30
Sunday
December
2018
`3.00 Ÿ Pages 16
AHMEDABAD
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India within
touching
distance of
series lead
Ravindra Jadeja celebrates after
getting a wicket —AP
Mumbai: India were within
touching distance of taking
a defining 2-1 lead in the four-
match series after reducing
Australia to 258/8 in pursuit
of 399 on the fourth day of
the third Test in Melbourne
on Saturday.
Some stoic resistance by
Australia’s lower order led by
Pat Cummins delayed the
visitors’ victory march as
they chase their first ever
Test series win Down Under.
Cummins scored an un-
beaten half-century to take
the game into the final day
after the hosts were reduced
to 176/7 after tea.
The wrecker-in-chief for
India was Saurashtra all-
rounder Ravindra Jadeja
who picked up three wickets,
with Jasprit Bumrah picking
up two more wickets to add
to his first innings tally of
six scalps.
The Ahmedabad-born
Bumrah – who made his Test
debut only this year – has so
far picked up 45 wickets in
Tests outside India in 2018,
the most by any Indian bowl-
er in Test matches away from
home in a single year.
“We were extremely confi-
dent of Bumrah doing well
even before he started play-
ing Tests because he was
unique and most batsmen
who played against him said
it was difficult to pick him,”
India bowling coach Bharat
Arun said on Saturday.
 Full report, P10
TV viewers left fuming by A’bad In the race to ‘zero’, ‘thugs’ didn’t stand a chance
cable operators’ no-show move
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Ahmedabad: Local Cable Op-
erators (LCOs) in Ahmedabad
and other major cities of the
state shut down operations on
Saturday, depriving viewers
of their favourite television
shows. They claim that re-
vised tariff plans, as suggest-
ed by national broadcasting
regulator, will reduce their
earnings and will over charge
the users, which can reduce
their client base. However,
consumers using Direct To
Home (DTH) Cable Operators
Association of Gujarat
(CAAG) is spearheading the
protests in Gujarat. CAAG
president Pramod Pandya
said that they have given a call
of blackout from midnight of
Friday. Cable operators start-
Snap POLL
Q. Do you think New
Year’s resolutions are
relevant?
Yes Not really
It’s subjective
Go to our Twitter handle
@dna, look for #DNAPoll
and vote.
Michel named ‘Mrs Sonia’ Pakistani among 4 JeM
terrorists killed in J&K
& ‘son of Italian lady’: ED
Cong claims BJP
pressuring probe
agency to target
‘a single family’
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
NEW DELHI: Christian
Michel, the alleged middle-
man in the AgustaWestland
VVIP chopper case, has alleg-
edly named “Mrs Gandhi”
and “the son of the Italian
lady” while in custody, the
Enforcement Directorate in-
formed Delhi’s Patiala House
court on Saturday.
The ED claimed that
Michel was caught red-hand-
ed while passing a chit to his
lawyer seeking help on how
to deal with questions related
to “Mrs Gandhi”.
The agency said that in
one of the contract negotia-
tion documents it was men-
tioned ‘son of an Italian
lady’ and “he is going to be
the next PM”.
Special Public Prosecutor
DP Singh sought further re-
mand of Michel from the
court. “Michel took name of
Mrs Gandhi. We want to ask
follow-up questions. His law-
yers came and suddenly he
handed a chit to them. He
was caught red-handed by
the doctors giving chit... He
was actually seeking some
help on what he has to say.”
Singh said.
Michel, an accused in the
VVIP chopper case, was ex-
Buddhist monks from Bhutan perform the Black Hat Dance at the Bhutanese Temple in Bodh Gaya, Bihar. Prime Minister of the Buddhist kingdom Dr Lotay
Tshering called on President Ram Nath Kovind at the Rashtrapati Bhavan and on Congress president Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi on Saturday 
ed shutting down services on
Saturday. “We are getting tre-
mendous response. We have
caused a total blackout in the
city,” Pandya said.
He feared that LCOs will
now be reduced to mere com-
mission agents. Their income
will be reduced to just 35-40
per cent of present income. He
said that monthly bills of end
users will also shoot up. Ma-
YESTERDAY’S POLL RESULT:
Should Virat Kohli have asked
Australia to follow on?
Yes 
No
Can’t say
Christian Michel, the accused middleman in the AgustaWestland VVIP
chopper deal, outside Patiala House Court in Delhi on Saturday —PTI
Murky Deals
Michel alleged to ED claims he has
be a middleman in explained how HAL
`3,600-crore was removed from the
AgustaWestland chopper deal which
chopper deal was offered to Tata
Michel brought to India on Dec 5
following his extradition from UAE
ED got his custody for seven days to
probe money laundering charges
tradited from UAE early this
month. The court granted
seven-day custody to the ED
for interrogation.
The agency is probing brib-
ery allegations in the Rs
3,600-crore 12 AW101 helicop-
ters deal with AgustaWestland
that was cancelled in 2013.
There were corruption
charges against top Indian
Air Force officials and politi-
cians. Michel and two other
middlemen – Guido Haschke
and Carlo Gerosa – are ac-
Dance of faith
TV Blackout
n Local cable operators
fear revised tariff plans
suggested by national broad-
casting regulator will reduce
their earnings
n There are nearly 1,200
LCOs in Ahmedabad, cater-
ing to lakhs of customers.
hendra Shah, a resident of
Nava Vadaj said that his cable
connection went blank on Sat-
urday. “How can this be toler-
ated? They had said that they
will blackout from Saturday
night, but stopped service dur-
ing the day. Our friends and
relatives in areas like Sola
Road have also reported dis-
ruption in service,” said Shah.
Full report on www.dnaindia.com
58%
38%
8%
ED alleges Michel spoke
about ‘the son of the
Italian lady’ and how he
is going to become the
‘next PM of India’
ED claims that Michel was
caught red-handed passing a
chit to his lawyer asking how
to handle questions on
‘Mrs Gandhi’ in the court
cused of playing a role in get-
ting the Rs 3,600 crore-deal
swung in favour of Agus-
taWestland.
The agency alleged that
during medical examination
Michel secretly handed a
folded paper to his counsel
Aljo Joseph. The incident
was noticed by deputy direc-
tor Ramajit Kaur.  Turn to P4
inside
BJP, Congress cross swords
Dear Readers,
We are almost to the end of our year-enders – which DNA
named Gratitude Series. For the last 10 days, we have been
saying thank you to those who earnestly helped make India a
better place in 2018. Today, we decided to have some fun and
thank those who made us smile, not for any cold sober reason
but because of some waggishness.
Lajwanti D’Souza
lajwanti.dsouza@dnaindia.net
Mumbai: The year 2018 had
its share of humdinger mo-
ments, some seriously-funny
and some disporting ones.
The latter definitely included
films the Khans acted in that
sank before you could say,
“Stop, don’t book that ticket.”
We thank Shah Rukh, Sal-
man and Aamir for (Zero,
Race 3 and Thugs of Hin-
dostan respectively) because
they made us realize that we
want good cinema – whether
it stars a Khan or a (Ayush-
mann) Khurrana. Moviego-
ers no longer want archetyp-
Police open
probe against
Vadra, Hooda
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: In a setback to
the Congress, the Haryana
government has authorised
the state police to probe al-
leged wrongdoing in a land
deal involving former chief
minister Bhupinder Singh
Hooda and UPA chairperson
Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law
Robert Vadra.
Confirming the govern-
ment’s approval, Gurgaon
Police Commissioner KK Rao
said: “We have got the approv-
al for a probe and the investi-
gation is underway.”
On September 1, a first in-
formation report was regis-
tered against the two under
the Prevention of Corruption
Act and sections of the Indian
Penal Code in a case pertain-
ing to the purchase and resale
of a land parcel in 2008.
The complainant alleged
that Vadra’s Skylight Hospi-
tality Pvt Ltd purchased 3.5
acre of land in Gurgaon’s Sec-
tor 83 from Onkareshwar
Properties Pvt Ltd for Rs 7.5
crore in 2008, when Hooda,
then the CM, headed the town
planning department. Later,
Skylight sold the land to real-
ty major DLF for Rs 58 crore,
after procuring a commercial
licence for development of a
P5 colony with Hooda’s influ-
ence, it is alleged.  Turn to P4
PTI
Report, P5
Gratitude series: Part X
year ender
Thank 2018
you 9 class so graphically and be-
al stuff with outstretched
arms or stomping around in
a costume handed down by
Johnny Depp.
If you want to give us the
same bottled masala, a little
tweak in the fundamentals
might actually get you to a
toothy repast.
The others who made us
smile were the band of politi-
cians who enjoyed being ruth-
lessly innovative in their ha-
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Srinagar: Security forces
killed four members of the
Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mo-
hammad (JeM) on Saturday in
south Kashmir’s Pulwama dis-
trict. In a separate operation,
the Army recovered a huge
cache of arms and ammuni-
tion in Jammu region, thwart-
ing a major terror attack.
Acting on a tip-off about
the presence of terrorists in
Hanjan Payeen area, a cordon-
and-search operation was
launched by police and secu-
rity forces in the wee hours of
Saturday morning.
“Terrorists fired on the
search party, and the search
team retaliated. Four terror-
ists were neutralized in the
ensuing gunfight,” said a po-
lice spokesperson. Three of
the four slain terrorists have
been identified as Muzamil
Ahmad Dar, Waseem Akram
Wani and Muzamil Nazir
Bhat. Materials recovered at
the site indicate that one of
them was from Pakistan.
“All the terrorists were
wanted for a series of terror
crimes including attacks on
security establishments and
civilian atrocities,” said the
police spokesperson. Arms
and ammunition, including
rifles, recovered from the site
are the subjects of further in-
Gehlot govt flips Raje’s decisions
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Jaipur: The Ashok Gehlot
cabinet held its first meeting
here on Saturday afternoon
and resolved to review all the
decisions made by the previ-
ous Vasundhara Raje govern-
ment in the last six months of
its tenure.
Information and public re-
lations minister Raghu Shar-
ma said that the decisions of
the last six months would be
reviewed, just as the BJP gov-
ernment had done when it
came to power.
“Yeh parampara BJP
govenrment ne daali thee,
hamaree sarkar bhee 6 mahi-
non ke faisolon kee samkeesha
karegee. [The BJP started this
tradition. So our government
will also review the decisions
taken in the last six months],”
he said. In two landmark re-
versals, the government de-
cided to scrap the minimum
educational qualification cri-
terion to contest local body
polls, and do away with direct
elections for the post of mayor
and heads of local bodies. On
rangue. Let’s check a few:
Education Minister Satyapal
Singh has to be given the blue
ribbon for proclaiming that
“Charles Darwin’s theory of
evolution is scientifically
wrong. Nobody, including our
ancestors, written or oral,
ever said they saw an ape turn
into a human being.” Thank
you, Mr Singh, for helping us
remember our Class 8 Biology
wildering us with your in-
sight on the subject.
We also have to thank
another politician for
thinking he found the
cure for cancer. In
March this year,
Shankarbhai Vegad, a
BJP Rajya Sabha MP
from Gujarat said
cow dung and
urine can
cure the
dreaded
disease.
R.N.I. No. : GUJENG/2007/22424
Villagers gather for the funeral of one terrorist killed on Saturday —AP
Men storm Jamia Masjid, wave ISIS flag
Srinagar: Alarm bells
rung out for separatists af-
ter masked men stormed
the historic Jamia Masjid
here, unfurling a black Is-
lamic State of Iraq & Syria
(ISIS) flag and briefly oc-
cupying the pulpit after
Friday prayers, before
scooting away. Shouting
“Daulat-ul-Islam”, one of
the jean-clad hooded youth
vestigation. Police also issued
a fresh advisory urging citi-
zens not to venture inside the
cordoned zone as a precau-
tion against stray explosives.
The Cabinet swearing-in last week
Other decisions
Deendayal Upadhyaya photo
to be removed from govt
letterheads
Work on refinery to be
expedited
Ministers will conduct public
hearings daily at their homes
between 9 am and 10am
Saturday, the freshly inducted
cabinet also decided to set up
an interdepartmental commit-
tee to scutinise short-term
farm loan waiver announced
in the state. It will decide the
eligibility and criteria for loan
waiver from cooperative, na-
tionalised, regional, rural and
“Today, if someone has can-
cer, there is no cure for it....”
We like Mr Vegad’s avidity
but sadly, we are far away
from the dream he dreamed
in broad daylight.
And yet another politi-
cian made us smile: Uttara-
khand Animal Husbandry
Minister Rekha Arya re-
marked that the cow is the
climbed the pulpit used by
Moderate Hurriyat Confer-
ence leader Mirwiaz Umar
Farooq, who is the chief
cleric of the mosque at No-
whatta, to deliver sermons
on key dates of the Islamic
calendar.
The youth waved the
flag before an unidentified
man tried to snatch it and
bring him down. 
In a separate incident, the
Army recovered a huge cache
of arms and ammunition in
Jammu.
Full report on www.dnaindia.com
At last, MP CM
allots portfolios
Bhopal: Ten days after be-
ing sworn in as Madhya
Pradesh Chief Minister,
Kamal Nath overcame in-
ternal squabbles over
portfolios and allocated
state departments to 28 of
his cabinet colleagues late
on Friday night. The min-
isters, sworn in on Christ-
mas Day at Raj Bhawan,
represent three major fac-
tions within the state Con-
gress — the CM’s follow-
ers, his deputy Jyotiradi-
tya Scindia’s loyalists,
and old-timer Digviay
Singh’s camp. Report, P5
land development banks. The
Chief Minister has been au-
thorised by the Cabinet to
nominate the panel members.
On December 19, the state
declared loan waiver for farm-
ers which will cost Rs 18,000
crore to the state exchequer.
Full report on www.dnaindia.com
“only animal that not only
inhales oxygen but also ex-
hales it.” No, none of us
rushed to our textbooks to
check that, but we smiled
nevertheless for not knowing
what else to do.
Sporting events made us
realize that everyone can be
trolled – even Virat Kohli.
The Indian cricket captain
found himself in a soup when
he told a fan to “leave India”
after he said that he likes
watching Australian and
English batsmen more than
Indian ones. We were shocked
but smiled because it was
Kohli at his extempore best.
Kohli clarified on Twitter
that trolling was not for him,
but it was too late by then
— some of us had al-
ready decided not to
watch the Ashes
any more.
Full report on www.
dnaindia.com
 02
daily news & analysis I Ahmedabad I SUNDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2018
Fixing the transport puzzle in our cities
Many of our cities have taxis, buses, cars, trains, autos, motorbikes, and Metros, yet commuting is a nightmare. What is
needed, and urgently that too, is a thinking cap to align all transport networks to suit commuters’ needs
Team DNA
correspondent@dnaindia.net
I
ndia’s metros are buzzing
with an array of transport
services — buses, trains, tax-
is, autorickshaws, private
cars, and lately the modern
Metros. While the options are
many, in reality, nothing seems
enough and perfect to carry
crores of commuters. It’s obvous
that no ‘transport planning’ ever
takes place in any city. The Met-
ro train fever has caught on but
are they really needed every-
where? Let’s explore.
Maximum City
Mumbai’s transport services
carry more than 1.25 crore peo-
ple everyday. And the number
of vehicles on roads has gone
up from 16 lakh to 33 lakh in the
last ten years. The local trains
are the cheapest mode of trans-
port. Commuters pay Rs 16
paise to Rs 44 paise per kilome-
tre. Recently, the Maharashtra
government and Indian Rail-
ways approved the Rs 54,777
crore Mumbai Urban Trans-
port Project-3A (MUTO) that
talks about the addition of new
rail lines in Mumbai’s metro-
politan region. The work on a
Rs 11,000 crore MUTP 3 is al-
ready underway.
There are also plans of pro-
curing 250 AC trains (it could
also be a combination of AC and
non-AC coaches) in near future.
Yet, more vehicles find their
way on the roads everyday.
There is a heavy influx of pri-
vate cars and bikes as statistics
show that in the last 8 years, the
number of vehicles on road has
risen by nearly 16 lakh. Of these
the number of two-wheelers
have increased by 102 per cent,
while number of cars have gone
up by 87 per cent.
Meanwhile, the number of
daily train commuters is in-
creasing; the latest being 78 lakh.
While that of BEST buses has
dropped to 28 lakh from 42 lakh,
there are other modes of trans-
port like the taxis, autos, and
Uber/Ola, which are also used
heavily by people to commute.
The government has real-
ised the importance of an al-
ternative with metro rail a lit-
tle too late. The Mumbai Metro-
politan Region Development
Authority (MMRDA) is con-
structing 136 kms of Metro
rail, presently of the total 265
kms planned for Mumbai and
its metropolitan region. There
is a genuine need for offices to
be near stations to allow con-
nectivity through pedestrian
walkways and cycles.
Transport experts blame
lack of planning — namely the
development of offices, its ac-
cess through public transport
and pumping of funds in creat-
ing car-centric bridges and
roads. Projects like the multi-
crore Coastal Road and the
Bandra-Versova Sea Link are
examples of promoting private
cars on road. Internationally,
there are cities like London
and Singapore that levy cess
for getting private cars into the
city, the need of which trans-
port experts feel has arrived
here as well.
Meanwhile, the Versova-
Andheri-Ghatkopar Metro line
has given little respite with 4
lakh people traveling daily.
However, this too is getting
overcrowded and there is a seri-
ous need for augmenting Metro
rail network.
The MMRDA plans to give
additional construction rights
to commercial or residential
structures that come up in the
500 metre radius of the Metro
stations. Transit Oriented De-
There is a need to densify area around railway and Metro stations with higher Floor
Space Index (FSI) allowing taller buildings to house commercial offices. An ideal TOD
would be if people are able to walk and cycle to their workplaces
Dhaval Ashar, Urban Transport and Road Safety expert, World Resources Institute

