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Key conspirator, five Will boost ties with Civilians leave besieged Ruturaj, Conway star
others held in Patiala Europe, says PM ahead steel plant in Ukrainian in CSK’s win over SRH;
violence case: police of three-nation tour city of Mariupol LSG pips DC
page 10 page 11 page 14 page 15

P r i n t e d at . Ch enna i . Co imbatore . Ben galu ru . Hy derabad . M a d urai . Noida . V is ak hapat nam . Thiruvanant hapuram . Kochi . V ij ayawa da . M a n g a lu ru . T i ru c h i r a pa l l i . Ko l k ata . Hu bba l l i . M o h a l i . M a l a p p u r a m . M u m ba i . Ti ru pat i . lu c k n ow . c u t tac k . pat n a

IN BRIEF
April GST revenues go Ex-MLA held in Kerala hate speech case
BJP leaders nearly 20 complaints, in-

past ₹1.67 lakh crore criticise govt. for

police action
cluding one from the Muslim
Youth League, against the
former Government Chief
Whip and a controversial
Face-off casts shadow on Finance Ministry terms collection a sign of ‘faster recovery’ Staff Reporter political figure, whose party
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM is a National Democratic Al-
Id prayers in Srinagar Vikas Dhoot Former MLA and Kerala Ja- liance constituent.
SRINAGAR NEW DELHI napaksham (Secular) leader The Fort police charged
A confrontation between J&K
officials and the caretakers of
India’s gross Goods and Ser- P.C. George was arrested on him under Section 153A
Jamia Masjid on Sunday over vices Tax (GST) revenues hit Sunday for his alleged hate (promoting enmity between
the timing of Id prayers at the a fresh high of ₹1,67,540 speech against Muslims. He different groups on ground
Idgah venue and the grand crore in April, with revenues was later granted condition- of religion, race and doing
mosque in Srinagar cast from goods imports rising al bail by a magistrate court. Former MLA P.C. George being taken to the residence of a acts prejudicial to mainte-
doubt over permission being 30% year-on-year and dom- A day after the police re- magistrate in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday. S. MAHINSHA
* nance of harmony) and 295A
granted for prayers at these estic transactions, along gistered a suo motu case in (deliberate and malicious act
places of worship. with services imports, rising connection with the speech with stiff objection by the serve camp where Mr. Ge- intended to outrage religious
NEWS " PAGE 11 17%. he made at the Ananthapuri BJP which accused the go- orge was brought after the feelings of any class by in-
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD The Finance Ministry said Hindu Maha Sammelan — a vernment of adopting dou- arrest, charged the govern- sulting its religion or reli-
that April’s revenues for conclave held by the Sangh ble standards of justice. The ment with arresting citizens gious beliefs) of the Indian
Raj firm on deadline to transactions undertaken in Parivar — here on April 29, a ruling CPI(M) and the Oppo- for expressing dissent, even Penal Code.
remove loudspeakers March reflected a “faster re- police team took him into sition Congress criticised Mr. while letting murderers go Speaking to mediaper-
PUNE covery” of business activity, custody from his residence George’s remarks. scot-free. He, however, sid- sons, Mr. George appeared
MNS president Raj Thackeray while industry experts attri- at Erattupetta in Kottayam Union Minister of State for estepped questions on the unfazed and remained firm
on Sunday said he was firm buted part of the surge to a around 5 a.m., and brought External Affairs V. Mura- propriety of Mr. George’s on his stance.
on the May 3 deadline for massive uptick in input costs him to the State capital. leedharan, who was refused controversial statements.
the removal of loudspeakers for producers, some of The police action was met entry into the Armed Re- The police had received CONTINUED ON " PAGE 10
from mosques in Maharashtra.
which is also visible in high
Mr. Thackeray warned
retail prices as well as new cluding the recent changes constituted ₹33,159 crore of
Muslims that if they do
not accept his request,
then he should not be held
responsible for what occurs in
and tighter input credit
norms.
Overall GST revenues
on permitting input tax cre-
dits only upon timely com-
pliance by the vendors,” De-
April’s gross revenues from
the tax, while State GST ac-
counted for ₹41,793 crore
e-Shram to help settle workers’ accident claims
the State after the deadline. were 20% higher than a year loitte India partner M.S. and Integrated GST made up Direct benefit The portal was launched
six months ago with the aim
scheme would allow the
workers to get the direct be-
ago, and 17.9% higher than Mani said. ₹81,939 crore, including
NEWS " PAGE 11
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD the March 2022 collections ₹36,705 crore on import of transfer via of creating a national data- nefit transfer (DBT) through
of ₹1,42,095 crore with 7.7 ‘Reflects price rise’ goods. unique ID base of unorganised workers
and to facilitate social secur-
the e-Shram unique ID num-
ber. The official added that
‘Retired bureaucrat crore e-way bills generated Vivek Jalan, partner at Tax GST Compensation Cess
to run unified MCD’ in March, 13% higher than in Connect Advisory, said the collections, used to recom- Damini Nath ity schemes for them. the unique IDs on the e-
NEW DELHI February 2022. “For the first higher revenues not only re- pense States, grew 13.08% in New Delhi Among the promises made Shram portal carried the
A retired bureaucrat time, gross GST collection flect the continuing econom- April over March collec- Top functionaries of the Un- then was that the workers same series from the Em-
handpicked by the Central has crossed ₹1.5 lakh crore ic recovery but also the tre- tions, to touch ₹10,649 ion Labour and Employment would be eligible for ₹2 lakh ployees Provident Fund Or-
government is likely to be mark,” it said. mendous price rise in input crore. The cess collections Ministry said last week that as accident insurance. ganisation’s universal ac-
appointed the Special Officer costs and the implementa- included ₹857 crore collect- the Ministry was working on A senior official of the Mi- count number (UAN).
in charge of the unified Multiple factors tion of GSTR 2B under which ed on import of goods, a mechanism to process ac- nistry said discussions were Another functionary said
Municipal Corporation of “While the GST collections a recipient can only take cre- marking a 8.9% decline from cident insurance claims by on to link the e-Shram portal that a “mechanism for dispo-
Delhi, according to sources. in respect of March have al- dit for inputs, whose sup- the ₹941 crore cess from im- unorganised workers regis- with the Pradhan Mantri Su- sal” of the claims was in the
CITY " PAGE 3 ways been high, the record pliers have filed their re- port of goods in March. tered on the e-Shram portal, raksha Bima Yojana, the works. Workers in the unorganised
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
collections are due to multi- turns. which has seen over 27 crore Centre’s existing accident in- sector will be eligible for
EDUCATIONPLUS " PAGE 5 ple favourable factors, in- Central GST revenues CONTINUED ON " PAGE 10 registrations so far. surance scheme. The CONTINUED ON " PAGE 10 ₹2 lakh accident insurance.

Operational
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

In the heat of battle

readiness key:
Army chief
special correspondent
NEW DELHI

Stating that the geopolitical

situation is fast changing
and there are several chal-
lenges ahead of us, Army
chief General Manoj Pande
said on Sunday that his ut-
most priority would be to
ensure very high standards
of operational prepared-
ness while also taking for-
ward modernisation with
focus on indigenisation.
“Utmost priority would
be to ensure very high stan-
dards of operational prepa-
redness to face current,
At loggerheads: A pair of blackbucks locks horns at the Tal Chhapar Sanctuary in Rajasthan’s contemporary and future
Churu district on Sunday with temperatures crossing 45° Celsius. According to the IMD, challenges across the spec-
north and west India must brace for more heatwaves in May. V.V. KRISHNAN (REPORTS ON PAGES 3 & 12) *
trum of conflict,” Gen.
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC Pande told journalists.
General Pande assumed
charge as the 29th Chief of

Delhi University should re-establish the Army Staff on Friday.

