24
Friday
Snap POLL
August
2018 Q. Can we trust China?
Yes No Can’t say
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‘Don’t doubt our
work at border’
Delhi pitches for
free navigation in
South China Sea
Abhishek Bhalla
abishek.bhalla@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: India urged Chi-
na not to view its develop-
ment work in the border are-
as with distrust. India
pitched for free navigation in
the contentious South China
Sea aimed at boosting trade
and raised concerns over
CPEC, sources said as the de-
fence ministers of both na-
tions met on Thursday. The
meeting of defence minister
Nirmala Sitharaman and the
Chinese counterpart Gen Wei
Fenghe included extensive
discussions on bilateral de-
fence related engagement as
well as regional and interna-
tional developments, a press
statement of the Ministry of
Defence said. Sitharam also
extended an invitation for
YESTERDAY’S POLL RESULT:
Is the Centre right in refusing
foreign aid for flood-ravaged
Kerala?
Yes  70%
No 24%
Can’t say 6%
51.01 NSE nifty 11,582.75
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with her Chinese counterpart General
Wei Fenghe at South Block in New Delhi on Thursday —BB Yadav/DNA
one of the military chiefs of
China to visit India soon.
Taking forward PM Nar-
endra Modi’s vision that the
two countries won’t allow dif-
ferences to turn into dis-
putes, the Chinese delegation
was of the view that border
issues can be sorted out with
restrain, rationale and matu-
rity. “They said Doklam was
handled well and all issues
MEA maintains Jadhav trial
by Pak military court farcical
New Delhi: Official sources
at the Ministry of External
Affairs (MEA) here said that
India will do everything to
bring back former Naval of-
ficer, Kulbhushan Jadhav,
currently in Pakistan’s cus-
tody. India has been main-
taining that the trial of Jad-
hav by a military court in
11.85
can be handled in the same
manner,” a government offi-
cial said. While the Chinese
referred to China Pakistan
Economic Corridor as a pro-
ject of “regional develop-
ment” the response to India’s
development projects along
the border was that it should
in no way impact China’s na-
tional interests or sovereign-
ty, sources said.  Turn to P4
Pakistan was “farcical”. The
Hague-based International
Court of Justice (ICJ), on
Wednesday, decided the hear
the case of Jhadhav, a retired
Indian Naval officer, in Feb-
ruary next year. Both coun-
tries will have to complete
their submissions by Decem-
ber this year.  Report, P14
Rupee again
slips below 70
against dollar
Mumbai: The rupee on
Thursday sank 30 paise to
close below the 70-mark
against the US currency due
to renewed worries about a
hike in US interest rates
amid global trade war jitters.
The domestic currency
ended at 70.11 per dollar, a
loss of 30 paise or 0.43 per
cent over the previous close.
In day trade, the rupee had
crumbled to a session low of
70.17 per dollar.
The rupee suffered its big-
gest single-day drop in past
one week.
Forex sentiment wobbled
with a resurgent dollar as
currency traders increased
their expectations for a
fourth interest rate hike this
year after the Federal Re-
serve released its meeting
minutes overnight.
 Full report in DNA Money
‘Focus on swachhata to
make India disease-free’
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Ahmedabad: Prime Minis-
ter Narendra Modi said on
Thursday that the country
would have been disease-free
if earlier governments had
focused on cleanliness like
his government.
PM Modi made the com-
ment after dedicating a new
hospital and other projects in
Junagadh during his visit to
the state. “A WHO report said
that lives of 3 lakh children
can be saved in a year by clean-
liness,” the PM said. Turn to P4
R.N.I. No. : GUJENG/2007/22424
PTI
Asian
Games
2018
P10
Medal winners
SILVER
Vihan Shardul
(shooting, Men’s
Double Trap)
BRONZE
Ankita
Raina
(Tennis,
Indian shooter Shardul Vihan celebrates after winning silver medal Women’s
in Men’s Double Trap event during the 18th Asian Games 2018
Singles)
Young Gun KABADDI
(Men’s Team)
F
ifteen-year-old Shardul Vihan on Wednesday became Watch out today
the youngest Indian shooter to win a medal at the
Asian Games after he finished second in the men’s Rohan Bopanna/Divij
double trap here, extending the sensational run of teen- Sharan will compete in the
aged marksmen from the country. The Meerut-based Men’s Doubles final, the
Vihan shot 73 in the final. The gold went to 34-year-old Indian women’s team will
South Korean Hyunwoo Shin and bronze to 42-year-old play Kabaddi finals, Heena
from Qatar, Hamad Ali Al Marri. Vihan is a Class 9 stu- Sidhu and Manu Bhaker
dent of Dayawati Modi Academy in Modipuram, compete in the 10m Air
Meerut. The bronze winner is almost triple his age. Pistol Event
Simultaneous
polls won’t be
possible: CEC
Aurangabad: Putting all spec-
ulations to rest, the Election
Commission (EC) has ruled
out any possibility of holding
simultaneous elections to the
state assemblies along with
the Lok Sabha polls. Chief
Election Commissioner (CEC)
OP Rawat on Thursday said
that there is no chance at all of
holding simultaneous elec-
tions without a ‘legal frame-
work’ in place. “Koi chance
nahi,” Mr Rawat said. His com-
ments come against the back-
drop of BJP chief Amit Shah’s
Prime Minister Narendra Modi distributes certificates and call for a “healthy and open
employment letters to select beneficiaries under various debate” among stakeholders
development schemes in Valsad on Thursday —PTI for such elections.  Report, P14
 02
daily news & analysis I Ahmedabad I FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 2018
Med college, hospital in every 3 LS seats: PM
Prime Minister promises revamp of healthcare through wellness centres, Ayushman Bharat Yojana and Jan Aushadhi Kendras
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi on Thursday said his
government was committed to
providing affordable health-
care facilities to citizens and
had launched a series of steps
for the same. He said that
many middle-class families,
especially those with senior
citizens, had to earlier spend a
lot of money on medicines.
“The monthly medicine bill
used to be Rs2,000-3,000.
Through Jan Aushadhi Kend-
ras, we are supplying medi-
cines at a lower cost, which has
helped many families reduce
expenditure on medicines by
70-80%,” Modi said while ad-
dressing a public gathering in
Junagadh after inaugurating a
300-bed hospital set up by Guja-
rat Medical Education and Re-
search Society.
He inaugurated or laid
foundation stones of nine pro-
jects of Rs500 crore in Juna-
gadh. The PM said that the
government envisages one
medical college and hospital
for every three parliamentary
seats, before planning one in
every district. Talking about
the plans to boost healthcare
services, Modi said that 1.50
lakh wellness centres would be
established in the country,
which would be equipped with
Cong says PM should have
spoken on groundnut scam
GPCC president Amit Chav-
da on Thursday questioned
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi’s silence over the Rs
4000-crore groundnut scam.
“We welcome the PM to Gu-
jarat. But, he should speak
on the Rs 4000-crore ground-
nut scam,” said Chavda.
He said the PM’s silence in
the Rafale deal with Anil
Ambani is also under cloud
of suspicion and he should
clear it.
in brief
Adani Foundation
to provide `50 cr
for flood-hit Kerala
Adani Foundation on
Thursday committed
Rs50 crore to the Kerala
Chief Minister’s Distress
Relief Fund to support
people affected by the
devastating floods. Foun-
dation said that it would
provide Rs25 crore for
immediate relief, and an-
other Rs25 crore for reha-
bilitation and resettle-
ment. The Adani Group’s
employees also pledged
to donate a day’s salary
to express solidarity
with the affected people.
It said its teams had dis-
tributed kits containing
essential supplies.
Chemists to go
on strike today
Chemists and druggists
in the city will go on a
one day token strike to
protest against the sale
of medicines online
without any checks and
balances in place for pre-
scriptions. They will
down there shutters till 4
in the evening. Fran-
chise medical stores will
not be participating in
the strike.
Interview of home
guards tomorrow
Interviews with
candidates who have
passed the written exams
of home guards will be
held on Saturday at 9:30
am at police headqu-
arters in Makarba, said a
statement of the state
government. The
candidates will also have
to bring their school
leaving certificates,
certificate for educati-
onal qualification as well
as photographs.
Gold jewellery
worth `47K stolen
A complaint of theft was
lodged with Navrangpu-
ra police station on
Wednesday by one Girish
Patel, 60, a resident of
Navrangpura. He told po-
lice that while he was
standing near Ishwar
Bhawan road, three uni-
dentified people took
away his gold ornaments
worth Rs47,000 from his
vehicle on August 21.

The government
will bear the
medical cost of up
to Rs5 lakh a year for 10
crore families, i.e. nearly
50 crore citizens.
Narendra Modi,
Prime Minister
the latest equipment and pro-
vide much better services than
public health centres and com-
munity health centres.
“Quality healthcare facili-
ties will be available in a range
of every 10-12 km,” he said.
Modi announced that trial run
of Ayushman Bharat Yojana,
under which health cover of
Rs5 lakh is planned to be pro-
vided to 10 crore families, had
started from August 15, while
the scheme would be rolled out
on September 25, the anniver-
sary of Pandit Deendayal
Upadhyay. “The government
will bear the medical cost of
up to Rs5 lakh a year for 10
crore families, i.e. nearly 50
crore citizens. This is more
than the population of Ameri-
ca, Canada and Mexico,” he
said. Modi said the healthcare
sector was set to attract large
investments as there would be
a need for hundreds of more
hospitals.
Farmers across the state
were reeling under debt but
the PM had not made any
announcement of farm
loan waiver, he said.
He said that before coming
to power, PM Modi had
promised to be a game
changer. But, this, instead,
turned out to be a govern-
ment of name changes.
“They have just renamed
the schemes of earlier gov-
ernments,” said Chavda.
29 more cocaine
capsules recovered
from Nigerian carrier
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Sleuths of Special Operation
Group (SOG) on Wednesday
recovered 29 more cocaine
capsules from the Nigerian
who was arrested from Ahm-
edabad Airport on Monday.
Seventy-three capsules, worth
Rs2.13 crore, have been recov-
ered from 39-year-old Zohou
Alexis over last three days.
The officials started check-
ing his luggage after 44 cap-
sules, worth Rs1.3 crore, were
initially recovered from Alex-
is. Another 29 capsules were
found concealed in chocolate
wrappers.
“When CISF jawan caught
him on the basis of HHMD
they thought he had swal-
lowed gold. Later, an X-ray
report revealed it was some-
thing else. We don’t know why
the HHMD device started
beeping. We are now trying to
track the chain of the entire
drug smuggling linked to
Alexis and to whom he was
going to deliver drugs,” BC
Solanki, ACP of SOG said.
The officers are trying to
find out who the consignment
was supposed to be delivered
to and the supplier of the
drugs, police said.
The primary investigation
also revealed that Zohou was
Guj docs reach out to flood-hit Kerala
Gargi Raval
gargi.raval@dnaindia.net
After floods, help has begun
pouring in for Kerala from
every corner. The southern
state is fearing the spread of
the epidemic and is in need of
medicines.
Mission Director of Na-
tional Health Mission of Gov-
ernment of Gujarat, Gaurav
Dahiya, coordinated with
Resident Commissioner of
Kerala and sent 15 tonnes of
medicines from Gujarat. Da-
hiya has also received a list of
medicines from the govern-
ment of India. Surprisingly,
the department has collected
1.5 times more medicines
Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the inauguration of the various projects, in Junagarh on Thursday. Chief Minister
Vijay Rupani and MoS for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Parshottam Rupala were also present — PTI
Homes a Raksha Bandhan
gift for 1.15L women: Modi
DNA Correspondent
Correspondent@dnaindia.net
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi said on Thursday that the
1.15 lakh homes built in differ-
ent places in the state under
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana
were a Raksha Bandhan gift to
the beneficiary women.
Modi was speaking at a pub-
lic rally in Valsad after witness-
ing e-grahpravesh for 1,15,551
beneficiaries of the scheme. He
also interacted with the benefi-
ciaries across the state through
video conferencing.
“More than one lakh fami-
lies have got their own houses
today. When Raksha Bandhan
is round the corner, an own
home is like a Raksha Bandhan
gift for the women in the fami-
lies. Let me tell you that this
chocolate cover
„„The officials started
checking his luggage
after 44 capsules, worth
Rs1.3 crore, were initially
recovered from Alexis.
„„Another 29 capsules
were found concealed
in chocolate wrappers.
a carrier and was getting
well paid.
The accused was caught at
the Sadar Vallabbhai Patel
International Airport in
Ahmedabad during the rou-
tine checking of the passen-
gers. Alexis had arrived from
Dubai and was on his way to
take a connecting flight to
Mumbai when he was stopped
by the CISF jawan.
Food and medicines being sent to Kerala
than required in just two
days.
“We have arranged 980 car-
tons of medicines in two
trucks with the help of Indian
Drug Manufacturing Associ-
ation. They have donated vol-
gives great satisfaction
to your brother,” Modi
said. Earlier, Modi was
welcomed by Chief
Minister Vijay Rupani
and others when he
landed at Surat in the
morning. Talking
about the units built under
PMAY, Modi said their quality
had led many to wonder if
houses under a government
scheme could be so good.
“This has been possible be-
cause Katki company (middle-
men) has been shut. If one ru-
pee is disbursed from Delhi, we
are ensuring every 100 paise is
reaching the villages,” he said.
The PM also laid foundation
stone of the Rs586-crore Astol
water project, aimed at supply-
ing drinking water in Kaprada
and Dharampur talukas. He
Uber driver
killed, car and
mobile looted
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
A complaint of loot and mur-
der was lodged with Koth po-
lice station of Ahmedabad
Rural police after the body of
a man was found from the
bushes near Andrej village in
Dholka. Police said the vic-
tim’s throat was slit.
The deceased Sarfaraz
Mansuri, 29, was a resident
of Vejalpur and worked as an
Uber driver.
The incident took place
between August 21 and 22.
The complaint was lodged
byMansuri’s elder brother,
Samir Mansuri.
He stated in the complaint
that Sarfaraz had gone to
Bhagodhara to drop a passen-
ger from Kalpur on August 21
night.
The family members start-
ed calling him when he didn’t
return till late at night.
His phone was also
switched off. Samir lodged a
missing person’s report with
Vejalpur police when Sarfar-
az didn’t return even the next
day.
Cops, who the found body
today, later revealed that the
corpse was that of Sarfaraz.
His car and mobile worth
Rs5.5lakh was also looted.
“We have lodged a case of loot
and murder. The victim’s
throat was slit. We have start-
ed an investigation,” HV Pa-
tel, police sub-inspector of
Koth police station, said.
untarily. Presently, Kerala
needs almost everything.
This is the time when medi-
cines are needed much,” said
Dahiya.
The medicines were air-
lifted from Ahmedabad to
said that the project too
would benefit the wom-
en. He said the govern-
ment for working to
ensure that every sin-
gle house in the tribal
belt from Umargam to
water.
Ambaji receives tap
Modi, who was the state’s
chief minister for 12.5 years,
said his government was work-
ing to eradicate poverty and to
empower the poor. He cited ex-
amples of Jan Dhan Yojana
and Saubhagya schemes,
which had made banking and
electricity accessible to the
poor. “It is our endeavour that
by 2022, when India celebrates
75 years of Independence,
there should not be a single
family without its own home,”
he said.
Cleanliness on mind
A day after photos of abandoned Dashama idols were published in newspapers, AMC workers clear the ghat below
Indira bridge of the idols — Pravin Indrekar/ DNA
Youth stabbed to death over
eve-teasing by cousin in Satellite
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
A 22-year-old youth was fatal-
ly stabbed in a dispute that
broke out after a member of
his family allegedly eve teased
a girl in Ramdevnagar, Satel-
lite, at around 10 pm on
Wednesday.
Two complaints were
lodged with the Satellite po-
lice. The deceased has been
identified as Yash Purbiya.
The girl, Heena, was alleg-
edly eve teased by one Milan,
Trivandrum on Thursday.
“We have collected 1.5 times
more medicines than re-
quired. The medicines had to
be airlifted. A chopper of air
force picked up that medicine
and delivered at the depart-
ment of health and family
welfare of Kerala, on Wednes-
day,” said Dahiya.
Our team has donated
apart from their one day’s sal-
ary. Roughly Rs5 lakh has
been donated in last five days
by doctors – health officials
across the state, he said. Resi-
dent commissioner of Kerala
Puneet Kumar has requested
to Indian Air Force Relief
Cell to lift urgently from
Ahmedabad on Tuesday.
ah
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Farmers fume
over detention
of GKS leaders
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Gujarat Khedut Samaj
(GKS) which is represent-
ing farmers of the state is
angry with the detention
and house arrest of its
leaders. ‘The government
is becoming intolerant to
voices being raised to pro-
tect their rig-hts, it said,
adding whether it is Har-
dik Patel who wants to go
on a peaceful fast or Dalit
organizations as well as
government employees pr-
otesting on fixed pay.
GKS secretary Sagar
Rabari said Bhagubhai Pa-
tel, GKS president of Val-
sad district, and Ramesh
Patel, GKS president for
Olpad taluka, were de-
tained since Wednesday
night even though GKS did
not organise any protest.
Moreover, GKS president
Jayesh S Patel and GKS
president for south Guja-
rat Jayesh N Patel were
kept under house arrest.
“GKS president Jayesh
S Patel had to come to the
Gujarat HC and the police
followed him till the PM
had not left south Gujarat.
The manner of activity is
criminal as nothing is on
record,” said Rabari. Simi-
larly, police also kept
Chetan Gadhia, GKS
president of Rajkot dis-
trict under house arrest
till the PM was on a visit to
Junagadh.
“We do not know if the
ruling party has become
dictatorial or the police is
going overboard to be in
good books of masters. Gu-
jarat is moving towards
autocratic rule under the
BJP government,” said
Rabari.
crime card
The girl was allegedly
eve teased by one Milan,
aka Sanjay Vaghela. The
families had gathered
when the youth was
stabbed by one of the
relatives of the girl. The
accused are at large.
aka Sanjay Vaghela.
The dispute broke out be-
tween the girl’s and the ac-
Four-year-old killed, six injured
as BRTS slab collapses in Surat
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dniadia.net
A four-year-old girl was killed
and six labourers were trapped
in the debris of an under-con-
struction BRTS station that col-
lapsed in Surat on Thursday.
The incident took place
near Anuvrat Dwar BRTS
junction on University Road,
police said, adding that the in-
fant Roshi Damor, was the
daughter of one of the labour-
ers, died at the spot.
The slab was being made as
part of a canal beautification
project. The incident took
edabad
Mix of old methods,
modern tech is best
Modi with GFSU students and others
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
on Thursday urged forensic ex-
perts and the police to use hu-
man intelligence and combine
traditional knowledge with
modern technology to solve
crimes.
PM Modi was addressing
students and various dignitar-
ies at the 4th convocation of
Gujarat Forensic Sciences
University, Gandhinagar.
Speaking of human intelli-
gence, Modi gave an example
of the Pagi community of
Kutch. He said, “You people
must have heard about Pagi
community. Merely by looking
at the footprints of camels,
they can tell whether the cam-
el was alone or there was a
rider with luggage. The com-
munity members undergo tra-
ining to develop five senses.
Even cops, on many occasions,
take their help to solve heinous
crimes.” I would urge universi-
ties to use such traditional
knowledge of our country and
combine with modern technol-
ogy to solve crime”, he added.
“With the new DNA Test
Bill passed by the central gov-
cused’s family following
which Yash, Sanjay’s cousin,
was stabbed by Amit Rijakar,
Heena’s relative, with a knife.
While Rijakar fled after the
incident, Yash died at the hos-
pital. One of the complaints
was lodged against Sanjay
and Yash by the girl herself
and the other was lodged by
Sanjay for Amit’s murder.
“The main accused of the
murder case is Amit. He is
absconding,” KD Khambla,
Inspector of Satellite police
station said.
place when the labourers were
working on the slab placed on
a pillar. Chief fire officer of
the Surat Municipal Corpora-
tion Basant Pareek said they
received a call at around 12.55
pm. “The slab and the roof sud-
denly collapsed. One of the
slabs fell on the child. The
HC allows 3
GFSU students
to attend event
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.com
The Gujarat High Court
has allowed three Guja-
rat Forensic Sciences
University (GFSU) stu-
dents to attend their con-
vocation. The convoca-
tion was attended by PM
Narendra Modi. The HC
has put a stay on the uni-
versity’s decision.
HC observed that
there was no valid reason
for the university to bar
the students from attend-
ing their convocation.
ernment, all the tests remain
reliable and the data is safe,”
he said. Referring recent judg-
ments in MP, he said, “Recently
a judge sentenced a rape ac-
cused death penalty in just two
months of hearing of the case.
This is speedy justice we ne-
ed.”. Full report:www.dnaindia.com
Now, Cept gets
access to Aga
Khan archives
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Students of CEPT University
will now be able to access ar-
chives of Aga Khan Trust.
The university is spearhead-
ing a pilot initiative of the
Aga Khan Trust for Culture
(AKTC), which has recently
launched an education pro-
gramme, that aims to promote
the development of teaching
materials and processes.
Through this initiative, the
expanse of learnings accumu-
lated by the Aga Khan Award
for Architecture and the Aga
Khan Historic Cities pro-
gramme will be shared with
the students.
Students will now be able
to integrate archives with
documentation – such as the
reviews written for projects
that were a procedural aspect
of the award with the teach-
ing process, especially for the
courses that evaluate ethics,
criticism, and theory in ar-
chitecture.
The initiative will also fo-
cus on developing teaching
methods, training tutors, and
building a deeper and more
vibrant synergy between ar-
chives and the teaching space.
As a part of this MOU, CEPT’s
Faculty of Architecture has
offered a History and Theory
course this semester for the
Masters in Architecture De-
sign and has already begun to
refer to the AKTC archives.
other labourers tried to rescue
the child and ended up being
trapped there,” said Pareek.
He said while the fire offi-
cials rescued the trapped la-
bourers, it was too late for the
child. The injured have been
shifted to Civil Hospital where
their condition is reported to
be stable. The collapse also
gave rise to rumours that a
bridge which was under con-
struction had collapsed.
The cause of the collapse is
not yet known. Gujarat Con-
gress spokesperson Manish
Doshi demanded action
against the contractors.
 ah
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A’bad collector
issues state’s
first online NA
certificate
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Three days after the state gov-
ernment introduced online
system for getting Non-Agri-
cultural (NA) land certificate,
Ahmedabad district collector
Vikrant Pandey issued the first
such order on Thursday. Reve-
nue secretary Pankaj Kumar
wrote on Twitter that
Ahmedabad district collector
had issued the first online NA
order in the state just within
three days of the application.
“(This is) Beginning of a
new era in revenue depart-
ment,” he wrote.
According to officials, the
online system is expected to
speed up the process for issuing
NA certificates, and also reduce
graft complaints. The system is
seen as a major relief, especial-
ly for real estate developers.
3,000 sq mt public
land freed of
encroachments
As a part of the drive against
encroachments on govern-
ment land, the district admin-
istration today freed about
3,000 sq mt land of illegal con-
structions.
An official statement said
that commercial encroach-
ments were removed from gov-
ernment land bearing survey
number 343 in Shahwadi area
of Vatva. “Twenty-one shops
and other commercial estab-
lishments were removed from
the government land. The mar-
ket price of the land is esti-
mated at Rs6 crore,” the state-
ment said.
It said that the drive target-
ing encroachments on govern-
ment land in Ahmedabad has
been initiated in view of the
state-wide drive to clear unau-
thorised constructions and
encroachments.
what govt said
21 shops were removed
from the government land.
The market price of the
land is estimated at Rs6
crore, a govt statement
said.
edabad
228 cops among those
fined for traffic violations
Around `22,800 fine collected from offenders, inform traffic police dept
Sharad Kumar
sharad.kumar@dnaindia.net
A number of police officials
have been fined for not wear-
ing helmets and seatbelts af-
ter Ahmedabad Police Com-
missioner (CP) AK Singh or-
dered the traffic department
to be stricter with rules. The
special drive was held under
the supervision of traffic
DCPs.
Around 228 police officers
— including police inspec-
tors, sub-inspectors and con-
stables — were fined for not
wearing helmets, seatbelts,
using the phone while driving
and violating the traffic sig-
nals. Around Rs22,800 fine
was collected from the offend-
ers. The maximum fine was
recovered by the ‘L’ division
of traffic police is around
Rs10,800. The fine was col-
lected from 108 cops.
“The aim of the drive was
to create awareness among
the police department. Even
cops can be fined if they vio-
late rules,” said Sanjay
AMC to review decision to
make BRTS travel cashless
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
AMC will review the decision to
make travel in BRTS buses cashless
from September, the standing com-
mittee decided on Thursday.
AMC had announced re-
cently to go cashless for
BRTS travel and made Janmi-
tra cards mandatory for
transactions. However, com-
mittee chairman Amul Bhatt
said the decision will be re-
viewed and implemented
only after considering all aspects.
Congress councillor Surendra
Baxi had questioned the earlier deci-
sion saying the poor would be re-
Trade bodies to discuss
traffic drive implications
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Business associations in
Ahmedabad will meet this Fri-
day to discuss implications of
Photo for representation the traffic drive carried out by
the police and administration.
Kharat, Traffic DCP, West While a lot of people say that
Zone. the drive has eased vehicular
The drive will continue movement, a strong opinion is
and surprise checking will be doing the round that no one
carried all over the city to en- should be deprived of their
sure that even cops are follow- livelihoods without providing
ing rules. The traffic cops who an alternative.
have been deployed in the city Gujarat Chamber of Com-
have been specially told not to merce and Industry (GCCI) has
let go of any police officer invited all the leading business
who is violating the rules. organizations for the meeting.
“We have been noticing a Recently, Ahmedabad Munici-
difference since the drive be- pal Corporation (AMC) had
gan. A majority of the officers arranged a meeting with rep-
has taken it seriously. We are resentatives of GCCI and other
planning to continue the business bodies too. GCCI
drive,” said Kharat. president Jaimin Vasa said
quired to shell out Rs50 for the card.
Different look for heritage
buildings’ bills
The committee also considered the
idea of giving a different look to
property tax bills issued to
heritage buildings. Khadia
ward councillor Bhavna Nay-
ak made the suggestion.
Bhatt said a different col-
our or identification of the
bill would convey to the own-
er that the structure is a her-
itage property, and no
alterations can be made. He, howev-
er, added that a decision on how to
make the bills different was yet to be
taken.
AMC is coming up with multi-
level parking places to sort out
the issue of parking of private
vehicles.
“Eateries have complained
of a drop in business due to in-
adequate parking. While their
problem is genuine, we cannot
allow irregular parking. We
have asked them to create valet
parking. We have also sought
that shopkeepers be given prop-
er guidelines,” said Vasa who is
of the opinion that business
bodies should support the gov-
ernment over issues that are of
public interest, while at the
same time it should appraise
the government of the difficul-
ties being faced by them.
He, however, cautioned that
the recent drives by the au-
thorities will bear fruits only
if they are sustained over a
period of time.
Ahmedabad I FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 2018 I daily news & analysis
Cong councillor
alleges scam in
sale of bodies
by AMC MET
DNA Correspondent|
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Former leader of opposition
Badruddin Shaikh has made
allegations against the dean
of AMC MET (Medical Educa-
tion Trust) College for selling
dead bodies to multinational
companies and demanded a
judicial inquiry into the
matter.
The RTI was filed by Yogesh
Mishra in 2016.
“It’s been two years that we
are seeking suspension of
dead Dr Pankaj Patel over giv-
ing dead bodies to multina-
tional companies for research
and in return getting the fa-
vour of a foreign trip. Why
there is no investigation
against him by a retired judge
of the court,” said Shaikh.
“The bodies were donated
for the study purpose of med-
ical students of the MET col-
lege, but for the personal gain,
Dr Patel has given those to
private companies.”
“The RTI revealed that how
swiftly the bodies were given
to companies and in return Dr
Patel visited foreign country
14 times in two years. This
isn’t coincident?,” remarked
Shaikh.
03
104 talukas get rains
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Widespread rains continued
in the state on Thursday with
104 talukas recording rains.
The intensity of rains has
decreased, the weatherman
said, adding that widespread
rains will continue till next
week.
Ahmedabad city will also
witness cloudy weather with
moderate rains.
Gujarat State Disaster
Management Authority (GS-
DMA) said in its report that
104 talukas of the state re-
ceived rains till 8:00 pm on
Thursday.
The major ones include
Himmatnagar (32 mm),
Umerpada (30 mm) and Pet-
lad (22 mm).
India Meteorological De-
partment (IMD) has predict-
ed rains at many places in the
state till August 27.
Ahmedabad City is also
expected to receive moderate
rains during these days.
The minimum tempera-
ture is likely to be around 23
degree Celsius, while maxi-
mum temperature around 29
degree Celsius.
The recent spell, that be-
gan from August 17, has come
as a major relief for the state
government and farmers
alike as it has revived the
prospects of kharif sowing,
which would have dried in
absence of rains.
There are still reports of
damage to cotton crop in Sau-
rashtra and groundnut in
north Gujarat.
The rains in catchment
areas of major rivers of Nar-
mada and Tapi has also in-
creased the level of water in
major dams of Sardar Saro-
var and Ukai, bringing a sigh
of relief to the state govern-
ment.