Metro-Link Express
for Gandhinagar and
Ahmedabad (MEGA)
The total length of the Ahmedabad Metro Rail Project
Phase-I is about 39.259 km, out of which approximately
6 km is underground and rest is elevated section. The
project will connect 4 corners of the Ahmedabad city with
2 corridors and 32 stations.
North-South Corridor
18.87 km and 15 stations
East-West Corridor
21.16 km and 17 stations
Estimated completion cost
`10,773 cr
velopment (TOD) integrates
land use and transport plan-
ning in a way that people use
public transport the most. As
per thumb rule, TOD is success-
ful if people can reach their of-
fices after walking for 800 me-
tres or cycling for 3 kms.
“There is a need to densify
area around railway and Metro
stations with higher Floor
Space Index (FSI) allowing tall-
er buildings to house commer-
cial offices. An ideal TOD would
be if people are able to walk and
cycle to their workplaces,” said
Dhaval Ashar, Urban Transport
and Road Safety expert with
World Resources Institute.
The MMRDA is currently
executing four Metro corri-
dors namely Dahisar-DN Na-
gar Metro-2A corridor, And-
heri east-Dahisar east Metro-7
corridor, DN Nagar-Mandale
Metro-2B, and Wadala-Thane
Metro-4 corridor. Civil con-
struction work on Metro-2A
and Metro-7 is completed by
60-70 per cent which started in
2017. The MMRDA has already
started bidding process for
procurement of platform
screen doors, rolling stocks
and other several required fa-
cilities like escalators and lifts
for the Metro stations.
The commercial operations
of both these Metro corridors is
expected to start in 2020, and the
civil construction is expected to
end by mid-2019. On the other
hand, the Mumbai Metro Rail
Corporation (MMRC) is execut-
ing the underground corridor
between Colaba and Seepz.
City of Joy
The fire at Metro Rail on De-
cember 27, 2018, brought to the
fore many loopholes in one of
the most popular means of
transport in the City of Joy. It
exposed how ill-maintained and
overused the rakes were.
Prima facie, the city has sev-
eral means of transport with
combinations of comfort and
affordability but fact remains
that even if one of those fails,
part of the transport system
paralyzes, like the strike by app-
cabs on December 27, 2018,
which left commuters stranded
at various points of the city.
The ever-growing population
of the city, along with the float-
ing population has made it nec-
essary that the government
should come up with better
means of transport and that
simply building roads and flyo-
vers is not enough. Vehicles of-
ten seen stranded on the 5-km
long Maa flyover is a burning
example. Flyovers merely shift
the traffic logjam from one
point to another.
People of Kolkata are wait-
ing for the new Metro routes
across the city so that connec-
tivity from New Town in the
eastern fringes to Howrah can
be done in a matter of minutes.
The proposed tram route in
New Town is also likely to im-
prove the situation.
Pink City
Jaipur Metro was planned as a
medium category Metro design
for a peak hour traffic of more
Vehicles registered in ahmedabad
2017-18
2016-17
2015-16
2014-15
than 25,000 passengers. Howev-
er, after three years in the op-
eration of phase 1, the Metro
draws only around 22,000 pas-
sengers per day. Even the buses,
operated by the local corpora-
tions, are insufficiently used
with barely 1.5 lakh passengers
daily. Sources said that the de-
tailed project report of Jaipur
Metro was based on faulty as-
sumptions. “It was predicted on
unrealistic population esti-
mates that resulted in unreal
passenger load projections.
This was done intentionally in
order to get a medium class
Metro for the city while it would
have only required a ‘light’ Met-
ro,” said an official.
The Jaipur Metro had been
proposed in two phases, East-
West and North-South corri-
dor. Optimally, the longer
North-South corridor should
have been developed first. It
connected the Jaipur airport
with the walled city markets
via the busiest commercial
route in the city. The East-West
corridor though came under
development first because the
then state government, under
Ashok Gehlot, rooted for the
smaller route which passed
mostly through residential ar-
eas and could be completed
before the Assembly elections.
The second phase is still in the
planning stage and even Phase
I, which has just eight stations
is incomplete.
Buses play an important
role for the Pink City though
there is a Metro rail line there.
The Jaipur City Transport Ser-
vice Limited (JCTCL), which
started in 2008, ferries 1.5 lakh
commuters on a daily basis,
with its fleet of around 200
buses. However, this is insuffi-
cient and so private bus ser-
vices fill the void.
“The city has a population
of 50 lakh. The number of bus-
es barely manage to serve a
part of the city. To be fully able
to provide comprehensive
transportation another 200
buses are needed,” an official
said. The JCTCL is looking at
procuring 40 electric buses that
will reduce the carbon foot-
print. Maintenance of these
buses is a big issue, which also
affects the frequency of buses
while the breakdown of buses
is on a higher side.
In Jaipur, there is a 9.63-km
long Metro line from Mansaro-
var to Chandpole Bazaar, which
started from June, 2015. How-
ever, in these 3.5 years, the Met-
ro rail has not been able to gen-
erate efficient transportation of
public, which is barely 22,000
passengers per day. One of the
primary reasons being that
there is insufficient feeder con-
2,03,61,296
1,87,20,567
Source: gujaratmetrorail.com, rtogujarat.gov.in
nectivity using buses and autos
from these Metro stations.
There were only 17 per cent
commuters in the city using
public transport services when
the Jaipur Metro was envis-
aged, this has dropped to below
14 per cent now. The failure of
authorities in the implementa-
tion of more viable schemes
such as the Bus Rapid Transit
System (BRTS) and lack of
connecting feeder services
make it an effort to use public
transport.
Thus, the whole concept of
TOD is poorly implemented.
Dandiya Land
In 2017-18, the Ahmedabad Mu-
nicipal Transport Service
(AMTS) reported 1,934 lakh
commuters and BRTS flaunted
15 lakh users annually. Against
which, there were 23 lakh new
vehicles in city, according to
the data by the regional trans-
port office.
Presently, BRTS and AMTS
cater to the public transport
needs of around 8 lakh com-
muters daily. “Our public
transportation is aimed to pro-
vide seamless and affordable
commutation services to the
citizens. Our buses and termi-
nuses are giving safe and se-
cure ferry,” said Rakesh
Shankar, transport manager,
and deputy municipal commis-
sioner of the Ahmedabad Mu-
nicipal Corporation (AMC).
Still, only 15 per cent of the
city’s population uses public
the story
www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia
2,32,86,418
2,20,36,539
Istock
transport, including AMTS and
BRTS. The workplaces of the
commuters are within 5 km of
area compared to other metro
cities. When BRTS was concep-
tualised, it was estimated that
it would carry around 6 lakh
passengers daily, while at pre-
sent it is carrying only 2 lakh
commuters a day.
According to the official, the
main reason of failure of BRTS
is last-mile connectivity. “The
BRTS covers 97 km in city.
More than 220 buses are plying
daily, while in AMTS more
than 600 fleets run within and
out of AMC’s jurisdiction. But,
there is no last-mile connectiv-
ity, which is why people are us-
ing private vehicles,” said a
senior official.
Recently, the civic body has
introduced feeder buses to new-
ly-developed areas. Mostly, the
officer goers use private vehi-
cles in the eastern and western
part. Hence, during the peak
hours, 9.30 am to 11 am and 6 pm
to 8.30 pm, the city roads see
traffic jams. Students, senior
citizens and the working-class
opt for the mass transport sys-
tem. Due to the high number of
vehicles in city, the administra-
tion has opened up many park-
ing lots to provide off road
parking facility.
AMC is planning an inter-
transport hub, which will con-
nect state transport, railway,
Metro, AMTS, BRTS and up-
coming bullet train. Metro has
two phases, which will con-
nect the north-south and east-
west city.
AMTS is covering the entire
city but it suffers due to fre-
quency. BRTS has promised a
bus after an interval of three
minutes, which is also like a
dream in Ahmedabad.
National Capital
As the national capital bursts at
the seams with an exponential-
ly growing population, basic
amenities like public transport
are left to bear the brunt, often
leading to an acute shortage.
While the capital boasts of an
exhaustive Metro and a well-
equipped Delhi Transport Cor-
poration (DTC) running its fleet
of buses, the latter has often
failed to provide a robust and
kicking mode of commuting.
The DTC has been grappling
with acute shortage of buses for
the past few years, with the
Delhi government making
promises annually to augment
the fleet. Currently, only 5,554
buses are plying on the roads of
the Capital against the required
number of 11,000 vehicles.
These include 1,275 low-floor
AC buses, 2,506 low-floor non-
AC buses and 101 Green stand-
ard floor non-AC buses. Besides,
these, 1,672 orange colour stand-
ard low-floor buses are also be-
ing operated under the Cluster
Scheme, which was introduced
in 2011 to replace the erstwhile
Blue Line buses.
The Delhi government, that
has been trying to increase its
fleet, has hit one roadblock or
the other over the years. Ac-
cording to the government, its
“all-out efforts” to augment a
bus fleet to meet the require-
ment of 11,000 buses was hin-
dered due to non-availability
of land for depots and repeat-
ed failure of tenders issued by
the DTC for procurement of
vehicles.
The Delhi cabinet had taken
a decision on September 1 last
year to induct 2,000 standard
floor buses through procure-
ment of 1,000 buses by the DTC
and engagement of 1,000 vehi-
cles under the Cluster Scheme.
However, the Delhi High
Court had on June 1 this year
stayed the implementation of
this decision, which was at an
advanced stage, and if the stay
was vacated, 2,000 standard
floor buses would be ready for
induction.
In another Cabinet decision
taken on May 18 this year, the
government decided to procure
an additional 2,000 low-floor
buses which were likely to be
procured by May 2020. The DTC
board has also decided to pro-
cure 500 low-floor CNG buses.
The Delhi Development Au-
thority (DDA) has allotted 19
acres of land at Rohini phase
five and five acres of land at
Dwarka Sector 22 for bus de-
pots. Two parcels of land in
Bawana Industrial area were
also purchased from the Delhi
State Industrial and Infrastruc-
ture Development Corporation
Ltd (DSIIDC).
However, the millennium de-
pot, where 1,200 buses could be
parked, is stuck in a legal warp
as the Supreme Court had di-
rected that the depot cannot be
used any more for parking till
the DDA changed the land use.
The Delhi government has
said that DDA has given its con-
sent for the same, but the matter
was pending before the Nation-
al Green Tribunal.
The government claims that
if the millennium bus depot
complex and aforesaid two par-
cels of land are made available
by the DDA along with addi-
tional 15 acres of land, it would
be in a position to meet the de-
pot space requirement for the
fleet of 11,000 buses in Delhi.
Metro has eased travel finan-
cially as well as saving Delhi
from the dreaded jams, espe-
cially during peak hours and
rains when the entire city
comes to a standstill. The mini-
mum price for a ticket to any
place in the Metro costs Rs 12.
Definitely, the mode of commut-
ing is favourite amongst large
section as opposed to paying
through one’s nose in cabs. The
private players charged Rs 8-15
per kilometre, depending on the
kind of cab one has chosen.
“Metro turns out to be a far
cheaper and safer transport for
us at least. We can travel late
night in ladies’ coach and feel
safe. This is not possible in DTC
buses because they carry the
same stigma of being unsafe,”
says Shruti Goyal, an architect
who lives in Kalkaji.
(Shashank Rao, Mehul
Thakkar, Chhavi Bhatia,
Gargi Raval, Abhishek
Tiwari, Arshad Ali, and
Avanindra Mishra)
 ah edabad
www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia
Metro’s first train
arrives, 31 to follow
Second train to arrive in the city by Jan 3, says MEGA
Gargi Raval
gargi.raval@dnaindia.net
Amdavadis will no longer
have to wait to plunge into the
quickest station-to-station ri-
des. The first coach of the
Metro rail, exported from
South Korea, has landed at
Mundra Port on Sunday. The
service on the East-West Cor-
ridor will be available from
March. The second train will
be in the city by January 3.
Thirty-two trains will ply be-
tween 32 stations in 40-km-
long first phase.
As per Prime Minister
(PM) Narendra Modi’s direc-
tion, Managing Director of
Metro-Express Link for Gan-
dhinagar Ahmedabad (ME-
GA) has decided to finish the
work on eastern Ahmedabad
on a priority basis, agency
Managing Director IP Gau-
tam said. A trial run will be
made soon after January 14,
he said. The trail run on the
first six stations — Vastral
Gam, Nirant Cross Roads, Vas-
tral, Rabari Colony, Amraiwadi
and Apparel Park of the East-
West Corridor — will be done
over two-and-a-half months.
The trains will travel at a
maximum speed of 80km/
hour, MEGA said. “On an av-
erage, the trains will run at
30-35km/per hour,” Gautam
said. He added the new ser-
vice will reduce the travel
time by almost 50 per cent as
compared to BRTS route.
Also, the third-rail tech-
nology will be used to pre-
pare the tracks. The system
will provide 750V DC power.
“No decision has been taken
on the fare yet. However,
there’ll be a common card
payment system for Metro,
BRTS and AMTS corridors,”
he said.
‘Secularism is safe in India’
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Taking a dig at his critics,
Vice-President M Venkaiah
Naidu on Saturday said that
secularism is safe in India.
“India is the most demo-
cratic country in the entire
world. Some people complain
that secularism is in danger
in India. I want to tell them
that secularism is safe, not
because of the government or
other institutions. It is safe
because it is in the DNA of
our nation.”
Naidu was speaking at the
64th national conference of
the Akhil Bharatiya Vid-
yarthi Parishad, held at Sa-
barmati riverfront in Ahme-
dabad. Urging youth, stu-
dents and politicians to de-
velop a constructive attitude
towards the development of
the nation, he said, “A de-
structive attitude would do no
good to the nation or its peo-
ple. Youth must abandon
maladies like the humiliation
of women, casteism and come
out of the burdens of unim-
Pad yatra to
revive idea of
basic education
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
With an aim to revive the im-
portance of fundamental edu-
cation system — that is be-
lieved to be the brainchild of
Mahatma Gandhi — Union
minister of state (MoS) for
road, transport and shipping
Mansukh Mandaviya is going
to hold a foot march from
January 16 to 22 to commemo-
rate the struggle of Bapu.
The yatra will begin from
Gram Dakshina Moorty San-
stha, Bhavnagar, and will con-
clude on January 22 at Lok
Bharti-Sanosara. The yatra
will pass through 150 villages
of Palitana, Talaja and Shihor
taluka of Bhavnagar district
and several fundamental edu-
cational institutions there.
Mandaviya said on Satur-
day that the yatra was not a
political move but was the
implementation on his
thought to give tribute to
Mahatma by reviving his con-
cept of fundamental educa-
tion. “This Yatra is open for
all. This is neither the politi-
cal act nor the government
event but people from all
walks of life can come,” the
minister said.
Full report: www.dnainida.com
First phase
32 Total stations
Two North-
corridors South
At every station
4
lifts
4 stair-
cases
4 esca-
80 km/ph
Maximum
speed
MEGA to be renamed
GMRC
MEGA will soon be re-
named as Gujarat Metro Rail
Corporation (GMRC) Limited,
as decided on Saturday, agen-
A destructive
attitude would do
no good to the na-
tion. Youth must aban-
don maladies and come
out of the burdens of
unimpressive stereotypes
to keep democratic
creativity alive.
M Venkaiah Naidu,
Vice-President
pressive stereotypes to keep
democratic creativity alive.
We should be proud of being
Indian. A country which for-
gets its culture and history
cannot progress.”
‘Winds of change
blowing since 5 yrs’
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
BJP chief Amit Shah on Sat-
urday said that people in In-
dia had been experiencing
real freedom for the last five
years. Shah was addressing
the youth at a convention held
by Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi
Parishad(ABVP) students’
wing, having a parallel ideol-
ogy to BJP in Ahmedabad.
“Winds of change have
started blowing for last five
years. It has changed the lives
of people. Before that, inde-
pendence and democracy
were limited to books for the
last 50 to 60 years. Now, peo-
ple in India have been feeling
what independence and de-
mocracy are,” Shah said.
“The changes have come
because of the joint efforts of
those who are in the govern-
ment or else with the govern-
ment. The government has
built toilets in 8 crore homes,
gave gas stoves to 6 crore
homes, brought electricity 7
crore households and gave 2.5
crore houses to homeless
families. People in India have
now great faith in the govern-
ment,” Shah said.
Praising the unity of
03
Ahmedabad I SUNDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2018 I daily news & analysis
Schools need DEO’s nod for students’ trip
DNA Correspondent low the rules framed by the vate tuitions run by teaching
correspondent@dnaindia.net know the Rules state government.” and non-teaching staff, the
„„Number of boys and exceed the permitted As per new rules, schools state government on Satur-
In the wake of two recent bus girls and the total strength passenger limit as will have to form a panel or day issued a notification that
accidents in which 10 stu- should be mentioned specified by RTO committee to discuss the de- prohibits such activities.
dents were killed and several sired destination/place, The government has come
others injured, the state gov- „„Names of teachers and „„Application form for route, time-table, estimated down heavily on schools and
ernment has mandated students not accompanying educational purpose visit time and cost. Apart from have asked the schools to
schools to take permission in the picnic should be authorised this, schools will also have to send a certificate (monthly)
from the District Education take an agreement letter stating that no employee is
Officer (DEO) before plan- „„Follow RTO safety „„Places invoking fear or from parents for the visit. It running private tuitions.
ning any trip or a picnic. The instructions and not danger to be avoided has also been mandated to The notification stated: The
state government on Friday have female teachers for fe- department has received
framed rules to be followed male students as a guide. For oral and written representa-
by schools before any picnic and girls being taken for a Friday stated, “It is impor- every 20 students, one teach- tion from student organisa-
or excursion. The new rule trip, names of teachers ac- tant for students to be taken er should be assigned the tions complaining of teach-
not only bans school picnic companying, parents agree- for educational purpose be it duty. ing and non-teaching staff
buses from plying between 11 ment letter, etc in an applica- excursion, place visit, per- running private tuitions. If
pm and 6 am but now the tion to be submitted to the sonal meeting, organisation State comes down anyone is found breaking the
schools will have to provide DEO. visit, museum travel and pic- heavily on pvt tuitions rules, steps would be taken
details of a number of boys The notification issued on nic. But schools need to fol- To curb the menace of pri- against the school.
20
Minutes -
Rabari colony
to Thaltej
BRTS will take
– one hours
50
minutes -
Private vehicle
900
East- 141mt -
West Stn length
people - capac-
ity of trains
lators
10 minutes
headway in
corridors
40
seats per
coach
30-35 km/ Every train
ph - average
to have three
speed
coaches
cy’s MD said. “There will be
just one com-pany, but there’ll
be subsi-diary companies oper-
ating in other cities. However,
the same directors will handle
different projects”, he said.
“Some people crib about
intolerance. They should
know that the core of this
country is tolerance. We do
not discriminate based on re-
ligion. We are concerned
about culture because it
unites us all”, he said.
Our textbooks need to be
relooked and see to it that we
bring in true history. Educa-
tion is not just for employ-
ment but it is for enhance-
ment, knowledge and empow-
erment. Hence, there needs to
be a change in attitude.
Naidu also warned the stu-
dents of the influence of
Western culture and said that
youth must opt for Indianised
foods, which are time-tested
instead of instant food.
Urging youth to speak in
their mother tongue at home,
he said, “Mother tongue is
eye-sight whereas another
language is a spectacle. We
must protect the Indian lan-
guages. We should not allow
any fight between Bengali,
non-Bengali, Telugu, non-
Telugu, Tamil, non-Tamil,
Hindi, non-Hindi.”
BJP chief Amit Shah
ABVP, Shah said, “The or-
ganisation is the strongest
union of students in the
world. This union has be-
come the cause of genesis of
other unions and association.
Many prominent leaders,
managers and motivators
have come from ABVP. This
union has inculcated great
learning into the mindset of
these leading personalities
and the society gets the ben-
efit at the larger scale.”
An issue of renaming
Ahmedabad as Karnavati
also rose, when a student
leader asked the leader why
the government did not
change the name of city wh-
en both are ruled by BJP. The
BJP chief, however, avoided
to make any comment to this.
 04
daily news & analysis I Ahmedabad I SUNDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2018
Michel named ‘Mrs
Sonia’ & ‘son of...
From P1
“Perusal of the folded paper
revealed that it pertained to a
set of questions regarding
questions on Mrs Gandhi. It is
clear that there is conspiracy to
shield or tamper evidence,” the
agency said. The agency also
stated: “We need to decipher
who the “big man” referred to
as “R” is in the communication
between Michel and other peo-
ple.Meanwhile, RPN Singh

