Hyderabad, wednesday, march 9, 2016

www.thehindu.in Regd. H/SD/319/15-17 RNI No. TNENG/1976/49963 ISSN 0971 - 751X Vol. 41 No. 58 CITY EDITION 30 Pages Rs. 5.00

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NIA has no problem

in Pak. team visiting
Pathankot airbase

Air Force will induct

woman fighter pilots
on June 18: Arup Raha

Bangladesh court
upholds Mir Quasem
Alis death sentence

Asia Cup has offered us

a good build-up, says
India captain Dhoni

Page 15

Page 15

Page 16

Page 19

Sharapova to be suspended as
she failed dope test in January
Three sponsors snap
ties with five-time
Grand Slam champion
LOS ANGELES: Russian tennis

star Maria Sharapova said on

Monday that she had been
notified by the International
Tennis Federation (ITF) that
she tested positive for a
banned substance at the
Australian Open in January.
A five-time Grand Slam
champion, Ms. Sharapova
(28), is one of tennis biggest
stars and has been the highest-paid female athlete for 11
straight years.
She said she had been taking Mildronate since 2006
for health issues and it was

THERE IS SOMETHING ABOUT MARIA: Its my body, and Im

responsible for what I put into it, Sharapova said. PHOTO: AFP

added to the prohibited list

this year.
Ms. Sharapova said she received an email from the

World Anti-Doping Agency

in December that noted
changes to the tennis programme for 2016. She said

the email included a link to a

list of banned substances,
but that she did not look at it.
I have to take full responsibility for it, she told a
news conference. Its my
body, and Im responsible for
what I put into it.
Ms. Sharapova will be provisionally suspended starting March 12, the ITF said.
Three of her sponsors
sportswear giant Nike, Swiss
watch brand Tag Heuer and
German luxury car company
Porsche announced they
were cutting ties with her.
New York Times News
Service

CATCH THE FALLING

STARS | PAGE 20

Power tariff shocker in Banks move SC to ban

store for TS consumers Mallyas overseas travel
B. CHANDRASHEKHAR
HYDERABAD: Power distribution

companies proposed heavy

tariff hike for several categories of consumers except
those consuming up to 100
units a month in the domestic
category.
The increase in tariff ranges from 65 paise to Re.1 per
unit to the domestic consumers itself. The two TS South-

CM
YK

ern Power Distribution Company Limited (TSSPDCL)

and TS Northern Power Distribution Company Limited
(TSNPDCL) filed their Annual Revenue Requirement
(ARRs) for the next fiscal before the Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission here on Tuesday.

BURDEN ON CONSUMERS

LIKELY TO BE HIGH| PAGE 5

LEGAL CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: The Supreme

Court on Tuesday agreed to

urgently hear a plea by a
consortium of banks, led by
SBI, for a restraint order to
prevent liquor baron Vijay
Mallya, who owes them
over Rs. 9,000 crore, from
leaving the country.
A Bench, led by Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur, or-

dered that the case be listed

for hearing on March 9 after
Attorney-General Mukul
Rohatgi sought an urgent
audience. The action followed a Karnataka HC decision refusing to grant them
an ex parte interim order
against Mr. Mallya, the
U.K.-based Diageo Plc and
United Spirits Limited.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

BUDGET PROPOSAL

Backlash forces Jaitley

to withdraw EPF tax
40 p.c. exemption
given to NPS
subscribers will
remain: Minister

WEST BENGAL POLLS

Congress releases
list of 75 seats
KOLKATA: The Congress in West
Bengal on Tuesday released a
list of 75 seats for the Assembly
polls. It did not include any of
the 116 seats that the Left Front
announced, indicating that a
formal understanding
between the parties is in place.
NEWS | PAGE 15

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
Were in talks with
India, says U.S.

PUJA MEHRA

WASHINGTON: The U.S expressed

NEW DELHI: Union Finance Min-

ister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday

announced the withdrawal of
the budget proposal on taxing
Employees Provident Fund,
following a backlash in and
outside Parliament.
The proposal had sought to
make up to 60 per cent of savers corpus withdrawn from
the EPF tax-free if invested in
annuity, according to the
statement Mr. Jaitley made in
the Lok Sabha. The period return on the annuity was to be
taxable.
The withdrawal decision,
however, was taken after MPs
pointed out that the tax would
force people to invest in annuity product even if they are
not willing to do so.
The main argument was
that the employees should
have the choice of where to
invest, he said. The objective
of encouraging people to join
the pension scheme could be
achieved through other ways
on which the government has
received suggestions.
A number of representa-

BRIEFLY

disappointment with India

denying visas to members of the
United States Commission on
International Religious Freedom.
NEWS | PAGE 14

CULTURE FESTIVAL
Green Tribunal poses
tough questions
tions have been received from
various sections, including
Members of Parliament, suggesting that this change [EPF
tax] will force people to invest
in annuity even if they are not
willing to do so, Mr. Jaitley
said. The government would
like to do a comprehensive review... and therefore I withdraw the proposal.
The 40 per cent exemption
given to subscribers of the
National Pension Scheme
(NPS) at the time of withdrawal remains, the Finance
Minister
clarified.
This
would make the NPS, which
gives returns of over 11 per
cent, more attractive to pension savers than other options, Mr. Jaitley later told re-

porters. The objective of the

reform was not to get more
revenue but to encourage
more private sector employees to go for pension security
after retirement instead of
withdrawing the entire money from the Provident Fund
account, he said in the
statement.
Towards this objective, it
was announced that 40 per
cent of the total corpus withdrawn at the time of retirement will be tax-exempt under both provident fund and
the NPS.

PENSION SECURITY WAS THE

AIM, SAYS JAITLEY | PAGE 14
GOVERNMENT CUTS ITS
LOSSES ON EPF | EDITORIAL

NEW DELHI: Suspense mounted

over the fate of the culture
festival of the Art of Living
Foundation on the Yamuna with
the National Green Tribunal
posing tough questions.
NEWS | PAGE 14

EMPOWER
on Page 6

METROPLUS
6 Pages

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