and declined to speak about
why U.S.-based NGOs had
been singled out for
scrutiny.

REASON TO WORRY |
PAGE 10

Akal Takht
rejects Amritsar
re-conversions
Sarabjit Pandher
CHANDIGARH: The Akal Takht,
the highest temporal authority of the Sikhs, has rejected the re-conversion
on December 30 of 128 persons to the faith, saying the
proper procedure was not
followed.
The Ghar vapsi would not
be acceptable unless the
Sikh tenets were followed,
the Takht has said, warning
against any such attempts in
the future.

HINDU OUTFITS NOT

AUTHORISED | PAGE 10

NON-SUBSIDISED GAS
CHEAPER | PAGE 10

Four bodies found

burnt inside a car
Ashok Kumar
GURGAON: The charred bodies

of four young men were

found inside a badly burnt
car in neighbouring Bahadurgarh on Thursday. All
four deceased belonged to
different areas of SouthWest Delhi.
The victims have been
identied as Manish, Manjit,
Sudhir and Deepak. While
Deepak, aged about 18 years,
belonged to Samaspur village, the remaining three,
aged between 30-35 years,
were residents of Mitraon
village.
The gruesome incident
came to light when one of
the villagers in Ishar Heri
village of Jhajjar district
spotted the burnt car and
called the police.
While two bodies were
on the rear seat, the remaining two were stuffed inside
the boot. It is suspected that
the four were murdered and
the bodies were burnt to
avoid detection, said Superintendent of Police
(Jhajjar) Rajesh Duggal.
The police identied the
four with the help of the vehicle chassis number. The
police suspect it to be a case
CM
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The police suspect

that the four men
were murdered and
their bodies burnt to
avoid detection
of gang rivalry.
One of the deceased,
Manish, had a rivalry with a
young man in his village.
Also, Manishs brother is in
jail in connection with a
murder case. These murders could be the result of a
gang war, said Deputy Superintendent of Police (Bahadurgarh) Kaptan Singh.
He added that the postmortem report was awaited
to know the cause of death.
It is premature to say
whether the four were shot
and then set are. We are
waiting for the post-mortem report to know the
cause of death, said Mr.
Singh.
He said that victims families refused to get the case
registered in Bahadurgarh.
They demanded that the
case should be registered in
Delhi. No case has been registered at Bahadurgarh so
far, said Mr. Singh.
ND-ND

NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU

CM
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FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 2015

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CITY

NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU

FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 2015

DELHI TODAY
RISE
Jan

02
FRI

07 14

SET 17 37
RISE 15 28
SET 04 21

Jan

RISE 07 14

Jan

RISE 07 14

03

SET 17 38
RISE 16 17
SET 05 16

04

SET 17 39
RISE 17 09
SET 06 08

SAT

Raid at farmhouse
Staff Reporter
NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police on

The hosts were serving

liquor without obtaining
licence

Thursday raided a South Delhi farmhouse where alcohol

was allegedly being served to
a large gathering without
permission.
According to the police, the
property is owned by a famous fashion designer. They,
however, added that the owner was not present during the
party.
The manager of the property in Fatehpur Beri, who has
been named as the organiser,
has been booked for violation
of Delhi Excise Act.
It is alleged that alcohol
was served without obtaining
licence. Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat added
that excise for premium
brand liquor being served to
the guests had not been paid.
We received information
that around 70 people were
present in the party and con-

suming alcohol without the

hosts obtaining liquor licence, said Mr. Bhagat.
When a police team reached the spot, it found several
cars parked outside the farmhouse. Upon entering, the policemen found the party
taking place in the open
ground in the farmhouse.
The FIR registered in connection with the incident
states that there was a bar
counter in the party. When
the police team asked the attendant there to produce the
licence for the same, he failed
to do so.
As many as 21 bottles of
alcohol were seized from the
venue some of which were
meant to be sold in Haryana,
said the police.

Woman
molested

Official shot dead

near Shahadra

Staff Reporter
ried woman was molested allegedly by a Railway Police
Force (RPF) personnel in
North Delhis Chandni Chowk
area on Tuesday.
According to police, the
woman had come to visit Gurdwara Sis Ganj along with her
husband and in-laws when the
incident took place. The woman approached the police patrol
in the area and complained
about the suspect after which
he was arrested.
Police said he was found to
be in an inebriated condition.
The woman was headed towards the market after visiting
the Gurdwara, when a 45-yearold RPF personnel later identified as Kuldeep began misbehaving with her, said a police
officer. Kuldeep was heavily
drunk. He was not on duty at
the time of the alleged offence,
said the officer.

Staff Reporter
tary inspector for the East Delhi Municipal Corporation was
shot dead close to his house
near Shahadra on Thursday.
The identity or the number of
suspects have not been established yet. The spot where 45year-old Ashok Kumar, posted
in Shahadra North Zone, was
shot dead is nearly 100 metres
away from the office of the
North East districts Deputy
Commissioner of Police.
The incident took place
when Ashok was on his way to
office on his motor cycle.
It was a rickshaw puller who
took him to the GTB Hospital
where doctors declared him
brought dead.
Investigations revealed that
in the past he was posted in
Nand Nagri ward where another MCD official was murdered last April. Police are now
probing if the two murders
have any link.

IN THE CAPITAL TODAY

RELIGION

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam:

Thirupavai Upanyasam by Dr K.
Ananthachariar at Lakshmi
Nrisimha Mandir, Karol Bagh, New
Delhi, from 6:30 P.M. to 7.30 P.M.

GENERAL

Alcoholics Anonymous:
Meetings -- Awareness Group:CD
Block Delhi Government
dispensary, Pitampura; Suprabhat
Group: Sangam Park, Delhi Govt.
dispensary; Programme
ofRecovery Group: Dwarka Health
Centre, Sector-12; Naya Din
Group: Goyala Dairy, C-286,
Satya Public School Galli;
Prashanti Group: Lord Mahavir
School Sector-29, adjacent to

Despite awareness campaign,

drunken driving cases go up
Jatin Anand

NEW DELHI: An assistant saniNEW DELHI: A 28-year-old mar-

SUN

Bhramaputra Shopping Complex ;

Chetna Group: Delhi Govt.
dispensary B1, Block Yammuna
Vihar, near Mother Dairy;
Navchetna Group: Ravi Raj
Dharamshala, behind Ramlilla
Ground, Shahdara; A.A. Ujala
Group: Masihgarh Church,
Sukhdev Vihar, near Escorts
Heart Institute; A.A. Ashadeep
Group: C-1,Safdarjang
Development Area, Sahoday
School, Jagriti Group: St
Columbas School, Bhai Vir Singh
Marg, near Gole Dak Khana; A.A.
Steps To Sobriety Group: Arya
Samaj Mandir, near South Delhi
Club, Greater Kailash I;
Muktidaan Group:and St Marks
Church, Punjabi Bagh West,7 p.m.

NEW DELHI: Despite all the efforts taken by enforcement

agencies by way of awareness
campaigns and warnings during the run up to New Year
celebrations, the number of
people booked for drunk driving this New Year eve was
substantially high when compared to previous year.
Increased deployment and
on-the-spot action against errant drivers, the traffic police
said, propelled the number of
fines by over 36 percent and
the number of vehicles impounded for violations up by
close to a staggering 300 per
cent in absolute terms.
The traffic police also credited the said drive for bringing down the number of fatal
deaths to have occurred on
Delhi streets on December 31
from three last year to 'just'
one this year and what a senior official described as 'virtually no stunt biking being
noticed' as the Delhi Police
had apprehended.
More four-wheeler and
two-wheeler drivers were
prosecuted during the said
drive this New Year's Eve as
compared to last year with
the former accounting for 30
per cent and the latter for
over 40 per cent of the total
prosecutions.
The maximum number of
prosecutions took place in
the southern part of the Capital with around 300 fines issued to violators followed by
east Delhi where 200 violators were fined. In central
Delhi, where most deployment was in place, around 97
fines were issued, a source
from the traffic unit said.
The traffic police said it
had deployed 86 teams,

armed with breath-analyzers,

to check drunken driving.
Special pickets were also setup to check stunts on motorcycles, over speed, reckless,
zig-zag and dangerous driving
in coordination with the local
police and the PCR at Mehrauli, Saket, Vasant Vihar,
South-Extension,
Rajouri
Garden, Pitampura, Laxmi
Nagar and Mayur Vihar.
During the enforcement
drive, the traffic unit claimed,
a total number of 986 motorists were prosecuted for committing various violations

which included 54 for dangerous driving and 608 motorists for drunken driving. A
total of 305 car drivers, 402
two wheeler riders and 21 auto rickshaws were prosecuted
out of which 356 vehicles
were impounded on the spot.
The traffic police said, on
this New Years eve, a total
number of 608 motorists
were prosecuted for drunken
driving. While 532 motorists
were prosecuted for the same
offence in 2013, 489 in 2012,
418 in 2011 , 346 were booked
in 2010.

3 roughed up

Himmat App launched

Staff Reporter

Kritika Sharma Sebastian

NEW DELHI: Three men were

allegedly roughed up by a
group who accused them of
assaulting a Rashtriya
Swayamsewak Sangh
functionary in Okhla on
Thursday night.
No case has been
registered so far.
The three men and the
functionary had an
argument after a bag held
by one of them brushed him
while he was coming out of
a park, said the police. The
argument snowballed into a
scuffle and the three men
started assaulting Tikander
Aadhikari who fought back,
said a source.
Onlookers known to Mr.
Aadhikari, a resident of the
area, started assaulting the
men. A police team rushed
to the spot and rescued the
men.
Since allegations have
been made from both sides
we have sent all four for
medical examination. Once
the extent of injuries are
known, we will proceed
further, said a police
source.

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police

have launched a mobile application Himmat, meant

for womens safety.
The application will allow
women to send a distress call
to the Police Control Room
and their relatives in case of
any emergency.
The
application
was
launched by Union Home
Minister Rajnath Singh on
Thursday. Mr. Singh also distributed pepper spray to
women and awarded girls
who had successfully completed the Delhi Police selfdefence programme.
The app can be downloaded free of cost from the Delhi
Police
website
www.delhipolice.nic.in
or
from Google Play stores on
Android phones.
Currently the app is available only for Android phones
but the Delhi Police is working on extending the facility
to other operating systems as
well.
Explaining the app, Delhi
Police Commissioner B S
Bassi said: In case of an
emergency, the user can send
an alert by shaking her phone
or by pressing the power but-

ton/soft button. As soon as

the distress button is
pressed, it will trigger a 30second audio and video recording on the phone which
will be relayed to the Police
Control Room and the victim
will get a call back from the
PCR.
An SMS alert will also be
sent to minimum of five
friends and relatives of the
user and a status will be posted on her Facebook and Twitter timeline which will be
connected to the app.

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Published by N. Ram at Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860, Anna Salai, Chennai-600002 and Printed by S. Ramanujam at HT Media Ltd. Plot No. 8, Udyog Vihar, Greater Noida Distt. Gautam Budh Nagar, U.P. 201306, on behalf of KASTURI & SONS LTD., Chennai-600002. Editor-in-Chief: N. Ravi (Editor responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act), Editor: Malini Parthasarathy

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CITY/NCR

Pleasant weather
New Delhi: It was a good
beginning to the New Year for
Delhiites with the maximum
temperature settling at 21.6
degrees Celsius, a notch above
the seasons average. The
minimum was 8.8 degrees.
Despite fog in the morning, the
sun came out later in the day. PTI

NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU

New Year jam: Metro work

gridlocks traffic across city
Staff Reporter

Conversion
of leasehold
to freehold
approved

FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 2015

Three killed in E-way mishap

Students in their 20s die as car hits divider
Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the AsNEW DELHI: Massive vehicular

congestion gripped the Capital on Thursday with commuters complaining of jams

in Central, South and West
Delhi.
While heavy traffic was reported at the Ashram Chowk
on Mathura Road and from
Naraina to Rajouri Garden
due to construction work being undertaken there by the
Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, severe congestion was
also reported from the C-Hexagon near India Gate which
had a spill-over effect across
Central Delhi.
The entire C-Hexagon was
choc-a-bloc with vehicles dur- A view of the massive traffic jam at Connaught
ing the evening rush hour and Place on Thursday. PHOTO: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
there were no traffic police
personnel to be seen, said severe congestion on adjacent Works Department caused
Rakesh Das, a private routes such as Parliament the carriageway from Sewa
executive.
Street, Ferozeshah Road, Nagar crossing to INA to be
Because of congestion Mandi House, Lodhi Road, closed, hence affecting traffic
there, traffic was evidently Raisina Road, Mother Teresa movement on the Aurobindo
being affected on Ashoka Crescent and Shanti Path.
Marg.
Road and other stretches that
Meanwhile, construction
The jam occurred despite
lead to the location, Das work related to the second the traffic police issuing adadded.
phase of the elevated Barapul- visories to commuters asking
Commuters complained of lah flyover by the Public them to avoid Central Delhi.

DEATH
ANNIVERSARIES

sembly polls, a large number

of Delhiites living in houses
on government land (Nazul
land) and whose term leases
have expired have got a major
relief as such properties can
now be converted from leasehold to freehold at an affordable cost.
Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu has
approved this after extensive
discussions with all the concerned, said an official statement here on Thursday.
As per the Ministrys decision, the Delhi Development
Authority would facilitate
such conversion to freehold
against payment in the range
of about Rs.2 lakh per 100 sq
m plot depending on the
number of years since the
term lease expired.
The decision will benefit
Delhi residents living for several years on all the 23 Nazul
Estates with expired term
leases, the statement said.
The scheme applicable to residential properties will be operational till 31.12.2015. PTI

NOIDA: Three women in their

early 20s died in a car crash
on the Yamuna Expressway
in the early hours of the New
Year when the car they were
travelling in hit a divider and
turned turtle.
According to the local police, six people were travelling
in the Verna car when the accident occurred between Noida International University
and Galgotias University in
Greater Noida on Thursday at
2 a.m.
The three young women,
Shivani, Arushi and Akanksha, died instantly, said Dankaur Station Officer (SO)
Praveen Kumar Yadav. Two
of the girls were MBA students in Greater Noida. The
other three passengers in the
car were injured and are
stable.
The injured persons included a Delhi University student, Lavanya, one Sumit Das
and the driver of the car,
Shekhar. It is a case of overspeeding. Though they were
out to celebrate the New Year
with a long drive, it does not
appear to be a case of drunken

The mangled remains of the car that hit a divider

at a high speed. (Bottom) Victims Arushi, Shivani,
and Akanksha. PHOTOS: ANKIT PANDEY
driving, said Mr. Yadav.
The accident was the second fatal crash on the 165-km
expressway from Greater
Noida to Agra in a span of one
week. On December 24, fog
had led to a massive 27-vehicle pile-up that killed two per-

sons on the expressway

The next day, the Yamuna
Expressway Industrial Development Authority had asked
the Central Road Research
Institute to conduct a study to
find out why the road was so
accident-prone.

DEATH

Swine flu case reported on years first day

NEW DELHI: The years first case

40-year-old woman in
of swine flu was reported on
Thursday, taking the figure to
Bawana tests positive
39 since last year.
for H1N1 virus
According to the Delhi
Government Health Department, a 40-year-old woman H1N1 virus and has been adfrom Bawana in North-West mitted to Maharishi Valmiki
Delhi has tested positive of Government Hospital.
Her samples were sent to
the National Center for Disease Control and it was confirmed that she has been
affected by the swine flu virus, said Charan Singh, Addi-

BIRTHDAY
REMEMBRANCE

tional
Director
(Public
Health)
at
Health
Department.
The Capital reported three
cases of swine flu on Tuesday
and Wednesday.
Advisories have been issued to Delhi and Uttar Pradesh for close monitoring of
the situation. State Governments have been advised to
have sufficient stocks of medicines and consumables, said
a senior Health Ministry official. - PTI

DEATH

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STATE

NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU

FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 2015

No permanent
construction on
Ridge, Asaram
Trust tells NGT
Akanksha Jain

Congress releases first list of

candidates for Assembly polls

Raise taxes,
Jung tells
EDMC

Jatin Anand

pay employees salaries, but the

cash-strapped East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC)
has refused to increase taxes,
despite being advised to do so
by Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung. A meeting of senior
Delhi Government officials and
EDMC Commissioner Amit
Yadav is also on the cards this
week.
The BJP leadership in the
EDMC had met Mr. Jung on
Wednesday to ask for help, as
the civic bodys financial situation had grown dire. East Delhi
Mayor Meenakshi said Mr.
Jung assured them of help.
However, it emerged on Thursday that EDMC leaders have
decided not to raise taxes to
improve the civic bodys deficit.
Standing Committee chairperson B.B. Tyagi, who was present at the meeting, said: We
cant put any additional burden
on the residents of East Delhi.
Mr. Tyagi explained that the
EDMC suffered a loss of Rs.421
crore when the erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Delhi
was trifurcated in 2012. The
Delhi Government had promised to give that amount as
grant. Instead, the EDMC was
given a loan of Rs.335 crore.
The civic bodys dues currently amount to Rs.900 crore,
which includes payments to
contractors for development
work and pensions to widows
that havent been disbursed
since April 2013. While the total yearly revenue is Rs.750
crore, expenditure is Rs.1,200
crore. The EDMC spends Rs.75
crore on salaries and Rs.10
crore on pensions every month.

NEW DELHI: After being direct-

ed to demolish all illegal constructions in and around its

ashram in Central Ridge, Asaram Bapus Trust has now
submitted a compliance report before the National
Green Tribunal saying there
has been no change in its
structure since 2002.
The Trust has made the
claim even as a February
2009 order of a Forest Settlement Officer says the ashram failed to fulfil the
conditions imposed by the
Supreme Court by carrying
out additional construction.
Advocate Gaurav Bansal,
who is representing the petitioner, said: In 2002, the
Trust told the Apex court
that it will not carry out any
permanent
construction.
But in 2009, it was found to
have violated its own affidavit. Now before the NGT, it is
once again saying that no
permanent construction has
been carried out after 2002.
This is a sham. The Trust is
trying to hoodwink one and
all. It is using the Supreme
Court orders as a shield,
even as it has not fulfilled the
conditions imposed by the
court.
In its affidavit before the
NGT, the Sant Shri Asharamji Bapu Trust has said
that there is no change in
permanent
construction
subsequent to the 2002 Supreme Court order. In November 1996, the Court had
accepted the report of an inspection committee and said
that an area of 4,312 sq. yards
with a passage of six feet
wide path be left under the
occupation of the ashram
and the rest be taken over by
the Ridge Management
Board.
The NGT had on November 10 directed the Trust to
remove all illegal structure
on a petition filed by activist
Sanjay Kumar.

DIPRA
delegation
meets L-G
Staff Reporter
NEW DELHI: A delegation of the
Delhi Information and Public Relation Officers Association
(DIPRA)
met
Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung on Thursday and
submitted a memorandum
regarding revision of pay
scale for officials of the Information Department, besides creating new posts.
The delegation said Mr.
Jung assured that he will
take positive and timebound action in this regard.
The delegation comprised
Nalin Chauhan, Vinod Gupta, Amit Kumar, Chandan
Kumar and Urmila Beniwal,
among others.

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Con-

gress rang in the New Year

on Thursday by declaring a
list of 24 candidates for the
upcoming
Assembly
elections.
Apart from nine former
MLAs, including latest entrant to the partys Delhi
unit Shoaib Iqbal, the list includes the names of leaders
who contested the previous
Assembly elections, but
came in second and two former presidents of the Delhi
Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC).
Three-time former Delhi
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who lost to Aam Aadmi
Partys Arvind Kejriwal,
does not figure in the list,
However, according to a senior leader, she will play a
major part in the partys
campaign behind the scenes.
The pattern on which the
list of candidates was decided is based on considerations
of
popularity,
development work initiated
by them, as well as the candidates experience in the Capitals political life, added a
party leader.
The first list included Devender Yadav from Badli, Jai
Kishan from Sultanpur Majra, Prahlad Singh Sawhney
from Chandni Chowk, Haroon Yusuf from Ballimaran,

Asif Mohammad Khan from

Okhla, Chaudhary Mateen
Ahmed from Seelampur,
Delhi unit chief Arvinder
Singh from Gandhi Nagar
and Hasan Ahmed from
Mustafabad.
Former Delhi unit chiefs
Surender Kumar will contest
from reserved seat Bawana,
while Subhash Chopra has
been fielded from his tradi-

tional Kalkaji seat. All others, barring Mr. Iqbal who

recently joined Congress
from the Janata Dal (United), are runners up.
Meanwhile, the party is
learnt to have formally written to leaders across the
country, asking them to
make their way to and camp
upwards of a month in the
Capital to assist the latter in

mobilising support for the

polls.
As has already been reported, prominent party
leaders from across northern India will be assigned
one of the Capitals 70 Assembly Constituencies each
and be required to assist
partys
local
candidate
there, beginning the day of
the notification of the polls.

17 low-floor DTC buses gutted at depot

Remembering Hashmi

Damini Nath
NEW DELHI: It may be unable to

Vidya Shah performing during 26th Safdar Hashmi

Memorial Function, organised by SAHMAT, in New
Delhi on Thursday. PHOTO: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

Applications for 10,000

auto-rickshaws invited
Jatin Anand
NEW DELHI: In a bid to ensure
that the Capital gets the prescribed number of auto-rickshaws required for last-mile
connectivity, the Transport
Department here has invited
applications to issue 10,000
such permits.
The vacancy is part of the
one-lakh cap fixed by the Supreme Court on the number of
auto-rickshaws here. Though a
senior official said the Department was seeking to clear the
backlog of permits up for grabs,
for which there had not been
many takers so far, it had been
decided to give preference to
women applicants.
We will give preference to
women drivers every day in
terms of both collection of
forms as well as issuance of

permits, all other conditions

being equal, said an official,
adding that the move hoped to
ensure that more women drivers are allowed to enter the
public transport sector here to
make women feel more confident while making use of the
same. According to the notification, applications shall be
received for a month between
January and February 12 at the
Departments office in Burari.
The applicants have been
asked to ensure that their vehicles are not only new, but also
pre-fitted with GPS devices.
These new auto-rickshaws
will also be allowed to ply to
and from adjacent locations in
the National Capital Region,
making travel between locations in Noida, Ghaziabad,
Gurgaon and Delhi more or
less seamless, the officer said.

Staff Reporter

Consider soldier for gallantry award

NEW DELHI: An accidental

fire gutted 17 air-conditioned low-floor buses of the

Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) at one of its depots in South Delhi early on
Thursday morning.
The incident sent officials
scurrying to salvage as many
vehicles as they possibly
could before fire tenders arrived.
The Delhi Fire Services
(DFS) said 10 tenders were
despatched to the Ambedkar
Terminal near Khanpur as
soon as they received word
about the incident around
3.20 a.m., a good 20 minutes
after the said vehicles, which
were supposedly queued up
for refuelling, got engulfed
by flames.
The fire-fighting operation took nearly two hours.
According to the DTC,
which has constituted a factfinding committee to look
into the incident, the buses
were merely parked in the
yard at the facility and
timely action on the part
of its officials allowed them
to save at least three vehicles
from the midst of flames and
many more from sustaining
similar damage.
As soon as the fire was
noticed, the staff rushed towards the incident site to

Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High
Court has directed the Central
Reserve Police Force to consider the case of a soldier for conferment of the President's
Police Medal for Gallantry for
his act of bravery 22 years ago
in a gun battle with the members of the Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) in Punjab.
Soldier Rajesh Shukla had
moved the High Court seeking

quashing of an order of the

CRPF authorities who took a
stand that no action was required to be taken for recommending his case for grant of
gallantry award in connection
with an incident on the night of
September 12, 1992.
During a search operation
against KCF terrorists in Punjab, the petitioner took on a terrorist in order to save the other
members of the troops. Despite
suffering a number of bullet in-

juries, he succeeded in injuring a

terrorist and rendering him incapable of running away. The
terrorist was later identified as
the deputy chief of KCF (Zaffarwal) group. For his brave act, police officers of Punjab and a
CRPF Inspector-General recommended his name for conferring on him the Presidents
Police Medal for Gallantry. The
CRPF authorities later rejected
his case on the ground of delay in
its referral to the headquarters.

Seventeen low-floor air-conditioned Delhi Transport Corporation buses were

gutted in a fire at the Ambedkar Nagar Depot in South Delhi early on
Thursday morning. PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
defuse the fire by using fire
extinguishers.
The drivers who were
available in the rest room
removed 70 buses from the
depot yard and parked them
on the main road outside,
the DTC said in a statement.
In the meantime, the
statement said, a police

control room van stationed

nearby alerted the DFS control room for assistance.
The fire was brought under
control by 5.30 a.m.
On whether the incident
will affect bus services on
routes the terminal caters
to, DTC chairman-cumCMD Debashree Mukherjee
said: We are pooling in

available resources from

other depots to ensure that
services are not affected,
Ms. Mukherjee told The
Hindu.
Meanwhile, the DTC factfinding committee has also
been asked to suggest measures to prevent re-occurrence of the incident,
officials added.

