20
Wednesday
March
2019
`3.00 Ÿ Pages 14
AHMEDABAD
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Opinion
India rebooting its patent and
price control policy could
impact the status of global
medicines, writes Chirantan
Chatterjee P6
City
Gujarat HC issues notice to
EC in response to ex-
Congress MLA Bhaga Barad’s
plea questioning the haste in
announcing by-elections in
Talala Assembly seat P2
India
Dr Pramod Sawant, new Goa
CM, will have to prove numbers
today as Governor Mridula
Sinha calls for a floor test P4
world
Rescue crews still struggle
to assess devastation caused
by Cyclone Idai which hit
Mozambique last week, and
then its inland neighbours
Zimbabwe and Malawi P7
sports
Mumbai Indians captain Rohit
Sharma confirms he
will open the
batting in all
games this IPL
season, with an eye
on World Cup P10
Afterhrs 
Sanjay Leela Bhansali
announces that
Alia Bhatt will
share screen
space with
Salman Khan in
his next venture,
Inshallah
Developers to choose
between 2 GST rates
New Delhi: In a big relief to
the real estate sector, the
Goods and Services Tax
(GST) Council on Tuesday ap-
proved a transition plan for
the implementation of new
tax structure for under-con-
struction residential proper-
ty in the country. It also gave
an option to the builders of
the ongoing projects to shift
to new rates without income
tax credit (ITC) or continue
with the old tax rates.
The ongoing projects have
been defined as the ones where
the construction, as well as the
bookings, have started prior to
April 1. The developers are
likely to get about a month for
the transition.
“The builders of the resi-
dential units which are incom-
plete as on March 31 will have
the option to choose the old
rate of 12% or 8% with ITC or
the new rate of 5% or 1% with-
out ITC. The decision on the
time-frame for transition will
be taken in consultation with
the states,” revenue secretary
Ajay Bhushan Pandey told re-
porters after the GST meeting.
The meeting was chaired by
finance minister through vid-
eo-conferencing.
The new rates will be man-
CIC raps ED over info on sex abuse
New Delhi: The Central In-
formation Commission has
directed the Enforcement Di-
rectorate to disclose all the
information sought by an al-
leged sexual exploitation vic-
tim in the probe agency and
pulled it up for taking refuge
under the RTI exemption
clause without going into
merits of the application.
“It is unfortunate that the
respondent public authority
had consistently taken re-
course to the provisions un-
der Section 24 without exam-
ining the nature of informa-
tion sought by the appli-
cants,” Information Commis-
sioner Bimal Julka said.
He was deciding the plea of
a legal advisor in the ED, an
organisation exempted from
disclosures under the RTI ex-
cept matters pertaining to al-
legations of human rights vi-
olations and corruption.
The advisor had sought
details of action taken on her
Snap POLL
Q. Should banks
bail out Jet Airways
with public money?
Yes No Can’t say
Go to our Twitter handle
@dna, look for #DNAPoll
and vote.
BSE Sensex 38,363.47
Centre steps in as Ambedkar raises Pawar’s ‘missed
opportunity’ of Dawood surrender
Jet crisis deepens
Pilots say will stop flying from Apr 1 if not paid by Mar 31
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Mumbai: Civil aviation regu-
lator DGCA stepped in to in-
tervene on Tuesday after Jet
Airways plunged deeper into
crisis, with its stressed engi-
neers warning of risks grip-
ping flight operations and pi-
lots threatening to stop flying.
The National Aviators
Guild, an umbrella body of
domestic pilots, said Jet pi-
lots will stop flying from
April 1 if there is no “proper
clarity on the resolution pro-
cess and salary payments, by
March 31”.
As the situation deterio-
rated, the Director General
of Civil Aviation reviewed
the performance of the debt-
hit carrier on operational,
airworthiness and passenger
facilitation. “Current availa-
bility of aircraft in the fleet
for operation is 41,” said
DGCA in a statement. Jet
grounded 6 more planes later.
The regulator said Jet has
drawn up a schedule for 603
domestic flights and 382 in-
ternational flights. “Howev-
er, it is a dynamic situation
and there may be further at-
trition in coming weeks,” it
said.
With debts running up to
$1 billion, Jet has been
grounding aircraft over its
inability to pay rentals. It has
also failed to shell out inter-
est on many loans and is
struggling to disburse staff
salary on time.  Turn to P4
Transition plan
„„Developers are likely
to get about a month for
transition
„„They can shift to
new rates without ITC
or with old tax rates
„„New rates are
applicable for ongoing
and new projects
datory for the new projects
from April 1. The Council had
in its last meeting slashed tax
rates for under-construction
houses or ready-to-move-in
flats where completion certifi-
cate has not been issued to 5%
from the current 12% and in
the affordable category (val-
ued up to Rs 45 lakh) to 1%
from 8% while withdrawing
the ITC benefits.  Report, P??
complaint of sexual exploita-
tion against her senior which
was denied to her under Sec-
tion 24 of the RTI Act.
The ED said there was no
corruption or human right is-
sue involved. It said the wom-
an merely sought administra-
tive information regarding
the implementation of an the
order passed in her complaint
against the official.
“On being queried by the
Commission regarding the
YESTERDAY’S POLL RESULT:
Has Nirav Modi finally run out
of option to evade law?
Yes 
No
Can’t say
268.40
Jet’s nosebleed
35
out of 119
aircraft now
operational
n It once controlled a
sixth of domestic
aviation market
n 25-year-old Jet and
Air India are India’s
only 2 full-service
international
fliers
Jet may get `800-crore
funding from banks
Mumbai: The crisis at Jet
Airways is nowhere near so-
lution but may see a short-
term breather with the gov-
ernment asking the public
sector banks to bail out the
floundering airline.
Banks are likely to provide
an interim funding of Rs 800
crore, a substantial part of
the Rs 1,000 crore that the
cash-starved airlines re-
quires to weather the storm.
Jet Airways, which has a
debt of Rs 8,400 crore, is facing
Code of ethics:
24-hr deadline
for FB, Twitter
New Delhi: Social media in-
termediaries and the internet
and mobile association Tues-
day told the Election Commis-
sion that they would come up
with a draft ‘code of ethics’
for the industry in the next 24
hours as part of a mechanism
to prevent abuse of social me-
dia platforms during the Lok
Sabha elections beginning
April 11. Twitter and TikTok,
were called by the poll panel
to discuss the issue of evolv-
ing mechanism to prevent
abuse on social media plat-
forms. The EC also wanted to
ensure that polls are insulat-
ed from outside influence.
CEC Sunil Arora urged to
come up with a code similar
to it.  Report, P5
Gujarat bank loans, deposits growth in slow lane
Ahmedabad: Bank deposits
in Gujarat clocked a mere 1.9
per cent growth in the Octo-
ber-December quarter of
2018-19, while advances rose
8.3 per cent in the same peri-
od, according to a banking
report released on Tuesday.
Bank deposits stood at Rs
6,75,228 crore as against Rs
ED’s excuse
„„Female advisor in ED
had accused her senior
of sexual exploitation
„„She sought details
of action taken on her
complaint
„„ED said it was exempt
from RTI except graft and
human rights violation
reason why the appellant
(victim) being the complain-
ant herself in the present
matter was not entitled to
seek the information, no sat-
isfactory response was of-
fered by the respondent (Rev-
enue Department). Similarly,
when questioned about the
existence of human rights
violation in cases of sexual
harassment, no satisfactory
answer was offered by the re-
spondent,” Julka noted.
72%
16%
12%
NSE nifty 11,532.40
DGCA offers kerchief
n Aviation n Will review
watchdog met performance on
on Tuesday to Operational,
discuss hike in Airworthiness &
airfares Passenger facilitation
n To ensure n No crew
all 119 member, who
aircraft are has reported
maintained stress, to be
as per norms put on duty
public interest priority
n Maintain airworthiness of planes
n No last-minute cancellation/
rescheduling n Adjust affected
passengers, no delay in refund
resistance from minority part-
ner Etihad to arrive at a reso-
lution plan with the lenders.
“The shifting stance of Eti-
had is creating a problem for
lenders. The biggest grouse
for Etihad is that it will not be
able to hike its stake beyond
24.9% after the market regula-
tor Securities and Exchange
Board of India refused to give
a special dispensation to
avoid triggering the takeover
code,” said a senior bank of-
ficial.  Full report in DNA Money
Flying protectors
CRPF personnel perform Kalaripayattu, a traditional Indian martial art, during the 80th raising day of the Central
Reserve Police Force in Gurugram on Tuesday —PTI
6,62,394 crore in the last quar-
ter of the previous fiscal, as
per the State Level Bankers
Committee (SLBC) report.
Bankers attributed the poor
growth to lower interest rate
to reduce cost of deposits.
“Earlier, banks used to of-
fer incentives to depositors.
This time no such sops were
He directed the Revenue
Department and the Enforce-
ment Directorate to disclose
all information sought by the
appellant within 15 days from
the date of receipt of the or-
der.
The contention of the ED
seeking protection under
Section 24 of the RTI Act,
2005 is untenable and unjusti-
fied in relation to the defini-
tion of Human Rights as en-
shrined in the order of the
Supreme Court order in
Nirbhaya case and Delhi
High Court order in a CBI
case, he said.
“It is unfortunate that the
respondent public authority
had consistently taken re-
course to the provisions un-
der Section 24 without exam-
ining the nature of informa-
tion sought by the applicants.
Such judicial flirtations tak-
ing protection under Section
24 of the Act was unwarrant-
ed,” Julka added. —PTI
70.20
Sanjay Jog
sanjay.jog@dnaindia.net
Mumbai:Dreaded fugitive
gangster Dawood Ibrahim
Parkar has cast a shadow
over NCP chief Sharad Pa-
war’s career once again.
Prakash Ambedkar, the
founder of Vanchit Bahujan
Aghadi, said on Tuesday that
Pawar had ignored an offer
from the 1993 Bombay bomb-
ings mastermind to surrender.
“Dawood had met (lawyer
and MP) Ram Jethmalani in
London, and proposed to sur-
render,” said Ambedkar, add-
ing “He was ready to partici-
pate in the judicial process
and even go to jail. He had
only one condition — third-
Sparrow man
distributes 2L
nests a year
Ahmedabad: The sudden
spurt of activities to protect
sparrows on March 20, the
World Sparrow Day, amuses
VD Bala, a former Range For-
est Officer. Every year, Bala
distributes at least 2 lakh spar-
row nests made up of card-
board papers irrespective of
whether it is a day of celebra-
tion or not. “The nests cost me
Rs10 each and I give them away
for Rs5. I don’t give it for free
because I have realised that
when you give something for
free, it is not valued,” Bala
said. Bala visits at least two
schools daily to talk about the
need to keep nests in their
houses for the birds. Report, P2
offered. So deposits have not
grown,” said a banker, who
did not wish to be named.
Bhagyesh Soneji, former
chairperson of ASSOCHAM
in Gujarat said that this also
reflect that lower wage hike
and increasing costs have tak-
en a toll on people’s savings.
Total bank advances stood
US prof first
woman to get
Maths ‘Nobel’
Helsinki: An American pro-
fessor has become the first
woman to be awarded the
Abel Prize, one of the world’s
most prestigious internation-
al mathematics awards.
The Norwegian Academy
of Science and Letters an-
nounced in Oslo on Tuesday
that Karen Keskulla Uhlen-
beck of the University of
Texas at Austin was this
year’s winner of the prize,
seen by many as the Nobel
Prize in mathematics.
The award was $704,000.
The jury cited Keskulla
Uhlenbeck’s “fundamental
work in geometric analysis
and gauge theory which
has dramatically changed
the mathematical land-
scape.” It also praised her as
“a strong advocate for gender
equality in science and math-
ematics.” —AP
Gangster conditions
The 1993 Bombay bombings mastermind was
allegedly willing to give himself up on two conditions:
1He should not be
subjected to third-
degree torture;
2 He should be placed
under house arrest
Dawood Ibrahim had met Ram Jethmalani in London.
He was ready to surrender and undergo the judicial
process... —Prakash Ambedkar, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi
degree torture should not be
used on him.” Pawar was the
chief minister of Maharash-
tra then and the UPA govern-
ment was at the Centre. Pa-
I-T verification starts, 11 lakh
tax notices on way to non-filers
Mumbai: The Income Tax
Department plans to send
nearly 11 lakh e-tax notices to
individuals who have not
filed their returns, starting
this week. The notices will
under section 133C of the
Income-Tax Act, which was
notified last week.
“The first set of notices
are being sent to the non-fil-
ers who have made a finan-
cial transaction but haven’t
filed their tax returns. A
large number of these cases
are from the demonetisation
period. If we don’t get any
response, the cases would be
referred to the assessing of-
ficer for scrutiny,” said I-T
at Rs 5,84,439 crore, a rise of
Rs 45,047 crore or 8.35 per cent
over Rs 5,39,392 crore. Of this,
priority sector has a share of
Rs 35,258 crore of incremen-
tal loans and within it, MSME
advances has a share of Rs
24,947 crore. It grew by 26.30
per cent during the fiscal,
said the report.  Report, P3
R.N.I. No. : GUJENG/2007/22424
Sharad Pawar
was Maha CM then
and said the conditions
were inacceptable
to cops and
his govt
war’s associate, who was a
minister in his cabinet be-
tween 1993 and 1995, con-
firmed that Jethmalani had
approached Pawar with the
Likely receivers
n Those who haven’t
shown bank deposits,
mutual funds, or property
deals in tax returns
n 6.44 cr taxpayers have
filed their income tax
returns so far this year
n A large number of
these cases are from the
demonetisation period,
said sources
department sources. “Right
now, the vetting is going on to
eliminate the cases in which
Justice Pinaki Ghose
is India’s first Lokpal
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: India’s first Lok-
pal will be headed by a re-
tired Supreme Court judge
and will have an equal mix of
four judicial members – three
former High Court chief jus-
tices and a serving HC chief
justice – along with four non-
judicial members, including
a serving Chief Secretary, a
former woman cop who re-
tired as the first lady to head
a central armed police force,
and two retired civil serv-
ants.
The Presidential notifica-
tion approved the decision of
the Selection Committee of
Lokpal headed by Prime Min-
ister that met last Friday to
choose Justice (Retd) Pinaki
Chandra Ghose as the first
Lokpal to decide corruption
allegations levelled against
the high public functionaries
including the Prime Minis-
ter. Along with him four judi-
cial members who will form
the panel are Justice (Retd)
Dilip Babasaheb Bhosale,
Justice (Retd) Pradip Kumar
Mohanty, Justice (Retd) Ab-
hilasha Kumari, and sitting
Chhattisgarh HC Chief Jus-
surrender proposal, but the
other condition – that the
gangster be kept under house
arrest instead of prison —
were strongly rejected by the
state police and government.
The same spectre had
haunted the Maratha leader
in 1994-95 in the run-up to the
Assembly elections, when the
leader of Opposition, Gopi-
nath Munde said Pawar had
failed in bringing Dawood to
justice.
The BJP leader had prom-
ised that the BJP-Sena govern-
ment would bring the gang-
ster to book. Pawar repeatedly
offered clarifications, but the
damage was done and the Se-
na-BJP alliance emerged vic-
torious. Turn to P4
some kind of response has
come. Of these, 70,000 people
have filed income tax re-
turns,” sources added.
I-T’s newly established
Centralised Verification Cen-
tre (CenVC) has been tasked
with the verification of all
the income returns filed
by the taxpayers in the coun-
try. As many as 6.44 crore
taxpayers have filed their
income tax returns so far
during this year.
Individuals who haven’t
shown bank deposits, mutual
fund investments or property
transactions in their returns
could soon be getting a no-
tice.  Full report: DNA Money
Justice (Retd) Pinaki Chandra Ghose
other members
Justice Ghose apart,
Lokpal will have a mix of
four judicial members (3
for HC chief justices and
a serving HC chief justic)
and four non-judicial
members, including a
serving chief secretary
tice Ajay Kumar Tripathi.
The non-judicial members
on the panel are Maharash-
tra Chief Secretary Dinesh
Kumar Jain, former IPS of-
ficer Archana Ramasundar-
am, ex-CBEC member Ma-
hender Singh and former
Gujarat Principal Secretary
and Director of Gujarat Pow-
er Corporation Indrajeet
Prasad Gautam.