from Congress rubbished the
ED claims saying that there is
pressure on Michel to name a
particular family. “Why is the
chowkidaar trying to pressur-
ise the agencies to name a fam-
ily? BJP script writers are
working overtime,” Singh said.
Michel allegedly also told
ED how HAL was removed
from the deal and TATA was
brought into the picture.
 Full report on dnaindia.net
Court rejects
bail plea of
Vismay Shah
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
The Gandhinagar Session
court, on Saturday, rejected the
bail application of Vismay Shah
and five others, who were re-
cently caught by the Gandhina-
gar LCB for having a booze
party in a farmhouse located in
Adalaj area.
On Friday, parents of the ac-
cused had issued a bail applica-
tion to the court.
The judgement passed on
Saturday rejected the bail appli-
cation of all six accused. Vis-
may Shah (34), his wife Puja
Shah (29), their friends Chin-
may Patel (34), Harshit Majmu-
dar, Manthan Ganatra and Mi-
mansa Buch were arrested by
the cops for having a booze
party in the bungalow no 16 of
Shree Balaji Kutir located in
Adalaj on Tuesday.
The accused were produced
before the Gandhinagar session
court on Wednesday which sent
them to judicial custody, though
the police had asked for three
days’ remand. The court also
rejected the bail application of
the accused. Vismay Shah was
sentenced to five years of im-
prisonment by a sessions court.
MLAs step in to ‘save’ VS
Hospital, write to PM Modi
Cong lawmakers say new move will be heavy on poor people’s pocket
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Congress MLAs Imran
Khedawala and Gyasuddin
Shaikh have stepped in to
save VS Hospital and wrote a
letter to Prime Minister Nar-
endra Modi. After the split of
the existing hospital struc-
ture was announced, many
citizens, trustees and the op-
position party members have
united to save it.
On Saturday, member of
parliament from Jamalpur Im-
ran Khedawala wrote a letter
to Prime Minister Modi seek-
ing his intervention in the is-
sue of VS Hospital. Noticeably,
municipal commissioner Vi-
jay Nehra has announced the
inauguration of the new hos-
pital in the VS Hospital’s cam-
pus by the prime minister
himself on January 17.
In the letter, Kehdawala had
mentioned that, in the name of
change and reformation, the
Picture for representation only
new hospital has been con-
structed within the VS Hospi-
tal campus. “Inauguration of
the new hospital is going to be
by you which is most wel-
comed, but the new infrastruc-
ture has taken shape at the cost
of existing VS Hospital which
is boon for many poor and de-
prived people,” the letter says.
The new change raises
many questions said Khedawa-
Police open probe against Vadra, Hooda
From P1
Other than Hooda and
Vadra’s Skylight Hospitality,
the FIR also names DLF and
Onkareshwar Properties.
The complainant also al-
leged that 350 acre of land was
allotted to DLF at Wazirabad in
Gurgaon in violation of rules,
which resulted in a windfall of
Rs 5,000 crore to the realty ma-
ah
la. “Isn’t it a propaganda to shut
the VS Hospital forever in the
name of modernisation? Isn’t it
for the benefit of the middle-
man and kins of BJP leaders in
the shifting? Can’t a new hospi-
tal be erected without making
any change in the existing hos-
pital and structure?,” asked
Khedawal to PM in the letter.
He requested PM Modi to keep
the VS Hospital, its staff and
jor. While Vadra alleged that
the FIR was filed to deflect pub-
lic attention from “real issues”,
Hooda claimed that it was reg-
istered because of “political
malice”. On Friday, in a sepa-
rate, money-laundering case
against Hooda and some others,
the Enforcement Directorate
attached assets worth more
than Rs 42 crore of ABW Infra-
tenders & Notices
edabad
ongoing row
„„In the past 10 days,
several protests and
campaigns have been
organised to save VS
Hospital
„„The civic body
lodges complaint
against Congress
members and MLAs,
claims damage worth
Rs 9 lakh to AMC’s
property during protest
infrastructure intact for the
poor and deprived people, rath-
er than reducing the services.
MLA Gyasuddin Shaikh
said that the new move will
be heavy on poor people’s
pocket. “Introducing private
player for the new hospital
and reducing medical ser-
vices in VS Hospital is inhu-
man, and, is merely a politi-
cal move” Shaikh said.
structure Limited. The charge
is that Haryana government
functionaries and bureaucrats
connived with private parties
to force land deals that resulted
in a loss of Rs 1,500 crore to the
state farmers.
The Directorate said im-
movable properties of ABWIL
Gurgaon and its group com-
panies were provisionally at-
Terror-suspect
Bangladeshi
killed 4 people
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
During the interrogation of
Bangladeshi terrorist suspect
identified as Mohammad Azim
Fakir, crime branch officials
revealed that Fakir was in-
volved in four murder cases
which happened in Bangladesh
and was wanted in the case.
Further investigation also re-
vealed that he was an active
member of a terrorist organisa-
tion Ansarullah Bangla Team
and was hiding in Gujarat.
On Friday night, crime
branch arrested Shaikh Azam
Samsu aka Mohammad Azim
Fakir (52), a native of Khulna
district of Bangladesh and resi-
dent of Bharuch from Shah-e-
Alam area of Ahmedabad and
was working in a factory in
Bharuch. Fakir was residing in
Gujarat from the past 15 years
and often visited Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, he had made
fake government documents
like PAN card, Aadhaar card,
driving license etc. and all were
issued from Gujarat. It was also
revealed that Fakir started us-
ing the surname Shaikh in his
name.
Full report: wwww.dnainida.com
tached as part of the latest
order issued under provisions
of the Prevention of Money
Laundering Act (PMLA). “It is
alleged that farmers and land-
owners in villages of Manesar,
Naurangpur and Lakhnaula
were compelled to sell roughly
400 acres of 688 acres at throwa-
way prices...,” the ED said.
 Full report on dnaindia.net
 indi 
www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia
in brief
Rahul met Tshering on Saturday
Rahul meets
Bhutan PM
New Delhi: Congress
President Rahul Gandhi
met Bhutan Prime Minis-
ter Lotay Tshering at a
Delhi hotel on Saturday
where the two discussed
the political situation in
the region. The Bhuta-
nese PM is on a state visit
to India and had met
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi on Friday. The first
visit of the newly elected
PM Tshering to India is
being looked with inter-
est amid recent develop-
ments in the region with
respect to China.
Jaya case: Apollo
points to bloopers
Chennai: The Apollo
Hospital in Chennai has
petitioned the commis-
sion for probing the
medical records of the
death of former late TN
Chief Minister Jay-
alalithaa. Citing medi-
cal terminology bloop-
ers in recording the
depositions of doctors,
the hospital, in a peti-
tion Friday, also sought
the Justice Arumu-
gasamy Commission to
constitute an expert
panel of doctors.
BJP in a fix as Apna Dal & SBSP flex muscles
Manan Kumar
manan.kumar@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: Differences
among the constituents of
NDA in Uttar Pradesh came
out in the open on Saturday as
leaders of both Apna Dal and
Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj
Agra coldest in
UP; min temp
drops to 1.7°C
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi/Lucknow/Sri-
nagar: Severe cold wave con-
ditions prevailed in western
Uttar Pradesh with Agra re-
cording the lowest minimum
temperature in the state at 1.7
degrees Celsius Saturday
morning. The western parts
of the state experienced dense
fog, a met office release said.
The met office forecast
shallow to moderate fog at a
few places in the state during
the next 24 hours.
Leh and Kargil in Ladakh
region of J&K experienced
the coldest night of the sea-
son, the MET office said. The
night temperature rose slight-
ly across the valley, except in
Kokernag, providing some
relief to residents. However,
the mercury went down in
Ladakh region of the state.
Nagpur in Maharashtra on
Saturday recorded the lowest
temperature of the day in the
last five decades, said a Met de-
partment official. The mercu-
ry plunged to 3.5 degrees Cel-
sius in the city early morning.
triple talaq BJP’s minority morcha’s fierce defence of bill
‘Bill reflects our quest for equality’
Saswat Panigrahi
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: At a time when the
opposition parties are ganging
up against the Modi govern-
ment seeking to send the Tri-
ple Talaq Bill to a joint select
committee when it comes up
for passage in Rajya Sabha
next week, the BJP’s Minority
Morcha has said the Bill is “not
against religious preachings”,
but against “evil practices”.
“It is about humanity and
justice. It is a milestone for In-
dian Muslim women’s quest for
equality,” Abdul Rasheed An-
sari, national president of BJP
Minority Morcha told DNA.
Islamic seminary Darul Ul-
oom Deoband has opposed the
Triple Talaq Bill terming it as
a “interference in religious af-
fairs of Muslims”.
Answering a question
whether the passage of the Bill
will help the BJP in garnering
BJP, Cong spar as PM calls Cong ‘lollipop company’,
asks farmers to be wary of deceits
Michel spills beans
AgustaWestland middleman’s naming of Gandhi family
leads to war of words between ruling and oppn parties
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: The controversy
arising from purported ED
revelations on AgustaWest-
land VIP chopper middleman
Christian Michel naming
Gandhi family on Saturday
resulted in a vicious war be-
tween the BJP and Congress.
While the BJP used the pur-
ported expose to denounce the
“Gandhi family” for “compro-
mising” the national security,
the Congress called it “brazen
and shameless” abuse of agen-
cies of the BJP government
purposely done before 2019
Lok Sabha elections.
“ED says Michel spoke
about ‘son of Italian lady’. Rev-
elations by ED show that there
is ‘son of Italian lady’, ‘big
man’ & ‘R’ involved. It points
to a family. Congress govern-
ment was a government of
corruption that compromised
national security,” said Union
Minister Prakash Javadekar.
“First there were only two
words which the country de-
bated — Family and AP. But
today it is more clear. Michel
has said ‘Son of an Italian
lady’, ‘R’ and ‘party leader’ and
‘big man’. We had seen one ‘R’
who was tearing and throwing
the Manmohan Singh govern-
ment’s decision into the dust-
bin,” Javadekar added.
Law Minister Ravi Shankar
Party (SBSP) registered their
absence at Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s rally in
Ghazipur and Varanasi.
SBSP claimed that the invi-
tation sent to chief OP Rajb-
har to attend Ghazipur rally
where PM Modi released a
postage stamp on Maharaja
1 CRORE HOUSES BY 2020
Modi govt move part of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (urban),
aimed at ensuring ‘housing for all by 2022’
1,00,00,000 68.5 lakh
Number of houses to Houses approved so far
be constructed under
PMAY(U) by 2020
35.67 lakh 12.45 lakh
Houses under various Houses already com-
stages of construction
`3,56,397Cr `33,455 Cr
Total investment Amount already been
involved
`1,00,275 CRORE
Approved total central assistance to states, Uts
Muslim women celebrate the passing of Triple Talaq Bill in New Delhi—FILE
political benefit in the 2019
elections, Ansari said, “The
BJP doesn’t link the issue with
poll politics. It was a path to-
wards social justice for Mus-
lim women.”
Vijaya Rahatkar, national
president of BJP Mahila Mor-
cha, said that thousands of
Muslim women on whose
heads Damocles’ sword of Tri-
ED told court on Saturday that Michel (inset) made reference to ‘Mrs Gandhi’
Congress never finalised a
transaction without a
middleman. While it is
busy saving likes of Michel,
Modi govt is working to
bring back the loot
Prakash Javadekar,
Union Minister
Prasad sought Congress to
come out clean a very serious
allegation.
Hitting back, Congress
leader Anand Sharma said, “I
have never heard anything
more absurd than what I have
heard today and that too com-
ing from ED as claimed before
a court. The Modi govern-
ment is guilty of malicious
Suheldev had incomplete
name of the King and that Ra-
jbhar was deliberately omit-
ted from the name. Relations
between the SBSP and the
BJP are already on a slide for
some time now.
Apna Dal, the other key con-
stituent of the alliance, also
SMART CITY MISSION
100
Cities selecteda
under Smart City
Mission in four
rounds based
on an
all India
competition
If we talk about urban transport,
around 536 km of metro rail lines are
currently operational in 10 cities — Delhi-
NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata,
Chennai, Jaipur, Kochi, Lucknow, Mumbai
and Gurgaon. —Official
for construction under
PMAY (U)
Swachh Bharat Mission
Cities declared open defecation free (ODF) since
pleted under PMAY (U)
4,124
Total number of cities
declared defecation free
released to states, UTs across the country under
Community, public toilet seats already over or
nearing completion
ple Talaq was hanging are now
feeling relieved. “It was part of
our duty to help the helpless
Muslim women who were sub-
jected to this evil practice. Fi-
nally, they can see the light of
justice.”
Rahatkar said Mahila Mor-
cha is constantly receiving
feedbacks from Muslim wom-
en across the country who are
We know that elections
have come and they (BJP)
do not have any issues, so
through agencies like ED,
they are trying to put
pressure on people
RPN Singh,
Congress spokesperson
and vicious propaganda.”
Sharma alleged that dur-
ing its tenure, the Modi gov-
ernment has wrecked the
CBI and ED who now have no
credibility left. “These are ac-
tions of a government in its
dying days. Agencies should
act according to the law.
There is no prosecution tak-
ing place,” he added.
flexed its muscles, as its chief
Ashish Patel, husband of min-
ister in Modi cabinet Anupriya
Patel, also kept out of the two
programmes. He blamed the
absence on the arrogant atti-
tude of UP BJP leaders for in-
sulting weaker sections.
 Full report: dnaindia.com
5,151
Projects identified
for implementation
by these cities, worth
over Rs 2 lakh
crore which are in
various stages of
implementation
1,612
April 2018
62 lakh
Individual household
toilets construction
of which are over
5 lakh
Source: PTI
yadav family split
„„Aparna Yadav – the
daughter-in-law of
Samajwadi Party leader
Mulayam Singh Yadav
– has welcomed the
Centre’s effort in passing
the Tripple Talaq Bill in
Lok Sabha
„„This is in variance to
the stand taken by SP
leaders who have taken
a stand against the Bill
congratulating the Modi gov-
ernment and the BJP for tak-
ing up the issue.
Party sources said after the
passage of Triple Talaq Bill in
Rajya Sabha, the party is likely
to take up other regressive Is-
lamic practices like Nikah Ha-
lala and Polygamy which are
prevalent in the Muslim com-
munity.
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: As the 2019 elec-
tions near, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi on Saturday
tore into the Congress calling
it a ‘lollipop company’.
“Be cautious of the Con-
gress and its lies,” the Prime
Minister said addressing a
massive public meeting at Ut-
tar Pradesh’s Ghazipur.
This was PM Modi’s second
trip in a month to Uttar
Pradesh, where the BJP is put-
ting all its might to strike gold
in the crucial state which has
80 Lok Sabha constituencies.
The PM said the Congress,
which had promised loan
waiver to lakhs of farmers in
Karnataka – where the party
made a “backdoor entry” to
the government – only waived
off loans of just 800 farmers.
“This was like handing over
lollypops to farmers,” he said.
The PM said the “lollypop
company” had similarly “for-
gotten” the promises it had
made to people on various oc-
casions. His remarks came
close on the heels of loan waiv-
Singh, Scindia extract MP pound of flesh
Abhilash Khandekar
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Bhopal: Well after 10 days of
his swearing-in, Madhya
Pradesh CM Kamal Nath fi-
nally overcame the interne-
cine squabbles within Con-
gress to distribute portfolios
to 28 of his cabinet colleagues
late on Friday night.
The ministers were sworn
in on Christmas day at the Raj
Bhawan and they represented
three major factions within
MP Congress — CM Nath’s fol-
lowers, former CM Digvijaya
Singh’s old loyalists and party
campaigner Jyotiraditya Scin-
dia. But ministers had to wait
for four days to get their port-
folio. Still, a number of MLAs
are dissatisfied and angry
with CM and Singh. Voices of
dissent are being raised from
different regions, including
Gwalior and Malwa-Nimar.
And exactly this delay
brought out the severe in-
fighting which led BJP to say
the chief minister’s preroga-
tive of forming his own cabi-
net was diluted due to pres-
sures from party high com-
mand and different groups.
Leaders of Congress, a
party that is tasting fruits of
power after 15 long years in
MP, did not want to give up on
important portfolios. Like
Ahmedabad I SUNDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2018 I daily news & analysis
PM Modi being felicitated at the Ghazipur rally venue on Saturday —PTI
This chowkidar of yours is toiling very hard day
and night to brighten your future and that of
your children.
Narendra Modi, Prime Minister
ers announced by the Con-
gress governments in Ra-
jasthan, Chhattisgarh and MP.
“In the Congress-ruled
Madhya Pradesh, farmers are
already facing the brunt. Now,
they have to stand in long
queues to avail urea,” the PM
said adding that black-market-
eers have suddenly become
DIVIDED THEY STAND: Observers say the Cabinet looks more of Digvijaya Singh (extreme right) than of Chief
Minister Kamal Nath (middle). Scindia (left) also got his men ‘good’ portfolios
Singh wanted all-powerful
Finance portfolio for his two-
time MLA son Jaiwardhan
Singh, a foreign educated and
youngest minister of Nath
cabinet. While Nath man-
aged to thwart his old pal’s
pressures, he had to give im-
portant Urban development
department to Jaiwardhan.
In exchange. Incidentally, Sa-
jjan Singh Verma, a Nath aco-
lyte, was gunning for this
department which he had
held under Digvijaya Singh’s
regime in the late 90s. Nath
succeeded in giving Finance
to his confidante from Jabal-
pur, Tarun Bhanot. CM’s
other supporter Bala Bach-
chan, a senior tribal leader,
05
active in the state.
The PM said under Congress
rule, loans were availed by
people who were “not even eli-
gible for it”, but farmers were
forced to go to private lenders
and fall into “debt traps”.
In Ghazipur, the PM laid the
stone for a medical college and
released a postal stamp on leg-
got the powerful Home port-
folio and independent
Pradeep Jaiswal got Mining
department.
Scindia also did not give
much freedom to Nath and
got many of his supporters
‘good’ departments such as
Health (Tulsiram Silawat),
Revenue and Transport (Go-
vind Rajput) and Women and
Child Development (Imrati
Devi). Scindia did not want
Digvijaya-Nath combine to
corner the heavyweight de-
partments among their fol-
lowers.
But political observers
suggest the Cabinet looks
more of Digvijaya Singh than
of Chief Minister Nath.
UP cop killed in
stone-pelting
after PM’s rally
Lucknow: A police con-
stable was killed Satur-
day in UP’s Ghazipur
when protesters hurled
stones at vehicles return-
ing from the venue of a
public meeting addressed
by Prime Minister Nar-
endra Modi. Police said
the protesters were work-
ers from the Rashtriya
Nishad Party who were
prevented by the admin-
istration and police from
going to the rally venue.
endary king Suheldev.
The PM’s in Ghazipur rally
is being seen as an effort by the
BJP to woo the Rajbhar com-
munity, which reveres Maha-
raja Suheldev. “Maharaja
Suheldev is among those brave
hearts who had struggled for
the honour of Maa Bharti
(Mother India),” the PM said.
The political tussle was so
bitter that the matter went up
to Congress president Rahul
Gandhi and hectic meetings
took place in Delhi earlier
this week among various
stakeholders. No faction was
ready to step back.
In what is seen as the first,
all 28 ministers have been
given cabinet rank and no
one is made a Minister of
State. Junior and senior
MLAs have all been treated
alike, creating heartburns.
Sources said serious dif-
ferences also cropped up for
Speaker’s post which is fi-
nally going to NP Prajapati,
Nath follower from Gotegaon
in Narsinghpur.