Special cover for Kejriwal

NEW DELHI: In order to avert

attacks on chief Arvind Kejriwal, the Aam Aadmi Party

has taken several steps, including placing volunteers
near the podium and cordoning off the area, to maintain a safe distance between
the stage and the audience.
Last week, a youth in his
20s attempted to attack Mr.

CM
YK

Kejriwal, who was addressing a jan sabha at Tigdi in the

Deoli Assembly constituency. AAP Deoli candidate Prakash Jarwal had placed
volunteers near the stage so
that no outsiders or suspecting element could come near
the podium. The AAP chief
has been attacked twice in
Delhi. PTI

ND-ND

NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU

CM
YK

FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 2015

ND-ND

VARIETY/NORTHERN REGION

NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU

FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 2015

Schultz unhappy with

Foxcatcher portrayal

Open-billed storks flock to Raiganj

FAITH

Desire for moksha

The bird sanctuary there attracted almost 47,000 storks in last six months of 2014

Next Rambo film

titled Last Blood

Moksha is the highest goal attainable for a jivatma and

the Lord alone is capable of granting it. Moksha is
described as a state transcending the tangible and
intangible aspects of creation when the experience is
one of sat-chit-ananda, constituting mere eternal
consciousness of bliss. There is no trace of sorrow of
worldly life, where there is constant change through
birth, growth, decay and death.
In a discourse, Velukkudi Sri Krishnan drew
attention to the fact that while the Lord holds sole
proprietorship in the matter of granting moksha to the
jivatma, the onus of eligibility for moksha rests with
the jivatma.
Every jivatma is endowed with the freedom and
independence to choose the option to get liberated.
But this desire has to become an obsession so that he
remains steadfast in realising this. The tension for the
jivatma is to reject worldly aspirations with astuteness
and yearn passionately for the bliss of permanence.
Krishna captures this peculiar situation of every
jivatma who is caught between the temporal and
spiritual options.
Worldly concerns drive a jivatma towards many
aspirations and he seeks God for help to attain them.
Most of ones lifetime is spent seeking God for
fulfilment of these goals. The Lord fulfils the desires of
the jivatma and also waits to grant liberation the
moment a realised soul seeks Him with this goal in
mind. He states that only very rarely a realised soul
believing in the promise of eternal bliss yearns for it
most resolutely. It may take many births for one to
become such a jnani, says the Lord. It requires
tremendous will power on the part of a jivatma to
renounce the world and seek God for His sake alone.
This is the sadana for every jivatma.

the 466 IBA (important

birds and biodiversity sites)
recognised by Birdlife InterKOLKATA: The Raiganj Wildnational. Mr. Roy, who vislife Sanctuary in West Benited the sanctuary in August
gals Uttar Dinajpur district,
for a survey as a member of
which attracted a record
Indian Bird Conservation
68,000 birds in 2014, has the
Network, said the the inmost Asian open-billed
crease in number of Asian
storks in the country.
open-billed storks at the
As per records available
sanctuary might be due to
with the Divisional Forest
the sanctuary proving to be a
Officer, Raiganj, the bird
safe habitat.
sanctuary recorded about
He pointed out that other
46,842 open-billed storks
areas like the Danapur Milbetween June and Decemitary Cantonment in Bihar,
ber 2014. The number has
Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary in
increased by 7,000 over the
Andhra Pradesh and Rangpast two years from about Open-billed storks at Raignaj Wildlife Sanctuary.
anthittu Bird Sanctuary in
39,000 in 2012-13 to over PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Karnataka swere also impor46,000 in 2014-15, Diparna
The open-billed stork is a tant habitats for this species,
Kumar Dutta, DFO, Raiganj tant habitat for them and
steps should be taken to pre- local migrant, he said, point- but their number was not as
told The Hindu.
The wildlife sanctuary at serve it, Gopinathan Ma- ing out that the birds visit high as it is in Raiganj.
Raiganj is the only place in heswaran, scientist at the rice fields during the day and
Forest officials in charge
the country where you can Zoological Survey of India also feed on molluscs.
of the Raiganj Wildlife Sancfind open-billed stork birds and officer-in-charge of the
Delhi-based ecologist T.K. tuary said there were about
in such a high concentration. institutes bird section told Roy also pointed out that the 49 different kinds of birds
It has turned into an impor- The Hindu.
Raiganj sanctuary is one of found in the sanctuary.

Sylvester Stallone has

confirmed that the next Rambo
film will be titled Last Blood.
Stallone, 68, will also direct the
film, the fifth in the Rambo
franchise. He tweeted: Doing
Scarpa based on Gangster Greg
Scarpa after Last Blood
Rambo. He is currently filming
his role in mob story Scarpa,
while the Rocky spin-off Creed
is in pre-production. His next
project is animated film Animal
Crackers. PTI

FROM THE ARCHIVES

(dated January 2, 1965)

Service with a
tradition
Nostalgic memories
come in a rush upon
Southern Railway oldtimers who have run the
Indo-Ceylon Express
between Madras and
Dhanushkodi. They brood
sadly over the tidal wave
disaster that has left
Dhanushkodi in ruins and
feel a stab of pain when
they realise that the Boat
Mail will not run up to
Dhanushkodi pier for
sometime to come, or
perhaps ever. I have
always known it as the
Boat Mail, said a retired
railway official lovingly,
as though the IndoCeylon Express were
something human.

Privileges of
Legislature
Procedural rules in
keeping with the
requirements of natural
justice may be framed by
legislatures in order to
safeguard their privileges.
The Government, after

examining the
implications of the
Supreme Courts opinion
on the legislaturejudiciary conflict, is
understood to have come
to the conclusion that it
would not be desirable at
this stage to codify the
privileges of legislature.
The Government,
however, favours framing
of the rules to achieve the
same objective.

Work of National
Akademis
A reviewing committee
headed by Dr. H.J.
Bhabha has urged that
Government should
respect the autonomy
of the three National
Akademis and the Indian
Council for Cultural
Relations, it is learnt. The
Committee which was
appointed in March last
to review the working of
the Akademis and ICCR
said that they would
gradually develop
themselves on the pattern
of the European
academies of art which
were independent of
Government or any other
body so far as the election
of members was
concerned.

Gridman

6
7

13

12

14

15

18

22

10

11

19

16

20

23

26

Crowd kills
leopard in
Kolhapur
Shoumojit Banerjee

THE HINDU CROSSWORD 11282

1

Shiv Sahay Singh

17

21

24

25

27

PUNE: A leopard that

strayed into the
bungalow of an MP in
Maharashtras Kolhapur
district was killed by
residents of a
neighbouring colony.
Residents of
Kolhapurs plush Ruikar
Colony were shocked to
find the big cat that had
sneaked into Congress
MP Dhananjay
Mahadiks bungalow. It
was found sitting quietly
under a sofa. Over the
next five hours of high
drama, the leopard got
out of the bungalow and
injured one person. As
Forest Department
officials allegedly failed
to respond quickly to the
call for help, the crowd
killed the leopard.

The former Olympic wrestler,

Mark Schultz, who is portrayed
by Channing Tatum in
Foxcatcher, is unhappy with
some critics commenting that
theres an undercurrent of
homosexuality in the films
portrayal of his relationship
with his millionaire-coach John
du Pont, played by Steve Carell
(in picture). The story revolves
around the murder of his
brother, famous wrestler Dave
Schultz by du
Pont. Schultz
won the gold in
1984 Olympics.
PTI

1989 edges out Frozen for 2014's top-selling album

Taylor Swift stole the crown from the princesses
of Frozen in the final week of 2014 as her popcentric 1989 became the top-selling album of the
year, Billboard reported. In the nine weeks since
its release, 1989 sold 3.66 million copies, clipping
the 3.53 million in sales for the soundtrack of the
Disney blockbuster, which was the top-selling
album of the year every week except the final
one. Reuters

Sri Lankan flying snake sighted in A.P.

A.D. Rangarajan
TIRUPATI: In the first-ever sighting out-

side Sri Lanka, Chrysopelea taprobanica or the Sri Lankan flying snake,
considered endemic to the dry and
intermediate zones of the island nation, has been sighted in Andhra Pradeshs
Seshachalam
Biosphere
Reserve.
This significantly expands the
known area of presence of this species, indicating its probable movement between the dry zones of
peninsular India and Sri Lanka,
which remained connected around
17,000 years ago.
This rare sighting has found a mention in the tenth anniversary issue of
Checklist, a journal of biodiversity
data. anywhere outside Sri Lanka.
The study was conducted by researchers Bubesh Guptha and N.V.
Sivaram Prasad of the Biodiversity
Lab in the Tirupati Wildlife Management Circle under the guidance of the
Conservator of Forest M.Ravikumar,
in collaboration with Simon T. Maddock of The Natural History Museum,
London and V. Deepak of Centre for
Ecological Studies, Indian Institute of
Science (IISc), Bengaluru.

Chrysopelea taprobanica, sighted

for the first time outside Sri
Lanka in Seshachalam Biosphere
Reserve, A.P. PHOTO: SPECIAL
ARRANGEMENT

Previous sighting
In fact, an unidentified specimen
suspected to be Chrysopelea taprobanica was sighted in 2000 in Rishi
Valley, Andhra Pradesh, and even
photographed by V. Santharam, but it
was not collected.
In November 2013, we collected
the specimen in the dry deciduous
forest of Chalama and conducted
morphological studies and DNA test
to prove that it is the same, Mr.
Guptha told The Hindu.

Now, Bihar makes PK tax-free

Recommendation was made by Nitish Kumar
Amarnath Tewary
PATNA: After Uttar Pradesh,
the Bihar government has
decided to give Aamir Khanstarrer PK entertainment
tax exemption. The former
Bihar Chief Minister, Nitish
Kumar, recommended that
the film be made tax-free after watching it.
Nitish Kumar has demanded that PK be declared
tax-free in the State and Ill
definitely consider his demand. Soon, an order will be
passed to make the movie
tax-free, Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi said on
Thursday.
He also said the government would like to make arrangements for people in
remote areas to watch the
movie. I too will soon watch
it, Mr. Manjhi said here.
On Wednesday night, Mr.
Kumar with some Cabinet

Bajrang Dal members

had protested against
the film and burnt its
posters, demanding a
ban
said, giving 10 out of 10 to
Mr. Khan, who played the
lead role.
On Tuesday, Bajrang Dal
members protested against
the film here and burnt its
A man standing in front posters, demanding a ban on
it for insulting the Hindu
of a PK poster in
religion and its deities.
Mumbai on Wednesday. They also tried to ransack
PHOTO: VIVEK BENDRE
cinemas in Nawada, Saran
and Bhojpur districts. HowMinisters and party leaders ever, RJD MP from Madwatched the film.
hepura
Pappu
Yadav
This film is not only en- declared that there was
tertaining but also creates nothing objectionable in the
awareness and has a positive film.
message for society. All
those protesting against it
WHO IS REALLY OFFENDED WITH PK?
are hypocrites, Mr. Kumar | COMMENT PAGE

28

Apna Dal MP from Pratapgarh gets death threat

Across
1 A couple of articles by
ministers set out State
control of church (11)
9 Drinking exotic stingos (7)
10 Early wind instrument gets
criticism as well as good,
extreme praise (7)
11 Account delayed to cause
trouble (3,2)
12 Bright, small public area
attracting many in
Germany (9)
13 Stared at great international
crossword setter (5)
15 A note that woman sent off
brings supporters (9)
18 Cap Sherpa tossed into
garbage dump (5,4)
21 Three is one such, it is said
(5)
22 Street cut, in the grip of
revolutionary, is dragging
(9)
24 With a scooter, father
leaves signals (5)
26 Best is nothing to fellow
embraced by friend (7)
27 Navy officer, in brief, has
load to draw together (7)
28 Callers pass over dilemma
in getting stationery items
to keep papers (4-7)
Down
1 Turns away disorderly
sergeants (9)
2 A small group is a good
thing (5)
CM
YK

3 Made a mistake tore

roughly at junction (7,2)
4 A month with a girl (7)
5 Call into question one
maiden a beauty (7)
6 Son in fur coat in a city (5)
7 Mine lost in mine only
pepper variety (8)
8 Ask about Tirumala's third
hill (4)
14 With this an article will cost
nothing (4,4)
16 Her will is likely to leave a
lot (4,5)
17 Avoids backward animals
held by crooked desis (9)
19 Chen and Leo together
brought about order (7)
20 I paced hurriedly to book a
cycle-rickshaw (7)
22 Reveal second modus
operandi (4)
23 Row about Mumbai's top
track official (5)
25 Say evil-doing overwhelms
leader of Odisha (5)

Special Correspondent
LUCKNOW: Apna Dal MP from

Pratapgarh, Kunwar Harivansh Singh, has filed a First

Information Report with the

police fearing a threat to his

life.
Mr. Singh has told the police that his personal assistant had been receiving death
threats aimed at him.

The police have registered

a case against an unidentified person and a probe has
begun. Apna Dal, an alliance
partner of the BJP in the
State, has two MPs.

Solution to puzzle 11281

OU T B R E
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A M D
R E A L M S
K
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S P H I N X

A K
C
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T
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G L E
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S E L L
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D B E N D

ND-ND

EDITORIAL

NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU

Taking on good, bad, all Talibans

I
Suhasini Haidar

FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 2015

Hasty changes
in land law
hen a law is enacted after considerable
debate and consultation, it will be wise to
study the experience of its implementation for some time before it is amended,
in order to address perceived difficulties. Any such
amendment within the first year of its entry into force,
especially one pushed through as an ordinance, will be
inevitably perceived as hasty, even if on the positive
side it is meant to eliminate delays in land acquisition.
In this backdrop, the Right to Fair Compensation and
Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and
Resettlement (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014, is bound
to face criticism that the changes constitute a significant dilution of a progressive law. The Congress and
the Left parties are likely to oppose the changes when
the law comes to Parliament in the form of a bill to
replace the ordinance. In substance, the ordinance
makes a significant change by omitting in respect of a
wide range of projects the requirements of a social
impact assessment study, the informed consent of a
large section of the families affected by the acquisition
of land. These projects include those that are vital to
national security and defence, rural infrastructure, affordable housing and housing for the poor, besides
industrial corridors and infrastructure and social infrastructure projects. The vital element of making acquisition a consultative and participative process may
thus be subject to bureaucratic discretion.
The principle of eminent domain, which justifies
the compulsory acquisition of land by the state for a
public purpose, normally ought to be accompanied by a
duty to give fair compensation. However, the colonial
Land Acquisition Act of 1894 had in effect reduced
compensation to a mere token in relation to the market
value, and for decades it was used to deprive many,
mostly farmers, of their land for a pittance. Last years
law radically altered this relationship between citizen
and state and created a fair compensation right, as well
as a new structure for rehabilitation and resettlement.
It also cast a duty on the government to create specified
amenities in every resettlement area. Thankfully, the
ordinance does not dilute these provisions, but additionally extends them to a list of Acts that were previously exempted. However, this is not its own
contribution, as the original Act itself said such a provision shall be enacted within a year. Prime Minister
Narendra Modi has projected the amendments as those
that strengthen protection for the affected families and
also removes difficulties in implementation. Perhaps
the regimes intentions could have been better understood had the changes been introduced as a bill in
Parliament and referred to a committee for appraisal.

n its multi-point National Action Plan

against terror, Pakistans government
and military has envisaged a plan more
comprehensive than any other in the
past 20 years. It was in 1994 that the Taliban
first emerged to take power in Kandahar,
funded and trained by Pakistani officials, and
will be full circle for the country if its leaders
go ahead with the ambitious course laid out
in the plan. The steps include the establishment of fast-track anti-terror courts, a crackdown on banned organisations and terrorists
and choking their finances, disarming all militia, and the regulation of madrassas that
indoctrinate them.
Pakistan has made such declarations before. The first was when it became a partner in the war on terror in 2001 and agreed
to look for Osama bin Laden, and again in
2002, when President Pervez Musharraf announced a crackdown on anti-India groups
like the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the
Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM). Neither of those
pronouncements came to much, but there is
still reason to hope that the new announcement recognises that the people of Pakistan
want a decisive turn after the massacre of
over 130 schoolchildren in Peshawar. It is
now a battle for Pakistans soul, one made
even more complicated by the fact that the
perpetrators of this diabolical operation once
trained alongside the Afghan Taliban in a war
in which Pakistan was once a prime mover.

The many Talibans

Much has changed since those days, in the
1990s, when the Taliban claimed Kabul, and
welcomed every kind of jihadi group into the
country, and some of those fighters were given access to Pakistans borders with India, so
as to fight in Kashmir. A distinction between
good Taliban and bad Taliban has come
up between the Afghan Taliban groups and
the Pakistani Taliban who target the Pakistani military and civilians. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs statement that there will now be
no good or bad Taliban is welcome for most
Pakistanis, but the euphemisms of good and
bad are only a more visible part of the threat
they face from the Taliban. It is important
that Pakistans leaders recognise the other
Taliban threats today, in a self-destructive
war they have already squandered too much
time on, and after Mr. Sharif has committed
to fighting All the Talibans.
To begin with, the Afghan Taliban and the
Pakistani Taliban, as the Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP) that carried out the Peshawar
massacre now represents, werent always
separate entities. In 2008, when the TTP first
came up under Baitullah Mehsud, its chief

Despite a change in mood in Pakistan after the

Peshawar massacre, India cannot afford to be
complacent given that the network of the various
Talibans is more united and synchronised than
ever, and benefits from the differences between
South Asian neighbours

sood Azhars control of Bahawalpur, or Hafiz

Saeeds citadel in Muridke, these groups now
run terror enclaves within Pakistan, unchallenged. Second, like Abdul Ghazi, the Maulana of Islamabads Lal Masjid, sooner or later
these two men will end up challenging their
military patrons in much the same way that
Ghazi took on Gen. Musharraf a stones
throw from Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)
headquarters.
Notwithstanding a stand-off that left more
than 100 people dead, and an operation that
claimed Gen. Musharrafs job, in 2007, Ghazi
remains a threat to the Pakistani establishment. In the wake of the Peshawar massacre,
hundreds of Pakistani protesters surrounded
the Lal Masjid and finally shamed the government into seeking an FIR against him.
Despite obtaining a warrant, it is yet to arrest
him. Meanwhile, the head of the LeJ, Malik
Ishaq, in jail for the attack in Lahore on the
Sri Lankan cricket team in 2009, has been

There is the Taliban threat that no one likes to speak of

the institutional Taliban, or the radicalised elements who exist
within Pakistans military, civil and judicial establishments.

children as suicide bombers. For Pakistans released, while the LeT operations chief, Zaki
purposes, none of them should have been Ur Rahman Lakhvi, has been nearly released
counted as the good Taliban as they were.
twice.
With their access to trained jihadis in FedReign of terror
erally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA),
The next distinction that should never Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Kashmir, Azhar,
have been made is with the Punjabi Taliban. Saeed and Ishaq will be much more difficult
The groups in Punjab like the JeM, the Lash- to control. And the stand-off with them is
kar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), the Sipah-e-Sahaba, and going to be even more bloody than the Lal
the LeT now control vast parts of Pakistans Masjid operation was. It is inevitable because
most powerful province, with compounds it is evident that the Punjabi Taliban is deepacross acres, congregations in the lakhs, and ly linked to every major terror attack in Pathousands of young recruits at their semi- kistan, including the brutal killings of Shias,
naries. Despite all the outrage expressed by Ahmadis and Christians. No one typifies this
India over 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed, link more than the case of Dr. Usman, the
the hijacking of an Indian flight (IC-814) and first man Mr. Sharif ordered to be hanged
Parliament attack mastermind Masood Az- after lifting the moratorium on executions in
har, Pakistan still sees these men as allies and December. Usman, or Mohammad Aqeel,
is quite comfortable in letting their groups was trained in the Armys medical corps,
run riot in Punjab. But they have missed two from where he was recruited by the LeJ.
important outcomes: first, whether it is Ma- Along with TTP leaders and other Taliban

CARTOONSCAPE

CM
YK

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Health as a right
The early indications in the draft
National Health Policy, 2015, are
encouraging
(Centre
moots
health as a fundamental right,
Jan.1). However, it must be noted
that universal medical care is not
the same as universal health care.
Along with health, food, shelter
and sanitation should get priority. I
would
also
suggest
the
nationalisation of the entire
medical education system, which
includes nursing education and
paramedical education.
Araveeti Rama Yogaiah,
Hyderabad

commanders, he then went on to plan an

assassination attempt on Gen. Musharraf,
the General Head Quarters (GHQ) attack, the
attack on the Sri Lankan cricketers and the
Marriott hotel bombing. The Punjab link to
the Peshawar massacre has already emerged,
with four suspects detained in Hasilpur in
Bahawalpur. It was from here that some calls
were made to the attackers as they attacked
the students.