daily news & analysis I Ahmedabad I FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 2018
in brief
11 die in Kullu as
car falls into gorge
Shimla: Eleven people
were killed when a private
vehicle fell into a 200-feet
deep gorge, near Rahni
Nullah in Himachal
Pradesh’s Kullu district on
Thursday, police said. Five
women, three men and
three children were travel-
ling in a Scorpio when the
accident occurred near
Rohtang Pass, Kullu’s Su-
perintendent of Police Sha-
lini Agnihotri said. Ten of
them were residents of
Pangi area in Chamba dis-
trict while one was from
Lahaul and Spiti district.
They were on their way to
Pangi from Manali.
TN: 2 wives’ fight
over hubby’s body
reaches court
Chennai: A fight between
two wives of a man over
his body has reached the
Madras High Court, which
on Thursday directed po-
lice to dispose it of as per
procedure for unclaimed
bodies if the women fail to
reach a compromise in two
days. Justice PN Prakash
declined to entertain the
petition filed by the first
wife staking claim to the
body, kept in a mortuary
since his death on August
16, for performing the last
rites. Dakshinamoorthy,
who had married the two
women in different period
of time, died while staying
with the second wife.
04 
SP Malik takes oath as
13th Governor of J&K
Malik replaces NN Vohra, who completed 2 terms as Guv of the restive state
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Srinagar: Amid speculations
on the formation of a new
government after the Amar-
nath yatra, newly appointed
Governor took charge in the
strife-torn Jammu and Kash-
mir on Thursday.
Satya Pal Malik was
sworn-in as the 13th Gover-
nor of the restive state. J&K
High Court Chief Justice
Gita Mittal administered the
oath of office to Malik at a
low-key ceremony arranged
at Raj Bhavan in Srinagar.
Malik replaced career bu-
reaucrat NN Vohra who suc-
cessfully completed two
terms as the governor of
Jammu and Kashmir. Vohra
was appointed the governor
in 2008 and 2014. His term
ended in June, but it was ex-
tended keeping in mind the
Amarnath yatra.
Five days before the annu-
al Amarnath yatra draws to a
close, President Ram Nath
Kovind shifted Bihar Gover-
nor Satya Pal Malik and ap-
pointed him the new Jammu
and Kashmir Governor.
Born on July 24, 1946, in
Hisawada, (Meerut) in Uttar
Pradesh, Malik, after gradu-
SP Malik takes his oath of office in Srinagar on Thursday
before yatra ends
„„Five days before
Amarnath yatra draws to
a close, President Ram
Nath Kovind shifted Bihar
Governor Satya Pal Malik
and appointed him the
new J&K Governor.
ating in science, pursued a
law degree at Meerut Univer-
sity before joining politics. He
also holds a diploma in parlia-
mentary affairs from the In-
stitute of Constitutional and
Parliamentary Studies.
He was a member of the
BJP nat’l executive
meet on Sept 8-9
New Delhi: The BJP nation-
al executive is likely to meet
here on September 8 and 9
ahead of crucial Assembly
elections in Madhya
Pradesh, Rajasthan, and
Chhattisgarh later this year,
a party leader said.
The meeting of the key
party body comprising sen-
ior leaders from across the
country was scheduled to be
held on August 18 and 19 but
was called off as BJP stal-
wart and former prime min-
Uttar Pradesh Legislative As-
sembly between 1974-77. He
was also a member of the 9th
Lok Sabha and represented
Aligarh Constituency from
1989 to 1991. He was a Rajya
Sabha member from Uttar
Pradesh for two terms —1980-
86 and 1986-1992.
Malik served as Union
Minister of State for Parlia-
mentary Affairs and Tour-
ism from April 21, 1990 to
November 10, 1990. Malik
has been a member of sev-
eral parliamentary commit-
tees. A poet and an author,
he has written two books on
poetry, along with a political
commentary.
ister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s
health deteriorated. He died
on August 16.
The meeting assumes sig-
nificance due to the upcom-
ing polls in three states, all of
whom are under the rule of
Bharatiya Janata Party, as
their results will be a key fac-
tor in setting the tone for Lok
Sabha elections scheduled for
April-May 2019.
The last national execu-
tive meeting was held in Sep-
tember last year.  —PTI
tenders & Notices
Lalji Tandon
sworn in as
Bihar Guv
Patna: Veteran BJP leader
Lalji Tandon was on
Thursday sworn in as the
39th Governor of Bihar.
He was administered
the oath of office by Chief
Justice of Patna High
Court Mukesh R Shah at
Raj Bhavan in Patna in the
presence of Chief Minister
Nitish Kumar and Deputy
Chief Minister Sushil Ku-
mar Modi among others.
Tandon replaced Satya
Pal Malik, who took over
as the governor of Jammu
and Kashmir earlier in
the day.
Born in Lucknow on
April 12, 1935, Tandon be-
gan his political career in
the 1970s. He served as a
member of the Uttar
Pradesh Legislative Coun-
cil for two terms.
Upon the BJP’s ascen-
sion to power in UP, he also
served as a minister on
more than one occasion.
Known to be close to
Atal Bihari Vajpayee,
Tandon won the Lucknow
Lok Sabha seat in 2009, the
same year the former
prime minister
nounced his retirement
an-
from active politics on ac-
count of poor health.
—PTI
Lalji Tandon takes oath as Bihar
Governor on Thursday  —PTI
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Gang rape victim kills herself
after cop questions character
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Lucknow: A 15-year-old
gang rape victim hailing
from Badayun district of Ut-
tar Pradesh committed sui-
cide by hanging herself from
the ceiling on Wednesday
night after police questioned
her character.
A resident of Musajhaag
area of Badayun, the teen-
ager was abducted by three
local youth on Monday. They
took her to a secluded pri-
mary school and took turns
to rape her through the
night. The girl managed to
escape somehow on Tuesday
morning and informed her
parents about the incident.
Her parents then took her
to the police station to lodge
a complaint. Within hours
after lodging the FIR, the
brother of the main accused
used his political clout to
force the victim’s family to
Congress appoints
8 new secretaries
New Delhi: Congress presi-
dent Rahul Gandhi on
Thursday named nine more
secretaries, including Guja-
rat OBC leader Alpesh Tha-
kore, in the All India Con-
gress Committee (AICC) for
different states, besides ap-
pointing Aditi Singh, MLA
of Rae Bareli Sadar (UP)
constituency, as general sec-
retary of All India Mahila
Congress.
Among the new secretaries
appointed are Shakeel Ahmed
Khan, an MLA, as AICC secre-
tary for Jammu and Kashmir,
Rajesh Dhamani for Uttara-
khand and BP Singh, Mohd
Jawaid and Sarat Raut, all
three for West Bengal.
Backward leader Alpesh
Thakore, who joined the Con-
gress last year ahead of Gu-
jarat assembly elections, has
been made the AICC Secre-
tary for Bihar and Challa
Vamshi Chand Reddy and B
M Sandeep, both for Maha-
rashtra.
indi
withdraw the case with the
help of SSP Ashok Kumar.
The SSP called the victim
and her family and told them
that the medical examina-
tion did not confirm a gang
rape and that they had
lodged a false case against
the accused.
“In the presence of my
daughter, the SSP said that
she was having an affair with
the main accused and is of a
AICC chief Rahul Gandhi
Gandhi also appointed
Deepak Rathod from Himachal
Pradesh and Rajpal Bisht from
Uttarakhand as members of
the screening committee for
the state of Mizoram.
“Rahul Gandhi has ap-
pointed Aditi Singh, MLA
Rae Bareli Sadar (UP) as gen-
eral secretary of All India
Mahila Congress,” AICC gen-
eral secretary said.  —PTI
‘Focus on swachhata to
make India disease-free’
From P1
“Swachhata Abhiyan is di-
rectly linked with health. But
when I used to talk about
Swachhata, they mocked me.
They asked if it was the PM’s
work... to build toilets, clean
waste? If these things were
done 70 years ago, my coun-
try would have been disease-
free by now,” he added.
PM Modi also said that the
government was working to-
wards making the country
Open Defecation Free (ODF).
He said that several pro-
grammes would be initiated
Harassment
„„The SSP —Ashok
Kumar — who
questioned the teenage
girl’s character called
the victim and her
family and told them
that the medical
examination did not
confirm a gang rape
and that they had
lodged a false case
against the accused.
lose character. He said that
she had talked to him 122
times in the past few days,”
said the victim’s father.
The PMO has sought de-
tails of the gang rape and
suicide case from the Yogi
Adityanath government.
The Chief Minister is likely
to suspend the SSP and oth-
er policemen for raising
fingers at the victim’s char-
acter.
‘Don’t doubt our
development
work at border’
From P1
Sources said Sitharaman
said border area develop-
ment in terms of road con-
nectivity, water supply and
electricity should not be
viewed with doubt by China.
CPEC runs through Paki-
stan Occupied Kashmir that
has been a sticking point. The
corridor will link ports in Ka-
rachi and Gwadar with Xinji-
ang in China. Freedom of
navigation in the South China
Sea is of immense importance
for India from a trading point
of view and was taken up in
the discussions but sources
said there was no response on
it from the Chinese side.
The territorial disputes in
the South China Sea among
several countries in the region
have made it a contentious re-
gion. “The ministers also dis-
cussed issues relating to bor-
der areas. It was agreed to
work towards full implementa-
tion of ongoing confidence
building measures,” MoD said.
for the same on October 2,
which would mark com-
mencement of year-long cel-
ebrations of the 150th birth
anniversary of Mahatma
Gandhi. He also spoke about
how the government was
working to revamp the health-
care infrastructure in the
country to make it affordable
and accessible for everyone.
Earlier, PM Modi wit-
nessed e-grahpravesh of 1.15
lakh beneficiaries of Pradhan
Mantri Awas Yojana from Val-
sad, and dedicated a water
supply project in Valsad.
 Kerala deluge 
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CM visits camps, hears people’s woes
Row over foreign fund continues n Even with water receding, Kerala reels under pressure as people continue to stay in crowded relief camps
T h i r u va n a n t h ap u r a m :
With 13 lakh people put up in
relief camps after the devas-
tating floods that ravaged
Kerala, Chief Minister
Pinarayi Vijayan spent time
with many of them on Thurs-
day, hearing to their prob-
lems and assured all help.
Vijayan took the helicop-
ter to visit the relief camps in
Chengannur, Kozhencherry,
Alappuzha, North Paravoor
and Chalakudy, covering
three districts.
“There is no need for any
anxiety, government will pro-
vide funds to rebuild homes,”
Vijayan told the people in the
camps, many of them unable
to hold back tears.
The CM, who was monitor-
ing the rescue and relief op-
erations from the Secretariat
here, decided to visit the
camps to get a first-hand
knowledge of the sufferings
of the people, many of whom
had lost their homes and be-
longings in the floods, the
worst in the last 100 years.
Over 230 persons have
been killed in the deluge.
The government has also
decided to handover kits con-
taining foodgrains, rice, sug-
ar and dal besides clothes for
children and nighties for
women to people returning
homes from relief camps.
Centre may accept foreign funds: NDMA Ex-PM’s advisors
New Delhi: As the row over
accepting funds from foreign
governments for flood-hit
Kerala continues, a 2016 doc-
ument prepared by the Na-
tional Disaster Management
Authority (NDMA) on how to
handle an emergency situa-
tion suggests that assistance
offered by any other country
as a goodwill gesture ‘may’ be
accepted by the Central gov-
ernment.
National Disaster Manage-
ment Plan (NDMP), a NDMA
publication, on planning
framework for disaster situa-
tions, has noted that as a mat-
ter of policy, the government
of India does not issue any
appeal for foreign assistance
in the wake of a disaster.
“However, if the national
government of another coun-
Sudden water release Wildlife in Kerala forests not
by TN a reason for
affected by flood, landslides
deluge: Kerala to SC
A child sleeps next to her mother at a relief camp in Kochi —AP
New Delhi: The sudden re-
lease of water from the Mul-
laperiyar Dam by the Tamil
Nadu government was one of
the reasons for the devastat-
ing deluge in Kerala, the state
government told the Su-
preme Court on Thursday.
It said that out of a total
population of about 3.48
crore, more than 54 lakh or
one sixth of the population of
Kerala, had been directly af-
fected by the floods.
The Pinarayi Vijayan gov-
ernment said that in the
wake of prior alerts by its
engineers, Kerala’s Water Re-
sources Secretary had writ-
ten to her counterpart in Ta-
mil Nadu government and
the Chairman of the Supervi-
sory Committee on Mulla-
periyar dam, requesting con-
trolled release of water with-
out waiting for the water
level in the reservoir to reach
its full level.
“Accordingly, the Tamil
Nadu Government was re-
quested to gradually release
water at least by 139 feet...But
no positive assurance in this
regard was received from Ta-
mil Nadu even after repeated
requests... But the sudden re-
lease from the Mullaperiyar
dam, third largest reservoir
in the Periyar Basin, forced
us to release more water from
Idukki reservoir, downstream
of Mullaperiyar, which is one
As the flood waters reced-
ed from their houses, people
have complained of snakes,
including cobras, crawling
all over the place.
Many have been bitten by
snakes too, they said.
A political row erupted on
Wednesday over the issue of
accepting foreign aid, even as
relief materials and dona-
tions to the Chief Minister’s
Distress Relief Fund (CM-
DRF) have started pouring in.
The issue surfaced after
the United Arab Emirates
(UAE) government offered
$100 million (around Rs 700
crore) for flood relief, but the
Centre refused to accept it.
Attacking the Union gov-
ernment for what he called its
‘negative stance’ to the UAE
government’s offer, Finance
Minister T M Thomas Isaac
said the NDM Policy had not
imposed a ban on accepting
foreign aid and wanted the
state to be compensated.
The state has suffered an
estimated loss of Rs 20,000
crore (as per a preliminary
estimate) and had sought an
interim assistance of Rs 2,600
crore from the Centre, be-
sides a special package of a
similar amount under the
Mahatma Gandhi Rural Em-
ployment Guarantee Scheme
(MGNREGA).  —PTI
Flood affected people eat a meal at a relief camp in Kochi —AP
try voluntarily offers assis-
tance as a goodwill gesture in
solidarity with the disaster
victims, the Central govern-
ment may accept the offer,”
the NDMP says.
The handbook carries
State’s proposal
„„Kerala suggested a
Supervisory Committee
be headed by the
Chairman of the Central
Water Commission with
Secretaries of both the
states as members.
„„It also said the panel
should be empowered
to take decisions
regarding operations
during flood situations.
of the causes of this deluge,”
the affidavit said.
The Mullaperiyar Dam is
located on the Western Ghats
near Thekkady in Idukki dis-
trict of Kerala on the Periyar
river.
The state government said
that to avoid a repeat of such
situations, the Supervisory
Committee be headed by the
Chairman of the Central Wa-
ter Commission with Secre-
taries of both the states as
members.
This panel should be em-
powered to take decisions by
a majority opinion regarding
operations during flood or
any similar crisis, it said.
The Kerala government
also sought the constitution
of a Management committee
to manage the day-to-day op-
erations of the Dam.  —PTI
A group of people, severely affected by the flood, sit together to have a meal at a relief camp. The calamity has killed more than 200 people and drove over 8,00,000 into relief shelters. —AP
messages of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and Home
Minister Rajnath Singh.
The NDMP says the Minis-
try of Home Affairs is re-
quired to coordinate with the
Ministry of External Affairs,
Kochi: Landslips and heavy
rains unleashed in Kerala
forests causing flooding in
downstream did not have
any major impact on its pre-
cious wildlife including el-
ephants, tigers and leop-
ards, a top state forest offi-
cial said on Thursday.
Principal Chief Conser-
vator of Forests PK Kesa-
van said generally animals
have got a “strong sixth
sense” and they become
“alert” at the time of any
unusual changes in the na-
ture helping them escape to
safety at the time of its fury.
“As of now, no serious is-
sues,” Kesavan said.
He said there were in-
stances of landslips in for-
ests due to heavy rains but
no cases of animal deaths
have been reported so far.
Kesavan further said the
As water recedes, govt starts clean-up ops Focus on controlling
T h i r u va n a n t h ap u r a m :
With flood waters receding
from most of the places, the
Kerala government has taken
up the task of cleaning hous-
es and public places filled
with slush left behind by the
massive deluge that claimed
231 lives, besides causing
large-scale destruction.
The government has set
up a control room here to co-
ordinate the cleaning process
across the state and the civic
bodies have been entrusted
with the task of managing
the work, official sources
said on Thursday.
Haritha Kerala Mission, a
mission integrating waste
management, organic farm-
ing and water resources man-
agement, would also coordi-
nate the cleaning process. It
will deploy 50 high-power
pump sets in different areas
by Friday.
Teams drawn from differ-
ent areas, including electri-
cians and plumbers, have
State willing
„„The United Arab
Emirates has offered
$100 million (around Rs
700 crore).
„„Qatar has pledged
around Rs 35 crore.
„„Kerala government
is keen to accept the
donations from the UAE
and would approach the
PM regarding the aid.
which is primarily responsi-
ble for reviewing foreign of-
fers of assistance and chan-
nelising the same.
In consultation with the
state government concerned,
the MHA will assess the re-
‘Sixth sense helps animals’
n Principal Chief Conservator of Forests
PK Kesavan said generally animals
have got a “strong sixth sense” and they
become “alert” at the time of any unusual
changes in the nature helping them
escape to safety at the time of its fury.
This helps them survive calamities.
king cobra, a venomous
snake species found in
moist forests of the state,
were also largely safe.
The world’s longest ven-
omous snake has been list-
ed as Vulnerable on the
IUCN Red List since 2010 as
it was threatened by habitat
destruction.
Some deaths of wild ani-
mals including a 14-year-old
tiger in Thekkady in Idukki
district and three elephants
— two in Wayanad and one
Dwellers of a relief camp clean the camp’s compound —AP
also been deployed. They
would work along with more
than 50,000 volunteers to
clean houses and public plac-
es filled with slush and debris
dumped by the floods, offi-
cials said.
As water level has reced-
ed, people have started re-
turning home. However,
more than 13.43 lakh people
are still lodged in 3,520 camps
sponse requirements that the
foreign teams can provide.
The document says in case
of an offer of assistance from
UN agencies, India will ac-
cept it only if the govern-
ment considers it necessary,
based on various factors.
External Affairs Ministry
Spokesperson Raveesh Ku-
mar had on Wednesday said
India will not accept any as-
sistance from foreign govern-
ments for Kerala in sync with
an existing policy.
Kumar said the Central
government was committed
to meeting the requirements
for relief and rehabilitation
in Kerala through domestic
efforts. A number of coun-
tries have announced assis-
tance for flood relief opera-
tions in Kerala.  —PTI
in Vazhachal — were re-
ported during this period
but these were not related
to flooding or rains, he said.
Western Ghat region of
Kerala contains a huge nat-
ural forest area covering 24
per cent of state’s landmass.
These forest regions
house numerous protected
conservation areas includ-
ing Tiger Reserves and
Wildlife sanctuaries host-
ing elephant, tiger, leopard
and Nilgiri tahr.  —PTI
across the southern state.
The Kerala Water Author-
ity has taken steps to supply
drinking water in affected
areas, Water Resources Min-
ister Mathew T Thomas said.
Of the 1,089 water supply
schemes affected due to the
floods, more than 800 have
started functioning, he said,
adding efforts were on to
make others also functional.
Ahmedabad I FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 2018 I daily news & analysis
speak for taking aid
from other countries
DNA Correspondent
corresopondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: Two former ad-
visors of former prime min-
ister Dr Manmohan Singh on
Thursday said that while a
decision was taken by the pre-
vious UPA government not to
accept foreign participation
in relief, it was decided to ac-
cept it in long term rehabilita-
tion case by case. “If memory
serves, the 2004 decision was
to not accept foreign partici-
pation in relief but accept it
for long term rehabilitation
case by case. No rescue teams
needing hand-holding and in-
terpretation but yes to help
rebuilding houses, bridges,
roads etc. A way forward for
Kerala?,” tweeted former Na-
tional Security Advisor
(NSA) Shiv Shankar Menon.
Sanjay Baru, former me-
dia advisor to Manmohan
Singh said that UPA govern-
ment was open to accepting
aid for reconstruction in dis-
aster-hit areas. The decision
was only about not involving
foreign agencies in “immedi-
ate rescue operations”.
“Developmental aid rules
were changed during Atal Bi-
A girl, who has left her flood affected home, rests on her baggage —AP
Operation on
„„The state has set
up a control room to
coordinate the cleaning
process across the state.
„„Civic bodies have
been entrusted with the
task of managing the
operations.
„„Haritha Kerala Mission
will deploy 50 high-power
pump sets today to help
speed the process.
The Left Democratic Front
(LDF) government was drawn
into a controversy after the
opposition Congress-led UDF
and BJP alleged that opening
of shutters of 44-odd dams
without any precaution was
the reason for the massive
floods the state witnessed.
However, Vijayan rejected
the charges citing heavy rain-
fall in the state.  —PTI
05
Kerala needs long-
term rehab and
they will need this
financial assistance. What
is wrong in accepting
their (UAE) help?
Sanjay Baru,
media advisor to former
PM Manmohan Singh
hari Vajpayee’s government.
What Manmohan Singh said
in 2004 was to block the pres-
ence of foreign agencies in
the country as part of the
foreign aid,” Baru said.
“There is nothing that stops
the government from accept-
ing aid from foreign coun-
tries. Kerala needs long-term
rehab and they will need this
financial assistance. What is
wrong in accepting their
(UAE) help?” he said.
Baru also cited the
“unique relationship” be-
tween the Gulf and Kerala.
The United Arab Emirates
(UAE), home to around 2.8
million expatriate Indians,
most of whom hail from Ker-
ala, had offered Rs 700 crore.
disease outbreak
Kochi: Floods in Kerala pose
a great challenge to the state
health authorities as they
struggle to check a possible
outbreak of epidemics, a
problem associated with the
deluge, official sources said
here on Thursday.
Health department offi-
cials said post-floods their fo-
cus has shifted to ensuring
medical attention for the in-
jured and the people living in
camps, cleaning of houses
and wells, distribution of
medicines and cleaning mate-
rials to the affected people.
The impact of floods in the
densely populated state can
be widespread, they said,
adding that this includes de-
terioration of water quality
and risk of epidemics.
People who returned to
their flood-ravaged homes
said their toilets and other
sanitation facilities had been
Def Min to visit
Kodagu today
Madikeri (Karnataka): De-
fence Minister Nirmala Si-
tharaman will visit the floods
and landslide-ravaged Koda-
gu district, bordering Kerala,
on Friday where rescue and
relief operations are under-
way in full swing. The torren-
tial rains that lashed the dis-
trict last week has left a huge
trail of destruction and
claimed at least 16 lives. Thou-
sands have been rendered
homeless. Sitharaman is ex-
pected to reach Kushalnagar
in morning and scheduled to
visit affected areas including
Kuvempu Layout, Sai Layout
and talk to people there, the
Karnataka BJP said. The de-
fence minister will also hold
meetings with the district
administration.
RBI set to hold
exams again
New Delhi: The Reserve
Bank will conduct examina-
tion for grade B officer posts
on September 2 at various
centres in Kerala for those
who could not appear for it
due to flood situation. The
examination was held on Au-
gust 16. Kerala has been rav-
aged by floods and landslides
amid heavy rains, especially
last week. “The RBI Services
Board will conduct the Phase
I / Paper-1 of examination for
recruitment of Grade B offic-
ers on September 2, 2018, at
various centres in Kerala for
the benefit of aspirants who
could not appear for it on Au-
gust 16, 2018,” it said. Those
who have already appeared
will however not be allowed to
take it again, RBI said.
EU announces
Euro 1.9L relief
New Delhi: The European
Union on Thursday an-
nounced an assistance of
Euro 190,000 (Rs 1.53 crore) in
aid funding to the Indian Red
Cross Society for providing
immediate relief to flood-af-
fected people in Kerala. The
announcement was made by
the office of the grouping,
comprising 28 European
countries. “In response to the
devastating monsoon floods
that swept across large parts
of the southern Indian state
of Kerala, the EU has allo-
cated an initial contribution
of Euro 190,000 in humanitar-
ian aid funding to support the
Indian Red Cross Society
(IRCS) for immediate relief
assistance,” it said.
HRD min appeals
for donation
New Delhi: Union Human
Resource Development
(HRD) Minister Prakash
Javadekar on Thursday ap-
pealed to the employees of
his ministry and the staff
of the universities and col-
leges across the country to
donate at least a day’s sal-
ary for the relief-and-reha-
bilitation work in Kerala.
“There has been unprece-
dented devastation in Ker-
ala due to floods. I have do-
nated one month’s salary to
PM’s National Relief Fund.
I appeal to all employees of
@HRDMinistry, univ/col-
lege teachers and employ-
ees to donate at least a day’s
salary for relief and rehab
work (sic),” he tweeted.
Medical supplies being loaded on a
plane for Kerala relief camps —PTI
rendered useless and water
in wells was contaminated
with waste.
“We are anxious, but we
are confident that we will be
able to tackle this situation,”
health minister KK Shailaja
Teacher said.
She said the state health
department was taking all
measures, utilising all its
available resources and
working actively to check the
outbreak of epidemics. —PTI
 06
Ahmedabad I FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 2018
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Embracing political diversity