daily news & analysis
Alternate Histories
Strategic Operations
Executive in India
The British agency gave a tough time to Axis powers
The Strategic
Operations
Executive
(SOE) was a
British or-
ganisation
conducting
espionage,
sabotage, gue-
Ananth Karthikeyan rilla war and
other violent
acts against the Axis powers during
World War II. Real and fictionalised
accounts of the SOE have been told
countless times in films and litera-
ture. Unlike the British Secret In-
telligence Service, an intelligence
gathering agency, the SOE was
tasked with subversive and violent
activities. It was distasteful work,
but the British were frantic follow-
ing early Axis victories and decided
to play rough. The SOE had a huge
presence in the Empire’s most prized
possession, India.
From 1940-1942, the fascist Japan
and Germany seemed unstoppable
and were inching towards India from
either side. In this dire phase, SOE-
India was established in Meerut in
May 1941, under the innocuous
name GS I(k). This organisation was
disguised as a record-keeping unit
of the army. The SOE soon grew into
a huge enterprise where over 30,000
fighters were trained and sent to far-
flung theatres. An old mountain fort
near Poona, an aerodrome in Mid-
napore, a dock or two in Sri Lanka,
etc. were some of SOE’s numerous
bases in the subcontinent. SOE-In-
dia was headed by a brilliant, one-
legged Scottish veteran named Col-
in MacKenzie. Aiding him were
men specialising in insurgency,
guerilla war, smuggling, espionage,
and psychological warfare. SOE-
India was tasked to cover Persia,
Afghanistan, British India, China
and South East Asia. A veritable
United Nations of fighters were re-
cruited and trained for dangerous
operations in these lands.
SOE-India’s operations com-
menced with tracking Axis opera-
tions in Indian waters. In 1942, they
discovered the cause of the German
navy’s surprising successes there.
German and Italian vessels, which
had sought asylum in neutral Portu-
guese Goa when the war broke, pos-
sessed at least one powerful radio.
The radio(s) had been transmitting
information to the German Navy.
The SOE also confirmed that a Ger-
man couple residing in Goa, Robert
and Grete Koch, were running a spy
ring. Robert Koch, a German officer
code-named ‘Trumpet’, was long sus-
pected to be a spymaster: The SOE
now decided to eliminate this threat.
‘Operation Hotspur’ saw SOE agents
shadow and kidnap the couple from
Goa in December 1942. The Kochs
vanish from records shortly after —
there are conflicting reports on what
happened to them ultimately. The
subsequent ‘Operation Creek’ of
March 1943 was most audacious. In
SOE-India was closely involved in the Burma campaign — wikimedia commons
send your feedback to editor@dnaindia.net
Spin a yarn, ignite minds, and drive human progress
I was driving out
of Lucknow on a
long road zigzag-
ging through a
bare region. Unex-
pectedly, an abso-
lute patriarch of a
tree came into
view, spreading a
Gowri Ramnarayan vast leafy tent
around a gnarled
trunk. Under it stood four stone pillars
supporting a cracked roof. The rectan-
gular bump below was surely the final
resting place for someone long gone. A
weather-beaten well added to the pictur-
esqueness. I stopped and went up close
to feel the loneliness.
As I was about to step into the forgot-
ten mausoleum, a gruff voice hollered,
“Beti, cover your head!”
I looked up to see a scraggy old man
emerging from the deep folds of the tree
trunk, trailing a switch of peacock
feathers, looking eerie enough to have
come out of the coffin itself. Quickly
covering my head with the dupatta, I
Vol 12 n Issue No. 57 RNI: GUJENG/2007/22424. Printed and Published by Prashant Saxena 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: Yatish Rajawat Responsible for selection of news under PRB Act.
this illegal operation conducted in
neutral Portuguese territory, the
SOE utilised middle-aged British ci-
vilian reservists in Calcutta. Without
any military or diplomatic cover, this
group was to board and command the
ships out of Portuguese waters so
that the British Navy could capture
the vessels. After basic training, the
motley band took circuitous routes to
Goa. At midnight of March 9, they
stealthily boarded the ships. In the
ensuing firefight, the British got the
upper hand. The crew now set off
explosive charges and sank their own
ships — they had long expected such
an attack and had decided to scuttle
the ships if all was lost. However, the
British clambered out with no casu-
alties! The mission was successful as
Axis successes in Indian waters
plummeted.
About this time, the Japanese had
conquered the Andaman and Nico-
bar Islands. In ‘Operation Bunkum’,
the SOE landed multiple Indian-
British teams to reconnoiter Japa-
nese positions in the islands. A
deadly game of cat and mouse en-
sued, but the mission was ultimately
successful. The British launched ef-
fective and regular air and naval at-
tacks on the islands from December
1943. The garrison was forced to
hunker down till Japan surrendered
in August 1945. In 1944, the GS I(k)
rechristened itself Force 136 and
mostly relocated to Sri Lanka, where
it expanded operations.
SOE-India achieved far more than
the illustrative cases outlined above.
It was a crucial element in British
successes in the Indian, Burma and
Malaya campaigns. In fact, in certain
campaigns, small SOE units inflicted
more casualties than the Army for-
mations did. Other theatres such as
China, Thailand and Indo-China also
saw heavy SOE activities. The SOE
also organised numerous stay-be-
hind units and insurgencies which
crippled the Japanese. SOE-India
was also a weapon of the Empire
against Indians: Had the Japanese
successfully entered Assam and Ben-
gal, the SOE was among the groups
tasked with executing the planned
Scorched Earth campaign in India.
For example, ‘Operation Dogleg’ was
the planned destruction of Indian
power stations by SOE units. The Po-
litical Intelligence and Psychological
Warfare divisions were utilised to
influence public opinion during and
after the Quit India Movement. The
SOE also helped blunt the INA’s es-
pionage activities and attempts to
engineer mass defections in the Brit-
ish Indian Army.
Following the surrender of Japan,
SOE-India was disbanded in Novem-
ber 1945. Most of the records were
destroyed, perhaps due to the secrets
and horrors they held. Most surviv-
ing documents, including the story
of Operation Creek, were declassi-
fied decades later. More records await
declassification even today.
Author is a history buff
bowed in respectful silence and en-
quired about the mazar and its skeletal
occupant. The Old Testament prophet
heaved a sigh and sat down on the rick-
ety step. I sank down beside him, eager
to hear his tale.
The man said, “Here lies a man who
got recognised as a saint when he per-
formed this great miracle. Long ago a
lovely young girl who lived in the village
yonder was compelled by her father to
marry a well-to-do widower. The night
before the wedding she came to pray in
this mazar and jumped into the well.
However, instead of hitting the water,
she found herself standing in mid air.
Before her was an old man who asked
her why she was killing herself. The girl
confessed that it was because her
dreams of finding a hero like Majnu had
been shattered. The chosen groom was
an oaf. The old man snapped his fingers.
Hey presto, the bridegroom appeared in
a burst of light only to declare, “I don’t
want an unwilling bride. All I want is a
happy life with a companion I can love
and cherish, with whom I can share not
06 
Ahmedabad I SUNDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2018
Quest for mental wellness
As 2018 comes to a close, the nation needs to renew its focus on the challenges posed by mental health issues
Every year in De-
cember, Altmetric
(a data science
company, which
tracks published
research online
and provides in-
sights related to
institutions, pub-
Chirantan Chatterjee lishers, research-
ers and funders),
comes out with a list of the top 100 sci-
entific papers. This year 3 out of the 100
are on mental health and depression,
with one being in the top 10 examining
the relationship between exercising and
mental health in US. The other two are
on the side effects of consumption of
anti-depressants and on prevalence of
mental health issues in graduate educa-
tion.
This is more than mildly alarming.
As 2018 comes to an end, events like
Elon Musk’s breakdown on Twitter, the
suicide of Stanford University physicist
and entrepreneur Zhang Shoucheng
(who was apparently in line for the No-
bel Prize), and closer home, depression
hitting IIT aspirants in Kota, or suicides
of farmers make one point clear: The
ogre of mental illness is staring at soci-
eties rich and poor, in many ugly ways.
The World Health Organization in
March 2018 noted that globally some 300
million suffer from depression and in
October 2018, perhaps in recognition,
the United Kingdom appointed formally
a minister for suicide prevention.
Around the world, depression is now af-
fecting the young, the married, the
working professionals and entrepre-
neurs, farmers in rural landscapes and
also the aged. Unfortunately, social
stigma, delayed detection and an under-
staffed supply side with psychiatrists,
counsellors, and therapists make the
matter worse not just in India but in
many developing countries. To compli-
cate the story, given the big medical
challenge of the blood-brain barrier, in-
novation, and efficacy in the perfor-
mance of anti-depressant medicines
have been underwhelming. A recent
study in the UK reported that even tod-
dlers may not be exempt, the defiant
ones potentially showing symptoms to-
morrow. Additionally, other findings
here point to the gender element.
Even more concerning is that in India
alone, statistics from the National Men-
tal Health Survey of India, 2015-16 indi-
cate that 150 million need support for
mental disorders and this has been now
repeatedly featured even in recent
speeches of the country’s political lead-
ers, including the Prime Minister’s and
the President’s. Some other studies have
noted that some 20 per cent of the Indian
oddit
Canada, the comfort of new dreams
Indian techies are lured by lucrative job opportunities, low cost of living and healthcare and a host of other benefits
It might seem strange but the biting cold
of Canada is far more appealing to an
Indian techie than the balmy beaches of
Florida. And, US President Donald
Trump has a lot to do with the change in
preference. For one, Canada is far more
inviting to immigrants than the US. Sec-
ond, its flourishing science, engineer-
ing, and information technology sectors
are open about recruiting Indians in
highly skilled jobs of business analyst,
mechanical engineer, software develop-
er and project manager.
The numbers corroborate the shift in
migration. A report from the job search
engine Indeed had stated that in August
2016, six per cent of all searches origi-
nating in India for jobs outside the coun-
try were for jobs in Canada. By July
2018, that number had more than dou-
bled to 13 per cent.
Canada’s Express Entry Year-end Re-
port 2017, shows a spike in Indian im-
migrants to the country: Out of 86,022
invitations sent in 2016, 36,310 or 42 per
cent were to Indian citizens.
The fact is Canada has always been
only my wealth, but my whole heart.”
The girl was moved. She went back,
hand-in-hand with her new-found love.
Six months later the husband died. But
the girl, now not only lovely but also
wealthy, refused to marry again, saying,
“I had six months in paradise with my
Majnu, more than enough for a lifetime.”
So charmed was I by this romance
that I gave the man a generous sum. As
Statistics from the National Mental Health Survey of India, 2015-16, indicate that 150 million need support for mental disorders —istock
population will be suffering from at least
one mental health problem by 2020 and
the lay of the land is complicated by the
fact that therapy is not commonly em-
braced in India. In addition, as answered
in Lok Sabha by the minister of state of
health and family welfare, there are just
3,827 psychiatrists and 898 clinical psy-
chologists in the country. Further the
distribution of this limited mental
health workforce is also geographically
heterogeneous. While frank discussions
here, especially by prominent members
of the society like Deepika Padukone
help, given that there are currently
evolving deep changes in the social
structure, mere recognition and aware-
ness may not be able to bridge the gap
between supply and demand, leave alone
handle issues around financing costs for
therapy and treating mental health in a
market dominantly out of pocket in the
broader healthcare context.
One way to potentially solve this
problem may be to take advantage of
entrepreneurship and technology leap-
frogging the supply barrier. A technolo-
gy-enabled multi-sided platform that
guarantees confidentiality, gauge moods
using natural language processing and
artificial intelligence and matches ther-
apists to unwell citizens could be a way
forward, especially keeping in mind af-
fordability and access. While interna-
tional start-ups like Talkspace, 7 Cups
and Better Help are already operating in
welcoming of Indians. According to
Canada’s 2016 Census, Indian immi-
grants (668,565) were the largest foreign-
born group in the country. But in the
recent past, the restrictions placed by
the Trump administration on immi-
grant tech workers holding an H-1B visa
and a rising anti-immigrant sentiment
in the US have forced young, enterpris-
ing Indians to look for greener pastures.
What has fuelled the dreams further
is a combination of factors, including
low cost of living, a profusion of tech
vacancies and a robust healthcare pro-
gramme. Toronto, which is coming up in
a big way as the hotspot for Artificial
Intelligence, has added more tech jobs in
2017 than some of the US hubs, namely
the San Francisco Bay area, Seattle and
Washington, DC, combined.
Other cities like Ottawa and Montreal
are home to Shopify — a publicly traded
e-commerce platform valued at $14bn —
and Element AI, a platform for compa-
nies to build AI solutions, respectively.
Canada also offers the added advan-
tages of allowing spouses to work and
we drove away, the taxi driver said dryly,
“Madam, last month I stopped here with
a bank manager. The old scoundrel got a
great tip by telling the banker about a
greedy moneylender who had twinges
of guilt. As the sinner stood at the brink
of the well wondering if jumping in
would bring release or land him in hell,
he lost his balance and tumbled in. The
saint stopped him in mid air and told
opini n
www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia
this space, even here in India, platforms
like TickTalkTo and YourDost are gain-
ing prominence. Several organisations,
in fact, are also using such platforms
along with chat bots to promote employ-
ee wellness and thereby trying to im-
prove productivity and reduce attrition.
In addition, policy interventions are
also needed. For example, treatment of
mental health should be added to India’s
national and statewide universal health-
care coverage programmes on a priority
basis (encouraging here is to see that the
Insurance and Regulatory Development
Authority recently asked private insur-
ers to include mental health in their
packages) and brick and mortar invest-
ments need to happen to bridge the sup-
ply gap in professional psychiatrists, not
just in urban but also in rural areas. In
addition, the government could do well
to turn to traditional medicines and
wellness initiatives that promote
healthy living. Finally, there is also an
urgent need to attend to air pollution
him to redeem himself by aiding the
sick. That is how the village got a hospi-
tal and a saint at one go!”
Even as I laughed, I remembered a
similar account in a Tamil short story.
The writer sees a dilapidated bungalow
on a deserted lane, hidden by grim trees
behind locked gates. The panwallah in
the corner kiosk explains why no one
wants to rent it: “Finding his daughter
stabbed to death by his second wife, the
houseowner stabbed the killer, buried
both corpses in the garden and died of
grief. At midnight the murdered girl’s
shrieks are echoed by the other two.
A few weeks later, the writer visits
his friend in the neighbourhood who
narrates a variation of the story. Over-
hearing her stepmother complaining
about her to the father, the daughter
grabs a kitchen knife and stabs herself.
The couple bury her in the backyard.
Lightning strikes them dead. Since then
the daughter’s ghost has been chasing
them around the bungalow every single
night. Learning that the same panwal-
lah was the source of this twist in the
across India since recent research has
found with postmortem brain samples
from people exposed to high levels of air
pollution (living in Mexico City and
UK), the higher likelihood of brain dis-
orders like Alzheimer’s.
Also, in recent times, the Mental
Health Policy, the new Mental Health
Act, recommendations from National
Human Rights Commission, directives
from the Supreme Court of India, advo-
cacy actions and the introduction of
‘Happiness Curriculum’ in Delhi gov-
ernment schools are all undoubtedly
steps in the right direction.
This is precisely the mission driven
multifarious approach required in a
country where issues like farm produc-
tivity, joblessness, a pressure to perform
and compete, societal transformations
in the urban and rural landscapes are
denting the overall quotient for happi-
ness. One can also draw inspiration and
learning from the much successful polio
mission here, facilitate healthcare en-
trepreneurship in this area, spur public
and private investment in structural
transformation of the supply side and
further augment financing of mental
health treatment. As the Dalai Lama
said, happiness is not something ready-
made, it comes from your own actions,
it is time for the country to recognise
that and bolster its quest for mental
wellness going forward.
Author is with IIM, Ahmedabad
children to study under the temporary
visa. Justin Trudeau is projecting Can-
ada as a multicultural country, where
diversity is welcomed, if not cherished.
Canada has also laid the red carpet for
companies with strategies like quick
work permit exemption and fast applica-
tion processing time. It takes as little as
two weeks to process visa applications.
Canada is making hay while the sun
shines. In other words, making the
most of America’s ignorance of the
brain drain that is currently underway.
It is in the game for the long haul. The
government of Canada has built formal
science and technology relationships
and partnerships with both established
and emerging innovation networks
around the world.
The Canada-South Korea and the
Canada-Japan relationships in Asia
and the Canada-France and Canada-
Germany collaborations in Europe
have gathered momentum.
Forget USA! Canada is the new land
of dreams that is attracting some of the
best talents from India.
tale, the writer rushes to the kiosk and
demands the truth. The panwallah un-
folds the “real” story of how the jealous
daughter stabbed her stepmother, and
then stabbed herself. The stunned father
buried both corpses in the backyard and
hung himself from the rafters. Since
that day, all three ghosts have been wail-
ing through the night in the ruined bun-
galow.
Think of the endless tips acquired
and innumerable pans bought during
these multiple sessions of shifting nar-
ratives!
But even when storytelling becomes
a marketing strategy, doesn’t it remain
an act of creation? This irrepressible in-
ventiveness of their minds enables hu-
man beings to adapt to change — and
grasp that change, dream — and make
the dream come true, grapple with illu-
sion — and nail the truth. And so, can
we admit that more than scientists and
philosophers, the storytellers of the
world direct human evolution? Drive
human progress?
Author is a playwright
 w rld
07
Ahmedabad I SUNDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2018 I daily news & analysis