Embedded in the establishment

patron was Mullah Omar, the chief of the
Taliban. Mehsud himself had been very close
to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, and
declared a governor by Mullah Omar in 2004
before five major Taliban commanders, including men responsible for the death of Benazir Bhutto and assassination attempts on
Mr. Hamid Karzai and Gen. Musharraf.
Therefore, it is baffling how the narrative
today has become one of Pakistan protecting
the Afghan Taliban, while Pakistan accuses
Afghanistan of sheltering TTP leaders and
other members of the Pakistan Taliban.
The differences between Mehsud and other commanders like his cousins Qari Hussain Mehsud, Hakimullah Mehsud, or rival
Mullah Nazir ultimately led to factions
coming up on the Pakistani side of the border. But having trained in the Afghan jihad,
they never really strayed from that evil purpose, of killing Pakistani civilians and Army
personnel and training scores of Pakistani

Uncertain outcome
in Greece
reek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, who
recently lost his gamble of holding an early
presidential vote in order to shore up the
terms of a fresh economic package from the
European Union, forced a snap general election within
two years of coming to power. The January 25 poll has
brought centre-stage the main opposition party, the
radical left-wing Syriza that takes an anti-austerity
stance. Equally, the uncertainty over the Greek election outcome brought into sharp focus the capacity of
European Union leaders to influence national governments to implement unpopular economic reforms. The
developments in December, involving three rounds of
voting by the Greek Parliament which eventually failed
to elect a President, are reminiscent of the high political drama of 2011. On that occasion, George Papandreou had announced that the issue of approval of the
Eurozone debt deal for Greece would be decided in a
popular referendum, sending shock waves across European capitals and causing a splutter in the financial
markets. Amid the groundswell of public anger against
crippling cuts in government spending and reductions
in wages and pensions, a plebiscite would have potentially risked a Greek exit from the Eurozone.
Syrizas support has seen a steady surge over the past
decade, culminating in its emergence as the second
largest party in the outgoing Parliament. Under the
charismatic leadership of Alexis Tsipras, it won the
May 2014 European Parliament elections handsomely,
relegating the countrys ruling New Democracy to the
second position. Since then, Syriza has led in the opinion polls. The party rapidly rose to prominence since
the debt crisis in Greece unravelled, by portraying the
terms of the bailout with European and international
institutions as a harsh and arbitrary imposition. In
more recent months, it has spoken of softening the
terms of the bailout and of having the countrys debt
written off by half. Syrizas sharp rhetoric in recent
weeks seems to have been muted, perhaps from a
recognition of Athenss European obligations under
the existing arrangements. The party may or may not
capture power in the elections. But even if it comes
anywhere close, it can be expected to exert considerable influence on the manner Athens negotiates with
Brussels the terms of its economic reforms. Syrizas
performance would also be watched closely in countries where the appeal of anti-austerity, and even antiEU parties, has been on the rise and where elections are
due this year. Gradually, a scenario may be evolving
where domestic forces exert greater influence on the
trajectories of European integration. This may lay bare
the limits of the post-War vision in a globalised world.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 2015

Letters emailed to letters@thehindu.co.in must carry the full

postal address and the full name or the name with initials.

similar to the implementation of

the Right to Education could be
emulated, where schools have to
follow a mandate to accommodate
a certain set number of
underprivileged students. Medical
institutes should follow the same
model.
Vikram Sundaramurthy,
Chennai

Bahadur Shastri stepping down

from the Ministry after a train
accident, and T.T. Krishnamachari
promptly resigning after an
inquiry. Those days are gone.
Whether the State police or the
CBI has to submit to the will of the
ruling party, we can only hope the
extent of such submission will be
within the limits.
S. Rajagopalan,
Chennai
The right to a healthy life is a
fundamental right and it is the duty
of any government to provide It does not require a masters
in
investigation
to
affordable, accessible and quality degree
health-care services to all. Public understand the pressures on the
policy should focus on universal agency when it is investigating the
health coverage, sanitation, safe possible involvement of a highdrinking
water,
nutrition, profile politician of the calibre of
education and the dispensing of Amit Shah in the encounter case.
necessary drugs free of cost. This At this juncture, the credibility of
can be done by increasing not only the CBI but also that of the
budgetary
support
for present government is at stake; it
infrastructure, reducing regional came to power riding on the back of
disparities, having a corruption- lofty promises. One can empathise
free environment, focussing on with the officials of the CBI who
outcomes, enabling community are not allowed to perform their
participation, and decentralising duties diligently and without
political interference.
health delivery services.
Shaveta Chandwani,
G.B. Sivanandam,
Rajpura, Punjab
Coimbatore

Including health as a fundamental

right under the right to life is a
benign step, but the government
has to know its implications first. A
top-down approach may not prove
beneficial in this area as the NRHM
is still not even realised and leaks
are a regular part of policy function
in India. This plan needs huge
infrastructure investment with the
establishment of more hospitals,
Public Health Centres and medical
colleges. India does need to look at
the social sector, but the goals must
We must acknowledge that our
be realised at the ground level.
Samarjit Mishra, law-enforcing agencies are by and
New Delhi large independent (Editorial,
Jan.1). Irrespective of which party
Making health a fundamental right is in power, however, the bending
will represent a landmark step. of rules became the norm
However, much hinges on the cost whenever there was a political
of infrastructure, given that angle. Morality in public life was at
current revenue structures project its height in governments formed
a shortfall between actuals and just after Independence. One can
expectations. In this, an approach cite instances of Ministers like Lal

CBIs credibility

Finally, there is the Taliban threat that no

one, not even in Rawalpindi, Washington, or
in New Delhi likes to speak of the institutional Taliban, or the radicalised elements who exist within Pakistans military,
civil and judicial establishments. For this,
one has to read the works of Pakistans best
investigative journalists. In his riveting
work, Talibanisation of Pakistan: 9/11 to 26/
11, journalist Amir Mir has written of the
work of the Tableeghi Jamaat, whose headquarters in Raiwind adjoin Mr. Sharifs family estate. It was former military leader
Zia-ul-Haq who encouraged the Tableeghis
to shape Pakistans military into an army of
Allah. Since then, several top-level officers,
and chiefs of the ISI in particular, have been
members (most notably, Lt.Gen. Hameed
Gul and Lt. Gen. Javed Nasir, both retired
officers known to liaison with terror groups).
Many Pakistani government servants, military officers and scientists devote at least a
part of their annual leave to do voluntary
work for the Tableeghi Jamaat, writes Mr.
Mir, adding that the Ijtema congregation
represented the picture of a well-designed,
well-managed strategy to organize Islamic
combatants, ready to wage jihad. In fact,
every attack on Pakistans military installations, from the GHQ, to Mehran naval base,
to the Minhas air force base, or several attacks in FATA have been traced to radicalised
officers.
It was this trail of radicalisation within the
Pakistani forces that journalist Saleem Shahzad (who had interviewed both Kashmiri and
Baitullah Mehsud) was uncovering when he
was kidnapped in May 2011. His body was
found in the Jhelum bearing signs of torture.
In his book, Inside Al Qaeda and the Taliban:
Beyond Bin Laden and 9/11, released just 10
days before his death, Shahzad says that
there is an ISI within the ISI and a jihadi
army within the army that operates as a
sleeper cell while their interests align with
the Pakistani establishments, i.e., in fighting
India. It was his case that the Mumbai attacks
were the work of a radicalised group of Army
and ISI officers of the 313 brigade run by
ISI/LeT militant Ilyas Kashmiri, who subsequently became al-Qaedas commander
and was killed in a drone attack in 2011. His
theory, that found few takers in India as it did
in Pakistan, was that this group, with help
from the al-Qaeda, the LeT and others had
one aim: to spark a major war between India
and Pakistan. Though they havent succeeded as yet, Talibanised officials within the
Pakistani establishment will keep trying to
do so.
While there was deep outrage and empathy across India following the Peshawar
incident, there was also a certain amount of
Schadenfreude among strategists, that the
terror Pakistani groups have unleashed
against its neighbour had come home to their
military masters. But India can hardly afford
to be complacent, given that this network of
the various Talibans is more united and
synchronised than ever, and benefits from
the differences between the South Asian
neighbours in the areas of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India it focusses on. For Pakistan,
the only hope is that Mr. Sharif challenges
all the Talibans, if he wants to steer his
country away from its course over a cliff. It is
hard to see how long the Pakistani leadership
can refuse to see what history has taught
everyone from the ancient Turks, to the
United States with the Mujahideen, to the
Saudis with al-Qaeda, and even what India
learnt from the LTTE experience that
sooner or later, mercenaries you engage with
will turn on you, your leaders, and even your
children.
suhasini.h@thehindu.co.in

Often, the countrys topmost

investigating agency finds itself on
the mat for its slackness and the
unprofessional way of filing cases
and then investigating them. The
case of Mr. Shah has exposed all
these weaknesses. If a case filed by
the CBI is lost on technical
grounds, it can be excused. But
political motives being attributed
to the CBI in the case of Amit Shah
should be viewed as a serious issue

and it calls for stern action against journalists and their media outlets.
Santhosh Mathew,
all those involved in filing the case.
M. Somasekhar Prasad,
Puducherry
Badvel, Andhra Pradesh

Sale of acid

It is pertinent that the

Sohrabuddin case was handed over
to the CBI by the Supreme Court.
Unless and until the top court finds
prima facie evidence in a particular
case and lapses on the part of the
state investigating agency at least
to some extent, it would have never
been inclined to refer the matter to
the CBI. Anyhow, the courts order
impinges on the great expectations
placed on the CBI.
M. Xavier,
Vallioor, Tamil Nadu

One needs to comment on the

Union Home Ministrys plan to
have a system for online
monitoring of the sale of acid
(Acid sale to be monitored
online, Dec. 28). How is one to
know the volume and extent of sale
online? Most purchases are illegal
and through the black market that
requires no online presence.
Hence, it is hard to track the entire
process of sale. Manufacturers are
also getting to be innovative by
renaming their products rather
than calling them acid, as has
been the case. There must be a ban
It was sad to read of the demise of on concentrated acid formulations
veteran journalist B.G. Verghese, and a monitoring of trade licences.
Nivedha Jayaraman,
whose last words that he had a lot
Salem
of unfinished business, even at the
age of 88, showed his total
commitment to his journalistic There appears to be no end to the
career (Dec.31). His editorial spate of attacks on women using
comments on Indira Gandhis acid. It is an act so horrifying as it
decision to merge Sikkim with burns the skin in no time and
India provides proof of his onlookers most often do not and
unbiased writing. I am sure his cannot help the victim. It is time
writings will be a treasure trove for the government lays down strict
all writers. His was an unblemished regulations on the sale of acid,
path, especially in the field of which is still readily available.
More than this, all health centres
journalism.
E.S. Chandrasekaran, must be well-versed in providing
Chennai immediate and the right first aid.
Acid attacks constitute a most
B.G. Verghese belonged to a rare heinous form of gender-based
class of genuine journalists to violence. Their perpetrators need
whom courage and dedication were to be punished severely.
Neelu Sharma,
the key words. He will be missed in
Mysuru
todays world of compromised

B.G. Verghese

ND-ND

COMMENT

NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU

FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 2015

WORLD VIEW

2015: Five economic

stories to watch
T

he start of a new year is a good time to take stock. For those of us in

the news business, this suggests stepping back and asking whats
important. Here are five economic stories worth watching.
What happens to oil? Saudi Arabia has helped drive down crude prices
from roughly $100 a barrel to about $60 by refusing to cut its own
production in the face of a global surplus and the unwillingness of other
producers to cut their output. The question is whether the Saudis will
hold to this strategy until enough high-cost producers including some
U.S. shale oil operators are driven from the market or whether theyre
seeking some sort of production-sharing agreement with major exporters
inside and outside OPEC. Whats clear is that Saudi Arabia doesnt want
to cut output unilaterally.
What happens to Europe? A year ago, the
worst of Europes currency and debt crisis
seemed to have passed. Well, maybe not. Unable
to agree on a new president, Greece is now
headed for a parliamentary election on January
25, with the possibility that the left-wing Syriza
party committed to ending the austerity
policies of the ruling centre-right New
Democracy Party might triumph. If Syriza
wins and repudiates some debts, there might be
spillover to other debtor countries, including
Portugal and Spain. Rising interest rates would
make it harder for them to service their debts.
ROBERT J.
The crisis could spread.
SAMUELSON
Will the Fed get it right? Since late 2008, the
Federal Reserve has held its benchmark shortIf China
term interest rate the Fed funds rate at
stimulates
near zero. With the economy strengthening and
unemployment dropping below 6 per cent,
exports by
pressure is building to raise rates to more
allowing its
normal levels. For the Fed, this creates practical
problems: It doesnt want to raise rates too
currency to
rapidly for fear of disrupting the recovery. But
depreciate, trade even if the Fed proceeds cautiously, it could be
frustrated by private investors. What matters
wars might
most are long-term rates on home mortgages
intensify
and corporate bonds rates largely outside the
Feds control. If private investors react by
raising these rates, the recovery could suffer.
Will wages begin to outperform prices? For most of this recovery,
wages have generally stayed even with prices, increasing at about a 2 per
cent annual rate. As a result, many workers havent received inflationadjusted increases in wages or salaries for years. Now this could reverse.
As labour markets tighten, employers may have to pay more to keep their
best or most experienced workers. Meanwhile, lower oil prices may at
least temporarily cut inflation. Together, these forces could produce
modest increases in inflation-adjusted wages. This could bolster
consumer spending and confidence, strengthening the recovery.
Can China maintain strong economic growth? For years, growth rates
averaged close to 10 per cent, powered by massive industrial and
infrastructure investments and huge trade surpluses. But this was not
sustainable, and relying more on consumer spending has caused China to
lower its growth target to 7.5 per cent. Even this may be too ambitious.
Since the global financial crisis, Chinas debt levels have exploded as loans
were dispensed liberally to avoid a slump. Now, China can no longer
depend so heavily on borrowed money. A slowdown could have wide
ramifications. Commodity-producing countries could suffer because
China is generally their largest customer. If China stimulates exports by
allowing its currency to depreciate, trade wars might intensify. 2014.
The Washington Post.

The year that sexist language

fell and moved online
Naomi McAuliffe

ou rarely notice the moment when

you finally get over a cough; one
day you just think, Oh, I havent been
coughing for a while. Similarly, I dont
remember when I stopped getting
comments about being blonde.
Throughout my early life, Blondie!
would be shouted from passing cars, or
there would be a lame apology right
before a dreadful dumb blonde joke.
Ive even been asked in the past why I
dont dye my hair, the implication that
Id be taken more seriously as a brunette. But that doesnt happen any
more.
My own experience seems to be
backed up by research. The Spoken
British National Corpus 2014 study
has analysed 2.5 million words of conversation and has compared these to
similar studies from the 1990s. A few
preliminary findings have been released over the past few months, including that the use of the word
marvellous has declined (sadly and
infuriatingly replaced by awesome),
and that we drank less sherry at
Christmas but more champagne. Now
the lead researchers claim that men
are using fewer sexist terms to describe women than they did in the 90s.
Women are now rarely referred to as
blonde or sexy in conversation and
are being described more in their own
right and less in terms of their appearance. Interestingly, there has been a
rise in the term girly girl seemingly because this archetype needs a special description as the cutesy-feminine
behaviour of the late 20th century is
no longer the norm.

Change in attitude?
But does this change in language
mean a change in attitudes? Certainly
there seems to be a marked difference
between the lad culture of the 90s to
what we are seeing now. Yet 2014
seems to have been the year that
Twitter and rape threat became
synonymous. Its also been the year
that sexism in video game culture hit
the mainstream with Gamergate, and
there was the debate as to whether
convicted rapist Ched Evans should be

able to resume his life while his victim

cannot. Even a U.N. expert thinks the
U.K. is a boys club.
So is misogyny just something that
we feel uncomfortable displaying in
public now? And are the misogynistic
conversations simply moving online?
Do people talk about lovely women
to each other, yet threaten to rape
them online when they disagree? Of
course, language evolves, and just as
interesting as the words that have disappeared are the ones that have
emerged. Apparently new words for
describing women include international, gypsy and Italian. Depending on the context, these could all be
derogatory terms and based on appearance rather than actual nationality. Italian is obviously far from a
negative term in itself, but given the
size of that countrys population and
recent immigration trends, it seems
unlikely that there has been an influx
of Italian women into Britain that we
were unaware of.
Men seemed to have been increasingly pigeoned-holed by their occupation, as there is a rise in the terms
city, business, working and
rich in relation to them. These may
hint at mens continued power, wealth
and influence but are also just monumentally boring. And just as social networks can veer towards the rapey, they
can also be well used to address sexism
with campaigns such as Lose the Lad
Mags, No More Page 3 and the Everyday Sexism project.
As women have increasingly taken
to dying their hair regularly, any
claims to characteristics based on hair
colour have gone from immature to
nonsensical. Instead there appears to
be an increased interest in ethnicity or
perceived ethnicity. Perhaps another
sign of the times. But there is clearly a
divergence between what people say
about women between themselves,
and the emergent language of online
interactions which are extreme, polarised, often violent and far from marvellous. Given the speed of change
online, hopefully 2015 will be the year
that we look back with embarrassment
at old-fashioned flaming. Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2015

CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS

>>Kohli, Rahane move up (Sport, Jan. 1, 2015, some editions) erroneously
gave the ranking of Kraigg Brathwaite and Marlon Samuels as 37th. Actually,
Marlon Samuels ranking is 38th.
It is the policy of The Hindu to correct significant errors as soon as possible.
Please specify the edition (place of publication), date and page.
The Readers Editors office can be contacted by
Telephone: +91-44-28418297/28576300 (11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to
Friday); E-mail: readerseditor@thehindu.co.in
The Terms of Reference for the Readers Editor are on www.thehindu.com
CM
YK

Revisiting the legend of Niyamgiri

It will need a caring partnership between the Dongria Kondh, civil society organisations
and the government to figure out how to navigate the very difficult terrain the tribals face
Ashish Kothari

ill last week, Id never visited

Niyamgiri, scene of the iconic
fight between the Dongria
Kondh tribal group and Vedanta, a powerful multinational corporation
bent on mining in the area. So why have I
titled this revisiting Niyamgiri? Partly
because Ive read so much about it, heard
so much from colleagues, that I feel like
Ive been there before. In a struggle that
the global media likened to David versus
Goliath, the corporation was sent packing
this is the stuff of legends. But legends
can be simplistic, so the second reason for
the title is that when I did actually go to
Niyamgiri last week, it was with the purpose of going beyond the narrative of the
anti-mining struggle; of revisiting the legend itself.
The Dongria Kondh in southwestern
Odisha is one of Indias so-called particularly vulnerable tribal groups. They retain world views and practices that go
back millennia, and embody forms of
knowledge and relationships with nature
that have been lost to many of the socalled civilised peoples. They typify everything that the Indian state and urban
educated folks would call backward: absence of literacy, simple levels of technology, shifting cultivation, animism, lack
of schools and hospitals, kaccha paths to
their villages, no electricity, and so on.
And yet, defying all the stereotypes that go
with this characterisation, they at least
for the time being have triumphed over
a private corporation with all the civilised powers at its command. (We heard
that Vedanta continues to hope for a reversal of the decision to disallow it from
mining in the area, especially now that an
even more corporate-friendly government than the Congress is in Delhi.) The
Dongria Kondh are, however, alert, and
absolutely sure they will not allow any
incursion by the company.
I went to Niyamgiri with some colleagues to understand the views of the
Dongria Kondh on development and wellbeing. They had rejected mining, but were
they rejecting the notion of development
itself? Were they saying they were happy
as they were? Did they reject everything
coming from outside, or did they want
some of it government schemes for instance? Were there differing views within
the community?
Walking to a number of Dongria Kondh
villages and talking to some of the movement leaders, we got a sense of the powerful spiritual and rational basis for the
rejection of mining. The rules laid down
by Niyam Raja, the spiritual source of the

TABOO: Major incursions like mining and factories are unacceptable

to the Dongria Kondhs. Picture shows them rejoicing in Kalahandi
district of Odisha after a gram sabha voted against mining by
Vedanta in Niyamgiri hills. PHOTO: K.R. DEEPAK
territory, included the protection of forests and rivers, common custodianship of
resources rather than individual property,
and sharing of labour and its fruits. In
such a situation, major incursions like
mining and big roads and factories were
simply taboo. Leaders like Laddo Sikaka
and Dadhi Pusika were also clear that they
did not want Niyamgiri to go the way
towns like Muniguda and Bhubaneshwar
did, where the water cannot be drunk and
the air cannot be breathed without falling
sick, where houses have to be locked when
people go out, and where women face harassment on a daily basis. Building roads
through the territory, they knew, would
only bring exploitative forces in. And having realised that getting individual plots
under the Forest Rights Act could encourage individualisation and more deforestation, the community has demanded that
the entire territory be recognised as a habitat right under the Act, with a single title
in the name of Niyam Raja.

Kinds of incursions
Unfortunately, however, such incursions have already been made, some rather insidious. Under its well-intentioned
but blatantly inappropriate welfare
schemes, the state had sought to bring the
benefits of civilisation to the tribe.
Schools hardly functioned in the few villages that had them, so Adivasi children
were brought to ashramshalas or boarding
schools where the education is in Odia
(the Dongria Kondh speak Kui language).
Adivasi culture is sought to be replaced by
the dominant mainstream one. A well-

Vedanta continues to hope

for a reversal of the
decision to disallow it
from mining in the area,
but the Dongria Kondh are
absolutely sure they will
not allow any incursion by
the company

ers and their supporters have been

interrogated, framed with charges, including terrorism, searched, and made to
feel unwelcome in their own home.
The Dongria Kondh are aware of these
issues, but there is some ambiguity on
how to deal with them. The increasing use
of rather incongruous looking metal roofs
on their houses (the walls were still mud),
is symptomatic of a level of confusion.
They complained that such roofs make
their houses very hot in summer. Why,
then, did they change from the traditional
thatch roofs? Because the government
was giving us the metal roofs. This was
the same response given for why white
rice was being eaten when they had their
own nutritious local millets and other
grains. Our question on whether the increasing entry of money as a medium of
exchange could be problematic was left
unanswered. Several Dongria Kondh families continue to send their children to
mainstream schools in the desperate hope
that their children will have a brighter
future. Many of them do say, however,
that they would prefer schools in their
own villages, with Dongria Kondh teachers using Kui language, and with incorporation of forest-field-based learning.

The complete narrative

A positive development from the antimining stir is the creation of the Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti, which unites all the
Dongria Kondh settlements. The Samiti is
taking up other issues too, such as a movement against illegal liquor brewing. This is
a ready platform to take up other thorny
known educational institution in Bhuba- issues the tribe face.
There is no way that with a limited set
neshwar, which counts many political and
scientific celebrities amongst its backers, of interactions, we could do justice to the
has brought thousands of Adivasi children complex questions we had set out to ask.
from across Odisha to give them educa- But we got sufficient glimpses to convince
tion; that it has significant funding from us that Niyamgiri, both as a place and as a
corporations that want to establish mines narrative, needs to be revisited. Enabling
and industries in Adivasi areas has led the Dongria Kondh to decide their own
activists to wonder whether it is educa- future, based on their understanding of
tion or brainwashing that is taking place. their past and present, requires deep emClosely following on the heels of the pathy and understanding from anyone
state has been the market. Till recently, outside of them who genuinely cares. The
the Dongria Kondh economy was almost David versus Goliath narrative is powercompletely non-monetised. There is now ful, and will sustain and inspire, but it is
an increasing need for money as what- not complete. The market and the state
ever little the Adivasis have to buy has have inextricably entered their lives. It
become more expensive. Items that they will need a caring partnership between
bring to sell are often sold at well-below the Dongria Kondh, civil society organisamarket rates. Typical of Adivasis in India, tions and the government to figure out
the encounter with the market is almost how to navigate the very difficult terrain
they face ahead of them, and for them to
always to their disadvantage.
Finally, there are the incursions of the continue inspiring and teaching the rest
police and other security forces. The area of the world how to live lives finely tuned
is supposed to have Naxalite activity, to nature.
(Ashish Kothari is with Kalpavriksh,
which has given the state a reason to periodically send in patrols. Both Adivasi lead- Pune.)

Who is really offended with PK?

Once the Censor Board has cleared a film and the people want to watch it, no one has
the right to pull the film from theatres
Baradwaj Rangan

enturies ago, a Hindu named

Vatsyayana wrote a treatise which,
if filmed, would never get past the
Censor Board today. The erotic
imagination of another Hindu named
Jayadeva, whose Gita Govinda depicts
an intensely physical aspect of Lord
Krishna, is something you want to
introduce to Alok Sanjar, the Bharatiya
Janata Party MP from Bhopal who
recently remarked that frequent sex can
drastically reduce a persons lifespan.
And yet, here we are again, having to
defend Hinduism from those who seem
to think that the slightest hint of
humour or heresy can bring crashing
down a religion that has stood strong for
millennia. I refer, of course, to the
controversy around the Hindu director
Rajkumar Hiranis movie PK. The
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) wants it
banned, and its members, along with
those charming chaps from the Bajrang
Dal, have taken to tearing up the films
posters and halting screenings. The
reason? According to VHP spokesman
Vinod Bansal, PK keeps making fun
of Hinduism. Members of the All India
Muslim Personal Law Board have also
demanded that the Censor Board
remove some scenes in the interest of
maintaining communal harmony.
For a moment, lets forget PK and
turn to a stretch in 3 Idiots, Mr.
Hiranis earlier blockbuster with Aamir
Khan. Anxious about an examination,
students of an engineering college
resort to prayers. The narrator tells us
sarcastically, Today was Results day
time to make a deal with God. And
indeed, deals are made. One student
performs an aarti, to the
accompaniment of a tinkling bell, in
front of a wall filled with pictures of
Hindu deities, and mutters, God, take
care of my Electronics paper. Ill break a
coconut. Another student bows before
a cobra, promising a litre of milk a day if
Nag Devta will help him clear his
Physics paper. A third is seen stuffing a
handful of grass into a cows mouth he
wants Gau Mata to help him pass his
exams. Another student halts in front of
an idol and pledges Rs.100 per month.
The narrator stifles a laugh and
remarks, Rs.100 wont even bribe a
traffic cop, let alone the Almighty.
This is exactly the kind of mocking of
religion that PK is being criticised
for, but theres more: the narrator in 3
Idiots, the one whose mocking
commentary underscored those visuals,
is named Farhan Qureshi. And where is
that films hero through all this?

INTOLERANCE: The cultural climate has changed now. Picture

shows a theatre screening PK in Mumbai. PHOTO: VIVEK BENDRE

If the people watching

the movie dont mind the
mocking of religion, who
are these opportunistic
political parties to take
up cudgels on their
behalf?
Blithely asleep. Even the sounds of the
mantras muttered during that aarti,
even that tinkling bell cant wake him
up which is just another way of saying
that he is beyond all this. So one has to
wonder why no one made a noise, then,
about a Muslim narrators amusement
at what are legitimate Hindu rituals,
practised in many parts of the country,
and why no one brought up the fact that
the Muslim actor at the films centre,
the films messiah, was shown not
needing the crutch of rituals. Not a word
was heard, either, about the seeming
lack of Christian, Sikh and Muslim
students praying hard to their gods.
Why, one might have asked, are only
Hindus shown to be following practices
that the rational/secular mind would
find ridiculous?