Vajpayee’s role in seeking peace in Kashmir and with Pakistan burnished his political credentials
daily news & analysis
VANTAGE POINT
National pride Iftikhar Gilani

T
he first time I saw former Prime
Kerala’s misery demands Centre’s munificence Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee
face-to-face was when riots had

T
he Central government has refused to accept aid from for- broken out in the Nizamuddin lo-
eign governments who want to generously donate for Kera- cality in the heart of Delhi some-
la flood victims. The unprecedented crisis in the southern time in the early 90s. I had just
begun working as an intern and was or-
state has attracted global attention as visuals of devastation dered to accompany a senior to cover ri-
and pleas for help flooded traditional and social media plat- ots in which four people had lost their
forms. Kerala’s crisis has become a national cause as people lives. A nallah in this historic locality
from all parts of the country pitched in with money and re- that houses tombs of Sufi saint Hazrat
sources. The scale of destruction and loss of lives, homes and Nizamuddin, poets Amir Khusru, Ghal-
livelihoods are immeasurable. The state government has sought ib, Abdul Rahim Khan-i-Khanan and
Mughal Emperor Humayun divides Hin-
a special package of Rs 26,000 crore from the Centre out of du and Muslim areas. Across the nallah,
which only Rs 600 crore has been released. At this point, UAE’s the then caretaker of the Dargah Pir
offer of Rs 700 crore, which is more than what the Centre had Zamin Nizami had donated a portion of
disbursed, to help Kerala rebuild itself, has become a cause of the land a few decades ago for the con-
embarrassment for New Delhi. UAE has volunteered to help out struction of Lodhi Road crematorium for
of genuine concern and gratitude for the Malayalis who go to the Hindus living in the area. Since the
population of the Hindus had grown,
work in the Gulf countries. But the Narendra Modi government they wanted to expand the crematorium,
is in a fix since accepting the aid would lower India’s status. which was the bone of contention.
India has positioned itself as an economic powerhouse and a As I reached the locality, a strict cur-
strong competitor of China. It should be able to manage its own few had been imposed. But after checking
crisis and not seek monetary help from rich countries. The press cards, the police would allow us to
trend begun by Manmohan Singh has become a matter of a pass through barricades. Blood was still
splattered on the road near the tomb of Vajpayee’s initiatives to end India’s diplomatic isolation, arising out of the 1998 nuclear tests, were a stupendous success
nation’s self-respect. The Congress-led UPA had refused to ac- Ghalib. The area looked like a ghost town
cept financial assistance from abroad in the wake of natural till I crossed the nallah, where people as finance minister. Singh would fre- At the Lahore summit with his Paki-
disasters, be it the 2004 tsunami, the Kashmir earthquake a year were gathered in large numbers, throw- quently become the target of the Opposi- stani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, he had
later or the Uttarakhand floods in 2013. But the Kerala state gov- ing stones and raising slogans. East tion. Since he was a technocrat, he would set up a backchannel to explore solutions
ernment seems determined at this point to avail of UAE’s gen- Delhi MP Bankath Lal Sharma alias frequently dish out his resignation letter, to the most contentious issue of J&K.
erosity. The Ministry of External Affairs statement – “in line Prem was addressing the crowd, pointing which the PM would reject. One day, Former Pakistani foreign secretary and
towards the green flag fluttering on the when he announced to cut subsidy of high commissioner to India, Niaz Naik,
with the existing policy, the government is committed to meeting dargah dome, claiming it was a Pakistan fertilisers, it created a storm in Parlia- who was nominated by Sharif as his
the requirements for relief and rehabilitation through domestic flag. Suddenly there was commotion with ment. Soon, as the House adjourned, Va- backchannel contact, said that both coun-
efforts” – makes it amply clear that the Centre won’t budge from the arrival of a white Ambassador car. jpayee, who was the Leader of the Oppo- tries would have reached an agreement
its stand. There are chances that the aid issue might become a Vajpayee and Madanlal Khurana sition, invited Singh to his chamber. Ac- in September or October 1999 if Kargil
major flashpoint between Narendra Modi and Kerala CM emerged and soon went inside a room for cording to Singh, Vajpayee had a piece of had not happened. Two years later, in
Pinarayi Vijayan. The issue of a nation’s self-worth vs the suf- a huddle. When they emerged, Vajpayee advice for him: “You are now a politician. July 2001, he invited Pakistani president
took the mike and clarified that the flag You must be thick skinned and not offer Pervez Musharaf to Agra. In December
ferings of the people. PM Modi’s tweet in response to UAE’s offer on the dome was not Pakistani flag, but resignation on every issue. Our job is to payee smiled and taunted them that 2001, Parliament was attacked and Op-
was a hearty acknowledgement “of the special ties between the religious flag of Muslims. As he was criticise you. That is our politics. Your their opposition like Congress is limited eration Parakram led to the massive de-
governments and people of India and UAE”. But he is clearly walking to his car, I asked him why he is job is to remain steadfast and continue to issuing statements in drawing rooms. ployment of forces along the borders.
not comfortable in accepting monetary or material aid. When not helping the police to enforce a curfew with your reforms for the sake of making That was a message, according to Again in April 2003, without consulting
offers of help came from Qatar and Maldives, the PM didn’t even and also not dissuading people on the the country’s economy stronger and bet- Yechuri, to hit the streets. Suddenly af- his cabinet colleagues, at a rally in Srina-
respond publicly. CM Vijayan’s desperation is understandable banks of the nallah from throwing stones ter.” Many years later, it was revealed ter this meeting, street protests against gar, he made yet another unilateral peace
to the other side. He put his hand on my that Rao had pleaded with Vajpayee to the US military strike on Iraq and pos- offer to his own Kashmiris as well as
– Rs 600 crore is but a trickle in the sea of need. Lakhs of lives shoulders and said, “Young man, they give these primary lessons of politics to sible Indian help started in different cit- those in Pakistan and it yielded the Is-
have been affected and the sooner the state receives assistance, (Muslims) started it, threw stones, didn’t Manmohan Singh. ies. Vajpayee wanted the excuse of do- lamabad Declaration after a summit with
the better it is for the people. The Centre has to immediately allow construction of the crematorium. In March 2003, when US President mestic protests to convince the US that Musharraf in January 2004. He lost office
release the next tranche of funds because any delay will make They should understand to live together.” George Bush announced war on Iraq, he consensus eludes in his country. in May 2004. Vajpayee’s biggest regret
the Malayalis’ hardships more acute. The NDA government Realising that I may be the target of the wanted Indian troops to join the global Vajpayee’s initiatives to end India’s was that he could not take the peace pro-
should also make it public how it wants to help Kerala surmount crowd for asking such questions, he effort to help in the ouster of Saddam diplomatic isolation, arising out of the cess he had initiated with such enthusi-
asked his bodyguards to accompany me Hussain. Many leaders within the gov- 1998 nuclear tests, were a stupendous suc- asm to its logical conclusion of ending
this crisis. A long-term strategy – spread over two-three years until I was safe. ernment and the BJP were in favour of cess. However, after conveying India’s India-Pakistan hostility for all time. Pay-
– would require extensive planning and implementation. Now I remember in 2004, the late Pramod joining the US war. Parliament was in nuclear strength, Vajpayee took the risk ing befitting tributes, PM Modi walked
that the floodwaters are subsiding, it is becoming increasingly Mahajan had to cut short his election session. When Parliament went to re- of reaching out to Pakistan suggesting four and a half kilometres to accompany
evident that Kerala’s pain will not go away anytime soon. campaign midway in Maharashtra and cess, Vajpayee invited Left leaders for an end to hostility by exploring creative Vajpayee on his last journey. But a more
return to Delhi to explain the remarks he breakfast to the Prime Minister’s resi- solutions to problems afflicting bilateral befitting tribute would be to traverse the
had made against Congress president dence. He told them that there was tre- relations. The bus journey from Amrit- path shown by Vajpayee to prevent blood-

Playing with fire

Sonia Gandhi. Vajpayee had pulled him
up for making personal comments
against Gandhi. In 1991, Narasimha Rao
preferred a technocrat Manmohan Singh
Residents in Mumbai’s highrises are sitting ducks
mendous pressure on him to join the US sar to Lahore was loaded with symbol- shed in the region and evolve South Asia
war. Naturally, the Left leaders opposed. ism. Vajpayee decided to take with him a into an economic union.
According to Sitaram Yechuri, the cur- delegation of writers, poets, painters, The writer is Editor, Strategic
rent general secretary of CPI (M), Vaj- sportsmen, actors and musicians. Affairs for DNA. Views are personal.

T
he fire at a Mumbai highrise that claimed four lives and
injured many others has once again shown how hazardous
QUOTE HANGER slowburn
life can be in the city’s tall buildings. The glittering high-
rises may offer spectacular panoramic views but without fire-
fighting devices, they are as dangerous as a tinderbox. A short-
Narendra Modi LG Delhi Rich nations show drop in life expectancy
@narendramodi @LtGovDelhi
T
he trend of declining life expectancy among youth in their 20s and 30s, whereas
circuit in the electric lines led to a fire on the twelfth floor of
a 17-storey building that quickly spread to the upper floors and
Kuldip Nayar was an Appreciate Delhi Police for in developed countries is now estab- declines in overall life expectancy outside
lished by two studies. The first study the US focused on people 65 and older. Ac-
neighbouring flats. As plumes of smoke engulfed a few floors, intellectual giant of our times. Frank displaying exemplary courage in saving looked at trends across 18 high-income cording to the Centers for Disease Control
residents were trapped on the building’s staircases. Had the and fearless, his strong stand life of a couple trapped in fire. HC countries and found that most countries & Prevention, since 2000, the opioid epi-
experienced declines in life expectancy in demic claimed more than 3,00,000 lives
fire brigade’s response been delayed, the death toll and the against the Emergency, public Manoj, Const Sandeep and Amit did 2015. This is the first time in recent dec- and every day, 115 Americans die from
number of injured would have gone up. It is only now that the
service and commitment to a better commendable job. ades that so many high-income countries prescription opioids and illicit opioids.
building has been declared unsafe and the power and water
supplies have been stopped. It is strange that the people stay- India will always be remembered. simultaneously experienced declines in
life expectancy for both men and women.
ing in Crystal Tower didn’t consider it important to draw the
attention of civic authorities about the absence of fire-fight- Anupam Kher
Out of the 18 countries in the study, 12 ex-
perienced life expectancy declines among
Europe says bye to
ing resources. If they had felt that the builder was supposed
to provide this amenity, they could have dragged him to court
@AnupamPKher Need of the hour is to men and 11 experienced life expectancy
decline among women. A particularly se-
halogen light bulbs
promote eco-friendly green
A
to settle the dispute. It is criminal negligence that civic agen- Life’s three best teachers: vere influenza season drove declines out- fter nearly 60 years of brightening up
cies are so lax about enforcing fire-safety regulations and car- Heart-breaks, empty pockets and buildings which use less water side the US in 2014-2015, primarily among
adults 65 and older, the study found. A
homes and streets, halogen light bulbs
will finally be banned across Europe
rying out risk-assessment in residential and commercial failures.:) and optimise energy and take full second study in The British Medical Jour- from September 1. The lights will dim
buildings. Less than 1 per cent of the 2.98 lakh odd buildings nal suggests, however, that the problems gradually for halogen. Remaining stocks
in the city is fire compliant, according to the fire brigade’s advantage of digital technology to driving life expectancy declines in the US may still be sold, and capsules, linear and
Skip Bolden
data. The fire brigade has entrusted 400 licenced agencies to
@skipbolden
build smart buildings are broader than just the opioid crisis and
may extend to a wide range of causes un-
low voltage incandescents used in oven
lights will be exempted. But a continent-
look into fire-fighting systems biannually. But strangely, a
“Acting is something that with automated
related to drug use or substance abuse. wide switchover to light-emitting diodes
building right in the heart of the city in the busy Parel area Even worse, the study found rising midlife (LEDs) is underway that will slash emis-
escaped their attention. The public outcry following the Ka- most people think they are operations. death rates from dozens of diseases of the sions and energy bills, say industry, cam-
mala Mills fire in 2017 had given rise to hope that there would incapable of but they do it from —M Venkaiah Naidu, heart, lungs, digestive systems and other paigners and experts. LEDs consume five
be a stricter fire-safety norm. Such hopes have turned to ash- organs. It even found rising death rates times less energy than halogen bulbs and
morning to night.” ~ Marlon Brando Vice-President during pregnancy and early childhood. their phase-out will prevent 15m tonnes of
es in the latest incident.
Furthermore, according to the research- carbon emissions a year, an amount equal
ers, deaths in the US were concentrated to Portugal’s annual electricity usage.

Madness & violence in growing contours of Partition writing

Sakoon Singh udh Kala in The Unsafe Asylum: Stories would be separated. Their seemingly The plight of women as mere objects

M
adness entails breakdown of a
given, in the way “eccentric”
presupposes a centre, a fixity, a
point of departure. A psychia-
trist employs this benchmark
to diagnose maladies of the
mind, but intuitively acknowledges its
tacit caprice. Like in times when the
centre/fixity itself comes undone. Fou-
cault, in a sense, problematises madness
and its institutionalisation in philosoph-
ic and political terms. And it does lend
itself to the event of Partition, given its
absolute black hole of absurdity. Amitav
Ghosh in The Shadow Lines creates the
metaphor of a divided family house, its
belligerent occupants, owing to their pe-
culiar legal obduracy, draw a dividing
line so impeccable that it ploughs bang
through the middle of the old nameplate
and commode. Now, say what use are
half name plates and half commodes?
Similarly, Manto takes his famous jibe
at this new universe of ‘absurdity’ in
Toba Tek Singh. In a new offering, Anir-
of Partition and Madness (2018, Speak-
ing Tiger) amplifies the voice of pur-
ported “lunatics”. The naivety of “the
rear end of humanity” duly punctures
the sophistry of arguments advocating
Partition. Then there are the displaced
people, their trauma turning into mala-
dies over time.
Of late, a more sustained “recollection
in tranquility” of Partition is underway:
a substantial oeuvre of fiction, memoirs,
orature and interviews is slowly but
steadily building. And only expected, giv-
en the sheer magnitude of the event
wherein 1 million died and 14 million
were displaced. It has had an echo in the
homes and hearths for more than half a
century. Even three generations down,
Partition does remain the single most de-
fining experience of Punjabi identity. It
is still customary to reveal your “origi-
nal” district in Pakistan while giving a
“proper” family introduction.
What Kala does in this book of inter-
connected short stories, is to connect
the two powerful strands in his own
identity: by his own admission “an em-
bryo” when his parents crossed over to
the Indian side from Lahore; Kala is a
psychiatrist based out of Ludhiana, and
through his three decades long practice,
has dealt with the psychological impact
of the tragedy on everyday scale. He has
made sustained attempts to make the
idea of displaced community an inclu-
sive, collaborative one by engaging with
psychiatrists on the other side. What
this does is to undo the binaries of
“them-us”, “perpetrator-victim”, “in-
side-outside”, “here-there”. As method-
ology, case studies too have a narrative
about them and psychiatry has an in-
built tradition of these “stories”.
In No Forgiveness Necessary, Rulda
and Fattu, inseparable asylum inmates,
mirror images of each other, in identi-
cal striped pyjamas are eminently inter-
changeable, especially with homely
nicknames like that. Except that owing
to their Muslim-Sikh identities, they
simplistic conversations bring out the
heartbreaking absurdity of the situa-
tion. The Good Samaritan doctor, Iqbal,
is constantly sucked up in the bureau-
cratic work of segregating Hindu-Sikh
inmates for deportation. One day he is
shot dead in the Partition violence. Dec-
ades later, turns out that, his killer was
a bereaved father, a Sikh soldier whose
little boy had been killed while he was
desperately looking to avenge the loss.
Who is the victim and who is the perpe-
trator? In recognising the humanness
of both ends, closure happens. Pain
morphs into understanding.
Then the character of Prakash Koh-
li, in Belly Button is born in the hands
of a Muslim dai (midwife) while vio-
lence of Partition rages on outside in
the streets of the mohalla. Owing to
fear, the tremors in the midwife’s hands
end up as a sloppy knot on the umbili-
cal cord, explaining Kohli’s protruding
Belly button, a lifelong oddity. The anal-
ogy of the painful birthing of the na-
tion cannot be missed here.
of exchange was deepened during Par-
tition when many were abandoned and
many committed suicide to escape
rape/shame. In angst Amrita Pritam
had called out to Waris Shah, in the an-
themic Ajj Aakhan Waris Shah Nu.
Some were never accepted into their
family fold, some ended up as spouses
of strangers to ensure roofs over their
heads. The protagonist of Sita’s Bus,
Harpreet/Firdaus is a victim of this
culture of shame. Then, there is a ma-
triarch who, years after moving to In-
dia, hallucinates about a murderous
mob. There are broken characters,
some die on way, some escape and reset-
tle, only to relive the trauma recurrent-
ly or develop a quirk along the way.
The book comes from the space of an
insider, Kala’s empathy drives this his-
tory from below. Overall, a sage addi-
tion to the existing and growing corpus
of partition writing.
The writer teaches English
Literature at a college in
Chandigarh. Views are personal.