daily news & analysis I Ahmedabad I Wednesday, March 20, 2019
in brief
National Peace Group performs
street play ‘Gujarat ke Muhajir’
—Pravin Indrekar/DNA
Lion cub found
dead in Gir forest
A lion cub was found
dead near a farm in the
Tulsishyam Range of the
Gir Forest, said forest
department officials on
Tuesday. The 3-month-
old cub’s carcass was
found by forest staff on
Monday night and prima-
ry investigation has re-
vealed it may have been
killed in a territorial
fight among adult lions
to establish dominance,
said D T Vasavada, Chief
Conservator of Forests,
Junagadh Wildlife Circle.
This is the second case
this month of a cub get-
ting killed.
24 swine flu
cases reported
Twenty-four swine flu
cases were reported in
Guj on Tuesday, the low-
est in a single day in
many weeks. The state
health department said
that five cases were re-
ported in Ahmedabad
and Surat, & two each in
Vadodara and Bharuch.
Gandhinagar city, Botad,
Patan, Mehsana, Kutch,
Bhavnagar city, Dwarka,
Rajkot, Aravalli reported
one case each.
GNLU students
win competition
A team of Gujarat Na-
tional Law University
students won the 10th
NLU Antitrust Law Moot
Court Competition 2019,
organised by NLU Jodh-
pur. The GNLU team
comprising Darshan Pa-
tankar, Ashika Jain, and
Kunal Rawat prevailed
over the team of Symbio-
sis Law School in the fi-
nal round.
HC dismisses PIL demanding Poll meet at CM house: BJP gets clean chit
VVPAT for Lok Sabha elections
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
The Gujarat High Court, on
Tuesday, dismissed a public
interest litigation (PIL) seek-
ing directions to the Election
Commission of India (ECI)
and the Centre to procure ad-
equate numbers of electronic
voting machines (EVMs) and
Voter Verifiable Paper Audit
Trail (VVPAT) machines for
the upcoming general elec-
tions.
Notably, the dismissal
came from the division bench
of Acting Chief Justice AS
Dave and Justice Biren
Vaishnav, that had earlier re-
served its verdict in the case.
Citing information ob-
tained under the Right to In-
formation Act, advocate KR
Koshti, who appeared as
party-in-person in the PIL,
had submitted to the court
that ECI has only three lakh
VVPAT machines as against
over nine lakh EVMs, which
are in working condition. He
had sought the court’s direc-
tion to ECI and the Centre to
procure adequate number of
machines so that the Lok
Sabha elections could be held
02 
BJP likely to drop
8 to 9 sitting MPs
Party says non-performing lawmakers not to be repeated
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
As many as eight to nine sit-
ting Bharatiya Janata Party
members of the Parliament
from Gujarat may be re-
moved this time. The party’s
Parliamentary board has an-
alysed the performance of
these MPs in the past term
and have decided to replace
the candidates.
The party’s state-level Par-
liamentary board meeting
concluded on Tuesday after-
noon, but discussions ended
only later in the evening. The
discussion over candidate se-
lection for four Lok Sabha
seats; Rajkot, Porbandar,
Kutch, and Amreli concluded
by 2:30pm. Later, the leaders
talked about finalising the
panel so as to propose the
same before the central Par-
liamentary board of the par-
ty.
A senior leader of the par-
ty, who is one of the members
in the board said, “We dis-
cussed the performance of
sitting MPs and their rele-
vance in their territory. The
board has concluded that
there are at least eight to 10
members who failed to meet
the expectations of both the
voters and the party. They
may not get ticket as we have
prepared the report accord-
ingly that will be submitted
to our central parliamentary
board.”
The MPs who may be
shown the exit door include
LK Advani from Gandhina-
gar, Paresh Raval from
Ahmedabad East, Dr Kirit
Solanki from Ahmedabad
West, KC Patel from Valsad,
Naran Kachhadia from Am-
reli, Vitthal Radadia from
Porbandar, Prabhatsinh
Chauhan from Panch Ma-
hals, Dipsinh Rathod from
Sabarkantha, Leeladhar
Vaghela from Patan, and
Mansukh Vasava from
Picture for representation
last word
The dismissal came from
the division bench of
Acting Chief Justice AS
Dave and Justice Biren
Vaishnav, that had earlier
reserved its verdict in the
case. As per sources, ECI
has 3L VVPAT machines
smoothly. He had also sought
the court’s intervention in
the provision of the return-
ing officer’s discretion on
whether to count printed pa-
per slips on demand by a can-
didate, or not.
The party’s state-level Parl board meet concluded on Tuesday afternoon
Cong screening committee meets,
candidates may be named soon
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
The Congress is likely to
announce candidates for 22
Lok Sabha seats of the
state in a couple of days,
party officials said.
The Congress’s
screening committee
met at New Delhi
this evening and dis-
cussed names of can-
didates recommend-
ed by the party’s
state election com- State Cong prez ter Tushar Chaud-
mittee comprising Amit Chavda
state Congress presi-
dent Amit Chavda, leader
of opposition Paresh Dha-
nani, in-charge of party’s
Gujarat affairs Rajeev Sat- likely to field a Koli candi-
av, and others. The Central date from Navsari seat and
Election Committee would
finalise the candidates dur- Surat seat.
Bharuch.
The sitting MPs have also
proposed before the state
leadership that if they were
not under consideration,
someone from their family or
supporters should get the
ticket, but the party leaders
The lawyer had also chal-
lenged Rule 56D(2) of the
Conduct of Election Rules
which does not make it man-
datory for a returning officer
to count printed slips from
VVPAT upon demand for
counting by a candidate con-
testing the polls. He had also
challenged the constitutional
validity of this provision. Ko-
shti had also sought direc-
tions to the ECI to make it
mandatory to count the print-
ed paper slips in the drop box
of the printer in a polling sta-
tion in all general elections
in the future, where a VVPAT
machine is used.
ing its meeting on Wednes-
day.
“On more than half a
dozen seats, the panel com-
prises names of just one
candidate. It is likely that
these names may be an-
nounced tomorrow
itself, and those of
the remaining 13-14
seats in the next 3-4
days,” said a party
source.
Insiders said that
former union minis-
hary is likely to be
the party’s candidate
from Bardoli (ST) seat, and
MLA Jitu Chaudhary from
Valsad. The Congress is
a Patidar candidate from
in the state have not accepted
that formula, said the leader.
“There are sitting MPs,
who have demanded ticket
for family members such as
wife or children but there is
no scope to accept their pro-
posals,” the leader said.
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
The Gandhinagar District
Election Officer(collector),
on Tuesday, gave a clean chit
to Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) leaders in the breach of
model code of conduct case.
The complaint was filed
against the BJP for using the
chief minister’s residence as
premises to hold a political
meeting.
The report said that the
chief minister’s residence
did not fall in the prescribed
TV Journo death case: Police still shooting in the dark
Journos organised a candle march seeking swift probe in the case
—Pravin indrekar/dna
HC notice to EC over disqualified
ex-MLA Bhaga Barad’s petition
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
The Gujarat High Court, on
Tuesday, issued a notice to
the Election Commission in
response to former Congress
MLA Bhaga Barad’s petition
questioning the haste in an-
nouncing by-election to the
Talala Assembly seat. Notice
was also issued to state’s
Chief Electoral Officer and
the assembly secretary.
The notice was issued by
the division bench of justices
SR Brahmbhatt and VB Ma-
yani.
Barad’s lawyer contended
before the High Court bench
that the Election Commis-
sion’s decision to announce
the by-election for Talala was
taken in haste. He said that
the EC has eight weeks to de-
clare by-election to vacant
seats, but the by-poll for Ta-
lala was announced just five
days after Barad’s disqualifi-
cation.
Barad, who was convicted
in a case of illegal mining
right to choose
Divyangs hold placards at an awareness rally in the city on Tuesday. Hundreds of them participated in the rally
calling for higher voter participation in polls —AFP
not guilty
The report said that the
CM’s residence did not
fall in the EC prescribed
list of govt buildings
that are prohibited from
political use, especially
when the model code
of conduct is under
implementation
list of government buildings
by the Election Commission
(EC) that are prohibited
from political use, especially
world sparrow day Rajkot local began work a decade ago
Sparrow man distributes 2L nests a year
Smitha R
smitha.rajan@dnaindia.net
Every World Sparrow Day as
the world wakes up to the
need of protecting sparrows
and thus begins distribution
of sparrow nests, one man
calmly goes about doing his
work. The sudden spurt of
activities to protect sparrows
on March 20, the World Spar-
row Day, often amuses VD
Bala, a former Range Forest
Officer.
Every year, Bala distrib-
utes at least two lakh sparrow
nests made up of cardboard
papers irrespective of wheth-
er it is a day of celebration or
not.
“The nests cost me Rs10
each and I give them away for
Rs5. I don’t give it for free be-
cause I have realised that
ah
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Ex-Cong MLA Bhaga Barad
and sentenced to two years
and nine months of impris-
onment on March 1, was dis-
qualified by Assembly speak-
er Rajendra Trivedi on
March 5. The EC had declared
the by-election on March 10,
even though a sessions court
in Veraval had stayed his con-
viction on March 8. The stay
was quashed by the High
Court on March 15.
The former MLA’s lawyer
CM Vijay Rupani
when the code of conduct is
under implementation due
to polls.
The Congress party in Gu-
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
It’s been four days since the
charred body of TV news
channel journalist Chirag
Patel was found at a secluded
spot on the Nikol-Kathwada
Road on Saturday afternoon.
The cops are still not clear on
whether it is a case of suicide
or murder.
The police are probing all
angles including that of sui-
cide and murder, but they
still haven’t reached a conclu-
sion. On Tuesday, people
Nests made up of cardboard paper
when you give something for
free it is not valued,” Bala
said.
Bala, who began working
for sparrow conservation al-
most a decade ago, also
makes it a point to visit at
least two schools every day,
sharing with them the need
to keep nests in their houses
for the bird.
edabad
inside peek
„„The notice was issued
by the division bench of
justices SR Brahmbhatt
and VB Mayani
„„Barad’s lawyer
contended before HC
bench that the EC’s
stand to declare by-
election for Talala was
taken in haste
„„Barad was convicted
for illegal mining and sent
to jail on March 1
also stated that the Assembly
speaker’s decision was politi-
cally motivated, and taken in
haste. He pointed out that
disqualification of an MLA
fell under the purview of the
governor, and not the speak-
er.
The state government’s
counsel said before the High
Court that as per rules, dis-
qualification sets automati-
cally from the date of convic-
jarat had filed a complaint
on Sunday before the chief
electoral officer(CEO) com-
plaining against chief min-
ister Vijay Rupani and Guja-
rat BJP chief Jitu Vaghani.
The plaint was over the
BJP’s parliamentary board
meeting for selection of can-
didates for Lok Sabha polls
being held at the chief min-
ister’s residence in Gandhi-
nagar.
The DEO filed the report
on Tuesday and submitted it
to the CEO.
 Full report: www.dnaindia.com
started sharing and posting
comments demanding “Jus-
tice for Chirag” on social me-
dia. Many allegations were
made regarding Gujarat po-
lice’s investigation of the
case.
In order to get justice in
the case, on Tuesday, Patel’s
family members met with
Home Minister Pradipsinh
Jadeja. Gujarat BJP spokes-
person Bharat Pandya told
reporters that Chief Minister
Vijay Rupani had asked the
police to conduct a thorough
probe in the matter.
Only a few people
realise that
sparrows don’t
spend their nights inside
nests. They prefer
spending nights in
thorny bushes and trees
VD Bala,
ex-Range Forest Officer
“We helped identify 32
spots that sparrows use for
night rest in Rajkot and dis-
tributed the nests to houses
close by so that the sparrows
could make their homes
there,” Bala said.
The now-retired forest of-
ficer is not much impressed
with the clay houses that are
being offered in many parts
tion. He also said that due
processes had been followed.
Explaining the procedure,
he said the Assembly secre-
tary has to issue a notifica-
tion with the speaker’s con-
sent about the disqualifica-
tion. The notification is re-
quired to be communicated
to the state’s Chief Electoral
Officer (CEO), who in turn,
intimates EC. The govern-
ment also submitted that an-
nouncement of by-election is
EC’s prerogative, and the
state has no role in it.
Issuing a notice to it, the
High Court directed the EC to
file a reply by March 25. The
bench also clarified that it
would announce its verdict
by March 28, the date the no-
tification for Talala by-elec-
tion is slated to be issued.
Barad was accused of
stealing limestone worth
Rs2.83 crore from govern-
ment land in Sutrapada, as
per an FIR made against him
in 1995. He was found guilty
under IPC section 379, which
deals in punishment for theft.
Police bust
spurious ghee
making racket
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Late on Monday night, a team
of sleuths from the
Ahmedabad Crime branch
busted a factory in the Cha-
manpura area for manufac-
turing and selling spurious
ghee by passing it off as
Amul Ghee. According to the
police, the factory was being
run by two people, who used
to sell the spurious ghee to
the local markets.
The crime branch offi-
cials, on Monday, received a
tip-off that in one of the
shops at Sumel Business park
in Chamanpu-
ra, spurious
ghee was being
produced and
sold.
The crime
branch sleuths
led by sub-in-
spector Korat Picture for
raided
number 5 and
shop representation
seized valuables worth Rs3.4
lakh. The valuables included
the machine used to make
ghee, Amul boxes, Amul
packets, palm oil, and vanas-
pati.
The investigation revealed
that the factory was run by
the accused identified as
Ramesh Sangula and Nemar-
am Mali. Both the accused
are currently absconding.
BV Gohil, ACP, crime
branch said, “The accused
were mixing palm oil, vanas-
pati with chemicals and were
selling it in Amul boxes.”
Later that day, a press con-
ference was held by MS
Bharada (Additional CP Sec-
tor-2), Aksaray Makwana
(DCP Zone 5) and HB Zala (PI
Nikol) at the Sector-2 office
regarding the case.
At the press conference,
Additional Commissioner
MS Bharada said, “There
were no external injuries on
the body as per postmortem.
Even evidence recovered by
us shows he was alone at the
incident spot. Primarily it ap-
pears to be a case of suicide
but let’s probe.
of Gujarat as sparrow nests.
“In clay nests, the birds
don’t get enough place to
build a bed, “ said Bala. He
said in the last decade, works
of those like him in conserv-
ing sparrows have resulted in
a resurgence of the bird’s
population. “In Rajkot city
alone, where I live, sparrows
are now more visible and this
is true for the Kutch region
too. Overall, Saurashtra is
doing good as far as the spar-
row population is con-
cerned,” said Bala.
Interestingly, the nests he
distributes comes with a list
of instructions guiding the
buyers on where and how to
place it. “One important
thing to observe when plac-
ing a nest is to ensure that it
is in a shaded area and never
on a balcony,” said Bala.
 ah
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in brief
IP Gautam named
Lokpal member
Retired IAS officer IP
Gautam was on Tuesday
appointed as a member
of the Lokpal, which
will be headed by justice
(retired) PC Ghose. He is
among the four non-judi-
cial members of the cor-
ruption watchdog. Gau-
tam is at present the
managing director of
Gujarat Metro Rail Cor-
poration (GMRC), which
is executing the
Ahmedabad Metro rail
project. He also served
as municipal commis-
sioner of Ahmedabad
for long, and it was dur-
ing his tenure that the
Sabarmati Riverfront
and the BRTS project
took shape.
Hearing on lion
deaths adjourned
The Gujarat High
Court’s division bench
of Justice SR Brahmb-
hatt and Justice VB Ma-
yani on Tuesday ad-
journed the hearing in
the suo-motu public in-
terest litigation on the
rampant lion deaths tak-
ing place in the state to
March 26. The hearing
was adjourned due to
the paucity of time as
the court was occupied
with other matters. No-
tably, the court had earli-
er ordered all the stake-
holders to point out the
problems affecting the
conservation of Asiatic
Lions in the Gir forest.
35 ideas get green
signal by GUJSEC
Thirty five innovative
ideas under the her-
START program
launched by Gujarat
University Startup and
Entrepreneurship Coun-
cil found support for the
pre-incubation stage
from GUJSEC on Tues-
day. herSTART, an initia-
tive to promote women-
led startup ideas saw
more than 650 partici-
pants participate of
which 120 were selected
for a two-day bootcamp.
Pay farmers mkt rate for land One booked for
for Gift City road, HC tells state filming minor in
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
The Gujarat High Court on
Tuesday directed the state
government to decide afresh
the compensation to be paid to
farmers whose land is to be
acquired for the widening of
the approach road to Gift City
that connects the internation-
al financial services centre to
Chiloda Highway.
The court also ordered that
the reassessment of the com-
pensation has to be done fol-
lowing the procedures laid
down under the Land Acquisi-
tion Act, 2013, and as per the
prevalent market rates. Also,
the court directed the author-
ities to pay the compensation
to the land owners within a
period of six months.
Notably, the directions
were issued by the division
bench of Acting Chief Justice
AS Dave and Justice Biren
Vaishnav while pronouncing
its verdict in a bunch of peti-
tions filed by farmers point-
ing out the non-payment of
compensation for their land,
which was to be acquired for
the project. The verdict is go-
ing to benefit around 40 farm-
ers.
According to the counsel
for the farmers Saurabh
Amin, the process for acquisi-
low attendance Successive CAIT programs turn out to be major duds
Time and again city traders ditch CAIT rallies
Keyur Dhandeo
keyur.dhandeo@dnaindia.net
The Confederation of All In-
dia Traders (CAIT) had
planned a demonstration to
boycott and conduct a bonfire
of Chinese goods at the Ra-
tanpole area of old city. How-
ever, at the time the protest
was supposed to be held, very
few traders turned up. Those
that did, cancelled the bon-
fire and instead, chanted slo-
gans and displayed placards,
saying that city police did not
give them permission.
On October 2 last year, a
‘rath yatra’ to protest against
relaxation in Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI) in the re-
tail sector in the country,
was supposed to pass
edabad
Bank advances, deposits
stagnate on poor growth
Deposits grew
0.14% in Dec
quarter, advances
2.3%, says SLBC
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Bank deposits and advances
in the state have stagnated in
the current financial year, ac-
cording to a the State Level
Bankers Committee (SLBC)
report for the October to De-
cember quarter of the fiscal
2018-19. Overall deposits have
grown by 1.94 per cent, while
overall advances have grown
by 8.35 per cent. Market play-
ers say that rise in advances is
more to meet the liquidity of
industries and is less because
of actual growth. They also
said that stagnation in depos-
its could be because of lower
savings and a fall in trust on
banks.
According to the report,
bank deposits stand at Rs
6,75,228 crore, a rise of 1.94 per
cent over Rs 6,62,394 crore in
the last quarter of the previ-
ous fiscal. Bankers said that
Govt gets more time to reply in Hardik’s plea
Counsel for state said Hardik Patel is habitual offender—File photo
authorities told to pay in six months
„„The court also ordered
that the reassessment of
the compensation has to be
done following the procedures
laid down under the Land
Acquisition Act, 2013
tion of land for the widening
of the approach road from the
existing 30-meters to 45-me-
ters started in the year 2011
under the Land Acquisition
Act, 1894. After the publica-
tion of preliminary notifica-
tion in 2011, the declaration
that the land was required for
public purpose was made a
year later.
It was the contention of
Amin that under Section 11 A
of the Act of 1894, the collec-
tor is supposed to ascertain
the compensation and make
Unlike Ahmedabad traders in other cities turn up in large numbers
through the city. That dem-
onstration also turned out to
be a no-show as hardly any
traders from the city came
out to show their solidarity
with the cause.
“This is not a fiasco. What
state’s liquidity
Quarter Deposits % growth Advances % growth
Oct-Dec-18 675228 0.14 584439 2.38
July-Sept-18 674295 2.74 570870 4.51
Apr-June-18 656239 0.1 546234 1.3
Jan-March-18 662394 4.36 539392 6.02
Oct-Dec-17 634730 0.47 508782 3.39
July-Sept-17 631738 1.37 489738 2.57
Apr-June-17 623198 -0.1 477480 10.67
Jan-March-17 623787 -1.22 431451 3.02
Figures in Rs crore, Source: SLBC – Gujarat
this is because of deliberate
lower interest rate to reduce
cost of deposits. “Earlier,
banks used to offer incentives
to depositors. This time no
such sops were offered. So de-
„„The court directed
the authorities to pay
the compensation to
the land owners within a
period of six months.
an award to the land losers
within a period of two years
from the declaration. Howev-
er, the same was not carried
out and therefore, the farmers
moved court.
“Now, the court has or-
dered the authorities to com-
pute the compensation for
the land owners as per the
procedure laid down under
the Land Acquisition Act,
2013, and the state govern-
ment will have to pay as per
the prevalent market rates,”
Amin told DNA.
can I do if traders do not
turn up? Also, the police re-
fused to give us permission
to conduct a bonfire in the
city,” said Mahendra Shah,
national chairman of CAIT.
He was supposed to lead a
posits have not grown,” said a
banker with the condition of
anonymity. However,
Bhagyesh Soneji, former
chairperson of ASSOCHAM
in Gujarat said that this also
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
The state government on
Tuesday sought more time
from the Gujarat High Court
to file reply in the petition of
Congress leader Hardik Patel
seeking a suspension of the
two-years sentence awarded
to him in a rioting case regis-
tered against him during the
Patidar quota stir in 2015.
Patel wants the sentence to
be suspended so that he can
contest the Lok Sabha elec-
tion.
Counsel for the state gov-
bookshop toilet
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
A complaint was lodged with
the Vastrapur police station
on Monday after an unidenti-
fied man tried to film a minor
with his mobile phone in the
washroom of a Crossword
book store.
According to the police, the
incident took place on Sunday
afternoon inside the wash-
room of a Crossword book
store in the Mondeal Retail
Park complex located on SG
highway. The complaint was
lodged with the police station
by the victim’s father.
As per the complaint, on
Sunday afternoon, the 8-year-
old girl had gone to the Cross-
word store with her family to
do some reading. During the
time, the girl went to use the
washroom of the book store.
The girl spotted a hand slip-
ping beneath door and some-
one was trying to push a mob-
ilephone
As soon as she noticed it,
she started to scream for help
and started shouting at the
person behind the door. The
accused fled from the wash-
room.
Meanwhile, people rushed
other cities fare well
„„Protests in other cities
of Gujarat like Surat,
Vadodara and Jamnagar
did see good strength.
Things did not shape up
in Ahmedabad.
„„Sources in the
trading community
blame a lack of network
and limitations of the
leadership of CAIT in
Gujarat.
group of traders to protest
against import of Chinese
goods as China has, once
again, blocked India’s pro-
posal in the United Nations
(UN) to hand over Jaish-e-
Mohammad chief Masood
reflect that lower wage hike
and increasing costs have
taken a toll on savings of the
masses. “People are able to
save less, so obviously depos-
its are stagnating. Moreover,
there are concerns over safety
of banks. Merger and other
measures in Public Sector
Banks have eroded the confi-
dence of masses,” said Soneji.
The scenario in advances
is also similar. Total bank ad-
vances stand at Rs 5,84,439
crore, a rise of Rs 45,047 crore
or 8.35 per cent over Rs 5,39,392
crore. Of this, priority sector
has a share of Rs 35,258 crore
of incremental loans and
within it, MSME advances
has a share of Rs 24,947 crore.
It grew by 26.30 per cent dur-
ing the fiscal. “Major part of
the rise is because MSMEs
need more funds to maintain
their liquidity. Special meas-
ures to reach out to small
business as well as relaxation
in norms of Non Performing
Assets (NPA) has also enabled
them to raise more loans. No
doubt there is some growth in
MSMEs as well,” said Vasa.
Soneji said that overall
slower growth in advances
reflect overall slowdown in
the economy.
ernment argued that Hardik
is a habitual offender with
several FIRs registered
against him in various police
stations. The public prosecu-
tor, thereafter, requested
more time from the court to
submit more documents
against the Patidar leader.
Hardik’s lawyer Rafik
Lokhandwala, however, op-
posed the state’s request and
argued before the court that
the government was wasting
time.
However, the single-judge
bench of Justice AG Uraizee
allowed the state’s request
accused on run
„„The accused has not
been arrested yet, but
police says he was be
behind the bars soon.
„„As soon as the
incident came to fore
the accused ran from
the spot. Police went
through CCTV to
identify them
to the spot after they heard the
screams of the minor. She nar-
rated the entire matter to her
parents and later, a complaint
was lodged with the Vastrapur
police station against the ac-
cused.
Inspector MM Jadeja of
Vastrapur police station said,
“Regarding the matter, we
have started an investigation
by recovering the footage
from the CCTV at the spot to
identify the accused respon-
sible for the crime. We have
lodged a complaint under IPC
Section 354 against the ac-
cused and further investiga-
tion is on. The accused has
not been arrested yet, but we
will get him soon.”
Azhar to the UN for master-
minding terrorist activities
in India.
Shah said that while pro-
grammes in other states
went ahead as per schedule,
the one in Ahmedabad did
not. “We got good responses
from other states. Even in
Gujarat, there are protests in
Surat, Vadodara and Jamna-
gar. Things did not shape up
in Ahmedabad,” he said.
Sources in the trading
community blame a lack of
network and limitations of
the leadership of CAIT in
Gujarat. “I was sent a mes-
sage, but saw it only today. I
was not aware of what the
programme was regarding,”
said a leading trader in the
old market of the city.
03
Ahmedabad I Wednesday, March 20, 2019 I daily news & analysis
DRI recovers
`52 cr from
exporters
The Directorate of Revenue
Intelligence (DRI),
Ahmedabad, recovered from
Rs52 crore from insecticide
exporters, who were wrong-
fully claiming incentives by
mis-classifying their products.
DRI said in a release that
its officers conducted search-
es at various insecticide ex-
porters based in Gujarat,
Mumbai and Tamil Nadu in
view of specific intelligence
that they were indulging in
mis-classification of their ex-
port product ‘insecticides’.
“By doing so, they were
wrongfully claiming Mer-
chandise Exporters from In-
dia Scheme (MEIS) benefit at
3% of FOV (free on board
value) of their export prod-
Ishrat case: Ex-cops
will not be prosecuted
uct against their actual enti-
tlement of 2%,” DRI said in a
release. The agency said that
the exporters had voluntarily
paid Rs52 crore so far to- The Gujarat government has
wards wrongful availment of declined sanction to prose-
excess benefit under MEIS by cute retired police officers
resorting to mis-classifica- DG Vanzara and NK Amin in
tion having value of more the alleged fake encounter
than Rs5,500 crore. case of Ishrat Jahan and
MEIS is an export incen- three others, the Central Bu-
tive scheme of the central reau of Investigation told a
government under which ex- special CBIcourt on Tuesday.
porters get 1% to 7% of FOB The government’s deci-
value of export product as sion may pave the way for the DG Vanzara
incentive depending upon controversial case against
the product and customs tar- Vanzara and Amin to be to prosecute a public servant.
iff heading under which it is dropped. After going through The court had earlier re-
classifiable.—DNA a letter submitted to the court jected the discharge pleas of
by CBI lawyer R C Kodekar, Vanzara, former deputy in-
Judge J K Pandya said the spector general of police in
sanction to prosecute the two
former officers, who were ac-
cused in the case, under Sec-
tion 197 of the Criminal Pro-
Gujarat, and Amin, who re-
tired as superintendent of
police, and asked the CBI to
clear its stand on whether it
and granted time till March cedure Code (CrPC), was de- wants to get sanction from
26 to furnish the reply. clined by the state govern- the state government to pros-
Notably, Patel had moved ment. ecute them.
the high court on March 8 The defence lawyers then Accordingly, the CBI wrote
seeking a suspension of the sought permission to file an to the state government re-
stay in the 2015 case. He was application to drop the pro- questing the same.
convicted in the case in July ceedings against Vanzara and Vanzara and Amin are two
2018 by a Visnagar Court in Amin. he court granted the of the seven accused charge-
Mehsana district, which request and asked them to file sheeted by the CBI in the
found him guilty for rioting an application on March 26. case. Vanzara had sought dis-
in the Visnagar MLA’s office. It will now be up to the CBI charge in the case on the
Since he has been convicted to decide whether to proceed ground of parity with the
for two-years, he cannot con- with the case against the two state’s former in-charge Di-
test the election pursuant to without the government rector General of Police P P
the Supreme Court order sanction. Pandey, who was discharged
which bars candidates facing As per CrPC Section 197, in the case in February last
conviction from contesting prior sanction is required year for want of evidence.
the polls. from a competent authority  —PTI
sweetness with dash of colours
People buying harda, a local sweet, ahead of the festival of Holi in Ahmedabad —Pravin Indrekar/DNA
7 cheating cases registered on
last day of Class 10 board exam
DNA Correspondent was of a dummy candidate. held for carrying mobile
correspondent@dnaindia.net On the last day the highest phones in examination cen-
number of absence was re- tres.
Seven cases of copying were corded in Banaskantha- In all 105 cases of copying,
registered on the last day of Palanpur followed by Dahod. carrying mobile phones and
the Class 10 board exams in Both The places saw 1,408 and using dummy students were
the state while one case of a 1,133 students remaining ab- reported during this year’s
dummy candidate appearing sent. In Class 10, against the Board exams.
for the exams was reported. 95,8140 registered students, Around 18.50 lakh stu-
Three cases each were regis- 93,7776 students appeared for dents were expected to ap-
tered in Amreli and Juna-
gadh while two were regis-
the Class 10 board exams.
It should be noted that since
pear for the class 10 and 12
board exams with around 925
tered in Banaskantha-Palan- the class 10 board exams be- centres for class 10 and 653
pur. Of the two cases regis-
tered in Banaskantha one
gan, so far 85 cases of cheat-
ing while 12 students were
centres across the state for
class 12.
HC slaps `1,000 fine
on Balvantsinh Rajput
DNA Correspondent correspondent@dnaindia.net
Gujarat High Court on Tuesday slapped a fine of
Rs 1,000 on BJP leader Balvantsinh Rajput as one
of his supporting witness did not appear before
the court. The amount is supposed to be deposited
in the registry by Wednesday. This is to compen-
sate for the expenses incurred by Patel for the pro-
ceedings. A single judge bench of Justice Bela
Trivedi had summoned the witness, Vinodkumar
Thakkar, owner of Bhakti Travels to testify before
the court. However, he did not remain present in
the court for a testimony, resulting in the fine. Min-
ister of State for home and law, Pradeepsinh Jade-
ja is also supposed to give testimony on Wednesday.
Balvintsinh has challenged Patel’s election to Ra-
jya Sabha saying that he got votes by intimidating
Congress MLAs to vote in his favour.