On force modernisation,
he said, “Effort would be to

India as a Viswaguru, says Naidu leverage new technologies

through indigenisation and
self-reliance.” Gen. Pande
was speaking to journalists
‘Lawmakers must seriously consider suggestions from varsities’ after reviewing a guard of
honour on the lawns of
Jaideep Deo Bhanj country’s universities must South Block. “The Army
NEW DELHI build on their strengths to has also contributed to na-
At the centenary celebration stand out as institutes of ex- tion building. I would like
of Delhi University here on cellence. to assure through you that
Sunday, Vice-President M. The Vice-President said the Indian Army will be ful-
Venkaiah Naidu said it poverty, illiteracy and dis- ly committed to the values
needs to break into the top crimination were the chal- of freedom, liberty and
10 universities of the world lenges plaguing the country equality,” he stated.
and re-establish India as a and universities had to help
Viswaguru by attracting stu- the administration over- ‘Beginning of synergy’
dents from across the globe. come these hurdles with Chiefs of other services,
Mr. Naidu, who is the out-of-the-box solutions. Air Force Chief Air Chief
Chancellor of the university, Venkaiah Naidu at Delhi Marshal V.R. Chaudhari
said it was important to University’s centenary ‘Far-sighted document’ and Navy chief Admiral R.
avoid complacency. “An- celebration on Sunday. *
PTI Encouraging the involve- Hari Kumar were also pre-
cient India had enjoyed the ment of varsities in the law- sent. The three Chiefs are
reputation of being a Viswa- try’s independence move- making process, he said sug- coursemates, from the 61st
guru and was a renowned ment and its distinguished gestions from universities course of the National De-
cradle of culture with reput- alumni had occupied impor- should be “seriously” consi- fence Academy.
ed centres of knowledge. tant positions in various dered by lawmakers. When asked about the
The universities of Nalanda, fields and contributed to the Describing the National significance of the pre-
Takshashila, Vikramshila, development of the country. Education Policy as a far- sence of other chiefs, Gen.
Vallabhi and Odantapuri He said education was the sighted document that is set Pande said he had known
bear ample testimony to this most powerful catalyst for to revolutionise the coun- them well and it was a good
fact. We must ensure that national development and try’s educational landscape, beginning of synergy,
our universities again be- high quality higher educa- Mr. Naidu said its emphasis cooperation and jointman-
come global learning tion could change the coun- on imparting education in ship among the three ser-
centres,” Mr. Naidu said. try’s development trajecto- one’s mother tongue will be vices while assuring that
The Vice-President said ry. Quoting Rabindranath a game changer. they would work together
the university during its Tagore, he said “tireless and take things forward in
100-year journey played an striving stretches its arms to- DU AT 100: CHARTING ROAD MAP the cause of national secur-
important role in the coun- wards perfection” and the FOR FUTURE " PAGE 2 ity and defence.
CM A ND-NDE
YK
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2 CITY
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DU at 100: celebrates its journey so far, charts road map for future
Highlighting the university’s contribution towards nation-building and educating women, V-C Yogesh Singh says DU has reached every home and mind in the country
Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI
Delhi University kick-started
its year-long centenary cele-
brations by celebrating its
founders’ day on Sunday at
an event that showcased its
growth from three colleges
in 1922 to 90 colleges at pre-
sent and its contribution to-
wards nation-building and in
the struggle for Indepen-
dence.
Vice-Chancellor Yogesh
Singh said the impact of DU
is such that it has reached ev-
ery home and mind in the
country. “You go to any
house in Delhi and you will
find DU, you go anywhere
across the country to any
town in any corner, you will
CM
YK
Delhi University students performing during the centenary
celebrations of the university on Sunday. R.V. MOORTHY
find DU. Over the last 100
years, it has played a huge
role in building the nation
and it will continue to do so
in the future as well,” Mr.
*
Singh said.
Charting the growth of the
university in educating wo-
men, Mr. Singh talked about
the rise in the strength of fe-
<
> DU will have to
establish itself as
an incubator
offering solutions
to global problems
Dharmendra Pradhan
Union Education Minister
male students over the last
100 years. He said there were
only 82 girls studying in the
university in 1930, there
were 340 in 1940, 1,737 in
1950 and now in 2022, there
are 3,24,067 girls studying
on the campus, which is over
50% of the university’s total
student strength.
Vice-President M. Ven-
kaiah Naidu, the event’s chief
guest, released a commemo-
rative centenary stamp, cen-
tenary coin, centenary vol-
ume and the Delhi University
Undergraduate Curriculum
Framework - 2022 (Hindi,
Sanskrit and Telugu ver-
sions).
Mr. Naidu also launched
the centenary website of the
university and felicitated Kri-
tika Khinchi, a student of
Gargi College and designer of
the logo celebrating a 100
years of the university.
The guest of honour at the
event, Union Education Mi-
nister Dharmendra Pradhan
said only a few living univer-
sities in the country could
boast about being in exis-
tence for over 100 years and
Delhi University is one of
them. “Delhi University is
not only an institution with
90 colleges that have pro-
duced students who have
made a name for themselves
across the county. Delhi Un-
iversity is more than that. It
is a sentiment, an emotion
that is driving the country
forward,” Mr. Pradhan said.
Focused approach
The Education Minister said
DU will play a major role in
the future by producing
graduates who are not only
job seekers but job creators.
“DU is celebrating its cen-
tenary year in the Amrit Ma-
hotsav of the country. When
the country celebrates 100
years of its Independence,
DU will be celebrating 125
years of its establishment,”
Mr. Pradhan said.
The Minister added, “DU
will have to do a lot in the
field of research in the next
25 years and establish itself
as an incubator of the world
offering solutions to global
problems.” He threw open a
challenge to the university to
aspire to offer viable solu-
tions to India’s top-100 pro-
blems as well as solutions for
mitigating global challenges,
like climate change.
The Education Minister
congratulated the university
for being the first to adopt
the National Education Poli-
cy 2020 and its initiative in
implementing the Common
University Entrance Test
Two girls, food delivery
agent killed in car crash
‘No alcohol in driver’s medical report’
Staff Reporter
New Delhi
It was an hour past midnight
on Sunday when Krishna
Rajak, 22, returning with six
family members from a
wedding anniversary func-
tion in Peeragarhi, met with
an accident when their car
collided with a two-wheeler
and turned turtle, killing his
two cousin sisters and a bike
rider.
Police sources said the
deceased bike rider was
identified as Guddu Prasad,
30, a resident of Bengaluru,
who used to work with an
online food delivery appli-
cation in the city.
According to DCP (East)
Priyanka Kashyap, the pol-
ice received a call regarding
the accident around 1 a.m.
On reaching the spot, they
found that a motorbike and
a WagonR car had collided
at Shakarpur’s Vikas Marg.
The car was found to have
turned upside down, the
police said.
The police rescued the se-
ven family members who
were stuck inside the car;
four of them had sustained
injuries and were rushed to
Hedgewar Hospital. Prasad
was also rushed to a hospi-
tal. Rajak’s two sisters —
aged 17 and 19 years — were
declared dead on arrival at
the hospital and so was
Prasad.
DELHI THE HINDU
MONDAY, MAY 2, 2022
(CUET) for Central universi-
ties.
“DU has a very powerful
alumni. DU has given its
alumni everything and
launched them into the glo-
bal sphere. It is time for them
to give back to the universi-
ty,” Mr. Pradhan said, calling
upon them to create a model
for the country in alumni
contribution.
Centenary Chance
As a part of its 100-year cele-
bration, the university has
offered a chance to the stu-
dents who could not com-
plete their degrees from the
university to do so by regis-
tering by June 14 for the ‘Cen-
tenary Chance Examination’.
The police said a case un-
der IPC sections pertaining
to rash driving has been
lodged and a probe is ongo-
ing. They denied any pre-
sence of alcohol in Rajak’s
medical report.
Overspeeding car
Rajak, who works as a secur-
ity guard and a driver at an
upscale house in east Delhi’s
Karkardooma, told The Hin-
du that he was driving the
car at a speed of around 100
km/hr when the bike came
in front of him and to save a
collision, he ended up hit-
ting the bike before swerv-
ing to the right, which made
his car flip half-a-dozen
times.
He said the car belonged
to his employer and he had
requested the latter to lend
him the vehicle for the trip.
He added that no one
helped them when they
were lying injured on the
road. “I asked everyone to
take my sisters to the hospi-
tal but to no avail… No one
helped us,” Mr. Rajak said.
At Hedgewar Hospital,
Ghanshyam Sharma, father
of the deceased sisters, said,
“I think Rajak was intoxicat-
ed during the time of the in-
cident and that is why he
was overspeeding”
Both the offending vehi-
cles have been seized by the
police, the DCP said.
77-year-old
builder killed;
accused
absconding
Staff Reporter
New Delhi
A 77-year-old builder was
found with his throat slit
and multiple stab injuries
at his house in north Del-
hi’s Civil Lines on Sunday,
officers said.
The police said the de-
ceased, Ram Kishore Agra-
wal, had received three
stab injuries on his abdo-
men and one on his back.
The accused in the case is
absconding.
DCP (North) Sagar Singh
Kalsi said the police re-
ceived a call at 6.52 a.m.,
wherein the caller said his
father’s throat had been slit
and he had been taken to a
hospital. Agrawal was later
declared dead, the DCP
added.
Mr. Kalsi said cardboard
boxes containing cash
were found missing from
the deceased’s house, ad-
ding that the motive be-
hind the murder could be
robbery. The police added
that Agrawal used to live on
the ground floor of his two-
storey house while his son
and other family members
lived on the first floor.
“A security guard told
the police that he spotted
two people trying to flee
from the house in the wee
hours of Sunday… We have
lodged a case under the
IPC sections of murder and
robbery,” the DCP said, ad-
ding that efforts to nab the
accused are under way.
A ND-NDE
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THE HINDU
MONDAY, MAY 2, 2022
DELHI