Vol 11 n Issue No. 293 RNI: GUJENG/2007/22424. Printed and Published by Deepak Rajani on behalf of Diligent Media Corporation ltd. Printed at Bhaskar Printing Press, Survey No.148 P, Nagdevta Mandir, Changodar, Bavla Highway, Sanand, Ahmedabad (Gujarat) and Published at Diligent Media Corporation
Limited, Venus Atlantis Building, Unit No. 201 to 208, 2nd Floor, 100 Feet Road, Prahladnagar, Satellite, Ahmedabad 380015. Phone: 079 4060 2000 Editor: Deepak Lokhande Responsible for selection of news under PRB Act.
 w rld
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07
Ahmedabad I FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 2018 I daily news & analysis

‘Trump could be months Man kills wife,child

away from impeachment’ A
US President’s ex-lawyer Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations
Washington: Donald
Trump could be months
away from facing impeach-
ment due to his former law-
yer Michael Cohen’s guilty
plea, a former adviser to the
US president’s campaign
warned on Thursday.
Cohen pleaded guilty to
eight felony counts on Tues-
day that included tax fraud,
false statements to a bank and
campaign finance violations
tied to his work for Trump.
He also pleaded guilty for
facilitating payments to pre-
vent two women, including
porn star Stormy Daniels,
from discussing their “al-
leged affairs with a presiden-
tial candidate, thereby in-
tending to influence the 2016
presidential election.”
“This is all they (Demo-
crats) need for impeach-
ment,” Michael Caputo, a
communications adviser dur-
ing Trump’s 2016 run for the
presidency, was quoted by
CNN as saying.
“If the Democrats take over
the House during the midterm
elections, this indication com-
ing out of the Southern Dis-
trict of New York, this charge,
is enough for them to run an
Donald Trump with Michael Cohen — FILE PHOTO
48 hours ago, before Cohen
guilty as charged pleaded guilty, Caputo said, “I
Cohen and Trump’s ex- believe so,” adding that the
campaign manager Paul recent indictments against
Manafort were both found Republican Repressentative
guilty of charges arising Chris Collins of New York
from FBI special counsel and Duncan Hunter of Cali-
Robert Mueller s ongoing fornia show that “we’ve got
investigation. real problems in the House of
Representatives.”
Caputo also said he be-
impeachment against the lieves the mid-term elections
President, even in the first in November will be crucial
quarter,” he said. as it will determine whether
Asked if Trump was closer voters support or oppose im-
to impeachment than he was peachment.  —PTI
Cohen is making
up stories: Trump
Washington: President
Donald Trump continued
his steady stream of de-
nials of wrongdoing on
Thursday as his White
House grappled with al-
legations that the presi-
dent orchestrated a cam-
paign cover-up to buy the
silence of two women
who claimed he had af-
fairs with them.
Before dawn, Trump
tweeted: “NO COLLU-
SION - RIGGED WITCH
HUNT!” — a reference to
special counsel Robert
Mueller’s investigation
into Russian interference
in the 2016 election.
Confronting mounting
legal and political
threats, Trump also took
to Twitter on Wednesday
to accuse his former law-
yer Michael Cohen of
making up “stories in
order to get a ‘deal’” from
federal prosecutors.
—AP
with gas-filled ball
n anaesthetist gassed his
wife and daughter to
death using a yoga ball
filled with carbon monoxide,
a Hong Kong court has heard.
Prosecutors told the High
Court that Khaw Kim-sun left
the inflatable ball in the boot
of a car where the gas leaked
out and killed them, accord-
ing to reports from court on
Wednesday.
His wife and 16-year-old
daughter were found on a
roadside in a locked yellow
Mini Cooper in 2015, in a case
which initially baffled police.
The pair were certified
dead at the same hospital
where Khaw worked and a
post-mortem concluded they
had died from inhaling car-
The deflated yoga ball inside the Mini Cooper where the bodies were found
by police —AFP
bon monoxide. Police found a
deflated yoga ball in the back
of the car.
Khaw cried on Thursday
as the pathologist who exam-
ined the bodies was called to
testify and began to give de-
tails about the autopsy he
carried out on his daughter.
Khaw has pleaded not
guilty to two counts of mur-
der.
Prosecutors had said
Wednesday that Khaw, a
53-year-old Malaysian nation-
al, was having an affair with
a student and his wife would
not grant him a divorce.
Prosecutors said it was
likely that Khaw had not in-
tended to kill his daughter.
—AFP

US & China raise tariffs in new round of trade dispute

Beijing: The United States
and China went ahead with
tariff hikes on billions of dol-
lars of each other’s automo-
biles, factory machinery and
other goods on Thursday in
an escalation of a battle over
Beijing’s technology policy
that companies worry will
chill global economic growth.
The increases came as en-
voys met in Washington for
their first high-level talks in
two months. They gave no
sign of progress toward a set-
tlement over US complaints
that Beijing steals technolo-
gy and its industry develop-
ment plans violate Chinese
free-trade commitments.
The 25 per cent duties, pre-
viously announced, apply to
$16 billion of goods from each
side including automobiles
and metal scrap from the
A man sits in front of a billboard
stating American customers will be
charged 25% extra due to ongoing
China-US trade war —AP
United States and Chinese-
made factory machinery and
electronic components.
In the first round of tariff
hikes, US President Donald
Trump imposed 25 per cent
duties on $34 billion of Chi-
nese imports on July 6. Bei-
jing responded with similar
penalties on the same amount
of American goods.
in defiance
„„Beijing has rejected
US demands to scale
back plans for state-led
technology development
that its trading partners
say violate its market-
opening commitments.
American officials worry
they might erode US
industrial leadership.
The Chinese government
criticised Thursday’s US in-
crease as a violation of World
Trade Organization rules
and said it would file a legal
challenge.
A foreign ministry spokes-
man, Lu Kang, declined to
give details of the Washing-
ton talks.
—AP
Trump misunderstands
trade: Japan Minister
Tokyo: Japan’s trade min-
ister has said that President
Donald Trump’s tariff poli-
cies reflect a serious misun-
derstanding of the impor-
tance of free trade and Japa-
nese companies’ contribu-
tions to the US economy.
Hiroshige Seko warned
that Tokyo might take ac-
tion if the US fulfills threats
to levy a 25 per cent tariff on
Japanese auto imports. He
didn’t rule out retaliatory
tariffs.
Seko did not give details
of possible options.
He expressed concern
that trade tensions may
Picture for representation
harm the global economy.
Seko’s comments came as
the US and China imposed
additional tariffs Thursday
on billions of dollars of each
other’s products. He said To-
kyo was trying to get Trump
to stop thinking Japanese
products pose a security
threat to the US.  — AP
Russia won’t
buy US-made
electronic goods
Moscow: Russia plans to
stop buying electronic de-
vices and components
from the United States
that can be used for both
civilian and military pur-
poses regardless of new
US sanctions, Russian
lawmaker Alexei Kondra-
tiev was quoted as saying
on Thursday.
The US State Depart-
ment announced new
sanctions on Russia on
August 8 that would cover
Russia’s access to sensi-
tive US national security-
controlled goods. —Reuters

EU won’t heed
UK call for more tenders & Notices
Russia sanctions
Brussels: The European Union is unlikely
to heed London’s call for it to match the lat-
est US sanctions against Moscow over an
attack on a former Russian spy in Britain
earlier this year, diplomats in Brussels said.
Britain’s foreign minister, Jeremy Hunt,
said in Washington this week the EU should
step up pressure on Russia after the ex-spy
was attacked with a nerve agent in the Eng-
lish city of Salisbury. The West blames Mos-
cow for the attack; the Kremlin denies in-
volvement. But EU diplomats doubted more
sanctions would be imposed. They cited the
usual divisions between EU members advo-
cating a tough line on Moscow and those
arguing for more engagement.
“There is no way. Italy and Austria, even
France, want to do business with Russia too
much,” one EU diplomat said. Any new
sanctions would require unanimity among
all 28 member states.
The EU now has economic sanctions in
place until the end of January against Rus-
sia over its role in the conflict in Ukraine,
which killed some 10,000 people. It also has
curbs on doing business with Crimea, which
Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
In late July, the EU added six new entries
to its blacklist of entities subject to an asset
freeze in the EU over the Ukraine conflict.
 —Reuters