40 terrorists killed
in Egypt after blast
Crackdown comes after a roadside bomb
hit a tour bus carrying tourists in Giza

The tourist
bus,
which was
attacked,
being towed
away in Giza
—AFP

Cairo: The Egyptian police

killed 40 alleged “terrorists”
in a crackdown on Saturday
after a roadside bomb hit a
tour bus claiming the lives of
three Vietnamese holiday-
makers and an Egyptian
guide.
The suspects were killed
in separate raids in Giza gov-
ernorate, home to Egypt’s
famed pyramids and the
scene of Friday’s deadly
bombing, and in the restive
Sinai Peninsula, the interior
ministry said.
Thirty “terrorists” were
killed in two raids in Giza
and the remaining 10 were
killed in the North Sinai, a
statement said without di-
rectly linking them to the
tour bus bombing.
It said authorities had re-
ceived information the sus-
pects were preparing a spate
of attacks against state and
tourist institutions and
churches.
“Information was received
by the national security that
a group of terrorists were
planning to carry out a series
of aggressive attacks target-
ing state institutions, partic- tenders & Notices
ularly economic ones, as well
as tourism, armed forces,
police and Christian places
of worship,” the ministry
said.
A security source said the
raids took place early Satur-
day morning, hours after Fri-
day evening’s roadside bomb-
ing which officials said hit a
tour bus in the Al-Haram
district near the Giza pyra-
mids killing the three Viet-
namese holidaymakers and
their Egyptian guide.
Eleven other tourists from
Vietnam and an Egyptian bus
driver were wounded, the
public prosecutor’s office
said. —AFP

Anak Krakatoa
loses two-thirds
of its height
Jakarta: The Indonesian vol-
cano which caused a tsunami
that killed more than 400 peo-
ple last week lost more than
two-thirds of its height follow-
ing the eruption which trig-
gered the killer waves.
A section of Anak Kraka-
toa’s crater collapsed after an
eruption and slid into the
ocean, generating the tsunami
last Saturday night.
A visual analysis by the In-
donesian volcanology agency
found the volcano has lost
more than two-thirds of its
height, an official said Satur-
day. Anak Krakatoa which
used to stand 338 metres (1,109
feet) high was now just 110 me-
tres tall.
The agency estimated the
volcano lost between 150 and
180 million cubic metres of ma-
terial as massive amounts of
rock and ash have been slowly
sliding into the sea following a
series of eruptions.
“Anak Krakatoa is now
much shorter, usually you can
see the peak from the observa-
tory post, now you can’t,”
Wawan Irawan, a senior offi-
cial at the agency, said.
Before and after satellite im-
ages taken by Japan’s space
agency showed that a two
square kilometre chunk of the
volcanic island had collapsed
into the water.
The volcano, whose name
means Child of Krakatoa, was
a new island that emerged
around 1928 in the crater left
by Krakatoa, whose massive
1883 eruption killed at least
36,000 people. —AFP

Mount Anak Krakatoa volcano spews

hot ash during an eruption as seen
from an Indonesian Naval Patrol
Boat at Sunda strait in Indonesia
—Reuters
30
Sunday
December
2018
Ahmedabad
www.dnaindia.com
I
t all happened within a
matter of a few seconds.
Reshma Qureshi, 17 years
old in 2004, was walking
down a road in Allahabad
when her estranged broth-
er-in-law, accompanied by
two other men including a juvenile,
threw sulphuric acid on her face fol-
lowing a domestic dispute with
Reshma’s sister Gulshan, who was
by her side at that time. Some of
this acid fell on Gulshan’s hands as
well, but Qureshi’s face and neck
bore greater damage.
“I was at a hospital in Mumbai
for the next two to three months and
only one thought gnawed at me –
what wrong had I done to deserve
this? Day in and day out I couldn’t
help but feel angry, curse myself
and loathe where I was,” Qureshi
tells this writer over the phone.
“At first, when it happened, I
didn’t even realise it was an acid at-
tack – it was as if someone had
poured scalding water on me. It was
only when people around me spoke
in hush-hush voices ‘it’s an acid at-
tack’ that I knew what had really
happened,” she says. During that
time, Qureshi contemplated com-
mitting suicide on several occa-
sions. She toyed with the idea so
much that it seemed like the only
way out of her misery.
“Even now, there are (some) days
when I just want to die. However, I
regain some element of control over
my emotions by finding inspiration
in the stories of those around me. I
remember the fact that many have
walked before me and survived cir-
cumstances far worse than mine. If
they could do it and were brave
enough to survive and inspire the
next generation, I too owe that
much to the world.”
It began with the decision to take
control of where her life had
brought her. “Ab ye meri kismat
hain – mere kismat ne mujhey zinda-
gi mey iss mukaam par laya. Aur
main haarne waali nahi hu (This is
my fate; my fate has brought me to
this junction in my life. And I am
not one to lose),” she says with con-
viction. “I remind myself that I will
not fall victim to my attackers’ de-
sire. They will not be the end of me.
I will not give him the power – rath-
er I will hold power over their ac-
tions and my revenge to them would
be my own happiness.”
TAKING CHARGE
It is four years now since the attack.
Over this time, a lot has happened
in Qureshi’s life. She is now the face
of Make Love Not Scars, a non-prof-
it organisation based in New Delhi
that works for the welfare of acid-at-
tack survivors by assisting com-
plete rehabilitation of survivors,
providing them with financial, legal
and educational help. In 2016, she
walked the ramp at New York Fash-
ion Week for designer Archana
Kochhar and for Vaishali Couture.
In September 2017, Qureshi walked
for designer Jaheena at the Crocs
Mysore Fashion Week. At the mo-
ment, she has released her autobi-
ography, co-authored by Tania Sin-
gh, titled Being Reshma.
From incessant suicidal thoughts
to setting an example all over the
world, Qureshi has come a long way
– it wasn’t easy. She couldn’t stop
hearing different versions of ‘her
life is ruined’ everywhere she went.
But for the acid attack survivor, a
new life had only just started. She
was determined to reinvent her life,
to turn the tables of the game itself.
“It took a lot from me to start be-
lieving in myself again. I thought
hard – my face may be distorted, but
my soul wasn’t.” She realised she
had to let go of the anger she fos-
tered inside to move on.
Pic: iStock
WHERE DO I
FIND MY
ANSWERS?
When this writer first spoke to ac-
tress Tanushree Dutta about her
2008 sexual harassment incident on
the sets of Horn OK Pleassss, she
poured her heart out. The incident
was roughly a decade ago, but de-
tails lacerated her mind and soul.
She sought freedom from the world
and it’s struggles – searched for it in
the Gita, the Bible, yoga ashrams,
holistic healing centres, churches
and healing journeys. The various
paths that she walked on and even
embarked on a journey through the
Himalayas, soaking in the sun and
looking for peace, made her look for
answers in the valleys amongst
many other journeys. Through all
this, she did find something far be-
yond and far more profound than
mere closure from the setbacks. She
did not seek closure with just the
harassment incident but this life it-
self that can sometimes just get
very tough for a young, inexperi-
enced person (the actress was all of
24 in 2008). With time, she did forget
the incident and moved on with her
new exciting spiritual life journey –
eventually settling in the USA after
walking away from Bollywood. No,
she was not determined to fight for
ASHES WE
WILL RISE
As 2018 comes to an end, Pooja Salvi speaks to people
who have learned that while forgiveness and letting go
doesn’t come easy, it is imperative to move on from the
pain and resentment of the past
LOST IN
DARKNESS
Consider someone is in darkness
and unable to see the light at the end
of the tunnel. How do you suggest
they get on the right direction? Fr
Abreu answers. “Talking with a good
and trained counsellor (religious
or psychological) is a good first
step,” he says. “Persons in darkness
are usually capable of finding the
way towards the light, but are
prevented by their lack of self-faith
or belief that they are too lost in their
overwhelming situation.”
“A trained counsellor would empower
them to see rational choices and what
will prove helpful. Every problem or
issue can be broken down into its
component parts, and each part dealt
with so as to resolve the whole.
“The counsellor-client conversation
helps one to do that in a non-
threatening/enabling environment.
A caveat: untrained religious
counsellors tend to use emotional
faith techniques or suggestions rather
than rational methods.”
FROM THE
her cause, but fate brought her back
to India and the rest unfolded very
rapidly into a movement; much to
her surprise.
It wasn’t all that easy immedi-
ately after the incident. “Things
like these force a person to retreat
into a shell that they hope can pro-
tect them. But really, it doesn’t,”
she says. The former model was
fully aware that she couldn’t move
on if she continued bearing re-
sentment.
Through this journey of claim-
ing back her lost glory and battered
pride, she demonstrated her
strength and level of consciousness.
It was walking through the shadows
of darkness and uncertainty, ano-
nymity and her deep spiritual jour-
ney that she learned to let go of the
anger, embrace forgiveness, tran-
scend and be free. With freedom
came sharp focus, an uncanny pow-
er and resilience, wisdom and grace
to take back what was lost.
CHOOSING THE
RIGHT PATH
Fr Suren Abreu of Our Lady of
Lourdes Church in Kalyan, explains
why we seek answers in temples,
Just Before Monday
influence her decisions for years.
After identifying and recognising
the emotions involved, she could
then address the issue more capa-
ble and change her negative self-
perception to a healthy percep-
tion.” Another case was of a per-
son devastated by her spouse’s infi-
delity. In the process of counsel-
ling, it emerged that her devasta-
tion was partly rooted in her low
self-esteem from her childhood
memories of being treated as sec-
ond class and inferior. “Once that
was recognised and addressed, she
was more empowered to deal with
her marital situation from a posi-
tion of strength.”
THE POWER LIES
WITHIN
A teacher of Vipassanā explains
how the subconscious mind works
in dictating one’s decisions and way
of life. “Our subconscious mind
holds the power of ‘craving’ and
‘aversion’. Things we like, we crave
for; things we don’t, we are averse
to. Love and happiness have us
‘craving’ to be in situations where
we will get them; anger, resentment,
and jealousy have us ‘aversed’ creat-
ing a hostile environment in our
own minds,” she explains. Through
Vipassanā, one learns how to “see
things for what they are – sans crav-
ing and/or aversion.”
“Vipassanā teaches us to sepa-
rate ourselves from our emotions
and gauge the world through its
own reality. When one is in control
of how they perceive dukkha (suf-
fering or unsatisfactoriness), anat-
ta (non-self), and anicca (imperma-
nence), and sunyata (emptiness),
they achieve prajñā (wisdom),
which is at the heart of Vipassanā,”
she explains.
These teachings are not limited
for the classes, but the teacher and
her family apply these principles
in their personal life. She tells the
story of her daughter. “After an
abusive marriage, she was in a
very dark space. After patience
didn’t set the situation straight,
the daughter took to the Vipassan
path – extending forgiveness to
her spouse. Not justifying for his
actions or taking him off the
hook, but showing compassion.
She told me a few nights after do-
ing this, she had the best sleep she
had in a while.”
***
If you have been fostering ill
thoughts this year, maybe this story
is the sign you have been looking
for to let go and begin 2019 afresh...
pooja.salvi@dnaindia.net;
@sire_writeous
reclaiming
her own
With her autobiography Being
Reshma out, Qureshi will tour
cities to promote the book with
Tania Singh. She hopes 2019
to be a good year. “I hope that
my book becomes a bestseller!
I would love to take my income
from it and get my parents a
small house that they can call
their own!”
With the courage and patience Tanushree Dutta
learned on her journeys, she sparked the fire for India’s
own #MeToo movement
churches, Bibles, Gitas and man-
tras. “I believe that when people are
desperate for answers, and find it
difficult to discover them from
friends or family, then religion and
scriptures becomes one resource to
which they turn in the hope that an-
cient wisdom might have some
guidance. Religion is a deeply-root-
ed emotive experience that is usual-
ly passed down in families, and it
is based on the belief and trust in
a supposedly benevolent higher
power. That belief nudges the
person to search for help in
religion or religious texts.”
He recalls assisting a
woman, who was sexually
abused as a child by a
trusted family associ-
ate for around 10
years, in her journey
towards peace.
“She had to first
identify the core
incident itself as
she had buried it in
her subconscious
where it continued to
 09
Ahmedabad I sunDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2018 I daily news & analysis
 30
Sunday
December
2018
Ahmedabad
www.dnaindia.com