CITY 3
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Centre to appoint a retired A respite from the heatwave

Timings
DELHI
MONDAY, MAY. 02
RISE 05:41 SET 18:57

bureaucrat to run unified MCD on the cards for the Capital

RISE 06:29 SET 20:27
TUESDAY, MAY. 03
RISE 05:40 SET 18:58
RISE 07:07 SET 21:24
WEDNESDAY, MAY. 04
RISE 05:39 SET 18:58 Politicians and officials to have equal representation in the advisory committee Weather Department predicts a cloudy sky on Monday
RISE 07:49 SET 22:19
Jatin Anand house expires, in the ward Special Correspondent
Muneef Khan will lead to chaos because NEW DELHI
NEW DELHI
the new officers are not go- The heatwave in the Capital
A retired bureaucrat hand- ing to deal with micro-level showed signs of abating on
picked by the Centre is likely issues of the people. The pe- Sunday with the maximum
to be appointed the Special ople will be left without temperature settling at 40.5
Officer in charge of the un- anyone to reach out to for degrees Celsius, two degrees
ified Municipal Corporation civic issues,” said a BJP above normal for the
of Delhi (MCD), according to source. season.
sources. For three consecutive
This, even as discussions Missing political faces days in the past week, the of-
related to the inclusion of However, according to a se- ficial weather station at Saf-
political leaders from the nior civic official who has darjung recorded a maxi-
party’s Delhi unit in the advi- served at the unified civic mum temperature of 43.5
sory committee are under- body, before it was trifurcat- degrees Celsius, which is five
way. Headquarters of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation * FILE ed in 2012, the absence of degrees more than what Del-
Sources also say a “signifi- PHOTO political faces in the past has hi records at this time of the A fruit vendor arranging fresh watermelons on a hot
cant bureaucratic overhaul” often resulted in better year. afternoon at Shastri Park in Delhi R.V. MOORTHY
*

is in the works after the Delhi reunified civic body are State legislature”. performance. The minimum tempera-
Rai to review Municipal Corporation
(Amendment) Bill, 2022 —
helmed together by political
and bureaucratic stalwarts,”
In the Supreme Court, the
Delhi government has con-
“I have served in previous
years [mid-1980s] when the
ture in the city was 25.8 de-
grees Celsius, a degree
25 degrees Celsius,” the IMD
has predicted.
Celsius.
The three prolonged heat
impact of tree which reunified the munici-
pal corporations in the city —
said a party source.
“The way we see it, the re-
tended that the amended
sections of the GNCTD Act,
corporation was superseded
by a special officer. It used to
above the season’s average.
The Indian Meteorologi-
The relief in the first week
of May comes after Delhi re-
waves experienced in April
this year, the IMD said were
transplantation received the President’s nod
earlier this month.
sult of this setup will help us
in making decisions related
notified by the Ministry of
Home Affairs (MHA) in April
run smoothly. The problem
with councillors and the pol-
cal Department (IMD) has fo-
recast a partly cloudy sky
corded its hottest April in 72
years recording an average
due to the absence of active
western disturbances that
to the administration of the last year, diminish the con- itical wing is that we always with dust storms for Mon- maximum temperature of normally bring light rainfall
Press Trust of India Advisory committee Capital that may be taken in stitutionally-guaranteed face resistance from them day. “Maximum and mini- 40.2 degrees Celsius. The av- and thundershowers to the
New Delhi
The selection of members of future,” a senior party leader powers and functions of the whenever it comes to imple- mum temperatures are like- erage temperature for April Capital at this time of the
Delhi Environment Minis- the advisory body and the said. elected Legislative Assembly menting tough policies,” the ly to settle between 39 and is normally 36.3 degrees year.
ter Gopal Rai has asked va- constitution of the unified The leader, however, re- of Delhi. official said.
rious departments to pro- MCD are among the two big fused to elaborate on these A three-judge Bench led “For instance the house
vide data on
transplanted by them in
trees

the Capital and their health

developments on this issue
likely to take place by the
end of this month. Also, by
“future decisions”, adding
that they would “more or
less” revolve around the divi-
by Chief Justice of India, N.V.
Ramana, is hearing the Delhi
government’s plea to quash
tax rates have remained the
same since 2004 due to re-
sistance from the political
‘No extra flat for Kathputli resident’
status, officials said on May-end the terms of the sion of administrative pow- the amended sections of the wing,” the official added.
Sunday. three civic bodies — the ers shared by the Centre and GNCTD Act and several However, he added, “One Staff Reporter flats. In the meantime, Mr. San-
Mr. Rai will chair a meet- north, east and south — are the Delhi government in re- Rules of the Transaction of cannot rule out the role of NEW DELHI The Delhi Development desh made representations
ing on Monday where this scheduled to expire. lation to governing the Na- Business of the Government the advisory committee, be- The Delhi High Court has re- Authority (DDA) had select- to the authority to conduct a
data will be analysed to as- Sources aware of develop- tional Capital Territory of National Capital Territory cause the BJP needs to en- jected the plea of a Kathputli ed Kathputli Colony, which survey to verify his demand
certain the impact of the ments in this regard said the (NCT). of Delhi Rules, 1993, and sure that unpopular deci- Colony resident, who tried was home to street perform- for the allotment of a flat un-
‘Tree Transplantation Poli- advisory committee was like- their bearing on the powers, sions are not taken by the to secure an additional flat ers and artisans, for an in-si- der the scheme.
cy’ notified by the govern- ly to get 50% of its represen- Legal tussle jurisdiction and functioning unified corporation, as the apart from the one already tu redevelopment project. After the survey, the Eligi-
ment in December 2020. tatives with political back- Incidentally, on Wednesday, of the Delhi Legislative party has to eventually go for allotted to his father. Mr. Sandesh, in his plea, bility Determination Com-
He will also take a call on grounds, while the other half during a hearing in the Su- Assembly. elections.” Justice Subramonium Pra- said he and his family were mittee (EDC) on October 30,
appointing a common would consist of retired bu- preme Court related to the With speculation rife According to a senior BJP sad remarked that the peti- residing at A-148 Kathputli 2017, rejected his plea on the
agency for all departments reaucrats “aware of and dispute between the Delhi around the formation of an leader, the Capital’s seven tioner, Sandesh, had ap- Colony. He stated that after grounds that the hutment
for a tree transplantation adept at” the functioning government and itself in re- advisory committee, as well Lok Sabha MPs were likely to proached the authorities his marriage in 2011, he shift- claimed by him as his resi-
audit. and administration of the lation to the administrative as the appointment of the be associated with the advi- with “unclean hands only ed to an adjacent dwelling to dence was not found on the
The policy requires the civic body. function of the Capital, the Special Officer, BJP leaders at sory committee. with a view to secure one ad- A-148. site.
agencies concerned, in- “The advisory body will Centre submitted that the the municipal level feel that Moreover, the Members of ditional flat apart from the In line with the policy for DDA said only a single-sto-
cluding the Delhi Jal Board, have its task cut out — deli- country’s Capital should be representation of political Parliament Local Area Deve- flat which has been allotted rehabilitating the dwellers of reyed structure comprising
municipal corporations, vering on an administrative under its control. faces is a must — a point lopment (MPLAD) fund — to his father.” J.J. Colony, the DDA directed one bedroom and kitchen
Delhi Development Auth- model which outshines the The Centre told the court, which they have raised in which is given to the MPs for The High Court said both Kathputli colony residents to existed on the site. DDA said
ority, Railways, etc. to tran- AAP state government’s so- “A metropolis of a large multiple meetings with the development-related works Mr. Sandesh and his father, move to a transit camp at Mr. Sandesh misrepresented
splant a minimum of 80% called ‘Delhi Model’ — as country like ours cannot de- party’s Delhi unit. in their constituency — could who are dwellers in the Anand Parbat till the com- facts to gain an additional
of the trees affected by soon as it can. That is only pend on the small mercies “The absence of council- come into play at the munici- same accommodation pletion of redevelopment unit in his name apart from
their development works. possible if the reins of the and smaller resources of a lors, after the term of the pal level in future. would not be entitled to two work. his parents’ unit.