daily news & analysis I Ahmedabad I Wednesday, March 20, 2019
in brief
ED cracks down
on Hizbul in J&K
The ED attached 13 prop-
erties worth Rs 1.22 crore
belonging to Mohammad
Shafi Shah and six other
cadres of Hizbul Mujhad-
den under PMLA. ED
sources said Hizbul has
been responsible for fund-
ing terrorist and seces-
sionist activities in the
state and has its finances
organised through a trust
in connivance with ISI
and other Pakistan-based
entities. Sources said the
terror funds are routed to
India through Hawala
channels, barter trade and
human carriers, and dis-
tributed to terrorists’ kin.
India, Pak hold
talks on Kartarpur
Indian and Pakistani tech-
nical experts held a meet-
ing on the Kartarpur cor-
ridor on Monday, during
which its alignment, coor-
dinates and other engi-
neering aspects of the
proposed crossing points
were discussed. An Indian
delegation will visit Paki-
stan to take the discus-
sions further on April 2.
1.81 lakh hoardings
taken down in Delhi
The Election Commission
said it has removed over
1.81 lakh hoardings across
the National Capital since
the imposition of Model
Code of Conduct. The
Chief Electoral Office in
Delhi said that of the total
1,81,155 hoardings, ban-
ners or posters removed,
62,411 have been in
NDMC, followed by 44,793
in SDMC, 41,007 in EDMC
and 30,533 in the New Del-
hi Municipal Council. It
also said 2,411 banners
were removed in the Delhi
Cantonment Board area.
SC asks miners’ families if they want bodies
New Delhi: The Supreme
Court has sought to know
from the relatives of miners,
who were trapped in an illegal
mine in Meghalaya three
months ago whether they
wanted to recover the bodies
which might have been “de-
composed” by now.
On December 13 last year,
15 miners were trapped in an
illegal coal mine at Ksan in
East Jaintia Hills district of
Meghalaya, about 3.7 km deep
inside a forest, when water
from the nearby Lytein river
gushed into it. Only two bod-
ies have been recovered so far.
The court is hearing a plea
which sought urgent steps for
rescuing the miners trapped
in the rat-hole mine. A bench
of justices SA Bobde and SK
Kaul told the petitioner to ask
family members of the min-
ers as to whether they want to
get the bodies.
04 
Floor test for Goa’s Vadra’s relief extended till Mar 25
Sawant govt today
CM, 11 others
sworn in at 2 am,
face numbers test
within 36 hours
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Mumbai/Panaji: Dr Pramod
Sawant became the newest
Chief Minister of Goa after
the BJP-led coalition govern-
ment was sworn in on Tues-
day. Sawant would have two
deputy chief ministers as the
saffron party tries to placate
allies. Sudin Dhavalikar, who
heads the Maharashtrawadi
Gomantak Party (MGP), and
Vijay Sardesai of the Goa For-
ward Party (GFP), were
named the two deputies.
Both parties have three
MLAs each and are crucial to
the BJP in the 40-member As-
sembly. They will need the
support of every one of these
MLAs, especially since a
floor test has been scheduled
for Wednesday.
Governor Mridula Sinha
convened a special session of
Assembly at 11.30 am on
Wednesday to enable the floor
test. Sawant said on Tuesday
that his government was con-
fident of proving its strength.
The coastal state plunged
into uncertainty after the
death of chief minister Mano-
har Parrikar on Sunday.
Sawant, Speaker of the As-
sembly, was chosen as his suc-
cessor, but the MGP was hold-
ing out, saying Dhavalikar is
the senior-most Cabinet mem-
An NDRF team at the spot — file
“The petitioner is directed
to ascertain from the relatives
of the deceased if they wish
to have the bodies recovered
having regard to the fact that
they may be already in a com-
pletely decomposed condi-
tion,” the bench said.
Pramod Sawant pays tribute to former CM Manohar Parrikar — PTI
meet pramod sawant, 11th cm of goa
„„46-year-old Pramod
Sawant, two-time MLA from
Sankhalim, had been a
staunch Parrikar supporter.
„„Among the few BJP
MLAs who got re-elected
2 years ago, when the
party won only 13 seats
as compared to 21.
ber. “This couldn’t be done
since he didn’t belong to the
party,” said deputy speaker
and Goa BJP leader Michael
Lobo, who added that Dhava-
likar was brought around af-
ter two MGP MLAs — Mano-
har (Babu) Azgaonkar and
Deepak Pauskar — were will-
ing to defect to the BJP.
Furthermore, BJP is also
seeking that MGP withdraw
from by-elections to Shiroda,
Mandrem and Mapusa seats.
Dhavalikar’s brother Deepak
had earlier announced that he
would contest from Shiroda,
The top court also directed
Dr Sudhir Kumar, hydrologist
of Roorkee’s National Insti-
tute of Hydrology to visit the
site, and after re-appraisal,
submit a report pointing out
if pumping of water being
done there for de-watering is
Ambedkar
tenders raises Pawar’s...
& Notices
„„Sawant is a former
chairman of the Goa
State Infrastructure
Development Corporation
„„He holds a degree in
Ayurveda, Medicine and
Surgery from the Ganga
Education Society’s
Ayurvedic College.
and the BJP’s latest demand
could hurt his chances. Deep-
ak declined comment when
DNA reached out.
Sawant, who was sworn-in
just before 2 am, said his prior-
ity will be to complete projects
undertaken by Parrikar. The
state government will build a
memorial in Parrikar’s name
at the Miramar beach where
he was cremated, he added. “I
will try to ensure that the alli-
ance remains intact. I will
deal with people the way Par-
rikar used to,” he said.
With inputs from PTI
bleak times
15 miners were trapped
in an illegal coal mine in
Meghalaya on December
13 when water from a
river rushed inside and
trapped them. Only
2 bodies have been
recovered, and the court
said the other bodies may
have decomposed.
adequate. “The hydrologist
may also suggest what needs
to be done in the future for
recovering the bodies,” the
bench said and posted the
matter for further hearing in
first week of April.
Last month, the apex court
had said high-powered pumps
of Kirloskar company be air-
lifted and installed immedi-
ately for de-watering of the
mine. — PTI
From P1
Pawar is placed as the fulcrum
of Opposition unity ahead of
the polls, which has NCP lead-
ers questioning the timing of
Ambedkar’s allegation. So far,
Ambedkar has been keeping
his distance from both allianc-
es in the state. Party spokes-
man Nawab Malik said Ambed-
kar was trying to help the BJP,
and that Pawar had repeatedly
offered a justification.
Full report: www.dnaindia.com
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: A court has ex-
tended Robert Vadra’s inter-
im protection from arrest,
even as the Enforcement Di-
rectorate (ED) sought his cus-
todial interrogation. The in-
vestigating agency accused
Vadra of not cooperating
with the probe, before the
court extended his relief till
March 25. It also directed him
to cooperate with the ED.
Special public prosecutors
representing the agency told
the court of special judge
Arvind Kumar that Vadra
isn’t cooperating despite sev-
eral opportunities, and that
custodial interrogation is re-
quired. They also said that
since he is a high-profile per-
sonality, he is likely to tam-
per with the evidence and
thereby hamper the probe.
Following these argu-
ments, the matter was put
off until March 25, while
Vadra’s interim protection
was extended.
During the proceedings,
CBI ‘working’
on extradition
of Nirav Modi
New Delhi: Expeditious ef-
forts are being made to get
absconding jeweller Nirav
Modi extradited from UK,
CBI sources said.
They said an extradition
request has been sent to the
United Kingdom through the
External Affairs Ministry.
Highly placed sources said
no new intimation has come
in after he was spotted in
London earlier this month.
These are legal processes
which take their own time,
they said, adding the CBI
will provide every possible
assistance to UK agencies to
expedite his extradition re-
quest.
They clarified there are no
immediate plans for sending
a team to London. The UK
had responded to a Red Cor-
ner Notice issued by the
agency against Nirav Modi
last year, they said. The RCN
was issued in June 2018 on a
request to Interpol.
Nirav Modi had fled the
country after allegedly si-
phoning off about Rs 13,0000
crore from Punjab National
Bank (PNB) using letters of
undertaking in collusion
with his uncle Mehul Choski.
The 48-year old was recent-
ly spotted in a London neigh-
bourhood wearing a £10,000
Ostrich hide jacket by the
London-based newspaper The
Telegraph. On Tuesday also,
several Indian channels spot-
ted him in the area. — PTI
Delhi traders protest, burn Chinese goods
New Delhi: Traders across
the country burnt Chinese
goods to protest China’s move
to use its veto in the UN Secu-
rity Council against declara-
tion of JeM chief Masood
Azhar as a “global terrorist”,
the Confederation of All In-
dian Traders said.
China for the fourth time
blocked a bid in the United Na-
tions Security Council last
week to designate the Paki-
stan-based chief of Jaish-e-
Mohammed as a “global ter-
PTI
rorist” by putting a technical
hold on the proposal, a move
India termed “disappointing”.
“Traders are ‘chowkidars’
of Indian economy, thus trade
from China will not flourish
www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia
Robert Vadra arrives at the ED office for questioning — FILE
ED also alleged that Vadra’s
conduct during the course of
investigation raises even
more apprehensions that he
is key to unearthing the mo-
dus operandi and black mon-
ey. Moreover, they also ac-
cused co-accused Manoj
Arora of evading the process
of law.
The agency said the inves-
tigation is at a crucial stage
and that various incriminat-
ing documents have come on
record. “There are ample evi-
Christian Michel won’t be solitary
anymore, shifts to normal prison
Sakshi Chand
sakshi.chand@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: Christian
Michel James, accused in the
AgustaWestland chopper
scam, will now be moved to a
normal cell in Delhi’s Tihar
jail, after a court noted that
the torture he faced in soli-
tary confinement was taking
a toll on his health and men-
tal balance.
Ordering the director gen-
eral of Tihar jail to immedi-
ately shift Michel, special
CBI judge Arvind Kumar
asked prison authorities to
ensure his safety and securi-
ty. A compliance report will
also be announced within
three days. The judge also di-
rected jail authorities to
maintain CCTV footage of
where Michel is lodged. He
would be provided all facili-
ties as per the jail manual,
including library, books, can-
teen, sports, etc., the trial
judge ordered.
The judge had seen CCTV
footage of the jail cell where
Michel was kept before pass-
ing the order. The judge was
convinced that he was in total
isolation, and it’s no less than
“solitary confinement”. “It’s
a fact that solitary confine-
ment can cause an array of
mental disorders and also
provoke an already existing
mental disorder in prison,
causing more trauma. It may
also lead to hypertension,
here any more,” Praveen
Khandelwal, CAIT secretary
general, said.
Whoever stands against
the national security of India,
indi
dences in the form of e-mails
retrieved from seized elec-
tronic devices as well as ma-
terial information gathered
from electronic surveillance
that show Vadra’s involve-
ment as well as of his associ-
ates in undisclosed overseas
assets. He, during the course
of the investigation, has bla-
tantly denied taking advan-
tage of the interim protec-
tion,” it said.
Last month, Vadra had filed
for an anticipatory bail plea in
Christian Michel at the Delhi court — File
It’s a fact that solitary confinement can cause
an array of mental disorders and also provoke
an already existing mental disorder in prison,
causing more trauma.
Arvind Kumar, Special CBI judge
headaches, dizziness, palpita-
tions, etc.,” Kumar said.
Aljo K Joseph, who repre-
sented Michel in court, said,
“The court has accepted the
contention that Michel is in
illegal solitary confinement.
The endeavour by agencies
and the government to take a
confessional statement from
Michel is evident.”
DP Singh, a counsel for the
investigating agency, then
said Michel is a foreigner
who was extradited and his
safety and security is the
country’s concern.
the traders will boycott the
goods of that country, he said.
On the call of CAIT, traders
across the country gave a
strong message to China by
Centre steps in as
Jet crisis deepens
From P1
“Directed Secretary, @ and providing alternate
MoCA_GoI to hold an emer-
gency meeting on the ground-
ing of flights by Jet Airways,
Advance bookings, Cancella-
tion, Refunds and Safety is-
sues, if any. Asked him to get
a report on Jet compliance
issues immediately from
DGCA,” tweeted Civil Avia-
tion Minister Suresh Prabhu.
Earlier, the Jet Airways
Aircraft Maintenance Engi-
neers’ Association wrote to
DGCA, saying long delays in
salaries had affected its
members’ psychological con-
dition. This puts the safety of
the airline’s flight operations
at risk, said JAMEWA. How-
ever, it said the operations
are being done keeping all
safety parameters in mind.
According to the DGCA, it
has instructed the carrier to
comply with the norms re-
garding timely communica-
case against vadra
„„The CBI court had
earlier this month
extended Vadra’s interim
bail till March 19.
„„Vadra appeared before
the ED for questioning in
connection with a money
laundering case.
„„He is alleged to have
purchased a London
property worth 1.9 million
pounds.
connection with the case, al-
leging that he is being targeted
and subject to false prosecu-
tion, which has acquired the
colour of a political witch
hunt. He added that he is a law-
abiding citizen. Vadra has
been granted protection from
arrest several times by the
court, but had filed an antici-
patory bail application in the
case linked to allegations of
money laundering in the pur-
chase of a London property
worth 1.9 million pounds.
Michel was remanded to
judicial custody on Decem-
ber 19, 2018. He was first kept
in a cell with 40 other prison-
ers. But irked by constant
questioning by fellow in-
mates about the case, he
sought a transfer to another
cell. Thereafter, considering
his security, he was moved to
a high security jail inside
Tihar, where he remained for
close to a month. Then, find-
ing himself the only prisoner
in the high security prison,
he had moved a fresh plea to
be shifted to a normal cell.
burning Chinese goods ahead
of Holi festival. In Delhi, the
event was held at Sadar Bazar,
the hub of Chinese goods, the
statement said. Thousands of
traders from all parts of the
city participated in the dem-
onstration. They made heaps
of Chinese goods and put
them on fire, it said.
They also held placards,
urging people to boycott Chi-
nese goods. They shouted slo-
gans against China and
warned Beijing to stop helping
Pakistan in sponsoring terror
activities. They also said they
would dislodge China from In-
dia which is its largest market
if it failed to mend its ways.
— PTI
tion, compensation, refunds
flights wherever applicable.
Amid rising airfares
across the sector due to can-
cellations by Jet, particular-
ly ahead of summer holi-
days, the DGCA has also ad-
vised airlines to increase
flights so that the fares re-
main in check, a senior offi-
cial said.
DNA had reported that Jet
customers were angry over
cancellations and delay re-
funds. “I had booked Jet Air-
ways ticket from Mumbai to
Kolkata for March 20 travel
but my flight was cancelled
and I was being offered
March 24 flight. But I have
my return ticket to Mumbai
on March 24, and now at last
moment even if I opt for re-
fund and try booking other
flights, the cost has gone up,”
said flyer Yuvraj Mehta on
Tuesday.
 vote & notes New tax
regime is
`70L `54L 110 1200 Rahul word

ball t
Expenditure limit per Expenditure limit LS seats identified as Crore of rupees seized

05
constituency in states per constituency for ‘expenditure sensitive’ during 2014 Lok Sabha
Congress president
such as Bihar, Uttar smaller states. These or prone to money elections, includes
Rahul Gandhi before
Pradesh and others are fixed by the EC power this elections Rs 300 cr seized in cash
a meeting, in Imphal,

ballet
Manipur on Tuesday.
Gandhi reiterated his
Netaji (Mulayam) had relations with BSP and had promise to introduce
forged an alliance earlier. I only had to mend the a new tax regime if his
relationship. Before that itself, we defeated BJP in bypolls party is voted to power
in the ensuing Lok
Akhilesh Yadav, Samajwadi Party leader
Sabha elections -- PTI

lok sabha election 2019 keep off places of worship for election propaganda, poll panel tells political parties

www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia Ahmedabad I Wednesday, March 20, 2019 I daily news & analysis

Unveil own poll code, EC BJP drops all 10 sitting

in brief

MPs from Chhattisgarh

tells social media majors DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net

YSRC chief Jaganmohan Reddy
during a rally in West Godavari,
Andhra, on Tuesday —PTI
AAP-Cong alliance:
Pawar pitches in
New Delhi: The Congress and
the AAP on Tuesday made fresh
efforts with the help of NCP chief
Sharad Pawar to forge an alliance
in Delhi for the Lok Sabha polls,
days after they unanimously
decided to go it alone in the
national capital. The NCP leader
stepped up efforts for recon-
ciliation between the two parties
which have been making state-
ments against each other, with
AAP leader Sanjay Singh meeting
Pawar at his residence here.
Gehlot cautions
on Modi’s ‘return’
New Delhi: India may not see
another election if Narendra
Modi is re-elected as prime
minister, Rajasthan Chief Minis-
ter and senior Congress leader
Ashok Gehlot has claimed,
suggesting the country may
go, electorally, the China and
Russia way. Gehlot also said
the Constitution, democracy
and the entire country was in
danger under Modi, who he
said would “do anything” to get
back to power.
16 times beaten,
priest back again
Mathura (UP): He has lost eight
Lok Sabha elections and as
many assembly polls. But that
does not deter Fakkar Ramayani
Should ‘proactively’ pursue some punitive action in case users violate terms
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: The Election
Commission on Tuesday met
with officials of major social
media platforms and asked
them to come up with a similar
Code for the upcoming Lok
Sabha elections. Chief Elec-
tion Commissioner Sunil
Arora also asked the platforms
to draft a document which will
be of help in the long term.
The meeting between Elec-
tion Commission of India
representatives of various
social media platforms and
Internet and Mobile Associa-
tion of India (IAMAI) also
had in attendance Election
Commissioners Sushil Chan-
dra and Ashok Lavasa.
Arora told those present
that the Model Code of Con-
duct was “a unique and his-
toric document” which came
up after deliberations and a
consensus between different
political parties and ECI. He
added that the document is
followed by all political par-
ties from the date of declara-
tion of schedule till the polls
are over. He said that social
media platforms, which are
“formidable force-multipli-
TN’s AMMA MANIFESTO
Both ruling AIADMK and Opposition DMK vow to press for release of seven convicts in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case
n Direct transfer
ers” should come up with a
similar Code for this elections.
Election Commissioner
Lavasa asked social media
platforms to think about a
clause on wherein users vol-
untarily agree to not misuse
the platforms for election or
any political purpose. He also
spoke about the need for the
evolution of behaviour of the
social media platforms and
urged them to show voluntary
restraint. He said such behav-
iour is a hallmark of a civi-
lised society and it works as
effectively as any regulation.
In addition, EC Sushil
Chandra asked the platforms
to “proactively” pursue some
form of punitive action in
case users violate the terms.
He said a participative ap-
proach by these platforms
will help social media play a
role in helping stop the spread
of fake information as well as
curbing misinformation.
The group also discussed
issues like the appointment
of a dedicated grievance
channel that will carry out
actions by these sites and a
process of pre-certification
of political advertisements
like the existing system for
ads on other mediums.
AIADMK
New Delhi: In a significant
move, the BJP has decided to
drop all 10 sitting MPs in
Chhattisgarh, a state where
CHANGING THE RULES the party suffered drubbing
in the 2018 Assembly polls.
“The party has decided to
Fake news
Prevalence of fake news
2-3%
Minimum social media-
field new candidates with fresh
vigour,” said Anil Jain, BJP
national general secretary
and Chhattisgarh in-charge.
and its phenomenal rise induced expected swing. Party sources suggest that
had made it difficult for Decisive in Indian context it was the Chhattisgarh unit
voters to have accurately where victory margin is of BJP which had made the PM Modi with Amit Shah at the BJP poll panel meeting on Tuesday
informed assessment thin in many constituencies proposal to drop the sitting
MPs to which the party’s Cen-
tral Election Committee gave PM Modi, Shah attend BJP’s CEC meeting
Negative
its nod. The state has 11 Lok
impact Sabha constituencies and in
„„BJP’s Central Election Committee met on Tuesday to
discuss seat sharing allocation in 10 states.
n Communal the 2014 elections the BJP
tensions had won 10 seats. „„The meeting at the party's headquarters here was
Party sources further sug- presided over by PM Modi and party chief Amit Shah.
n Inciting gest that former chief minis-
violence ter and party’s national vice „„Union Ministers Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari and Rajnath
president Raman Singh will Singh also attended the meeting.
n National be fielded from Rajnandgaon, „„Discussions were held on seat allocation in 10
security a Lok Sabha constituency states including UP, Bengal, Karnataka, and Odisha.
currently held by his son Ab-
How it
hishek Singh.
can help With this the BJP is abuzz works they had carried out in youngsters give direction to
n Increase In this election, technology with speculation over the fate the last five years ahead of the future and he should
voter of some its sitting MPs in final selection of candidates. “stop intimidating youth of
would be central -- whether other states also. It could be India, which has rejected
awareness Shah slams Rahul for arrests
it’s social media, analytics, strategy, noted that the BJP had con- your brand of politics”.
n Voter in all of these areas, technology has ducted popularity test of its BJP president Amit Shah On Monday, a large num-
participation now come to occupy centre stage. sitting MPs, sought feedback Tuesday targeted Congress ber of people in Bengaluru
from a number of sources, chief Rahul Gandhi over the raised pro-Modi slogans out-
n Promote poll And it has changed rules of the game including the public. The alleged “arrest” of some te- side the venue of a function
transparency R Chandrasekhar, Ex-Telecom Secy party had asked all its sitting chies in Bengaluru for rais- where Congress chief was
MPs to furnish details of the ing pro-Modi slogans, saying addressing entrepreneurs.
VS ANNA-kalaignar MANIFESTO Women IIT/IIMs, cyber
safety, Mahila Morcha
DMK n Caste-based census,

sends wish list to BJP

to file his nomination as an
Independent candidate for the of Rs 1,500/month casteless model vil-
17th time. “It is my ninth Lok to BPL population, TN Chief DMK lages named after lead-
Sabha election that I am con- destitute women, etc Minister K President ers Periyar and Phule
testing,” Ramayani said after fil- Palaniswami MK Stalin Nikhil M Ghanekar
ing his papers on Tuesday here. n Press for release of with Deputy releases n To bring down “ex- nikhil.ghanekar@dnaindia.net
Ramayani, the ‘mahant’ (head seven convicts in the CM O Pann- party’s orbitant charges” for
priest) of Galteshwar temple in Rajiv Gandhi assas- eerselvam manifesto transactions like ATM New Delhi: Establishing
Mathura, has so far contested sination case release for Lok withdrawals dedicated central universi-
eight Lok Sabha and assembly party’s Sabha polls ties, IITs and IIMs for women,
polls each, with the first being n Strive for exemption manifesto in Chennai, n Steps to make Tamil creation of one crore jobs in
the general election after with- of students from NEET for LS polls on Tuesday a co-official language the next five years, exemp-
drawal of the Emergency. for medical admissions in all Central govern- tion from payment of GST up
n To urge Centre to List to the State List n To do away with Sethusamudram ship- ment offices to Rs 50 lakh and drafting a
Supriyo gets notice n Would press the law to end female genital mu-
for campaign song waive education loans Methane extraction ping canal project
Centre to take up the n To urge Centre to n Jobs for one crore tilation -- these are some of For representation
Kolkata: Election Commission and neutrino projects
issue of ‘massacre’ of n Central policy to implement Tamil as n Protect the fire- youth as road workers the key suggestions that BJP’s
Tuesday issued a show-cause Tamils in Sri Lanka waive loans of small one of the official lan- n Ensure release of cracker industry from for maintaining roads Mahila Morcha has submitted manifesto inputs
notice to Union minister Babul guages of the country extinction to the party’s manifesto com-
and medium farmers seven convicts in the „„The document stated
Supriyo for putting out a cam- n To urge the Centre n Reservation in mittee, DNA has learnt.
paign song, composed and sung Rajiv Gandhi assas- the party could consider
to implement river in- n To urge the Centre n To obtain full state- n Efforts to get back promotion in services Last week, the party’s
by him, without prior permis- sination case women’s wing submitted an raising income tax
terlinking programmes to move education hood to the Union Katchatheevu to India of Union govt, filling
sion, officials said. The music- 8-page document on mani- exemption limit for women
like Cauvery-Godaveri from the Concurrent Territory of Puducherry n Revival of from Sri Lanka backlog vacancies up to Rs 7 lakh/year
video was posted in social media festo suggestions to Union
and local TV channels. Minister for Home Affairs
„„It sought 50 clusters
Rajnath Singh, who is head-
of medium and small
ing the party’s manifesto

Kishor hits at Naidu for NC fields rtd HC judge from Anantnag

enterprises and raise
committee for the upcoming
exemption on payment
Lok Sabha elections.
of GST to Rs 50 lakh
BJP’s 20-member party’s

‘Bihari dacoit’ remarks Ishfaq-ul-Hassan

Vithika Salomi
vithika.salomi@dnaindia.net
Patna: Andhra CM N Chad-
rababu Naidu’s “Bihari da-
coit” comment referring to
poll-strategist-turned-politi-
cian Prashant Kishor, has
triggered criticism in Bihar
with politicos condemning
the statement unequivocally.
Naidu, in a meeting on On-
gole, called Kishor a “Bihari
dacoit” who had removed lakhs
of votes in Andhra Pradesh.
Kishor tweeted saying the
remarks were “prejudiced”.
“An imminent defeat can rat-
tle even the most seasoned
politicians. So I’m not sur-
prised with the baseless utter-
ances of @ncbn (Naidu),”
said Kishor. “Sirji rather than
using derogatory language
that shows your prejudice
and malice against Bihar, just
focus on why people of AP
should vote for you again.”
h_ishfaq@dnaindia.net
Srinagar: National Confer-
ence has fielded a former J&K
High Court judge -- who had
ruled that Article 370 of the
Constitution cannot be abro-
gated, repealed or even
amended -- from Anantnag
parliamentary constituency
of troubled South Kashmir.
Justice Hasnain Masoodi
had created a flutter in De-
cember 2015 when he ruled
that the Article 370 enshrined
in the Constitution of India
cannot be abrogated, re-
pealed or even amended and
observed that replacing the
post of ‘Sadar-e-Riyasat’
(president of state) by Gover-
nor (in 1965) was “not within
the amending power of
the state legislature”.
Justice Masoodi
had also directed
hoisting of state flag
on the “buildings
housing offices of
Constitutional
Authorities and
on the vehicles used by such
authorities”.
Days later a two-judge
bench of Justice BL Bhat and
Justice Tashi Rabstan stayed
the order of the single judge
bench of Justice Hasnain
Masoodi.
The decision to field the
retired high court judge
was taken by parliamen-
tary board of National
Conference on Tues-
day. On Monday
the board had
cleared names
of Dr. Farooq Abdullah for
Srinagar- constituency and
Mohammad Akbar lone for
Baramulla constituencies.
“It has been decided that
Justice Hasnain Masoodi will
be the party candidate from
Anantnag parliamentary
seat. Farooq Sahab and Mo-
hammad Akbar Lone have
already been nominated for
Srinagar and Baramulla con-
stituencies respectively”,
said Ali Mohammad Sagar,
General Secretary of Nation-
al Conference.
manifesto committee in-
cludes only two senior wom-
en leaders -- Defence Minister
Nirmala Sitharaman and
Meenakshi Lekhi -- among its
members.
The manifesto document
made a key suggestion to
make governments more in-
clusive. It said that the consti-
tution must be amended to
ensure that at least 15 per
cent of the total number of
Council of Ministers at Cen-
tre and in state should be re-
served for women.
The document, senior
leaders from the party said,
was prepared following near-
ly 100 meetings with women
across metro cities, tier-two
towns and rural towns as
part of the Bharat ke Mann
ki Baat initiative.
Party leaders said this was
the first time the women’s
wing had submitted a sepa-
rate document with inputs
for the manifesto. Many of
these, however, may not nec-
essarily make the cut in the
party’s final manifesto, a sen-
ior party leader added.

hit slogan At least 1 crore people pledged for this campaign, claims bjp
PM plans Holi ‘baat’ with 25L chowkidars
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: Prime Minister
Narendra Modi will address
25 lakh chowkidars across the
country via an audio bridge
at 4:30 pm on Wednesday on
occasion of Holi, BJP sources
informed on Tuesday.
In this series, PM Modi
will also interact with people
from different walks of life,
who have taken pledged in
the Main bhi chowkidar (I too
am a watchman) campaign,
through video conference in
as many as 500 locations
across the country on March
31, party sources said.
Ever since PM Modi
1,680 crore impressions,
sources in the BJP said.
While at least one crore
people pledged for this cam-
paign through social media
and Namo App, more than
one crore people watched the
campaign video on various
social media platforms,
sources in the BJP informed.
Union Minister Ravi
Shankar Prasad said the cam-
paign has already turned into
a “people’s movement” with
people from different spec-
PM on Saturday had launched ‘Main bhai chowkidar’ campaign on Twitter trums of the society – youth,
women, professionals, farm-
launched #MainBhiChowk- croblogging site. More than ers, lawyers – are joining it.
idar campaign on Twitter on 20 lakh people tweeted with “Main bhi chowkidar cam-
Saturday, it has soon become the hashtag #MainBhiCah- paign gives an extraordinary
a worldwide trend in the mi- wkidar which has got up to message to the whole world
that this is a great movement
through social media activ-
ism whereby the common
people of India are taking a
pledge that they will also
fight for the probity and pro-
priety,” Prasad said.
He tore into Congress for
criticising the campaign.
“Those who have a lot to hide
are opposing it. Those who
are on bail are opposing it.
Those whose families’ prop-
erties are under investigation
are opposing it,” Prasad said.
On Sunday, the Prime Min-
ister prefixed his name with
‘chowkidar’ on the micro-
blogging site. All Union Min-
ister, BJP leaders and party
supporters followed suit.
Pro-Modi slogans by BJP men
as Priyanka begins temple run
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: On the second day
of her three-day boat trip in-
side Uttar Pradesh, Congress
general secretary Priyanka
Gandhi Vadra visited a slew of
religious places: the Vind-
hyavasini Devi Temple in Mir-
zapur, the Maharishi Valmiki
Ashram at Sitamarhi, Maa
Vindhyavasini Mandir Vind-
hyachal Dham and the Khwaja
Ismail Chisti in Mirzapur. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at Vindhyavasini Temple, UP on Tuesday —PTI
However, critics have ob-
served that Priyanka’s poll Temple in Mirzapur as Pri- she entered it to pray.
rally has not gathered the mo- yanka Gandhi offered Gandhi took on Modi and
mentum that it should have. prayers. The sloganeering demanded to know what he
Pro-Modi slogans were raised began as Priyanka Gandhi had done in the last five years.
by BJP supporters gathered got out of the car to visit the She also slammed the Yogi
outside Vindhyavasini Devi temple and continued even as Adityanath govt in UP.
 06
Ahmedabad I Wednesday, March 20, 2019
 opini n
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Pulling rabbits out of the hat

daily news & analysis India, rebooting its patent and price control policy, could impact the status of global medicines