CRICKET Former India captain CRICKET Cameron Bancroft’s ban for

Rahul Dravid hails the current Indian ball-tampering expires and he has been im-
bowling attack and said its ability to take mediately rushed into the Perth Scorchers
20 wickets in a Test has given a huge squad for their Big Bash League clash with
fillip to the team the Hobart Hurricanes today
GOLF Veer Ahlawat-led eight Indians enter crucial fifth and final round of the Asian Tour Qualifying School Final Stage 10
ball game

Wife of ex-ECB ‘Bumrah’s action

chief Strauss dies
Ruth Strauss, whose
cancer diagnosis
prompted her husband
Andrew Strauss to step
down from his role as
England’s director of
cricket, has died, her
family announced in a
statement on Saturday.
The statement said Ruth
had died aged 46 of the
rare form of lung cancer
she suffered from in her
home country of Aus-
tralia. Strauss, a former
England cricket captain,
announced in early Oc-
tober he was standing
down permanently as
the national side’s direc-
tor of cricket following a
period of compassionate
leave. Ruth was diag-
nosed with cancer dur-
ing the Ashes in Decem-
ber 2017 and he took a
break from his position
earlier this year after
she began a new course
of treatment
Hick asks Aussies
to learn from Kohli
Disappointed at Aus-
tralia’s abject surren-
der in the first innings,
batting coach Graeme
makes him a
potent bowler’
Melbourne: India’s bowling
coach Bharat Arun on Satur-
day said that Jasprit Bum-
rah’s unconventional bowl-
ing action has made him one
of the most lethal pacers in
world cricket as his deliveries
are difficult to be picked by
opposition batsmen.
Bumrah, who has so far
taken eight wickets in the
third Test against Australia
here, has 47 Test wickets to
his kitty after making his de-
but in January.
“What makes him (Bum-
rah) so special is because he
is so unique (in his bowling
action). Maybe the batsmen
pick up his balls a little later
than which they normally do
from a clean action and that
makes him so much more po-
tent. Of course, for any fast
bowler to be bowling 145
clicks and above consistently
over a period of time, you
need to generate a lot of speed
from your arms,” Arun said.
“We were extremely confi-
dent of Bumrah doing well
India’s Mohd Shami (C) and Virat Kohli (R) exult after dismissing Australia’s Usman Khawaja at MCG on Saturday; (below) Ravindra Jadeja is all smiles after taking Tim Paine’s wicket —Reuters/AFP even before he started playing
ond innings as the Indian pac-
ers shared five wickets on the
fourth day Saturday. India
need two wickets on Sunday
to take an unassailable 2-1
lead in the four-match Test
series.
Arun said that the coach-
ing staff needed to work on
the 25-year-old Bumrah to
keep him strong as his bowl-
ing action puts a lot of strain
on his body.
“I had the opportunity to
work with Bumrah when he
was at U-19 level and when I
was with NCA. I felt Bumrah
was able to generate a lot of
pace with his action, but puts
a lot of strain on his body. It
was a challenge and we had
discussions with the physios
and trainers. We came to the
conclusion that we need to
work on him to become ex-
tremely strong to be able to
sustain his bowling.
“He was someone who did
exceptionally well in the do-
mestic championships as
well. So, we thought we would
give him a go,” the bowling

Australia make India wait

Hick has asked his bats- Tests because he was unique coach added.
men to show more in- and most batsmen who played Arun termed 2018 as the
tent and learn the art against him said it was diffi- breakthrough year for the In-
of pacing innings from cult to pick him,” he said at dian pacers as they have suc-
India skipper Virat the post-match conference ceeded on three successive
Kohli. “We spoke about after the fourth day’s play. overseas tours in South Afri-

for series-leading victory

how Kohli went about Australia were left strug- ca, England and Australia.
it. We knew (Chetesh- gling at 258 for 8 in their sec- —PTI
war) Pujara, even Koh-
li, one of the most ex-
plosive batters, got to 20 all in a day’s play
off 25, 26 balls, then the Session 1 Session 2
rest of his innings took
whatever it was,” Hick india set 399 for indian bowlers
said on SEN Radio on
Saturday. There are cer-
Cummins’s 61* keeps hosts alive even as Kohli & Co need just two wickets to go 2-1 up australia to chase
India add 52 run to their
continue to dominate
tainly thing our players Shaun Marsh and Usman
India in
n zone overnight total of 54 and
can take out of that. It Australia SCOREBOARD lose three wickets before
Khawaja try to show some
resistance. Later Shami

takes a lot of discipline,
a lot of patience and, on
top of that, you have got
to bat with intent,” he
added.
Cook, Beaumont
knighted
Former England cricket
and rugby captains
Alastair Cook and Bill
Beaumont headlined
sporting personalities
in the New Years Hon-
ours List with both men
receiving knighthoods
from Queen Elizabeth
II. Cook — who has
more Test centuries (33)
and runs (12,472) than
any other England play-
er accrued during a re-
THIRD test
Melbourne: India came
within sniffing distance of a
defining victory before a sto-
ic resistance by Australia’s
tail delayed the inevitable in
the third Test here on Satur-
day.
Pat Cummins scored a he-
roic half-century as Australia
finished at 258 for eight at
stumps on day four after being
reduced to 176 for seven after
tea.
At end of play, he had
scored an unbeaten 61 runs,
facing 103 balls and hitting
five fours as well as a six,
while Nathan Lyon was bat-
ting on 6, as they put on 43
runs for the ninth wicket.
8
India pacer Jasprit Bumrah got
his first eight-wicket haul in a
Test match while playing against
Australia in third Test at MCG
did you know?
n Mayank Agarwal (76 & 42)
missed becoming the third
Indian batsman after Dilawar
Hussain in 1934 and Sunil
Gavaskar in 1971 to register
two fifties in debut Test match
gone out. But Cummins ar-
rived at the crease to defy In-
dia, even as Starc was bowled
off a rash swing against Mo-
hammed Shami (2/71).
India tried everything pos-
sible to get the final two wick-
Australia vs India
3rd Test; Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Toss: India, elect to bat
India 1st innings 443/7decl
Australia 1st innings 151
India 2nd inng (o/n 54/5) R B 4/6 SR
M Agarwal b Cummins 42 102 4/2 41.17
R Pant c Paine b Hazlewood 33 43 3/1 76.74
R Jadeja c Khawaja b Cummins 5 6 1/0 83.33
M Shami not out 0 3 0/0 0.00
Extras (B5, LB1, W1) 7
TOTAL (for 8 wickets decl in 37.3 Overs) 106 (2.82 runs
per over)
Fall of wickets: 6-83 (MA Agarwal, 32.6 ov), 7-100 (RA
Jadeja, 36.3 ov), 8-106 (RR Pant, 37.3 ov)
Bowling: M Starc 3-1-11-0, J Hazlewood 10.3-3-22-2, N
Lyon 13-1-40-0, P Cummins 11-3-27-6
Australia 2nd Inng (tgt: 399) R B 4/6 SR
M Harris c Agarwal b Jadeja 13 27 1/0 48.14
on the backfoot a bit, and
A Finch c Kohli b Bumrah 3 4 0/0 75.00
were waiting for break-
through to come along.
Kohli declares the innings. scalps Marsh and Bumrah
Indian bowlers claim two gets Khawaja. Travis Head
U Khawaja lbw b Shami 33 59 4/1 55.93 Aussie wicket, chasing continues his fight till tea.
S Marsh lbw b Bumrah 44 72 4/1 61.11 399. At Lunch: Australia 138/5
T Head b I Sharma 34 92 2/0 36.95 At Lunch: Australia 44/2
M Marsh c Kohli b Jadeja 10 21 0/1 47.61
in 42 overs (T Head 29, T
in 14 overs (U Khawaja Paine 1)
T Paine c Pant b Jadeja 26 67 4/0 38.80
26, S Marsh 2)
P Cummins batting 61 103 5/1 59.22
M Starc b Shami 18 27 2/0 66.66
N Lyon batting 6 38 0/0 15.78
Extras (B2, LB6, W2) 10 Session 3
TOTAL (for 8 wickets in 85 Overs) 258 (3.03 runs per cummins delays the inevitable
over)
Head couldn’t fight further and succumbs to Ishant Shar-
Fall of wickets: 1-6 (AJ Finch, 1.2 ov), 2-33 (MS
ma. Captain Tim Paine fails to hang around for too long
Harris, 9.2 ov), 3-63 (UT Khawaja, 20.6 ov), 4-114 (SE
Marsh, 32.2 ov), 5-135 (MR Marsh, 39.1 ov), 6-157 (TM either. Pat Cummins delays India’s win with 61 not out.
Head, 50.3 ov), 7-176 (TD Paine, 61.3 ov), 8-215 (MA At Stumps: Australia 258/8 in 85 overs (P Cummins 61, N
Starc, 70.5 ov) Lyon 6)
Bowling: I Sharma 12-0-37-1, J Bumrah 17-1-53-2, R
Jadeja 32-6-82-3, M Shami 21-2-71-2, GH Vihari 3-1-7-0

Success is around the corner, says Lyon

cord 161 Test matches
— is the first cricketer
to be knighted since leg-
endary all-rounder Ian
Botham in 2007. The
34-year-old opening
batsman finished his
Test career in the best
possible manner with a
century against India at
The Oval despite having
declared there “was
nothing left in the
tank”.
on the tube
(All Live)
Badminton
Star Sports 1 - 15:20 PBL:
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Australia need another 141
runs for an improbable win,
while India are two wickets
away from a 2-1 series lead.
Post tea, Travis Head (34)
and Tim Paine (26) took their
sixth-wicket partnership to
22 runs. The duo cut down on
risky scoring shots and
played for time.
But they couldn’t last
long, as Head played on off
Ishant Sharma (1/37) in the
51st over. Paine though con-
tinued his resistance and put
on 19 runs with Mitchell
Starc (18), seeing through 11
overs in this partnership.
Ravindra Jadeja (3/82) got
the breakthrough with Paine
caught behind and it seemed
like Australia’s last fight had
ets, with skipper Virat Kohli
even convincing the umpires
to go for the extra half-hour/
eight overs seeing the possi-
bility of a result.
Cummins though stood
defiant as he brought up his
second Test half-century off
86 balls, capping a fine day of
Test cricket after taking ca-
reer-best figures of six for 27
in the morning session.
Earlier, at tea, Australia
were reduced to 138 for five.
Post lunch, Usman Khawaja
(33) and Shaun Marsh (44)
came out playing attacking
shots and the scoring rate
peaked at its highest for the
duration of this Test.
The duo added 30 runs for
the third wicket as India went
It did as Shami trapped
Khawaja lbw in the 21st over,
but the batsman went for DRS
review. It stayed in India’s fa-
vour as he was too far back in
his crease and was out plumb.
Shaun Marsh though con-
tinued to play his aggressive
strokes and added 51 runs
with brother Mitchell Marsh
(10), as Australia crossed 100
in the 37th over.
Looking good for a tall
score, Shaun Marsh was un-
lucky to be given out lbw
against Jasprit Bumrah
(2/53) in the 33rd over. He
went for DRS review as well
and the ball was shown clip-
ping the stumps only margin-
ally, thus out on umpire’s call.
—PTI
Melbourne: A sympathetic They have all my support,” international cricket in all
Nathan Lyon is not too wor- Lyon said at the end of fourth three formats as a world-class
ried about the Australian day’s play. batsman. He is disappointed
batsmen’s abject first-innings “We are up against a world- as anyone else is,” he added,
surrender in the third Test class bowling attack, one of backing the under-fire opener
against India, saying “suc- the best Indian attacks I have after yet another failure.
cess for them is around the ever seen. They are disap- The Australian batting
corner”. pointed but I know how hard failed for a second time in this
The hosts were placed at they are working. Success for Test, after getting bowled out
258 for eight Saturday, chas- them is around the corner.” poorly in the first innings.
ing 399, and are two wickets In reply to India’s first-in- They were reduced to 176 for
away from conceding a 2-1 nings total of 443 for seven seven before Pat Cummins
series lead to the visitors. declared, the hosts were saved the day for them and
“I see how much hard bowled out for 151. took matters into the fifth day.
work the guys are doing in “I am a massive fan of “Pat Cummins has been
the nets and in training. We Aaron Finch. He is working exceptional in this match and
know they are working hard hard and seeing a lot of balls he keeps getting better every Australia’s Pat Cummins en route to
and not going out to fail. in nets. We have seen him in day.” —PTI his unbeaten 61 —REUTERS

Pant taunts Paine with ‘temporary captain’ jibe New Zealand spirits
Basketball
Sony Ten 1- 06:00 NBA: Atlanta
vs Cleveland, 08:30 NBA: Port-
land vs Golden State