Taiwan: 60 yrs
since China attack
T
aiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen called
for unity and vowed not to bow to pres-
sure from Beijing on Thursday as the
island marked the 60th anniversary of a
deadly Chinese artillery attack.
The anniversary of the assault on tiny
Kinmen island, known as the “823 bom-
bardment”, comes as China steps up pres-
sure on self-ruling Taiwan, which it sees as
part of its territory to be reunified.
China’s People’s Liberation Army fired
470,000 shells at Kinmen and nearby islets
in 1958, killing 618 servicemen and civil-
ians in an attack that lasted 44 days.
Kinmen is part of Taiwan, but lies less
than two miles off mainland China, at the
narrowest part of the Taiwan Strait.
“When we remember the ‘823 bombard-
ment’ 60 years later, we will not forget the
spirit of solidarity,” Tsai said on Facebook.
“When we face diplomatic suppression
we will not forget how strong our country
can be when we are united,” she added.
 —AFP
24
Friday
August
2018
Ahmedabad
www.dnaindia.com
Sensex
38336.76 51.01 p
Gold 10 gram 29570.00
US $ 70.11 0.28 p
news in numbers
moneyedit DoT lays roadmap
Don’t let
Air India slip
out of hands
A
ir India is in urgent re-
quirement of funds and
the central govern-
ment, which has failed to
find a buyer for it, now
faces the task of providing
for the airline’s existence
until it gets “sweetened
enough” to be sold, hope-
fully after the general elec-
tions of 2019.
Air India has sent an
SOS demand of Rs 500
crore to avoid default on
repayment of its loans.
This is in addition to the
Rs 1,500 crore it is raising
as short-term loan from
Bank of Baroda, which is
barely enough to meet its
international liabilities.
The development comes
just days after certain sen-
ior government officials
began talking about pump-
ing additional Rs 30,000
crore as a second bailout
package for the airline.
The first package has in-
fused Rs 27,195 crore in the
airline till fiscal 2018, but
without much results to
show. However, soon there
was a U-turn as govern-
ment does not want to send
out a negative signal in the
election year as the money
can instead be used for sev-
eral cash-starved social
sectors.
However, even as practi-
cality of not pumping
more funds in Air India
remains, the government
has to be sensible enough
that the airline does not go
further down the drain as
fund crunch may sooner
than later may lead to non-
maintainability of aircraft
and finally its grounding,
which will make it further
difficult to be sold.
ST smart
Kochhar report
in two months
ICICI Bank chairman
GC Chaturvedi said that
the decision on
continuance of
managing director and
CEO Chanda Kochhar
will be taken after the
Justice B N Srikrishna
panel report -- probing
certain allegations
against her -- is finalised,
which is likely in two-
and-a-half months. The
former Supreme Court
Judge is heading the
panel which is probing
the allegations of quid
pro quo by Kochhar in
sanctioning of a loan by
ICICI Bank. He said that
pending the report
Kochhar remains the
CEO of ICICI Bank.
Kochhar, however, is on
indefinite leave
following the conflict-of-
interest allegations.
“The bank is yet to reply
on Videocon notice by
Sebi as we are waiting
for Srikrishna panel
report. We expect the
Report in 2-2.5 months,”
he said. On the latest
quarterly losses posted
by the bank, he said that
they were due to RBI
norms.
L&T evicts
shareholder
Former L&T employee
and shareholder Uday
Dixit raised questions on
why is the company
coming up with a realty
project and cancer
institute Nirali (a pet
project of non-executive
chairman) in Powai
area, a land that the
company is renewing
permission for a
manufacturing facility
till 2019. Instead of
immediately replying to
the allegation, non-
executive chairman A M
Naik called in for
‘security’ to take the
shareholder out of the
AGM.
Nifty
11582.75 11.85 p
120.00 q
EURO 81.22 0.97 p
$12 billion — Global recycled lead battery market by 2022, according to apex mineral body FIMI
for rollout of 5G
Spectrum policy for new technology likely by Dec
DNA Money Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: The Depart-
ment of Telecommunica-
tions (DoT) is likely to come
out with a 5G spectrum al-
location policy by the end of
this year.
DoT had formed an inter-
nal committee for looking
into recommendations of
Telecom Regulatory Author-
ity of India (Trai) on spec-
trum auction. The commer-
cial rollout of 5G services in
India is expected to happen
by 2020.
A report by steering com-
mittee, set up in September
2017, on 5G roadmap was re-
leased on Thursday with sug-
gestions on wide areas. The
economic impact of 5G ser-
vices is expected to be over $1
trillion, as per the report. 5G
would be critical for various
segments in the society, includ-
ing agriculture, education,
public safety and disaster
management, among others.
“India is looking to posi-
tion itself as a leader in 5G
technology, so we are look-
ing at use cases unique to
India,” telecom secretary
Aruna Sundararajan said.
India should focus on inno-
vation as the country has
significant design capability.
“5G is a massive new op-
portunity...it can be lever-
aged for major societal
transformation. 5G will en-
able rapid transformation in
agriculture, manufacturing
and social sectors and India
can emerge as a technology
innovator worldwide,” AJ
Paulraj, chairperson of the
committee, said.
The report also suggested
setting up of a panel to ad-
vise on building spectrum
technology infrastructure in
India. A creation of a “5G
Program Office” within DoT
with “Special Program Coor-
dinators” has also been rec-
ommended.
Free bandwidth would be
L&T Board approves `9,000 crore buyback
DNA Money Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Mumbai: The Board of
Larsen & Toubro, (L&T) on
Thursday approved a pro-
posal to buy back Rs 9,000
crore worth shares, citing
cash on hand and no capital
expenditure in near future.
The proposal, first for the
company and the segment,
L&T plans to buy back six
crore shares at a maximum
price of Rs 1,500 apiece,
which is over 13% premium
to Tuesday’s closing price of
Rs 1,322.15.
The buyback is worth
4.29% of the paid-up equity
capital Prior to the 73rd An-
nual General Meeting (AGM)
on Thursday, the Board met
and approved the buyback
proposal.
New lows
Companies, banks largely insulated from free-falling rupee
DNA Money Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Mumbai: Indian companies
and banks are likely to be
less vulnerable to the rupee
depreciating with depend-
ence on foreign currency
loans being significantly low.
The foreign currency loans
from the banking sector have
come down to 10.9% of the
total loans in March 2018
from 12.1% a year ago.
The most vulnerable com-
panies are likely to be those
who have significant foreign
currency debt, operate in
sectors reliant on imported
or commodity inputs and
have revenue denominated
Silver kg 36700.00 310.00 q
British pound 90.41 0.87p
Lightening speed
`5lakh crore
entire spectrum gets sold at reserve price
`492 crore per MHz in 3300-3600
band 5G spectrum to be auctioned for the first
time in India
The proposal
Given a six-month active trials period, spectrum
licence may be provided for 12 months
After the trials are completed, telco may buy
spectrum under the auction regime
Most guidelines on regulatory matters be
promulgated by FY19 for early 5G deployment
DoT may provide financial support to telcos
related to deployment - backhauls, site
acquisition, civil works and trials manpower
assigned for trials for a fixed
timeframe to allow setting up
of the network, it suggested.
“Given a six-month active tri-
als period, spectrum licence
may be provided for 12
months. After the trials are
completed, if the telecom ser-
vice provider wishes to con-
vert the trials deployment
into revenue deployment,
they may be provided favour-
able terms to purchase spec-
trum under the auction re-
gime,” the 62-page report
said. Most guidelines on
regulatory matters be prom-
ulgated by March 2019 to fa-
cilitate early 5G deployment.
However, the government
needs to keep in mind that
Shareholders who spoke
at the AGM exuded confi-
dence in the company stating
that they prefer holding on to
the shares instead of accept-
ing the buyback offer.
A couple of the sharehold-
ers said they won’t go for the
offer even if they are given
double the amount.
Post-AGM, while interact-
ing with the media on the
buyback offer, S N Sub-
ramanyan, managing direc-
tor and chief executive of-
ficer, L&T, said, “As far as our
knowledge goes, this is the
first time an infrastructure
company has gone for a buy-
back.”
Explaining the rationale
behind the decision, Sub-
ramanyan said, “We have
cash in hand, and as we look
forward we do believe we
Firms with high foreign currency debt, operating in sectors reliant on imported or commodity inputs most vulnerable
in local currency. Sectors
such as airline, telecom,
auto, chemical and fertiliser
would, therefore, be most im-
pacted, according to a Fitch
report. Total foreign cur-
rency external debt, includ-
ing the private sector, is
equivalent to just 13% of the
gross domestic product,
which is one of the lowest
among major emerging mar-
kets, Fitch said.
Fears of the of the gov-
ernment missing the fiscal
deficit target of 3.3% by 10
to 20 basis points and the
expectations of current ac-
count deficit (CAD) worsen-
ing is continuing to put
pressure on the rupee. On
FTSE 100
7574.24 8.54 p
Brent Crude
govt may earn revenues if
even after the entry of 5G
into Indian networks, 2G, 3G
and 4G will continue to re-
main in use and it may take
10 or more years to phase
out.
DoT may provide finan-
cial support to telecom cos
related to deployment - back-
hauls, site acquisition, civil
works and trials manpower
and related operational
costs, according to the re-
port.
Additional financial sup-
port may be offered to inter-
net service providers (ISPs),
technology companies, local
governments and economic
verticals to participate in
the trials.
LARSEN & TOUBRO
Share price on BSE in `
1352.50
1261.80
Jan 1, 18 Aug 23
will generate further cash
from the backlog (of pro-
jects) we have and from the
projects that are going on.
We do have capital expendi-
ture as we look into the fu-
ture.”
The buyback offer is part
of the “further increase in
$ per Rupee 
63.68
Inverted scale 70.11
Jan 1, 18 Aug 23
Thursday, the rupee touched
a low of Rs 70.17 per dollar
and a high of Rs 69.96 a dol-
lar in intra-day trading, be-
fore settling at 70.11. The
rupee has been the worst
Nikkei 225
22410.82 48.27 p
$/barrel 74.28 2.23 p
UAE dirham 19.08 0.02 p
Jaitley returns to helm finmin
DNA Money Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: Union minister
Arun Jaitley on Thursday
resumed charge as the Fi-
nance and Corporate Affairs
minister after a gap of about
three months.
Jaitley was recuperating
from a kidney transplant
surgery that took place on
May 14 at the All India Insti-
tute of Medical Sciences
(AIIMS) in New Delhi. Prior
to operation, Jaitley had
stopped attending office in
April. He was suffering from
a kidney ailment.
“The President of India, as
advised by the Prime Minis-
ter, has directed to assign the
portfolios of the Minister of
Finance and Minister of Cor-
porate Affairs to Arun Jait-
ley,” an official notification
issued on Thursday said.
He takes over at a time
RIL first co to
breach `8 L cr
market cap
New Delhi: Reliance Indus-
tries (RIL) became the first
Indian company to cross the
Rs 8 lakh crore market capi-
talisation mark while its
stock hit a fresh 52-week
high.
The stock closed 1.86%
higher at Rs 1,269.70 on the
BSE. During the trading ses-
sion, the scrip touched a 52-
week high of Rs 1,273.55 The
surge in the counter has
pegged the company’s mar-
ket valuation at Rs 8,04,691.40
crore at the end of the ses-
sion.
According to market ex-
perts, the stock has been on
an uptrend after the compa-
ny published aggressive
business plans at its AGM
last month, including the
launch of its fibre-to-the-
home service, GigaFiber.
On July 13, RIL’s market
valuation had briefly surged
past the Rs 7 lakh crore
mark, making it the second
company after IT bellwether
Tata Consultancy Services
(TCS) to achieve this mile-
stone. —Bloomberg
1475
1425
1375
1325
1275
1225
return on equity”, he said,
adding that the company
would continue to pay divi-
dend.
“We have propositions for
other businesses. We will
continue to pay dividend but
in spite of that we will con-
tinue to have surplus cash on
Among the worst
63.0
World currency YTD % chg
64.5 Indian Rupee -9.18
Indonesian Rupiah -7.26
66.0
Philippine Peso -6.67
67.5 Chinese Renminbi -5.38
South Korean Won -4.53
69.0 Taiwanese Dollar -3.20
Singapore Dollar -2.65
70.5
Malaysian Ringgit -1.42
performing major currency
in Asia this year, having
fallen by 10% so far.
Ritesh Bhansali, assistant
vice president - forex risk
consulting, Mecklai Finan-
Taking over
„„Jaitley was recuperating from a
kidney transplant surgery that took
place on May 14
„„Jaitley’s first-floor office at
North Block has been renovated
and sanitised so that he can be
protected against infection
„„He is likely to limit public interaction
until his health improves further
when the government is in
the last phase of decision-
making before it gets into
election mode in the run-up
to 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Jait-
ley’s first-floor office at
North Block has been reno-
vated and sanitised so that
he can be protected against
infection. He is likely to lim-
it public interaction until his
health improves further.
In Jaitley’s absence, min-
Regulator sees scope to reduce
mutual fund expense ratio
DNA Money Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Mumbai: In the midst of an
ongoing debate on whether
Indian mutual funds charge
higher expense ratio, market
regulator Securities and Ex-
change Board of India (Sebi)
on Thursday said there is a
scope for rationalistaion of
the total expense ratio (TER)
of funds.
According to the Sebi
chairman Ajay Tyagi, there
is a need to rationalise the
expense ratio and the regula-
tor is looking into it.
“We are reviewing the TER
structure very closely,” he
said on the sidelines of a mu-
tual fund summit organised
by Association of Mutual
Funds of India (Amfi). He said
the concept of TER was intro-
duced in late 1990s when the
industry’s asset under man-
agement was Rs 50,000 crore.
The industry now manages Rs
23 lakh crore worth of assets.
“So, some of the elements
need rationalisation now,
and we will come up with
hand,” said Subramanyan,
stressing on strong financial
position of the engineering
conglomerate.
Since the first news of
buyback came out, the share
price of L&T has been on a
rise. On Thursday morning
the company announced
price of the buyback at Rs
1,500. During the day on
Thursday, the share price
rose 2.30%, or Rs 30.35, to
close at Rs 1,352.
The buyback size is 4.29%
of the paid-up equity capital
of the company.
On recovery of dues from
Bhushan Steel, Subraman-
yan said the matter is sub-
judice. The judiciary has al-
lowed their argument and
there is a hope for recovery
of around Rs 475 crore from
Tata Steel, he said.
cial, said, “The market is
agog with rumours of the
government slipping on the
fiscal deficit target and the
CAD widening. This will
continue to keep the pres-
sure high on the rupee.”
Rating firm Fitch said in
its report that India’s corpo-
rate sector is less dependent
on foreign borrowings than
in most other emerging mar-
kets but hedging practices
are limited, particularly at
companies lower down the
credit scale.
The banking sector has a
relatively low direct foreign-
currency exposure, with
foreign-currency loans ac-
counting for just 10.9% of
ister for Railways and Coal
Piyush Goyal held the addi-
tional charge of the Ministry
of Finance and Corporate
Affairs. During his three-
month stint, the government
decided to withdraw contro-
versial Financial Regulation
and Deposit Insurance
(FRDI) Bill from Lok Sabha
in view of public fear over
the safety of bank deposits.
Goyal also announced
Affordable
investment
22 %
average equity expense ratio in
India, one of the highest globally
`23 lakh cr
assets under management by
Indian MF industry
some of the prescriptions on
that,’ Tyagi said.
Recently, mutual fund
tracker Morningstar study
titled Global Fund Investor
Experience Report 2017, con-
ducted in 25 countries across
Singhs blame former
Religare head for woes
New Delhi: Former promot-
ers of Fortis Healthcare and
Religare Malvinder Singh
and Shivinder Singh on
Thursday blamed former Re-
ligare Enterprises chairman
and managing director Sunil
Godhwani for the group’s
troubles.
“The Group’s troubles to-
day stem from the Group’s
association with Sunil God-
hwani who had started his
association in Religare as its
CEO in 2001,” Malvinder
Singh and Shivinder Singh
said in a joint statement.
Godhwani had stepped
down as the chairman and
MD on July 29, 2016. Subse-
quently, he assumed charge
of the CEO in Religare En-
total loans in March 2018, as
per Fitch’s estimate, com-
pared with 12.1% a year ear-
lier. However, domestic-cur-
rency lending to corporates
with unhedged foreign-cur-
rency borrowings could face
increased repayment risk.
The net portfolio outflows
through mid-August have to-
talled $5.5 billion for the year,
mostly in bonds, compared
with inflows of $27.9 billion
over the same period in 2017.
Foreign direct investment
inflows have also weakened
and no longer cover the cur-
rent account deficit - in other
words, India’s basic balance
has turned negative, Fitch
said in the report.
project Sashakt to deal with
the problem of stressed as-
sets faced by the public sec-
tor banks.
Last month, the Goods and
Services Tax (GST) Council
chaired by him slashed rates
of about 100 items, including
sanitary napkins. The move
was described as populist by
many experts.
The finance ministry also
decided to withdraw around
27,000 court cases related to
direct and indirect tax by in-
creasing the threshold for
filing an appeal in tax cases
at various levels from tax tri-
bunals to Supreme Court in
a move to provide relief to
small taxpayers.
A 10-member panel under
the chairmanship of the sec-
retary Ministry of Corporate
Affairs (MCA) was formed to
examine ‘decriminalisation’
of certain offences under the
Companies Act, 2013.
four broad parameters such
as regulation and taxation,
disclosure, fees and expenses
and sales, rated India with
an overall grade of average,
but below average grade in
fees and expense.
“India has retained an
overall grade of Average and
now leads most markets in
terms of Disclosure practic-
es. The Below Average grade
in Fees and Expenses is a
function of the higher ex-
pense ratios in India, which,
in turn, reflect the more lim-
ited economies of scale at
present,” the report said.
The report said India’s
fees and expenses grade of
below average reflects some
of the highest expense ratios
for equity and allocation of
funds in the study and the
reliance of ongoing trailing
commissions to pay for ad-
vice. The average equity ex-
pense ratio at 2.22%, is one
of the highest globally.
“AMCs need to re-strate-
gise their cost structure,”
said Deepak Parekh, chair-
man, HDFC.
terprises.
After the Ranbaxy sale
closed in 2008, it was decided
that Godhwani will lead our
family office in addition to
his role in Religare, and from
2008-end, he had full manage-
ment control of RHC Hold-
ing and its subsidiaries, it
added.
He was expected to be a
responsible trustee and stew-
ard of the family’s resources
and consequently our repu-
tation, the statement said.
“Godhwani used his posi-
tion to conceive and orches-
trate a series of transactions
over the better part of a dec-
ade that led to our
Group’s debt load by 2016,” it
added. —PTI
According to a Religare
report, “The Indian rupee,
Asia’s worst-performing cur-
rency this year, has fallen by
10% YTD, breaching the psy-
chological level of 70 to a dol-
lar for the first time ever as
investors fled emerging mar-
kets amid concerns that a cur-
rency turmoil in Turkey
would spill over to other re-
gions.”
On the domestic front,
growth in imports touched a
14-month high of 28.8% in
July to $43.79 billion, while
exports growth slowed and
touched 14.3% in July to
$25.77 billion. Growing trade
imbalance is likely to worsen
the CAD.
 c mpanies
www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia
Cognizant to acquire
Salesforce consulting
Deal
Street company SaaSfocus
Cognizant said it will acquire SaaSfocus, a provider of
Salesforce consulting services, for an undisclosed
amount as it looks to further strengthen its business in
the Indian and Australian markets. SaaSFocus, which is
privately held, offers digital transformation services
leveraging the Salesforce platform. It has over 350
Salesforce consultants in Australia and India and the
team will join Cognizant, Cognizant head (Asia Pacific)
Jayajyoti Sengupta said, adding that the deal will help
expand Cognizant’s end-to-end digital transformation
services and Salesforce cloud capabilities in the region,
including India and Australia.
Force Motors to
buy MAN’s unit
Force Motors said it has
agreed to acquire
Pithampur-based
manufacturing plant of
German commercial
vehicle maker MAN
Trucks for an
undisclosed amount.
Force said its Board has
accepted a proposal
from MAN Trucks India
to sell and transfer
certain assets including
immovable and movable
properties as also other
intangible assets at its
plant at Pithampur
(Madhya Pradesh).
In brief
DRL gets EIR for
Srikakulam unit
Dr Reddy’s Laboratories
said it has received an
Establishment
Inspection Report (EIR)
from the US health
regulator for its
Srikakulam facility in
Andhra Pradesh. The
Srikakulam unit
manufactures active
pharmaceutical
ingredients (APIs). The
EIR from the United
States Food and Drug
Administration (US
FDA) indicates closure
of the audit of the plant.
Gillette net drops
8% to `34.62 cr
GILLETTE INDIA
Share price on BSE in `
6850
6836.85
6750
6650
6550
6460
6438.80
6350
Jan 1, 18 Aug 23
Gillette India posted an
8.09% decline in its net
profit at Rs 34.62 crore
for the fourth quarter
ended on June 30, 2018.
The company, which
follows July-June
financial year, posted a
total income of Rs 418.33
crore. It was Rs 442.49
crore a year ago. Total
expenses were at Rs
365.88 crore. The Board
has declared a final
dividend of Rs 23 per
equity share of nominal
value of Rs 10 for fiscal
ended on June, 2018.
Shares of Gillette India
dropped 1.16% to end at
Rs 6,490 on BSE.
Hired over 4,700
Americans: Infy
Infosys has hired over
4,700 locals in the US
since last year,
including nearly 500
people for its technology
hub in Raleigh, North
Carolina. Last year, the
company had
announced that it will
hire about 10,000 locals
and establish multiple
technology and
innovation hubs across
the US with a focus on
artificial intelligence,
machine learning, user
experience, emerging
digital technologies,
cloud, and big data.
RPower unit wins
arbitration award
Reliance Power said its
wholly-owned
subsidiary Reliance
Power Netherlands BV
has won an
international
arbitration award of $56
million (Rs 390 crore)
against Prestige Capital
Holdings (a Seychelles-
based company) and
Kokos Jiang. Reliance
Power said the
arbitration related to a
contractual dispute in
the context of
company’s coal mines in
Indonesia.
Revv bags `100 cr
in fresh funding
Car-sharing start-up
Revv has raised Rs 100
crore in a new funding
round led by Hyundai
Motor. Revv’s existing
investors Edelweiss
and Beenext also
participated in the
Series B round, along
with new investors
Dream Incubator,
Sunjay Kapoor of Sona
BLW and Telama
Investment, the
company said. Hyundai
is the only automotive
company among Revv’s
investors.
‘Measured growth has
been Vistara’s strategy’
L
eslie Thng, who was
brought onboard by
Tata Sons-Singapore
Airlines joint venture
Vistara as chief execu-
tive officer in October
last year, has been mandated
to strengthen the carrier’s
domestic operations and take
it international. In an inter-
view with Shahkar Abidi,
Thng talks about the airline’s
future plans, introduction of
‘Lite’ fares and Regional Con-
nectivity Scheme (RCS).
„„What are Vistara’s
short term and medium
term plans?
We aim to start our inter-
national operations, subject
to necessary approvals, be-
fore the end of this year, with
destinations within the
range of our Airbus A320neo
aircraft. As we induct more
aircraft in our fleet from the
Airbus A320/A321neo family
starting next year, we will
densify our domestic net-
work and expand on other
buoyant mood From automobile majors to steelmakers, firms are passing on higher input costs to consumers
Unilever, Suzuki find pricing power as growth quickens
Vrishti Beniwal
From Mercedes-Benz to Uni-
lever, companies are finding
the power to pass on higher
costs to consumers, a sign
that demand in the economy
is well-entrenched.
Businesses are taking ad-
vantage of the solid demand
to raise prices, lifting profits,
but also fanning inflation at
a time of higher oil prices
and a currency slump.
More than 1,200 manufac-
turing firms -- both small
and large -- polled by the Re-
serve Bank of India (RBI)
reported input price pres-
sures and an increase in sell-
ing prices. The central bank
raised interest rate twice
since June to the highest in
CIL, NTPC, IOC’s `21,000 cr RCom sells `2K cr
media nodes to Jio
fertiliser project takes off
Secures ammonia technology to be implemented by a French company
Sumit Moitra
m_sumit@dnaindia.net
Kolkata: The Rs 21,000 crore
mega fertiliser project of
Hindustan Urvarak & Rasay-
an, a three-way joint venture
between Coal India Ltd (CIL),
NTPC and Indian Oil Corp
(IOC), has finally taken off.
The ambitious project to
demolish three old coal-based
fertiliser plants and use natu-
ral gas from GAIL’s upcom-
ing Urja Ganga pipeline has
secured ammonia technology
to be implemented by a
French company, for which a
pact was signed this month.
And with Urja Ganga con-
struction in full swing, the
construction of three ferti-
liser plants has started.
“This month, there have
been several important de-
velopments regarding the
project, which have helped
secure technologies as well
as financial support,” a
source associated with the
project said.
international routes. Our
wide-body aircraft are sched-
uled for delivery between
2020 and 2021, during which
time we plan to further ex-
pand our international op-
erations on medium and
long-haul routes.
„„ Why is Vistara’s
aircraft order
conservative in
comparison to
its peers?
I wouldn’t call a
commitment of 56
aircraft, including
those on lease, which
are scheduled to be deliv-
ered in a period of five
years, conservative. In fact,
it reflects a very strong
growth ambition. Our ap-
proach to business from day
one has been to achieve
measured growth.
„„ Vistara introducing
Lite fares looks attractive,
but doesn’t it come with
the risk of diluting the
USP of being a premium
full-service carrier?
Not at all. On the contrary,
our new pricing model,
Vistara Freedom Fares,
simplifies flying for travel-
lers. We believe it can be a
game-changer in the indus-
try. It is a novel concept that
the biggest and the best air-
lines all around the world
have adopted in response to
customer needs. Ours, obvi-
ously, is unique and tai-
lored for Indian trav-
ellers. Eventu-
ally, we’re only
giving options
to our cus-
We support the UDAN
scheme. However, due to
our relatively small scale
and size at present and absence of
suitable aircraft, we could not
participate in it. But we do not
rule out the possibility of doing so
in the future
two years to curb price pres-
sures and support the rupee.
The stronger growth out-
look has underpinned a 13%
gain this year in India’s
benchmark S&P BSE Sensex
index to a record high, mak-
ing it Asia’s best performer.
“There is a sense that the
economy has come out of the
difficult phase,” Harsh Pant,
a professor of international
relations at King’s College in
London, said.
Here’s a look at sectors
that have got their pricing
mojo back and others on the
cusp of rediscovering it:
Automobiles
Companies including Suzuki
Motor Corp’s India unit,
Ashok Leyland and Mer-
Earlier this month, Hin-
dustan Urvarak’s key con-
tractor, TechnipFMC of
France, gave the mandate for
the crucial technology for
ammonia to Danish compa-
ny Haldor Topsoe for two of
the three gas-based ammo-
nia plants being constructed.
Also, this month the Cabi-
net Committee on Economic
Affairs approved a proposal
to grant Rs 1,257.82 crore in-
terest-free loan for the con-
struction period. The loan is
to be disbursed during the
tomers, empowering them
to pay for what they value.
Lite fares address those cus-
tomers who simply want
the lowest fares and no oth-
er frills. And Freedom
Fares is not just about Lite
fares, which is just one of
the fare types. Our Stand-
ard and Flexi fares of-
fer lower and free
changes/cancella-
tion fees, respec-
tively, and both
come at very af-
fordable add-on
price.
„„Do you have any plans
concerning the Regional
Connectivity Scheme
(RCS)?
We support the govern-
ment’s UDAN (Ude Desh Ka
Aam Nagrik) scheme. How-
ever, due to our relatively
small scale and size at pre-
sent and absence of suitable
aircraft to operate on routes
under the scheme, we could
not participate in it. But we
do not rule out the possibili-
ty of doing so in the future.
„„With some airlines say-
ing that current fares are
unsustainable, do you see
industry adjusting its ca-
pacity to raise the fares in
coming months?
Pricing is a function of
supply and demand in the
market. At Vistara, we price
competitively and offer value-
for-money products and fine
experience at every touch
point. Our capacity addition
has been moderate and we
have been following a strate-
gy of measured growth.
Price Pressures
Wholesale, retail prices hardenend
before easing in July
India Wholesale Price Index
India Consumer Price Index
Aug 31, 17
cedes-Benz are raising pric-
es. Maruti Suzuki increased
prices last week by up to Rs
6,100 across models citing
higher commodity prices,
distribution costs and ad-
verse foreign exchange rates.
Mahindra and Mahindra
on schedule
„„Construction in
full swing for GAIL’s
upcoming Urja Ganga
pipeline, which will
supply gas to the plant
„„CCEA has approved
a proposal to grant
Rs 1,257.82 crore
interest-free loan for
the construction period
first three years of construc-
tion currently in progress
while repayment is spread
over 11 years.
Hindustan Urvarak was
created for setting up gas-
based ammonia-urea com-
plex by dismantling the
closed plants of Fertiliser
Corp at Gorakhpur in Uttar
Pradesh and at Sindri in
Jharkhand and Hindustan
Fertiliser’s plant at Barauni
in Bihar.
The capital cost of Rs
21,000 crore is being funded
Britannia to
split stock in
1:2 ratio
New Delhi: The Board of
confectionary major Britan-
nia Industries approved
share split in 1:2 ratio to
make the stock more afford-
able for the small retail inves-
tors and increase liquidity.
The company will split
the shares with a face value
of Rs 2 into two equity shares
of Re 1 each.
The division would be
subject to the approval of the
members and authorities as
applicable.
“There had been a signifi-
cant rise in the market price
of the equity shares of the
Company over a period of
last one year,” it said.
“In order to improve the
liquidity of the company’s
equity shares in the stock
markets and to make them
more affordable for the small
retail investors, it is pro-
posed to sub-divide equity
shares of face value of Rs 2
each into 2 equity shares of
the face value of Re 1 each,”
it added. —PTI
Vedanta plans to expand Odisha
refinery to 6 mt sans Niyamgiri
New Delhi: Mining baron
Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta Ltd
plans to expand its alumina
refinery at Lanjigarh in Odi-
sha to 6 million tonne per
annum by 2021 using alter-
nate bauxite resources as it
looks beyond the failed Niy-
amgiri experiment, a senior
company executive said.
The firm believes there
are enough alternate re-
sources of bauxite available
to feed the expansion and
has moved beyond the previ-
ously pursued high-quality
bauxite beneath the pristine
Niyamgiri hills, its CEO for
alumina and power business
Ajay Kumar Dixit said.
The Lanjigarh plant pro-
duced around 1.2 million
tonnes of alumina last fiscal
and has a current capacity of
2 million tonne.
Refusing to give cost esti-
6.0
5.2
4.4
3.6
2.8
2.0
Jul 31, 18
also plans to hike prices by
up to 2% from August.
Steel
A surge in global steel prices
has given Indian steelmak-
ers, including JSW Steel,
Tata Steel and Steel Author-
Ahmedabad I FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 2018 I daily news & analysis
with a debt-to-equity ratio of
75:25 by promoters CIL,
NTPC and Indian Oil, each
of them owning 29.67% in
the project. The rest 11% is
with Fertiliser Corp and
Hindustan Fertiliser.
In 2016-17, pre-feasibility
studies were conducted to set
up 1.27 million tonne per an-
num capacity urea plant at
all three locations and the
projects are expected to get
completed by FY21, CIL has
said in its annual report.
“All the pre-project activi-
ties have been completed at
all the three sites. Term-sheet
has also been signed with
GAIL for the supply of gas
through their upcoming Jag-
d i s h p u r- H a l d i a - B o k a ro -
Dharma natural gas pipeline.
All the three plants are sched-
uled to come in operation by
FY21,” the report said.
The section of the pipe-
line which will supply gas to
Gorakhpur and Barauni is
scheduled to be completed by
December 2018.
Take note: PC market
grows 28% in Apr-Jun
India's personal computer (PC) shipments notched a healthy
28.1% growth in April-June 2018 with 2.25 million units, buoyed
by strong notebook demand, research firm IDC India said
Top 3 by market share
31.6%
HP Inc
High growth can be partially attributed to the fact
that June quarter of 2017 was heavily impacted by
the then-upcoming goods and services tax rollout
61.0%
Of PCs sold
were notebooks
45.2%
Their sales grew
year on year
Anil Agarwal
mates, Dixit said while the
plant currently imports 2.5-3
million tonnes of bauxite
and sources almost an equal
volume from domestic
mines, the expansion project
would need a total of 18 mil-
lion tonnes of bauxite annu-
ally.
“A lot of stigma was at-
tached whether Vedanta
ity of India Ltd the ability to
raise product prices by 8% to
10% this year. China’s curbs
on steel output, global trade
protection measures and ro-
bust domestic demand will
keep prices firm going for-
ward.
Consumer goods
Fast-moving consumer
goods is a bright spot in
terms of demand. That’s
given companies such as
Hindustan Unilever, the lo-
cal unit of Unilever, room to
raise prices in some goods.
Godrej Consumer Prod-
ucts has increased prices of
some products and plans
more in hair colours, toilet-
ries and air fresheners with
the impact likely to be re-
09
New Delhi: Reliance Com-
munications (RCom) said it
has completed the planned
sale of its media conver-
gence nodes (MCNs) and re-
lated infrastructure assets,
worth Rs 2,000 crore, to
Mukesh Ambani-backed Re-
liance Jio Infocomm (RJio).
The transaction entailed
248 nodes covering close to 5
million square feet of area,
used for hosting the telecom
infrastructure, all of which
now stands transferred to
Jio, RCom said.
“Reliance Communica-
tions announced the comple-
tion of the sale of its MCNs
and related infrastructure
assets, worth Rs 2,000 crore,
to Reliance Jio Infocomm,”
the RCom statement said.
Earlier this month, RCom
had reinstated bank guaran-
tees worth Rs 774 crore with
the telecom department
ahead of the timeline set by
the telecom tribunal, and had
said that its Rs 25,000 crore as-
set sale plans are “on track”.
Last year, Anil Ambani-
owned Reliance Communica-
tions signed a pact with Reli-
ance Jio for sale of wireless
spectrum, tower, fibre and
MCN assets - the proceeds of
23.7% 18.0%
Dell Lenovo
20.0%
Of notebooks sold
were ultra-slim
11.0%
Their share
a year ago
could run without Niyamgi-
ri. The fact is Niyamgiri
would have given us 2.5-3 mil-
lion tonne, whose absence
hardly makes any difference
(to the expansion),” he said.
“The ghost of Niyamgiri is
done and dusted. We are well
past it.” Vedanta had intend-
ed to supply the refinery
with bauxite extracted from
the Niyamgiri hills by a min-
ing company owned by the
state government, which
backed the project. But pro-
tests from local villagers led
to the union government and
the Supreme Court blocking
the move in 2013.
Dixit said the company
would continue with the cur-
rent mix of imported and lo-
cally sourced bauxite before
converting to a plant that
used only the domestically
sourced resource. —PTI
flected from this quarter.
Dabur India has hinted at a
3% to 4% price increase.
Cement
It’s a mixed bag for cement
manufacturers. Rising input
costs are squeezing profit
margins of cement makers
and the monsoon season is a
dampener, but higher gov-
ernment spending on build-
ing houses for the poor ahead
of elections could jack up
sales.
Aviation
Some businesses aren’t in a
position to pass on costs. Air-
lines haven’t increased fares
despite higher fuel costs and
a double-digit growth in pas-
senger traffic. —Bloomberg
248
Transmission nodes and related
infrastructure Rrliance Jio gets
from the deal
5 mn sqft
Area covered by these nodes
which were to be used to re-
duce debt.
The deal announced in
December 2017, packed in
122.4 MegaHertz of 4G spec-
trum in the 800/900/1800/2100
MHz bands, over 43,000 tow-
ers, 1,78,000 kilometre fibre
and 248 MCNs. —PTI
Segment-wise performance
33.7%
- Growth in consumer
PCs to 1.09 million
units, on the back of
promotions and new
product offerings with
updated specifications
and aesthetic designs
23.3%
- Commercial PC
market grew to 1.17
million units, driven
by both new and
replacement demand
from enterprises and
small and medium
businesses
Aramco halts
IPO, disbands
advisors
Clara Denina
London: Saudi Arabia has
called off plans for the do-
mestic and international
listing of state oil giant Ara-
mco, billed as the biggest
stock flotation in history,
four senior industry sources
said on Wednesday.
Financial advisors work-
ing on the planned listing
have been disbanded as Sau-
di Arabia shifts its attention
to a proposed acquisition of
a “strategic stake” in local
petrochemicals maker Saudi
Basic Industries Corp, two of
the sources said.
“The decision to call off
the IPO was taken some time
ago, but no-one can disclose
this, so statements are grad-
ually going that way - first
delay then calling off,” a
Saudi source familiar with
the IPO plans said.
“The message we have
been given is that the IPO
has been called off for the
foreseeable future,” said a
second source, a senior fi-
nancial advisor.
“Even the local float on
the Tadawul Stock Exchange
has been shelved,” that per-
son said.
Early on Thursday, Saudi
Arabia’s energy minister is-
sued a denial that the IPO
had been called off. “The gov-
ernment remains committed
to the initial public offering
of Saudi Aramco,” Khalid al-
Falih said. —Reuters
 CAS bars olympic silver medallist
Olympic silver medallist Olga Zabelinskaya was excluded from the road cycling at
the Asiad on Thursday after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) backed an
earlier decision blocking the Russia-born athlete from racing for Uzbekistan

Asian Ascent Asian Games

2018 Jakarta
Palembang

Swimming Japanese teenager Rikako Ikee clinches her fifth gold, and seventh in total, to give her team an edge over China in title count 10
Ahmedabad I FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 2018

Medals Tally Yet another Indian prodigy Shardul Vihan,15, coolly defies odds to finish second in Double Trap shooting

Silver teen
Rank Nation G S B T
1. China 55 40 21 116
2. Japan 25 28 33 86
3. South Korea 16 20 27 63
4. Iran 10 9 8 27
5. Indonesia 8 6 10 24
6. Thailand 6 4 16 26 Chander Shekhar Luthra “He wakes up at five in the
7. DPR Korea 6 2 5 13 shekhar.luthra@dnaindia.net n zone morning every day, goes to Karni