Rough landing
Quietly but intrigu-
ingly, India is trying
to pull out new rab-
bits out of its policy
Jet Airways is a classic case of how not to run an airline hat with regard to
its intellectual prop-

T
he aviation industry is fickle at the best of times. So when erty rights (IPR)
and drug-pricing
the chips are down, expect the worst. For passengers, there policy.
is nothing lousier than a cash-strapped airline. Even a con- Chirantan Chatterjee In January 2019,
firmed ticket is no guarantee of reaching one’s destination. India first unveiled
Take Jet Airways. On Monday, the cash-strapped, beleaguered proposals exempting innovative medicines
airline grounded four more aircraft, taking its tally of ground- developed by foreign companies from price
ed planes to 40. For a 119-aircraft airline, that is a whopping control for five years, giving Indian pa-
tients access to drugs that are currently
percentage of layoffs. Cancellations have become common and only available abroad.
just recently, Jet Airways scrapped its flights to Abu Dhabi and The proposals also included orphan
other destinations, leading to a huge passenger uproar on social drugs used for treating rare medical condi-
media. While the management is busy trotting out lame excus- tions and come from amendments to its
es, the fact is that the airline is in deep distress. Not too long Drug Price Control Order.
ago, Jet Airways was the brightest star on India’s aviation fir- This was, however, followed up by an
early March National Pharmaceutical
mament. The airline had a fairytale entry into Indian skies with Pricing Authority (NPPA) order that cut
literally no competition, except government-run airlines. Its maximum retail prices of 390 non-sched-
product was good, there was no union trouble, on-time perfor- uled cancer medicines by up to 87 per cent,
mance was good and the capacity to grow infinite. In the foreign days after capping the trade margin of 42
sector, Jet only had Air India as competitor, making it easy for non-scheduled cancer drugs at 30 per cent.
it to wean away international travellers. But the advent of oth- Whether the NPPA can tweak trade
margins is of course another issue of legal
er private airlines hit Jet Airways, as it appeared outpaced. consideration here, beyond the flip flop in
When low-cost Air Deccan and Kingfisher came in, Jet did little incentivising innovative medicines in
to prepare for competition by way of restructuring costs. So January and then moving back with price In January 2019, India unveiled proposals exempting innovative medicines developed by foreign companies from price control for five years
even when Kingfisher shut shop in 2012, Jet refused to learn its controls in March.
lessons. Just then, IndiGo moved in. According to Directorate Apart from prices, India also recently come commercially available in different price moratorium and the faster patent
General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data, while IndiGo’s market entered into an agreement with the Japa- countries. Price regulation delayed a granting policy creates a buzz in India’s
nese Patent Office (JPO) to start a Patent launch, while longer and more extensive science and innovation community, both
share went from 27.7 per cent in 2014 to 43.2 per cent in Septem- Prosecution Highway (PPH) as a pilot, patent rights accelerated it. private and public.
ber 2018, Jet’s slid from 19.9 per cent to 14.2 per cent in the same wherein an applicant can ask for fast- Health policy institutions made mar- They also come at a time when health-
period. It does not take a rocket scientist to tell you that IndiGo’s tracking a patent application citing the kets more profitable speeding up diffusion, care financing is going through a shift in
rise has come at the expense of Jet. A good part of the airline’s granting of a patent in Japan. Cockburn demonstrated. Is India covering India given the Ayushman Bharat Scheme.
troubles can be attributed to its efforts to focus on the interna- The PPH, reports suggest, will only al- up its weak health infrastructure and in- Several specifics on it are still not settled,
tional market, leaving the domestic space vacant for IndiGo. low for expediting patent examination, stitutions by its repeated invoking of a including insurance coverage for drugs
without guaranteeing the grant of a patent lower hanging price control policy? That is Furthermore, what might these policies and medical devices, but if it gets cleared
Add to it the vagaries of Indian aviation and nothing more le- in India. It also comes at a time when Re- a question that still remains unanswered. mean for signals the Indian government is tomorrow to some steady state consensus,
thal than escalating aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices, which gional Comprehensive Economic Partner- That said, India’s price control morato- giving to pharmaceutical and medical de- faster patents and moratorium on price
account for nearly 40 per cent of any airline’s operating costs. ship discussions are emerging in Asia rium for innovative medicines and faster vice innovators for differential pricing of controls for innovative medicines in India
While that cost would apply to all airlines, in the case of Jet, about new norms for patents (especially as patent approval harmonised with JPO, products, is worth considering. could augur well (in an insured world) even
even non-fuel expenses were higher, it being a full service car- they pertain to the pharmaceutical sector) might enhance access to innovative drugs, Research by my co-authors and myself for those worried about affordability and
rier, as opposed to a low-cost carrier. Often in such a dire situ- in the region. pharmaceutical and medical devices in the published in the Journal of Health Eco- access to medicines in India.
The stronger patent and relaxing of country though apologists for incentives nomics in 2015 show that differential pric- Public health activists, globally and do-
ation, the management opts in for new CEOs at the drop of a price control measures may have been in for innovation may also argue that this is ing could raise welfare in the market for mestically, can be expected to push back
hat. Jet has had more CEOs than any other airline. Between anticipation of a threat from a US Trade not enough. medicines in India. India, however, on these two revised poli-
2009 and 2015, it had three CEOs, finally running out of options Representative (USTR) last year reviewing India’s actions are important to place in So, by strengthening the policy environ- cies. Particularly so because this might
to head the organisation by December 2015, until yet another India’s eligibility in the generalised sys- context with what is happening to drug ment for innovation incentives, might the impact the survivability of the Indian ge-
incumbent was inducted. In such circumstances, Jet’s losses in tem of preferences (GSP) given pressure by prices globally. First, China in 2018 im- government unintendedly soften innova- neric firms, labelled as the pharmacists of
the first quarter of FY 2019 were “surprisingly” high and it is the US medical devices (where price con- posed price controls on oncology drugs, tor willingness to differentially price their the world. They have been shifting their
trols in stents and other devices have been taking a leaf out of India, and in the US, innovative products in India? attention to the least developed countries
estimated that the full-year losses could touch the $500 million a policy hot button) and the dairy industry. pharmaceutical innovators are facing Also, what would these policy changes (those being provided a TRIPs extension
mark at current oil prices. In the absence of any asset sale and But overall, one hopes that this is think- pressures on drug pricing, an issue also do to incentives for discovery work in In- till 2021) both on the demand and supply
in a perpetual restructuring mode, Jet has become a classic case ing afresh from the Government of India emerging in Canada and the European Un- dia, let’s say in vaccines remains an open side and to developed countries for selling
of how not to run an airline. (GOI) to incentivise innovation and its dif- ion (in countries like the Netherlands and question. biosimilars.
fusion within the country, while not letting the UK) for drugs like Vertex used in cystic Could one expect some discovery work Amy Kapczynski from the Yale Law
go of access and affordability of medi- fibrosis. to be undertaken going forward? By whom? School has earlier written about India try-

Urdu’s revival
cines.
Iain Cockburn and co-authors show in
their 2016 paper, in a sample of 642 new
drugs in 76 countries during 1983-2002, that
The RSS regards the language as a unifying force patent and price regulation regimes
strongly affect how quickly new drugs be-
So the timing of these policies come cu-
riously from India. While richer econo-
mies are moving in one direction in pric-
ing and protecting patents on medicines,
one wonders if India is moving in the
other direction.
And through what R&D mechanisms, in-
ternal or external?
The country’s scorecard on generating
new chemical or biological entities in the
global drugs and pharmaceutical world is
underwhelming and one hopes that the
ing to engineer a patent law 2.0 globally, but
these 2019 new IPR laws and price control
moratoriums on innovative medicines
might mean that India is ultimately reboot-
ing its patent and price control laws.
The author is with IIM-A and Hoover Institution

I
ndia is a great civilisation and home to diverse languages, phi-
losophies, cultures, customs and traditions. It is the country’s
syncretic culture that gave birth to Urdu: A mix of Arabic,
QUOTE HANGER slowburn
Persian, Hindi and Sanskrit. A language that is spoken by at
least 70 million people in the subcontinent mirrors India’s in- Chowkidar Vinay Chowkidar England might run out of water in 25 years
clusiveness. No wonder, the RSS wants to promote Urdu in a big Sahasrabuddhe Ravi Shankar Prasad
T
he global water scarcity will soon hit statement had said last year. “The dry
way and the Central government too has been generous with
@vinay1011 @rsprasad England. Within 25 years, England summer had a significant impact on wa-
funds to promote and conserve the language. Since the 1947 Par- will not have enough water to meet ter supplies, agriculture, environment
tition, India has been witness to violent upsurges in the name #MainBhiChowkidar is fast #DigitalIndia has created new job demand, head of the Environment and wildlife, with the Environment
of religion and language. Linguistic identities have been the catching up popular imagination! opportunities for the youth in small Agency, Sir James Bevan, had warned, Agency responding to 314 dry weather
according to a BBC report. The impact related incidents over summer.”
driving force for the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, that en- #HonestyIntegrityVersusDynasty towns. of climate change, combined with popu-
tailed a major redrawing of the boundaries of Indian states on
lation growth, means the country is fac-
the basis of commonality of languages. Urdu, however, had a
pan-India presence, thus bridging the North-South and East-
HindolSengupta ing an “existential threat”. However,
this could be avoided with ambitious
Cancer will claim 1.4
@HindolSengupta
West divide. Senior RSS leader Indresh Kumar’s assurance at
the 6th World Urdu Conference underscores the Sangh’s inten- By constructing a false
State mourning action to cut people’s water use by a
third and leakage from water company
million lives in EU
continues and hence I appeal to
D
tion to keep the “mili-juli tehzeeb” alive in the country. It has binary and war between different parts pipes by 50 per cent, he says, along with eath rates from cancer have fallen over
been widely held that Urdu is dying in India, mainly because of history and culture, people have all my friends, family and big new reservoirs, more desalination
plants and transfers of water across the
the past five years in the European Un-
ion although the disease is this year
traditionally Urdu speaking people, Muslims and Hindus, have
stopped speaking it. Moreover, Hindi films, which used to be the destroyed any study of classics in India karyakartas to refrain from country. Half of the problem is climate expected to claim the lives of over 1.4 mil-
change, which means hotter and drier lion people across the bloc. According to
purveyor of Hindustani, have changed track to showcase mod- presenting me with bouquets summers in the UK. Back in 2018, UK research published recently in the Annals
ern aspirations in sync with the Zeitgeist. However, the Naren- Hari Kunzru and greetings. I look government bodies, water companies
and environmental groups had warned
of Oncology, cancer death rates for men
have dropped around 6 per cent since 2014
dra Modi government is pulling all the stops to revive the charm
of Urdu in popular consciousness. The National Council for
@harikunzru forward to your continued low rainfall this winter could to 139 deaths per 100,000 males, while
Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL), an autonomous body, is The 200 people who blessings!
lead to drought in spring 2019 unless women’s rates have decreased from 86
swift action is taken to boost reserves. deaths per 100,000 to 83 — a 3.6 per cent
planning to rope in Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Katrina watched the terror attack for 30 mins — Pramod Sawant, “The current environmental situation is decline. Researchers attribute the im-
Kaif to speak a few lines in Urdu as part of promotional cam- without doing anything and the one fragile and dependent on good rainfall provement to more effective screening as
paigns. The government had allotted a budget of Rs 332.76 crore
Goa CM, asks followers to over the autumn and winter period,” the well as early diagnosis and treatment,
between 2104 and 2019 for NCPUL. The revival of Urdu is im-
person who, 12 mins after the stream avoid presenting him National Drought Action Group (NDG) says a Euronews report.
perative because of its immense wealth of literature. ended, decided finally to report it. with flowers
send your feedback to editor@dnaindia.net

How silence can unlock the power of spiritual gene

Science has taken
such significant
strides in the last
two centuries that
now it has very few
things to discover
in the physical
world. Science is
trying to solve
Rachana Sharma questions that have
puzzled man for
millennia. So the question is, what is
leadership and what does spiritual gene
has to do with one’s success? What’s the
connection? How are some people able to
unlock a part of the brain that helps
them answer questions about existence
and purpose? How are leaders different
from the rest of the crowd? What makes
them so different?
Modern scientists are intrigued by the
connection between leadership and spir-
ituality and they are resorting to facts
found only in the ancient texts of India.
India was/is rooted in science, with an-
cient rishis-munis/sufis/acharyas as
scholars and scientists. Do not forget that
Bhaskara was an Indian mathematician
who gave Zero to the world. If you read
more such ancient texts and scriptures,
you will realise Shiva was the chief sci-
entist and doesn’t belong to any one reli-
gion or practice. He is an eternal being,
an embodiment of knowledge and devo-
tion. He is not a religion, he is a philoso-
phy of how to live a responsible life. In
the modern age, we call it leadership,
ethical leadership or responsible leader-
ship and the like. Religion is a part of hu-
manity’s culture, a link to the traditions
and morals that have defined people for
years. Science is separate from culture. It
is supposed to exist outside the biases,
assumptions, and mythologies we have
always relied on and challenge us to see
the universe through fresh eyes.
Now scientists say they have found
the spiritual or God Gene. American ge-
neticist Dean Hamer discovered the God
Gene or VMAT2.
Hammer, in his book, The God Gene,
says “Faith is hardwired into our genes,”
meaning we are born with an innate ca-
pacity for transcendence. Transcendence
means “going beyond”. It isn’t restricted to
beyond the physical world that is common-
ly understood, but also going beyond your
current capacity, your next level of leader-
ship and progress as a human being.
This spiritual gene has been further
explored by the University of Columbia’s
Lisa Miller, in her book The Spiritual
Child. Miller, who is the director of the
varsity’s Clinical Psychology Pro-
gramme, says, “Science now tells us that
this spiritual faculty is inborn, funda-
mental to the human constitution, cen-
tral in our physiology and psychology.
Spirituality links brain, mind, and body.
The pineal gland is also said to be the
spiritual gland. It is located at the centre
of every person’s brain. This gland se-
cretes a hormone called DMT or Dimeth-
yltryptamine which is said to help people
achieve a state of spiritual upliftment.
DMT is also called the Spirit Molecule.
Now the question is how does one un-
lock this power of DMT molecule and
VMART2 Gene? The answer is silence,
shutting down your five senses for 20 min-
utes a day. Beginning with 5 minutes, take
it up to 10 and then gradually unlocking
the power to transcend, to Go Beyond.
You do not have to recall God neces-
sarily. The choice is yours as it is usually
rejected by the younger generation be-
cause they think it’s some kind of a reli-
gious practice. Nowadays there are so
many podcasts and online meditation
music available, insert your headphones
and just go into isolation for some time.
While finding a connection between
leadership and mindfulness, my message
to people is that the spiritual gene can be
decoded and you can connect with your
higher self. This simply means that the
spiritual practice of silence which was
further adopted by all religions is a way
to develop the grey matter in our brain,
create new neuron connections. When
that happens your left and right brain
connects more, works in harmony and
you gain control over that part of the
brain which is dedicated to impulse con-
trol and emotional reaction.
It is not surprising how the West has
adopted this science. They have research
papers and MRI scans exhibiting the
changes your brain undergoes post con-
sistently practicing 20 minutes of silence
over three months. All this happens be-
cause the Gene, which I also name as the
God/Peace Gene is now fully thriving
and waiting for its true expression.
Unlocking the power of the spiritual
gene helps us speed up our memory and
learning abilities; enhance our intuition,
wisdom, and creativity which triggers
leadership capacity. The spiritual gene
which is imperative in self-actualisation
thus develops a human being’s full poten-
tial. People with higher spiritual gene
connection are more creative, innovative,
problem solvers and leaders.
Author is a Harvard alumnus, author,
speaker and philanthropist