Reason for targeting

But no one brought it up probably
because 3 Idiots was not overtly about
religion. But PK is much more obvious
about its intent. It is a brazen attack
though attack is too strong a word for
such a sweet-natured film on religion,
and therefore, it announces itself as an
instant target. In all likelihood, the film
also became the focus of all this

attention because its a big movie, with a

big star, which means big attention
when you speak up against it. Its like
what happened with Kamal Haasans
Vishwaroopam. The Muslim outfits
that protested against it seemed
oblivious to the fact that the films hero
was a namaaz-performing Muslim who
saves the world by foiling a terrorist
plan hatched by other Muslims. Youd
think those Muslim outfits would have
celebrated the films choice to make the
hero a Muslim most other films with a
similar theme would have opted for a
Hindu character to portray the same.
But no. The radicals almost always miss
the point.
The other charge against PK is that
it promotes love jihad, with a romantic
track that revolves around a Pakistani
man named Sarfaraz and a Hindu
woman with the goddess-like name of
Jagat Janani, the creator of the world.
But the romance plays out neither in
India nor Pakistan, but in the relatively
neutral Belgium, just like My Name is
Khan set the romance between a
Muslim man and a Hindu woman in the
U.S. The women in both these films are
educated, liberal theres no evidence
that they will convert to Islam after
marriage, and neither did the strongwilled Hindu heroine of Jodhaa Akbar
renounce her religion. Even in earlier
decades, you can find films like
Muqaddar ka Sikandar, where the
hero is raised by a Muslim woman and is
in love with a Hindu. And if you
consider interreligious love stories with
the gender polarities reversed, you have
Gadar (Muslim woman-Sikh man),
Veer-Zaara (Muslim woman-Hindu
man), Raanjhanaa (Muslim woman-

Hindu man), Ek Tha Tiger (Muslim

woman-Hindu man). Did you hear many
protests against these films?
All the movies mentioned above are
hits 3 Idiots, in fact, was the first
film to gross over Rs.200 crore at the
box office. You dont make that kind of
money without love from all sections of
the audience, especially from Hindus,
who make up most of our nation. And if
they dont mind this lighthearted
mocking, then who are these others,
from opportunistic political parties, to
take up cudgels on their behalf? Dont
they realise that movies are like
elections? People wait patiently in line,
go to the counter, and cast their vote by
buying a ticket. So when a film like PK
becomes this kind of a blockbuster its
practically guaranteed to cross the
Rs.300 crore mark, the first Indian film
to do so then it means that it has been
approved by an overwhelming majority.
The people have spoken. On the one
hand, you hear that the Maharashtra
government has asked the police to
look into the content of the film. On
the other, the boxofficeindia site
predicts that PK may be the first film
to collect Rs.100 crore in the Mumbai
circuit alone. You have to ask the
question: Whos really being offended
here?
Once a film has come through the
Censor Board, no one has the right to
demand that it be pulled from theatres
because it has offended them. Everyone
is sensitive to something, and if you
begin to factor it all in, youll never
make a movie. You know this, I know
this, and the outfits doing the protesting
know this. Why, then, do they continue
to get all hot and bothered? Is it because
of the increasing saffronisation of
India, as some claim? The cultural
climate now is different, compared to
the 1970s, when a film like Hare Rama
Hare Krishna could get away with
yoking the names of the gods in its title
to scenes (and a smash-hit song, Dum
maaro dum) that featured uninhibited
pot smoking and premarital
commingling. But a bigger reason is that
our 24x7 TV channels and Internet
portals need news, and when this news
is related to a blockbuster film, it
becomes bigger news. And sensational,
viewership/readership-attracting news
as well when protesting organisations,
in their quest for cheap and easy and
guaranteed publicity, proffer up such
incendiary images of rioting and posterburning. The sad news is that you know
this, I know this, and the outfits doing
the protesting too know this.
baradwaj.r@thehindu.co.in
ND-ND

10

NEWS

NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU

FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 2015

FROM PAGE ONE

SLEW OF ORDINANCES

Reason to worry, says

NGO representative

Centre provides more ammunition to Opposition

Ministers meet
Pranab on land
ordinance

Janata Parivar constituents plan to merge before budget session

NEW

Suhasini Haidar
& Meena Menon
NEW DELHI: A representative

of an American green NGO,

one of four whose foreign
funding will be stopped unless it is cleared by the Ministry of Home Affairs
(MHA), told The Hindu
that the move appeared to
question democratic effort
that individuals and organisations could exercise in the
country. False allegations
against activists of political
subversion are becoming
commonplace and that is
enough reason to worry, he
said.
A letter the representative received dated December 10 said the MHA
Foreigners Division (FCRA
wing) regulates receipt of
foreign contribution by
NGOs to ensure that it is
utilised for bonafide welfare
activities, without compromising on concerns about
national
interest
and
security.
The government has
clamped down on four
American NGOs Avaaz,
Bank Information Centre
(BIC), Sierra Club and
350.org. Earlier it had acted
against Greenpeace.
With a claimed member-

ship of about 40 million

worldwide, New York-based
Avaaz works on several public issues and in September
2014, it had organised a Peoples climate march in
Delhi.
The Bank Information
Centre (BIC) is an NGObased in Washington that
tracks World Bank and Asian
Development Bank (ADB)
funded projects worldwide,
but has a special focus on India. According to a description on its website, its work
involves public debate on
coal and energy projects in
India, as there is a complete
lack of transparency and the
agencies who receive these
borrowings are not accountable to the people.
BIC was particularly critical of the Tata Mundhra
4,000 MW Ultra Mega Power Project in Gujarat, a key
project for the Gujarat
government.
New York-based NGO
350.org which works on climate-change and the California-based Sierra Club
have been opposing coal imports from Australia for Indian
thermal
plants,
including deals that were finalised during Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to
Australia in November 2014.

RSS not to reveal target

for cadre expansion
Jatin Gandhi
NEW DELHI: RSS official sourc-

es in Nagpur, however, underplayed the rural thrust.

After the foundation of the
RSS in 1925, our thrust was
to reach every State. That
was achieved by 1940. The
next 25 years were spent taking the RSS to the district
level, Manmohan Vaidya,
All India Prachar Pramukh
for the RSS, said. Rural expansion of the RSS is part of
its natural growth. We are
present in 35,000 places, but
we dont keep a separate account for cities and villages,
he said.
Asked about the RSSs target for cadre expansion, Mr.
Vaidya said: We dont talk
in terms of figures till we
have achieved them. The
RSS runs 43,000 shakhas at
present, he added.
An Agra meeting in November led to the RSS Sarkaryavah Suresh Bhaiyyaji
Joshi camp by the end of that
month in western Uttar Pradesh and promotion of activities related to penetration
at the village level. To begin

with, the Sangh is targeting

villages connected to the
State highways under its
Rajmarg Sampark Yojana.
We have held seven-day
camps beginning December
25 in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand to focus on the
villages, a pracharak in Uttarakhand said. The Sangh
aims to cover 10,000 villages
by 2015-end in the hill State.
Guruji [RSS second chief
M.S. Golwalkar] said our reach will need to be one per
cent in the village and three
per cent in the city for the
Sanghs work to be acknowledged by society, another
RSS official said in New Delhi. We are slowly increasing
our rural reach now.
The RSS remained an upper caste, urban phenomenon for decades. After its
success in mobilising voters
in the 2014 Lok Sabha election in 2014, the RSS decided
to boost its membership
base with a BJP government
at the Centre.
It is also using Narendra
Modis popularity for that,
Nagpur-based RSS observer
Dilip Deodhar said.

Smita Gupta
NEW DELHI: Buoyed by the Op-

positions success in presenting a united front

against the Modi government in the Rajya Sabha in
the Winter Session of Parliament, the parties of the Janata Parivar plan to
complete the formalities for
merger ahead of the Budget
Session slated for end-February, party sources told The
Hindu.
Simultaneously,
these
parties the Samajwadi
Party, the Janata Dal-United, the Rashtriya Janata Dal,
the Janata Dal(S), the Indian
National Lok Dal and the Samajwadi Janata Party will
work on not just keeping the
links built with other parties
on the floor of the Rajya Sabha alive, but in consolidating
those ties.
Last month saw the Janata Parivar making common
cause with the Left parties,
the Trinamool Congress, the
DMK and even the Congress
and the Nationalist Congress Party.
The Modi government using the closing days of 2014

net cleared the amendments

to the Act, Opposition parties, described the move as
anti-farmer, unjust and
deeply disturbing.
And it was the Congress,
the largest Opposition party,
that reached out to other
parties asking all pro-farmer
outfits to come together to
oppose the amendments,
with general secretary Digvijay Singh declaring, Congress would oppose every
move to dilute the Land Acquisition Act.
Simultaneously,
Trinamool leader and West BenSamajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh and
gal Chief Minister Mamata
Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad at a
Banerjee said her party
would fight the ordinance
Janata Parivar rally in New Delhi. FILE PHOTO:
tooth and nail. Indeed, the
MEETA AHLAWAT
land acquisition ordinance
to push through a slew of out that if the Congress was will be clubbed along with
ordinances that include on the same page as the BJP other anti-farmer actions
the ones to increase the FDI on the Insurance Law, it was of this government, Opposicap in the insurance sector extremely upset at the gov- tion sources said.
from 26 per cent to 49 per ernments attempt to dilute
cent, to permit allotment of the provisions of the Land Subversion of
coal blocks to private com- Acquisition Act using the or- Parliament
The Opposition is upset
panies and make it easier to dinance route. The Opposiacquire land even without tion parties are therefore not merely at the amendthe full consent of the own- going to focus on the Act in ments, but the fact that the
ers has provided more the coming weeks building government has taken the
ordinance route. Senior JD
grist to their mills.
up to the budget session.
JD(U) sources pointed
Indeed, the day the Cabi- (U) leader K.C. Tyagi said:

Non-subsidised gas too becomes cheaper

Mahim Pratap Singh

tion of these resources to the

The revised excise duty
road sector will also spur eco- would be effective from
NEW DELHI: As global oil prices nomic activity and employ- Thursday midnight.
hit a five-and-a-half year ment generation, a Finance
Non-subsidised LPG will
slump, oil companies effect- Ministry statement said.
now cost Rs. 708.50 in Delhi,
ed price cuts for Aviation
Turbine Fuel (ATF) and nonsubsidised cooking gas on
Thursday. While the nonsubsidised LPG price was cut
by Rs. 43.50 per 14.2 kg cylinLalatendu Mishra
executive.
der, ATF prices were reduced
Travel agents are of the
by 12.5 per cent.
MUMBAI: Airline officials
same view. There is no
In another development,
said airfares in India
scope to cut fares unless
the government hiked the exwere already low
supplies [more seats
cise duty on diesel and petrol
compared to U.S. and
offered in sectors]
by Rs. 2 a litre each to fund its
other countries and there improve. Fares will be
ambitious infrastructure
was no leeway to cut
under control if
programme. However, the
fares.
government caps them,
hike will not impact retail
There is a huge
said Subhash Goyal,
prices, an Indian Oil Corpomismatch in revenue and Chairman, STIC Travel
ration official told The
cost. The existing fares do Group.
Hindu.
not compensate the cost.
Some experts have
In order to fund the ambiIn 1994 the fare between hope. After January 5,
tious infrastructure developDelhi and Mumbai was
once average airline seat
ment programme of the
Rs. 5,500 and after 20
occupancy levels fall to
government, particularly the
years the average fare is
the low 70s, we may see
building of 15,000 km of
Rs. 7,000. It should have discount offers kicking
roads the government has
been Rs. 15,000
in, said Amber Dubey,
decided to increase basic exconsidering the inflation Partner and India Head
cise duty on petrol and diesel
and other input costs,
of Aerospace and Defence
[both branded and unbrandsaid an airline senior
KPMG.
ed] by Rs. 2 per litre. Alloca-

No scope for air fare cut

Bharatiya governance model unveiled

Special Correspondent

Hindu outfit not authorised

Sarabjit Pandher
CHANDIGARH: Jathdedar Giani
Gurbachan Singh said on
Wednesday that before reconverting to Sikhism, the
persons should have approached the Takht for repentance. The five Singh
Sahibs would have pronounced tankah (religious
service) and laid down the
procedure to be followed.
While the Dharam Jagran
Manch said Shiromani
Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee president Avtar Singh
Makkar was happy with the
development, the apex body
clarified that it was not associated with the re-conversion.
Jathdedar
Giani

Gurbachan Singh of the Akal

Takht, the highest temporal
authority of the Sikhs, said
on Wednesday the Dharam
Jagran Manch, seen as a
front of the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh, was
not authorised to convert
anyone to Sikhism. In 2004,
the Takht had issued an edict, asking the Sikhs to stay
away from the activities of
the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat,
another RSS offshoot.
He objected to the Takht
not being involved in, or informed of, the ceremony at
the Baba Jeevan Singh Gurdwara at Guru ki Wadali village near Chheharta in
Amritsar and ordered a
probe into the incident.

Prices of popular models up

G. Balachandar &
Yuthika Bhargava
CHENNAI/NEW DELHI: The auto
industry is upset at the withdrawal of excise duty concession stating that it will have a
negative impact on the sector,
which has been seeing only
anaemic recovery.
It [withdrawal of excise
duty cut] is only a temporary
setback and the benefit did
not help significantly anyway.
It is more to do with sentiment and this withdrawal was
expected, Daljeet Singh
Kohli, Research Head of IndiaNivesh Securities, says.
When the excise duty cut
was announced in February,
we passed on the full benefits
to the customers. As it is a
matter of taxes, well be billing customers as per the higher price with immediate
effect, said Rakesh Srivastava, senior vice-president,
sales and marketing, Hyundai
Motor India.
CM
YK

The price of small car Hyundai Eon could go up by

about Rs. 11,000, while the i10
Grand will see an increase of
about Rs. 15,000 and the Vernas price will go up by Rs.
26,000.
Jnaneswar Sen, senior
vice-president, marketing &
sales, Honda Cars India, said
the company had announced
a price revision (4 per cent
increase) for its models. Maruti Suzuki said any decision
on price hike would be taken
post-January 5, when the
company employees would
return from year-end holidays.
Toyota Kirloskar Motor
said it would study the market reaction and announce
the price revisionDuring the
calendar year 2014, four
months saw decline in sales.
Growth in the sector has not
been all-inclusive, Mr. Srivastava said.
(With inputs from Ramnath Subbu in Mumbai)

down from the existing Rs.

752.
Possibly the sharpest cut
since it was deregulated in
2002, ATF or jet fuel would
cost Rs. 52,422.92 per kilolitre in Delhi, down by Rs.
7,520.52. In Mumbai, it
would cost Rs. 53,861.58/kl
down from Rs. 61,695.45/ kl.
This is the sixth consecutive reduction in jet fuel prices since August last year, with
the last cut announced on
December 1 when prices were
reduced by 4.1 per cent.
Asked whether the trend
would continue, Indian Oil
spokesperson Amresh Kapoor said prices were reviewed fortnightly and the
last review was done on
Wednesday.
Prices of global benchmark
Brent crude which fell 49 per
cent during 2014, hit $53 on
Wednesday, with demand
continuing to weaken amid a
supply glut owing to the U.S.
shale boom and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries
(OPEC)
refusing to cut production.

NEW DELHI: The Modi Government on Thursday unveiled

its Bharatiya governance
model in the resolution for
setting up the NITI (National
Institution for Transforming
India) Aayog.
The resolution, approved
by the Cabinet, reaffirms that
India is a diverse country
with distinct languages, faiths
and cultural ecosystems.
This diversity has enriched
the totality of the Indian experience, the resolution
says.
Politically too, India has
embraced a greater measure
of pluralism which has reshaped the federal consensus,
it says. States do not want to
be mere appendages of the
Centre They seek a decisive
say in determining the architecture of economic growth
and development.
India no longer seeks the
alleviation of poverty, states
the resolution, but rather its
elimination. Poverty elimination remains one of the

A view of the Planning Commission building in

New Delhi. PHOTO: SHANKER CHAKRAVARTY
most important metrics by
which alone we should measure our success as a nation.
The essence of effective
governance is defined to include pro-people agenda, citizens participation, all-round
women
empowerment,
equality of opportunity to the
youth and transparency. Inclusiveness with special attention to the socially and
economically disadvantaged
sections and minorities is also included in the scheme of

effective governance.

Enabling legislation
The role of Government as
a player in the industrial and
service sectors is proposed to
be reduced. Instead, Government has to focus on enabling legislation, policy
making and regulation.
Indias middle class, including the neo-middle class,
is unique in terms of its size
and purchasing power, says
the resolution. Our contin-

uing challenge is to ensure

that this economically vibrant group remains engaged
and its potential is fully
realised.
The resolution also says
that the Non-Resident Indian
community spread across
more than 200 countries is a
significant geo-economic and
geo-political strength. Future national policies must
incorporate this strength in
order to broaden their participation in the new India beyond just their financial
support.
Urbanisation has to be
viewed as an opportunity to
use modern technology to
create a wholesome and secure habitat while reaping the
economic benefits that it offers, states the resolution.
Policy-making must focus
on providing necessary support to the more than 50 million small businesses, which
are a major source of employment creation, in terms of
skill and knowledge upgrades
and access to financial capital
and relevant technology.

We criticised the UPA government because it passed

so many ordinances, but the
Modi government in just
seven months has demonstrated far greater speed:
this is a subversion of
Parliament.
Even BJP ally PMK founder S. Ramadoss slammed
the back door entry by the
NDA government, saying
the changes will affect
crores of farmers in the
country.
Meanwhile, for the JD(U)
and the RJD, the urgency to
create one party is driving
the merger: with Assembly
elections in Bihar due at the
end of the year, the members of these two parties are
keen to get their act together as quickly as possible, especially as the BJP has
already begun work on the
State.
JD(U) sources said that
SP supremo Mulayam Singh
would be free by January 8,
when annual festivities in
his native Saifai will end: at
the last meeting of the Janata Parivar, Mr. Singh was
authorised to start the process of merger.

DELHI: Three senior

Union Ministers met President Pranab Mukherjee to
explain the urgency in promulgating
the
ordinance
amending the land acquisition Act before he gave his
nod to it.
Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley, Law Minister D.V.
Sadananda
Gowda
and
Transport Minister Nitin
Gadkari met the President as
he sought some clarification
on the ordinance, sources
said.
The Ministers informed
the President about the need
to promulgate the ordinance
urgently because before January 1, Act should bring under its purview 13 central
laws, including those relating
to defence and national security, to provide higher compensation and rehabilitation
and resettlement benefits to
farmers whose land was being acquired. They cited Section 105 of the Act in this
regard.
The President accorded his
nod to the ordinance after
meeting the Ministers. With
the promulgation of the ordinance, the Act will be applicable to 13 existing central laws.
PTI

Stable power supply will

ease farm distress: Gadkari

Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari flanked by

Maharashtra Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse
(left) and the States Finance and Planning
Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar during a press
conference in Mumbai on Thursday. PHOTO: PTI
Omar Rashid
MUMBAI: Union Minister Nitin
Gadkari on Thursday said the
government was taking measures to ensure stable electricity supply for Maharashtra to
curb farmer suicides in the
States Vidarbha region.
Pointing out that unavailability of irrigation water and
insufficient power supply
were the two major factors behind agricultural distress, the
Union Transport and Highways Minister said the government was working to achieve a
load-shedding-free Maharashtra. I wont promise. But
I will say our target is six
months. I am in talks with
[Power and Coal Minister] Piyush Goyal and [Maharashtra
Chief Minister] Devendra
Fadnavis on this matter, Mr.
Gadkari said.
For as long as a farmer does

not get water and electricity,

farmer suicides will not stop.
We are seriously trying to address the major issues. Merely
building big dams will not do;
we also need to build small
check dams to provide irrigation facilities to farmers, Mr.
Gadkari said.
Mr. Gadkari, who hails from
Vidarbha, claimed that his village suffered 16 hours of loadshedding daily.
Protesting against the official apathy towards agrarian
distress in Vidarbha, farmer
widows in the region on December 31 participated in a
protest march and candlelight vigil to pay tribute to the
farmers who have committed
suicide over the years; 2014
would be observed as the year
of betrayal as the promises of
the new government have not
been fulfilled, said farmers activist Kishore Tiwari.

Security to be factored into

Whistleblowers Act
NEW DELHI: Aspects related to

national security and sovereignty are set to be taken out

of the ambit of the Whistleblowers Protection Act,
which provides a mechanism
for protecting the identity of
those
who
expose
corruption.
The Act was part of a bouquet of legislations brought
by the previous UPA government to check corruption but
its implementation had been
put on hold by the Modi government for removing issues
related to national security
and sovereignty.

Amendments to the law,

enacted in May last, are expected to be taken up by the
Union Cabinet soon, sources
said here on Thursday.
The Act was passed by the
Lok Sabha in 2011 but the
Rajya Sabha could clear it only on February 21 last year.
The Presidential assent to
it was given in May last. The
issue of safeguarding information on national security
was first raised by the BJP
when the then Minister of
State for Personnel V. Narayanasamy had tabled the
Bill in Rajya Sabha. PTI

Marked increase in attacks on media in 2014: report

Vinaya Deshpande
MUMBAI: The year 2014, which

marked the start of separate

data collection (by the
National Crime Records
Bureau) for attacks on the
media, saw an increasing
number of attacks on free
speech in the country.
A report published by the
media analysis website,
www.thehoot.orgs Free
Speech Hub says there was a
marked increase in direct
physical attacks on the media
and citizens, and in the
number of defamation suits.
Free speech violations in
2014 included the death of
two journalists for their

investigative stories on
malpractices in local
businesses, an increase in
defamation cases and legal
notices to curb reportage on a
range of issues, increasing
attacks on the media and civil
society activists, violence by
vigilante groups and a spike in
hate speech cases during
election campaigns, the
report said.
The report throws light on
the chilling effect of
defamation cases and legal
notices. The number of
defamation cases and legal
notices increased from two in
2012 to seven in 2013 and 20
in 2014. From politicians to
business houses, lawyers,

former judges and media

houses, defamation notices
were sent against book
publishers, advertisers, other
media houses and
journalists, the report said.
In May 2014, Aam Aadmi
Party leader Arvind Kejriwal
was arrested in a defamation
case filed by Union Minister
Nitin Gadkari. Mr. Kejriwal
refused to furnish a bail bond
and was remanded in judicial
custody. The former Supreme
Court judge and National
Green Tribunal Chairperson,
Justice Swatanter Kumar,
accused of sexual harassment
by a law intern, filed a
defamation case against two
English television channels

and a leading English

newspaper. He also managed
to get a gag order on media
reportage of the case.
Cricketer M.S. Dhoni filed a
Rs. 100-crore defamation case
against media houses over
allegations of his involvement
in match-fixing. Among the
other cases, Infosys sent
notices of Rs. 2,000 crore each
to three publications owned
by Bennett, Coleman and Co.
Ltd and The Indian Express
Ltd. The other multi-crore
defamation notices included
those sent by Mukesh
Ambanis Reliance Industries
Ltd and the Anil Ambani-led
Reliance Natural Resources
Ltd to journalist Paranjoy

Guha Thakurta, author of Gas journalists in the line of duty

came down from eight in 2013
Wars: Crony Capitalism and
the Ambanis , the report said. to two last year. But they
underline[d] extreme
State clampdown
vulnerability of journalists
working in small towns,
During the year, the state
particularly unearthing
also clamped down on
freedom of expression. There crimes. Tarun Acharya, 29, a
were 13 arrests, including that stringer with Kanak TV in
of nine students in Kerala for Odisha, was killed in May last
year after doing an
a crossword clue in a college
investigative story on child
magazine allegedly
employment in a nearby
unfavourable to Prime
cashew processing plant.
Minister Narendra Modi. A
M.N.V. Shankar, 52, was killed
journalist from Assam was
at Chilakaluripet in Guntur
imprisoned for his alleged
links with insurgency groups, district of Andhra Pradesh in
May 2014, a few days after his
and three others were put
newspaper published his
behind bars for Facebook
report on a local kerosene
posts.
mafia.
The number of deaths of
ND-ND

NATIONAL

NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU

FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 2015

GOVERNMENT FORMATION MOVES

BJP seeks more time in J&K

PDP wants full-term CM; BJP for rotation of post
Gargi Parsai & Zahid Rafiq
NEW DELHI/SRINAGAR: A day after Peoples Democratic Party
president Mehbooba Mufti
met Jammu and Kashmir
Governor N.N. Vohra, a BJP
delegation, including its
State president Jugal Kishore Sharma, on Thursday
called on him and sought
more time for government
formation.
We have asked the Governor for some more time so
that the result of the ongoing
dialogue [with other political
parties] comes out. There are
many issues that need to be
discussed and that is why it is
taking time, Mr. Sharma
said.
A formal round of talks
with the PDP leadership will
begin in the next two or three
days, a senior BJP leader involved in parleys told reporters in New Delhi. There are
indications that the two parties will work out a common
minimum programme to set

BJP MP Jugal Kishore Sharma addressing the

media after meeting J&K Governor N.N. Vohra
on Thursday. PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
aside contentious issues.
Back-channel talks have
been in progress between the
BJP and the PDP, the two
largest single parties in the
Assembly elections, with the
latter winning almost all the
seats in the Kashmir Valley
and the former sweeping
Jammus Hindu heartland.
The BJP also held talks with
the National Conference,
which won 15 seats, but the

NC faced an anti-incumbency vote in the elections and a

partnership with it will still
leave the BJP short of six
seats to form a government.
The biggest point of contention between the BJP and
the PDP is the rotation of
Chief Ministership. While
the BJP, with 25 seats and a
lot of campaigning around
the slogan of installing the
first Hindu Chief Minister in

the State, wants to have its

own candidate for three
years, for the PDP, the idea of
its patron Mufti Sayeed being
the head of the government
the entire six-year term is
non-negotiable.
That was the main issue
between the two parties, but
it has almost been sorted out
as the BJP seems to have accepted that Mufti will be the
Chief Minister for the entire
term, a senior BJP leader
told The Hindu in Srinagar.
Our coming together will be
on the grounds of development and governance, and
controversial issues will be
set aside for the time being.
Mr. Vohra has given both
parties time till January 19,
after which the State would
come under Governors rule.
We are not in a hurry [to
form the government].We
are working to give the people of Jammu and Kashmir a
stable government that completes its tenure of six years,
Mr. Sharma said.