Coming soon near you: jungle HC asks govt. to take action on Delhi’s AQI this
April worst
safari in Gurugram’s Aravali range excessive late fee complaint since 2016
Press Trust of India
‘Levying excessive late fines is utter violation of stated laws’ New Delhi

Nature lovers welcome the idea, hope minimal disturbance is caused to wildlife The average air quality in-
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA two said despite being fully dex (AQI) in Delhi in April
NEW DELHI
Ashok Kumar aware of the law, the private this year was 256 — the
Gurugram The High Court has directed school stated that “a late fee worst for the month since
The proposal to develop a the Delhi government to of ₹50 per day [including Sa- 2016 — according to Cen-
jungle safari and trekking take a decision on a com- turdays, Sundays and holi- tral Pollution Control
routes in Aravalis within Gu- plaint against a private days] will be levied after the Board (CPCB) data.
rugram has been welcomed school for allegedly charging due date.” The city saw 29 “poor”
by wildlife and nature lovers, an excessive fine on delayed “That the misdeeds of the air quality days in April,
and conservationists in the payment of tuition fees with- respondent in levying late the highest in the month
region. in six weeks. fee fine of more than 5 paise since the CPCB started
While hoping that the fra- Hearing a petition by Ajay per day is not only in viola- maintaining AQI data in
gile ecosystem of the Arava- Aggarwal, father of two stu- tion of Rule 166 of the DSER, 2015. It was also the first
lis is not disturbed after it is dents studying in classes 12 1973 but is also tantamount time that Delhi did not re-
opened for commercial tou- and 8 in the school, Justice tice,” the court said in its or- to exploitation of parents cord a single day with
rism, wildlife experts feel Rekha Palli directed the De- der on April 27. and commercialisation of “moderate” or better air
that declaring the Aravalis a partment of Education to The counsel for the Delhi education which is imper- quality in April, the data
national park would ensure decide the petitioner’s com- government told the court missible in law,” stated the showed.
better protection for its for- Nilgai roaming around in Gurugram’s Aravali belt. *
FILE PHOTO plaint by passing a “rea- that the authorities will exa- petition. “This time, the wind
ests and wildlife. soned and speaking” order mine the petitioner’s com- speed was higher the en-
(10,000 acres) in the Aravali be declared a national park mostly the stretch of the Ara- in accordance with the laid plaint and expeditiously ‘Exploitation’ tire month and there was
The planning mountain range of Guru- or a wildlife sanctuary be- valis along Sohna Road to- down procedure and princi- pass an order. He said that levying late fee no rainfall. This caused lift-
The proposal for the safari gram and Nuh districts have fore opening them for com- wards Nuh beyond the ples of natural justice. Mr. Aggarwal claimed that fine of “more than 5 paise ing of dry local dust and
was mooted by the Haryana been proposed for the jungle mercial activities. Bhondsi village. In case the petitioner is the private school in ques- per day is not only in viola- particulate matter result-
Chief Minister Manohar Lal safari. Aravalis are a cultural “Currently, there are no aggrieved by any order tion indulged in “unethical tion of Rule 166 of the DSER, ing in higher AQI through-
and Union Minister for Envi- heritage and a home to va- national parks in the Aravalis Early stages passed by the authorities, practices”, including levying 1973 but is also tantamount out the month,” former
ronment, Forest and Climate rious species of birds, wild in Haryana. Declaring the A senior forest department Mr. Aggarwal could seek le- excessive late fines on de- to the exploitation of pa- CPCB air lab chief Dr. Di-
Change, Bhupender Yadav in animals, butterflies etc. Aravali forests as a national official said the project was gal recourse as permissible layed payment of tuition rents and commercialisation pankar Saha said.
a meeting with officers of the park or wildlife sanctuary still in its infancy and might in law, the judge said. fees, which was in utter vio- of education which is not Delhi recorded an aver-
Forest and Tourism Depart- Aravali wildlife would protect the critical le- take three-four years for “Decide the petitioner's lation of the Delhi School permissible in law.” Mr. Ag- age AQI of 197 in April last
ment nearly a fortnight ago. As per a survey conducted opard and wildlife corridor completion. complaint by passing a rea- Education Rules (DSER). garwal said he had made re- year and 110 in 2020, the
Mr. Lal said the blueprint by the Forest Department a extending from Asola wil- The official added that for soned and speaking order presentations and com- lowest in the last six years
of the project would soon be few years ago, 180 species of dlife sanctuary in Delhi to Sa- an area to be declared a within six weeks by follow- Excessive late fees plaints to various authorities on account of a COVID-in-
prepared and implemented birds, 15 species of mam- riska wildlife sanctuary in sanctuary or a national park, ing principles of natural jus- In his petition, the father of but no action was taken. duced lockdown.
in a time-bound and phased mals, reptiles, 29 species of Rajasthan,” she explained. the land must belong to the
manner. Suggestions would aquatic animals and 57 spe- Anuradha P. Dhawan, a government, but the Aravalis
be sought from world-class
experts and global tenders
cies of butterflies exist in the
Aravalis.
member of a walker’s group,
demanded that the entire
mostly belong to the village
panchayats.
0
DISCLAIMER: Readers are requested to verify
and make appropriate enquiries to satisfy
will be invited after the pro- Mr. Yadav said battery-op- Aravalis be declared a pro- Neelam Ahluwalia from themselves about the veracity of an advertise-
ment before responding to any published in
ject’s outline is ready, he erated vehicles would be tected biosphere before any the Aravalli Bachao Citizens this newspaper. THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD.,
the Publisher & Owner of this newspaper,
added. used for the safari and di- tourism plans are envisaged. Movement, however, de- does not vouch for the authenticity of any ad-
vertisement or advertiser or for any of the ad-
A committee comprising rected the officials to identi- “I have travelled to many for- manded that before going vertiser’s products and/or services. In no
event can the Owner, Publisher, Printer, Ed-
Deputy Commissioners of fy parking space for tourist ests across the country and ahead with the proposal for itor, Director/s, Employees of this newspaper/
company be held responsible/liable in any
Gurugram and Nuh, respec- vehicles. seen the havoc wrought on jungle safari, the govern- manner whatsoever for any claims and/or
damages for advertisements in this
tive Panchayat Development While the wildlife-lovers them. There are illegal activ- ment must withdraw the newspaper.
Officers and the officials of feel that the jungle safari ities even in protected Punjab Land Preservation
the Tourism and Forest De- project is a “good initiative”, zones. Therefore, I request Act Amendment 2019, the
partments would be soon they also express hope that strict enforcement of forest NCR Draft Plan 2041.
constituted to take the idea the construction of unneces- laws and punitive measures She demands that all ille-
forward. sary infrastructure is avoid- for flouting the rules,” she gal encroachments be re-
Visitors from Delhi and ed and minimum distur- said. moved and illegal mining be
adjoining areas are expected bance is caused to the Many others demanded stopped to truly ensure the
to throng the Aravalis for sa- wildlife during the imple- that more areas, especially protection of the Aravalis,
fari and trekking and expe- mentation of the project. Surajkund to Damdama Lake which covers only two per
rience nature in their back- Jyoti Raghavan from the stretch, should also be consi- cent of the land area in Ha-
yard. The project is also Aravali Bachao Citizens dered for the jungle safari in ryana, a state with the lowest
expected to create ample Movement demanded that the successive phases. forest cover in the country,
employment opportunities. Aravali areas in Gurugram, The current proposal for water shortage and abnor-
About 3,800 hectares Faridabad and Nuh districts the jungle safari comprises mally high air pollution.