Sony ESPN- 08:30 NBA: Hou-
ston vs San Antonio
Cricket
Sony Six & Sony Ten 3- 05:00
Australia vs India: 3rd Test
Day 5
Sony Six- 13:45 KFC BBL:
Hobart Hurricanes vs Perth
Scorchers
Star Sports 2- 09:20 Ranji
Trophy: Bengal vs Delhi
Football
Star Sports Select 1 - 17:20 PL:
Crystal Palace vs Chelsea
19:35 PL: Southampton vs
Man City, 21:00 PL: Man Utd vs
Bournemouth
Star Sports Select 2 - 19:35 PL:
Burnley vs West Ham
Kabaddi
Star Sports 2 - 20:00 PKL: U
Mumba vs UP Yoddha
MMA
Sony Ten 3- 08:30 UFC 232: Jon
Jones vs Alexander Gustafsson
Tennis
Sony Ten 2- 14:45 Hopman Cup:
Great Britain vs Switzerland
Melbourne: “Have you ever
heard of a temporary cap-
tain, Mayank (Agarwal)?”
Rishabh Pant asked his India
teammate while welcoming
Australia skipper Tim Paine
with a fresh round of banter
in the third Test here on Sat-
urday.
The Indian wicketkeeper
was giving it back to Paine a
day after the Australian
joked about recruiting Pant
to a Big Bash franchise, Ho-
bart Hurricanes, with an of-
fer to baby seat while Paine
takes his wife out for movies.
As soon as the 33-year-old
walked in and took strike,
Pant was heard asking Ma-
yank, who was standing at
silly point, “We got a special
guest today. Have you ever
heard of a temporary cap-
tain, ever, Mayank?” The
21-year-old was not done
there and told Ravindra Jade-
ja, who was bowling at the
up as Mendis falls
Umpire Ian Gould (2R) talks to India captain Virat Kohli (L) as Rishabh Pant (R) looks on on Saturday —AFP
time, that he does not need
anything special to get
Paine’s wicket as he is only
good at talking.
“You don’t need anything
to get him out, boy. He loves
to talk, that’s the only thing
he can do, boy! Only, talking,
talking!” he said.
Good-natured they may
No such warning was giv-
en to Paine, though, when he
sought to distract Pant with
some banter of his own on
Friday. Christchurch: New Zealand in the Christchurch decider
Referring to Mahendra were eyeing an historic vic- would give New Zealand a
Singh Dhoni’s inclusion in tory as injury and a barrage fourth consecutive series win
the ODI squad, Paine Friday of Neil Wagner bouncers left for the first time after beating
said, “Tell you what big MS is Sri Lanka in tatters at the the West Indies, England and
back in the one day squad. close of day four of the sec- Pakistan earlier this year.
Should get this bloke down to ond Test in Christchurch on Despite losing both open-
Hurricanes. They need a bat- Saturday. ers in the first two overs of
ter.” “Fancy that extend you Sri Lanka were 231 for six their second innings, Sri
Aussie holiday, beautiful at stumps, 429 runs short of Lanka fought to stay in the
town Hobart too... get him a their improbable 660-run tar- game until short-ball special-
water front apartment. Have get, with doubt whether the ist Wagner came into the
him over for dinner. “Do you injured Angelo Mathews frame.
babysit? I can take my wife to would return. Angelo Mathews, who in
the movies while you watch At the crease were Dilru- the first three innings of the
the kids,” Paine had said. wan Perera on 22 and Suran- series scored 236 runs and
The stump microphones ga Lakmal on 16. was dismissed only once,
have picked up some interest- Wagner, who had enjoyed reached 22 when he was
ing exchanges in the course little success in the series, forced to retire at tea with a
have been but Pant’s banter of the series so far, the earlier broke through stubborn Sri hamstring injury. —AFP
attracted immediate atten- one being between Paine and Lankan resistance to have Brief scores: New Zealand 178 &
tion of umpire Ian Gould who Virat Kohli, which turned figures of three for 47. 585/4d vs Sri Lanka 104 & (o/n 24/2)
cautioned him for his re- quite intense at one point. After rain ensured a drawn 231/6 in 104 overs (D Chandimal 56,
marks. —PTI first Test in Wellington, a win K Mendis 67; N Wagner 3/47)
 sP rt
www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia
hot on heels
Djokovic captures
Mubadala crown
Novak Djokovic won a
fourth Mubadala World
Tennis Championship ti-
tle on Saturday, coming
back from a set down to
beat Kevin Anderson 4-6,
7-5, 7-5. Djokovic claimed
victory on a fifth match
point against his South
African opponent who
won the pre-season exhi-
bition event in 2018. Djok-
ovic now heads to neigh-
bouring Doha where he
will be top seed at Qatar
Open starting Monday.
New Australian
Open heat policy
A new extreme heat poli-
cy that dictates when it is
safe to play will be intro-
duced at next month’s
Australian Open to better
deal with frequent oven-
like conditions on court.
The “Heat Stress Scale”
will be used for the first
time at a Grand Slam to
help prevent players from
fainting and suffering ex-
haustion, relying on more
weather-measuring devic-
es at Melbourne Park.
Davis dominates
Mavericks
Anthony Davis delivered
a season-high 48 points
and 17 rebounds as the
New Orleans Pelicans
snapped a five-game los-
ing skid with a 114-112
win over the Dallas Mav-
ericks on Friday. Davis
made the go-ahead jump-
er with 43 seconds re-
maining and the Maver-
icks failed to get off a shot
on the final possession
with four seconds left.
AIFF backs coach
Constantine
The AIFF has not ruled
out giving another con-
tract extension to head
coach Stephen Constan-
tine after the Asian Cup
in January. “... the team
has been performing ex-
cellently under Stephen
Constantine having risen
to 97 from 173 in the FIFA
ranking within less than 4
years,” AIFF general sec-
retary Kushal Das said.
RR Lakshya Cup
on December 31
The 10th RR Lakshya
Cup, an international
shooting competition,
will be held at Karnala in
Panvel on December 31
where top shooters from
across the nation will
take part in the mixed
event. The tournament is
organised by Lakshya
Shooting Club, founded
by former ace shooter
Suma Shirur.
1
2 Nagpur: Mumbai face a
3 Elite Group A game.
Send in your answers to
sportsdna@gmail.com. Names
of the first 10 winners will be
published tomorrow
Chennai thrash Shillong Lajong
to restore lead at top of table
DNA Correspondent
sports@dnaindia.net
Mumbai: Chennai City FC
restored their lead at the top
of the I-League table with a 6-1
thrashing of Shillong Lajong
in Coimbatore on Saturday.
The huge victory of Chen-
nai was courtesy a Pedro
Manzi hat-trick, his second
of the season.
In a free-flowing encoun-
ter, it was yet again an all-
Spanish scorers list for the
Uzbekistan’s world No. 93 talks about unusual phenomenon of playing tennis with glasses, pros &
cons of having mother as full-time coach and significance of his 2018 Asian Games gold medal
Rutvick Mehta
rutvick.mehta@dnaindia.net
Mumbai: One of the biggest
shocks in the history of ten-
nis was delivered at the 2017
Australian Open, when a
world No. 117 Denis Istomin
sent defending and six-time
champion Novak Djokovic
packing in the second round.
Apart from matching the
then vulnerable Djokovic’s
brutal baseline game for a
majority of five sets spread
across four hours and 48
minutes, what also stood out
was Istomin’s green glasses
that shone as bright in the
Melbourne heat as his on-
court game.
The Uzbek, currently
ranked 93th in the world, is
only one of two players on
the ATP Tour that needs to
wear prescription glasses,
Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic be-
ing the other.
Sporting spectacles in a
sport like tennis that relies
on a combination of vision
and reflexes is rare, and only
a handful of them have done
so over the years — recollect
Billie Jean King and Martina
Navratilova?
More recently, GenNext’s
Hyeon Chung plays with a
pair of glasses, but that’s
only because he has been suf-
fering from Astigmatism —
an imperfection in the eye
that results in blurriness —
Stiff task for Mumbai to stay alive Wolves raid Wembley, dent
daunting task when they
take on Ranji Trophy cham-
pions Vidarbha here from
Saturday in a must-win
Forty one-time
champions Mum-
bai’s chances to qual-
ify for the quarterfi-
nals depends on this
result as they need
an outright win to
stay on course.
Mumbai are lan- Ranji
guishing at the Trophy
14th spot in the
combined Groups A and B
standings with 11 points
from six games. They have
played six games this season
without managing to win a
single match.
But the domestic giants
Action from the match between
Chennai and Shillong on Saturday
home side with Nestor Jesus
netting a brace and defender
Roberto Eslava getting his
second goal of the season be-
sides Manzi’s three goals.
Chennai move to the top of
since he was a child.
In the 32-year-old
Istomin’s case, a dip in vision
after the dip in light forced
him to wear glasses.
“If I play without glasses,
then maybe I won’t be in the
top 100, because my vision is
not that great,” Istomin tells
DNA from Pune, where he is
due to take part in the ATP
Maharashtra Open.
“Glasses help me play dur-
ing the night, because I had
so much problem playing
night matches before, espe-
cially indoors.
“Since I started wearing
them, I got my best ranking in
2012 (No. 33). So, I guess I ad-
justed to it very well,” he adds.
Oakley, a California-based
sports equipment company,
makes customised glasses for
Istomin (as also for Tipsarev-
ic), and the cool green pair
with which he stunned Djoko-
vic reportedly cost £299.99.
“I like the style too,”
Istomin says, before quickly
Know Istomin
Full name: Denis Istomin
Born: September 7, 1986; Orenburg
Turned pro: 2004
Current singles ranking: 93
Highest singles ranking: 33 (2012)
Playing style: Right-handed, two-handed backhand
Career win-loss: 225-246
Career prize money: $493,370
Mumbai will be bolstered by the
return of fast bowlers Shardul
Thakur, who was injured
will be bolstered by the re-
turn of their two key pacers
— Shardul Thakur and Tush-
ar Deshpande — against the
reigning champions.
Mumbai batsmen will also
need to step up and deliver
the table with 21 points from
10 first round games played.
Neroca are now second with
18 points from the same num-
ber of games. Shillong re-
main at the bottom of the ta-
ble, suffering their eighth
loss from 10 games.
Playing today: Indian Arrows vs
Churchill Brothers (5pm)
Stopwatch: Chennai City
6 (Jesus 12, 69, Eslava 38,
Manzi 49, 78, 80-pen) bt
Shillong Lajong 1 (Lalmuan-
puia 53); Aizawl FC 3 (Kro-
mah 51, Mapuia 63, Zela 70)
bt Gokulam Kerala 2 (Sunday
90+3, 90+4-pen)
Istomin in
tennis’ rare
spectacle
adding, “Of course, without
them, I will not see anything.”
Spectacles have become
such an integral part of his
tennis gear that without
them, Istomin feels he will no
longer be able to play. Many
players use contact lenses —
Djokovic, for example — and
Istomin tried it too, but it was
too fussy for him to handle.
“It (lenses) always kept
bothering me while I was
playing. I had to always
maintain it well, apply drops
and stuff like that,” he says.
“I don’t like it because it
takes you out of your game.
You have to think about your
eye. But with glasses, it is
easier and I don’t have to
worry about my eye all the
time,” he adds.
At your service, mother
Maintaining focus on
tennis is the least of
Istomin’s worries.
Born in 1986 in
Orenburg — a city
ELITE
ELSEWHERE
Group A & B
In Kolkata: Bengal vs Delhi (Live
on Star Sports 2, 9.20am); In
Bengaluru: Karnataka vs Chhat-
tisgarh; In Pune: Maharashtra
vs Gujarat; In Delhi: Railways vs
Baroda; In Nagpur: Vidarbha vs
Mumbai; In Vizianagaram: Andhra
vs Hyderabad (India), In Indore:
Madhya Pradesh vs Himachal
Pradesh; In Chandigarh: Punjab
vs Kerala
for their side and for skipper
their Siddhesh Lad who has
been in good form.
Lad, who has slammed two
hundreds (against Baroda
and Saurashtra), will like to
continue from where he left
Pune down Mumbai
for first ever victory
Pune: Pune 7 Aces started
their home leg with a 4-3 win
over two-time runners-up
Mumbai Rockets in a riveting
tie that went down to the wire
at the Premier Badminton
League here on Saturday.
Flaunting pink
for the cause of
Breast Cancer
Awareness, the
Pune charge was
led by Russia’s
Vladimir Ivanov
and Denmark’s Line Kjaers-
feldt -- each of whom brought
home a couple of wins to help
the debutants get their first
ever victory.
Kjaersfeldt and the pair of
Ivanov and Chirag Shetty
made it a grand start for the
in Russia that was part of the
Soviet Union — Istomin’s
grandfather was an army-
man who lived in Tashkent,
where Istomin’s parents de-
cided to shift soon after their
child was born.
Istomin’s mother, Klaudi-
ya Istomina, got her son at-
tracted to the game, and has
been beside him courtside as
coach ever since he turned
pro in 2004.
Istomin broke into the
top-100 in 2009, achieved his
career-high ranking of No.
33 in 2012 and won his first
ATP title in 2015.
However, he never really
managed to take the next
step of winning big matches
against big players in the big
tournaments. His best
Grand Slam result has been
a fourth-round entry, and his
biggest claim to fame the
victory against Djokovic
last year.
His mother, though, has
stood by him throughout his
I think the problem is that sometimes
men want to do something, like, for
example, bring a girl into your room. I
cannot do that, because my mom is
always around
Denis Istomin, on having his mom as full-time coach
Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin poses with his gold medal at the
2018 Asian Games in Palembang —REUTERS
Group C
In Guwahati: Assam vs Jammu
& Kashmir, In Jamshedpur:
Jharkhand vs Tripura; In
Porvorim: Goa vs Rajasthan; In
Rohtak: Haryana vs Uttar Pradesh;
In Delhi: Services vs Odisha
Plate
In Dimapur: Nagaland vs
Arunachal Pradesh; In Johrat: Mi-
zoram vs Bihar; In Bhubaneswar:
Sikkim vs Meghalaya; In Ananta-
pur: Puducherry vs Manipur
off in the last encounter.
But he needs support from
his other batsmen — Shreyas
Iyer, Jay Bista, Vikrant Auti
and experienced Aditya Tare
— to post a challenging total
at the VCA Stadium. —PTI
home side by winning
the women’s singles
and men’s doubles rub-
bers, respectively.
Mumbai showed
some resilience to
fight back through
their two
men’s sin-
gles expo-
nents —
Anders
Antonsen
and Sa-
meer Verma — send-
ing the tie into a de-
ciding fifth match.
With little to sep-
arate the two teams,
it all depended on
who would hold
their nerves. —PTIw
Ahmedabad I SUNDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2018 I daily news & analysis
mostly under-the-radar, inju-
ry-hit career.
Ask her son about the pros
and cons of having a mother
as a full-time coach, and a
rather amusing take on the
arrangement follows.
“Good thing is that I don’t
have to pay for the coach. But
actually, I pay everything for
my mother. So, it’s two sides
of the coin,” Istomin says.
“But I think the problem
is that sometimes men want
to do something, like, for ex-
ample, bring a girl into your
room. I cannot do that, be-
cause my mom’s always
around.
“But I’m OK. I got married
one month ago, so I don’t
have to think about that any-
more,” he adds with a laugh.
‘Big’ Asian Games gold
Istomin begins his new sea-
son in Pune with a decent
2018 behind him, in which he
won a couple of Challenger
level tournaments and made
Tottenham’s title win hopes
London: Tottenham Hot-
spur’s status as Premier
League title chasers was se-
riously harmed on Saturday
as they fell to a first defeat
in seven league games, los-
ing the lead to go
down 3-1 at
home to Wol-
verhampton
Wanderers.
Harry Kane
fired a largely
unimpressive
Spurs side in front midway
through the first half, pick-
ing the ball up from deep out
wide, cutting inside and
finding the top corner from
outside the area with a
sumptuous strike on his
weaker left foot.
The goal was Kane’s fourth
in three league games but was
not enough to see off the
dogged visitors, who have
taken points off some of the
biggest teams such as Man-
chester City, Arsenal,
Chelsea and Man-
chester United in
their return to the
top flight.
Nuno Espirito
Santo’s side lev-
elled in the 72nd
minute with
Ronaldo brace seals new record for Juventus
Milan: Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as voracious Italian
champions Juventus finished 2018 on a high with a 2-1 win over
Sampdoria to set a new record of 53 points before the winter
11
Saurabh goes
past world
record in trials
New Delhi: Asian Games
gold medallist Saurabh
Chaudhary was in sublime
form, winning the first men’s
10m air pistol trial (T1) with
a final round score of 248.2 at
the ongoing national shoot-
ing trials here on Saturday.
Saurabh’s score was a
massive 4.6 points above the
present world record score of
243.6, set by Ukranian Oleh
Omelchuk in Munich earlier
this year.
The 16-year-old from Uttar
Pradesh also won the junior
men’s event, shooting 245.5 in
the final, which is equal to
the present junior world re-
cord score that he holds.
Saurabh, who had won a
gold at the Youth Olympic
Games, also qualified for the
eight-man final with a quali-
fication score of 578, which
made him seven best.
Achal Pratap Singh topped
the table with a score of 582
at the Dr. Karni Singh Shoot-
ing Range. The likes of Jitu
Rai shot 579 to qualify fourth
but eventually finished
eighth in the final. —PTI
Reuters
the final of the Generali
Open, an ATP 250 claycourt
event in Austria.
His most cherished mo-
ment, however, came in
Palembang, where he won a
singles gold for Uzbekistan at Saurabh Chaudhary
the 2018 Asian Games.
“It’s a big thing for my
country, and also for the
sport in my country,”
Aussies, Britain
Istomin says of his maiden
Asiad gold, having won a sin- taste victories
gles silver in the 2010 Guang-
zhou edition.
“We have had some big
in Hopman Cup
changes in the sport in Uz- Perth: Cameron Norrie and
bekistan, some new players Katie Boulter beat Stefanos
coming in. For them, it’s Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari
good to see another guy from 4-3 3-4 4-3, including 5-4 in a
their country winning the tiebreaker in the deciding
Asian Games. I hope in the mixed doubles set in the
future we have more players Fast4 format, to give Britain
and more top 100 players, a 2-1 win over Greece in the
and also a winner of the opening match of the eight-
Asian Games.” team Hopman Cup tennis
Istomin says the country’s tournament on Saturday.
long-serving president Islom Norrie upset No. 15-ranked
Karimov — who died in of- Tsitsipas 7-6(8) 6-4 to give Brit-
fice in 2016 after becoming ain the lead before Sakkari
the first president of an inde- beat Boulter 6-0 4-6 6-2 in wom-
pendent Uzbekistan in 1991 en’s singles to level the tie.
— was a tennis buff, and it Ashleigh Barty gave Aus-
played a part in the growth tralia a 1-0 lead against
of the sport there. France with a 7-5, 6-3 win
“We have a lot of good fa- over Alize Cornet before Matt
cilities, so many kids that Ebden clinched it for the
play. Our previous president home side with a 3-6 7-6(5) 6-2
liked tennis so much. Even win over Lucas Pouille.
now, our president (Shavkat Pouille and Cornet pre-
Mirziyoyev) takes care of us vailed in the mixed doubles
so much, so it’s really nice,” 4-3, 4-2 to make the final score
he says. 2-1 to Australia. —AP
Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Leander Dendoncker (L) vies with Tottenham
Hotspurs’ Son Heung-Min at Wembley Stadium in London on Saturday —AFP
Stopwatch: Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Kane 22) lost to Wolver-
hampton Wanderers 3 (Boly 72, Jimenez 83, Costa 87), Brighton 1
(Locadia 59) bt Everton 0, Fulham 1 (Mitrovic 90+1) bt Hudders-
field 0, Leicester 0 lost to Cardiff 1 (Camarasa 90+2), Watford 1
(Doucoure 82) drew with Newcastle 1 (Rondon 29)
a towering header from a cor-
ner from French defender
Willy Boly after a period of
A first home defeat since
late October leaves second-
placed Tottenham six points
sustained pressure around adrift of Liverpool, who can
Tottenham’s area. widen that gap when they
Raul Jimenez then gave host Arsenal later on Satur-
them the lead in the 83rd min- day. Manchester City could
ute and Helder Costa sealed reclaim second spot if they
the win with a counter-attack win at Southampton on Sun-
goal in the 87th. day. —Reuters
break. Ronaldo curled in the opener after just two minutes
in Turin adding a second from the penalty spot after 66
minutes, putting the Portuguese top of Serie A’s scoring
charts on 14 goals. Evergreen Sampdoria striker
Fabio Quagliarella pulled the Genoa outfit level with
a penalty after 33 minutes, with the visitors having
a late Riccardo Saponara goal ruled offside after
consultation with the video assistant referee.