Vol 12 n Issue No. 135 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: Deepak Lokhande Responsible for selection of news under PRB Act.
 w rld
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in brief
Ex-Peru president
arrested in US
drunkenness case
San Francisco: Former
Peruvian President
Alejandro Toledo, want-
ed in his home country
in connection with Latin
America’s biggest graft
scandal, was arrested in
California on suspicion
of public intoxication
and spent the night in
jail before he was re-
leased Monday morning,
authorities have said.
Alejandro Toledo, 72,
was arrested Sunday
night at a restaurant
near the San Francisco
Bay Area city of Menlo
Park, officials said.
Stay out: Leaders
to Algerian Army
Algiers: A new group
headed by political lead-
ers, opposition figures
and activists called on
Algeria’s powerful gen-
erals to stay out of poli-
tics as it pressed Presi-
dent Abdelaziz Boutef-
lika to quit. In a direct
message to the army,
leaders emerging from
mass protests said the
military should “play its
constitutional role with-
out interfering in the
people choice”.
Lebanon arrests
‘spy’ for Israel
Beirut: Lebanese intel-
ligence said a Lebanese-
Canadian dual national
had been arrested on
suspicion of spying for
Israel.“In operations to
combat Israeli espio-
nage... the directorate of
General Security arrest-
ed a Lebanese-Canadi-
an,” the General Securi-
ty service said. There
were no details on where
he was detained.
Macron, on and on...
Prez debates for 8 hrs
Paris: The French President,
Emmanuel Macron, has set
a new personal record for
talking during a public ap-
pearance by debating for
more than eight hours with
intellectuals and scientists.
For two-and--half months,
Macron, 41, has criss-crossed
France for town-hall meet-
ings as part of his “Great Na-
tional Debate”, launched as a
remedy to the anger seen in
the “yellow vest” protests.
Previous sessions had
seen him show off his stami-
na, with the former invest-
ment banker fielding ques-
tions from voters on issues
ranging from hospital clo-
sures to foreign policy, often
for four or five hours or more.
But on Monday night he
surpassed himself talking in
Paris for eight hours and 10
minutes, finishing at 02:30 am
in a room that had slowly emp-
tied of spectators and even
participants, some making
their excuses before the end.
The title of the debate, ‘The
main challenges and future is-
Cyclone toll to climb Stop testing our patience, ‘tired’
across Mozambique German minister tells Britain
Aid agencies scramble to rescue people from country
Johannesburg: The number
of people killed in Mozam-
bique by powerful storms and
floods across southeastern
Africa is likely to rise signifi-
cantly, the Red Cross said on
Tuesday. Rescue crews are still
struggling to assess the devas-
tation caused by Cyclone Idai
which swept in at speeds of up
to 170 kph (105 mph) from the
Indian Ocean late last week,
hitting Mozambique, then its
inland neighbours Zimbabwe
and Malawi.
The official death count in
Mozambique stands at 84 —
but its president Filipe Nyusi
said on Monday he had flown
over some of the worst-hit
zones, seen bodies floating in
rivers and now estimated
more than 1,000 people may
have died there.
A total of 98 people were
confirmed dead and than 200
missing in Zimbabwe, its gov-
ernment said on Monday.
The storm hit land near
Mozambique’s port of Beira
on Thursday and went on to
flood huge areas of territory,
destroy roads, and wipe out
communications networks
across the region.
Drone footage posted on-
line by the International Fed-
eration of Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies showed
buildings in the coastal settle-
ment of Praia Nova, outside
Beira, flattened by storm
winds.
“We are working with
NASA and the European
Space Agency to get satellite
information to get a full pic-
ture of the affected areas and
number of people trapped
there,” Caroline Haga of the
International Federation said.
ratings up
The ‘Great National
Debate’ was written off
by some critics before it
started, but it has helped
pull the centrist leader
out of the worst crisis of
his presidency caused
by ‘yellow-vest’ protests
which began mid-Nov.
sues that France will be con-
fronted with’, set the tone for
sometimes dense discussions
at the presidential palace,
which were broadcast on
France Culture radio station.
Sixty intellectuals took
part with Macron, who won
office in 2017 promising to
speak rarely to raise the im-
pact of his declarations. AFP
People on a roof in a flooded area hit by Cyclone Idai in Beira —photos/AFP
1.7 million people in
the path of cyclone: UN
Geneva: A storm ravaging
southern Africa is possibly
the worst weather-related dis-
aster ever to hit the southern
hemisphere, with 1.7 million
people in the path of the cy-
clone in Mozambique and
920,000 affected in Malawi,
U.N. officials said on Tuesday.
Storm surge floods up to 6
metres deep had caused “in-
credible devastation” over a
huge area, World Food Pro-
gramme regional chief Lola
Castro said. The Buzi river
had burst its banks, killing
hundreds, and there was risk
of more flooding in the Buzi,
Pungoe and Save river basins
in the next 72 hours. —Reuters
“Given the sizes of these
areas we expect the death toll
to increase significantly.”
People were still trapped
on high-lying areas of the
country, Gerald Bourke of
the United Nations World
Food Programme said.
A shivering displaced woman is
portrayed in the doorframe of a
house in Beira on Tuesday. Over a
thousand people are feared dead
“We don’t have any clear
numbers on the death toll
but we are looking at huge
areas that are under water.
We’re seeing mile after mile
of villages under several me-
tres of water,” Bourke said. 
 —Reuters
Brussels/London: Germa-
ny’s Europe Minister urged
London to come up “at last”
with concrete proposals on
how it wants to proceed with
leaving the European Union
after a ruling by the speaker
of Britain’s Parliament up-
turned the government’s
Brexit strategy.
“Our patience as the Euro-
pean Union is being sorely
tested at the moment,” Mi-
chael Roth said ahead of a
meeting of the bloc’s Europe
Ministers on Tuesday.
He added: “I can only call
once again on our British
partners in London to make
concrete proposals at last on
why they want an extension.”
Germany’s core aim was
to avoid a disorderly Brexit,
but it could only agree to a
postponement of the sched-
uled leave date of March 29 if
London gave a clear reason to
do so. A postponement be-
Dutch shooting:
Letter suggests
‘terror motive’
Utrecht: Dutch prosecutors
and police said they were “se-
riously” investigating a ter-
rorist motive for the Utrecht
tram attack because of evi-
dence including a letter
found in the main suspect’s
getaway car. “So far, a terror-
ist motive is seriously being
taken into account. This is
based on a letter found in the
getaway car among other
things and the nature of the
facts,” they said in a joint
statement. Turkish-born
main suspect Gokmen Tanis,
37, and two unnamed men
from Utrecht aged 23 and 27
remain in custody. —AFP
Ahmedabad I Wednesday, March 20, 2019 I daily news & analysis
A Union Jack on the desk of a Member of European Parliament  File photo
yond June would mean Brit-
ain would have to participate
in European Parliament elec-
tions, he added.
“Dear friends in London,
please deliver. The clock is
ticking,” Roth said.
In London, Prime Minis-
ter Theresa May’s Brexit
plans were in disarray on
Tuesday as her government
Templeton Prize winner:
‘Science does not kill God’
Washington: The annual
Templeton Prize, which rec-
ognises outstanding contri-
butions to “affirming life’s
spiritual dimension,” was
awarded Tuesday to Brazil-
ian Marcelo Gleiser, a theo-
retical physicist dedicated to
demonstrating science and
religion are not enemies.
A physics and astronomy
professor whose specialisa-
tions include cosmology,
60-year-old Gleiser was born
in Rio de Janeiro, and has
been in the United States
since 1986.
An agnostic, he doesn’t be-
07
sought to plot a way around a
ruling by the speaker of par-
liament that she must change
her twice-defeated divorce
deal to put it to a third vote.
After two-and-a-half years
of negotiations, Britain’s de-
parture from the EU remains
uncertain with options in-
cluding a long postponement,
leaving with May’s deal, a
Marcelo Gleiser  —Reuters
lieve in God, but refuses to
write off the possibility of
God’s existence completely.
“Atheism is inconsistent
with the scientific method,”
Gleiser said Monday from
Dartmouth College, the New
delay in sight?
„„May is due at an EU
summit in Brussels on
Thursday; to ask for a
delay to Brexit as British
govt tries to come up with
a way to leave EU
„„The bloc’s two most
powerful members,
Germany and France,
expressed intense
frustration at the chaos
in London
disruptive exit without a deal,
or even another referendum.
In a move that added to the
sense of crisis in London and
exasperation in EU days be-
fore the March 29 exit date,
Speaker John Bercow shocked
May’s government by ruling
it could not put the same Brex-
it deal to another vote unless
it was different. —Reuters
$1.5-mn prize
Gleiser joins Desmond
Tutu, Dalai Lama and
Soviet author Aleksandr
Solzhenitsyn as recipients
of the prize. At $1.5 mn,
the prize money surpasses
that of the Nobels.
Hampshire university where
he has taught since 1991.
“Atheism is a belief in
non-belief. “I’ll keep an open
mind because I understand
that human knowledge is
limited,” he added. —PTI
20
Wednesday
March
2019
ahmedabad
www.dnaindia.com
Sensex
38363.47 268.4 p
Gold 10 gram 32970.00
US $ 68.96 0.425 p
news in numbers
moneyedit I-T verification starts, 11 lakh tax notices on the way
Clarity
emerges for
realty GST
A
month after GST Coun-
cil slashed tax rates for
under-construction
flats, the move to approve
a transition plan for imple-
menting a new tax struc-
ture for the real estate will
help reduce confusion and
avoid operational hassles.
The Council has addressed
the transition issues on
Input Tax Credit (ITC) for
the ongoing projects by
making it flexible for prop-
erty developers to choose
between the two GST re-
gimes – the old one with
ITC option and the re-
duced rates without ITC.
This means that effec-
tive April 1, projects
where construction has
already started prior to
April 1 can choose the nor-
mal rate of 12% (with ITC)
or 5% (without ITC) and
in the case of affordable
housing, 8% (with ITC)
and 1% (without ITC). De-
velopers can also choose
to have old and new GST
rates for different build-
ings in the same project.
All new buildings and pro-
jects where work begins
after April 1 will have to
adhere to the new rates.
However, it is to be seen
if the new structure will
provide any substantial
boost to the sagging sales
any time soon. As the cut-
off date is just two weeks
to go, developers will have
to immediately swing into
action and bring in new IT
systems and processes
quickly. Thousands of
house hunters across In-
dia are reportedly waiting
for developers to slash
rates so that they can
strike a good deal.
ST smart
CPSE ETF gets
`6,072 cr bids
CPSE Exchange Traded
Fund on Tuesday re-
ceived bids worth Rs
6,072 crore from as
many as 16 anchor in-
vestors, with the por-
tion getting subscribed
nearly six times, sourc-
es said. The fifth
tranche of the CPSE
ETF opened for sub-
scription Tuesday,
wherein the govern-
ment seeks to raise at
least Rs 3,500 crore.
CPSE ETF anchor book
has been subscribed
5.78 times against the
anchor base issue size
of Rs 1,050 crore, sourc-
es said. The ETF has re-
ceived applications
worth Rs 6,072 crore,
they added. The portion
not exceeding 30% of
the maximum amount
to be raised shall be
available for allocation
to anchor investors.
‘Recover `403 cr
from Singh bros’
Securities and Ex-
change Board of India
(Sebi) on Tuesday di-
rected Fortis Healthcare
Ltd (FHL) and Fortis
Hospitals Ltd (FHsL) to
continue efforts to re-
cover more than Rs 403
crore from Shivinder
Mohan Singh and
Malvinder Mohan Sin-
gh as well as seven oth-
er entities. The latest
ruling confirms the
watchdog’s interim or-
der where it had found
that Singh brothers
along with seven enti-
ties diverted Rs 403
crore from FHL, for the
ultimate benefit of par-
ent company -- RHC
Holding Pvt Ltd -- and
group company Relig-
are Finvest Ltd. Singh
brothers have also been
asked not to associate
themselves with the af-
fairs of FHL and FHsL
in any manner.
Nifty
11532.4 70.2 p
140.00 p
EURO 78.41 0.5671 p
16.76%-- Stake in Infratel worth Rs 10,000 crore Airtel has transferred to Nettle Infrastructure Investments
Anjul Tomar
anjul.tomar@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: The Income Tax
Department’s newly set-up
Centralised Verification
Centre (CenVC) is planning
to send the first set of e-tax
notices to ‘non-filers’, start-
ing this week.
There are a total of about
11 lakh cases under scanner
where I-T returns have not
been filed.
The notices will be issued
under section 133C of the
Income-Tax Act, which was
notified last week.
“The first set of notices
are being sent to the non-fil-
ers who have made a finan-
cial transaction but haven’t
Jet may get `800 cr from banks
Lenders are likely to provide the airline interim funding after prodding by the government
DNA Money Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Mumbai: The Jet Airways
crisis is nowhere near solu-
tion with minority partner
Etihad continuously chang-
ing its stance, but the short-
term rescue could come from
the government, which has
asked the public sector
banks to bail out the floun-
dering airline ahead of elec-
tions.
Banks are likely to pro-
vide an interim funding of
Rs 800 crore, a substantial
part of the Rs 1,000 crore that
the cash-starved airlines re-
quires to weather the storm.
Jet Airways, which has a
debt of Rs 8,400 crore, is fac-
ing resistance from Etihad to
arrive at a resolution plan
with the lenders.
“The shifting stance of
Etihad is creating a problem
for lenders. The biggest
grouse for Etihad is that it
will not be able to hike its
stake beyond 24.9% after
market regulator Securities
and Exchange Board of In-
dia refused to give a special
dispensation to avoid trig-
gering the takeover code,”
said a senior bank official.
Etihad also wants Jet Air-
Mindtree fights back as L&T closes in
Ateeq Shaikh
ateeq.shaikh@dnaindia.net
Mumbai: Larsen & Toubro
(L&T), which was a hostile
takeover target a few years
back, is attempting a one of
its own.
However, its bid to take
over mid-sized IT player Mind-
tree is being fiercely opposed
by the latter and its employees.
L&T claimed it has been of-
fered a 21% stake in Mindtree
by promoter V G Siddartha
and wants to buy another 30%.
Mindtree’s Board will de-
liberate on the L&T proposal
today.
On Tuesday, managements
of both the companies fought
through a volley of words,
leading to fall in their respec-
BofA buys distressed
Neco for `3,300 crore
Anurag Joshi
Mumbai: Bank of America
Corp (BofA) has bought its
biggest distressed asset in
India, adding to a growing
trend of foreign investors
diving deeper into the coun-
try’s massive pile of bad
debt.
A group of inves-
tors led by the US bank
have paid Rs 3,300
crore for soured loans
of a beleaguered Indi-
an maker of cast iron pipes,
according to sources.
The group, which in-
cludes local bad debt buyer
Assets Care & Reconstruc-
tion Enterprise, bought dis-
tressed loans of Jayaswal
Neco Industries Ltd., with a
filed their tax returns. A
large number of these cases
are from the demonetisation
period. If we don’t get any
response, the cases would be
referred to the assessing of-
ficer for scrutiny,” said I-T
department sources.
“Right now, the vetting is
going on to eliminate the
cases in which some kind of
response has come. About
70,000 people had also filed
income tax returns,” sources
added.
The CenVC has been
tasked with the verification
of all the income returns
filed by the taxpayers in the
country.
As many as 6.44 crore tax-
payers have filed their in-
Plunging
fast
ways founder-chairman
Naresh Goyal to exit the air-
lines, which is also not likely
to happen, banking sources
said.
State Bank of India (SBI),
which is leading the negotia-
tions with other banks, had
set up a resolution plan
where the lenders and the
National Investment and In-
MINDTREE
Intra-day share price on BSE in `
q19.50 pts q2.03 % chg
978.00
Prev close 962.5
9:15 am
tive share prices.
The Mumbai-based con-
struction giant has said that
the to be acquired software
firm will be run indepen-
dently and the acquisition
will create value for the
group. On the other hand,
face value of Rs 4,700 crore,
said the people, asking not
to be identified as they
aren’t authorised to speak
publicly. Lenders led by
State Bank of India (SBI)
sold the debt, taking a hair-
cut of 30% on the all-cash
deal, the people said.
As India battles
with the worst non-
performing loan ra-
tio among the world’s
major economies,
foreign investors are
vying for a piece of the $190
billion pile of soured and
stressed debt. Jayaswal
Neco became stressed as a
slump in
demand for its products
eroded its debt repayment
capability. —Bloomberg
FTSE 100
7343.75 44.56 p
Silver kg 38960.00 235.00 p Brent Crude
British pound 91.55 0.6443 p
come tax returns so far dur-
ing this year.
If you haven’t shown
bank deposits, mutual fund
investments or property
transactions in your income
tax return, you could soon be
getting a tax notice to pay up.
8,400cr
Debt
` with Jet
Airways
24.9%
Stake of Eithad
Airways in Jet
The Etihad hurdle
 Etihad will not be able to hike its
stake after Sebi refused to give
a special dispensation to avoid
triggering the takeover code
JET 235.10 9:15 am
AIRWAYS Prev q7.95 pts q3.35 % chg
Intra-day share close
price on BSE in ` 237.00
frastructure Fund would ac-
quire a 51% stake in Jet Air-
ways and later dilute it
through a rights issue.
With pressure mounting
on the central government
due to the apparent problems
at Jet Airways, aviation min-
ister Suresh Prabhu on Tues-
day intervened and directed
the aviation secretary and
Takeover code
„„L&T has said that the
software firm will be run
980 independently and the
acquisition will create
972 value for the group
964 „„Mindtree has
956
called engineering
giant’s posture as
943.00 948 “value destructive”
and challenged L&T to
940 build its own
Mar 19 15:30 pm
Mindtree has called engi-
neering giant’s posture as
“value destructive”.
“A hostile takeover by
Larsen & Toubro, unprece-
dented in our industry, could
undo all of the progress we’ve
made and immensely set out
St votes Goldman turns overweight, Kotak says exit stocks with weak fundamentals
Goldman sees strong poll rally, Kotak differs
Abhishek Vishnoi
Mumbai: Will the markets
rise or fall in run-up to the
polls?
According to Goldman
Sachs Group, Indian stocks
will accelerate gains in the
lead-up to the election next
month as foreign investors
pile back in amid a “sharp un-
derperformance” in the mar-
ket and earnings growth that’s
expected to top the region.
However, Kotak Institu-
tional Equities Research
thinks not.
The “catch-up trade” for
Indian stocks with EM rivals
after a period of under-per-
formance in the first six
weeks of 2019 may be largely
Nikkei 225
21566.85 17.65 q
$/barrel 67.49 0.05 q
UAE dirham 18.75 0.114 p
360-degree watch
„„As many as 6.44
crore taxpayers have
filed their returns so far
during this year
„„Around 50-60 lakh
income-tax returns
which may come up for
verification
“Our estimation is that
there would be around 50-60
lakh returns which may
come up for verification,”
the official said.
The cases would be red
flagged by the system for
verification on the basis of
`1,000cr
Needed by the floundering airline
41
No. of
operatinal
aircraft
of Jet
Airways
 Etihad wants Jet
Airways chairman
Naresh Goyal to exit
the airlines, which
is also not likely to
happen
Mar 19 15:30 pm 229.05
Directorate General of Civil
Aviation (DGCA) officials to
review the grounding of
planes by the airline, advance
bookings, cancellations, re-
fund and safety issues. The
airline officials were called
and asked to brief about the
situation to the aviation min-
istry and DGCA.
According to DGCA offi-
organisation back. We do not
see any strategic advantage
and strongly believe that the
transaction will be value de-
structive for all sharehold-
ers,” Mindtree said.
Mindtree also asked what
message L&T is giving to
start-ups in India, by behav-
ing in such hostility with the
first generation of entrepre-
neurs.
However, S N Subrahman-
yan, CEO, L&T, said, “The
Board and Chairman have
been advising us to look for
opportunities from the ser-
vices side,” adding,
“Over the last few years, we
have been giving more fillip,
management interest and
push into the services busi-
ness.” Turn to p2
over, Sanjeev Prasad, Sunita
Baldawa and Anindya
Bhowmik, analysts at Ko-
tak Institutional Equities
Research, wrote in an inves-
tor note dated March 18.
“We do not find meaning-
ful value in most parts of the
market, barring certain fi-
nancial stocks, and would
look to exit stocks with weak
fundamentals and rich valu-
ations,” the Kotak analysts
said.
Goldman raised equities
of Asia’s third-largest econ-
omy to overweight from mar-
ketweight -- just six months
after Goldman downgraded
them -- analysts led by Sunil
Koul said in a report on Mon-
day. The Nifty 50 index will
200-odd parameters.
The returns filed during
the Assessment Year 2017-18
(or financial year 2016-17) are
being dealt with first.
All the returns filed by the
taxpayers during that
year will be verified by the
CenVC.
“We now have the capaci-
ty to verify 100% returns.
Earlier, there was no way of
doing it. So, most potential
cases were out of the tax net.
Only a minuscule percent-
age (0.5%) of the total re-
turns filed were being picked
up every year for scrutiny
through a random selection
process,” a senior official
said.
The CenVC will send e-
cials, the current availability
of aircraft in the fleet for op-
eration is 41, though the
numbers may go further
down in coming weeks if the
airline is not able to get im-
mediate funding. The Goyal-
promoted full service carrier
has grounded more than a
third of its entire fleet lead-
ing to scores of flight cancel-
lations on account of non-
payment of dues to the les-
sors. “We are keeping an eye
on the situation,” said a sen-
ior DGCA official.
In an investor presenta-
tion, the company said that
it has defaulted in repaying
the working capital loan in-
stalments, including interest
due to Indian banks, which
has partly been paid in Janu-
ary 2019, and there are sub-
stantial payments overdue to
creditors. These conditions,
together with four succes-
sive quarters of losses due to
high fuel prices and fluctuat-
ing currency rates, coupled
with tight liquidity condi-
tions, pose serious challeng-
es to the company, indicating
the existence of material
uncertainty that may cast
significant doubt on its abil-
ity to continue as a going
concern. Turn to p2
RBI bats for
fiscal prudence
Anirban Nag
Mumbai: India needs to ad-
here to a path of fiscal con-
solidation, Reserve Bank of
India governor Shaktikanta
Das said.
While keeping fiscal goals
in mind, the country should
undertake “robust” expendi-
ture planning, he said at a
book-launch event in Mum-
bai. The GST (goods and ser-
vices tax) Council must real-
ise the full potential of the
reform to enhance the tax-to-
gross domestic product ratio
and enhance the economy’s
competitiveness, he said.
Das surprised many in
February by cutting interest
rates. —Bloomberg
How much more?
Indian indexes have rebounded at 8% from their February lows
38500
Sensex (LHS)
37800
37100
36400
35700
35000
Dec 31, 18
reach 12,500 in 12 months,
implying a 9.1% gain from
Monday’s close, while earn-
ings growth this year is ex-
pected to climb 16%, they
wrote.
Foreign inflows have
mail notices with a set of
structured questions. The
assessee will be given 10 days
to respond.
The entire process will be
faceless without any human
interaction taking place be-
tween the taxman and the
assessee.
The questionnaire, as well
as the response of the tax-
payer, will be in a machine-
readable format.
“If the reply is not found
to be satisfactory, the second
set of questions will follow.
The assessee will be given
another chance to respond
before the case is referred to
the assessing officer for scru-
tiny,” another official said,
adding that the cases would
Developers
get two options
for GST shift
DNA Money Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi/Mumbai: In a
big relief to the real estate
sector, the Goods and Ser-
vices Tax (GST) Council on
Tuesday approved a transi-
tion plan for the implemen-
tation of new tax structure
for under-construction
residential property in the
country. It also gave an op-
tion to the builders of the
ongoing projects to shift to
new rates without income
tax credit (ITC) or continue
with the old tax rates.
The ongoing projects
have been defined as the
ones where the construc-
tion, as well as the bookings
both, has started prior to
April 1. The developers are
likely to get about a month
for the transition.
“The developers of the
residential buildings which
are incomplete as on March
31 will have the option to
choose the old rate of 12%
or 8% with ITC or the new
rate of 5% or 1% without
ITC. The decision on the
timeframe for transition
will be taken in consulta-
tion with the states,” reve-
nue secretary Ajay Bhush-
an Pandey told reporters
after the GST meeting. The
meeting was chaired by fi-
nance minister through
video-conferencing.
The new GST rates will
be mandatory for the new
projects from April 1. The
Council had in its last meet-
ing on February 24 slashed
tax rates for under-con-
struction houses or ready-
to-move-in flats where com-
pletion certificate has not
been issued to 5% from the
current 12% and in the af-
fordable category (valued
up to Rs 45 lakh) to 1% from
8% while withdrawing the
benefits of ITC.
The builders who opt for
the new rates will have to
reverse the ITC as per a new
formula proportionate to the
total carpet area, flats book-
15500
S&P BSE MidCap (RHS)
S&P BSE SmallCap (RHS)
15000
14500
14000
13500
13000
Mar 19, 19
picked up “as market expec-
tations for a potentially sta-
ble government have risen in
recent weeks,” Koul wrote.
His team said investors can
buy “short-dated Nifty calls,
value cyclicals and oversold
be closed if the taxpayer’s
response is found to be satis-
factory.
So far, 3.17 lakh cases have
been referred for scrutiny
during this year.
More cases would be re-
ferred for scrutiny now with
the setting up of the new
verification centre.
The CenVC will rummage
through all the financial
data available in its database
and match it with the re-
turns filed by the taxpayers.
The information from vari-
ous sources such as Regis-
trar of Companies, banks,
insurance companies and
other financial institutions
is already there with the de-
partment.
realty
relief
12% or 8%
Old GST rate with ITC benefits
5% or 1%
New GST rate without ITC
80%
Of input material and services
needs to be procured from GST
registered dealers
ings, invoices issued and
completion of the building.
Up to 15% of the com-
mercial space in the resi-
dential project will be
treated as residential prop-
erty for GST calculations,
as per the transition rules.
Also, the builders will
have to procure as much as
80% of the input material
and services from GST reg-
istered dealers. If the pro-
curement is less than the
prescribed limit, the tax
will have to be paid at 18%
on basis of Reverse Charge
Mechanism (RCM). How-
ever, tax on cement pur-
chased from an unregis-
tered person will be
charged at 28% under RCM.
Pointing out practical dif-
ficulties while following the
guidelines under the new
taxation slabs starting April
1, 2019, Parag Mehta, Part-
ner, N.A Shah Associates
LLP commented that follow-
ing this criteria will be a bit
difficult to follow in the inte-
rior areas (as there are fewer
registered vendors). Turn to P2
quality mid-caps to partici-
pate in the current rally.”
They also favour banks and
domestic cyclicals over ex-
porters and defensives. In-
dia’s foreign inflows are
leading Asia, with net for-
eign buying of $5.2 billion.
Half of the amount has come
in March, according to
Bloomberg data. The Nifty 50
has rallied 8% in the past
month and recovered 65% of
its year-to-date underper-
formance against the region-
al MSCI Asia-ex Japan In-
dex, Goldman said.
Goldman is changing
course on India stocks after
the firm downgraded them
to marketweight in Septem-
ber. —Bloomberg
 c mpanies
www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia
Deal
Kotak arm inks
$400 million deal
Street with DivyaSree
Kotak Investment Advisors Ltd (KIAL) announced a
$400 million fund in partnership with DivyaSree
Developers to build and acquire commercial office
assets across India. KIAL said that it has launched a
new fund which will partner with DivyaSree
Developers to develop and acquire commercial office
assets. The fund’s strategy is to develop greenfield
projects as well as acquire under construction and
completed assets across key markets in India.When
contacted, an official from Kotak Realty Funds said,
around $200 million would be infused by ADIA and the
rest would be pumped in by KIAL and DivyaSree.
ASK puts `326 cr
in realty projects
ASK Investment Advisors
(ASK PIA) ASK group’s
realty private equity arm
will invest Rs 326 crore in
various housing projects
being developed by QVC
Realty, Tridhaatu and
TVS Emerald. These
projects are located in
Mumbai, Bengaluru,
Chennai and Delhi-NCR.
These investments are in
line with the fund’s
strategy of investing in
residential focused real
estate projects in the top
five cities with
established developers.
In brief
SPICEJET
Share price on BSE in `
146.25
78.75
Jan 1, 18 Mar 19, 19
SpiceJet now an
IATA member
SpiceJet said it has
become a member of
global airlines’ grouping
International Air
Transport Association
(IATA). SpiceJet is the
first Indian budget
carrier to join IATA. The
membership allows
SpiceJet to explore and
grow its collaborations
with international
member airlines of IATA
through interlining and
codeshares. IATA
represents over 290
airlines, including Air
India, Jet Airways and
Vistara.
Star Health sale
in final lap
Star Health and Allied
Insurance Company Ltd
is in the final stage of
completion of the sale
process and the
transition was likely to
happen in Q1FY20, a top
official said. The CCI
had approved 100%
acquisition of Star
Health and Allied
Insurance Company Ltd
by Safecrop Holdings Pvt
Ltd and others.
PowerGrid uses
loan for capex
Power Grid Corporation
said it has fully drawn a
22 billion Japanese Yen
loan and utilised it to
finance capital
expenditure for its
ongoing and new
projects. Power Grid has
fully drawn the loan and
utilised the proceeds
toward part-financing of
its capital expenditure
for its ongoing and new
projects.