Published by N. Ravi at Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860, Anna Salai, Chennai-600002 and Printed by S. Ramanujam at HT Media Ltd. Plot No. 8, Udyog Vihar, Greater Noida Distt. Gautam Budh Nagar, U.P. 201306, on behalf of THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD., Chennai-600002. Editor: Suresh Nambath (Responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act).
Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08 RNI No. UPENG/2012/49940 ISSN 0971 - 751X Vol. 12 No. 103
● ● ● ●

CM A ND-NDE
YK
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4 STATES DELHI

MONDAY, MAY 2, 2022

THE HINDU
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

‘Maharashtra
set to be $1 tn Muslims feel disenchanted with No curfew relaxation for
economy’
Shoumojit Banerjee
Pune
SP after defeat in 2022 U.P. polls festivals in M.P.’s Khargone
Maharashtra is set to be- The Akhilesh Yadav-led party has short-changed them, feel community members People asked to celebrate at home; special passes for students
come a one trillion dollar
Press Trust of India
economy and will be the Omar Rashid to meet a delegation sent by tial to them, he says. Bhopal/Khargone
first State in the country to Lucknow the SP in jail even as he al- “They have become irrele-
achieve this target, Gover- The recent politics over lowed Shivpal Yadav, the dis- vant from politics,” Mr. A 24-hour curfew will be in
nor Bhagat Singh Koshyari jailed senior Samajwadi Par- gruntled uncle of Mr. Akhi- Gandhi says, adding that the force on Id-ul-Fitr and Aksh-
said on Sunday. ty (SP) leader Azam Khan lesh, to meet him. Muslim community has been aya Tritiya in Madhya Pra-
Speaking at an event in and the expression of discon- Mr. Shani also feels that pushed to perceive that they desh’s Khargone. People
Mumbai on the occasion tent by his supporters as well the current SP under Akhi- are constantly under the at- have been asked to celebrate
of the 62nd anniversary of as other Muslim leaders in lesh Yadav does not have the tack of the government. the upcoming festivals at
the formation of Maha- Uttar Pradesh have brought capacity to take along all So what could be the way home in the city where vio-
rashtra, Mr. Koshyari, who to fore the simmering frus- groups unlike his father who forward for Muslim politics? lence was reported during a
has had bitter run-ins with tration within the minority during his prime was able to Would this present disen- Ram Navami procession on
the Uddhav Thackeray-led community with the non-BJP take along rival leaders. chantment lead to new alter- April 10, officials said on
Maha Vikas Aghadi go- parties, in particular the Ak- Akhilesh Yadav Even during the 2022 elec- natives or would it fizzle out Sunday. People can make
vernment, nonetheless hilesh Yadav-led SP. tion, there were several in- with time? purchases for the festivals BJP workers protesting against Congress leader Digvijaya
lauded the example set by In the 2022 Assembly elec- son like me (critical of the SP) stances where Muslim lead- Senior lawyer of the Alla- on Sunday, when the curfew Singh over his tweet on Khargone violence. FILE PHOTO *

it in combating the CO- tion, Muslims, who consti- went and voted for it,” Mr. ers were either ignored or habad High Court S. Farman was relaxed from 8 a.m. to 5
VID-19 pandemic. tute 19.5% of the population Babar says. publicly insulted by the SP al- Naqvi says the community p.m., they said. marriage functions, the offi- and houses were damaged,
“Though we were fac- in the State, mobilised over- Common Muslims have liance, but Muslims either re- would have to create new al- The festival of Id-ul-Fitr cial said, while urging peo- vehicles torched and stones
ing the COVID-19 pandem- whelmingly in favour of the for a long time felt that non- mained silent or were shut ternatives but was not sure if will be celebrated on May 2 ple to celebrate the festivals hurled. Since April 14, the lo-
ic, the State did not allow SP, playing their part in help- BJP parties have ignored out with the argument that it had the political initiative or May 3 depending on the at home. cal administration has been
any impediment to affect ing the alliance put up a de- their interests, he says. their vocal opposition would to do so. moon sighting, while Aksh- For students appearing in relaxing the curfew for some
its progress and develop- cent fight. “Muslims don’t vote on help the BJP polarise Hindus, “You cannot expect that a aya Tritiya, considered aus- various exams, special pass- hours.
ment. More than 92% of However, the BJP’s succes- the basis of merit of a party. says Mr. Shani, who is based political party will look at on- picious for beginning new es will be issued, he said.
the State’s adult popula- sive win coupled with the They have been reduced to in Rampur. ly your interest and not it ventures, marriages and ex- “The administration can Petrol pumps
tion has been adminis- long-drawn strategic silence choosing the one in the best “Muslims have become own survival. We have put all pensive investments such as make changes in these deci- As per the district adminis-
tered at least one dose of on their issues by the non- position to defeat the BJP,” he political untouchables. Eve- our eggs in one basket,” he in gold, will be celebrated on sions as per the prevailing tration’s order, the curfew
COVID-19 vaccine… Maha- BJP parties has led to a fresh adds. ryone wants their votes but says. May 3. circumstances,” he added. relaxation will not be applic-
rashtra is all set to become churn within the community Shani Khan, an aide of Mr. nobody wants to even take Mr. Gandhi says that as the Khargone’s in-charge Su- able to petrol pumps and for
a one trillion-dollar econo- as it speculates about its pol- Azam Khan who has been in their name,” he says. community feels pushed to Peace committee perintendent of Police Rohit the sale of kerosene from the
my and it will be the first itical options as well as jail for 26 months, is disen- the wall, it doesn’t have ma- After a peace committee Kashwani said additional Public Distribution System
State in the country to do future. chanted with the SP and its Second-class citizens ny options left but to speak meeting, Khargone’s Addi- forces have been called from shops.
so,” he said. Saif Babar, a poet in Luck- ruling family. Despite being Abdul Hafiz Gandhi, a law up for itself. tional Collector Sumer Singh other districts to maintain During the curfew relaxa-
The Governor said he now, says he voted for the SP an MP, SP patron Mulayam teacher and SP spokesperson “When nobody is speak- Mujalda told reporters on law and order situation in tion period, shops selling
felt happy to note that in 2022 despite his reserva- Singh did not raise the ordeal from Kasganj, feels that a ing ,why not bring out your Saturday night that there the city in view of the milk, vegetables, medicines,
Maharashtra had stood se- tions with it as the SP was the of his long-time colleague in sense of frustration and de- own option or platform will be no relaxation in cur- festivals. and barbers’ shops among
cond in the country in the only party which appeared Parliament, Mr. Shani says. jection has taken over Mus- when we are bound to lose few on May 2 and May 3 in Temporary jails have others, are allowed to re-
export preparedness in- to challenge the BJP. “He can go to stare at lions lims. They feel attempts are either way,” he said, hinting the wake of the festivals. been set up and those violat- main open, but religious
dex released by the Niti “Call it their fear or wis- on a safari in Etawah but can- on to make them second- that the stage was set for a No marriage functions ing the curfew will not be places have been asked to
Aayog as well as in the dom, without any direct calls not travel 70 km to Sitapur class citizens and they be- party such as the All India will be allowed in the city on spared, he said. keep shut.
Centre’s ‘Good Gover- by any leader or community jail to meet Azam Khan even lieve that those sitting in in- Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen Akshaya Tritiya, he said. Curfew was clamped in Passenger buses will be al-
nance Index Report - cleric, Muslims voted for SP once,” he asks. stitutions where they go to (AIMIM) which spoke vocally People can go out of sta- the city after the violence on lowed to ply during curfew
2021’. like never before. Even a per- Mr. Khan recently refused seek justice cannot be impar- on Muslim issues. tion on Sunday to attend April 10, during which shops relaxation, the order said.