12 www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia
snapshot
‘Must empower’
weaker sections
through books’
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi,
Union Minister — File pic
There is a need for
1 educational and
social empowerment
of the weaker sections of the
society to stop their political
exploitation.
Development without
2 discrimination is the
priority of the Naren-
dra Modi-led government.
Scholarships have
3 been provided to
more than 3.11
crore students belonging
to minority communities,
including about 60 per cent
girl students, in the last
three-four years
4
This year, a ‘National
Scholarship Portal
Mobile App’ (NSP
Mobile App) was launched
which will ensure a smooth,
accessible and hassle-free
scholarship system for
students from the poor and
weaker sections
The scholarship
5 amount is now
deposited directly into
bank accounts of students
though the DBT (Direct
Benefit Transfer) mode in a
transparent manner that has
eliminated middlemen
Our government
6 is working with a
mission to bring it
(the school dropout rate)
down to zero per cent in the
coming years
Army rescues over 2,500 tourists after they
get stranded due to heavy snowfall in Sikkim
Gangtok: The Indian Army
has rescued more than 2,500
tourists stranded near East
Sikkim’s 17th Mile area, close
to the India-China border,
due to heavy snowfall, offi-
cials said on Saturday.
The tourists were return-
ing from Nathu La pass and
Tsomgo (Changu) Lake on
Friday evening when snow-
fall in the region blocked
roads, leaving over 300 to 400
civil vehicles stranded at
various points on Jawahar
Lal Nehru Road, East Sikkim
District Magistrate Kapil
New CRZ rules will Restrictions on import of pulses extended till March 31
boost realty market
ExclusivE New Delhi: Ostensibly hav-
Sanjay Jog
sanjay.jog@dnaindia.net
Mumbai: The implementa-
tion of Coastal Regulation
Zone (CRZ) Notification,
2018 will boost the realty sec-
tor which is currently entan-
gled in procedural curbs,
developers have hinted. The
new norms will lead crea-
tion of more homes, but may
also increase the woes of
builders who are saddled
with a burgeoning invento-
ry, they said.
The Notification could help
builders get floor space index
(FSI) up to 3 for the island city
of Mumbai, from present 1.33.
For suburbs, it could go up
from 1 to 2.7. The Notification
permit construction up to 50m
of the high tide line.
Rustomjee Group CMD
Boman R Irani said residents
of old buildings will be happy
that the redevelopment which
was stuck up due to CRZ can
be taken up. “However subject
to reading the fine print, we
will know the actual impact
for the city,” he told DNA.
Founder and MD of Hi-
ranandani Group, Niranjan
Hiranandani, said the Cen-
tre’s move will also enable
redevelopment of slums.
“This is the crux of the issue.”
Anuj Puri, chairman of
ANAROCK Property Consult-
ants, said there will be an in-
fusion of affordable housing
It’s all about entertainment, come
December 31. I want to go out and have
fun. Throughout my years at boxing, I
never touched the canvas once
—Boxer Floyd Mayweather,
Ahead of his match in Japan
B’desh votes today,
India keenly watches
Not just for PM Hasina, polls crucial for New Delhi too
Dhaka/New Delhi: Even as
Bangladesh stepped up secu-
rity with thousands of army
troops patrolling the streets
for the crucial general elec-
tions on Saturday, New Delhi
is keenly awaiting the results
as any adverse result on in-
cumbent Sheikh Hasina gov-
ernment will have far-reach-
ing consequences in the re-
gion.
Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina is seeking a record
fourth term in Sunday’s gen-
eral elections.
Over 600,000 security per-
sonnel including several
thousand soldiers and para-
military border guards have
been deployed across the
country to help conduct the
election in which 10.41 crore
people are eligible to vote.
Security agencies have
been asked to keep an extra
vigil on religious minority
communities as media re-
ports said at least three Hin-
du households were set on
fire by miscreants between
December 16 and 26, Bangla-
desh’s telecoms regulator
also ordered the country’s
mobile operators to shut
down 3G and 4G services un-
til midnight on Sunday “to
prevent the spread of ru-
mours” that could trigger
Rescued tourists —Indian Army
Meena said.
He said the Army swung
into action and rescued the
tourists and brought them to
Image for representation
and it will also boost tourism.
On the flipside, it will make
the coastline vulnerable to
environmental disasters.
Leading architect Yomesh
Rao said a lot of housing stock
in sea fronting localities will
be released, leading to excess
supply. ‘’Till now the develop-
er mantra was maximisation
of FSI and built up area. The
future mantra will be optimi-
zation of FSI and BUA.’’
Anand Gupta, chairman,
Infrastructure Committee of
Builders’ Association of India
said the correction in prices
will bring cheers for buyers.
Debi Goenka, Executive
Trustee of Conservation Ac-
tion Trust, more FSI will
harm environment and fish-
ing communities. “It will add
pressure on areas that are be-
ing threatened with erosion
and flooding. The decision is
illogical and will completely
destroy our coastal areas and
beaches.’’  Report: dnaindia.com
Supporters of PM Sheikh Hasina, who’s seeking record 4th term, in Dhaka
unrest during the elections,
the 11th since Bangladesh
won independence from Pa-
kistan in 1971.
According to the Election
Commission, 1,848 candi-
dates are contesting for 299
out of 300 Parliament seats.
The polls will be held at
40,183 polling stations.
Thirteen people have been
killed and thousands injured
in clashes between support-
ers of Hasina’s ruling Awa-
mi League and activists of
the opposition Bangladesh
Nationalist Party (BNP).
Hasina, who is seeking to re-
turn to power for a third con-
secutive time, on Saturday
feared the opposition could
key road blocked
The tourists were
returning from Nathu
La pass and Tsomgo
(Changu) Lake on Friday
when snowfall in the
region blocked roads,
leaving over 300 to 400
civil vehicles stranded
a camp in 17th Mile area and
served food and medicines.
Arrangements were being
made to transfer the tourists
to the state capital, said Army
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
ing an eye on 2019 Lok Sabha
elections, the Centre has ex-
tended restrictions on im-
port of pulses like yellow
peas, green peas and kaspa
peas for a period of another
three months – from January
1 to March 31, 2019.
The announcement has
been made in a notification
by Directorate General of
Foreign Trade (DGFT).
“The move is mainly to
encourage the domestic pro-
duction of pulses and reduce
import dependency,” said
sweet honour postal stamp launched on popular bengal dessert that won a GI tag last year
On its 150th year, rosogolla gets stamp of approval, literally
Kolkata: A postal stamp and
a special carried cover on ro-
sogolla, Bengal’s famed
sweet, has been released to
mark the 150th year of the
syrupy dessert’s invention.
The stamp was launched at
the inaugural function of
‘Baghbazar-O-Rosogolla Ut-
sab’, a festival to celebrate the
renowned sweet on Friday.
Baghbazar is a locality in
the northern part of the city
where the creator of rosogol-
la, Nobin Chandra Das lived
and worked. He had invented
the sweet in 1868.
West Bengal had won the
Geographical Indication (GI)
boycott polls in the middle of
voting as part of a “political
trick” to evade a “humiliat-
ing defeat”.
“I want to caution all
about the character of (main
opposition) BNP...they may
say in the middle (of the elec-
tions) that we are boycotting
the polls,” she said.
“In that case (opposition
boycott) I will ask our candi-
dates and other contenders to
continue polls until the voting
is ended,” Hasina, 71, said.
The premier’s comments
came as the main opposition
BNP is contesting the polls
visibly in a dilapidated state
in the absence of jailed party
chief Zia, 73, and her fugitive
son Tarique Rahman who is
the acting party chief.
Zia, serving a 10-year pris-
on term on graft charges, has
been barred from contesting
the polls while Rahman is
living in London ostensibly
to evade the law as a court
has sentenced him to life im-
prisonment for mastermind-
ing a grenade attack on a
rally in 2004 that killed 24
Awami League leaders and
activists. —PTI
officials.
“#IndianArmy rescued
more than 2500 civilians
stuck in more than 400 vehi-
cles around Nathula, Sikkim
due to heavy snowfall. All
were provided food, shelter &
medical care last night,” the
Army tweeted Saturday.
As of now, no tourist vehi-
cle will be allowed to ply
on Jawahar Lal Nehru Road
on way to the border region,
the DM said, adding opera-
tions were underway to clear
snow and restore road con-
nectivity. —PTI
The move is
mainly to
encourage the
domestic production of
pulses and reduce
import dependency
Sandip Das,
Agriculture expert
Sandip Das, an agriculture
expert with Indian Council
for Research on Internation-
al Economic Relations (IC-
RIER), told DNA.
The existing restriction
on import of peas is sched-
Image for representation —Wikimedia Commons
for ‘Banglar Rosogolla’ on
November 14, 2017 after a
Man held for
killing PIO cop
in California
New York: A man was ar-
rested for allegedly killing an
Indian-origin police officer in
California’s Newman, when
he was planning to flee to his
native Mexico, police said.
The suspect, identified as
33-year-old Gustavo Perez Ar-
riaga and living illegally, was
arrested from a home in the
Kern County, about 200 miles
south from the place of the
shooting, Stanislaus County
Sheriff Adam Christianson
told CNN. Corporal Ronil
Singh, 33, pulled over the sus-
pect just before 1 am on
Wednesday and a few mo-
ments later he called out “shot
fired” over the radio.
Other officers who reached
the spot found Singh shot and
took him to a hospital, where
he was pronounced dead.
Singh was a native of Fiji and
joined the force in July 2011.
Newman Police Chief Ran-
dy Richardson said at a Fri-
day news conference that this
has never happened in the
history of the 12-member de-
partment. — PTI
Year of G-searches
Soccer World Cup, Karnataka polls and Nickyanka wedding were among the topics that Indians
turned to Google to know more about in 2018. Here’s how India summoned Google for help
Overall
n FIFA World Cup 2018
n Live score
n IPL 2018
n Karnataka election results
n Baal Veer
What is...
n What is section 377
What is me too campai
n What is happening in Syria
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Near me
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n Mobile stores near me
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n Tera Fitoor
n Kya Baat Hai
n Dekhte Dekhte
Image for representation
uled to end on December 31.
In September, the govern-
ment had extended import
restrictions on peas for a
three-month period.
India is the largest pro-
ducer of pulses in the world.
26-month legal tussle with
neighbouring state Odisha.
second
front
page
Ahmedabad I SUNDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2018 I daily news & analysis
Pak proposes visa-free
permits for Kartarpur
Sidhant Sibal
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: Pakistan has
sent recommendations to In-
dia for facilitating visa-free
travel of Indian Sikh pil-
grims through the upcoming
Kartarpur corridor, accord-
ing to documents accessed by
WION. According its initial
draft on Kartarpur agree-
ment, Pakistan will cap the
permits at 500 a day.
Pilgrims will have to carry
their Indian passport and se-
curity clearance from India.
India will have to share
with Pakistan the pil-
grims’ details three days
prior to their entry.
The 59-page draft has
also proposed that the
pilgrims must constitute
a group of 15 people. The cor-
ridor will be open from 8 am
to 5 pm. Both sides will be cre-
ating a database of pilgrims.
“Pakistan reserves the
right to refuse entry, reduce
gn
Prakash Varrier
PersonaPriya
dhaar with mobil
e number
Statue of Unity
In 2018-19, pulses production
stands at 24 million tonnes,
which is marginally up from
23.95 million tonnes in 2017-
18.
Meanwhile, the govern-
ment has also increased the
export incentives granted for
fight with odisha
West Bengal had won the
Geographical Indication
for ‘Banglar Rosogolla’ on
November 14, 2017 after
a 26-month legal tussle
with neighbouring state
Odisha over the invention
of the sweetmeat
City Mayor and Minister
for Municipal Affairs and Ur-
ban Development Firhad
Hakim said at the pro-
gramme, “We had heard that
there was another claimant
(Odisha) as the inventor of
Guru Nanak Dev had spent the last 18 years of his life in Kartarpur
the period of stay or termi-
nate the stay in its ter-
ritory of any pilgrim
despite grant of per-
mit if it considers the
pilgrim undesirable
for security or other
purpose,” says the
draft. Disputes are to be set-
tled through a diplomatic
channel. Any side can termi-
nate the agreement by giving
one month notice.
On November 22, India’s
News
n FIFA World Cup 2018
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n Priyanka Chopra Nick
Jonas Wedding
n Statue of Unity
n Nipah Virus
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mobile number
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number
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Sports Events
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FIFA
World Cup
2018
onions under the Merchan-
dise Exports from India
Scheme (MEIS) from existing
5 per cent to 10 per cent. The
move will result in better
price for onions in domestic
markets, experts say.
The Modi government is
exploring all options to reach
out to the farmers who will
play a major role in deliver-
ing the 2019 mandate.
In recent weeks, loss-
stricken farmers have staged
protests, blocked highways
and dumped onions on the
road after prices plunged to
as low as one rupee per kg for
a crop that costs about 8 ru-
pees a kg to produce.
sponge rosogolla but knew
that none could take away
something which rightfully
belongs to Bengal.
“Nobin Chandra Das, the
creator of rosogolla was one
of us and the sweet belongs
to us,” he said adding the
government will do every-
thing to promote the sweet
globally.
“The West Bengal govern-
ment thanks the GI authori-
ties once again for vindicat-
ing its stand,” he added.
The Trinamool Congress
MP of Kolkata North, Sudip
Bandyopadhyay said the peo-
ple are happy that Bengal had
cabinet approved the build-
ing of Kartarpur Corridor
from Dera Baba Nanak in
Gurdaspur till the border.
Vice President Venkaiah
Naidu laid the foundation
stone for the corridor on the
Indian side on November 26.
Pakistani PM Imran Khan laid
the foundation stone two days
later on his side of the border.
Sources said India consid-
ers “Kartarpur corridor only
a cultural initiative”.
Misbehaviour
at Puri temple
costs cop dear
Puri: A constable of Odisha
police was suspended for al-
legedly misbehaving with a
minor girl inside the Jagan-
nath temple here on Satur-
day, a top officer said.
The girl, a resident of Odi-
sha’s Jajpur district, had al-
leged in her complaint that
the constable had accompa-
nied her and her parents to
‘Bhitar Katha’ (inner barri-
cade) from ‘Bahar Katha’
(outer barricade) and “mis-
behaved” with her while she
was praying to the deities on
Saturday morning, Puri Su-
perintendent of Police
Sarthak Sarangi said.
The girl’s statement had
been recorded at Singhadwar
police station here and a sen-
ior officer was entrusted
with the task of carrying out
the investigation, he said.
The police constable was
found guilty based on “cir-
cumstantial evidence”, just
hours after the girl lodged
her complaint, he said.
He will be arrested later,
Sarangi said.
About the cop’s identifica-
tion, Sarangi said, “Nothing
is clear from the CCTV foot-
age. The constable was found
guilty during investigation.”
The incident comes a day af-
ter a protest by the shrine’s
servitors here over alleged
assault against one of them
by police. The gates of the
temple remained shut for
about 12 hours on Friday due
to the protest. —PTI
Puri Jagannath temple —File
Nothing is clear
from the CCTV
footage. The
constable was found
guilty during
investigation
Sarthak Sarangi,
Superintendent of Police, Puri
won the “battle” for rasogolla
and the TMC government will
always work to protect the cul-
tural identity of the state.
“If Gujarat and Maharash-
tra are called the economic
capitals of the country, Bengal
can very well be described as
the cultural capital,” he said.
Great-great-grandson of
the inventor rosogolla and
the owner of a Bengali sweets
chain, Dhiman Das said, “I
am very happy that the 150th
year of the great invention is
being celebrated so elabo-
rately.” Kolkata tPost Master
General J Charukeshi was
present at the event. —PTI