HC names
judge to hear
Jayalalithaas
appeal case

Forest Rights Act not

delaying projects: official

Krishnaprasad

NEW DELHI: The Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs says that

there is no evidence that the
process under the Forest
Rights Act (FRA) delays projects, even as there is pressure from the Ministry of
Environment to dilute the
law and do away with the
condition that gram sabhas
should give consent for projects.
Hrushikesh Panda, Secretary, Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs, assured members
attending a national convention on community forest
rights here recently that the
FRA will not be diluted.
Dr. Panda, in a letter dated
November 12, 2014 to his
counterpart in the Ministry
of Environment and Forests, said though the Ministry of Tribal Affairs is the
nodal ministry of the FRA,
the Ministry of Environment has been issuing advisories to States, relaxing
certain provisions of the
FRA.
Taking a legal stand, he
said the FRA does not provide any scope to any executive agency for any kind of
relaxation of the applicability of the Act. The responsib-

BENGALURU: The Chief Justice

of the High Court of Karnataka on Thursday set up a Special Bench of Justice C.R.
Kumaraswamy to hear the
appeals filed by AIADMK
general-secretary Jayalalithaa and others, who have
questioned their conviction
in the disproportionate assets case. The Special Bench
has been set up based on the
December 18, 2014 direction
of the Supreme Court for
hearing the appeals on a dayto-day basis, said a notification issued by the Registrar
(Judicial). The other appeals
were filed by Ms. Jayalalithaas associates V.K. Sasikala, V.N. Sudhakaran and J.
Ilavarasi.
Though the appeals have
been listed for hearing on
Friday, they are likely to be
heard regularly from January 5 as Justice Kumaraswamy will not be sitting on
Friday.

NIA takes
over Assam
massacre cases
Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI: The National In-

vestigation Agency has taken

over four cases registered
against the National Democratic Front of Bodoland
(Songbijit) militants who
massacred 75 people in the
Sonitpur and Kokrajhar districts of Assam about a week
ago.
The cases were registered
under various provisions of
the Arms Act, Indian Penal
Code and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. In compliance with the Union Home
Ministry order dated December 27, 2014, our Guwahati
unit has taken over four cases
registered at the Kokrajhar,
Dhekiajuli and Bishwanath
Chariali police stations in Assam, an NIA official said.

Expert panel
under CVC
to be formed
Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI: The Central Vigi-

lance Commission (CVC) has

invited applications for constitution of a committee of
experts to scrutinise requests
from ministries and departments for reconsideration of
their advice on proposals for
prosecution sanction against
officers facing corruption
charges. Persons fulfilling eligibility conditions have been
asked to submit applications
by January 19.
The CVC is mandated to
tender advice in respect of officers in cases where investigating agencies seek sanction
for their prosecution under
the Prevention of Corruption
Act. Sometimes, the department/ministry concerned refers the cases back to the CVC
for reconsideration.
CM
YK

Meena Menon

Calls for withdrawal

of order issued by
Environment Ministry
ility is neither vested in the
Environment Ministry nor
in the Tribal Affairs Ministry, he added.
An impression is being
created that the administration/implementation of the
FRA is hindering or delaying
clearance of the developmental projects, he said. If
there has been any study or
evidence on delay of the projects because of the processes of FRA, it should be
brought to the notice of the
Tribal Affairs Ministry.
The process of the FRA
can be expeditious, he said.
It takes less time than the
procedures under the Forest
Conservation Act and land
acquisition. The Environment Ministry letter of October takes a short cut,
which can derail projects
completely, he added. A letter taking this up was given
short shrift by the Environment Ministry.

Wrong message
Dr. Panda said the October 28 order was violative of

the law of the land and a project, which takes a short cut,
can be stopped by just one
village, which has land classified as forest. The recent
order had given a message
that the government is
against fair implementation
of the FRA. This is not desirable in the interests of peace
and governance in forest areas, he added, demanding its
withdrawal.
The October 28, 2014 letter of the Environment Ministry said no forests were
likely to be recognised under
the provisions of the FRA, in
case of plantations notified
as forests for any period less
than 75 years prior to December 13, 2005 and in villages in such areas which
have no recorded populations of Scheduled Tribes,
according to the 2001 and
2011 censuses, since a person residing in such a forest
will not be eligible as other
traditional forest dwellers or
scheduled tribes according
to the FRA.
In such plantations, a certificate of the District Collector certifying the land to
be a plantation and having
no population of Scheduled
Tribes or other traditional
forest dwellers is sufficient.

11

Girl who fought molesters burnt to

death in Varanasi, UNHRC petitioned
Sandeep Joshi
LUCKNOW: The burning of a
girl student who opposed the
advances of three men in Varanasi has reached the Geneva-based United Nations
Human Rights Council
(UNHRC).
The Varanasi-based NGO,
Peoples Vigilance Committee on Human Rights
(PVCHR), said it wrote to the
UNHRC after its pleas to
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, who also represents
the city in the Lok Sabha,
Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and the State police chief

went unanswered. The NGO

had also approached the National Human Rights Commission and the Chief
Justice of the Supreme
Court.
Our case has been accepted by the Human Rights
Council and Special Procedures Division at the Office
of the High Commissioner
for Human Rights in the
United Nations... It has
promised to take necessary
action in the case, PVCHR
head Lenin Raghuvanshi told
The-Hindu.
The accused are still
roaming free. The Varanasi

police are still to book them.

The 20-year-old girl, who
was being stalked for the past
six months by the three
youths, had to pay the price
of police inaction with her
life... The police did not pay
heed to the complaints of the
deceased and her family
members, alleged Mr.
Raghuvanshi.
He said the girls ordeal began about six months ago
when the three accused
Babudan, Gabbu and Pappu
started harassing her. The
girl and her father approached senior police officials, but no action was

taken. This emboldened the

accused who on December 18
entered her house and tried
to rape her while her family
members were away. She put
up a fight and screamed out
loud. The boys then poured
kerosene and burnt her, he
said. She died on December
26.
The girls father also
wrote to the Prime Ministers Office and sought Mr.
Modis intervention, he being their local MP. But nothing happened. So we had no
option but to approach the
United Nations, Mr. Raghuvanshi said.

LoC tension: Rajnath talks tough

National Bureau
NEW DELHI: As ceasefire violations from Pakistan continued
on the border in Jammu and
Kashmir, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday asserted that the security
forces would give a fitting response to those casting evil
designs on India.
Our jawans are protecting
the border with all their
might. No one can dare cast an
evil eye on India. Even if
someone tries to do so, the
BSF and other security forces
will give them a fitting reply,
Mr. Singh told journalists here
on the sidelines of a meeting.
He said Pakistan should refrain from such ceasefire violations as both countries were
in touch on the issue. The situation would be back to normal soon, he added.
BSF Director General D.K.
Pathak briefed the Minister
and the Home Secretary, Anil
Goswami, on the ground situation along the border.
Pakistan Rangers on Thursday targeted 13 border outposts in the Samba sector of
Jammu and Kashmir, to
which the Indian forces retaliated. Sources said five Pakistan Rangers were killed and
two critically injured in the
BSF firing. The BSF had also
destroyed a terrorist launch
pad across the border at Abhiyal Dogra .

BSF soldiers shout slogans in memory of their colleague who was killed in
crossborder firing, during his funeral in Jammu on Thursday. PHOTO: AP

Pakistan has not learnt its lesson: Parrikar

Nagesh Prabhu
BENGALURU: Defence

Minister Manohar Parrikar

on Thursday said Pakistan
had not learnt lessons from
its truce violations [that
India will retaliate
strongly] and had opened
fire on the border even on
New Years Day.
He was speaking at a
function organised by
Adamya Chetana, an NGO
working in the field of
social development

managed by Tejaswini, wife

of Union Chemical and
Fertilizers Minister Ananth
Kumar.
In an obvious reference
to Pakistan and China, he
said: We are surrounded
by two neighbours in the
northern boundary and
they are not comfortable
with us. Pakistan does not
like to stay quiet [even] on
New Years Day. Pakistan
forces started firing at 12.30
a.m. Pakistan seems to have
not learnt lessons, Mr.

Parrikar said.
Whenever there is an
attempt for infiltration
firing starts we have
responded. The Army
would respond
appropriately to ceasefire
violations on the border, he
said.
Asked about defence
deals with the U.S., he said
big contracts would be
signed during President
Barack Obamas visit to
India for the Republic Day
celebrations.

Only concrete roads

New Uttarakhand Governor

MUMBAI: Transport Minister

Nitin Gadkari on Thursday
said all new road projects of
the Centre would use concrete. Against the prevalent
rate of Rs. 350 per bag of cement, Mr. Gadkari told reporters that the Ministry had
found a supplier near Mumbai

Staff Reporter

ready to deliver at Rs. 120 per

bag, excluding taxes and
transport, and advised the
Maharashtra government and
local bodies to avail of it.
Mr. Gadkari also advocated
the use of technologies where
a by-product of oil is used for
road laying. PTI

muniqu said Mr. Paul, Meghalaya Governor, would continue

DEHRADUN: Krishan Kant Paul to hold the office of the Goverwill be sworn in as the sixth nor of Manipur. The current
Governor of Uttarakhand on Governor, Aziz Qureshi, would
January 8. A presidential com- be transferred to Mizoram.

Moves to deny access

to officials assets info
Devesh K. Pandey
NEW DELHI: Although the

Department of Personnel
and Training has simplified the form for declaration of assets and
liabilities by government
employees, the Ministry of
Personnel may amend the
Lokpal and Lokayuktas
Act to address their concerns about possible misuse of information thus
made public.
We have already simplified the declaration
form and accordingly an
order was issued last
week. The officials are no
more required to reveal
the names of banks or financial institutions in
which they have invested.
However, we are alive to
the concerns expressed by
government employees on
making the disclosures
public, a senior Ministry
official said.
A major worry for the
employees is Section 44
(6) of the Lokpal Act,
which provides that the
competent authority in respect of each Ministry or
department shall ensure

that all such statements

[declaration] are published on the website of such
Ministry or department
...

Discussions on
The official said the issue of making the information public, as made
mandatory under the Act,
was being discussed at the
senior-most level in the
Ministry and that all possibilities were being explored,
including
amendments.
We are also trying to
ascertain if there can be a
system to keep the declarations for access only
within the government. If
necessary, we may also
bring in amendments in
view of the concerns
raised, he said.
The revised order, issued on December 26,
makes it mandatory for
government employees to
declare their deposits in
foreign banks as also those
of their spouses and dependent children.
However, the deadline
has been extended from
December 31 to April 30.

Bank strike on January 7

Bank employees
unions have decided go on a
strike on January 7 across the
country to press for a wage
hike. Bank unions have also
threatened to go on strike on
multiple days later this
month if their demand is not
accepted. We want early
conclusion of the 10th bipartite wage negotiation (with

MUMBAI:

IBA) for satisfactory and reasonable wage hike and so we

are going on an all-India bank
strike on January 7, United
Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) convener Vishwas Utagi
told presspersons here on
Thursday. The unions have
been demanding a wage revision linked to the gross profit
of the banks. PTI
ND-ND

12

INTERNATIONAL

NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU

Govt. deploying BACK TO ADIALA JAIL

troops to
intimidate
voters: Ranil
Magistrate rejects police request for five more days to interrogate him

Lakhvi remanded in judicial custody

FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 2015

Retrial of al-Jazeera journos ordered

Meera Srinivasan
ISLAMABAD: Zakiur Rehman
COLOMBO: Sri Lankas opposi- Lakhvi, the mastermind of the

tion leader Ranil Wickramasinghe has accused the

government of deploying
troops to intimidate Sri Lankas minority Tamils from voting
in
the
upcoming
presidential polls.
Addressing diplomats and
journalists here on Thursday
a week ahead of the January 8 elections he said the
joint opposition, challenging
President Mahinda Rajapaksa, had received information
on retired army professionals
training military troops to
deter voters in different electorates, particularly those in
the island-nations North and
East. It is not a free and election by any means, he said.
Former Prime Minister
Mr. Wickremesinghe, one of
the principal supporters of
joint opposition candidate
Maithripala Sirisena, said
people of the country wanted
change, and will be coming
out and voting for that
change.
In a week from now Sri
Lanka goes to polls, widely
expected to be a close contest.
Addressing a campaign rally
in Kandy on Friday, a condent-sounding President Rajapaksa said: Seeing the sea
of people while addressing
you from this historical Kandyan City, I am sure of victory
on the 8th.
On Thursday, Deputy Minister of Higher Education
Nandimithra Ekanayake quit
the government to support
Mr. Sirisena.
I am leaving the government to create a better future
for our country, he said, a
day after Faizer Mustapha, a
Presidents Counsel and Deputy Minister of Investment,
defected to the joint opposition. Mr. Ekanayakes defection brought to 25 the
number of ruling party lawmakers who have joined the
opposition.

2008 Mumbai attack, was on

Thursday sent back to a Rawalpindi jail after a court here remanded him in 14 days of
judicial custody for the abduction of an Afghan national,
amid a row with India over his
release in the 26/11 case.
Lakhvi (54), was produced
before a judicial magistrate of
the local court here on the expiry of his two-day physical
remand.
The magistrate rejected the
polices request for further ve
days remand to interrogate the
suspect and sent him to judicial
custody for 14 days at Adiala
Jail where he had been detained in the Mumbai terror attack case for the last ve years.
He will be produced again before the court on January 15.
Just before Lakhvi was to be
released on Tuesday after Islamabad High Court suspended
his detention, he was arrested
on charges of kidnapping a man

Wasnt Samjhauta Express attack

accused Aseemanand given bail?
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on

Pakistani police officers escort Zaki-ur-Rahman

Lakhvi in Islamabad on Thursday. PHOTO: AP
named Muhammad Anwar
Khan, an Afghan national.
According to an FIR registered on Monday at a police
station in Islamabad, Khan was
kidnapped by Lakhvi six years
ago. The court had also granted
Lakhvis two-day physical remand to police.
Lakhvi was granted bail on

December 18 in the Mumbai attack case but was detained under the Maintenance of Public
Order (MPO). He challenged
his detention under MPO in
the Islamabad High Court
which on Monday suspended
the government order, evoking
a strong reaction from India.
PTI

Thursday said it was

vigorously pursuing the
2008 Mumbai attack case
and described as
unfortunate the hype
created on grant of bail to
Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the
mastermind of the deadly
assault.
The case is sub-judice. It
is unfortunate that an
unnecessary hype was
created on grant of bail to
Lakhvi. [It] is progressing
well, Foreign Office (FO)
spokeswoman Tasnim
Aslam said.
She also accused India of
not sharing ndings of
Samjhauta Express terrorist
attack probe with Pakistan.
I may also draw your
attention to the

Samjhauta Express terrorist

attack in which close to fty
Pakistanis were killed. The
investigations and the
confession of the
mastermind of the attack,
Swami Aseemanand pointed
to the involvement of
Indian military officers and
some organisations linked
to major political parties,
Ms. Aslam said, replying to a
question.
Yet, Aseemanand was
granted bail on 28th August
2014. Although [it]
happened more than two
years before Mumbai attack,
it is very disappointing that
India has not shared
ndings of investigations
despite assurances at the
highest level, she said.
PTI

CAIRO: An Egyptian appeals

court ordered a retrial on
Thursday in the case of three
imprisoned al-Jazeera English
journalists.
The decision by Egypts Court
of Cassation came after a

hearing that lasted only a few

minutes. However, CanadianEgyptian Mohammed Fahmy,
Australian journalist Peter
Greste and Egyptian Baher
Mohammed, who have been held
their arrest December 2013,
were not granted bail. The three
journalists did not attend the
brief hearing.
Defence lawyers said they
believed a retrial for the three
men would be held within a
month. AP

Piketty refuses Legion of Honour

PARIS: Frances influential

economist Thomas Piketty,
author of Capital in the 21st
Century, on Thursday refused to
accept the countrys highest
award, the Legion dhonneur
(Legion of Honour). I refuse

this nomination because I do not

think it is the governments role
to decide who is honourable,
Mr. Piketty told AFP. They
would do better to concentrate
on reviving [economic] growth
in France and Europe, added
Mr. Piketty, who was once close
to the Socialist Party but has
distanced himself from the
policies of President Francois
Hollande.
Mr. Piketty has gained
attention worldwide with his
book of theories about growing
economic inequality, which has
sold some 1.5 million copies.
AFP

36 killed in New Year stampede in Shanghai Pilot made emergency water landing?
Atul Aneja
BEIJING: A stampede apparent-

ly caused by the rush to grab

coupons, which resembled
100 dollar bills, by revellers
thronging a popular venue in
Shanghai, has killed 36
people.
Witnesses said that the
coupons were being emptied
from the third oor of a building, in the riverside Bund area
of Chinas commercial capital.
The Chinese daily Global
Times reported that bills had
M18, the name of the bar in
the area, printed on them. The
newspaper quoted individuals
on social media as saying that
the bar owner demonstrated
possession of the coupons prior to the incident.
The dead include 25 young
women, in the 16-36 age

A view of a stampede during New Years

celebration on the Bund, a waterfront area in
central Shanghai, on Thursday. PHOTO: REUTERS
group.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has said that no efforts
should be spared to treat
those injured in the stam-

pede. He added that a profound lesson should be

learned from the incident,
ahead of the upcoming festivals including the Spring Fes-

tival, or the Lunar New Year,

which would be followed by
the Lantern Festival. Millions
of Chinese collectively participate in this string of festivities. Mr. Xi ordered thorough
investigation into the cause of
the stampede.
The Shanghai Daily reported that the venue of this years
New Year festivities had been
shifted to the Chen Yi Square
near the Bund Origin area, apparently to limit crowds because of its relatively enclosed
space. The annual 3D laser
show had also been cancelled
on account of crowd control
concerns.
Last year, officials were
caught off-guard when nearly
300,000 people turned up for
the New Year countdown in
the open space at the Bund,
leading to traffic congestion.

JAKARTA: As search teams hunt

for the black boxes of AirAsia

Flight QZ8501, analysts say
the pilot may have managed to
make an emergency water
landing, only for the plane to
be overcome by high seas.
The Airbus A320-200 left
the Indonesian city of Surabaya early on Sunday and disappeared from radar over the
Java Sea during a storm, but it
failed to send the transmissions normally emitted when a
plane crashes or is submerged.
Experts say this suggests the
experienced former air force
pilot, Captain Iriyanto, conducted an emergency water
landing which did not have a
destructive impact.
The emergency locator
transmitter (ELT) would work
on impact, be that land, sea or
the sides of a mountain, and

Passengers may have

started evacuation
once the plane landed
on water
my analysis is it didnt work
because there was no major
impact during landing, said
Dudi Sudibyo, a senior editor
of aviation magazine Angkasa.
The pilot managed to land
it on the seas surface, he
added.
The plane, carrying 162 people to Singapore, was cruising
at a height of 32,000 feet when
the pilot requested a change of
course to avoid storms.
The conclusions I have
come to so far are that the
plane did not blow up mid-air,
and it did not suffer an impact
when it hit a surface, because if

it did so then the bodies would

not be intact, said Chappy
Hakim, a former air force commander.
An emergency exit door and
an inatable slide were among
the rst items recovered by the
search team, suggesting the
rst passengers may have
started the evacuation process
once the plane landed on
water.
Former transport minister
Jusman Syai Djamal was convinced the discovery of the
oating exit door meant
someone had opened it.
Passengers may have been
waiting for a ight attendant
to inate a life raft when a high
wave hit the nose and sank the
plane, Mr. Djamal added.
High waves may have hit
the plane, the nose, and sunk
the plane. AFP

Rajapaksa can no longer count on

rural Sinhala vote bank
Meera Srinivasan
COLOMBO: The joint opposi-

tions bid to give President

Mahinda Rajapaksa a tough
ght in the January 8 presidential polls has resulted in a
rarely seen phenomenon in Sri
Lanka a contest between
two candidates with their
roots in the countrys rural
heartlands.
In the past, it has mostly
been a competition between a
candidate from the urban elite
and one from the rural areas.
Mr. Rajapaksa, whose roots lie
in Hambantota, the rural Sinhala heartland in the south,
entered the fray in 2005
against former Prime Minister
Ranil Wickramasinghe, very
much a member of the Colombo elite.

Sirisenas constituency
However, in the January 8
elections, Mr. Rajapaksa will
face a serious challenge from
Maithripala Sirisena, who
hails from the Rajarata, a region that resounds with more
than a millennium of Sinhala
culture and history.
The historic belt which
includes the islands ancient
capital of Anuradhapura and
Polonnaruwa that
Mr. Sirisena represents in Parliament is in the
North
Central
province, where a majority of
the population depends on
agriculture for their livelihood. Mr. Sirisena, also from
Mr. Rajapaksas party, left the
government in November to
be named common opposition
candidate.
The votes cast by the Sinhalese electorate will be decisive,
with the main parties representing the islands minority
Tamils and Muslims backing
the common opposition
candidate.
The rural Sinhala vote has
traditionally gone to the Mr.
Rajapaksas Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). However,
Mr. Sirisenas candidature is
likely to split that vote base,
says Sinha Ratnatunga, editor
of the widely-read Sunday
Times.
The dent in Mr. Rajapaksas
vote bank seems all the more
likely especially with former
President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, whose father S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike
CM
YK

Supporters of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa celebrate following a

call for presidential election in Colombo in November. PHOTO: AFP
founded the SLFP, endorsing
Mr. Sirisena.
Her political comeback after
nearly nine years has not only
induced condence into the
disgruntled SLFP old guard
tired of Mr. Rajapaksa allegedly promoting his family but
also signalled a potential split
in the SLFP base itself.
With the United National
Party (UNP) too backing him,
it is the support
of Ms. Kumaratunga and the traditional
rural
vote bank of the
SLFP defectors that is expected to make up for the UNPs
weakness
in
rural
constituencies.
The UNP, the main Opposition, has also not been entirely
detached from the rural electorate, according to Kumudu Kusum Kumara, senior lecturer at
Colombo Universitys sociology department.
Some of its populist leaders
have in the past come up with
some pro-poor policies targeting the peasants, he argues.
But that image changed after
the economy was opened up in
1977 under President J. R.
Jayewardenes
leadership.
More so after his protg Ranil
Wickramasinghe came to the
helm, he says.
That helped Mr. Rajapaksa

drum up support among rural

Sinhalese, particularly with his
war victor trophy. After two
successive terms, his appeal
among the rural Sinhalese
population cannot be underestimated. To them, he is that
mighty leader who crushed the
rebel Tigers and brought peace
to their country.
Among this rural Sinhala
population, particularly in
southern Sri Lanka, Mahinda
Rajapaksa has always had the
support of women.
They see him as the macho
leader who saved their country
by bringing the brutal war to an
end, says Mr. Ratnatunga, explaining their apparent loyalty
to the incumbent.

Livelihood concerns
While rising costs, concerns
over employment and livelihoods dominate rural Sri Lanka, including in the Sinhala
heartland, it remains to be seen
if issues like corruption and
rising authoritarianism
some of the key campaign
points of the joint opposition
will resonate with the average
rural Sinhalese voter, he notes.
The government camp in its
election rhetoric repeatedly
aunts its development thrust
plush expressways, ports
and airports but Sinhala
youth appear to be following

Rajapaksas appeal among the rural Sinhalese

population cannot be underestimated. However,
with Maithripala Sirisena crossing over, there is
a likely split in the rural vote base

the implications of development keenly, whether in their

own hometowns or in the cities
they may work in. They seem
a little more sceptical of the development projects and tend to
question them, says Mr.
Ratnatunga.