EDUCATIONAL SITUATION VACANT Bengali publishing industry scripts its revival

GENERAL
Publishers are resorting to out-of-the-box ideas, new ways of promoting books
Bishwanath Ghosh
Kolkata
The once robust Bengali pu-
blishing industry, hit hard
EDUCATIONAL by the pandemic and the
consequent lockdowns, is
seeing a revival with the lift-
ing of restrictions and the
holding of the Kolkata book
fair in March this year, ac-
cording to publishers and
authors alike.
“Jagiye tulechhe (they
have reawakened the indus-
try),” said Subhankar Dey of
Dey’s Publishing, one of the
most reputed Bengali pu-
blishers, about the recently
held book fair, organised af-
ter a gap of two years, and
the overall lifting of lock-
down restrictions putting
the business on the path of
revival.
Young publishers
BUSINESS OFFER “In the last five years or so, a
TENDERS number of young people got
into the business, many of
them coming out with liter-
ary works that were off the
beaten track. They too suf-
fered due to the lockdown.
But the book fair helped
them reconnect with their
readers and they are bounc-
ARE you in need for business loan ing back now,” said Mr. Dey.
from 2 to 100 Crores. Ct: 7448738835 There are close to 400
PUBLIC NOTICE Bengali publishers and 200
little magazines, most of
them concentrated in Kolka-
ta’s busy College Street,
which is once again bustling
with activity. College Street
was not only hit by the pan-
Visitors at a stall during the 45th International Kolkata Book
Fair. FILE PHOTO
* restrictions were eased,
demic but also by Cyclone
Amphan which washed
away countless books from
its iconic pavements.
Rhito Prakashan, esta-
blished in 2015, is one such
example of younger people
getting into publishing.
“Lockdown was a serious
threat. There was a time
when I personally used to
deliver books at doorsteps of
readers, riding on a motor-
bike, after taking special
permission from the police.
Once online platforms start-
ed to function, things be-
came a bit easy. We also ven-
tured into e-books,” said
Aitrayee Sarkar, proprietor
of Rhito, whose recent best-
sellers include Pandulipi
Theke Diary: Jibananander
Khoje by Goutam Mitra (a lit-
erary biography of Jibana-
nanda Das) and Durgaoi Sa-
paribaraoi (a collection of
pieces on Goddess Durga
and her family).
“The book fair gave us the
much required push. It not
only saved many publishers
but also binders, paper sup-
pliers, practically everyone
related to this trade,” Ms.
Sarkar said. She added, “I
think publishing is going
through a major shift. It is in-
creasingly seeing out-of-the-
box ideas and new ways of
promotion. We are heading
towards an entirely new eco-
system, and people seem to
be accepting our experi-
ments. This itself points to
growth. Established publish-
ers are helping us. I perso-
nally go to publishers like
Dey’s and Sahitya Samsad
for advice.”
Writer Parimal Bhatta-
charya said if the feedback
he has received from his pu-
blisher Ababhash is any indi-
cation, then things are in-
deed looking up. According
to him, the response for
most of his non-fiction
books, particularly Shangri-
lar Khonje and Apur Desh
(which he recently tran-
screated as Field Notes from
a Waterborne Land), has
been “extremely good”.
“Most Bengali non-text-
book publishers are small-
scale and operate rather in-
formally. The pandemic hit
them badly. But many adapt-
ed to the changed situation
rather quickly. After the first
few months in 2021, when
they switched to online mar-
keting, some even with their
own delivery network. Now
a large percentage of read-
ers prefer to browse and or-
der books from their home
rather than making a trip to
the congested College
Street. This is a welcome
change, since Kolkata has al-
most no indie bookshop
where Bengali readers can
browse at leisure,” Mr. Bhat-
tacharya said.
He too agreed that many
young publishers had ap-
peared over the last few
years, with fresh ideas and
new titles, and that they
were using social media to
connect with readers on
both sides of the Indo-Ban-
gladesh border. “I see a new,
phoenix-like dynamism in
Bengali publishing, with a
growing young readership.
The response was extremely
good during the last book
fair for most publishers,” Mr.
Bhattacharya said.

PERSONAL
CHANGE OF NAME
I, Ajay Kumar, S/o, Rajii Ram Dobriyal
R/o 1285 FF Arjun Nagar, Kotla, Mu-
barakpur, New Delhi-110003, Passport
No A-1396996, Change my name from
Ajay Kumar to Ajay Kumar Dobriyal
for all purpose affidavit no IN-
DL21846448787954U Dtd: 21/04/2022
LEARN SANSKRIT, Hindi & Spoken En- PUBLIC NOTICE
glish online at Geetha Academy.
For free Demo, WA to 9289025200.
PUBLIC NOTICE
CM
YK
OBITUARY &
T.N. college dean removed
REMEMBRANCE
DEATH ANNIVERSARIES
after ‘Charak Shapath’ row
PERSONAL
CHANGE OF NAME Health Dept.
I, Bhanwati W/o Shri Sonu R/o D-215,
Shahid Sukhdev Nagar, Ind Area Wa- takes exception
zirpur, Delhi-52 have changed my na-
me from Bhanwati to Shobha for all to replacing
purposes.
Hippocratic Oath
Staff Reporter
CHENNAI/MADURAI
The Tamil Nadu Department
of Health and Family Welfare
on Sunday relieved Madurai
Medical College Dean A.
Rathinavel of his post and
placed him in “vacancy re-
serve”, a day after the first-
year students took the ‘Ma-
harishi Charak Shapath’ in-
stead of the Hippocratic Oath
during the ‘white coat
ceremony’.
The Department said that
replacing the Hippocratic
Oath, long taken by students
joining medical courses and
doctors getting into practice,
was condemnable. Health
Minister Ma. Subramanian
has asked Director of Medical
Education R. Narayanababu
to initiate a departmental in-
quiry. Sources in Madurai
said the Dean was “negli-
gent” in allowing students to
take the Sanskrit oath.
Mr. Rathinavel was ap-
pointed as the Dean of Go-
vernment Rajaji Hospital (at-
tached to Madurai Medical
College) in May 2021.
The National Medical
Commission had recently re-
commended that the Hippo-
cratic Oath be replaced with
the ‘Maharishi Charak Sha-
path’, drawing criticism from
several quarters, including
the medical fraternity. The
statement from the Depart-
ment said the DME would is-
sue a circular, instructing the
heads of departments of
medical colleges and hospi-
tals to ensure that only the
Hippocratic Oath was admi-
nistered in future.
A ND-NDE
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THE HINDU
MONDAY, MAY 2, 2022
DELHI
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IN BRIEF
Minister consoles kin of
murdered YSRCP activist
TIRUMALA
Home Minister Taneti Vanitha
on Sunday consoled the
family members of YSRCP
activist, Ganji Prasad, who
was murdered by some
miscreants at G. Kothapalli
village in Eluru district of
Andhra Pradesh on Saturday.
Ms. Vanitha assured stern
action against the culprits.
Meanwhile, additional forces
were deployed in the village
and Section 144 was imposed
as the funeral of Prasad was
performed on Sunday.
P. Sasi sues former Chief
Electoral Officer Meena
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi
Vijayan’s political secretary P.
Sasi has sued former Chief
Electoral Officer Teeka Ram
Meena for defamation. Mr.
Sasi had felt that Mr. Meena
had defamed him in his yet to
be released autobiographical
service story, “Tholkilla Jnan”
(I won’t be defeated). Mr. Sasi
has sent a legal notice to Mr.
Meena seeking an
unconditional apology and
immediate withdrawal of the
“slanderous” comments in the
book.
Hunt on for youth who
sent ephedrine abroad
VIJAYAWADA
Search is on for a youth who
reportedly sent ephedrine
drug to Australia through a
Vijayawada-based courier
service in January. The
unauthorised sale of
ephedrine is banned in India.
The consignment sent by the
youth, identified as Gopi Sai,
reached Canada due to wrong
address and later reached the
Bengaluru airport. Customs
and Central Excise officials
found 4,496 gram of
ephedrine powder in the
parcel. The officials have
arrested a courier service
employee as his Aadhaar
number was mentioned on
the booking sheet.
CM
YK
George struggling to stay afloat in politics
The latest remark of Kerala’s former legislator is a continuation of his rift with a section of Muslims