8. Chinese Taipei 5 6 11 23
9. Uzbekistan 4 8 7 19
10. India 4 4 10 18
India Results
MEDALS
SHOOTING: Vihan Shardul won
Silver in Men’s Double Trap
TENNIS: Ankita Raina won Bronze
in Women’s Singles
KABADDI: India win Bronze in
Men’s Team Event
lARCHERY: MEN: Agata Salsa-
billa beat Atanu Das 7-3 in Recurve
Individual Quarterfinals, Abdullin Ilfat
beat Viswash 7-1 in Recurve Individual
1/8 eliminations; WOMEN: Lee Chien
Ying beat Deepika Kumari 7-3 in
Recurve Individual 1/8 eliminations,
Bishindee Urantungalag beat Promila
Daimary 6-2 in Recurve Individual 1/16
eliminations
lARTISTIC GYMNASTICS: WOMEN:
Aruna Reddy finished 7th , Pranati
Nayak finished 8th in Vault Finals
lBADMINTON: MEN: SS
Rankireddy/C Shetty beat Y Chung/
CH Tam 2-0, M Attri/ BS Reddy beat
TA Mohamed/ MA Rasheed 2-0 beat
in Round of 32 Doubles; WOMEN: PV
Sindhu beat Vu Thi Trang 2-1, Saina
Nehwal beat Soraya Aghaeihajiagha
2-0 in Round of 32 singles, Ashwini
.Ponappa/N Sikki Reddi beat Wy Ng/
NT Yeung 2-0, Rutaparna Panda/Arathi
Sara Sunil beat C Chaladchalam/P
Muenwong 2-0 in Round of 32
doubles; MIXED: PS Chan/ LY Goh beat
Pranav Chopra/ N Sikki Reddy2-0, D
Puavaranukroh/S Taeratanachai beat
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/ Aswini Pon-
appa 2-0 in Round of 32 Doubles
lBASKETBALL: WOMEN: Indonesia
beat India 69-66 in Group A
lBOWLING: MEN: India 21st and
27th in 2nd Bloc
lCANOE/KAYAK SALOM: WOMEN:
Champa Mourya 7th in Canoe Single
lGOLF: MEN: Aadil Bedi finished T2,
Rayhan Thomas finished T11, Kshitij
New Delhi: Thursday saw yet
another teenage sen-
sation striking gold
for India. And he is
just 15.
Shardul Vihan
became the new
medal winner for India
in men’s double trap event, fin-
ishing second with a score of 73
to take the legacy of Rajyavard-
han Singh Rathore (silver in 2006)
and Ronjan Sodhi (gold in 2010)
forward.w
And mind it, this new champi-
on shooter studies in Class IX and
hails from Meerut, which is
emerging as the new powerhouse
of GenX shooters. As he took the
final shot on Thursday to finish
second, one point behind South
Korea’s Hyunwoo Shin (74), Vihan
became India’s youngest competi-
tor ever to win an Asiad medal.
Shin, who finished fifth dur-
ing the last Asian Games in
Incheon, led till the end. Qatar’s
Hamad Ali Al Marri was distant
third with a score of 53 to win the
bronze.
Vihan is the third teenager after
Saurabh Chaudhary (10m air pistol
gold medallist) and Lakshay Sheo-
ran (silver in trap event) to win a
medal for India in Palembang.
Born on November 1, 2003, Vi-
han was just one-year-old when
Rathore won India’s first indi-
vidual medal in shooting at Ath-
ens in 2004. That was probably
the first time that many in India
actually heard about double trap
event. Even in Palembang on
Thursday, Indians were ex-
pecting a medal from An-
kur Mittal, India’s No. 1 trap
shooter. But he failed
to even reach the fi-
nals and instead Vi-
han topped the quali-
fying round with a score of
141.
“Sir ne bola, kal sab tere se
19
No. of years Shardul Vihan is
younger than the gold medal-
list Hyunwoo Shin of Korea.
Shin is 34. Bronze medallist Hamad Ali
Al Marri of Qatar, 42.
did you know?
At the age of 15 years, Shardul
Vihan is the youngest medallist in
an individual event in shooting and
also the youngest man to win a
shooting medal at the Asian Games
badi umar ke honge. Chad ke
khelna (all competitors will be a
lot older to you, just shoot fear-
less and they will be wary of
you). I just did that,” said Vihan
talking about the advice given by
India coach Mansher Singh.
By chance
Having been trained by former
Olympian Anwar Sultan at his
Shamli-based range, Vihan took to
shooting seriously only four years
ago. Coming from a business fam-
ily, Vihan was more interested in
cricket and then badminton be-
fore settling for what is considered
a much less glamorous sport.
“I won a shooting medal in
2014 at a North Zone meet. That
was when I knew what I would be
doing for a long time,” an elated
Vihan said soon after his win on
Thursday.
“The moment he came to me I
knew he would excel at whatever
he does. Be it table tennis or bad-
minton or any other sport. He
has an amazing muscle memory.
Now I will prepare him for the
trap event,” said Sultan, looking
at the future as double trap is
no more an Olympic
sport.
He is a rare talent
who works extremely
hard on his game. His
uncle Manoj Vihan, who
was also here, revealed his
punishing schedule.
Shooting Rane (in Delhi) from
Meerut, and comes back only by
nine in the night. Imagine a
15-year-old doing all this,” said
Manoj. Vihan comes from a busi-
ness family who is into property
and farming.
Giving up bat, racquet
It was not because of pressure
from someone that Vihan decided
to leave cricket or for that matter
the badminton later on. He gave
up cricket on his own in anger
after not getting a chance to ei-
ther bat or bowl during an entire
practice session near his home.
Destiny had a different plans
for Vihan even as his father,
Deepak, handed him a badmin-
ton racquet after that. After
reaching late for practice, bad-
minton coach got so upset with
this new kid that he apparently
told his father that “your son is
not fit for this game”.
The seven-year-old Vihan was
finally taken to shooting coach
Ved Pal Singh, who also refused
to admit him considering his
tender age. It was only after his
father pressed further that Singh
asked Vihan to lift rifle and aim
at a target. He did exactly the
same and rest is history as coach
realised potential in the kid.
In 2017, he amassed four na-
tional titles along with the cov-
eted medal at the ISSF Junior
World Cup in Germany to an-
nounce his arrival at the big
stage. He also finished sixth at
the Junior World Championship
in Moscow last year.
Like any other teen, this
15-year-old also enjoys playing Indian shooter Shardul Vihan
after winning the sliver medal in
video games on his mobile phone
the Double Trap in Palembang
apart from cycling. With his eyes
on Thursday —PTI
now firmly set on representing
his country at the 2020 Tokyo
Olympics, Vihan will now travel
to Changwon in South Korea next
month to take part in World
Championships.

India’s kabaddi shocker

Naveen Kaul finished T18, Harimo-
han Singh finished T45 in Round 1
Individual, India finished 2nd in Round
1 Team Event; WOMEN: Diksha Dagar
finished T7, Sifat Sagoo finished 24th ,
Ridhima Dilwari finished T27 in Round
1 Individual, India finished 9th in
Round 1 Team Event.
lKABADDI: WOMEN: India beat
Chinese Taipei 27-14 in Seminfinals
lPENCAK SILAT: MEN: Boynao Singh
Naorem beat Uulu 5-0 in Men’s Class B
: 50kg to 55kg Round of 16
lROWING: MEN: Dattu Baban
Bhokanlal finished 6th in Singles Sculls
Finals, Om Prakash/Sawarn Singh fin-
ished 4th in Doubles Sculls Finals, Mal-
keet Singh and Gurinder Singh finished
4th in Pair Finals, India finished 4th
in Men’s Lightweight Finals; WOMEN:
Sanjukta Dung Dung/Harpreet Kaur fin-
ished 7th in Pair Finals, Shelake Sayali
Rajendra/ Pooja Sangwan finished 6th
in Doubles Sculls Finals
lSHOOTING: MEN: Ankur Mittal
finished 9th in Double Trap Qualifica-
tion; WOMEN: Shreyasi Singh finished
6th and Varsha Varman finished 7th in
Double Trap Finals
lSPORT CLIMBING: MEN: Ching-
kheingamba Maibam finished 12th in
Speed Finals, Bharath Stephen Pereira
Kamath finished 21st in speed
quarterfinals, Bharath Stephen
Pereira Kamath finished 4th,
Chingkheingamba Maibam
finished 7th in Combined Speed
Qualification; WOMEN: Shreya
Sanjay Nankar finished 19th in
speed quarterfinals
lSQUASH: MEN: Sourav
Ghoshal beat Aslam Tayyab 3-1,
Harinder Pal Sandhu beat Robert
Andrew Garcia 3-1 in Round
of 16 Singles; WOMEN: Dipika
Pallikal beat Rommah Yeni Siti
3-0, Joshna Chinappa beat Jemyca
Aribado 3-0 in Round of 16 Singles
lSWIMMING: MEN: Virdhawal Khade
finished 8th in 50m Butterfly Finals,
Jakarta: India’s nearly unchal-
lenged domination of
the Asian Games
kabaddi competi-
tion ended on
Thursday with the
men’s team failing to
make the final for the
first time, left shell-shocked and
battered by an ever-improving
Iran in the semifinals here.
For the first time in its history,
India ended with a bronze medal
in its indigenous sport, in which
a gold is taken for granted every
four years at the Asiad.
The 18-27 loss, which left some
in the Indian camp in tears, and
others stone-faced, ended a reign
of domination dates back to the
1990 Asiad. It was a nightmare
that unfolded for India at Theatre
Garuda where the Iranians
played like champions and India
seemed completely out of sorts.
“The forwardline did not
work today and there
were problems with su-
pertackle as well,” said
a shattered India coach
Ram Mehar Singh.
The writing was per-
haps on the wall given that
Iran had come close to
upstaging India in the
2014 finals in Incheon.
Considered another
Asian powerhouse,
Iran had finished run-
India Watch
Captain was overconfident: Coach hits out
Jakarta: Terming it a “massive
defeat”, coach Ram Mehar
Singh hit out at his captain
Ajay Thakur’s “over confidence”
after India were knocked out of
the Asian Games men’s gold
medal match for the first time.
“We lost the match due to the
captain’s over confidence, injury
played a part, and super tackle,”
the dejected coach said after the
shocking defeat at the Theatre
Garuda. Even as the result
started to trend on the social
media, Ram Mehar Singh added,
“It’s a massive defeat by Iran and
we accept this. Our catching was
also good. We have to accept
that Iran played well.” India’s
domination of the Asian Games
kabaddi ended with the men’s
team failing to make the final for
ner-up in the last two Asian
Games and will square off for
gold as firm favourites against
Korea, a team that beat India in
the group stage this time.
The match saw Pro-Kabaddi
League players facing each other
with Iran having the likes of de-
fenders Fazel Atrachali and Abo-
zar Mighani.
The Indian team which had
PKL stars like Ajay Thakur, Par-
deep Narwal, Rahul Chaudhari,
Deepak Niwas Hooda became the
India kabaddi captain Ajay Thakur,
who is injured, reacts from sidelines
during team’s loss to Iran —TWITTER
the first time. “’The game was in
our control and we can go all the
way, don’t get excited’ we told
the players,” manager Rambir
Khokhar said. —PTI
first to finish an Asian Games
without the top prize. As the Indi-
ans slumped to the mat, their
faces a picture of disbelief, the
Iranian spirits soared.
Women in final
Meanwhile, Indian women’s
kabaddi team entered its third
successive final at the Asian
Games with win over Chinese
Taipei in the semifinals on Thurs-
day. The Indian team won 27-14 in
the last four contest here. —PTI
Repurcussions can
be huge: Ex captain
New Delhi: India’s shocking
ouster from the gold medal
contention in the 18th Asian
Games kabaddi will have “far-
reaching implications”, feels
two-time Asiad gold medallist
and former captain Anup
Kumar.
“I am too stunned to react at
the moment. It will take some
time to accept that this has
exactly happened. But let
me tell you there will be far-
reaching impact of this result
and repercussions will be
huge,” Anup, who led India to
a gold medal at the Incheon
Games said on Thursday.
He was the captain during
the last edition when Iran
nearly pulled off an upset win
before India managed to hold
onto their gold.
Didn’t we see the tell-tale
signs? “Yes, we did,” Kumar
said. “And I don’t think that
the boys were not sincere.
But possibly we didn’t factor
in that Iran has improved in
leaps and bounds over the
years. I don’t know by the
time 2022 Asian Games are
held, you might not see many
of these current players. It is
a historic defeat,” said Anup,
who was also a part of the
champion team at the 2010
Guangzhou Games. —PTI
Raina settles for bronze,
India to get more medals
Palembang: Ankita Raina
played her heart out
against top seed Sh-
uai Zhang before
settling for bronze,
while Rohan Bo-
panna and Divij
Sharan used all their
experience to bounce back and
enter the men’s doubles final of
the Asian Games, here on Thurs-
day.
Sharan and Bopanna are as-
sured of at least a silver but will
be going for gold in the final on
Indian doubles players Rohan Bopanna
Friday. Another medal was as-
and Divij Sharan have entered the final
sured when world number 161
and are assured of at least silver medal.
Prajnesh Gunneswaran outlast-
ed 273rd ranked Kwon Soonwoo followed by a bronze in 2010
of South Korea 6-7 (2 ), 6-4, 7-6 (8) Guangzhou.
in a marathon quarterfinal last- “She played very well today. It
ing almost four hours. was a tough match. If she keeps
Earlier, against the world num- on playing this, she can get into
ber 34 from China and a Grand the top-100 and may be even top-
Slam quarterfinalist, 189th 50,” Zhang, who reached the 2016
ranked Raina had nothing to lose. Australian Open quarterfinals,
She went for her shots and that was generous in her praise.
surprised her seasoned opponent. In the match, however, the
The spirited Indian, who Chinese was ruthless. She did
agreed to playing all three not hide her anger when Raina
events, eventually lost 4-6, 6-7 (6) took a time-out while trailing 4-5
in the semifinal lasting 131 min- in the opening set. Zhuang was
utes. also unhappy with a couple of
The gruelling second set line calls.
alone lasted 77 minutes. After “May be she was tired and
this effort, she became India’s needed rest. It happens all the
second women’s singles medal- times (players use time-out). And
list at the Asian Games after I wanted to get on with the ten-
Sania Mirza. Sania had won a nis,” said the 29-year-old from
silver in the 2006 Doha edition, Tianjin. —PTI

Anshul Kothari finished 1st in Heat 1

in 50m Butterfly Heats, Aaron D’souza
finished 1st in Heat 1, Virdhawal
Khade finished 8th in Heat 4 in 100m
Freestyle, Srihari Nataraj finished 6th
in 200m backstroke finals, Advait
Page finished 5th in Heat 2 of 200m
backstroke heats
lTENNIS: MEN: Prajnesh Gun-
neswaran beat Kwon Soonwoo 2-1 in
Men’s Singles Quarterfinals, Rohan
Bopanna/Divij Sharan beat K Uesugi/
S Shimabukoru 2-1 in Doubles Semi-
finals; MIXED: A Sutijaidi/CB Rungkat
beat Rohan Bopanna/Ankita Raina 2-1
in Doubles Quarterfinals
lVOLLEYBALL: WOMEN: Ka-
zakhastan beat India 3-0 in Pool B
lWEIGHTLIFTING: MEN: Ajay Singh
5th, Satish Sivalingam 10th in 77kg
Saina, Sindhu advance
in contrasting styles
Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Saina
Nehwal advanced to the women’s
singles second round in contrasting
styles on Thursday. Sindhu faced
stiff resistance from world number
52 Vu Thi Trang of Vietnam before
prevailing 21-10 12-21 23-21 in a
tough opening round which lasted 58
minutes. In complete contrast, Saina
beat win Iran’s Soraya Aghhajiagha
21-7 21-9. In the next round, both
Sindhu and Saina play Indonesia
players who will have crowd support.
Sindhu takes on Tunjung Gregoria
Mariska while Saina will lock horns
with Fitriani.
Deepika Kumari comes cropper again
India’s top archer Deepika Kumari yet again came a cropper at the big stage as
she was eliminated from the individual recurve event after losing pre-quarterfi-
nal to Chien-Ying Lei. After getting a bye, Deepika got past North Korea’s Hyang
Ji Ri (6-2) but fluffed her second last shot in the third set to lose 3-7 to Chinese
Taipei’s Chien Ying Lei.
Woman cagers crash
Khade qualifies Ajay Singh finishes fifth out after fourth loss
India’s Virdhawal Khade qualified for Ajay Singh finished a creditable fifth
50m butterfly final but crashed out of with a personal best effort of lifted The Indian women’s basketball
the men’s freestyle 100m along with total of 327 kg (145kg+182 kg) team suffered their fourth loss
Anshul Kothari on Wednesday. Khade while his senior compatriot Sathish on the trot to crash out of the
clocked 24.09 to top Heat 2 but was Sivalingam got injured during the Asian Games after finishing
placed fifth overall. Kothari also men’s 77kg category weightlifting at the bottom of the heap on
topped three-man Heat 1 with timing competition to end at 10th on Thursday. The Indian team lost
of 25.45 but that was 28th best from Thursday. Sathish suffered a thigh to Indonesia 66-69 in its final
among 40 swimmers. Top-eight injury during a failed attempt of 178 Group A match to end their cam- Ankita Raina is the second Indian woman to win a tennis medal at the Asian Games
qualify for the final. kg in clean and jerk. paign with an all-loss record. after Sania Mirza won silver in 2006 and bronze in 2010
 sP rt
www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia
hot on heels
Afghanistan beat
Ireland, win series
Afghanistan took an un-
assailable 2-0 lead in
their three-match T20 se-
ries against hosts Ire-
land with a crushing 81-
run victory in Bready on
Wednesday. After a nail-
biting 16-run win for the
tourists in the opening
match of the series of
Monday, Ireland faltered
with the bat as they
were bowled out for just
79 in response to Af-
ghanistan’s 160/8. Open-
er Hazratullah Zazai
once again top scored
with 82 (54b, 6x4, 7x6).
Brief scores: Afghani-
stan 160/8 in 20 ov (H
Zazai 82, A Afghan 37; B
Rankin 2/14, P Chase
3/35) bt Ireland 79 in 15
ov (W Porterfield 33; M
Ur Rahman 3/17, R
Khan 4/17)
Anand holds
Aronian, in jt-6th
Viswanathan Anand
played out a draw for the
fifth time in as many
rounds to be joint sixth
in the Sinquefield Cup
in St Louis, USA, on
Wednesday. Anand, play-
ing with black pieces af-
ter drawing Magnus
Carlsen with white in
the previous round, has
remained unbeaten in
the tournament, with
the leaderboard remain-
ing unchanged. Anand
takes on So Wesley, who
is eighth with 2 points,
in the sixth round.
Drall holds
two-shot lead
Three birdies helped
overnight leader
Amandeep Drall keep
her lead after the second
round of the 12th Leg of
the Hero Women’s Pro
Golf Tour. Amandeep,
who began the second
day with a three-shot
lead, is now three-over
145 for 36 holes and still
ahead by two shots over
second-placed Sonam
Chugh, who carded 73 af-
ter her first round of 74
to be sole second at five-
over 147 at the Hy-
derabad Golf Club.
HI declares teams
for Youth Games
Hockey India on Thurs-
day announced the Indi-
an U-18 men’s and wom-
en’s teams for the Hockey
5’s competition to be held
at the Buenos Aires 2018
Youth Olympic Games
from October 6-18. Both
the teams will have a to-
tal of nine members in
the squad, which consists
of two goalkeepers, two
defenders, two midfield-
ers and three forwards.
on the tube
(All Live)
Asian Games
Sony Ten 2, Sony ESPN &
Sony Ten 3
07:00 Day 7
Cricket
Star Sports 2
18:30 KPL
Formula One
Star Sports Select 2
14:25 F1 Practice
Football
Star Sports Select 2
00:00 Bundesliga
Sony Ten 2
23:00 FIFA U20 Wom-
en’s World Cup, Final
Golf
Sony Ten Golf HD
14:30 Czech Masters
ff the field
1 ton. Yet at just 23, she has been
2 Speaking at the Asian
3 players with Serena Williams
Send in your answers to
sportsdna@gmail.com. Names of
the first 10 winners will be published
tomorrow
India captain’s superlative performances with bat in England sees him join elite club of all-time best
King Kohli back on top
India in
England
test series
Dubai: India captain Virat
Kohli has returned to the top
of the International Cricket
Council’s Test batting rank-
ings following his man-of-
the-match effort against Eng-
land at Trent Bridge.
The 29-year-old scored 97
and 103 and saw India beat
England by 203 runs in the
third Test at Nottingham’s
Trent Bridge on Wednesday
as they reduced the hosts’ lead
in a five-match series to 2-1.
Kohli took top spot in the
rankings for the first time
after scoring a hundred in
the series opener at Edgbas-
ton. But he lost it to the
banned Steve Smith after
struggling in the second Test
at Lord’s even though the
former Australia captain has
not played since March.
Smith was suspended for
a year and stripped of the
captaincy by Cricket Aus-
tralia for his part in a ball-
tampering scandal against
South Africa, but his rank-
ing points have not changed.
Kohli’s impressive dis-
play at Edgbaston, however,
took him to 937 rating points,
above Smith’s current mark
of 929, in the latest edition of
the ICC standings published
on Thursday.
Meanwhile Australia’s
David Warner, like Smith
given a ban for his role in the
ball-tampering scandal, rose
a place to fourth despite not
playing.
England captain Joe Root
dropped down to fifth after
managing just 16 and 13 at
Trent Bridge.
As well as raw figures, the
ICC chart also aims to take
into account factors such as
the quality of the opposition.
Kohli, who has scored 440
runs so far in the England
series, has now achieved the
11th highest all-time rating
among Test batsmen and
could move further up that
list in the remaining two
matches of the England se-
ries.
The top 10 is headed by
Australia’s Donald Bradman
(961 points), who is widely
considered to be the greatest
Test batsman cricket has
I have become slow:
Jhulan quits T20Is
New Delhi/Kolkata: Veteran
Indian women’s team pacer
Jhulan Goswami on Thurs-
day announced her retire-
ment from T20 Internationals,
effectively ruling her out for
the ICC World T20 in
West Indies in Novem-
ber.
She played 68 T20 In-
ternationals and took
56 wickets.
Jhulan will only play
ODIs, in which format
she is the world’s highest
wicket-taker with 200 scalps.
“It’s not an overnight deci-
sion. I have been thinking
about this for a long time. The
game has become faster but I
have become slow. I am getting
older,” the 35-year-old said.
I’m one of them, it feels good and nice: Sindhu I have nothing against
Jakarta: India’s PV Sindhu is
yet to win a world or Olympic
title, and competes in the un-
glamorous sport of badmin-
listed as the world’s seventh
highest paid sportswoman --
news that she greets with a
smile, but not surprise.
Games in Jakarta, Sindhu
said she was delighted to place
so high on the Forbes rich list,
behind six well-known tennis
at number one.
“Well it feels good and nice
and happy about it. When I
saw the news then it was like,
okay, I am one of them,” Sind-
hu said.
“The money always goes to
the bank so not much account
on that, but I think just to be
in that list with some top
names is reason enough to
smile,” she said.
Sindhu became a house-
hold name in her home coun-
try, population 1.3 billion, after
the 2016 Olympics, when she
became the first Indian wom-
an to win a silver medal.
It brought a flood of en-
n zone
11
No at which Virat Kohli
ranks in highest all-time
rating among Test batsmen
1 2
(+1) Virat Kohli (-1) Steve Smith
(IND) (AUS)
937 929
known.
It also includes Smith
(947), England’s Len Hutton
(945) and Jack Hobbs (942),
Australia’s Ricky Ponting
(942) and England’s Peter
May (941).
Meanwhile West Indies
stars Gary Sobers, Clyde
Walcott and Vivian Rich-
ards, as well as Sri Lanka’s
Kumar Sangakka-
ra, all achieved a
rating of 938
points.
E n g l a n d ’s
all-time lead-
ing Test wick-
et-taker James
Anderson re-
mained top of the bowl-
ers’ rankings. —AFP
Reuters
Mansi returns
Pacer Mansi Joshi made a
comeback from injury to the
Indian women’s ODI and T20
Internationals squad for the
upcoming tour of Sri Lanka.
India ODI squad: Mithali Raj (C),
Harmanpreet Kaur (VC), Smriti
Mandhana, Punam Raut, Deep-
ti Sharma, D Hemlata, Jemimah
Rodrigues, Veda Krishnamurthy,
Tanya Bhatia (WK), Ekta Bisht,
Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari
Gayakwad, Jhulan Goswami,
Mansi Joshi, Shikha Pandey; India
squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti
Mandhana (VC), Mithali Raj, Veda
Krishnamurthy, Jemimah Rodrigues, D
Hemlata, Deepti Sharma, Anuja Patil,
Tanya Bhatia (WK), Poonam Yadav, Ekta
Bisht, Radha Yadav, Arundhati Reddy,
Shikha Pandey, Mansi Joshi.
n zone
8.5mn
In US Dollars PV Sindhu
earned between June 2017
and June 2018
Did you know?
India badminton star
earned $8 million
from sponsorships and
$500,000 in prize money
dorsements, from sports
drinks to mobile phones to car
tyres. According to media
company Forbes, she earned
$8.5 million between June 2017
and June 2018, including $8
million from sponsorships
and $500,000 in prize money.
Williams, the 23-time
Grand Slam champion, topped
Forbes’ list with $18.1 million.
top batsmen
3 4
(+1) Kane
Willamson (NZL) Warner (AUS)
847
Vince returns to boost England
London: Hampshire bats-
man James Vince has been
called up to the 14-man Eng-
land squad for the fourth
Test starting in Southamp-
ton on August 30.
The 27-year-old Vince last
played Test
cricket for
England in
April against
New Zealand
and has been
in good
f o r m
off
DDCA’s Bhardwaj goes on hunger strike
Chander Shekhar Luthra
shekhar.luthra@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: Taking the ongo-
ing war between Delhi & Dis-
trict Cricket Association
(DDCA) president Rajat Shar-
ma and suspended secretary
Vinod Tihara to next level,
Cricket Director Sanjay
Bhardwaj has started an “in-
definite hunger strike” at the
Ferozeshah Kotla premises in
here on Thursday demanding
implementation of Justice
Lodha panel recommenda-
tions in letter and spirit.
Bhardwaj has been waging
war against unconstitutional
appointments in selection
committees and administra-
tion from Day One. The latest
tug of war started when news
came in that one of the senior
Delhi selectors, Rajat Bhatia,
Caroline Wozniacki, Sloane
Stephens, Garbine Muguruza,
Maria Sharapova and Venus
Williams were the other ten-
nis players listed higher than
Sindhu.
However, the Indian came
in higher than tennis’s cur-
rent world number one, Si-
mona Halep, and Nascar driv-
er Danica Patrick.
All-time best
5 6. 941 Peter May 1956
(+1) David (-2) Joe Root
(ENG)
820 818
late, scoring 74 and 147
against Nottinghamshire
this past week. He averages
56 in the County champion-
ship this season.
National selector Ed
Smith confirmed that Vince
has been called up as a cover
for Jonny Bairstow, who has
sustained a fracture on his
left hand middle finger.
If fit enough to bat,
Bairstow will play as bats-
man and Jos Buttler will
keep wickets, with Vince on
standby.
Essex pacer Jamie Porter
has been released for the
next round of County cham-
has apparently been named
skipper of newly-inducted Ut-
tarakhand Ranji Trophy team.
Even junior selector
Parvinder Awana was tipped
to play for one of the north
eastern states.
Bhardwaj has been protest-
ing against the appointment
of all those selectors who have
failed to fulfil the criteria set
by Justice Lodha panel that
“the player should have retired
five years back to be appointed
as selector”. In case of Bhatia,
he has only one-year gap to
show while Awana also fails to
fit in the similar criteria.
DNA has learnt that Com-
mittee of Administrators
(COA) formed Uttarakhand
Cricket Consensus Committee
led by Ratnakar Shetty on
Wednesday informed BCCI
CEO Rahul Johri that Bhatia
The money
always
goes to the
bank so not much
account on that,
but I think just to
be in that list with
some top names
is reason enough
to smile
PV Sindhu
Now for the gold
Sindhu, badminton’s world
number three, came in for
criticism recently when she
lost her fourth straight final
this year in the world champi-
onships against Spain’s Caro-
lina Marin.
Sindhu also lost in the
Commonwealth Games final
to Nehwal. But she said is not
Ahmedabad I FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 2018 I daily news & analysis
Reuters
1. 961 D Bradman 1948
2. 947 Steve Smith 2017
3. 945 Len Hutton 1954
4. 942 Jack Hobbs 1912
5. 942 Ricky Ponting 2006
7. 938 Clyde Walcott 1955
8. 938 Gary Sobers 1967
9. 938 Viv Richards 1981
10. 938 K Sangakkara 2007
11. 937 VIRAT KOHLI 2018
pionship games but he is on
standby if any other pacer
suffers injury in lead up to
the fourth Test.
The series is pegged at 2-1
after India won the third
Test in Nottingham by 203
runs. England had won the
first two Tests at Birming-
ham and Lord’s. —PTI
England squad: Joe Root
(c), Alastair Cook, Keaton
Jennings, Jonny Bairstow,
Jos Buttler, Oliver Pope,
Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid, Sam
Curran, James Anderson,
Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes,
Ben Stokes, James Vince
DDCA Cricket Director Sanjay
Bhardwaj (C) has gone on hunger
strike in New Delhi on Thursday
had been named as one of the
three guest players who will
represent the senior team in
different domestic tourna-
ments for the season 2018-19.
Lights off in DDCA
With no talks in sights, DDCA
administration decided to
switch off lights of Kotla
too concerned about the re-
sults. “Losing is part of life.
You lose some and win some. I
have to take it on a positive
note. I look to come out strong-
er with every loss,” said Sind-
hu.
Sindhu first reached inter-
national attention when she
broke into the world top 20
aged 17 in September 2012. Six
years on, she has badminton’s
ultimate prize firmly in her
sights.
“For now it’s just Asian
Games and after that we have
some of the Super Series so
focusing on that,” Sindhu
said. “And then yeah, hope-
fully I’ll win an Olympic gold,”
she added with a laugh.
Badminton Association of
India vice-president Punnai-
ah Chawdary said Sindhu’s
recognition by Forbes was
“great news for Indian bad-
minton”. “Sindhu, Saina all
are great in their own right.
We are definitely going to win
some medals here,” Chowdary
said. “She (Sindhu) is playing
well and is being rewarded for
that. So I wish her luck,” he
said. —AFP
11
38 changes in 38
Tests are too
much: Harbhajan
Nottingham: Veteran India
spinner Harbhajan Singh
feels it is a bit too much to
make 38 changes in as many
Tests but it doesn’t matter as
long as Virat Kohli and Co.
keep delivering results.
India played their 38th
combination in as many Test
matches under Kohli at the
Trent Bridge Test which the
visitors won by a massive 203
runs to keep themselves afloat
in the five-match series.
“Personally I think 38
changes in 38 Tests is too
much. But every captain is
different, and every team’s
dynamics are different. May-
be they want horses for cours-
es, and it works for them,”
Harbhajan said.
“They were close to win-
ning the series in South Afri-
ca. They have turned things
here in England. If the cap-
tain believes in it, the man-
agement agrees and players
accept it, then what you and I
think doesn’t matter.”
Kohli has been in impres-
sive form during the England
tour as he blasted two centu-
ries to lead India from the
front. The India skipper had
practiced with Raghu (mem-
ber of Indian support staff) in
Mumbai ahead of the tour,
taking throw downs on wet
surfaces in a bid to replicate
these English conditions.
Complementing Kohli’s
batting and captaincy, Harb-
hajan said: “When you do
that, take throw downs from
18 yards or so with a wet, new
ball, you get used to pace and
movement.
“Then, batting at 22 yards,
it doesn’t affect you. Kohli is
not swayed by pace or move-
ment, he bats out of the
crease, he covers the stumps,
plays close to the body and
plays late, so he has worked
hard at getting better in Eng-
lish conditions.”
Harbhajan said leaving the
premises under instructions
from the top.
This, despite the fact that
Bhardwaj and Tihara were sit-
ting on dharna along with at
least 35 more members. A gen-
erator set was called in imme-
diately to restore the lights at
dharna site. “DDCA adminis-
tration is being run from
newsroom of a television of-
fice. There is no action taken
till date to resolve ‘conflict of
interest’ issue raised against
many of the selectors and ad-
visors,” said Tihara.
Bhardwaj had earlier
raised red flag over the ap-
pointments of Virender Se-
hwag, Aakash Chopra, Rahul
Sanghvi, Gautam Gambhir
and a few more in the Cricket
Committee and various selec-
tion committees due to their
various conflict of interests.
Yo-Yo test: Rayudu
Bengaluru: He is certainly
disappointed at missing out
on the limited overs leg of the
England tour after failing Yo-
Yo test but Ambati Rayudu
has nothing against strict fit-
ness benchmark laid out by
the Indian team management.
“I was disappointed with
myself that I could not clear
the test. Nothing against the
test at all as everybody has to
attain a certain fitness level
playing for India. To be hon-
est, I believe in it,” Rayudu
told reporters here after scor-
ing an unbeaten 62 in India A’s
five-wicket win over Australia
‘A’ in the quadrangular one-
dayers.
“I was disappointed with
myself as to why I could not
clear the test so I worked to-
wards it and cleared it,” Ray-
udu added.
Asked what went wrong
two months back during the
fitness test, Rayudu said: “I
cleared it a few days back and
I also got a call up and am
happy to be back in the scheme
Harbhajan Singh
He is a brilliant
batsman. I
haven’t seen
many batsmen come to
South Africa, Australia
and England, and make
conditions look so easy
to bat on. He bats on a
different wicket.
Harbhajan Singh
ball well is one of the most
important aspects of scoring
runs in English conditions
and Kohli was rewarded for
his discipline. “His head too is
very disciplined in terms of
leaving and playing because
here leaving is more impor-
tant. If you leave the ball well
in England, then you will
score a lot of runs, but for that
you need to be at the wicket
and that happens only if you
leave a lot of balls,” he said.
“He is a brilliant batsman.
I haven’t seen many batsmen
come to South Africa, Aus-
tralia and England, and make
conditions look so easy to bat
on. He bats on a different
wicket than other batsmen.”
Heaping further praise on
Kohli, Harbhajan said: “Vi-
rat’s best quality is that he
says we will play to win —
whatever the situation we will
play to win.” —PTI
COA withdraws
powers of BCCI
office bearers
New Delhi: The Commit-
tee of Administrators
(COA) issued a directive
that effectively withdrew
all functioning powers of
the BCCI office bearers
while dissolving all the
committees. With new
BCCI constitution coming
into effect, the COA
termed the old ‘Constitu-
tion’ as “extinguished”.
Acting secretary Amitabh
Chaudhary and treasurer
Aniruddh Chaudhry were
authorised signatories in
financial decisions.
Lad impresses
Dindigul (TN): Mumbai’s
Siddesh Lad scored an
unbeaten 83 and opener
Sanjay Ramaswamy, 72,
as India Red recovered
from an early blow to post
256/4 at stumps against
India Blue on Day 1 of the
second league match of
the Duleep Trophy (day/
night) on Thursday.
Brief scores: India Red
256/4 in 89.5 overs (S
Ramaswamy 72, B Aparajith
48, A Singh 34, S Lad 83*) vs
India Blue
of things,” he said. —PTI
Brief scores: Aus ‘A 151 in 31.4 ov
(Md Siraj 4/68, K Gowtham 3/31) lost to
India ‘A’ 152/5 in 38.3 ov (A Rayudu 62;
J Richardson 3/27); SA ‘A’ 231 in 47.3
ov (F Behardien 43, S Muthusamy 55; P
Krishna 4/49, S Gopal 3/42) lost to India
‘B’ (tgt 185 in 40.3 ov) 214/5 in 40.3 ov
(S Gill 42, M Pandey 95*; D Paterson
2/33)
 24
Friday
August
2018
Ahmedabad