Maruti drives in
updated Eeco
Maruti Suzuki India said
it has launched an
updated version of its
multi purpose vehicle
Eeco with various safety
features, including
reverse parking assist
and co-driver seat belt
reminder as standard
fitment. With the
addition of the features,
the price of the model
will go up by Rs 400 and
Rs 23,000, across variants.
HCL Tech inks
pact with Xerox
HCL Technologies
announced that it has
signed a managed
services agreement with
Xerox worth $1.3 billion.
HCL currently manages
aspects of Xerox’s
mechanical, electrical
and software
engineering activities
for printer and imaging
product lines.
Pine Labs to buy
Qwikcilver
Pine Labs has signed a
definitive agreement to
acquire the Bangalore-
based gift card solutions
provider Qwikcilver for a
consideration of $110
million. The transaction
is funded from Pine Labs’
cash reserves and
additional funding from
existing investors, the
company said in a
statement. Qwikcilver
manages an annualised
gross transaction value
of $1.5 billion across
India, the Middle East
and Southeast Asia.
Irregularities in disclosures
by Siddhartha: Mindtree
155
135
115 Bengaluru: IT company
95 Mindtree said it had found
75 certain irregularities in dis-
closures made by Coffee Day
55
promoter V G Siddhartha,
who sold a stake in the com-
pany to L&T and had taken
action against him as per the
law, according to a top official
of the Bengaluru-based IT
firm.
“On the pledge disclosure
issue, there was a disclosure
that he made at the point of
time of all the pledge. At that
point in time, there were
some irregularities in his dis-
closures. Our board and audit
committee evaluated it and
handled it as per the rule that
prevailed at that point of
time,” Mindtree CEO Rostow
Ravanan told reporters.
In this regard, a complaint
against Siddhartha alleging
insider trading during his
stint at Mindtree has also
been filed with Sebi by an
anonymous person, accord-
ing to sources.
The complaint filed
against Siddhartha alleged
that he and his firm Coffee
Day group sold shares that
were pledged before various
financial institutions.
The complaint argued that
if these shares are pledged,
disclosure should have been
made about these pledges un-
der the Sebi Insider Trading
Regulations and Sebi Takeo-
Hyundai, Kia to invest $300 mn in Ola
IOC to pay second
dividend of `1,412 cr
New Delhi: Indian Oil Corp
(IOC) declared a second in-
terim dividend of Rs 1,412
crore for the current finan-
cial year and ONGC agreed
to do so next week to help the
government meet its tax rev-
enue target.
In a stock exchange filing,
IOC said its board at a meet-
ing approved payment of Rs
1.50 per share of 15% in sec-
ond interim dividend for
2018-19 to shareholders.
“The dividend will be
credited to the account of the
shareholders or the dividend
warrant in respect thereof
will be dispatched on or be-
fore April 10, 2019,” it said.
The government owns
53.88% stake in IOC and
stands to get about Rs 761
crore, excluding dividend
distribution tax.
Oil and Natural Gas Corp
(ONGC), which had initially
resisted a government de-
mand seeking a second in-
terim dividend, said a board
meeting has been convened
on March 23 to consider and
declare an interim dividend.
Grappling with a possible
Rs 80,000 crore shortfall in
direct and indirect tax reve-
nues that will make it diffi-
cult to meet a revised fiscal
deficit target, the govern-
ment has been tapping cash-
rich PSUs for second interim
dividend.
Coal India Ltd on March 14
declared a second interim
dividend of Rs 5.85 per share.
The government holds 72.91%
Xiaomi sets sights on devices
Co, which launched smart TV in 2018, plans to launch a new product category every year
Mansi Taneja
mansi.taneja@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: Xiaomi India,
which has disrupted the mo-
bile phone industry, is now
aiming to be one of the top
five brands that will change
the face of technology in the
country.
As India is on the cusp of
a technological shift with 4G
and internet of things (IoT)
making inroads, the market
offers a huge potential for the
company.
The Chinese major, which
entered India about five
years back, now plans to
launch a new product catego-
ry every year. “We are work-
ing on categories such as
smart ACs, washing ma-
chines, refrigerators, lap-
tops, water purifiers and
other smart consumer appli-
ances which we have in Chi-
na. We might bring one or
more such products this
year,” Xiaomi India MD and
Xiaomi Global vice president
Manu Jain told DNA Money.
Last year, the company
had launched its smart TVs.
“We are here for the long
how they
stack up
20.32%
Stake in Mindtree held by Coffee
Day and VG Siddhartha
`3,269 cr
Amount for which L&T has agreed
to purchase Siddhartha’s stake
ver Regulations, sources
added.
Strangely, only one disclo-
sure on the pledge by Sid-
dhartha found in June 2018
and no disclosure about the
pledges created by the other
Coffee Day companies, they
said.
Siddhartha was a director
of Mindtree since 1999 and
resigned only in March 2018.
He along with Coffe Day
group firms held 20.32%
stake in Mindtree and has
Filling coffers
„„IOC said its Board
approved payment of Rs
1.50 per share of 15% in
second interim dividend
„„The government owns
53.88% stake in IOC
and stands to get about
Rs 761 crore, excluding
dividend distribution tax
IOC
Share price on BSE in `
193.23
162.10
Jan 1, 18 Mar 19, 19
stake in Coal India and stands
to get Rs 2,647 crore, excluding
dividend tax.
Initially, ONGC had resist-
ed paying a second interim
dividend on grounds that it
does not have surplus cash to
make such payments within
a month of an interim divi-
dend payout, sources familiar
with the development said.
As per regulations, a compa-
ny cannot declare a second
dividend within a month of
the previous payout and com-
panies like ONGC would need
to seek approval of Sebi to
make such a payment. —PTI
4,499 400
`
smart Price of entry-level smartphone
move
series under Redmi Go
term, for the next 20, 30, 50,
100 years or more...at the
leadership level in India and
globally, we are building a
brand that people would re-
ally love and admire and be-
come a household name. We
want to be among the top five
technology companies in In-
dia. It is not an easy journey
and will not happen over-
entered in to deal with L&T
for Rs 3,269 crore.
“He (Siddhartha) has done
pledging transactions when
he was an insider, even when
Mindtree trading window
was closed. His companies
also made pledging transac-
tions. He and his companies
have made no disclosures on
pledge transactions. Why
they have made no disclo-
sures? Was there some insid-
er trading going on? Some-
thing is wrong here,” sources
alleged.
Mindtree’s promoters
have called L&T bid as hostile
on and raised corporate gov-
ernance that L&T is facing
and culture difference be-
tween the two organisations.
The co-founders in a letter
said that many institutional
investors, clients and employ-
ees of MindTree have ex-
pressed their reservations to
be part of an L&T-controlled
organisation due to cultural
difference between the two
companies.
Mindtree promoter and
executive chairman
Krishnakumar said it is a
hostile bid from the infra-
structure giant.
Mindtree Ltd’s shares
closed 1.87% lower at Rs 944.5
on the NSE on Tuesday while
shares of L&T closed at Rs
1,359.95 apiece lower 1.3%
—PTI
New Delhi: Hyundai Motor
group on Tuesday said it is
investing $300 million in ride
hailing service provider Ola,
identifying India as the cen-
trepiece in its strategy to
gain leadership in global mo-
bility market.
The investment will be
jointly made by group firms-
Hyundai Motor Company and
Kia Motors Corporation- and
under a tripartite agreement
with Ola, the companies will
jointly develop electric vehi-
cles ecosystem and fleet ser-
vices for global markets.
Under the partnership,
210 the three firms will also aim
190
170
comment While lenders wait patiently for RCom to sell spectrum, Ericsson played its cards well
What NPA-hit lenders can learn from Ericsson
150
130
110 Andy Mukherjee
Hong Kong: Anil Ambani’s
not going to jail after all, and
Ericsson AB got its money.
The Swedish company’s law-
yers should take a bow.
While the future of the ty-
coon’s shrinking empire re-
mains shrouded in uncer-
tainty, questions over his
near-term living arrange-
ments got answered on Mon-
day. Ambani thanked his
brother, Mukesh after avoid-
ing a three-month prison
term. India’s richest man
showed up just in time to help
his sibling who has lost 99%
of his $31 billion net worth.
Ericsson had accepted a
Feature phone users
in India
night,” he said.
The mobile firm also ex-
pects the next level of growth
to come from the offline seg-
ment.
The company on Tuesday
launched Mi Pay, its UPI-
based payment system,
which will compete with
Google Pay, WhatsApp pay-
ment platform and Paytm.
RBI wants
NCLAT to
revise order in
IL&FS case
New Delhi: The Reserve
Bank (RBI) moved the Nation-
al Company Law Appellate
Tribunal (NCLAT) seeking
modification of its order that
restrained banks from declar-
ing accounts of IL&FS and its
group companies as NPAs
even as the tribunal asked the
banking regulator not to
make it a “prestige issue”.
Admitting RBI’s plea,
which contends that there is
an overlap of power, the tri-
bunal also wanted it to clari-
fy whether its NPA (non-per-
forming assets) norms and
powers come in the way of
successful resolution of
IL&FS.
The NCLAT said the RBI
can not restrict it from prohib-
iting banks from ‘asset classfi-
cation’ and observed that any
change in this order would
upset the entire resolution
process of the IL&FS and 300
group companies, which are
sitting on a huge debt amount-
ing to over Rs 90,000 crore.
RBI has moved the tribu-
nal requesting it to modify
its order restraining banks
from classifying IL&FS and
its group companies as
NPAs, contending that there
was an overlap of power.
The central bank contend-
ed before NCLAT that it
should also be heard in the
matter. —PTI
to develop electric vehicles
(EVs) and charging infra-
structure customised for In-
dian market, the companies
said in joint statement.
“Hyundai and Kia will in-
vest a total of $300 million in
Ola,” it said. This will be the
biggest combined invest-
ment as on date by the two
automobile companies.
Commenting on the devel-
opment, Hyundai Motor
Group executive vice-chair-
man Euisun Chung said, “In-
dia is the centrepiece of
Hyundai Motor Group’s
strategy to gain leadership
in the global mobility mar-
Rs 550 crore settlement to
keep its petition for Reliance
Communications Ltd’s $7 bil-
lion bankruptcy in abeyance.
Ericsson subsequently won a
contempt-of-court order to
Ahmedabad I Wednesday, March 20, 2019 I daily news & analysis
100 mn
mn
Users Xiaomi targets
for its Redmi Go series
The beta version of Mi
Pay was launched in Decem-
ber last year. Mi Pay will be
available soon through Mi
Apps store. Xiaomi has part-
nered National Payments
Corporation of India (NPCI)
and ICICI Bank to launch Mi
Pay in India. Users can make
payments to other Mi Pay us-
ers, or through UPI ID and
bank accounts as well. Xiao-
mi also offers QR code option
for transactions on Mi Pay.
It also announced a new
entry-level smartphone series
in India -- Redmi Go priced at
Rs 4,499. The handsets are
their first Android Go smart-
phones and is aimed at tap-
ping the feature phone users.
There are about 400 mil-
lion users who are on feature
phones, and out of this
around 100 million users in
some way or the other can be
tapped into the Redmi fold.
Fuel demand rises
for third straight
month in February
India's fuel demand rose nearly 4% last month
as free cooking gas connections spurred LPG
consumption while petrol and diesel use continued to
rise, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis
Cell of the oil ministry showed
6.7
2.25
mn tn
Diesel consumption
rose 8% y-o-y during consumption jumped 14.2%
the month
JLR India to increase
prices by up to 4%
New Delhi: Jaguar Land
Rover India said it will in-
crease prices of select prod-
ucts by up to 4% with effect
from April 1.
The company, however,
did not specify which models
will be affected by the
price hike.
“This increase in
price is purely infla-
tionary and we are cer-
tain that the two global icon-
ic brands, Jaguar and Land
Rover, will continue to at-
tract existing and new cus-
tomers,” Jaguar Land Rover
India president & managing
director Rohit Suri said in a
driving online
„„This is the biggest
combined investment so
far by the two auto cos
„„The cos will also
aim to develop EVs,
customised charging
infrastructure
ket, and our partnership
with Ola will certainly accel-
erate our efforts to trans-
form into a smart mobility
solutions provider. Hyundai
Motor Group expects to ac-
celerate its transition from a
put chairman Anil Ambani
in jail if the payment wasn’t
received by Tuesday.
When a history of the
early years of India’s bank-
ruptcy code is written, Erics-
09
“The idea is to tap these 100
million users with Redmi Go
series,” Jain said.
It also announced the
opening of its seventh manu-
facturing plant in India in
partnership with Flex Ltd.
Currently, 99% of Xiaomi’s
smartphones sold locally are
made in India.
Xiaomi is also bringing
the component ecosystem to
India. The company said
about 65% of the smartphone
value is sourced locally and
may increase going forward,
although Jain did not elabo-
rate on the company’s target
on the local sourcing of mo-
bile phones. However, its
smartphone chargers, USB
cables and batteries are near-
ly 100% locally sourced.
Xiaomi is now focusing on
the offline market to push
growth. It already enjoys the
top position in the online
market. Offline retail is still
a huge segment with nearly
40% of the offline market fo-
cused in rural regions, Jain
said.
Xiaomi India plans to
open 5,000+ MI Stores across
the country by end of 2019.
16.77 mn tn
Feb 2018
2.2
mn tn mn tn
Petrol LPG consumption
6.8 L tn
– Aviation turbine
fuel consumption
on-year rose 10.5% on-year
statement.
JLR India’s products un-
der the two brands Jaguar
and Land Rover ranges from
Jaguar XE with price start-
ing at Rs 40.61 lakh to Range
Rover tagged at Rs 1.79
crore.
Last week, Toyota Kir-
loskar Motor (TKM) had
also announced that it
would increase prices of
some of its products from
next month in order to offset
the rise in input cost.
TKM, however, did not
disclose the quantum of
hike and the models that
would become costlier. —PTI
car manufacturer into a
smart mobility solutions
provider, as the partnership
initiatives will allow it to en-
gage in all aspects across the
entire mobility value chain
including vehicle produc-
tion, fleet operation and mo-
bility services, it added.
Hyundai had already in-
vested in car-sharing startup
Revv, which last year raised
Rs 100 crore in a new funding
round led by the South Ko-
rean auto major. Revv plans
to plans to increase its geo-
graphical footprint to 30 cit-
ies in India within a year
from 11 cities. —PTI
son’s lawyers will deserve a
special mention. For an unse-
cured creditor to walk away
with a 48% recovery of its
claim– while secured lenders
wait patiently for RCom to
sell its spectrum, redevelop
its land assets and pay them
something– shows that Erics-
son played its cards well.
It also shows the secured
creditors, led by State Bank of
India (SBI), in a rather poor
light. They have been delud-
ing themselves since June
2017, when they agreed to an
out-of-court restructuring, in-
cluding a plan to convert part
of their debt into equity at al-
most Rs 25 a share. RCom’s
shares last closed at Rs 4.40.
Ebix begins
due diligence
to acquire Yatra
New Delhi: Ebix Inc said it
has commenced due diligence
for signing an agreement to
acquire Yatra Online Inc, the
parent company of travel
firm Yatra.com, by May 15.
The company had offered
to acquire Yatra Online Inc
for $336 million.
Ebix Inc has “officially
engaged with Yatra Online
Inc to commence its due dili-
gence immediately, with the
goal of working towards
signing the agreement to ac-
quire Yatra Online by May
15,” a company statement
said. It intends to merge
Yatra Online with EbixCash
subject to due diligence and
customary regulatory and
other closing conditions.
EbixCash operation on a
standalone basis is targeting
quarterly annualised reve-
nues of $600 million by the
fourth quarter of 2019.
On March 15, Yatra Online
Inc said that it had entered
into a mutual confidentiality
agreement with Ebix Inc so
that the parties can commence
due diligence and Yatra can
further review and consider
Ebix’s proposal made earlier
to acquire all of the outstand-
ing stock of Yatra. —PTI
17.41 mn tn
Total fuel
consumption
in Feb 2019
2.72 L tn
– Kerosene con-
sumption increased
12% on-year
Raghuvanshi
appointed as
Fortis MD, CEO
New Delhi: Fortis Health-
care said it has appointed
Ashutosh Raghuvanshi as
managing director and chief
executive officer of the com-
pany with immediate effect.
The company’s board of
directors have approved the
appointment of Raghuvan-
shi as MD and CEO with im-
mediate effect for a period of
three years, Fortis Health-
care said in a filing to the
BSE. This is subject to the
approval of shareholders of
the company, it added.
At Fortis, Raghuvanshi
will be responsible for the
day-to-day management de-
cisions of the company and
for implementing its long-
and short-term plans, the fil-
ing said.
“He will be playing a piv-
otal role in providing the
necessary leadership and
strategic direction to the
management team in achiev-
ing the company’s short-
term profitability and long-
term growth objectives,
aligned to the vision, mis-
sion and core values of the
Fortis Group,” it added.
Before joining Fortis, Ra-
ghuvanshi was working with
Narayana Health as vice
chairman, managing direc-
tor and Group CEO, and was
responsible for the opera-
tions of all the group hospi-
tals across India and inter-
nationally, it said. —PTI
RCom, having decided to
exit its money-losing 2G and
3G mobile operations,
planned to offload spectrum,
fiber and media convergence
nodes to Mukesh Ambani’s
hyper-aggressive 4G service.
RCom and Jio officially
called off the deal on Mon-
day, just as the younger Am-
bani got bailed out by his
brother. With RCom now
seeking an in-court bank-
ruptcy resolution, banks are
back to square one.
Even now, the lenders have
no real plan. Jio’s entry has
crashed prices of telecom ser-
vices, and led to shutdowns
and bankruptcies, including
of RCom. —Bloomberg
 20
Wednesday
March
2019
Ahmedabad
www.dnaindia.com
FOOTBALL
BALL GAME
Arjun should
chase his dreams'
As Arjun Tendulkar is
set to make his maiden
senior level appearance
in T20 Mumbai shortly,
his legendary father
Sachin said that this was
an opportunity that his
son needs to grab. "In
sports, nothing is guar-
anteed, so whatever op-
portunities you are pro-
vided, you need to go out
there and give your best,"
Tendulkar Sr said. "As
long as he continues to be
passionate about cricket
and in love with the
game, that's what matters
to me. There are going to
be highs and lows and he
should find reasons to
wake up in the morning
and chase his dreams.
His dream is to play
cricket and do something
special," Sachin said.
None will play IPL
home ties outside
Two-time champions
Kolkata Knight Riders
will play all their IPL
home matches at the
Eden Gardens despite
West Bengal going into
polls during all seven
phases of general elec-
tions. The BCCI on Tues-
day released the full
schedule of the round-
robin league matches
starting March 23 till
May 5. The Play-offs
schedule has not yet
been finalised.
Ready to bat at
any slot: Rahane
Ajinkya Rahane has had
issues about not getting
enough chances in the
limited overs format and
doesn't want to put too
much pressure thinking
about the No 4 slot
which is up for grabs in
the Indian team "I have
never had complaints
about my batting order
and have performed any-
where I have batted. I
don't want to put any
pressure on myself by
thinking about the No 4
spot in the Indian team.
I understand that bat-
ting order depends on
lot of things. For India, I
am ready to bat at any
position," Rahane said
in Jaipur on Tuesday
on the tube
FOOTBALL
(All Live)
International Friendlies
Sony Ten 2
01:15 (Thu) Germany vs
Serbia
Sony Ten 1
01:15 (Thu) Wales vs
Trinidad and Tobago
TENNIS
Sony ESPN
20:30 ATP Miami Open
BASKETBALL
Sony ESPN
05:30 NBA: Milwaukee vs
LA Lakers; 08:00 NBA: LA
Clippers vs Indiana
chasing goals national u-14 taekwondo champion's parent begins crowdfunding campaign
Father urges people to fund his daughter’s Olympic dream captain: Gambhir
Rutvick Mehta
rutvick.mehta@dnaindia.net
Mumbai: Shreya Jadhav
might be all of 14, but the na-
tional U-14 taekwondo cham-
pion has a vision.
“I want taekwondo to be
popular in the country, and I
want more people to know
about taekwondo and also play
it,” says Shreya.
“Nobody knows a lot about
taekwondo in India. Here, peo-
ple assume that it is like kara-
te. But it’s not.. I want to bring
about that change about taek-
wondo in people,” she adds.
The Mumbai girl is seeking
the support of the people for it.
Shreya’s father, Nitin Jadhav,
has started a crowdfunding
initiative to fund his daugh-
ter’s dream of representing
India at the 2024 Olympics
(https://www.impactguru.
com/fundraiser/help-shreya-
nitin-jadhav).
They have already managed
FOOTBALL Switzerland midfielder
Xherdan Shaqiri will miss this month's Euro
2020 qualifiers against Georgia and Denmark
due to a groin injury
PSG have condemned anti-gay insults aimed at the club by former France and Man United captain Patrice Evra in an online video
Trust players: Zak on workload
Former India spearhead Zaheer Khan says Team India members shouldn't be burdened by injury worries in IPL as World Cup looms
G Krishnan
guru.krishnan@dnaindia.net
Mumbai: “What World Cup,
World Cup questions?” joked
Zaheer Khan with a scribe at
the team hotel on Tuesday at
the end of the customary pre-
season press conference here.
In his capacity as director
of cricket operations for
Mumbai Indians, the former
India left-arm pacer an-
swered questions that were
centred around the ICC
Cricket World Cup in the
United Kingdom within days
of the conclusion of the IPL.
This will be the first IPL
that precedes a World Cup.
Since IPL’s inception, the 2011
and 2015 World Cups preceded
the IPL. The workload, the ap-
proach to the IPL keeping in
mind the World Cup, the form
in this IPL will all matter go-
ing into the World Cup.
The 40-year-old Khan said
that the mindset does not
change whether World Cup
preceded the IPL or succeed-
ed it. He appealed that the
World Cup-bound players are
not put under any pressure
during the IPL.
“Cricketers’ mindset is
about going out there, express-
ing yourself and trying to do
your best, understanding the
scenario, winning the games
and tournaments. That’s
something which will never
change. And, if it is changing,
it’s a problem. That’s the way
I see it,” said Khan.
And about the toll the
league will take on players’ fit-
ness especially with the World
Salman Ansari/DNA
Zaheer Khan, MI's director of operations, cricket, in Mumbai on Tuesday
Pandya wants everyone to know his priority is cricket: Zaheer
G Krishnan
guru.krishnan@dnaindia.net
Mumbai: Former India pac-
er Zaheer Khan said Hardik
Pandya is on the right track
after being out of the team
for Australia limited-overs
series for disciplinary rea-
sons.
Khan, India’s second high-
est Test wicket-taker among
pacers with 311 sticks from 92
Tests, said: “Sometimes the
distraction actually helps
you get back on track. So,
Hardik is pretty much on
track. For any cricketer, the
Kohli not shrewd
to raise Rs 80,000 through it,
and have set the bar at Rs 20
lakh. Jadhav works in the fi-
nance team of a private firm,
and while he has the capacity
to sponsor Shreya’s various
state and national tourna-
ments, he cannot afford send-
ing her frequently to interna-
tional competitions.
Shreya has taken part in
only one international event
so far, the 7th Tirak Taekwon-
do International in Thailand
in October 2017, where she re-
turned with a gold.
By participating in interna-
tional competitions, a taek-
wondo athlete gains the re-
quired Global Membership
System in order to qualify for
the Olympics.
Nitin says “According to
her coach Bhaskar Karkera,
she has the potential to excel
at the international stage. And
to go that level, she needs to
compete in as many interna-
tional competitions as possible
BADMINTON
Lakshya Sen breaks into the top-100 of the
BWF rankings, jumps 28 places to be placed
76th in the world
Cup looming, Khan said,
“There has been a lot of talk
around the workload for the
World Cup and looking at the
World Cup. When the Indian
team is playing the tourna-
ment, we have to trust them.
We have to trust the squad,
and each and every member
who is going to the World Cup.
“As fans, we have to take
this pressure off them. You
don’t want them to play in a
tournament right now and
thinking ‘Oh, what if I get
injured?’ You are creating a
scenario and a situation
where players will think that
if ‘I give my 100 per cent and
get injured playing the IPL, I
am going to be blamed for
that’. Who guarantees that
the injuries won’t happen?"
Khan has in his MI team
World Cup certainties Jasprit
Bumrah, the No.1-ranked
bowler in ODIs, and all-
rounder Hardik Pandya.
Asked how he would man-
age the key bowlers in the
IPL, Khan said: “The ap-
proach doesn’t change. We are
playing a game and the game
decides how it is evolving, the
conditions decide how one is
going to approach the game.
“There are conditions
where, as a batsman, you know
that you are timing the ball
right from the beginning and
your strike rate is a reflection
of that. And there are days
when you can’t just go and
freely play your shots. So it is
the game and condition which
decide how one is going to ap-
proach in terms of intensity,
be it a bowler or a batsman.”
best way to go about his busi-
ness is by going out there on
that field and let his numbers
talk. Hardik is in that frame
of mind. He wants opportuni-
ties, he wants to go out there,
express himself and let eve-
ryone know that his priority
is cricket. With Hardik, that
has always been the case.
“He is very serious and pas-
sionate about the game. In
terms of monitoring his work-
load, he has been very good
with that. For a fast bowler, for
the kind of injury he had in
Asia Cup, it is not easy. He has
to be monitored. There is no
and gain points to make the
Olympics cut.
“I can provide some funds
from my personal amount, but
it’s not sufficient because we
are a middle-class family. So,
we are trying to collect as
many funds as possible from
the public, besides my own
contribution,” he adds.
Shreya took up taekwondo
at the age of four when her
parents wanted their daughter
to learn self-defence. The
sport, however, grew on the
young girl, who began compet-
ing at the age of six.
Apart from Karkera, she
has been coached by Prem Ku-
mar and Siddhesh Ghag and
trained in Mumbai’s Ruia Col-
lege. Shreya went on to climb
the ladder and win medals in
various state and national
competitions (see box), includ-
ing winning gold in the U-14
Nationals in Chennai last
month.
But her mettle was truly
Young Indian shuttler
Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma at the media interaction in Mumbai on Tuesday ahead of the new IPL season —SALMAN ANSARI/DNA
Will open batting for MI, says Sharma
G Krishnan
guru.krishnan@dnaindia.net
Mumbai: In the previous
years, Rohit Sharma dropped
from his opening slot for
Mumbai Indians to tend to
the shaky middle-order. But
this season, with the World
Cup soon to follow the IPL,
the Indian team’s specialist
opening batsman will open
the batting for the franchise.
“This year, I will open the
batting for all the games.
That is for sure,” said Shar-
ma here on Tuesday at Mum-
bai Indians’ pre-season me-
dia interaction.
Sharma said that the deci-
sion was primarily keeping
the quadrennial cricket ex-
travaganza in mind. “World
doubt about it. He is in consul-
tation with the team of sup-
port staff that he has been
working with. So, everything
is under control so far. He has
done a couple of bowling ses-
sions. And he has got to pro-
tested in Thailand, where she
got the first real taste of com-
petition at the big stage and yet
clinched the gold. Her father
shelled out around Rs 1 lakh
for that trip, an amount he can-
not shell out regularly to sus-
tain Shreya’s competitive
needs, which is at least four to
five international tourna-
ments a year.
The Taekwondo Federation
of India comes into the picture
only during tournaments or-
ganised by it. “They chip in
with boarding, but travelling
and all other personal expens-
es is on us. And that is only for
tournaments organised by
them. If we go for open inter-
national competitions, they
are not bound to give (funds).
And those open tournaments
are also very important,” Ni-
tin says.
Shreya says the Thailand
outing was totally different
compared to the competition
level she gets in the country,
Cup is one of the factors. Also
keeping in mind that this is
where I bat when I play for
India. And, that is where I
have got a lot of success off
late.
“The team does under-
stand that and as a team, the
composition of players we
have right now, we have got
some experience in the mid-
dle-order and that allows me
to go and bat at the top of the
order,” said the 31-year-old
captain of Mumbai Indians,
which has won IPL an un-
precedented three times.
Sharma had a decent 2015
World Cup campaign in Aus-
tralia when it preceded the
IPL. He led Mumbai Indians
to their second title win on
return then. This time,
gress in that fashion.”
Returning to action after
serving the disciplinary pe-
riod, Pandya played in New
Zealand but missed the five-
match ODI series at home
against Australia due to low-
er back stiffness. He is work-
ing his way back to recovery.
The Baroda all-rounder sus-
tained the injury last year
during the Asia Cup and was
out of action until late last
year when he was included
on the tour of Australia.
One of India’s premier
pacers who had his share of
injuries in his career, Khan,
and that she feels proud when
she is known as an “Indian”
player and not by her name.
She wants to experience
more of that, and ultimately
be there at the 2024 Olympics.
“It’s a long way to go. But I
hope that I get there with the
help of everyone,” she says.
Shreya’s medal cabinet
Gold: TFI 4th Cadet
National, Chennai;
February 2019
Gold: TFI 4th Cadet
State, Solapur;
January 2019
Bronze: National
School Games,
Gujarat;
Janaury 2019
Gold: 7th Tirak Taekwon-
do International, Thailand;
October 2017
though, it is all about being in
match practice with keeping
the global event in mind.
“I spoke to players in the
Indian team and they say
they want to play lot of games
to stay in touch. You take
them away from the game
and they lose the touch, and
it takes a little bit of time to
come back to form. The play-