Hiran Unnikrishnan
KOTTAYAM
In his address at the Anan-
thapuri Hindu Maha Samme-
lan last Friday, former legis-
lator P.C. George ramped up
his rhetoric against the Mus-
lim community — a tediously
recurring characteristic of
his public speeches of late.
The episode, which is the
latest in the long list of con-
troversies he has courted in
his political life, is widely re-
garded as the continuation
of a widening discord bet-
ween him and a section of
the Muslim electorate since
the Parliament elections of
2019.
Using more inflammatory
language than many far-right
outfits, Mr. George has effec-
tively fashioned a narrative
linking Muslims to an uptick
in conversion of Christian
and Hindu girls and per-
ceived strains on the social
Girl dies from food
poisoning in Kerala
31 in hospital after eating shawarma
Staff Reporter
Kasaragod
A 16-year-old girl died and 31
more children are undergo-
ing treatment for food poi-
soning after they ate sha-
warma from a hotel in
Charvathur near here on
Friday. The deceased has
been identified as Devanan-
da, a resident of Matalayi in
Charvathur.
According to the Health
Department, Devananda
and 31 others aged between
10 and 16 had vomiting,
diarrhoea and fever since
Saturday. Many of them
started to come at CHC hos-
pital at Charvathur from 10
a.m. Though the doctor
gave necessary treatment,
P.C. George, held for hate speech, coming out after getting
bail in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday. S. MAHINSHA
fabric of the State. His key
themes — from love jihad to
Islamic terrorism and rising
crimes — have taken up more
space in the public discourse
of central Kerala in recent
years.
Despite the staunch oppo-
sition from the ruling coali-
tion as well as the Opposition
Devananda failed to res-
pond to it and she was shift-
ed to the district hospital,
said A.V. Ramdas, District
Medical Officer. The health
conditions of others are nor-
mal.
Meanwhile, the Food Sa-
fety Department found that
the shop had no licence.
The authorities locked and
sealed the shop.
Another case
In another case of food poi-
soning, two brothers who
ate ice-cream during a meet-
ing on Sunday near Char-
vathur were admitted at
Kanhangad district hospital.
The doctors treating
them said both are stable.
* apology and tried moving
parties, Mr. George, appa-
rently desperate to remain
relevant in the State politics,
has continued to ride the wi-
dening trust deficit between
Christians and Muslims, a
concern aired by the Cathol-
ic Church through Bishop
Mar Joseph Kallarangatt.
The collision course, ho-
Political circles in Karnataka
abuzz on the eve of Shah’s visit of capsized cargo vessel
Party sources denied speculation about leadership change
Staff Reporter
BENGALURU
The Bharatiya Janata Party
circles in Karnataka were
abuzz with political activity
on Sunday on the eve of Un-
ion Home Minister Amit
Shah’s arrival in the State on
Monday night.
B.L. Santosh, BJP national
general secretary (organisa-
tion), held a series of ma-
rathon meetings at the party
State office. Chief Minister
Basavaraj Bommai, party
State president Nalin Kumar
Kateel and senior leaders
were closeted with him for
over two hours on Sunday
evening.
Earlier in the day, Mr. San-
tosh speaking at a party
wever, has not been without
setbacks. Having contested
as an Independent, Mr. Ge-
orge lost his sitting seat at
Poonjar in the Assembly
election last year primarily
owing to a consolidation of
Muslim votes against him.
Prior to the loss, he had to
pull back from the election
campaign at Erattupetta af-
ter being consistently booed
and heckled for his anti-Mus-
lim remarks. In view of the
stiff opposition, Mr. George
issued an unconditional
on. It, however, cut no ice
with the protesters who ap-
peared intent on forcing him
to eat humble pie.
Having worked with both
major splinter groups of the
Kerala Congress respectively
led by P.J. Joseph and K.M.
Mani, Mr. George later float-
ed his own outfit, the Kerala
Congress (Secular), which
Coast Guard rescues six
Accident occurred off Beypore coast
Amit Shah
meeting, reportedly gave ex-
amples of leadership change
in Gujarat and Uttarakhand,
which set political circles
abuzz of a possible leader-
ship change in the State too.
Mr. Bommai, speaking at
STATES 5
Nurse found hanging on
first day at work in U.P.
Family alleges rape and murder
became a constituent of the
Left Democratic Front and Press Trust of India
Unnao (U.P.)
later merged with the Kerala
An 18-year-old nurse was
Congress(M) in 2008. He was
found hanging from a pillar
expelled from the party in
2016 after he fell out with of a nursing home in Un-
party leader K.M. Mani. nao district of Uttar Pra-
Later in 2019, he floated desh on the first day at
another party named the work, with her family alleg-
Kerala Janapaksham (Secu- ing that she was raped and
lar), which joined the NDA killed.
just ahead of the elections in The police, however,
2019. said the post-mortem ex-
The move, which came in amination ruled out rape.
the backdrop of the Sabari-
mala protests led by the Night shift
Sangh Parivar organisations, The body of the nurse was
backfired and Mr. George ex- found hanging at New Jee-
ited from the association. van Nursing Home in the
His relationship with the Bangarmau area of the dis-
Muslim electorate, however, trict on Saturday, Addition-
had already begun to sour by al Superintendent of Police
then and it took a turn for Sashi Shekhar Singh said
the worse when Mr. George on Sunday.
allegedly termed the Mus- The nurse was on night
lims of Erattupetta as terro- shift on the first day of her
rists — a remark he has since job.
denied. In a complaint filed with
Staff Reporter
an event saying his relation- Kozhikode
ship with a seer would be The Indian Coast Guard on
the same whether “he was in Sunday rescued six crew
power or not”, also led to members from a cargo vessel
speculation through the day. that capsized nearly eight
Leader of the Opposition nautical miles off the Bey-
Siddaramaiah said the BJP pore coast in Kerala’s Kozhi-
was trying to replace Mr. kode district.
Bommai because he was not The rescue operation took
from the RSS stables. place with the support of
However, party sources Coast Guard Interceptor Boat
denied such speculations. C-404 around 3 a.m. when
Party sources said Mr. the crew members of MSV
Santosh focused on revamp- Malabar Light were drifting
ing the party organisation in the sea in a lifeboat.
mechanism ahead of the As-
sembly polls. Engine room flooded
A party strategist said a Beypore port authorities said
“major overhaul of the go- the vessel was en route to
vernment and the party or- Androth in Lakshadweep
ganisation” in the State was with livestock and construc-
definitely on the cards. tion materials.
the police, the mother of
the deceased has alleged
that her daughter was
raped and killed.
The mother also alleged
that the managers of the
nursing home were behind
the incident.
FIR against 3 people
Based on the complaint, an
FIR has been registered
against three people under
relevant sections of the
IPC.
“We are conducting in-
vestigation and the ac-
cused behind the incident
will soon be put behind
bars,” the police officer
said.
(Suicides are preventable
and help is just a phone call
away. Call Sanjivini, Society
for Mental Health — 011-
4076 9002, Monday — Sa-
turday, 10 a.m. — 7.30 p.m.)
The ship capsized follow-
ing flooding in the engine
room.
The information was first
received by the Maritime
Rescue Coordination Centre
at Mumbai. They later passed
it to the Coast Guard authori-
ties for immediate action.
The rescue team of the
Coast Guard reached the lo-
cation in time and shifted the
crew members to the rescue
boat after giving them first
aid. They were brought to
Beypore by 6.15 a.m. and
handed over to the local
authorities. The lifeboat was
also towed to the shore.
Coast Guard sources said the
health condition of all the
rescued persons was satisfac-
tory.
A ND-NDE
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6 EDITORIAL DELHI THE HINDU