After
www.dnaindia.com

Akshay Kumar is known to take family holidays between his professional

Akshay cancels commitments. Post the release of his Independence Day outing, Gold, the
superstar was to fly out with wife Twinkle Khanna for a short break. However,
holiday due to flu before they could leave, AK was down with a bad bout of viral. Being under the
weather, he decided to cancel his chhutti and stay put at home to rest it out.

Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi: Zero trailer to

A treat for your family be unveiled on
SRK’s birthday
Hiren Kotwani teams up with Aanand L Rai,

E
very Shah Rukh Khan
film is keenly awaited
by the audience and
the trade alike.
However, the anticipation
for his next release, Zero,
is said to surpass that of
his previous outings.
Cinegoers are looking
forward to his December
release as he not only
We’ll come out with it on November 2.
Shooting has been completed and the
post-production is underway as per
the schedule
Aanand L Rai, filmmaker
Shah Rukh Khan
who is one of the most sought-
after filmmakers of India, but
also plays a vertically-
challenged man on screen for
the first time. Its first teaser
was unveiled on January 1, 2018,
while a song featuring SRK and
Salman Khan was released on
Eid (June 15). A month later,
King Khan gave moviegoers a
glimpse of Katrina Kaif ’s look
from the movie on her birthday
(July 17). Now, we hear the trail-
er will be launched on the actor-
producer’s birthday (November
2). We had met Aanand when he
was showing the trailer of
Manmarziyaan, and asked
him when he planed to release
Zero’s promo.
Contd on P13

Jassie Gill, Diana Penty, Mudassar Aziz, Krishika Lulla, Aanand L Rai, Sonakshi Sinha and Jimmy Sheirgill

H
appy Bhag Jayegi
(2016), directed by
Mudassar Aziz, had a
healthy dose of fun
that could be enjoyed by
family audiences. Eros
International and Aanand
L Rai, who had presented
the runcom earlier, are
back with its second
all the attributes that
make it a perfect
entertainer.
Bringing back honesty
Usually, filmmakers
recreate the same titles to
cash in on the movie’s
popularity. But HPBJ
brings back the nostalgia
collectively define it as an
entertaining film. HPBJ is
a clean, light-hearted flick
that has the ability to
enthrall everyone.
Ensemble in the
lead role
The idea of a hero, heroine
and villain is passé. These
which is likely to be
enjoyed by her fans. The Aamir’s ‘second daughter’
gets ready to groove
actress, whose earlier few
outings presented her in a
serious avatar, will be seen
singing, dancing and
cracking jokes.
Taazi dialoguebaazi
The Happy series is known Sanya Malhotra will be seen in choreographer Bosco Martis’ dance flick

instalment. Titled Happy
Phirr Bhag Jayegi (HPBJ),
it stars Sonakshi Sinha and
marks the Bollywood debut
ofPunjabi actor-singer
Jassie Gill.
Diana Penty, Ali Fazal,
Jimmy Sheirgill and
Piyush Mishra, who were
seen in the first part, make
an appearance this time
around, too. The sequel has
No biopics for John
and elements that worked
in the first part. Its
characters are identifiable
and loved by the audience.
With pals, gals and
even khandaans!
It’s not quite often that a
movie comes our way
which delights families
across generations or a
group of friends, who
days, an ensemble stands
out with its uniqueness and
there’s no sense of
hierarchy when it comes
to roles. Likewise, every
character in this Colour
Yellow Production plays a
pivotal role.
Sonakshi in a
quirky avatar
Sonakshi appears in a role
S
for its Urdu punchlines.
Dialogues like ‘Tera bhai, anya Malhotra, who is best
mera bhai’ as well as known for playing the role
‘Librarian Labrador’ have of Babita Phoghat in
become popular with the Bollywood’s highest gross-
audience. The sequel, er Dangal (2016), is steadily
too, has some memorable making inroads into the Hindi
lines. film industry. Her on-screen elder
Happy Phirr Bhag sister and bestie, Fatima Sana
Jayegi, produced by Shaikh, has already bagged
Aanand L Rai and Krishika Thugs Of Hindostan opposite
Lulla, releases today. Aamir. Now, Sanya, too, has an
eclectic mix of movies lined up
for release. Apart from Ritesh
Batra’s Photograph (in which she
will share screen space with
Nawazuddin Siddiqui),
says, “Sanya has just been con-
firmed for a dance film, which
will be directed by Bosco Martis,
who is one of the leading chore-
ographers of Bollywood. It is
likely to go on floors later this
year.” Bosco along with Caesar
(Gonsalves) has choreographed
over 200 songs in 75 films includ-
ing biggies like Zindagi Na Milegi
Dobara (2011), Student Of The
Year (2012), Gunday (2014),
Raees, Jab Harry Met Sejal and
Badrinath Ki Dulhania (all of
which released in 2017).
For a while now, the

J ohn Abraham has had two back-to-back hits in Parmanu: The Story Of Pokhran and Satya-
meva Jayate. The action star says that while he is completely okay with scripts based on real-
life incidents — like his next, Batla House, based on the 2008 encounter in Delhi, he is not keen
Vishal Bhardwaj’s
Pataakha where
she is warring
petite actress, who is a
trained dancer and a cho-
reographer, has been
on biopics because he doesn’t want to follow the herd. He feels that today every actor is starring with Radhika talking about wanting to
in one biopic or the other. Interestingly, RAW: Romeo Akbar Walter, which he’s currently work- Madan and act in a dance movie.
ing on, is also inspired by true incidents of RAW (Research & Analysis Wing) agents. Badhai Ho Guess this is where
opposite it was leading
Ayushmann to. We contact-
Khurrana, ed Sanya’s

I don’t
the curly- team but
I think star Bosco Martis
haired they
sons go actress remained
has unavaila-
through a tough bagged yet anoth- ble for
Aamir Khan
time. People tend Sanya Malhotra

want a
er project. com-
to think that they Our source ment.

are born with a

silver spoon. ‘Yeh
Take style cues from the Maharaja

biopic
uska beta hai’, they
say. Aadha credit of Jaipur’s Dolce look...
toh bechare ka aise
Kimono cool

hi chala jaata hai Manish D Mishra

T
he Spring Summer 19 runways of
reacts faster. So, emotion- Etro, Dolce & Gabbana, Margiela
Dharmendra on al people are blessed,”
he added.
and Cerruti saw tailored suits,
which had a wrap-around style.
why he would zz You have acted with
your sons in three
In fact, the Maharaja of Jaipur
Padmanabh Singh, who walked the
prefer to do a movies now. What’s
special about doing
ramp for Dolce & Gabbana sported this
Oriental-inspired style. What makes
travelogue instead, Yamla Pagla
Deewana: Phir Se,
this trend such an intriguing sartorial
study is the fact that this wrap-around
his grandson’s which is your fourth
outing together?
style lends a soft, relaxed and languid
touch to the classic menswear tailor-
debut and his We have made this
film to make people
ing. Think Hugh Hefner lounging in
the Playboy mansion and you will get
upcoming comedy laugh. When we made the
first one, people liked it a
the drift. We speak to menswear
experts to understand the trend
lot. Doosri banayi, pit better and also if it really fits
Deepali Singh gayi. This one has turned into the almost-dormant Indian

T
he day I met
Dharmendra at a
luxury hotel, the
veteran actor had
posted a video of buffaloes
grazing on his farm on his
Instagram account. “I’m a
villager at heart. A true
villager will always remain
that, even when he’s sitting
in a five-star hotel like
this,” he told me.
The octogenarian spoke
to us about his upcoming
outing — Yamla Pagla
Deewana: Phir Se — the
third instalment of the
comedy franchise with his
sons, Sunny Deol and
Bobby Deol. Often, he
broke out into poetry and
only once, did I get to see
his garam side when the
waiter kept a jug of water
on a table with a loud thud.
“Bandh karo yaar!” he bel-
lowed, adding that the
noise was disturbing him.
But the next instant, he
Dharmendra
I have done was back to being naram
so many Dharam, as the server
placed another glass of
comedies. Right water on the table, gently
from Chupke this time. “Shabaash, jeete
Chupke, Naukar raho,” he blessed him.
Recalling the time when
Biwi Ka, Sholay Apne had released and the
mein bhi comedy Deols were visiting the US,
the actor said that audi-
thi, aur kya tha? I ences there had told
think I have had him that they loved
the movie, but it
that comic streak made them cry. “I told
from childhood. them, I will make you
laugh the next time. That’s
Any person who when I picked the script for
wants to be an Yamla Pagla Deewana. If I
actor should know can make people cry, I can
make them laugh as well.
his own calibre For me, acting is reacting
and an emotional person
out so funny ki dubbing
karte huye hasi nikal rahi
thi! It’s an entertaining
film. People have some
special feelings for me, my
kids and seeing us together
adds a beauty to the
characters. There are some
emotional scenes, too,
which strike a chord with
the audience.
zz You seem to enjoy the
comedy space...
I do. I have done so
many comedies. Right from
Chupke Chupke, Naukar
Biwi Ka, Sholay mein bhi
comedy thi, aur kya tha? I
think I have had that
comic streak from
childhood. Any per-
son who wants to be an
actor should know his
own calibre. If you see See-
ta Aur Geeta and then
Chupke Chupke, you will
see how differently I have
played both the characters.
Comedy needs timing.
Contd on P13
sartorial space.
Allows experimentation
Though the wrap-around style has been
the most ‘in’ thing in the
international space, it will take some
time to make its space in the Indian
sartorial area. This is mainly due to
a limited audience. Sandeep
Gonsalves, co-founder, SS
Homme, says, “A lot can actu-
ally be done with the kimono
style. Due to the silhouette be-
ing so loose, the detailing can
be played with extreme ease.
The most popular one is to
play with the belts a little
above the waist. We’ve been
experimenting with the style
for our new A/W line with
subtle takes on kimono, as it
does not restrict movement
and is also an extremely flex-
ible one, which I think, is one
of the major reasons for its
comeback.”
(Left to right) Maharaja of Jaipur Padmanabh Singh in Dolce & For the full story, log on to
Gabbana, models in Wooyoungme, Maison Margiela and Etro www.dnaindia.com

Disclaimer: Note to reader: Some of the content/coverage that appear in our special ‘feature’ page/s may be paid for by the concerned brands. Such page/s will be appropriately declared as ‘features pages’ (e.g. reader engagement feature, etc.)

Contd from P12
I’ve always been proud of
my children: Dharmendra
I’ve done several films with
Mehmood bhai. Other heroes
were scared of working with
him. Maine usse kaha mere
saath theek rehna. He was a
good friend of mine. Main
usko zyaada nahi karne deta
tha, because I knew ki yahan
yeh score karne ki koshish
kar raha hai (laughs).
zz We met your son, Bobby,
recently and he’s again
back to his fit self. He gives
a lot of credit to Salman
Khan for this...
It’s your peer group that
can inspire you. If the father
says something, sometimes
children don’t listen. If a
friend tells them the same
thing, they do.
zz He said you have been
quite proud of his
turnaround...
I’ve always been proud of
my children. It’s the only
relationship where you want
your kids to be better than
you. Others wouldn’t want
you to go higher, only a father
will want that for his son.
zz Your grandson Karan is
all set to make his debut as
Dharmendra with sons Bobby and Sunny Deol
an actor...
Yes, let’s see how that goes.
I think star sons go through a
tough time. People tend to
think that they are born with
a silver spoon. ‘Yeh uska beta
hai’, they say. Aadha credit
toh bechare ka aise hi chala
jaata hai. With someone like
me, they would say that he’s
come from a village and
made a name for himself.
Woh credit inko nahin milta.
Sunny deserves much more
than what he is getting today.
Bobby, too, is good. My kids
I don’t have
any regrets
when it comes to my
career. If I get to live
another life, I would
want to be a hero
again. Even today, I
have girls tweeting
to me, saying, ‘We
used to have a crush
on you, etc’
are emotional and I think
such people always make for
good actors. They don’t know
method acting. If you see my
films, there were no
mannerisms. I was never
Dharmendra in my film. It’s
human nature to want to be
loved, liked and admired, so
there is nothing like showbiz
for me. Shauhrat toh nahi
maangi thi maine, mohabbat
maangi thi. Mohabbat dilon
mein ghar kar jaati hai.
zz If a biopic was made on
your life...
Etc
Nahi nahi, no biopic
for me.
zz But you have led such an
interesting life?
I agree, but I wouldn’t
want a biopic. Maine toh apni
biography tak nahi likhi,
sabki char char kitabein aa
gayi hain. I might make a
travelogue or something.
When I look at my old photos,
I tell him, ‘tu ban gaya hero’.
He (referring to himself) was
dying to be a hero.
zz When you look back now,
do you have any regrets?
You make some mistakes
in life. I’m human. If I get to
live this life again, I would
like to rectify them.
zz And career-wise?
I don’t have any regrets
when it comes to my career.
If I get to live another life,
I would want to be a hero
again. Even today, I have girls
tweeting to me, saying, ‘We
used to have a crush on you,
etc’. Everyone likes to be
admired, liked and loved.
There is no bigger high
than that.
After
Contd from P12
daily news & analysis
Ahmedabad I FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 2018
13
Zero trailer to be unveiled
on SRK’s birthday
At that time, Aanand had said,
“We’ll come out with Zero’s trailer
on November 2, Khansaab’s
birthday. The shooting has been
completed and the post-production
is underway, as per the schedule.”
Zero, which also stars Anushka
Sharma, has extensive visual
effects in keeping with its
storyline, a first for the film-maker
who is synonymous with earthy,
rooted and musical love stories.
Talking about his experience,
Aanand said, “It’s amazing how
technology can add to telling a
story like Zero. The film is turning
out wonderfully. I look forward to
sharing it when it’s ready.”
Aanand L Rai Shah Rukh Khan

pick your brain crossword hidato Baby Blues

Down
1 Decorative pillar (6)
2 Wanted, needed or necessitated
(8)
3 Cripple, mutilate (4)
4 Gave as a grant; gifted (7)
5 Large flower (5)
6 Indian language of yore (4)
7 Foolish person (7)
12 Surprised reactions? (3)
14 Neck part (4)
18 Glance over (4)
19 Sloth (8)
20 Six-sided figure (7)
21 ___ ___ with (went Scot free) The Pajama Dairies
(3,4)
24 Male feline (3)
25 Talkative (6)
26 Sham (5)
29 Enormous (4)
30 Largest digit (4)

Across 13 Principal (4) 26 Cooking vessel (3)

1 Silvery metal (6) 15 For what (3)
16 Is inarticulately angry (5)
5 One of a litter (3)
8 Gaming stake (4) 17 Muslim religion (5)
9 Malarial fever (4) 20 With it (3)
10 ___ gold : petroleum ? (6) 22 Scoundrel (3)
23 Gives in (5)
11 Romantic illumination ? (9)
24 Mineral used as a gem (5)
27 Near (4)
28 Sailor (9) The goal of Hidato is to fill the grid
with consecutive numbers that
31 Most enlightened (6)
connect horizontally, vertically, or
32 Extended (4)
diagonally from first to the last
33 Mongolia’s __ Bator (4)
number in the grid. The first and last
34 Antiquity (3)
35 Resembling yeast (6)
numbers of a puzzle and some other Tina’s Grove
numbers are already filled in.

spellathon How good is your vocabulary? Spell out sudoku

as many words of four or more letters
as you can from the letters in today’s To solve a Sudoku
diagram. In making a word, each letter puzzle, every digit
must be used only once and each word must appear once
must contain the letter in the centre. in: Each of the
There should be at least one nine-letter vertical columns;
word! Plurals, foreign words, and Each of the
proper nouns do not qualify. horizontal rows;
Rate yourself Each of the boxes.
07 Good; 09 Average; 10 Wow!