Urban-rural divide
Moreover, the rural youth
are increasingly landing jobs in
the city. The urban-rural divide does not necessarily stop
them from understanding the
nature of disparity, according
to Mr. Kusum Kumara. Many
of them work in the cities and
go back to their villages during
the weekends. They are very
much aware of the realities.
According to him, there is a
clear momentum in the rural
and urban constituencies
swinging in favour of the joint
opposition. This is a crucial,
decisive, do-or die election for
us.
All the same, sections believe the momentum may very
well be conned to urban areas. It is still not clear whether
the opposition campaign has
made any signicant inroads
into Mr. Rajapaksas core constituency of the rural Sinhalese
voters, observed Jayadeva
Uyangoda, professor of political science at the University of
Colombo, in a recent article.
Whether Sri Lankas rural
Sinhalese like Mr. Rajapaksa
enough to give him a third term
will be known in about a week
from now.
(This is the rst of a threepart series.)
ND-ND

NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU

13

FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 2015

BUSINESS
BRIEFLY
LIC to launch
co-branded credit
card with UAE bank
DUBAI: LIC International

and Abu Dhabi-based First

Gulf Bank are planning to
introduce a unique cobranded credit card in the
UAE to address concerns of
insurance policyholders.
LIC International has over
350 million policyholders
worldwide. PTI

SRF acquires
DuPonts Dymel
pharma propellant biz
NEW DELHI: Diversified firm

SRF, on Thursday,
announced the acquisition
of U.S.-based DuPonts
pharmaceutical propellant
business under the Dymel
brand for $20 million (over
Rs.120 crore) in an all-cash
deal. The company has
signed a definitive
agreement with E I DuPont
De Nemours and Company
USA for the transaction,
SRF said in a filing to the
BSE. PTI

Airtel opens bookings

for Redmi Note
NEW DELHI: To give a fillip to

its super fast fourthgeneration mobile services,

Bharti Airtel has tied up
with Chinese handset
maker Xiaomi to provide
4G device Redmi Note at a
price of Rs.9,999 in six
cities. The operator
provides 4G services in 16
cities, but Airtel will
provide Redmi Note at 133
stores across Mumbai,
Bengaluru, Hyderabad,
Chennai, Delhi-NCR and
Kolkata. PTI

Maruti, Hyundai post strong

growth in December
Withdrawal of excise duty benefit will have negative impact
Yuthika Bhargava
NEW DELHI: Even as major car
makers such as Maruti Suzuki
and Hyundai Motor posted
double-digit growth in domestic sales in December, the
Centres decision not to extend excise duty benefits has
put the industry on the back
foot.
As an interim measure to
give a boost to the struggling
automobile industry, the government had announced a cut
in the range of 4 to 6 per cent
in excise duty on various
vehicles.

Hike in prices
While most of the players
have already announced
plans to hike prices due to
increasing input costs, with
the concession lapsing, the
quantum of price rise could
be over Rs.20,000 for small
cars and around Rs.40,000
for sedans.
Countrys largest car maker Maruti Suzuki reported a
13.3 per cent year-on-year increase in domestic sales at
98,109 units in December
2014, while Hyundai Motor
Indias sales were up 14.7 per
cent at 32,504 units. Toyota
Kirloskar Motor (TKM) said

NEW DELHI: Central Bank of

India has revised the

interest rates on Foreign
Currency Non-resident
(Bank) Account (FCNR-B).
The new rates will be
applicable from Thursday,
the bank said in a release.
The bank now offers
interest of 3.82 per cent on
dollar deposits, 3.5 per cent
on pound deposits, 2.41 per
cent on euro deposits, 3.86
per cent on Canadian
dollar deposits and 4.74 per
cent on Australian dollar
deposits (all of five-year
maturity).
These revised rates are
valid till January 31. PTI

MUMBAI: The governments

decision to bifurcate the top
position at public sector
banks will bring in transparency and accountability, say
experts.
On Wednesday, the government initiated management reforms in public sector
banks by splitting the post of
Chairman and Managing Director in four banks and appointing managing directors
(MDs)/chief executive officers (CEOs) in Vijaya Bank,
Indian Overseas Bank, United Bank of India and Oriental
Bank of Commerce.
It is an extremely healthy
move, and will improve governance. In the U.S., more
than 50 per cent of enterprises follow this and this prac-

tice is followed all over the

world, said Shailesh Haribhakti,
Chairman,
DH
Consultants.
Combining the positions
of Chairman and Managing
Director with one person is
contradictory to the effective
functioning of the organisation as the Chairman is the
custodian of governance,
while the MD/CEO is the custodian of assets and efficiency
of running of the organisation. When the same person
holds both positions, it leads
to confusion and some time
even to sacrifices. These are
different roles, and so these
positions must be occupied
by different individuals, Mr.
Haribhakti added.
The move to separate the
posts would bring in more
professionalism in their func-

House panel to
visit Dunlop

Rupee tumbles

KOLKATA: The

MUMBAI: The Indian rupee

Parliamentary Standing
Committee on Commerce,
headed by Rajya Sabha MP
Chandan Mitra, will soon
pay a visit to Dunlop
Indias Sahaganj unit on
January 5 to explore
revival options.
The committee will visit
the factory as part of its
fact-finding review of West
Bengalss rubber and tyre
industry, Mr. Mitra told
PTI.

President (Sales and Marketing) N. Raja said.

On the other hand, Mahindra & Mahindras vehicle
sales declined by 7 per cent to
34,460 units. The company,
however, reported growth of
5 per cent in sales of passenger vehicles, including Scorpio, XUV 500, Xylo, Bolero
and Verito.

MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of

India on Thursday introduced changes in external
commercial
borrowings
(ECB) norms under which
authorised money changing
banks had been allowed to
create a charge on securities.
At present, the choice of security to be provided to the
overseas lender or the supplier for securing ECB is left to

Beware of
MLM firms,
investors told
MUMBAI: The Reserve
Bank of India, on
Thursday, cautioned
investors against multilevel marketing firms
that promised high
returns and run on
hefty member
subscription fees,
warning such offers
could result in direct
financial losses.
The central bank also
said accepting money
under such structures
was a cognizable
offence under the Prize
Chits and Money
Circulation Schemes
(Banning) Act of 1978.
Reuters

the borrower.
The decision was taken
with a view to liberalising,
expanding the options of securities and consolidating
various provisions related to
creation of charge over securities for ECB at one place,
the RBI said in a notification.

Immediate effect
The relaxations are with
immediate effect. It has been
decided that AD Category-I
banks may allow creation of
charge on immovable assets,
movable assets, financial securities and issue of corporate
and/or
personal
guarantees in favour of overseas lender/security trustee,
to secure the ECB to be
raised/raised by the borrower, it added.
However, the new rules are
subject to certain conditions.
The underlying ECB must
be in compliance with extant
ECB guidelines, there should
be a security clause in the
loan agreement, requiring the
ECB borrower to create
charge, and a no objection
certificate will have to be obtained from an existing domestic lender.
Additionally, AD Category-I bank may permit creation of charge on immovable
assets, movable assets, financial securities and issue of
corporate and/or personal
guarantees. PTI

Bifurcating top post in PSBs will Deteriorating asset quality will

bring in transparency: experts
put pressure on bank finances
Lalatendu Mishra

Central Bank
revises rates on
FCNR deposits

it sold 11,740 units last

month, a growth of 10.25 per
cent.
In continuation of the November upswing, we have registered growth in the
domestic and overall sales in
December as well. This momentum can be attributed to
the year ending, Toyota Kirloskar Motor Senior Vice-

We are happy to have

achieved a growth of 5 per
cent in our passenger vehicle
segment in December with
2014, an immensely challenging year for the auto industry, M&M Chief Executive
(Automotive Division and International Operations) Pravin Shah said.
General Motors India reported a 36.56 per cent decline in sales at 3,619 units in
December. Demand continues to remain suppressed on
account of high interest rates
and weak economic fundamentals. The withdrawal of
excise duty benefits is also a
big jolt for the automobile industry, General Motors India
Vice-President
P.
Balendran said.
In the two-wheeler segment, market leader Hero
MotoCorp reported a marginal rise of 0.21 per cent in sales
at 5.26 lakh units in December 2014. Chennai-based TVS
Motor Company said domestic two-wheeler sales stood at
1.57 lakh units last month, up
18.67 per cent.
Royal Enfield reported a
47.78 per cent increase in domestic sales in December at
28,179 units as against 19,067
units in December, 2013.

RBI relaxes
ECB norms

was off to a bad start in the

new year as it suffered the
worst single-day drop in
over two weeks on Thursday by falling 32 paise to
end at 63.35 against the
dollar.
Demand for the greenback from banks and importers and little support
from local share market,
where benchmark indices
ended almost flat, led to rupee snapping a two-session

uptrend. The dollar gained

strength overseas against
most peers on speculation
that U.S. Federal Reserve
will raise rates by the middle of this year, said forex
traders.
On Wednesday, the rupee had gained 35 paise
against the greenback but
lost ground on an annual
basis for the fourth year in
a row. In the previous two
sessions, the rupee had
gained 64 paise. PTI

tioning, said D. S. Rawat, national

Secretary-General,
Associated Chambers of
Commerce and Industry of
India.
It looks as though the government wants to bring in
outside experts as chairmen
in some of the banks, which
will be a great value addition
to the state-owned banks,
said Mr. Rawat.
However, it is time the remuneration of CEOs in PSU
banks is enhanced somewhere near to their peers in
the private sector. It cannot
be that while we expect the
CEO to give performance under challenging circumstances taking into account the
social obligations of these
banks, but we do not pay
them the commensurate salaries, he added.

Special Correspondent

even under a lot of pressure

on account of the impending
MUMBAI: The banking sector is Basel-III guidelines and the
faced with downgrading of capital adequacy ratio is adrating as deteriorating asset versely affected, the report
quality would put further said.
pressure on its finances, make
international operations and Gross NPAs
As per the report, the gross
funding much more difficult
assets
during 2015, said the Associ- non-performing
ated Chambers of Commerce (NPAs) of banks are expected
and Industry of India (Assco- to be 4.4 to 4.7 per cent for
ham) in a report Non per- public sector banks by March,
forming assets: current and 2015, (as against 4.4 per cent
as on March, 2014) and 4-4.2
expected scenario.
Considering this, the re- per cent for the whole bankport said, the banking sector ing sector (as against 3.9 per
would attract additional pro- cent for March, 2014).
The year 2013-14 saw invisioning, which would further put pressure on the cremental restructuring of
profits of banks, which are al- Rs.1.20 lakh crore, and Assoready under tremendous cham believes that the same
stress. This would reduce figure would be maintained
the effective internal source for 2014-15.
Weak asset in the banking
of increasing capital which is

sector is likely to be 5.7 per

cent by March, 2015, as compared to 5.6 per cent in
March, 2014, and 4.3 per cent
in March, 2013, bad and restructured loans are expected
to touch the 15 per cent mark
by the end of 2014-15, the
report said.
According to the report,
standard assets incremental
restructuring would continue
in 2014-15 and not much
headway is expected in sale of
assets to assert reconstruction companies after the guidelines have been changed.
For reducing NPAs, Assocham has suggested a fourpronged strategy for early
recognition of stress and remedial action thereafter. The
measures are categorised under preventive and corrective Management, it said.

Steel units expect turnaround

Santosh Patnaik
VISAKHAPATNAM: The steel in-

dustry, hit by slowdown in

the last couple of years, is expecting to bounce back in
2015.
The industry is bogged
down due to cyclone Hudhud
mainly in the second-half of
2014.
Besides, the industry is
faced with surging Chinese
imports and sluggish domestic demand due to excess supply and slowdown in the

construction and infrastructure sector.

Major and secondary producers such as SAIL, RINL,
JSW, JSPL and Monnet Ispat
have started adding capacity.
City-headquartered Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd., the
corporate entity of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, is
ramping up new units under
its 6.3-million tonne expansion project at a cost of
Rs.12,500 crore. When contacted on threat of imports,
RINL Director (Commercial)

T. K. Chand underlined the

need for cost reduction and
quality.
He told The Hindu that
2015 may prove to be a year
of turnaround for the steel industry with business sentiment firming up, and the
government going ahead with
its growth agenda. He said
the industry might be de-coupled from the global trend of
slowdown, and was likely to
register growth in tandem
with GDP growth. Twenty industrial clusters such as Ben-

galuru-Mumbai as well as
Vizag-Chennai, seven industrial cities and 100 smart cities are expected to accelerate
growth in manufacturing.
The rural market is also looking up for long producers.
It is estimated that around
17 million tonnes of additional capacity are likely to be
added in the next 2-3 years,
around five million tonnes on
an average a year in long
products as against the earlier average of maximum two
million tonnes a year.

EXCHANGE RATES
Indicative direct rates in rupees a unit
except yen at 4 p.m on January 01

Currencies
U.S. Dollar
Euro
Pound Sterling
Jap Yen (100 Units)
Chinese Yuan
Swiss Franc
Singapore Dollar
Australian Dollar
Canadian Dollar
Swedish Kroner
Danish Kroner
New Zealand Dollar
Hongkong Dollar
Malaysian Ringitt
Kuwaiti Dinar
UAE Dirham
Bahraini Dinar
Qatari Riyal
Saudi Riyal
Omani Riyal

TT
TT
Buying Selling
63.15 63.47
76.39 76.79
98.20 98.71
52.76 53.04
10.17 10.23
63.47 63.80
47.62 47.91
51.56 51.86
54.31 54.61
8.06
8.11
10.26 10.31
49.33 49.61
8.14
8.18
18.06 18.15
215.31 217.14
17.19 17.28
167.44 168.36
17.40 17.41
16.88 16.89
164.00 164.86

Source: Indian Bank

BULLION RATES
January 01 rates in rupees with
previous rates in brackets

Chennai
Bar Silver (1 kg)
Retail (1 g)
24 ct gold (10 g)
22 ct gold (1 g)
Delhi
Silver
Standard gold
Sovereign

35,965
38.50
26,990
2,524

(36,910)
(39.50)
(27,180)
(2,541)

36,200 (37,000)
27,100 (27,200)
23,700 (23,700)

CM
YK

Plant Protection Code rolls out Sensex flat on Day One of New Year
to make tea a safer beverage
The benchmark
Sensex on Thursday ended
with a marginal gain of about
8 points at 27507.54 in the
first trading session of the
New Year in lacklustre trade.
Traders said direction-less
investors confined their commitments to select stocks,
having strong fundamentals
amid most Asian financial
markets remaining closed.
On Wednesday, markets
closed higher for the fourth
straight day and wrapped up
2014 with the best annual
gain in five years.
Telecom, auto, infrastructure and metal sector stocks
saw some activity on
Thursday.
After a lower start at
27485.77, the 30-share BSE
Sensex slipped further to
27395.34. However, losses
were wiped off on the back of
gains in select blue-chips towards the fag-end.
The Sensex closed at
27507.54 after touching a
high of 27545.61.

MUMBAI:

Indrani Dutta
KOLKATA: Plant Protection
Code (PPC), a set of guidelines for regulating the chemical inputs in tea cultivation,
was rolled out on January 1,
2015. The aim is to make Indian tea a safe and healthy
drink.
The PPC is a comprehensive document, which deals
with safe usage of crop protection products and methodologies that would be
followed to reduce pesticide
residues in tea.
The code encourages tea
growers to critically review
their plant protection formulations (PPF), which are a list
of chemicals that are used in
tea. The code is based on the
Codex Alimentarius, which is
a set of international food
standards and guidelines.
Tea Board Chairman Siddharth said a roll-out was de-

The document deals

with safe usage of
crop protection
products and
methodologies
cided
with
some
modifications. These include
asking the small tea growers
to give a declaration of their
output conforming to the
PPC before it is sent to the
factories. This was necessary
as currently this sector accounts for over 30 per cent of
the Indian tea output.
The awareness campaign,
now on among small tea
growers, would be continued,
a Tea Board said.
It may be mentioned here
that recently Greenpeace had
released a report alleging
presence of pesticide residues in Indian tea. The Tea

Board and industry had flayed

the report.
The PPF, evolved by Tea
Board, has detailed the chemicals that can be used in tea
plantations making some exceptions for South India. It
said that chemical use should
be restricted not only in tea
estates, but also near water
bodies, wildlife habitats and
human dwelling to check contamination.
PPF covers insecticides,
fungicides, herbicides and bio
pesticides. Tea Board noted
that in spite of using PPFs,
the tea industry loses nearly
30 per cent of its crop due to
pests, weeds and diseases.
The tea research institutes,
which were engaged in the
PPF exercise, have ensured
that their recommendations
comply with food safety standards as stipulated by the
Food Safety & Standards Authority of India.

More time to
apply for niche
bank licence
MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of
India on Thursday extended
the deadline for submission
of applications for licensing
of Small Finance Banks
(SFBs) and Payments Banks
(PBs) to February 2, and clarified that a minimum capital
of Rs.100 crore is must for
setting up niche banking
entities.
Keeping in view the difficulties expressed by various
parties, it has been decided to
extend the last date of receipt
of applications to February
2, the RBI said.
The earlier deadline was
January 16.
The RBI had issued guidelines for licensing for SFBs
and PBs in November. Responding to queries from individuals and organisations
relating to SBFs, the RBI said
promoter (individual) of large
business or industrial house
cannot act as promoter himself to form a small bank.
It also said there is no such
stipulation regarding the ideal number of branches a SBF
shall have to be eligible for
the licence.
The RBI also clarified the
proposed SBFs would be required to use Small Finance
Bank in its name and the
minimum paid-up capital of
Rs.100 crore should be readily available at the time of obtaining banking licence.
Also, after setting up of the
bank, if the lender proposes
to go for an IPO, prior approval of the RBI is necessary.
While answering questions
on Payment Banks, the RBI
said there is no cap envisaged on the number of licences proposed to be
issued.
PBs are allowed to offer
locker and vault facilities.
It further said the balance
at the close of business on any
day should not exceed
Rs.100,000 per individual
customer in a Payment Bank.
On payment of utility (like
power and telephone) bills,
the RBI said this was not allowed for Payment Banks.
The Reserve Bank had received 176 and 144 queries
from individuals/organisations relating to Small Finance Banks and Payment
Banks. PTI

Duty-free
import of
chana allowed
till March
NEW DELHI: The government
has extended duty-free import of chana, also known as
gram or chickpeas, till Marchend in view of fall in sowing
area under the crop.
The Finance Ministry has
extended the zero duty regime for chana although the
Agriculture Ministry was
pushing for a 10-per cent duty
in view of declining chana
prices, which have fallen even
below the minimum support
price of Rs.3,100 a quintal in
some parts of the country.
In a notification, the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) said it had
extended the zero customs
duty on chickpeas (gram) up
to March 31.
The zero duty on imported
chana
was
valid
till
Wednesday.
At present, pulses are imported at zero duty across the
board for any category.
Similarly, export of pulses
is prohibited except for chickpeas (Kabuli chana) and organic pulses. PTI

Wipro
Enterprises
convenes EGM
Stock brokers hope the bull run will extend
in 2015 PHOTO: VIVEK BENDRE
Bharti Airtel counter
emerged the top gainer
among Sensex stocks by surging 2.86 per cent after the
telecom regulator recommended base price for
Rs.2,720 crore/megahertz for
3G mobile spectrum.
The 50-share Nifty on the
National Stock Exchange
edged up by 1.30 points to
8284 after moving between
8294.70
and
8248.75
intra-day.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors bought shares

worth Rs.481.08 crore on
Wednesday.
Among auto stocks, Maruti
Suzuki gained after it reported a 20.8 per cent increase in
total sales in December. Other auto stocks such as M&M,
Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp
and Tata Motors also ended
in positive terrain. In metal
space, Sesa Sterlite was up
2.34 per cent. PTI

NEW DELHI: Wipro Enterprises

will seek nod from its members to reduce the share capital to provide an exit option
to
non-promoter
shareholders.
The company, which was
de-merged from flagship firm
Wipro in 2012, has called an
EGM on January 13 to reduce
its share capital to Rs.476.14
crore from Rs.492.32 crore.
Hence, it is proposed to
satisfy the requirement of the
shareholders and to give an
exit opportunity to them,
the company said. PTI
ND-ND

14

SPORT

Pallavi
bowls MP
to victory
HYDERABAD: Pallavi Bharadwajs four for 18 helped Madhya
Pradesh score an eight-wicket
win over Tamil Nadu in the
quarternals of the BCCI womens senior one-day tournament here.

NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU

South Africa seeks series win

Ramdin seeks to
make amends
CRICKET / Newlands pitch likely to provide more pace, bounce

The scores (quarterfinals):

Tamil Nadu 87 in 42.4 overs (Pallavi Bharadwaj four for 18) lost to Madhya Pradesh 88 for two in 34 overs
(Nuzhat Parween 34 n.o., Neha Badwaik 32).
Himachal 120 in 34 overs lost to
Karnataka 124 for three in 33.2 overs
(V.R. Vanitha 49 n.o., Veda Krishnamurthy 33 n.o.).

WADA raises
minimum ban
for doping
LONDON: Athletes convicted of
doping will face a minimum
four-year ban under new rules
which came into effect on January 1.
Changes to the World AntiDoping Code increased the suspension for doping from two
years. Other changes include
less leniency for missed tests
but possible reduced bans for
helping investigators.
The revised code was agreed
to by the World Anti-Doping
Agency (WADA) in November,
2014.
UK Sports Minister Helen
Grant said the changes would
better protect clean athletes
around the world.
Successful implementation
will mean an innovative and robust anti-doping programme
that reaches further than ever
before, she was quoted as saying by bbc.com on Thursday.
IANS

DELHI
ROUND-UP

HOPING TO GET THE NOD: Off-spinner Simon Harmer

could possibly replace one of the seven specialist
batsmen who played in the second Test.
PHOTO: IAN HITCHCOCK/GETTY IMAGES

CAPE TOWN: South Africa will literally be trying to make up for

lost time when it takes on the
West Indies in the third and
nal Test at Newlands on
Friday.
Although the West Indies
put up an improved performance, South Africa captain
Hashim Amla stopped short of
acknowledging its credentials
in his post-match comments after the rain-hit second Test in
Port Elizabeth ended in a draw.
Amla suggested that South
Africas rst innings total of 417
for eight could have been bigger
had his team not been trying to
force the pace after most of the
second days play was washed
out.
He also pointed out that the
West Indian reply of 275 for
nine was largely due to a thirdwicket partnership of 176 between Kraigg Brathwaite and
Marlon Samuels, who both hit
centuries. The next highest
West Indian score was 22 by
Devon Smith.
According to Amla, the South
African bowlers performed
well on an unresponsive pitch
in Port Elizabeth.
I think on a different surface we may have picked up a
lot more wickets a lot quicker.
We did very well to take seven
wickets in 35 overs (on day
four) so we have a lot of positives to take into the next
game, he said.
Amla clearly felt that South
Africa would have been favourite to win if the weather had
not cut more than half the playing time from the second Test.
The South African bowlers
can expect more pace, bounce
and possibly seam movement
at Newlands.
South Africa, which leads the
series 1-0 after an innings win

in the rst Test in Centurion,

added uncapped off-spinner Simon Harmer to the squad for
Newlands.
We would like to have the
option of a second spinner,
said selection convener Andrew Hudson.
It would be unusual for
South Africa to include two
spin bowlers in the same team
but Harmer, from the Eastern
Cape Warriors franchise, is also
a useful batsman.
If he plays he could possibly
replace one of the seven specialist batsmen who played in
Port Elizabeth if he is not
picked ahead of leg-spinner
Imran Tahir, who took three
wickets but was expensive at St.
Georges Park.
The West Indies will have to
choose between bolstering a
fragile batting line-up or go in
with the same bowling line-up
that played in Port Elizabeth.
After Centurion, it dropped
batsman Jermaine Blackwood
and picked all-rounder Jason
Holder. It led to an improved
bowling performance but the
lower-order batsmen, including Holder, crumbled against
the pace of Morne Morkel and
the spin of Tahir.
The teams (from):
South Africa: Hashim Amla
(capt.), Alviro Petersen, Dean Elgar,
Faf du Plessis, A.B. de Villiers (wk),
Stiaan van Zyl, Temba Bavuma, Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn, Morne
Morkel, Imran Tahir and Simon
Harmer.
West Indies: Denesh Ramdin
(captain, wkt), Kraigg Brathwaite, Devon Smith, Leon Johnson, Marlon Samuels, Shivnarine Chanderpaul,
Jermaine Blackwood, Jerome Taylor,
Sulieman Benn, Sheldon Cottrell, Jason Holder, Shannon Gabriel, Narsingh Deonarine, Kenroy Peters and
Chadwick Walton. AFP

CAPE TOWN: West Indies captain

Denesh Ramdin said on Thursday that the main benet of
playing in South Africa was the
opportunity for his young side
to absorb some of the lessons
that have made the host the
number one team in the world.
Speaking ahead of the third
and nal Test starting at Newlands on Friday, Ramdin said
he hoped the West Indies
would continue the improvement it had shown in the rainhit drawn second Test, after being beaten by an innings and
220 runs in the rst contest.
We made a slow start to the
tour. Now we are gaining momentum, he said.
Going into the third game, it
is going to be a different atmosphere here, we can really enjoy
it. It is a new year; hopefully we
can change some things. We are
playing against the number one
team in the world. If we can
take some of the things they do,
we can probably move up in the
rankings.
Asked to identify specic areas where they could learn
from South Africa, Ramdin
said: Their bowlers do not
bowl a lot of bad balls. Our bowlers bowl too many bad balls.
Their batsmen do not give
many chances. You cannot give
them opportunities because
they score big hundreds. Sometimes our batsmen play too
freely.
Ramdin said there was a good
chance the West Indies would
go into the Test with an unchanged team, which would
mean having only six specialist
batsmen, together with four
seam bowlers and spinner Sulieman Benn.
Playing six batsmen has
worked for us, said Ramdin.
It puts a bit more pressure on
the batsmen. It did work for a

Denesh Ramdin.
bit because Marlon (Samuels)
and Kraigg (Brathwaite) had a
big partnership. Unfortunately
Shiv (Chanderpaul) and I did
not get runs. It could have been
different. If Shiv and I score
runs, and the lower order chip
in, we can get 350.