ers like to be in touch and
play. The individuals are very
smart and know when to take
rest. Communication is very
important and they are doing
that,” said Sharma.
Sharma said that it was go-
ing to be a challenge to keep
the intensity going through
the IPL and going into the
World Cup.
“We have constantly been
MI’s director of operations,
cricket, said that Pandya’s
physical condition will be
constantly monitored.
“We have the great Shane
Bond (bowling coach from
New Zealand) with us and
you know the history of what
he has been going through in
his playing days. He is the
right guy he (Pandya) should
be talking to because he is
someone who has been
through that, had that issue
with his back that eventually
had an effect on his career.
“When I saw him in Asia
Cup, I was actually con-
on the road for the last 3-4
years and we have played a
lot of back-to-back cricket
series. It depends on the indi-
vidual. You have to listen to
your body at the end of the
day. If the body tells take a
rest, then take a rest or if it
can continue, then you con-
tinue. Keeping World Cup in
mind, that is the priority.
“At the moment, though,
we are here for the biggest
tournament in the world and
that is our priority as well. It
is not just me but the other
guys as well. We need to mon-
itor and see how they stand
and how they respond. Keep-
ing everything in mind, we
will take decisions collective-
ly on each individual,” said
Sharma.
cerned to see that sight on
the field. When I spoke with
him, he said it was not some-
thing he has faced for the
first time. He had a similar
kind of issue with the back
three-four years ago as well.
It is related to what he feels
through the crease when he
is getting off, which has an
impact. In the shorter run, it
is not going to have any con-
sequences because he is
pretty aware of where
things stand. In the longer
run, he knows what are the
thing needed to get rid of
those issues permanently.”
New Delhi: Virat Kohli is
not a “shrewd captain” who
could be compared to his na-
tional team deputy Rohit
Sharma or former skipper
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, feels
former India opener Gautam
Gambhir.
Gambhir, who led Kolkata
Knight Riders to IPL titles in
2012 and 2014, feels that in re-
sult-oriented franchise envi-
ronment, Kohli has been
“lucky” to have survived de-
spite Royal Challengers Ban-
galore (RCB) never winning
the title in 8 years as skipper.
“I don’t see him as a
shrewd captain. I don’t see
him as a tactful captain.
And, he hasn’t won the
IPL. So ultimately, a cap-
tain is only as good as his
record,” Gambhir said on
Star Sports.
Gambhir’s comments is
specific to Kohli’s show as a
leader in IPL alone.
“There are people who
10
Yuvi boost
for MI
Zaheer Khan On Yuvraj
Singh in the team:
Bringing Yuvi has been a
boost for his match-winning
ability he has. In our discus-
sions leading up to the auc-
tion, we have identified that
we need an experienced
batsman who can control
the game in the middle.
Since Rohit has decided,
and we all are backing him,
to go and open the innings,
we need that experience in
the middle-order and who
better than Yuvraj Singh!
He is looking good at the
nets and we are very happy
with him. He is looking for-
ward to making an impact
in this IPL.
Rohit Sharma on lessons
learnt from losing close
matches last year:
Whoever is handling the
job needs to take care, be it
a batsman or a bowler. If a
bowler is bowling the last
over and 10-15 runs are re-
quired, he (needs to see)
how to bowl in that situa-
tion. Similarly, for a batter,
he needs to see what’s to be
done if 15-20 runs are need-
ed in the last over. It lies
more on individual at that
point of time. I just had a
brief chat with Zak (Zaheer
Khan) yesterday about
those situations. It is about
one individual that was tak-
ing the games away from us.
There have been a few addi-
tions to our batting and
bowling groups, so we need
to address those little situa-
tions, and those things mat-
ter. That’s the difference
between winning and losing
a game.
Rohit Sharma on MI
players making it to the
Indian team: I should
thank MI for the phenome-
nal job in giving so many
cricketers to the Indian
team. Have to thank the MI
scouts for going to remote
places and finding this tal-
ent. Trust me, Jasprit Bum-
rah and Axar Patel were
found playing district
matches in Gujarat and MI
scout team went and saw
them. Same with Hardik
(Pandya), Krunal (Pandya),
Mayank (Markande) now. It
is great to see these players
going out and taking their
games to the next level.
have won the trophy three
times – MS Dhoni and Rohit
Sharma. So I think he has a
long way to go. You cannot
compare him to someone like
Rohit or Dhoni at this stage,”
Gambhir said.
“He has been a part of
RCB, and captaining RCB for
the last seven to eight years,
and he has been very lucky
and should be thanking the
franchise that they stuck with
him. Because, not many cap-
tains have got such a long rope
where they haven’t won a
tournament,” said Gambhir.
However, another former
skipper Sourav Ganguly felt
that there should be no ques-
tions about Kohli’s captaincy.
“If you talk about Virat Kohli
and keeping him as a captain,
just look at what he has done.
What he has done with the
bat in every format of the
game. Absolute champion.
And he deserves to be captain
of RCB,” Ganguly said. —PTI
 sP rt
www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia
hot on heels
India loses tennis
events rights
The closure of Paki-
stan’s air space in the
aftermath of the Bala-
kot air strikes has re-
sulted in India losing
the hosting rights of
the junior Davis Cup
and Fed Cup, a source
in the national federa-
tion said. A total of 16
Under-16 Davis Cup
teams, including Paki-
stan, were to travel to
India for the annual
competition. The junior
Davis Cup was to be
held at the DLTA com-
plex from April 8-13
while the Fed cup
matches were sched-
uled from April 15-20.
“No one knew for how
long the uncertain situ-
ation will prevail. So, a
consensus emerged
that it’s best to shift
the venue and India
could host tourna-
ments in future,” a
source said.
Spurs beat
Warriors
The San Antonio
Spurs rolled to
their season-best
ninth straight win
by toppling the two-
time defending champi-
on Golden State Warri-
ors with a 111-105 victo-
ry. DeMar DeRozan
scored 26 points and
LaMarcus Aldridge fin-
ished with 23 points
and 13 rebounds as the
NBA’s hottest team
guaranteed themselves
a league record 22nd
straight winning
season.
Prithviraj, Kynan
on final course
India’s Prithviraj Ton-
daiman shot two per-
fect rounds of 25, while
teammate Kynan Che-
nai missed just one bird
to stay on course for the
men’s trap finals at the
ISSF Shotgun World
Cup being held at Aca-
pulco, Mexico. Prithvi-
raj was in a group of
seven shooters, in a
field of 107, who shot a
perfect 50 after the first
two rounds. Chenai
shot 49, while the sea-
soned Manavjit Sandhu
secured a score of 46.
Prajnesh enters
final qualifiers
In-form Prajnesh Gun-
neswaran has moved
into the final qualifying
round of the Miami
Masters with a
straight-set win in the
first round. Prajnesh
who reached the third
round at the Indian
Wells Masters after
coming through qualifi-
ers, got the better of
Spain’s Adrian Menen-
dez-Maceiras 6-2 6-4 in
the opening round. The
84th ranked Indian won
five of the six break
points he faced against
world No. 141 and broke
his rival four times in
the one hour and
14-minute match.
India favourites
against B’desh
Unbeaten so far in the
tournament, four-time
defending champions
India will start as over-
whelming favourites
against Bangladesh in
the semifinals of the
SAFF Women’s football
championship in Birat-
nagar on Wednesday.
1 wrestler made herself una-
2 Aditya Mehta poses with the CCI All India Open Snooker C’ship trophy
3 Mumbai: India’s No. 3 Adi-
Send in your answers to
sportsdna@gmail.com. Names
of the first 10 winners will be
published tomorrow
Gambling Germany boss out to answer critics
Wolfsburg: Germany coach
Joachim Loew hopes to prove
his critics wrong and open
2019 with a win when his
new-look team host Serbia in
a friendly in Wolfsburg on
Wednesday.
Loew, who arrived in
Wolfsburg later than expected
due to a dental operation this
week, is hoping to bounce
back from a painful 2018, in
which Germany suffered an
early World Cup exit and were
relegated from the top tier of
the UEFA Nations League.
The friendly against Ser-
bia is a warm-up for Sunday’s
prestigious opening Euro
2020 qualifier away to the
Netherlands with the Ger-
mans hunting revenge after a
3-0 thrashing at the hands of
the Oranje last October at the
Amsterdam Arena.
Amid fears that German
football is in decline, the
59-year-old Loew is under
pressure to show that he can
build a new era of success
around a younger generation
of players.
Yet he has also faced fierce
criticism for his decision to
strike veteran World Cup
winners Mats Hummels, Je-
Mehta stuns fancied ‘MMA fighter’ Ritu Phogat axed from TOPS
Advani to win title
DNA Correspondent
sports@dnaindia.net
tya Mehta produced a tre-
mendous fightback to stun
the fancied Pankaj Advani 7-3
in the final of the CCI All In-
dia Open Snooker Champion-
ship here on Tuesday.
Battling neck issues, the
lanky Mehta overcame a 1-3
deficit to down the multiple-
time world champion Advani
62-60, 0-91, 38-63, 37-70, 74-39,
79-7, 62-59, 84-13, 72-13 and 65-
19 in the title clash.
The top-ranked Indian Ad-
vani showed promise at the
start and on his second visit
made a 53 run to gain the ad-
vantage but a couple of visits
later fouled on the pink and
Punter, Dada back
Pant as India No. 4
While Ponting says Delhi youngster will add X-factor to Kohli & Co
in World Cup, Ganguly believes southpaw can excel batting higher
Germany coach Joachim Loew during a press meet on Tuesday —Reuters
rome Boateng and Thomas
Mueller from the national
team set-up, falling offside
with their club Bayern Mu-
nich in the process.
The controversial call has
been seen as a gamble, which
has heightened the pressure
ahead of Wednesday’s game.
“Loew is going all-in in a
high-stakes game of poker,”
wrote German football maga-
zine Kicker on Monday.
Yet the Germany boss has
insisted that the right conclu-
sions have been drawn from
Mehta did not waste time as
he neatly rolled in a 56 break
to take the opening honours.
Advani came good in the
second and after making a 29
run at the start, followed it up
with a break of 62 to pocket
the frame and tie the scores.
Later, Advani won the next
two by close margins to take
a 3-1 lead.
But Mehta managed to
snatch the fifth to bridge the
gap and then constructed a
super 79 clearance to win the
sixth to go into the short inter-
val with the scores level at 3-3.
Mehta maintained the
winning momentum on re-
sumption and came up with
timely 43 clearance to snatch
the seventh frame to regain
the lead 4-3.
Chander Shekhar Luthra
shekhar.luthra@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: De-
spite Team India
captain Virat Kohli
sounding confident
about having figured
out his playing XI for
the upcoming ICC World Cup
in England even after losing
the ODI series to Australia,
the debate over the No. 4 bat-
ting slot refuses to die.
And, who better to debate
on the topic than Sourav
Ganguly, one of India’s best
skippers. Ganguly’s choices,
though, are extreme.
“There are lots of choices
for the No. 4 position. I have
been calling for Cheteshwar
Pujara as he has been in
good form. I have seen
Rahul Dravid playing
successfully in the
ODI format at No. 4
the failures of last year.
“(Hummels, Boateng and
Mueller) are all World Cup
winners and great players, so
the decision was always go-
ing to be debated,” said Loew
on Tuesday. “But we are fac-
ing a new challenge. As I have
said before, we need to be
quicker, more dynamic and
more ambitious.”
Loew has given three
young players their first in-
ternational call-up.
Hertha Berlin defender
Niklas Stark, 23, Werder
New Delhi: Wrestler Ritu
Phogat, youngest of the cele-
brated Phogat sisters, was on
Tuesday dropped from the
government’s Target Olympic
Podium Scheme (TOPS) after
she decided to shift her loyalty
to Mixed Martial Arts (MMA).
The Sports Authority of
India (SAI) decided to axe
Ritu from the TOPS pro-
gramme after the young
vailable for 2020 Tokyo Olym-
pics and decided to try her
luck in MMA in Singapore.
“Wrestler Ritu Phogat who
champion’s demise aussie felt unwell during practice session in florida
Swimmer Kenneth To dies at 26 while training
Hong Kong: Kenneth To, a
swimmer who won a silver
medal for Australia at the
2013 world championships,
has died after becoming ill
while training in Florida. He
was 26.
To won six medals for Aus-
tralia at the 2010 Youth Olym-
pics in Singapore, including
gold in the 400m medley. At
the 2013 worlds in Barcelona,
To was part of Australia’s
silver medal-winning 400m
medley relay squad.
“(To) felt unwell at a train-
ing session and was taken to
hospital where sadly, he
passed away,” the Hong Kong
The problem with him (Pant) in shorter
formats is that he doesn’t get regular cricket
because you have a champion in MS Dhoni
who actually plays most of the shorter formats.
So, Rishabh is coming in and going out all the time
Sourav Ganguly, former India captain
and 5. This, because Dravid
was given a clear role. If you
have an option of a batsman
in form and scoring runs,
then Pujara can be a good op-
tion,” Ganguly, who has been
appointed as advisor to IPL
team Delhi Capitals, said
here on Tuesday.
The former India captain,
however, also threw his
weight behind a member of
his new franchise — Rishabh
Pant. “For me, Rishabh is the
future,” Ganguly said. “He is
a hard worker and will be a
huge asset for the country in
No player
should be
worried about
fatigue, says
Ganguly
Ronaldo joins Portugal
Cristiano Ronaldo re-
joined his Portugal team-
mates on Tuesday ahead
of the start of Euro 2020
qualifying this week fol-
lowing a nine-month ab-
sence from the national
team. The 34-year-old was
recalled by Portugal
coach Fernando Santos
for games at home to
Ukraine and Serbia, hav-
ing not played for his
country since the 2018
Bremen midfielder Maximil-
ian Eggestein and RB Leip-
zig full-back Lukas Kloster-
mann, both 22, join the
squad, which now contains
just two survivors from the
World-Cup-winning class of
2014 in Manuel Neuer and
Toni Kroos.
“We need to give the young
players the feeling that they
have our complete and total
trust,” said Loew.
Loew has confirmed that
Neuer remains his first-
choice goalkeeper, but said
had earlier been inducted
into the TOPS scheme, has
been excluded from the
scheme since she will not be
participating in the Tokyo
Sports Institute said on Tues-
day in a statement. “Kenneth
was known as a truly excep-
tional person, warm, funny
and kind.”
The cause of death was
not immediately clear.
Born in Hong Kong, To’s
family moved to Australia
when he was young. He trans-
ferred his nationality in 2016
to swim for Hong Kong and
was training for the 2020 To-
kyo Olympics.
To was in Florida for a
three-month training camp
with the Gator Swim Club at
the University of Florida in
Gainesville.
Ahmedabad I Wednesday, March 20, 2019 I daily news & analysis
the years to come. For the
next 10 years, you will see
him playing all formats of
the game and scoring runs.”
Pant had a great start to
his Test career, becoming the
first Indian wicket-keeper to
score a Test century in Aus-
tralia. Even in the last IPL
season, he was the second
highest run scorer for the
Delhi franchise.
“Anybody who wants to
succeed in shorter formats
of the game, he has to go up
in the batting order. If you
send Pant at No. 4, he has so
New Delhi: Sourav Gan-
guly feels that not playing
in the IPL before the World
Cup is not the ideal way to
address the workload issue
for any Team India player.
The World Cup follows
the upcoming IPL season,
raising concerns about in-
juries and burnout to a
World Cup-bound player.
World Cup. Ronaldo was
rested for the last six Por-
tugal games while he set-
tled at Juventus follow-
ing his departure from
Real Madrid last July.
The European champi-
ons, who are through to
the UEFA Nations League
final in June, kick off
their campaign in Lisbon
on Friday against
Ukraine before facing
Serbia on March 25.
that Barcelona stopper Marc-
Andre ter Stegen would get a
chance to prove himself in
the coming months.
He also called upon young-
er players such as Niklas
Suele, 23, Leon Goretzka and
Joshua Kimmich, both 24, to
step up into leadership roles.
“Some players need to take
the next step,” he said on Fri-
day. “Goretzka and Kimmich
are guys with clear ideas, am-
bition and opinions.”
“Suele has to take on re-
sponsibility, we expect more
funds cleared
The SAI cleared financial
proposals related to
training, competition and
equipment for the Indian
athletes who are part of
the TOPS in wrestling,
shooting, athletics, tennis
and weightlifting.
2020 Olympics, on account of
her shifting to Singapore to
train for Mixed Martial Arts,”
the SAI said in a statement.
Among other decisions
In December he competed
at the world short-course
championships in China and
placed sixth in the 100-meter
medley — his first individual
final at a major champion-
ships in six years, he wrote
on Twitter .
World swimming body
FINA said it learned of To’s
death “with immense sad-
ness.”
“Owner of many Hong
Kong national swimming re-
cords, Kenneth To was a ref-
erence and example for the
youth in the territory,” the
Switzerland-based governing
body said. —AP
11
Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting (L) and advisor Sourav Ganguly share a
laugh during a press conference in New Delhi on Tuesday —AFP
much time to play his shots
and thus can score runs,”
Ganguly said.
“The problem with him
(Pant) in shorter formats is
that he doesn’t get regular
cricket because you have a
champion in MS Dhoni who
actually plays most of the
shorter formats. So, Rishabh
is coming in and going out all
the time and that’s never
good for anybody, however
quality a player you are.
“In his short career he has
been remarkable for India
and once he starts getting op-
portunity consistently, he will
be a top player,” he added.
Pant has two centuries
from nine Tests at an average
of 49.71. He averages 23.25 in
ODIs and 19.41 in T20Is.
Delhi Capitals’ coach and
former Australian skipper
Ricky Ponting also has a lik-
“Not playing in IPL is
certainly not the answer.
Lot of them have been
playing for over 15 years
and still look fresh. I don’t
think anyone should wor-
ry about being fatigued.
The respective cricket
boards should leave it to
the players to take a call
on this issue,” he said.
Cristiano Ronaldo trains in Oeiras,
outside Lisbon, on Tuesday —AP
from Playing today
him now,” said Loew.
Germany vs Serbia
Sony Ten 2 (01:15am, Thursday)
Wales vs Trinidad and Tobago
Sony Ten 1 (01:15am, Thursday)
“He needs to organise and
direct proceedings at the
back.”
As the direct heir to re-
jected defensive duo Hum-
mels and Boateng, Suele will
be under particular scrutiny
against Serbia. —AFP
taken at a meeting, which
was also attended by SAI di-
rector general Neelam Kapur
and Indian Olympic Associa-
tion (IOA) president Nar-
inder Batra, the SAI’s Mis-
sion Olympic Cell has select-
ed five para-badminton play-
ers for inclusion in the TOPS
for Tokyo Paralympic Games.
Manoj Sarkar, Pramod
Bhagat (Men’s Singles-SL3),
Sukant Kadam, Tarun and
Suhas Yathiraj (Men’s Sin-
gles-SL4) are the five strong-
est men’s singles para shut-
tlers in the list. —PTI
Kenneth To won silver at the 2013 world championships —AFP
ing for Pant ahead of others
in the competition for Team
India’s No. 4 position.
“Pant is the sort of guy
who has the X-factor and can
win a Cup for you. If I am a
captain, I would play him as
a pure batsman,” Ponting
said, referring to MS Dhoni
as the first-choice wicket-
keeper in the squad.
However, Ganguly believes
that Kohli must have final-
ised his choice for the said
position by now.
“When I look at it, I think
Virat Kohli already knows
his No. 4 batsman for the
World Cup. This series
(against Australia), the skip-
per tried lot of options. He
gave others an opportunity to
see if he can find anyone dif-
ferent. That’s how Vijay
Shankar and Pant were tried
at No. 4,” Ganguly said.
Ganguly also endorsed
the views of Virat Kohli
and Sachin Tendulkar. “It
should be left to the play-
ers to take a call on how
much workload they
should take during IPL.
And in any case, where is
the guarantee that you
will not get injured while
playing for the country?”
Mumbai retain
Costa for next
ISL season
Mumbai: After a near mi-
raculous fightback that saw
Mumbai City FC glide into
the semifinals, experienced
Portuguese international
Jorge Costa on Tuesday ex-
tended his stay at the club,
vowing to win the elusive tro-
phy for the club.
As of now, he will nurture
and helm the side for one
more season, with an eye
firmly on the finals of the In-
dian Super League and even-
tually the title.
“Since my first day at this
club, I’ve had a great experi-
ence with the management
and all the staff. The organi-
zation here at Mumbai City
FC is thoroughly profession-
al and has done everything
to make my job easier and
make me feel at home. We are
not satisfied with stopping at
the semifinals, but are proud
of the season we’ve had,”
Costa said.
“Our fans have been a
huge part of what we are as a
club and they have been im-
mense this season. I’m very
happy that I can be in Mum-
bai next season, continue our
good work and give our fans
some great memories at the
Arena,” he added.
In his first season at Mum-
bai, Costa brought to the fore
a strong and effective coun-
ter-attacking brand of foot-
ball. It helped the club
achieve some stunning mile-
stones during their impres-
sive run, including a club-re-
cord 9-game unbeaten stint.
From the bottom of the
table, they rose to the No. 2
position before making it to
the semifinals for only the
second time in the club’s his-
tory. In the knockout clash,
they shared victories with FC
Goa but lost out on a place in
the title-clash on goal differ-
ence. —PTI
 20
Wednesday
March
2019
Ahmedabad
www.dnaindia.com
DP-Ranbir dance
to Ranveer’s tune
THE BATTLE OF SARAGARHI Action cuts across all
SHOULD BE A PART OF barriers and emotions
THE CURRICULUM
Akshay Kumar in Kesari
B
ollywood superstar
Akshay Kumar’s
Kesari captures the
Battle of Saragarhi
on celluloid. The film is
based on the historic event
that took place in 1897 and
is documented as one of
the bravest battles ever
fought. Even Google bears
testimony to this fact.
Centuries later, the
audiences will get to see
this fierce story on the
big screen.
The Anurag Singh
directorial is a true story
of valour, sacrifice and
patriotism. Talking about
his March 21 release,
Akshay, who plays the
lead role in it, says, “I’m
proud to be associated with
Kesari. In Britain, people
celebrate Saragarhi Day,
Alia to share screen Decoding Holi
space with Salman brunch style
...in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s next
Alia Bhatt
Disclaimer: Note to reader: Some of the content/coverage that appear in our special ‘feature’ page/s may be paid for by the concerned brands. Such page/s will be appropriately declared as ‘features pages’ (e.g. reader engagement feature, etc.)
Deepika Padukone and Ranbir Kapoor have signed an ad campaign and at
an event hosted by the brand, their camraderie left everyone in splits. They
cracked jokes and shared anecdotes about working together. The highlight of
the event was RK and Dippy grooving to Ranveer Singh’s track Aankh Maarey
from Simmba (2018) as those present at the event cheered them on.
but our kids have no idea
about the war where 21
Sikh soldiers fought 10,000
invaders knowing they will
die. They managed to kill
900. We are happy to see a
fictitious film like 300, but
don’t celebrate our real
stories of bravery. I hope
now the chapter of the
Battle of Saragarhi is
added to history books.”
Apoorva Mehta, CEO,
Dharma Production, adds,
“With the bravery and cour-
age displayed by the
21 Sikhs coming onto the
big screen, this film has giv-
en us the opportunity to
bring forth these hidden
pages of our history for our
younger generations to ex-
perience and witness. This
alone fills our hearts with
pride that we get to narrate
Nayandeep Rakshit
L
ast month, Sanjay
Leela Bhansali put
speculations to rest
when he announced
that his next project will star
Salman Khan. There were
rumours that Shah Rukh
Khan, too, will play a promi-
nent role in it and an A-list
heroine will be locked for the
female lead’s role.
Alia, it is!
After sharing screen space
with SRK in Dear Zindagi,
Alia will be seen with
Salman in the Bhansali
directorial titled Inshallah.
A source tells us, “Alia has
completed all the formali-
ties and signed on the
dotted line.” The informer
adds, “When SLB was
planning the cast, he
met Karan (Johar),
who showed him
rushes of Kalank.
The Padmaavat
filmmaker was
impressed with
Alia’s grace
and poise. He
then met her
and had an
hour-long
discussion.”
The film is
expected to
roll around
December
after Salman and
Alia complete
their other work
commitments.
Contd on P13
C
In Kesari, Akshay stars as the leader of
the army of 21 Sikh soldiers who fought
against 10,000 invaders. The film is a
story of valour, sacrifice and patriotism
a story that impacts story for us came through
millions and salutes the memories from the
unsung heroes of our coun- Saragarhi Memorial at
try.’’ Shariq Patel, CEO, Zee Ferozepur. This is a story
Studios, states, “It’s been of valour we should be
our vision at Zee Studios to proud and aware of and
support great historical what better way to accom-
stories. With Kesari, we plish that than to embed it
are happy to bring to life in the curriculum at
this lesser known, but schools.”
significant story of bravery Kesari, produced by
and valour.” Hiroo Yash Johar, Aruna
Speaking about why this Bhatia, Karan Johar,
tale needs to find a place in Apoorva Mehta, Sunir
the curriculum, Sunir Kheterpal and presented
Kheterpal of Azure Films, by Zee Studios, releases
says, “The germ of this tomorrow.
Salman Khan
Alia is a great
performer.
I knew that she
would grow up
to be a great
actress the day she
auditioned for me
as a nine-year-old
girl for Black
Sanjay Leela Bhansali,
Sanjay Leela Bhansali filmmaker
After
Vidyut Jammwal-starrer Junglee promises ample doses of it
Vidyut Jammwal in Junglee
inema has immense
power as it reaches
out to a wide
audience. Over the
years, apart from music and
drama, filmmakers have
used action to tell a
powerful tale. Successful
franchises across the world
have shown that when
packaged with crisp fight
sequences, even sensitive
topics help in conveying the
most difficult emotions.
From a heartfelt film
like Logan to a coming-
of-age story like the
Spider-Man series, all have
heavily depended on engag-
ing narrative and action to
drive home the message.
Today, due to their fast-
paced stress-ridden lives,
audiences have taken to less
preachy and more entertain-
ing forms of storytelling.
Subjects have become
intense while narration has
become more visual, which
makes it a win-win situation
A look from
Suket Dhir
for action-led films. After
all, it’s always cathartic Live action is
to see a hero win over the coupled with real,
bad men.
Larger-than-life visuals magnificent
on the big screen not only
animals like
make viewers pause and
take notice but also ensure elephants in this
that the film’s subject leaves
Chuck Russell
an indelible impression
on them. directorial
Ever since the trailer of
Vidyut Jammwal’s Junglee
has been released, trade is There have been movies
abuzz that viewers will which showed the bond
welcome this cinematic between human beings and
treat with open arms. Some animals — right from
of them are also hailing the Haathi Mere Saathi, which
actor as India’s Tarzan. had Rajesh Khanna and
Live action coupled with an elephant, to Teri
real, magnificent animals Meherbaniyan, which had
like elephants in this Jackie Shroff and a dog.
Chuck Russell directorial There have been so many
has left the audience movies in which creatures
waiting for more. have played pivotal roles
Trade analyst Taran and they have worked
Adarsh says, “Action with because people love them.
emotions is the cherry on For me, a film with animals
the cake. Of course, there and action makes for a
has to be a storyline with it. perfect family outing.”
How to look vibrant and on point during
the festival of colours...
Manish D Mishra
A
Holi brunch is
traditionally
synonymous
with
pristine whites,
sugary pastels
and vibrant
prints. Howev-
er, this festive
season, it’s all
about chintz A bracelet
prints, mirror from Anaqa
embellishments Jewels
and striking neon
hues. “An all-
lime green outfit,
too, can make a
statement. In
terms of silhouettes, a pair
of relaxed pyjama pants with
a loose cape top would be
ideal. The look is easy breezy
and just in case you get any
colour on you, the outfit
would not stick to your body.
If you are going for
brighter colours, it
would be nice to team
a pair of shorts with
a buttoned-
down shirt
in the same
tonal
palette,”
says
designer SKO footwear bands and sunglasses;
A model in Arpita
Mishru
Mehta.
She adds, “Keep-
ing comfort as a
Trade analyst Komal
Nahta is of the opinion,
“Action films generally
appeal to masses more than
family and class audiences,
but if an action-based movie
has other entertaining
factors, too, then it becomes
universally appealing.
Gadar: Ek Prem Katha was
the biggest blockbuster of
its time and families,
classes and masses took it
to another level altogether.
In fact, the deadliest
combination is action with
emotions. In recent times, I
saw that combination in the
trailer of Junglee.
Additionally, it has animal-
human bonding, which has
not been seen in Hindi
cinema for many years. I
think, people will flock to
cinemas to watch Junglee
because of these reasons.”
Junglee, produced by
Vineet Jain and co-produced
by Priti Shahani, releases
worldwide on March 29.
priority, pairing
gladiator sandals
with a short flared
dress works best.
Sandals are a great
option if you are go-
ing for a stylish yet
comfortable look.
When it comes to
accessories, one
can always opt for
some simple layered
necklaces or can also
add a bohemian vibe by
wearing tassels.”
Avoid transparent
fabrics
Alternatively, women can
settle for anything old yet
fun and easy; printed loose
pants with a tank top work
extremely well, too. Designer
Nikhil Thampi suggests, “Of
course, one should avoid a
fabric that is too transpar-
ent. Dark hues would be ide-
al. Men can com-
bine a pair of
shorts with a
slogan
T-shirt or even
club a pair of
pants with a
basic kurta.
Bring out your
quirky scarves, hair
definitely avoid jewellery,
fine or faux.”
For the full story, log on to
www.dnaindia.com
 After
Etc daily news & analysis
Ahmedabad I Wednesday, March 20, 2019
13
Kat or Bhumi?
Contd from P12