Tinkersons
crossword
solutions

sudoku
hidato

phiz, seize, size, smaze, spaz

EMPHASIZE, haze, maize, maze, meze,
spellathon

Marjorie Orr
Your year ahead will be chatty, confident and more open-minded as you grasp new opportunities and make good contacts along your everyday
IF IT’S YOUR routines. You will want to be noticed socially and elsewhere so will be working hard to stack up achievements. Close partners may be vague or
BIRTHDAY TODAY preoccupied, so don’t expect miracles. You may not be sure yourself what you want your commitments to be so drift for a while. Home will be happier.

ARIES TAURUS GEMINI CANCER LEO VIRGO

Mar 21 - Apr 20
You need to be noticed now.
Expressing your feelings and
putting emotions into words
won’t be a problem. Though
watch you are not speaking more for
effect than content. Ask advice where you
can since teammates and friends can give
you a different perspective as you try to
set your agenda for the next month.
Listen carefully, sift through all the ideas
you have been given, and you will know
what is practical and workable.
Apr 21 - May 20
You’ll look to your work
situation or community
activities to give you strength
and encouragement. And you
will be more emotional in public, which
may feel strange, but it lets others see the
more human side of you. You’ll attract
sympathy and be sensitive to what’s going
on around you. Later, the more you talk to
loved ones the more you will understand
yourself. They’ll help you settle old slights
from the past more happily in your mind.
May 21 - June 21
Your intuition will be working
well, so you can look ahead and
know a little of what is coming
ahead. And you’ll be in a
searching mood wanting to ferret out
fascinating bits of information, using your
research skills. Your mind is razor sharp
and your tongue witty and fast moving.
Although an attack of restlessness will
make it tricky to settle down to anything
requiring concentration. But why should
you? Aim to mix with social mates.
June 22 - July 23
You will be coming up with
sound and productive ideas.
But a hidden Moon may be
making you a touch possessive
about material things or memories from the
past. Be sentimental but don’t hang on too
tightly or dig your heels in too hard. You do
need certainly to stand firm until you find
the answers you are looking for but then let
go, roll with the flow. This is a clearing out
phase where you need to abandon
whatever is not needed for the future.
July 24 - August 23
A real chatter-box, you’ll be
determined to get your ideas
and opinions across to
everyone in sight. Your mind
will be racing ahead of you, leaping from
subject to subject at computer speed, so
slower-witted companions may have
problems keeping up. Don’t go leaping into
a situation too emotionally and then find
you don’t want to see it through to the end,
You will work well with the public or friends,
since you’ll pick up their subtle hints.
Aug 24 - Sep 23
Maybe your opinions are
biased on one situation so try
to be clear before you speak
out. Mercury is in the sign
before yours, so your emotions will be
colouring your judgement. It’s a rather
self-sacrificing kind of day which means
you’ll have to ensure everyone else is
getting what they want. Being of service to
others will give you reassurance and your
rewards will come in the days ahead, when
more support is on offer.

LIBRA SCORPIO SAGITTARIUS CAPRICORN AQUARIUS PISCES

Write to Sept 24 - October 22 Oct 23 - November 22 Nov 23 - Dec 22 Dec 23 - Jan 20 Jan 21 - Feb 19 Feb20 - March 20
Marjorie You could not care less what Your thinking will be running You’ll be getting swept up in You’ll be handling discreet You have been needing to talk Since Mercury around at the
Orr tradition thinks or says. You’ll along more practical lines than your enthusiastic plans to the information well now, attracting through plans or feelings with moment has a cool, clinical eye,
speak in your own highly usual, and you want to see a point where you lose touch secrets from others without close mates. And since you will you can sometimes nit pick too
with your
individualistic way. Head for tangible result from your with what is realistically even appearing to ask. Though sense the channels of much, insisting on absolute
queries at younger mates in particular since they are discussions and efforts. Your disciplined possible. Keep your feet on the ground. communication are flowing more smoothly, perfection, or become bogged down in trivia
for yourself, if you can’t say precisely what
afterhrs@ forward looking, not stuck in a rut. Though approach and a vision of what is possible And if you can speak to companions in a you feel or think you would rather stay you will be making best use of the rapport at work. You won’t feel like socialising, just
dnaindia. do realise that your emotions will be more should make projects at work run smoothly. cooler way, they’re likely to connect better. silent, which those close may find between you. Try to put yourself into their temporarily, but there are other activities
net fickle than usual. Try not to be too When you get the chance to have a private You will be whizzing around at high speed frustrating. You will adore the better things shoes when you can. That way, you know which attract. Anything mystical or spiritual
www. possessive. Maybe you will feel clinging at moment in peace and quiet, you’ll mull over here and there. Check out in advance of life which never come cheap. But your what you want and what they want as well. will hold your attention since you are tuned
star4cast. times, but it won’t be wise. Have your personal matters which have been tucked whether what you’re doing is necessary, need for security may be pushing you one Try not to get stewed up about something into deeper levels of awareness. In quiet
com enjoyment without pinning loved ones into the background and be able to sort sometimes you rush too fast and don’t way, and your desire for extravagances is that isn’t important. Double check that moments, you’ll be helpful if loved ones are
down, otherwise they’ll skip off elsewhere. your feelings out. slow down to think things through. pulling you the other. you’ve understood what they are saying. struggling.

14 www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia
snapshot
‘Buddhism is
India’s greatest
gift to Bhutan’
Bhutan’s Queen Mother Ashi
Dorji Wangmo Wangchuk
It is a matter of im-
1 mense satisfaction
and happiness for the
people of Bhutan and India
that our two countries enjoy
excellent and exemplary
friendship — a friendship
that is anchored in unwaver-
ing trust, goodwill, and
understanding.
Following the arrival
2 of Buddhism, great
Buddhist masters
from India, most notably
Guru Padmasambhava,
travelled to Bhutan. The
teachings of Lord Buddha
and Guru Padmasambhava
continue to influence the
lives of every Bhutanese
It is my belief that
3 Buddhism - our
shared spiritual
heritage - is the unchang-
ing constant in our age-old
relationship.
Following Nehru's
4 visit, Bhutan
launched its first Five
Year Plan in 1961, which,
along with the second,
was financed by India. It
was during this period that
the first motorable roads,
schools and hospitals were
built in Bhutan.
New Delhi should
5 also be credited for
sponsoring Bhutan’s
admission to the United
Nations as a member on
September 21, 1971.
Can’t agree to India
demand: WhatsApp
DNA Money Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: Facebook-owned
messaging app WhatsApp
has expressed its inability to
provide India government
with a solution to track the
origin of the messages on its
platform.
“Building traceability
would undermine end-to-end
encryption and the private
nature of WhatsApp, creat-
ing the potential for serious
misuse. WhatsApp will not
weaken the privacy protec-
tions we provide,” a What-
sApp spokesperson said.
People rely on WhatsApp
for all kinds of sensitive con-
versations, including with
their doctor, banks and fami-
centre’s notices
Earlier, the Union Ministry
of Electronics and IT
had sent two notices
to WhatsApp seeking
details of actions it has
taken to curb the menace
of fake news spreading
through its platform.
Incomplete real estate projects clog 4.64L cr Kuldip Nayar: Modern India’s
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Mumbai: The approximate
value of residential projects
running behind schedule
(launched before or during
2013) is Rs 4.64 lakh crore, says
a study by Anarock Property
Consultants. Compare this to
the Defence budget allocation
for this year, which reportedly
stands at Rs 2.95 lakh crore.
The number of units running
behind schedule is 5,75,900.
According to the study, the
major causes of the delayed
possession are prolonged li-
quidity crunch, delayed envi-
ronmental clearances, land
disputes and the non-RERA
compliance.
If I ever gets impeached, I think the markets
would crash. I think everybody would be
very poor, because without this thinking, you
would see – you would see numbers that you
wouldn’t believe in reverse.
Donald Trump, US President
Rahul denigrated India,
lied through teeth: BJP
Says there cannot be anything more worrying than Cong ‘justifying ISIS’
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: The BJP on
Thursday came out all guns
blazing against Congress
president Rahul Gandhi al-
leging that he tried to justify
terrorism and “lied through
his teeth” to attack the Modi
government in Germany.
In a talk show at Bucerius
Summer School in Hamburg,
Rahul Gandhi warned Modi
government of the dangers
of excluding minorities, dal-
its and tribals from the devel-
opment narrative.
“It’s very dangerous in the
21st century to exclude people.
If you don’t give people a vi-
sion in the 21st century, some-
body else will give them one
and that may not be good for
you and the world,” Rahul said.
He linked mob lynching
incidents to anger because of
joblessness and small busi-
nesses crashing after the
cash ban and GST (Goods and
Services Tax).
Gandhi cited the example
of ISIS to drive home the
point that exclusion of a
large number of people from
the development process
could lead to the creation of
terrorist groups in the world.
Coming heavily on Con-
gress president, the BJP ac-
cused him of denigrating In-
dia in front of the foreigners
and “lying through his teeth”
to attack the Modi govern-
ment that has brought India
in the front league of nations.
“Rahul Gandhi left no op-
portunity to belittle India
and to present it in a bad
light. We need explanations
from you,” BJP spokesperson
Sambit Patra said.
lies, the spokesperson said. In
India, WhatsApp has a user
base of over 200 million out of
total 1.5 billion users globally.
The Ministry of Electron-
ics and IT has been asking
WhatsApp to find a technol-
ogy solution to trace the ori-
gin of messages. The messag-
ing app has been under fire
after reporting of many
lynching incidents from fake
news being circulated over
Whatsapp. “Our focus re-
mains working closely with
others in India to educate
people about misinformation
and help people keep safe,”
the spokesperson said.
According to sources from
the ministry, a firm assur-
ance of compliance with In-
dia laws is required from
WhatsApp, besides appoint-
ing a grievance officer with a
wide network. “WhatsApp
should continue to explore
technical innovations where
circulation of provocative
messages in a large scale
which leads to violence and
crime can be ascertained.”
Earlier this week, What-
sApp Head Chris Daniels had
met IT Minister Ravi
Shankar Prasad, after which
Prasad revealed that the gov-
ernment has asked What-
sApp to set up a local corpo-
rate entity and find a technol-
ogy solution to trace the ori-
gin of fake messages circu-
lated through its platform.
chronicler, conscience keeper
held up
“Realizing the significance
of real estate in the country’s
economy,” says Anuj Puri,
chairman of Anarock Prop-
erty Consultants, “the govern-
ment has been taking active
measures over the last few
years to bring in greater trans-
parency and efficiency. How-
ever, despite implementation
Rahul Gandhi at a talk show at Bucerius School in Hamburg —Twitter
Does Rahul mean to say minorities
in India would “sell their soul” to
ISIS if jobs are not available. This
amounted to denigrating the community.
Sambit Patra, BJP spokesperson
Claiming that Rahul has
tried to justify ISIS, Patra
said. “There cannot be any-
thing more frightening and
worrying.”
Does he mean to say mi-
norities in India would “sell
their soul” to ISIS if jobs are
not available to them. This
amounted to “denigrating”
the community, Patra added.
Patra wondered whether
the figures Gandhi cited re-
garding China producing 50
jobs every 24 hours compared
to India’s 44, were “manufac-
tured in 10 Janpath” a refer-
ence to Sonia Gandhi who
stays there.
“His (Rahul Gandhi)
speech was full of lies and
deception. You have no data
and you do no preparation,”
alleged Patra deriding Rahul
Gandhi for comparing India
poorly with China.
School girls tie rakhi (a sacred thread) on to the wrists of Border Security Force (BSF) personnel during celebrations
ahead of the Raksha Bandhan festival at the India-Pakistan Wagah Border, about 35km from Amritsar on Thursday.
Do kin of affluent need quota in promotions, asks SC
New Delhi: The Supreme
Court on Thursday questioned
the logic behind granting quo-
ta in promotions in govern-
ment jobs to the kith and kin
of affluent people among the
Scheduled Caste (SC) and
Scheduled Tribe (ST) commu-
nities who have been holding
high official positions.
A five-judge constitution
bench headed by Chief Justice
Dipak Misra questioned why
the ‘creamy layer’ principle,
used to exclude affluent other
backward classes (OBCs) peo-
ple from enjoying the fruits of
reservation, could not be
The maximum number
of delayed units are
in MMR and NCR.
4,10,000 units, worth
approximately Rs
3,60,000 crore, are
held up. NCR has
2,00,000 units worth
Rs 1,26,000 crore.
of game-changing policies
such as RERA or GST, the is-
sue of stalled or delayed pro-
jects, which has primarily
been at the core of buyers’
discontent, is yet to be ad-
dressed satisfactorily.”
As per the firm’s data,
Mumbai Metropolitan Re-
gion (MMR) and National
‘Joblessness behind
increase in violence’
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: In a no holds
barred attack on the Modi
dispensation during his four-
day tour of UK and Germany,
Congress president Rahul
Gandhi broached issues of
mob lynching, attacks on Dal-
its, women safety, demoneti-
sation, GST launch and un-
employment.
He described demonetisa-
tion as one big faulty decision
responsible for taking away
lakhs of jobs by destroying
the cash flow of small and
rakhi bond
made applicable to deny quota
benefits in promotion to those
affluent among the SC and ST
communities.
“Reservation at the entry
level. No problem. Sup-
pose, ‘X’ by virtue of
the reservation be-
comes the chief secre-
tary of a state. Now,
will it be logical to
treat his or her family
members as backward
to grant reservation in pro-
motion which would provide
accelerated seniority?” the
bench, which also comprised
Justice Kurian Joseph,
Capital Region (NCR) are the
two major regions where
maximum units with signifi-
cantly high values have been
delayed since their launch in
2013 or before.  As many as
4,10,000 units across these
two regions, whose collective
approximate value is a whop-
ping Rs 3,60,000 crore, grap-
ple with deployment issue.
According to the research,
the number of units running
behind schedule in MMR
stands at 2,10,000, estimating
to Rs 2,34,000 crore; NCR’s de-
layed units stand at 2,00,000,
clogging around Rs 1,26,000
crore. In Bengaluru, the num-
ber of units running behind
schedule is 39,000 with a total
value of Rs 28,000 crore.
What Rahul
said on ISIS
A
fter the US attacked
Iraq in 2003 they
brought a law that
stopped a particular tribe
in Iraq from getting jobs
in the government and in
the army. It seemed an in-
nocuous decision at that
time. But it resulted in a
large number of people
joining insurgency that
fought the US and caused
massive casualties. It
didn’t end there. That in-
surgence slowly entered
empty spaces in Iraq and
in Syria and then it con-
nected with a horrific
idea called ISIS.
medium businesses.
“China produces 50,000
jobs every 24 hours, India
only 450,” Gandhi said, add-
ing that bad implementation
of GST had let to the closure
of thousands of businesses.
“These things have made
people in India angry. That is
what you get to read in the
newspaper. When you hear
about lynching in India...
when you hear about attacks
on Dalits in India... when you
hear about attacks on minor-
ities in India, that is the rea-
son for it,” Gandhi said.
 Full report: dnaindia.com
Justice RF Nariman, Jus-
tice SK Kaul and Justice Indu
Malhotra, said.
During the day-long hear-
ing, a battery of lawyers led
by Attorney General
KK Venugopal, Addi-
tional Solicitor General
Tushar Mehta, senior
advocates Indira Jais-
ing, Shyam Divan,
Dinesh Dwivedi and PS
Patwalia, vehemently
supported quota in promotion
for the SC/ST communities
and sought that the five-judge
bench judgement of 2006 in
the M Nagaraj case be recon-
New Delhi: Some people nev-
er hang up their boots and
some, like Kuldip Nayar, never
put down their pens. The vet-
eran journalist died on Thurs-
day at age 95, working till the
end — his last column appear-
ing in the Lokmat Times on
Thursday morning, hours af-
ter he breathed his last around
12.30 am in a Delhi hospital.
The prolific journalist,
columnist and author, known
not just as one of India’s most
respected mediapersons but
also as a passionate advocate
for peace and press freedom,
discussed the immigrants as
vote banks in his last article,
second
front
page
Ahmedabad I FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 2018 I daily news & analysis
In a first, India, Pak join
SCO mega military drill
Beijing/Moscow: For the
first time, the militaries of
India and Pakistan are taking
part in a mega anti-terror
drill of the Shanghai Coop-
eration Organisation (SCO)
in Russia aimed at expanding
cooperation among the mem-
ber countries to deal with the
growing menace of terrorism
and extremism.
India is participating in
the drill for the first time
since becoming a full member
of the SCO in June 2017. As
part of the SCO initiatives,
the SCO Peace Mission Exer-
cise is conducted biennially
for the SCO member states.
The joint exercise is being
conducted by the Central
Military Commission of Rus-
sia from August 22 to August
29 at Chebarkul, Russia.
The exercise will involve
tactical level operations in an
international counter insur-
gency or counter terrorism
environment under the SCO
Charter.
The Indian contingent of
200 personnel is primarily
composed of troops from in-
fantry and affiliated arms
and services along with the
Indian Air Force. The Indian
contingent has been put
SC notice to EC
over Cong plea
New Delhi: The Supreme
Court on Thursday issued a
notice to the Election Com-
mission of India, as well as
the Madhya Pradesh and Ra-
jasthan Election Commis-
sions over a petition filed by
the Congress demanding that
the forthcoming Assembly
elections process in those
states be transparent.
Senior advocate Abhishek
Manu Singhvi, appearing for
the Congress told the SC that
there were 60 lakh fake voters
in Madhya Pradesh and Ra-
jasthan. He demanded VVPAT
along with the EVMs to make
the process transparent.—PTI
‘IS’ man kills
mother, sister
Paris: A man stabbed his
mother and sister to death and
seriously injured another per-
son in a town near Paris on
Thursday before being shot
dead by police. The killer had
serious mental health prob-
lems and had been on a terror
watch list since 2016, Interior
Minister Gerard Collomb told
reporters after visiting the
scene in the town of Trappes.
The motive for the violence
remained unclear despite a
claim by the Islamic State that
it was an attack by one of its
fighters responding to its ter-
ror propaganda. —afp
sidered by a larger bench.
The 2006 verdict had said
the states were bound to pro-
vide quantifiable data on the
backwardness of SC/ST com-
munities, the fact about their
inadequate representation in
government jobs and the
overall administrative effi-
ciency before providing quota
in promotion to those belong-
ing to these communities.
Venugopal and other law-
yers alleged that the verdict had
virtually stopped the promo-
tion of SC and ST employees.
However, senior lawyer
and former law minister
focussing on the northeast.
He ended with advice to
the BJP to not ignore the
problems of the region, point-
ing out that Assam has 14 of
25 seats in the northeast.
It was a fitting end for the
journalist, who was born in
1923 in Sialkot, Pakistan, and
began his career in journal-
Soldiers of India and Pakistan at the SCO anti-terror drill —Photo: Twitter
3K in attendance
At least 3,000 soldiers
from China, Russia,
Kazakhstan, Tajikistan,
Kyrgyzstan, India
and Pakistan are
participating in the
drill, according to the
Chinese media reports.
through a strenuous training
schedule which includes fir-
ing, heliborne operations,
combat conditioning, tactical
operations and house inter-
vention drills, according to
curtain raiser of the exercise
released by the Ministry of
Simultaneous polls
not possible: Rawat
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Aurangabad: Putting all spec-
ulations to rest, the Election
Commission (EC) has ruled
out any possibility of holding
simultaneous elections to the
state assemblies along with
the Lok Sabha polls. Chief
Election Commissioner
(CEC) OP Rawat on Thursday
said that there is no chance at
all of holding simultaneous
elections without a ‘legal
framework’ in place. “Koi
chance nahi,” Rawat said.
There has been some spec-
ulation in the recent weeks
that Assembly polls in Mad-
hya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh,
Rajasthan and Mizoram due
this year end may be deferred
and held simultaneously
along with the Lok Sabha
elections, scheduled for
April-May 2019.
While the term of the Mi-
zoram Assembly ends on De-
cember 15, the terms of
Chhattisgarh, Madhya
Pradesh and Rajasthan as-
semblies will end on January
5, January 7 and January 20,
2019, respectively.
His comments come
against the backdrop of BJP
president Amit Shah’s recent
call for a “healthy and open
debate” among stakeholders
Shanti Bhushan and senior
advocate Rajeev Dhavan op-
posed the quota in promo-
tions, saying it violated the
right to equality and equal
opportunities in public em-
ployment, which was also a
part of the basic structure of
the Constitution.
“Once you are a Class-I of-
ficer, you cease to belong
from the backward class...
Reservation in promotion for
IAS officers will be in teeth of
the right to equality which is
also part of the basic struc-
ture of Constitution,” Shanti
Bhushan said.—PTI
ism in the Urdu language
press before going on to serve
as editor of several newspa-
pers, including Indian Ex-
press and The Statesman.
It was a career with many
highs for the journalist, who
also served a stint as India’s
high commissioner to United
Kingdom and was appointed
to the Rajya Sabha.
An oft quoted Nayar anec-
dote is about how he broke the
news of Lal Bahadur Shas-
tri’s death in Tashkent and
many back in India, at first,
refused to accept it, Nayar re-
counts in his 2012 autobiogra-
phy Beyond the Lines.—PTI
Defence in New Delhi.
The joint exercise will
strengthen mutual confi-
dence, interoperability and
enable sharing of best prac-
tices among armed forces of
the SCO nations. The previ-
ous SCO counter-terrorism
drills were mainly limited to
the Central Asian nations,
the Chinese media said.
But due to the entry of In-
dia and Pakistan, the SCO’s
counter-terrorism mission
has expanded to South Asia,
Li Wei, a counter-terrorism
expert at the China Institute
of Contemporary Interna-
tional Relations in Beijing,
told the Global Times.­—PTI
The lawmakers will
take at least a year
to frame a law that
can be enforceable. It takes
time... no chance of holding
simultaneous elections
without legal framework
OP Rawat,
Chief Election Commissioner
for such elections.
“The lawmakers will take
at least a year to frame a law
that can be enforceable. This
process takes time. As soon
as the Bill to amend the Con-
stitution is ready, we (EC)
will know that things are now
moving,” Rawat said.
The EC commences prepa-
rations for the Lok Sabha elec-
tions 14 months before the
scheduled timeframe of poll-
ing, Rawat said. “The Com-
mission has a staff strength
of just 400 but deploys 1.11
crore people on poll duty dur-
ing elections,” he said.
Determined to
get Jadhav
back, says MEA
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: India will do eve-
rything to
bring back for-
mer Naval of-
f i c e r ,
Ku l b h u s h a n
Jadhav, cur-
rently in Paki-
stan’s custody,
sources at the Ministry of
External Affairs (MEA) here
said. India has been main-
taining that the trial of Jad-
hav by a military court in
Pakistan was “farcical”.
The Hague-based Interna-
tional Court of Justice (ICJ),
on Wednesday, decided the
hear the case of Jhadhav, a
retired Indian Naval officer,
in February next year. ICJ
has asked India to make its
submission by September
13. Both countries will have
to complete their submis-
sions by December so that
week-long day-to-day hear-
ings can be taken up in Feb-
ruary next year. It is be-
lieved that the world court
will hear the case daily from
February 19 to 25.
In a hearing of the case on
May 18, 2017, a 10-member
bench of the ICJ had re-
strained Pakistan from exe-
cuting Jadhav, who had been
awarded death sentence by a
Pakistan army court for al-
leged “espionage”.