Philander excited
One change Ramdin is likely
to make, if he wins the toss, is to
bat rst. In the rst two Tests
he sent South Africa in, but he
said he expected a good pitch.
The last time we played here
(in 2007/08) a lot of runs were
scored, so if we get the opportunity we will try to bat rst.
South Africa opening bowler
Vernon Philander said the host
was looking forward to playing
at an iconic venue where it has
had much success. It is a place
we like to play. The boys are all
geared up. Newlands always
has something in it for the bowlers on days one and two. It is
always a good cricket wicket,
and will have a bit more pace
and bounce than Port Elizabeth. AFP

Kalkal shocks Chauhan, TENNIS

clinches title

Agostini fancied

Saurav Kalkal survived a few

anxious moments before
beating top-seeded Chinmaya
Dev Chauhan 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(9)
in the boys nal of the 10th
Ram Lal Cup AITA Talent
series under-18 tennis
tournament at the Vasant Kunj
Sports Complex here on
Thursday.
In the girls nal, top-seeded
Muskan Gupta cruised to a
straight-set victory over the
second seed, Radhika Yadav.

BENGALURU: Agostini, who has been

The results (finals):

Boys: Saurav Kalkal bt Chinmaya
Dev Chauhan 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(9).
Girls: Muskan Gupta bt Radhika
Yadav 6-3, 6-3.

Guru Gobind Singh

College in semifinals
Host Guru Gobind Singh
College registered a 21-run
victory over Telefunken Club
to enter the seminals of the
19th Sahibzada Ajit Singh
cricket tournament here on
Thursday.
Chetanya Bishnoi picked up
ve wickets and Saurabh Passi
top-scored with 40 runs for the
winner. For the losing side,
Jerry Stephens 53-run knock
went in vain.
The scores: Guru Gobind Singh
College 204 in 36.5 overs (Saurabh
Passi 40, Mayank Dagar four for 24,
Pawal Suyal three for 36) bt
Telefunken Club 183 in 34.5 overs
(Jerry Stephen 53, Chetanya Bishnoi
five for 40).

Anish keeps Lodhi

in the hunt
Lodhi Athletic Club rode on
Anishs hat-trick to register a
crucial 3-1 victory over
Buddhist Blue Stars and stay in
contention for a spot in the
super-league stage of the
ONGC-Delhi Soccer
Association B division
football championship at the
Commonwealth Games Village
sports complex here on
Thursday.
Lodhi has 14 points from six
matches while Dwarka FC has
16 and Real-Jaguar FC 13. The
super-league qualier will be
decided after the match
between Lodhi and RealJaguar.
In another match, Goans
Sports Club drew 1-1 with
Union FC.
The results:
Lodhi Athletic Club 3 (Anish 3) bt
Buddhist Blue Stars 1 (Pradeep).
Goans SC 1 (Piyush) drew with Union
FC 1 (Sumit).

DEATH
DR.J.PITCHAIAMMAL, M.D., D.G.O.,
Retd. Sr.Civil Surgeon W/o. Dr.R.
Jothiramalingam, M.S., F.R.C.S.,
Retd. HOD of Surgery & Endocrine
Surgeon, Madurai Medical College
Passed away on 01012015. Jey Pee
Poly Clinic, Plot No: 381. K.K Nagar, Madurai 625020. Ph:0452
2587869, 9442587869

CM
YK

FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 2015

My goal this year is to stay healthy

N. Sudarshan
CHENNAI: Yuki Bhambri began
2014 ranked inside the
top-200. As a nod to his improvement, he was offered a
wildcard to the Aircel Chennai
Open where he went on to
make the quarternals.
A year later, Bhambri nds
himself ranked 249. And, with
his ranking well outside the
cut-off for the main draw, he
will have to work his way
through the qualiers this time.
I expected to be in the main
draw this year considering my
performance here last year. But
its three rounds of qualifying,
said Bhambri, who had his rst
hit of the year on the Thursday
going into the tournament.
Part of the reason for this dip
in ranking has been his tness.
A lengthy spell on the sidelines
due to a heel injury meant all
the hard work at the start (he
reached a career-high 143 last
February) came undone.
[The year] was up and down.
I had a great start here, and won
a Challenger too. I would have

Yuki Bhambri.
liked to have played more,
Bhambri said.
In the year gone by, one of the
22-year-olds main focus areas
was his volleying.
But in the modern-day game,
having a huge serve is a prerequisite for that. Even Davis Cup

captain Anand Amritraj said

Bhambri has to serve at 200kph
consistently to harbour any
hopes of making his way up.
It [having a big serve] is very
important in mens tennis,
said Bhambri. It makes your
life a lot easier and often bails
you out of trouble. I worked in
California (with former player
Taylor Dent) recently, and its
still in progress. I hope it gets
better.
But the constantly changing
conditions, the nature of surfaces and opponents varying
strengths mean that adding a
lot of variety to ones game is
also becoming a necessity.
I have been working on different things. It keeps changing. I need to be a bit more
aggressive, he said.
And, this year, the balls are
much bigger. So I have to be
prepared for longer rallies. I
need to basically mix it up.
Does having to play in the
qualifying event add to the
pressure?
Its actually less pressure,
he said. Being in the main

FOOTBALL

Pulis is West Brom manager

LONDON: Tony Pulis has been
appointed as the new head
coach of West Bromwich Albion on a two and a half year
contract, the Premier League
club announced on Thursday.
The 56-year old former
Stoke City and Crystal Palace
manager replaces Alan Irvine
who was sacked on Monday,
after a run of seven defeats in
nine matches that left the club
just a point above the relegation zone.
I am absolutely delighted to
accept the job, and I do so with
a simple but important message for the Albion fans, and
everyone at the club, the
Welshman said in a statement
on the club website.
Every successful club is
built on unity and that is what I
shall strive to help bring to Albion. We need everyone together from top to bottom
the supporters, the staff, the
players, and everyone who has
an interest in the clubs welfare.
With that, we can go forward together, and hopefully
take this club up the Premier
League.
Pulis was named the Premier Leagues Manager of the
Year for steering Palace away
from relegation last season,
but he left the club on the eve
of the current campaign after
falling out with chairman
Steve Parish.
He is due to watch West
Broms away game at West
Ham United later on Thursday
from the stands, with assistant
head coach Rob Kelly taking
charge of the rst team.
His rst game in charge will
be Saturdays FA Cup third

The new West Brom manager Tony Pulis.

PHOTO: ALEX LIVESEY/GETTY IMAGES
round tie at home to fth-tier
Gateshead.

Sherwood misses out

West Brom reportedly held
talks with Pulis and former
Tottenham Hotspur manager
Tim Sherwood, but Puliss record of having never been relegated as a manager gave him
the edge.
We are delighted to secure
a man of Tonys calibre and
proven ability, West Brom
technical director Terry Burton said.
He made it clear that this
position excited him and that
he was eager to get back into
the business of winning Premier League points and
there are few who know how to
do it better.
Irvine, 56, was the second
Premier League manager to be
sacked this season, following
Neil Warnocks dismissal by

Palace last Saturday.

Pulis made his name during
two spells at Stoke, guiding the
club to promotion from the
Championship in 2008. He
turned Stoke into an established Premier League side with a
reputation for rugged, uncompromising football and, guided
it to ve consecutive top 14 nishes before stepping down in
2013.
Palace was six points from
safety at the foot of the table
when he took over in November 2013, but he engineered a
vast improvement in its performances that saw it nish
the season in 11th place.
However, despite receiving
many end-of-season plaudits,
a disagreement with the Palace
hierarchy over the clubs
recruitment strategy saw him
leave Selhurst Park by mutual
consent in August. AFP

draw, you are expected to do

well. Its a bit more responsibility because the organisers believe in you. But, here, its just
me and myself.
It always tough because you
have to beat one or two very
good players.
Its start of the year, and the
players are shaky. So its good to
have played a decent number of
matches before the main draw.
If I go through, [playing the
qualiers] could be an added
advantage,
Tennis is perhaps the only
sport where you get season reviews and season previews on
your timeline at the same time,
said a top writer recently.
For a sport which is played
through almost 85 per cent of
the year, and the off-season is
pretty much non-existent.
But an assessment of ones
performance through a year
needs a proper demarcation.
And for Bhambri, it could well
be the start of the year.
This year my goal is to stay
healthy, said Bhambri.
Its a new start.

Five Indians
added to pro
coaches pool
MUMBAI: Dutch international
Wim Kovermans, a renowned
UEFA Pro Licence Instructor
and ex-India coach, cleared ve
Indians at the professional
coaches pool of the Asian Football Confederation Pro Diploma coaching course.
Former internationals Santosh Kashyap, Khalid Jamil and
Churchill Brothers head coach
Mariano Dias are the three new
faces in the list of Professional
Coaching Diploma holders,
along with Hilal Parray and
Thangboi Singto.
Stanley Rozario got a ProPass (he has to appear for one
more practical exam). The
course was conducted for the
rst time ever from July 2013November 2014 by Kovermans
(member of Netherlands 1988
Euro champion team) for 12
participants.
Foreigners Scott ODonnell,
Karim Bencherifa and Arthur
Papas also passed.
Pro-Licence coaches list: Santosh Kashyap, Khalid Jamil, Mariano
Dias, Hilal Parray, Thangboi Singto,
Karim Bencherifa, Scott ODonell and
Arthur Papas. Pro-Pass: Stanley
Rozario.
Goalkeeping Level II passed
coaches: Tanumoy Basu; Sandeep
Singh; Virender Singh and Hameed
KK. Pro-Pass: Fysal K.B. and Tapan
Chakraborty.
GK Level I: Nongthonbam Puthiba
Metei; Thatheus Khyriem; Siddique
Abdul Azim; Shaikh Mohammed Qadeer; Parshuram Salwadi; Shafi Kalavath Ali; Gavin Elias Araujo; A.
Cleofas; Bobby L. Nongbet; Subrata
Das Gupta; Gumpe Rime; M. Zakeer
Hussain; Kishore Chavan Shivaji Rao
and Kaushik Paul. Pro-Pass: Ronibala
Chanu.

well prepared, is expected to score in

the Chief Ministers Trophy (2,000m),
the chief event of the races to be held
here on Friday (Jan. 2).
False rails (width about 2.5m from
1,600m to the winning post) will be in
position.
1
B.A.R.I PLATE (Div. II),
(1,200m), rated 00 to 25, 5-y-o &
over, 2-15 pm: 1. Hostess (9) K.G.
Steyn 61.5, 2. Byronic (6) P.S. Chouhan 58.5, 3. Silhouette (11) Vivek
58.5, 4. Arthur (12) Rajesh Kumar
57.5, 5. Glamour Boy (4) Ashok Kumar 57.5, 6. Prince Academy (5) A.
Sandesh 57.5, 7. Private Party (10)
Christopher 57.5, 8. Astonishing (7)
T.S. Jodha 56.5, 9. Tic Tac Toe (8)
Arshad Alam 55.5, 10. Dream Neo (1)
Nitin Singh 54.5, 11. La Isle Bonita
(2) B. Nayak 54.5 and 12. Apollo Galaxy (3) Ajeet Kumar 51.5.
1. Byronic, 2. Dream Neo, 3.
Hostess
2 JANUARY PLATE (1,400m),
maiden 3-y-o only, (Terms), 2-45: 1.
Authoritarian (8) Suraj Narredu 55,
2. Catos Call (3) K.G. Steyn 55, 3.
Ignition (4) Vaibhav 55, 4. J Gatsby
(11) Arshad Alam 55, 5. Reverberating (9) Shobhan 55, 6. Saptajit (10)
T.S. Jodha 55, 7. Sir Majestic (1) N.
Rajesh 55, 8. Angel Dust (2) P. Trevor
53.5, 9. Eternal Flame (5) A. Sandesh
53.5, 10. Festive Cheer (12) R. Marshall 53.5, 11. Iceglow (7) David Allan
53.5 and 12. Multi App (6) Vivek 53.5.
1. Iceglow, 2. Angel Dust, 3.
Authoritarian
3 B.A.R.I PLATE (Div. I),
(1,200m), rated 00 to 25, 5-y-o &
over, 3-15: 1. Balas Dream (11) P. Ramesh 62.5, 2. Cheddar Face (2) Irvan
Singh 62.5, 3. Luc Divine (3) A. Imran Khan 62.5, 4. Super Saloni (12)
Shobhan 62.5, 5. Woodridge (5) A.
Qureshi 62.5, 6. Big Copper Penny
(1) Chetan Kalay 62, 7. Super Silver
(10) Rajesh Babu 62, 8. Youre Gorgeous (4) B. Harish 62, 9. Balance Of
Nature (6) Shinde 59.5, 10. Hard To
Get (8) S. Shiva Kumar 58.5, 11. Magnetize (7) Christopher 58.5 and 12.
Star Of Desire (9) T.S. Jodha 58.5.
1. Magnetize, 2. Star Of Desire, 3.
Luc Divine
4 K. RAMA RAO MEMORIAL
TROPHY (1,200m), rated 40 to 65,
3-45: 1. Hillsboro (3) Chetan Kalay
61, 2. Super Force (7) A. Imran Khan
59, 3. Cattleya (8) A. Ramu 58, 4.
Countrys Pride (9) Ajeet Kumar 58,
5. Mountain High (11) R. Anand 58, 6.
Aneld (10) Sai Vamshi 56.5, 7. Scarlet Emperor (1) David Allan 56, 8.
Volcano (12) T.S. Jodha 56, 9. Bazinga (2) Rajesh Kumar 55, 10.
Blitzschnelle (4) K.G. Steyn 55, 11.

Pune FC and
Bagan share
points
VASCO:Mohun Bagan and Pune
FC shared the spoils in a 1-1
draw in a Group B match of the
Hero Federation Cup football
championship on Thursday.
If the rst half belonged to
the Kolkata giant, Pune FC
ruled the roost in the second.
Bagan took the lead through a
Pierre Boya header in the 26th
minute only to see the goal cancelled out by Pune FCs Japanese recruit Ryuji Sueoka, who
netted from the spot in the
66th.
Bagan now has two points
from as many matches while
Pune FC has four.
Other result: Dempo 4 (Tolgay Ozbey 11, 37-pen, 53-pen, Romeo Fernandes 83) bt Sporting Clube de Goa
1 (Beevan D'Mello75).

India wins
twogolds
NEW DELHI: Mohin Chavan and
Manalisha Sonowal grabbed a
gold medal each in the 17th
Asian Youth (Boys & Girls) and
22nd junior women weightlifting championships in Doha,
Qatar, on Thursday.
Competing in the 44kg youth
girls event, Mohin managed a
total lift of 131 kg (58+73) to win
gold.
Manalisha won the top prize
in the 48kg junior women category by lifting a total of 154kg
(66+88), according to an Indian
Weightlifting Federation press
release. PTI

Injury woes for

del Potro

Jersey Bride (5) Suraj Narredu 54

and 12. Temujin (6) P.S. Chouhan
53.5.
1. Scarlet Emperor, 2. Blitzschnelle, 3. Jersey Bride
5 CHIEF MINISTERS TROPHY
(2,000m), 4-y-o & over, (Terms), 415: 1. Borsalino (2) David Allan 61.5,
2. Agostini (4) P. Trevor 59.5, 3. Pursuit Of Fame (5) A. Imran Khan 59.5,
4. Wind Stream (3) Suraj Narredu
59.5, 5. Scarlet O Hara (6) R. Marshall 56, 6. Ambitious Reward (1)
Christopher 55.5 and 7. Booker
Jones (7) D.K. Ashish 51.5.
1. Agostini, 2. Wind Stream, 3.
Booker Jones
6 DASHMESH STUD PLATE
(Div. I), (1,200m), rated 60 & above,
5-y-o & over, 4-45: 1. Secret Punch
(3) R. Pradeep 64.5, 2. Absolute Majority (12) Mark 63, 3. Chul Bul Pandy (6) A. Qureshi 63, 4. Sun Divine
(4) A. Imran Khan 63, 5. Cape Ferrat
(11) David Allan 62.5, 6. Talisker (8)
Chetan Kalay 62, 7. Will Star (10)
T.S. Jodha 61.5, 8. Smile Stone (7)
Nitin Singh 58, 9. Cool Hand (1) A.
Ramu 56, 10. Icelander (5) Chethana
56, 11. Loveofmylife (9) Suraj Narredu 55 and 12. Spiritual Star (2) Anjar
Alam 55.
1. Loveofmylife, 2. Cool Hand, 3.
Smile Stone
7 GOMOS PLATE (1,400m),
rated 20 to 45, 5-15: 1. Black Areca
(10) Ashok Kumar 60.5, 2. Arthurian
(9) A. Imran Khan 59, 3. Secret
Prayer (5) B. Harish 57, 4. Wholelottalove (6) Irvan Singh 56, 5. Asian
Star (7) A. Ramu 54, 6. King Glorieux
(3) N. Rajesh 54, 7. Precious Glitter
(8) T.S. Jodha 54, 8. Prize Finder (11)
Christopher 53.5, 9. Central Park (2)
Vaibhav 52.5, 10. New Victor (4) Nitin Singh 52, 11. Red Angel (1) M.A.
Roushan 50.5 and 12. Secret Launch
(12) Arshad Alam 50.5.
1. Arthurian, 2. Prize Finder, 3.
Wholelottalove
8 DASHMESH STUD PLATE
(Div. II), (1,200m), rated 60 & above,
5-y-o & over, 5-45: 1. Solitaire Royale
(3) Prabhakaran 60, 2. Sweet Secret
(7) A. Ramu 58, 3. Valerian (9) P.S.
Chouhan 57.5, 4. Ice Cutter (6) Suraj
Narredu 57, 5. Amazing Redd (5) B.
Harish 56.5, 6. Sunstone (10) Shinde
56, 7. King Julien (8) R. Marshall 55,
8. Valahak (4) Anjar Alam 55, 9. Atlas
Power (11) Nitin Singh 53.5, 10. Igah
Igah Igah (12) T.S. Jodha 53, 11. Shinnecock Hills (2) P. Trevor 53 and 12.
Scenic Blast (1) M.A. Roushan 52.
1. Ice Cutter, 2. Valerian, 3. King
Julien
Days best: Scarlet Emperor
Double: Agostini Ice Cutter
Jkt: 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8; Tr (i): 3, 4 and 5;
(ii): 6, 7 and 8.

del Potro. PHOTO: AFP

SYDNEY: Former US Open winner Juan Martin del Potro has
withdrawn from the Brisbane
International, officials said on
Thursday, further delaying his
return to the court from an injury-blighted 2014.
The Argentine had been
scheduled to play in the January 4-11 Brisbane event, ahead
of defending his title in the Sydney International from January 11-17 in the lead-up to the
Australian Open.
But Brisbane International
officials said del Potro was
forced to withdraw with a persistent left wrist injury.
After winning the US Open in
2009, del Potros career was
hampered by surgery on his
right wrist in 2010 before he
fought his way back into the top
10 again.
Pain in his left wrist rst
ared up at the Australian
Open last January.
He retired from his opening
match in Dubai the following
month, and then withdrew
from tournaments in Indian
Wells and Miami, undergoing
surgery in late March. He has
not played since.
del Potros withdrawal from
Brisbane follows that of 2014
US Open winner Marin Cilic,
who was forced to pull out earlier this week with a shoulder
injury. AFP

Spirited Touch wins main event

MUMBAI: Mr. M.A.M. Ramaswamys
Spirited Touch piloted by C.S.Jodha
won the New Years Cup, the main
event of the races held here on Thursday. The winner is trained by Karthik
G.
1. THUNDER BIRD PLATE
(1,200m), Cl. V, rated 01 to 26: Good
Memory (Mosin) 1, Mighty Splendour (Kavraj) 2, Mahima (D.K.Ashish)
3 and Snow King (Prasad) 4. 1, 2-3/4,
1/2. 1m 14.40s. Rs. 29 (w), 15, 13 and 15
(p). SHP: Rs. 35, FP: Rs. 46, Q: Rs. 24,
Tanala: Rs. 115 and Rs. 76. Favourite:
Mighty Splendour. Owner & trainer:
Mr. S.S.Shah.
2. T.M.GOCULDAS PLATE
(1,000m), Cl. II, rated 60 to 86: Solomon (D.K.Ashish) 1, In The Limelight
(S.J.Sunil) 2, Celsius (C.S.Jodha) 3
and Wild Waves (P.Naidu) 4. 3, Nk,
1-1/4. 59.08s. Rs. 10 (w), 10, 16 and 15
(p). SHP: Rs. 39, FP: Rs. 21, Q: Rs. 24,
Tanala: Rs. 88 and Rs. 33. Favourite:
Solomon. Owners: Mr. & Mrs. Vijay
Mallya rep. Utd Rac & Bloodstock
Breeders Ltd. Trainer: P.Shroff.
3. LITTLE CAESAR PLATE DIV.I (1,200m), Maiden, 4-y-o only:
Gold Bag (Kavraj) 1, Soul Speak
(Dashrath) 2, Hoshiyaar (Zervan) 3
and Indus Prince (S.Nayak) 4. 1-1/2,
3-1/2, 1. 1m 12.12s. Rs. 54 (w), 13, 21
and 12 (p). SHP: Rs. 66, FP: Rs. 298, Q:
Rs. 189, Tanala: Rs. 531 and Rs. 156.
Favourite: Hoshiyaar. Owners: M/s.
Kunal N.Sharma, Gautam Rijhsenghani & John M.Beard. Trainer: Adhirajsingh Jodha.