Alia to share screen

It is being conjectured that one space with Salman
of these actresses is
the reason why Vicky Kaushal
and Harleen Sethi split...

A
fter months of hiding from the
prying eyes of the media, Vicky
Kaushal had publicly announced
his love for girlfriend Harleen
Sethi, during the promotions of
Manmarziyaan (2018). While everyone was
rooting for this new B-Town couple, we
now hear that the two actors have split.
Apparently, Harleen got upset with Vicky’s
closeness to his co-stars and also blocked
him from her social media handles. On the
other hand, the Uri: The Surgical Strike Alia Bhatt Salman Khan
actor still follows his ex on Instagram.
The heartbroken actress has since
then been liking several emotional This will be Sanjay Leela No Shah Rukh Khan!
messages, dropping major hints about a Bhansali’s first project with the Contrary to what’s being reported,
possible split. Now, the question is — Raazi actress. Speaking about this Shah Rukh Khan won’t be a part
who’s responsible for their break-up? association, he tells us, “It’s always of the project. “Sanjay has three
Some sources claim that Vicky’s growing a pleasure to work with wonderful scripts. One is Inshallah, which is
fondness for Bhumi Pednekar caused the actors and Alia is a great perform- an eternal love story, the other is
dent in his relationship with Harleen, er. I knew that she would grow up on the lines of Hum Dil De Chuke
while others are speculating about his to be a great actress the day she Sanam (1999), while the third is a
alleged closeness to Katrina Kaif. Either auditioned for me as a nine-year- two-hero period saga. SLB is talk-
way, looks like both of Vicky’s newfound old girl for Black (2005). Finally, in ing to Shah Rukh and Salman for
Katrina Kaif Bhumi Pednekar friendships didn’t go down too well with Harleen Sethi and Vicky Kaushal 2019, everything has fallen into the second and the third, but he is
Harleen. Oops! place and I am looking forward to presently making the first,” adds
our association.” our source.

pick your brain crossword hidato Baby Blues

Down 20 Noah’s boat (3)
1 City in Uttar 21 State neighbour-
Pradesh (6) ing New Delhi (7)
2 German composer 22 Cry of doves - cry
(6) of surprise? (3)
3 Algonquian 23 Trees with fragrant
language (4) wood (6)
4 Cattle tender (7) 24 Fairy tale teller
5 Label differently ___ Christian An-
(5) dersen (4)
6 Lawman Earp (5) 25 Difficult (6)
8 River in central 26 Intrinsically - in
Switzerland (4) Latin ? (3,2)
9 A pointed end (3) 27 A hard white ma-
12 Gain victory (3) terial which comes The Pajama Dairies
13 River in Europe - from the tusks of
“Heron” anagram elephants (5)
? (5) 28 A small black bird
15 Trades (5) (3)
18 Oak-to-be (5) 30 Piercing (4)
19 Pronoun (3)

Across 16 Number of sides in an octa- 26 Former (5)

1 Legendary (6) gon (5) 28 Afternoon refresher (3)
7 Restoration (8) 17 Chinese weight - “late” 29 Ambassadors or legates (6) The goal of Hidato is to fill the grid
8 Gaming stake (4) change ? (4) 30 One of a pair of organs (6) with consecutive numbers that
10 Rock band helper (6) 19 Hanker (5) 31 Greek letters - “seat” changed connect horizontally, vertically, or
11 Frustrate (6) 21 Accumulate (5) ? (4) diagonally from first to the last
14 Travelling salesman, in short 22 Make watertight (5) 32 Scatter in drops (8) number in the grid. The first and last
(3) 23 Jazz trumpeter Baker (4) 33 Smelling (6) numbers of a puzzle and some other Tina’s Grove
numbers are already filled in.

spellathon How good is your vocabulary? Spell out sudoku

as many words of four or more letters
as you can from the letters in today’s To solve a Sudoku
diagram. In making a word, each letter puzzle, every digit
must be used only once and each word must appear once
must contain the letter in the centre. in: Each of the
There should be at least one nine-letter vertical columns;
word! Plurals, foreign words, and Each of the
proper nouns do not qualify. horizontal rows;
Rate yourself Each of the boxes.
22 Average; 24 Good; 26 Wow!

Tinkersons
crossword

spring
solutions

sudoku

soon, sopping, spin, spoon, spooring,

hidato

rosin, sign, sing, snip, snoop, song,

PROPOSING, ring, roping,
poison, poring, posing, prison, prong,
goon, grin, groin, iron, opposing, ping,
spellathon

Marjorie Orr
Your year ahead will be challenging, but with perseverance and resourcefulness you will overcome any obstacles to succeed. Being conscientious and
IF IT’S YOUR self-disciplined will pay off, with praise coming from those whose judgement you trust. You will be swept away on enthusiasm for grander plans than
BIRTHDAY TODAY usual, which won’t all be realistic but you’ll have fun following your dream. From mid-year, you will take time out to focus on home and family matters.

ARIES TAURUS GEMINI CANCER LEO VIRGO

Mar 21 - Apr 20
Be slightly more on guard
than usual for a few days.
You could attract the wrong
kind of people, so
double-lock doors and windows and don’t
walk down the wrong side of the road. Be
sensible. You have a very clear view of life
at the moment, but it may not endear you
to close companions if you continually
point out to them everything that’s wrong.
Try adding a few compliments first if you
have to be honest or critical.
Apr 21 - May 20
If you stand your ground too
firmly and keep arguing to the
bitter end, you won’t win. Try
to be subtle. It is important
that you fix your eagle eye on the things
that need your attention. If you do, you
will find that you can pick up the tiny little
details that need to be sorted out, which
others have missed. This is not the time
to have your head in the clouds, relying
on luck to see you through. You will have
to make efforts yourself.
May 21 - June 21
There are push-or-be-pushed
influences around. It depends
which side of the coin you get.
Either, you hold the power and
you’re not paying enough attention to other
people’s sensitivities, or they are doing the
same to you. Try to avoid power struggles
which will end badly. Trivial amusements
won’t go well right now. If you are too
cheerful, you’ll end up feeling thwarted.
But if you are serious, you’ll make by far
the best of the Saturn influences around.
June 22 - July 23
Either someone is getting in
your way and trying to control
you, or you’re doing the same
to them. If you can avoid being
manipulative and try extra hard, you will
achieve more than you expect. If you are
holding back from a serious discussion
with close ones maybe you need to think
of some way of breaking the ice. There
may have been more criticism around than
usual, but you could also be misconstruing
something you only half heard.
July 24 - August 23
The energy level is very high
today. If you can harness that
and really push, you will you
end up achieving something
that is more solid than usual. Remember
that you’ve got a sense of humour as well
as a sense of what is wrong with life. It’s
important to break through one
communication barrier, but that requires
you get companions to listen to what you
have to say. You need to prepare the
ground in advance by softening them up.
Aug 24 - Sep 23
You will probably be feeling
on edge, as if life is dragging
anchor. In fact, you may have
achieved more than you
imagine, moving one tricky situation
forward a bit. If you can push frivolities
to one side just temporarily and do the
practical, solid, sensible, get-it-all-together
kind of tasks, then you could get a lot of
stuff cleared out of the way once and for
all. Then you will deserve a break and can
disappear off to play truant.

LIBRA SCORPIO SAGITTARIUS CAPRICORN AQUARIUS PISCES

Write to Sept 24 - October 22 Oct 23 - November 22 Nov 23 - Dec 22 Dec 23 - Jan 20 Jan 21 - Feb 19 Feb20 - March 20
Marjorie You may feel stuck, but keep It’s important not to be alone Maybe you are feeling If you have people under your Try to see where all your If you have left loose ends
Orr on pushing. Soon you’ll look today, even if you are finding controlled by people who are control at the moment, you efforts have made a dent on around, face up to them and
back and see you made relationships tricky. Pick the determined to have all the need to be acting towards them one situation or even another sort them out. It is a good idea
with your
progress. But you’ve got to right kind of company. Don’t go power. It’s awkward to know in a reasonable manner. So person. You do want to make to get everything organised
queries at be clear what you want to achieve. Don’t for friends who rub you up the wrong way. how to handle them for the best. The a stronger impression and to change the more sensibly. What comes out of this
avoid tramping on other people’s corns
afterhrs@ fly too high. This is a day to focus on the Your self-esteem maybe not that great at more you push back, sometimes the conditions of your life. If you can’t see any time will be to your benefit, but you’re
because it could backfire. If there are slight
dnaindia. small things. Try to see things exactly as the moment. Don’t judge yourself by other worse they get, and you get into a no win delays around, don’t get discouraged. Just results yet, you soon will. You will be quite going to have to be strategic. Try to be
net they are, which isn’t as much fun as people’s standards. Just because not battle. You may be focusing on what’s sound bright and bouncy, leave it for three sharp about detail today. Where you have realistic and face the bottom line in one
www. looking on the bright side, but might everyone fits in with your point of view, wrong around you, seeing flaws rather or four days and hey presto, it will all work specialised or really significant tasks to do, tricky situation. It could be dreary in some
star4cast. prove to be more useful. If you are more doesn’t mean that you are necessarily than benefits. It may not be easy to open itself out. Attitude of mind may be more you will find that you crack along. Though ways, but the influences around are good
com on your own than usual remember, it’s wrong. Give yourself a pat on the back up to other people because you fear they important than anything else. Try to think you won’t necessarily find it very easy to if you have got to do things that require
only a passing phase. for what you have accomplished recently. may be critical, but try all the same. positively and it will work. communicate with other people. disciplined thinking.
 The person who lives life in a royal manner, advertised
himself as a chaiwallah in the last Lok Sabha elections second
front
for the sake of the vote. Now he is declaring himself as
chowkidar with pomp and show for votes
in the elections. The country is really changing?
—Mayawati, BSP supremo
page
14 www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia Ahmedabad I Wednesday, March 20, 2019 I daily news & analysis

J&K principal killed in custody Lion city joined by Paris &

HK as most expensive city
As Valley erupts in protest & separatists call for shutdown, police initiates magisterial inquiry
Ishfaq-ul-Hassan
h_ishfaq@dnaindia.net
Srinagar: A 28-year-old
school principal, who was ar-
rested in connection with a
terror case, died in police
custody, and has triggered
protests in Pulwama district
on Tuesday, the police said.
Sensing trouble, the Jam-
mu and Kashmir police has
already ordered a magisteri-
al inquiry into the incident
even as the Joint Resistance
Leadership (JRL) of separa-
tists has called for a shut-
down on Wednesday to pro-
test the killing.
Rizwan Assad Pandith
was the principal of a local
private school, and was ar-
rested on Sunday night from
his home. However, on Tues-
day the family was informed
that he has died in custody.
“Day before, police cor-
doned off two to three houses
of our locality and all our
family members were taken
File photo of an officer in Kashmir
out, but Rizwan was taken
away. When we first ap-
proached the cops, they said
do not communicate it to any-
one and later told us that he
has been taken to Cargo (Spe-
cial Operation Group camp).
This morning, we found out
that he has been killed in cus-
tody,” said Zulqarnain Assad,
Rizwan’s brother.
An MSc in Physics with
Masters in Education, Ri-
zwan was jailed under Public
Safety Act (PSA) in Septem-
ber 2018. However, in Novem-
cops say
Police said that in
pursuance of a terror
case probe, Pandit was in
custody. “The said person
died in police custody.
A magisterial inquiry is
underway and separately,
police investigation has
also been initiated,” said a
police spokesman.
ber the court quashed his
PSA and he was arrested in
December again before being
released.
The custodial death has
now sparked protests and
leading the charge is former
J&K chief minister Omar
Abdullah, who described it as
an “unacceptable develop-
ment.” Meanwhile, PDP pres-
ident Mehbooba Mufti said
that innocent men hauled
from their homes for inter-
rogation return home only in
coffins now.
‘Country will not forget
their supreme sacrifice’
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: The country will
never forget the “supreme sac-
rifice” of the 40 Central Re-
serve Police Force (CRPF)
personnel who were
killed on February 14
in Jammu and
Kashmir’s Pulwa-
ma attack, Nation-
al Security Advisor
(NSA) Ajit Doval
said on Tuesday.
Doval was the chief
guest at the 80th Raising
Day in Gurugram as Union
Home Minister Rajnath Sin-
gh or Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi could not attend the
event because of the Model
Code of Conduct.
He also said that the
“country’s leadership is very
capable to effectively re-
spond” to terrorist attacks.
“I want to pay tribute to
the brave 40 CRPF jawans
who sacrificed their lives
in Pulwama for the
country. The coun-
try has not forgot-
ten and will never
forget...If your
morale is high, the
country’s future is
safe...Maintain this
credibility, capability,
and professionalism as In-
dia is looking up to you,”
Doval said, adding, “When-
ever we have meetings and
discuss which force to send,
we say send the CRPF. It is a
credible force.”
Hong Kong: Move over Singa-
pore — the world’s most expen-
sive city has two new rivals.
After topping the Econo-
mist Intelligence Unit’s
Worldwide Cost of Living
Survey for five years, Asia’s
Lion City has been joined by
Paris and Hong Kong in a tie
at the top of the table.
Zurich and Geneva round-
ed out the top five, while New
York and Los Angeles re-
claimed spots in the top 10
— ranking in seventh and
10th respectively — after slip- Singapore has topped the list for the last six years consecutively
ping to 13th and 14th last year
thanks to a weakening dollar. vices across 93 countries. top 10 cities
The survey is designed to The Japanese city of Osaka
help companies calculate was another re-entry, moving „„Singapore, Paris,
cost-of-living allowances and up six spots to number five. Hong Kong
build compensation packag- Seoul, Copenhagen (joint sev-
es for expatriates and busi- enth) and Tel Aviv (10th) „„Zurich
ness travellers. The trio of round out the top 10 — which „„Geneva, Osaka
cities sharing the top spot are actually consists of 11 cities
7 per cent more expensive to thanks to tied places. “Weaker „„New York,
live in than New York, ac- local currencies have pushed Copenhagen, Seoul
cording to the EIU, which all five Australian cities sur-
„„Tel Aviv, Los Angeles
compiles its list from a sur- veyed down in the ranking,”
vey of 160 products and ser- the EIU said. —Bloomberg

snapshot oh, for the love of green! In Israel’s poll

‘My successor
can be in India,
not in China’
Dalai Lama, spiritual leader
China considers Dalai
1 Lama’s reincarnation
as something very
important. They have more
concern about the next Dalai
Lama than me.
Now, UGC plans month-long
training for higher edu faculty
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: In a bid to
streamline the higher edu-
cation faculty training, the
University Grants Com-
mission has proposed a
mandatory month-long
residential Faculty Induc-
tion Programme (FIP) for
newly-recruited teachers.
The education body feels
that unlike school teachers,
faculty in higher education
Animal rights activists with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) dressed as a giraffe, zebra and tiger
hold placards during a rally, urging the public to save forests by going vegan, in Bangalore on Tuesday —AFP
usually join the teaching
profession without any for-
war, ‘fascist’
perfume up
against hippo
Jerusalem: A new ad with
an elegantly dressed minis-
ter using “fascist” perfume
drew online outrage on Tues-
day, the latest in a social me-
dia war ahead of an Israeli
election that has also fea-
tured a flatulent hippo.
Israeli law prevents politi-
cal ads from being aired on
television until two weeks
before the April 9 election, so
parties have flooded social
media with clips instead.
CBSE to merge Class 10 marksheets In keeping with Israel’s
seldom subtle political scene,

2
In future, in case you
see two Dalai Lamas
mal training in teaching,
learning or assessment.
& certificates, Class 12 to stay same many have been over the top,
and the one released late on
come, one from here, Their understanding and New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Educa- Monday featuring Justice
in free country (India), one
chosen by Chinese, then
nobody will trust, nobody will
Netflix confirms won’t be part of capabilities are built infor-
mally out of their own ex-
periences or shared with
tion (CBSE) will issue a single document combining
the certificate and marksheet for class 10 board exams
from this year onwards, officials said on Tuesday. A
Minister Ayelet Shaked
pushed lots of buttons.
The ad tries to play on ac-

Apple’s new streaming platform

respect (the one chosen by
China). So that’s an additional
problem for the Chinese! It’s
possible, it can happen.
If the majority of (Ti-
3 betan people) really
want to keep this in-
stitution, then this institution
will remain. Then comes the
question of the reincarnation
of the 15th Dalai Lama.
Our strength, our
4 power is based on
truth. Chinese power
is based on gun. So for short
term, gun is much more
decisive, but long term truth
is more powerful. —Reuters
San Francisco: Netflix
Chief Executive Officer Reed
Hastings confirmed that his
company won’t be participat-
ing in Apple’s new streaming
platform, reflecting new com-
petition between the Silicon
Valley giants.
“We want to have people
watch our content on our ser-
vice,” he said at a press con-
ference on Monday. “We’ve
chosen not to integrate into
their service.”
Apple plans to introduce
the video-streaming service
on March 25, opening up a
new battlefront for the tech
industry and Hollywood. The
idea is to combine original
content with programming
from partners, including
HBO and Starz. Apple has
played a neutral role in the
fight for eyeballs online, opt-
ing to distribute shows, apps
and movies from all major
companies. But it now wants
to sell the service that people
use to watch TV as well.
“We’ve always had massive
competitors,” Hastings said.
“We’ve been competing with
Amazon in video streaming.
These are large, well-funded
companies with very signifi-
cant efforts. But you do your
best job when you have great
competitors.” —Bloomberg
their colleagues. So, the
FIP is being visualised as a
means to create awareness
of policies, governance and
administrative structures
that will improve their
teaching and management
skills.
“The FIP will help them
understand their roles and
responsibilities as faculty
members, familiarise
themselves with the struc-
ture, functioning, govern-
ance, rules, regulations
and professional expecta-
tions. The programme will
also help the faculty ex-
plore pedagogical process-
es — aims of higher educa-
decision was taken by the board’s examination com- cusations from her critics
mittee and approved by the governing body recently. that Shaked has pursued a
“A single certificate at secondary level examination fascist-like agenda and argue
combining the language of the marksheet and certifi- that her policies are in fact
cate shall be issued for class 10 examination with effect more democratic.
from 2019,” a senior board official said. Class 12 stu-
dents will, however, continue to get separate docu-
“For anyone who doesn’t
know that the left often ac-
ments for marksheet and certificate of examination. cuses Shaked of fascism, this
ad will sound like she’s en-
dorsing fascism and calling it
tion, curriculum, instruc- jective of the FIP.” democracy,” said Eylon Levy
tional planning, classroom It will be mandatory for of Israel’s i24 news channel.
management,” said a UGC all newly recruited faculty Smaller parties have
official, adding, “Recognis-
ing the importance of self-
members to go through the
FIP within one year of
sought to differentiate them-
selves. Finance Minister
development, socio-emo- their joining service. The Moshe Kahlon’s centre-right
tional development of stu- one-month programme Kulanu, which is struggling
dents and the importance will be done in two phases in opinion polls, last week
of nurturing ethics and of 18 days and 12 days re- released a video designed as
values is also another ob- spectively. a trailer for a movie.
It featured a fish climbing
a tree and a flatulent hippo-
potamus, with the message

‘I Live! I Die!’: How Chinese goths

unite against
‘Should have avoided Khobragade’s strip search’ being that only Kahlon, the
“sane right”, cares about so-
cial issues. The animals were

NZ uses Haka to heal

Members of a New Zealand biker gang perform the Haka —Reuters
Christchurch: New Zealand-
ers are gathering to thump
chests, stomp feet and stick
out their tongues — staging
Because you can
feel it when you
see them. You feel
metro ‘policy’
Beijing: China’s goth com-
munity posted selfies wear-
ing black lipstick and sombre
white makeup in an online
protest over a peer who was
forced to remove her makeup
before boarding a subway car.
The social media blitz
prompted an apology from
the transport company in the
southern city of Guangzhou.
Goths are a subculture
known for their black clothes
and makeup — with a popu-
lar segment known as “Goth-
ic Lolita” whose members
dress in dark outfits inspired
by Victorian dolls.
Writing about the encoun-
ter on her Weibo social media
account, the woman, who
New York: Preet Bharara, the
Indian-American former At-
torney for the Southern Dis-
trict of New York, has ac-
knowledged in a new book that
the strip-search which Indian
diplomat Devyani Khobra-
gade was subject to following
her arrest in 2013 for alleged
visa fraud “could have and
should have been avoided”.
In a new book titled Doing
Justice — A Prosecutor’s
Thoughts on Crime, Punish-
ment and the Rule of Law,’
Bharara writes about Kho-
bragade’s arrest and charges
filed against her. The episode
had caused a major diplomat-
ic row between India and the
spread too thin with 69% full-time jobs, indians also the hardest workers
Devyani Khobragade
US and plummeted bilateral
relations to a new low.
Bharara writes in his book
that in 2013, the State Depart-
ment arrested a mid-level fe-
male Indian diplomat, Devy-
ani Khobragade, for visa
fraud in connection with lies
about what she would pay her
Preet Bharara
domestic worker. He said the
Southern District of New
York had agreed to prosecute
the case, at the State Depart-
ment’s explicit request”.
“It was not the crime of the
century, but a serious offense
nonetheless and a burgeon-
ing problem among the diplo-
meant to symbolise all the
matic corps in the United distractions from real issues
States. That’s why the State
Department opened the case;
Israeli voters are facing in
the campaign.
that’s why the State Depart- The extreme-right Jewish
ment investigated it; that’s Power party has distributed
why the career agents in the a video showing a soldier
State Department asked ca- hesitating to shoot a Palestin-
reer prosecutors in my office ian attacker out of fear of
to approve criminal charges, prosecution. —AFP
he writes, adding, “Khobra-
gade was afforded a number
of courtesies during the
course of her arrest, because
of her diplomatic status, but
she was strip-searched per
regular procedure. That
could have and should have
been avoided, given that no
one would have sought pre-
trial detention.” —PTI The ad by Ayelet Shaked

With 4-day work week, Indians will learn new skills

impromptu performances of
the haka war dance to show
solidarity with a Muslim com-
munity shattered by the mass
shooting in Christchurch.
Kiwis ranging from heav-
ily tattooed bikers to busi-
ness executives, children and
the elderly have lined up to
perform the intimidating cer-
emonial dance which begins
with fierce chants roughly
translated as “I Live! I Die!”
As the country struggles
to respond to the horrific
tragedy, it was perhaps inevi-
table that many would turn
to the haka — a dance whose
origins lie with the indige-
nous Maori community, but
which has become a global
symbol of New Zealand as
the battle cry of its national
rugby team, the All Blacks.
it, it touches your heart.
Every time I see it I cry,
it means too much.
Kawthar Abulaban,
Christchurch survivor
The aggressive ritual may
seem out of step with the
sombre atmosphere gripping
the nation, but the haka is not
only meant to intimidate, but
also to mourn, melding both
hostility and beauty into an
outpouring of true emotion,
said Te Kahautu Maxwell, a
professor of Maori at Waika-
to University. “Haka is used to
show love and compassion.
Haka is used to uplift the spir-
its of bereaved families,”
Maxwell said. —AFP
goes by the username EIGA-
In My Heart, said she was
stopped by a female security
officer at a Guangzhou metro
station on March 10 after her
makeup was deemed “too
scary”.
“On the basis of what law
am I being stopped and my
time being wasted? “If there
is, I will make a banner for
the station of my own ex-
pense stating: thick makeup
and goth outfits are prohib-
ited on the metro,” she wrote,
adding that it was not the
first time this has happened
to her. The community
jumped to her defence on so-
cial media, posting selfies in
full make up on Twitter-like
Weibo using the hashtag,
#ASelfieForTheGuangzhou-
Metro. —AFP
Mumbai: Learning a new
skill or hobby is top priority
of 66 per cent Indian profes-
sionals if they were to get a
four-day work week, accord-
ing to a recent survey.
With ‘more time’ wish lists,
most Indian workers wished
they had time to learn a new
skill or hobby followed by
watching TV, movies or listen-
ing to music, according to
Kronos Incorporated survey
‘Future of workplace’ series.
“It’s not surprising to see
that the survey reflects an
aspiring young India seeking
more opportunities to ac-
quire a new skill, unlearn or
off a family vacation and in-
stead put in those extra hours
to acquire a new skill or a
certification,” Kronos Incor-
porated country manager,
India, James Thomas said.
In their personal lives the
top five things people world-
wide wish they could do more
of are spend time with family
(44 per cent), travel (43 per
cent), exercise (33 per cent),
spend time with friends (30
per cent) and pursue their
hobbies (29 per cent).
Employees in France, Germany, US and UK listed ‘sleep more’ as top priority Employees in France, Ger-
many, the US and the UK
relearn if they find spare get away. It’s rather intrigu- listed ‘sleep more’ as a top
time or added time as a key ing to see that they might put priority, while in UK workers
wished they had time to learn
a new skill or hobby.
The Workforce Institute at
Kronos Incorporated global
survey examining 3,000 em-
ployees across eight nations
including Australia, Canada,
France, Germany, India,
Mexico, the UK and the US.
Meanwhile, the survey
further revealed that India
led the way as the hardest-
working country, with a
whopping 69 per cent of full-
time employees saying they
would still work five days a
week even if they had the op-
tion to work fewer days for
the same pay. —PTI

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