4. NEW YEARS CUP (1,400m),

Maiden, 3-y-o only: Spirited Touch
(C.S.Jodha) 1, Jeena (Mosin) 2, Aliboxer (Dashrath) 3 and Ireland (D.K.Ashish) 4. 9, 4-1/4, 3/4. 1m 25.24s. 22 (w),
10, 51 and14 (p). SHP: Rs. 137, FP: Rs.
734, Q: Rs. 325, Tanala: Rs. 706 and Rs.
164. Favourite: Spirited Touch. Owner: Mr. M.A.M.Ramaswamy. Trainer:
Karthik G.
5. WARSAW PACT PLATE
(1,200m), Cl. IV, rated 20 to 46: Rashun (T.S.Jodha) 1, Cold Play (Merchant) 2, National Pride (Zervan) 3
and Magic Vision (Ashad Asbar) 4. 1/2,
3-1/2, 3-1/2. 1m 13.16s. Rs. 98 (w), 23,
15 and 15 (p). SHP: Rs. 31, FP: Rs. 2,378,
Q: Rs. 412, Tanala: Rs. 4,302 and Rs.
1,844. Favourite: Millenium Falcon.
Owners: Mrs. Suvarna K.Khatu & Mr.
Kiran S.Khatu. Trainer: Himmat
Singh.
6. KUSUMBEN DHIRUBHAI
SHAH TROPHY (1,600m), Cl. III,
rated 40 to 66: La Femme Fleur
(Zervan) 1, Vixen (Pasha) 2, Helping
Hand (Dashrath) 3 and Lorelei (Ajinkya) 4. 1, Hd, 5-1/4. 1m 38.26s. Rs. 25
(w), 12, 37 and 10 (p). SHP: Rs. 167, FP:
Rs. 727, Q: Rs. 1,359, Tanala: Rs. 646
and Rs. 179. Favourite: Helping Hand.
Owners: Mr. & Mrs. K.N.Dhunjibhoy
and Mr. Z.K.Dhunjibhoy rep. Five
Stars Shipping Co Pvt Ltd. Trainer:
Janardhan.
7. RAO SAHEB D.K.PARKAR
TROPHY DIV.II (1,400m), Cl. IV,
rated 20 to 46: La Traviata (Yash
Narredu) 1, Flash Drive (S.Sunil) 2,

The Other Song (Zervan) 3 and Targetmaster (Dashrath) 4. 10, Hd, 3/4. 1m
24.48s. Rs. 36 (w), 18, 36 and 32 (p).
SHP: Rs. 92, FP: Rs. 848, Q: Rs. 1,066,
Tanala: Rs. 5,199 and Rs. 1,782. Favourite: Targetmaster. Owner: Mr. Kapil
Bahl. Trainer: Faisal Abbas.
8. LITTLE CAESAR PLATE DIV.II (1,200m), Maiden, 4-y- only: Goldilocks (Zervan) 1, Spanish Saga
(Dashrath) 2, Ensign (S.Nayal) 3 and
Earl Grey (C.S.Jodha) 4. 3-1/4, 3/4, 41/2. 1m 13.72s. Rs. 19 (w), 15, 16 and 34
(p). SHP: Rs. 44, FP: Rs. 48, Q: Rs. 43,
Tanala: Rs. 400 and Rs. 245. Favourite:
Goldilocks. Owners: Mr. & Mrs. Mehernosh H.Deboo & Mr. Zavaray
S.Poonawalla & Mrs. Behroze Z.Poonawalla rep. Poonawalla Racing &
Brdg Ltd. Trainer: P.Shroff.
9. RAO SAHEB D.K.PARKAR
TROPHY DIV.I (1,400m), Cl. IV,
rated 20 to 46: Penny Lane (Srinath)
1, Glorious Reward (Zervan) 2, Savannah Sound (Yash Narredu) 4. 3/4, 3/4,
1-1/4. 1m 26.52s. Rs. 108 (w), 30, 22 and
35 (p). SHP: Rs. 48, FP: Rs. 460, Q: Rs.
229, Tanala: Rs. 2,451 and Rs. 1,575.
Favourite: Wish Upon A Star. Owners:
Mr. Jaydev M.Modyrep. J.M.Livestock Pvt Ltd. Trainer: Bezan Chenoy.
Jackpot (i) 70 per cent: Rs. 85, 159 (2
tkts), 30 per cent: Rs. 4,866 (15 tkts).
(ii) 70 per cent: Rs. 55,848 (8 tkts), 30
per cent: Rs. 921 (208 tkts). Treble (i)
Rs. 190 (24 tkts), (ii) Rs. 186 (66 tkts),
(iii) Rs. 544 (43 tkts). Super Jackpot 70
per cent: Rs. 88, 809 (1 tkt), 30 per cent:
Rs. 810 (47 tkts).
ND-ND

NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU

15

FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 2015

Telecast schedule

Lampard to stay at Manchester City

Button ties the knot

South Africa vs West Indies, third Test,

TEN Cricket, 2 p.m.

English Premier League champion Manchester City announced it

had secured the services of Frank Lampard until the end of the
season despite the midfielder signing for New York City in June

British former world champion Jenson Button confirmed

via Twitter that he has married his long-term girlfriend,
Japanese-Argentine model Jessica Michibata (in pic)

TN and Kerala
qualify
CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu qualified
for the knockout stages of the
Col. C.K. Nayudu Trophy (under-23) after drawing its match
against Maharashtra here on
Thursday.
At Malappuram, Kerala
moved into the quarterfinals
with a three-wicket win over
Saurashtra.
Kerala topped the pool with
15 points from four games,
ahead of Tamil Nadu (13).
At New Delhi, seamer Ankit
Singh Kushwahs five for 19
helped Madhya Pradesh register a massive 198-run victory
over the host.
The scores:
At Chennai: Tamil Nadu 216 & 226
for four in 67 overs (B. Rahul 65, M.
Shahrukh Khan 59, N. Jagadeesan 38
n.o., J. Kaushik 47 n.o.) drew with
Maharashtra 131. Points: TN 3, Maharashtra 1.
At Malappuram: Saurashtra 164 &
284 lost to Kerala 330 & 121 for seven
in 48 overs (Akshay Chandran 37 n.o.,
Sagar Dodia four for 28). Kerala 6,
Saurashtra 0.
At New Delhi: Madhya Pradesh
304 & 228 for five decl. bt Delhi 217 &
117 in 41.3 overs (Gagan Bhatia 60,
Ankit Singh Kushwah five for 19, Mayank Jain three for 39). MP 6, Delhi 0.
At Muzaffarnagar: Uttar Pradesh
542 & 142 for two in 35 overs (Almas
Shaukat 69, Rakhshan Faraz 60 n.o.)
drew with Himachal Pradesh 466 in
128 overs (A.K. Rana 121 n.o., P.S.
Chopra 110, A. K. Kaushik 86, Ankit
Rajpoot three for 114). UP 3, HP 1.
At Barwala: Haryana 214 & 321 bt
Assam 251 & 196 in 67.4 overs (Manasjyoti Gogoi 32, Jogeswar Bhumiz
30, R.K. Tewatia three for 75). Haryana 6, Assam 0.
At Nagpur: Vidarbha 489 & 263 for
six in 48 overs (D.D. Ahlawat 101 n.o.,
J.M. Sharma 84, Tabrez Khan three
for 103) drew with Railways 309 for
nine in 125.4 overs (A.P. Yadav 137,
A.P. Bawa 65, P.S. Singh 57, Siddhesh Neral three for 61, Shahnawaz
Khan three for 61). Vidarbha 3, Railways 1.
At Hyderabad: Bengal 223 & 371
for five decl. in 164 overs (Writtick
Chatterjee 98, Sandipan Das 97, Ankit
Keshri 77, Purab Joshi 52) drew with
Hyderabad 233 & 18 for no loss in 10
overs. Hyderabad 3, Bengal 1.
At Jaipur: Mumbai 374 & 246 for
seven decl. in 44 overs (Armaan Jaffer
67 n.o., S.M. Yadav 64, Shashank
Singh 56) drew with Rajasthan 300 &
205 for eight in 57 overs (A.N. Garhwal
70, S.S. Dobal 56, Sagar Trivedi three
for 43, T.U. Deshpande three for 61).
Mumbai 3, Rajasthan 1.

SPORT

High time Pujara sorted out his footwork

CRICKET / His lack of confidence might have prompted the team-management to send him at No.6 at the MCG
S. Dinakar
SYDNEY: Footwork is the essence of batsmanship. Its that
precious ability of a batsman to
judge the length of a delivery
and respond with appropriate
feet movement.
In Australia, successful batting, unless the length demands
otherwise, is a lot about going
back and using the depth of the
crease. This not only enables
the batsman to shorten the
length but also gives him more
time to play the horizontal bat
shots the cut and the pull
that can be so effective in
Australia.
This method could also force
the paceman to pitch the ball
further up and then the batsman, unless the ball is swinging, can get on to the front foot
and essay the drive.
Good footwork that alters
the length of a bowler is a lot
about decisiveness.
Cheteshwar Pujaras footwork though has been indecisive. The team-managements
decision to send him at No. 6 in
the second innings at the MCG
was a reflection of Pujaras lack
of confidence.
He has appeared tentative,
been unsure of his off-stump,
and subsequently paid the
price. He is getting into halfcock positions neither fully
forward nor back and been
caught in no-mans land.
Balance is a critical necessity
for a batsman and there is no
way Pujaras weight can be well
distributed if he is half forward
to deliveries demanding a different footwork pattern.
The bowlers have been finding him out, often pitching between six to eight metres before
the stumps, just outside the off.
Pujara, neither forward nor
back, has been nicking these
deliveries.
Pujara has not really moved
his feet to cover the swing from
the pacemen in the manner a
No. 3 batsman should.

Crouching stance
CAUGHT IN NO-MANS LAND: Cheteshwar Pujara fails to read this delivery from Mitchell Johnson in the third Test at the MCG on
Friday. PHOTO: SCOTT BARBOUR/GETTY IMAGES

One also gets the impression

that Pujara has been crouching
a tad too much in his stance.
This is precisely why the right-

hander is finding it hard to get

on top of the bounce on the surfaces here.
This might have been the reason why Pujara, unable to sway
away, ducked right into a
Mitchell Johnson bouncer at
the MCG. In the instance, the
helmet grill saved this batsman.
Because of his stance, his left
elbow is not high enough as the
bat meets the ball. Consequently, he has struggled to cope with
lift.
Pujaras grip while he is not
bottom-handed in true sense of
the term, his right hand still
dominates can actually enable him to play the cut and the
pull on these wickets. The righthander, however, has to stay
upright and travel back in his
crease to execute these shots.
The batsman could also be
gripping the bat too hard. Pujara has not been defending the
rising deliveries with soft
hands.
There are two sets of movements that have been successfully employed in Australia.
Being classically back and
across, as the legendary Sunil
Gavaskar was against fast
bowlers.
The other, one that has again
fetched batsmen plenty of runs
down under, is the back and
back movement.
Considering the ball does not
keep low here for most part, this
technique has its admirers.
While the bouncing delivery
remains a distinct threat for
sub-continental batsmen down
under, the Aussie pacemen do
pick up wickets aplenty with
their swing or seam movement
on or just outside off.
Actually, they disrupt footwork with bounce and then find
the nicks with deviation.
Coming into the series, Pujara averaged 15.00 in two Tests
in New Zealand. In England, it
was 22.20 from five Tests. The
batsman needs to have a close
look at his technique.
A determined cricketer with
old-fashioned values, Pujara
still has interesting possibilities. He has to sort out his footwork first.

Sombre mood, but business as Whats said on the ground should stay there: Matthews
usual for the Aussies
S. Dinakar

Special Correspondent
SYDNEY: As the cricket caravan
moved to Sydney, the mood in
the Australian camp was sombre despite the excitement of
the New Year.
It was here that Phillip
Hughes lost his life after being
felled by a short-pitched delivery at the SCG.
Brad Haddin played in that
match, representing New South
Wales against South Australia.
And it is at the SCG that Australia meets India in the final Test,
beginning on January 6.
Those traumatic moments
could play out before his eyes
again.
Haddin would need to keep a
lid on his emotions when the
match gets underway. He said,
Its a very difficult moment for
us. But with the Test series on,

its business as usual for the

cricketers.
Asked about M.S. Dhonis
shock retirement from Tests,
Haddin said, The great thing
about Dhoni was his temperament. No matter where the
game was going you wouldnt
know. He had a pretty even tempo through whatever situation
was going on and thats why hes
had such longevity in the game.
Haddin added, I was very
surprised at his retirement. Hes
been a great servant of Indian
cricket, the way he handles himself and the team, the calmness
he brings to a very, very big job in
captaining the Indian cricket
team.
He was great to play against
and a true gentleman of the
game. I think hes left Indian
cricket in a better place than it
was when he took over.

On Indian pacemens shortpitched ball tactics against him

at the MCG, Haddin said, It was
pretty easy to get a plan because
we knew what was coming. I hit
two fours and they went back to
conventional bowling. If thats
their plan, Ill combat them
whatever way I see fit. If their
bowlers want to bang it down
halfway for an hour-and-a-half
then go for your life.
Talking about Australias delayed declaration on day five at
the MCG, Haddin said, We won
the series, thats the main thing
we took out of it.
I think we earned the right to
play the way we did in Melbourne. Weve played India totally out of the series. Come
Sydney, if we get ourselves into
that situation, itd be different
because weve taken India out of
the series.

SYDNEY: Former Australia allrounder Greg Matthews has an

interesting suggestion for Virat
Kohli on dealing with Australian sledging.
Matthews told The Hindu,
He (Kohli) should tell them
back, Yes, I am a spoilt brat,
and I have a big house, and I
drive a Ferrari, and I have a
great insurance. Whats your
problem? That will put the
Aussies back.
The former off-spinner and
left-handed batsman, said, Instead, he (Kohli) is talking
about it at press conferences,
its bothering him and will
eventually affect his game.

Focus on the game

You have to let go and focus
on your game. I think whats
said on the ground should stay
on the ground.
The 55-year-old Matthews
represented Australia in 33

Tests in the 80s and early 90s,

scoring 1,849 runs and picking
up 61 wickets.
His First-Class record as a
left-handed batsman and an
off-spinner 8,872 runs and
516 wickets from 190 matches
makes him among the most
successful cricketers from New
South Wales, a powerhouse in
Australias tough Sheffield
Shield.

Bad boy reputation

In his playing days, Matthews had the reputation of being Australias bad boy.
He has no regrets. I was
abused with all kinds of words,
the kind of stuff you cannot
imagine or publish.
In my time, every team in
world cricket, apart from the
West Indies, sledged.
I took it in my stride... and I
gave it back. But I never carried
it with me when I left the field.
Matthews, who played a key
role for Australia in the tied

Test in Madras (1986) with a

10-wicket match haul, revealed, It was a tense game,
and I was called names by a
section of the crowd, I remember.
I also gave Chandrakant
Pandit, who had hit me over
mid-on earlier, a proper sendoff, going almost half way back
to the pavilion with him.
Wicketkeeper Tim Zoehrer
asked me, Whats the matter,
you just got him out. But I
wanted to give him (Pandit) a
send-off.
The former all-rounder said
he crossed the line only once in
Pakistan in the 1983 Test at the
MCG.
I went to the Pakistani
dressing room in the evening.
Imran Khan opened the door
and I said to him, I am sorry
about that, and guess what
Imrans answer was. He said,
Dont worry, you said the right
thing.

Australia Prime Minister hosts

tea for Indian players

Will Jadeja be able to

win the fitness race?

SYDNEY: The touring Indian

cricketers and the Australian
team were, on Thursday, hosted by Prime Minister Tony Abbott for an afternoon tea at his
official residence on New
Years Day here.
Players from both sides
posed for the official photo session with Abbott at Kirribilli
House, his second official
residence.
Dressed in their casual Team
India T-shirts and trousers, the
players were photographed
with Abbott, with the BCCI
posting the pictures on its
Twitter handle.
The Indian cricket team was
hosted for afternoon tea by
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on the first day of the
new year, on Thursday, the
BCCI said. There was another
photograph of the newly-appointed India captain Virat
Kohli, his Australian counterpart Steve Smith and Abbott.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni was
not seen in any of the photos
posted. It remains unclear
whether he attended the event
or not. PTI

MUMBAI: Ravindra Jadejas selection for the ICC World Cup

in Australia-New Zealand from
February 14 has become uncertain following a shoulder injury
he suffered while practising in
Australia.
The experienced 26-year-old
all-rounder provides perfect
balance to the team in the
shorter version of the game and
his non-availability for selection on January 6 when the
selection committee will meet
to pick the team for the Triseries (Australia, India and England) and the World Cup
could turn out to be a setback to
Indias campaign.

CM
YK

G. Viswanath

Undergoing rehab

ONE FOR THE ALBUM: Australia Prime Minister Tony Abbott poses for
a photo with the Indian cricket team on Thursday.
PHOTO: BRENDON THORNE/GETTY IMAGES

According to reliable sources, Jadeja suffered a shoulder

tear while throwing during a
practice session in Australia
and returned home for diagnosis and rehabilitation. Jadeja
is now undergoing treatment at
the NCA rehabilitation centre
at SRMC, Chennai.
Realising the value Jadeja
brings to the team, the Board of
Control for Cricket in India
(BCCI) is in the process of ob-

taining clarity on replacement

rules for ICC events. Over the
next three days, it will also seek
opinion from medical experts
on the extent of recovery Jadeja has made since returning
home and the time it will take
for him to resume playing.
Usually the selection committee is given a fitness report
of players and it would be interesting to see the position
BCCI takes after getting all
opinions and, most importantly, ODI captain M.S. Dhonis
view.
India is slated to play the first
warm-up game against Australia on February 8 and the second against Afghanistan on
February 10 at Adelaide.
It needs to be seen whether
the BCCI will give the green
signal to the selection committee to choose Jadeja hoping
that he will be fit to play by the
first warm-up game.
The selection committee
picked Gujarat all-rounder Axar Patel as replacement for Jadeja in the Test squad and he
could become a straightaway
choice in the event of the BCCI
not receiving favourable reports on Jadejas fitness.

rooms with him. I knew every

button in his body and knew
exactly what to say to him. I
was amazed when others told
me Steve was unflappable on
the field.
The former all-rounder revealed he once got Merv
Hughes to bowl 11 successive
bouncers at him in a domestic
match.
After every ball, I would run
up to Merv and say things to
him like, You know Merv, I
like your friendly moustache!
He would run in angrily and
bounce at me again.

Bouncers rarely
get you out
Greg Matthews.
PHOTO: AFP
Matthews claimed he could
easily get his former New
South Wales teammate Steve
Waugh worked up. Ive shared

The bouncer rarely gets you

out and it allowed me to play
him more easily. I wanted him
to do just that.
When Matthews talks, there
is rarely a dull moment. Perhaps, there is a message in
words to the Indians.

suldolku

A mind game and a puzzle

that you solve with
reasoning and logic. Fill in
the grid with digits in such
a manner that every row,
every column and every
3x3 box accommodates
the digits 1 to 9, without
repeating any. The
solution to yesterdays
puzzle is at right.

ND-ND

16

SPORT

NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU

FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 2015

Lampard rescues Manchester City

FOOTBALL / United, Liverpool held; Arsenal loses
LONDON: Frank Lampard celebrated his loan extension by
scoring the winning goal as Manchester City edged Sunderland
3-2 on Thursday to move level on
points with Premier League leader Chelsea.
City announced late on
Wednesday that Lampards loan
move from its sister club New
York City
FC
had
been prolonged to
the end of
the season
and
he
proved his
worth by coming off the bench to
score the winner.
City, which left goalkeeper Joe
Hart on the bench, took the lead
in the 57th minute at the Etihad
Stadium when Yaya Toure
slammed an exquisite shot into
the top-left corner from outside
the box.
Stevan Jovetics flick made it
2-0, but just as it had done in
Sundays 2-2 draw with Burnley,
the champion allowed Sunderland back into the game.
Two City old boys did the damage, with Jack Rodwells header
reducing the arrears in the 68th
minute and Adam Johnson equalising from the penalty spot three
minutes later after Pablo Zabaleta had fouled Santiago Vergini.
But just three minutes after replacing Jovetic, Lampard headed
home a cross from Gael Clichy.
Earlier, Manchester United
had lost further momentum in
the title race after drawing 1-1
with Stoke City. Radamel Falcao

A STUNNER! Stokes Ryan Shawcross (second from left) found the target in the
second minute, capitalising on Peter Crouchs goal-bound header.
PHOTO: REUTERS

equalised for the visitor in the

26th minute after former United
trainee Ryan Shawcross had
scored the first goal of 2015 in the
second minute by hooking home
from Peter Crouchs header.
Southampton tightened its
grip on fourth place and closed to
within a point of United by winning 2-0 at home to nearest rival
Arsenal.
Sadio Mane curled home from
a narrow angle on the right after
Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech
Szczesny went walkabout in the
34th minute, with Dusan Tadic

adding a second in the 56th minute after a defensive mix-up.

Liverpool threw away a 2-0
lead to draw 2-2 at home to bottom club Leicester City, which
left it seven points below the top
four in eighth place.
A pair of first-half Steven Gerrard penalties put Liverpool in
control, but two goals in two minutes by David Nugent and Jeffrey
Schlupp prevented Brendan
Rodgerss side from registering a
third successive win.
The results: Aston Villa 0 drew with
Crystal Palace 0; Hull 2 (Elmohamady

33, Jelavic 43) bt Everton 0; Liverpool

2 (Gerrard 17-pen, 40-pen) drew with
Leicester 2 (Nugent 58, Schlupp 60);
Manchester City 3 (Toure 57, Jovetic
66, Lampard 73) bt Sunderland 2
(Rodwell 68, Johnson 71-pen).
Newcastle 3 (Taylor 15, Colback
26, Sissoko 78) drew with Burnley 3
(Dummett 19-og, Ings 66, Boyd 86);
QPR 1 (Fer 20) drew with Swansea 1
(Bony 90); Southampton 2 (Mane 34,
Tadic 56) bt Arsenal 0; Stoke 1 (Shawcross 2) drew with Manchester United
1 (Falcao 26); West Ham 1 (Sakho 10)
drew with West Brom 1 (Berahino 42).

Agencies

CHESS

Bhuvanesh springs a
surprise on Cruz
Arvind Aaron
CHENNAI: International Master
Ramnath Bhuvanesh held sixth
seed Grandmaster Cristian
Cruz of Peru to a quick draw on
the top board in the fourth
round of the Chennai International Open chess tournament
here on Thursday.
After 19 moves, the players
repeated the position and
signed a draw.
Railway players, K. Rathnakaran of Kozhikode and Swapnil
Dhopade of Amravati scored
their fourth straight wins to
share the lead with four points.
Rathnakaran crushed Karthikeyan Murali in 43 moves by
taking control of the king
knights file with his queen and
two rooks hunting the black
king. Swapnil Dhopade trapped
Abhisheks knight in a minor
piece ending to win in 60
moves.
Meanwhile, Andhra youngster C.R.G. Krishna shocked
GM Valeriy Neverov in 56
moves. Krishna, Nr Vignesh

share the third spot with 3.5

points along with nine others,
including top-seeded Ivan
Popov.
Vignesh won pawns in the
middlegame to overcome Asian
junior champion Srinath in a
marathon 95-move rook ending.
Two of Indias top three
rated players in this meet, Karthikeyan Murali and Srinath
suffered defeats.
In the Group B section for
372 players, second seed O.T.
Anilkumar is among the 15
leaders on 4.5 points from five
rounds.
The results (round four): Ramnath Bhuvanesh 3.5 drew with Cristhian Cruz (Peru) 3.5; K. Rathnakaran
4 bt Karthikeyan Murali 3; Nguyen Van
Huy (Vie) 3.5 drew with Shardul Gagare 3.5; Swapnil Dhopade 4 bt Abhishek Kelkar 3; Ivan Popov (Rus) 3.5 bt
Vladimir Lazarev (Fra) 2.5; Mikhail
Mozharov (Rus) 3.5 bt R Siddharth
2.5; D.K. Sharma 2.5 lost to Marat
Dzhumaev (Uzb) 3.5. C.R.G. Krishna
3.5 bt Valeriy Neverov (Ukr) 2.5; Nr
Vignesh 3.5 bt N Srinath 2.5.

Uttarakhand
maintains its
winning streak
BHILWARA: Uttarakhand continued to serve a strong warning to
other teams as it maintained its
winning streak with an 88-50
victory over Railways in a
Group A mens league match of
the 65th National basketball
championship on Thursday.
Having beaten defending
champion Tamil Nadu and Haryana earlier, Uttarakhand is
set to top the table from the
group.

Easy for TN
Tamil Nadu wound up its
league campaign with an authoritative 91-66 victory over
Haryana. In Group B, Services
and Punjab retained their undefeated record and are headed
to face each other to decide the
group topper.
In the womens section, Railways was ruthless in outplaying
the other four teams in the
group with big margins and
topped the table with ease.
The results (league): Men: Group
A: Tamil Nadu 91 (Prasanna Venkatesh 23, Amjyot Singh 19, Pratham
Singh 17, G. Sivabalan 13, A. Arvind
11) bt Haryana 66 (S. Himanshu 17, R.
Deepak 11, K. Vikas 11, S. Hemant
10); Uttarakhand 88 (Trideep Rai 27,
Amritpal Singh 23, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 18) bt Railways 50 (Prakash
Mishra 14). Group B: Services 80
(Jairam Jat 19, Dalip Kumar 19, Narender Grewal 13, K. Ramesh 10) bt
Kerala 67 (R. Manoj 22, Subash Shenoy 17, Albin Baby 11).
Women: Group A: Kerala 84 (P.S.
Jeena 28, P.S. Neenumol 25, Stephy
Nixon 17) bt Maharashtra 69 (Manisha
Dange 23, Sruthi Menon 14).
Group B: Railways 113 (Renu
Maurya 16, Bharti Netam 16, Sitamani
Tudu 15, Apoorva Muralinath 14) bt
Punjab 54 (Simriti 18, Kirandeep Kaur
Dhaliwal 15, Nagma Mirza 12).
Delhi 72 (Pratima Singh 31, Prashanti Singh 17) bt Tamil Nadu 64 (R.
Ramya 18, P. Divya 16).
Railways 86 (Ranjeeta 17, Renu
Maurya 13) bt Uttar Pradesh 31 (Radha 14). Special Correspondent
CM
YK

ND-ND