MONDAY, MAY 2, 2022
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Third World War talk that could be hyperbole

Apart from the grave consequences in an unlikely West versus Russia nuclear stand-off, there are other inhibiting factors
only one to talk of nuclear wea- put — it is a critical gas required for The problem with this latter ob-
pons, for former Russian Presi- the lasers used in a chip produc- jective is that it conflicts with the

Ending AFSPA dent, and currently Deputy Chair-

man of Russia’s Security Council,
tion process known as lithogra-
phy, ‘where machines carve pat-
desire of both the U.S. and NATO
to exploit the current war situa-
Dmitry Medvedev similarly terns onto tiny pieces of silicon’. tion in Europe to weaken Russia
AFSPA should go entirely because of

GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO
warned Sweden and Finland Chip shortages are expected to militarily and politically, and inci-
the impunity it offers armed forces M.K. Narayanan (which are currently not members cause production cuts in the au- dentally decapitate Mr. Putin polit-

I
t augurs well for the future that Prime Minister Na- of NATO) that if they decide to join dio, computer and electronic in- ically by undermining his authori-
rendra Modi has given the first authentic indication the U.S.-led military alliance, Rus- dustries. Given all this, a Third ty and position. This explains the

A
midst signs of a further esca-
that the operation of the Armed Forces (Special Pow-
lation in conflict levels, vis-
ers) Act (AFSPA) may come to an end in the whole of the à-vis the ongoing Russia-Uk-
north-eastern region, if ongoing efforts to normalise raine war — and accompanying
the situation bear fruit. Mr. Modi’s remark that a good new rhetoric of an even wider con-
deal of work is being done in that direction, not only in flagration in the offing — concerns
Assam but also Nagaland and Manipur, may be rooted about the possibility of a Third
in his keenness to demonstrate the level of progress World War have gone up by sever-
al notches. During the past few
achieved in the region under his regime; but it will
days what is further evident is that
bring immense relief to the citizens, nevertheless. both sides seem intent on enlarg-
Areas notified as ‘disturbed areas’ under AFSPA have ing the scale of the conflict, rather
been progressively reduced in the last few years, mainly than trying to end it.
due to the improvement in the security situation. About
a month ago, the Union Home Ministry reduced such Battle cry and response
notified areas considerably in Assam, Nagaland and Ma- This past week, the United States
nipur. There was a substantial reduction in Assam, and the North Atlantic Treaty Or-
ganization (NATO), buoyed by the
where AFSPA was removed entirely in 23 districts and
perceived success of Ukraine’s re-
partially in one. In Nagaland, after the removal of the sistance to Russia’s aggression,
law from 15 police stations in seven districts, it remains have further raised the stakes by
in areas under 57 police stations, spread across 13 dis- pledging additional packages of
tricts. Areas under 82 police stations are still notified lethal weapons to Ukraine
under the Act in Manipur, even though 15 police station (amounting to several millions of
areas were excluded from the notification from April 1. dollars), which the West had, till
now, refrained from supplying Uk-
Mr. Modi, who spoke at a ‘peace, unity and develop-
raine.
ment rally’ in Diphu in Assam last week, cited “better Again, in what can only be per-
administration” and the “return of peace” as the rea- ceived as a battle cry, the U.S. De-
sons for the removal of AFSPA in these areas in a region fence Secretary, Lloyd Austin, at a
that has seen insurgencies for decades. meeting of 43 NATO and other
AFSPA was revoked in Tripura in 2015 and in Megha- countries (held at the Headquar-
laya in 2018. It is not unforeseeable that other States ters of the U.S. Air Forces in Eu-
rope) declared that what had tran-
will also be excluded from its purview at some point of
spired was a demonstration of the
time. It is convenient to link the exclusion of an area resolve of nations from around the
from AFSPA’s purview with reduction in violence by world to support Ukraine in its
armed groups, improvement in the security situation fight against Russia’s aggression.
and an increase in development activity, but what is im- Russia’s response has been
portant is the recognition that the law created an at- equally threatening. When asked
mosphere of impunity and led to the commission of ex- about the prospect of a Third
World War, Russia’s Foreign Minis-
cesses and atrocities. It was hardly four months ago that
ter, Sergei Lavrov, is on record that
15 civilians were killed in Mon district in Nagaland in a the risk, including the possibility
botched military operation. Therefore, alongside the of nuclear war, was not inconsid-
gradual reduction in the areas under the Act, there erable and that the situation must
should be serious efforts to procure justice for victims not be underestimated. Mr. Lavrov
of past excesses too. On the political side, it is indeed added, “NATO, in essence, is en-
true that much headway has been made in moving to- gaged in a war with Russia through
wards a political solution to some of the multifarious its proxy, and is arming that
proxy.”. He further added that
disputes in the region, in the form of peace accords,
“war means war”.
ceasefire and creation of sub-regional administrative ar- The implicit threat by Russia of
rangements. The removal of AFSPA from the entire re- using nuclear weapons cannot be
gion will be an inevitable step in the process. But irres- disregarded. Mr. Lavrov is not the
pective of the security situation, AFSPA should not have
sia would not hesitate to deploy World War is hardly the preferred intensity with which the U.S. has
nuclear weapons and hypersonic choice of most people, more so in mustered its — and NATO’s — capa-
missiles to meet the threat this Europe. bilities to resist Russia’s invasion of
posed. He ominously added that in Ukraine and inflict permanent
such an eventuality, there would are in agreement with the West Signs of a Russian restraint economic and political damage on
be ‘no more talk of a nuclear free about the extent of Russian perfidy There is little doubt that Russian Russia, and diminish it militarily.
Baltic’. in the context of Ukraine, and this President Vladimir Putin’s foray That would meet at least two prin-
segment includes sizeable sec- into Ukraine was a serious blunder cipal objectives that dominate U.S.
Nuclear weapon use is taboo tions of the emerging world. Even — a point made by many western thinking at present — revitalising
All the signs are, hence, far from some countries in Europe not affi- leaders, and quite a few others as the U.S.-NATO partnership to
reassuring, and concerns about a liated to NATO remain sceptical well. Nevertheless, Russia has not make it the bulwark of European
nuclear holocaust appear real. about the reasons adduced for U.S. since displayed the same degree of security and restoring U.S. image
Yet, it would be premature to ar- support to Ukraine, and hew to ‘foolhardiness’ that could provoke in Europe as also across the world.
rive at the conclusion that a Third the view that the ulterior objective a wider conflagration. One in-
World War, accompanied by the is to restore global belief and faith stance of this that could be men- It is ‘sober and being softer’
use of nuclear weapons, is around in U.S. authority and power, and tioned, and which might have led The current thinking in Europe ap-
the corner. One fact stands out make ‘America great again’. There to a serious situation, is Russia’s pears more in line with a softer ap-
loud and clear, viz., that since is even less support to the hack- restraint in the wake of its biggest proach. The re-election of France
1945, and despite occasional ‘nu- neyed theme that Russia today re- war-time loss of a battle ship since President Emmanuel Macron was
clear sabre rattling’ by the nuclear presents ‘the Empire of Evil’. A la- the Second World War (in which a matter of relief and satisfaction
weapon powers, the use of nu- tent fear among such one sailor died and 27 are report- for the U.S. and Europe, but the
clear weapons has remained uncommitted countries is that all- edly missing). That Russia demon- display of strength by the Far Right
taboo. out support to the West, and al- strated restraint even after it be- is inducing a great deal of rethink-
Since the first two atom bombs lowing it to act as judge, jury and came known to the world at large ing in ruling circles in Europe and
were dropped on Japan, the des- executioner, could create pro- that the missile cruiser was hit by a underscoring the importance of
tructive potential of nuclear wea- blems for many of them in the Ukrainian anti-ship missile speaks taking a sober approach to policy
pons has only increased multi- future. volumes. To much of Europe and issues, avoiding all or any kind of
fold. Nuclear weapons are also no the West, Russia’s response intemperate move. Yet, there are
longer the monopoly of any one Europe’s real concern seemed unexpectedly low key. many unknowns that will still
single power. A nuclear attack by Countries across Europe are also Whether such restraint would con- need to be dealt with. The West,
any one of the major nuclear pow- concerned about the costs of the tinue is a matter for conjecture, and specially, the U.S., remains in-
ers — Russia, the United States or war, more specifically, the cost of but for the present it is indicative tent on enlarging NATO, and not-
China — would bring instant reta- rebuilding Ukraine after the con- of Russia’s unwillingness to en- withstanding the current Ukraine
liation. Again, the nuclear balance flict. There are many little known large both the area and the intensi- war, is also probably complicit in
today is unfavourable to the West, facts in this context on what a pro- ty of the conflict. the recent announcement by Swe-
for Russia and China, between longed Russia-Ukraine conflict As of now, Russia is concentrat- den and Finland of their willing-
them, have a combined strength of could mean for both Europe and ing — or at least seems more inter- ness to join NATO. Being well
nuclear weapons which is bigger the world that are worth mention- ested — in dismembering Ukraine, aware of Mr. Putin’s mind set, it is
than that of the West. More to the ing. For instance, Ukraine and now that Ukraine’s membership of almost as if the West is daring Rus-
point; if the two sides were to en- Russia are generally referred to as NATO has been put on the back- sia to react.
gage in a nuclear conflict, there the ‘bread basket’ of Europe. A burner. Moscow is currently eye- The West and Russia both need
would be no victors, and it could prolonged conflict would have se- ing large segments of Ukraine’s to be careful and take due care to
only result in a nuclear rious consequences for Europe as East and South, and seems to have negotiate the many minefields that
armageddon. far as food security is concerned. given up plans for the present to abound. The West should be
Apart from grave consequences Furthermore, Europe is still to re- ‘conquer’ the whole of Ukraine thankful that Mr. Putin has not yet
in the event of a nuclear stand-off, cover from the adverse impacts of and make it a part of Russia. If Rus- emerged as a Joseph Stalin, but at
there are other inhibiting factors a prolonged novel coronavirus sia persists with its current think- the same time they should realise
that make a Third World War an pandemic, and an extended war ing, then it would denote that Rus- that there are no Churchills, De
unlikely prospect. One current could damage the economies sia is not interested in getting Gaulles and FDRs [Franklin D.
reality is that there are many de- there even further. As it is, the embroiled in a Third World War. Roosevelt] on their side.
grees of separation as regards the WTO has downgraded Europe’s For their part, most countries of
Ukraine-Russia conflict, between trade forecast to 3% from 4.7% for Europe — unlike NATO and possi- M.K. Narayanan is a former Director,
the views held by the West and this year. Again, just two compa- bly the U.S. — believe that they can Intelligence Bureau, a former National
quite a few other countries across nies in Ukraine produce around continue to live with the new or- Security Adviser and a former Governor
the world. Not all countries again 50% of the global total neon out- der of things. of West Bengal

Reading from the old script, conceding election 2024

allowed such impunity to the armed forces.

Mercury rising
Heatwave deaths must be treated as a disaster The Congress’s inertia stems from a refusal to recognise that a lot of the old grammar of politics has been overturned
that allows compensation by the state by providing social acceptance to Aam Aadmi Party’s leader Arvind bell ringing out, and steps have
FILE PHOTO/SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

its charge of minority appease- Kejriwal and several others have been announced to ignore these as

I
ndia has been in the grip of what seems like an eter- ment against the Congress, and done it too, and with great suc- well.
nity of heatwaves. April temperatures over north- the second by demonstrating that cess, irrespective of the merits of
west and central India are the highest in 122 years. even a government with an unpre- each. Almost status quo
During April 1 to 28, the average monthly maximum cedented electoral mandate can It is clear that the Gandhis re- While a step ordained by the par-
temperature over northwest India was 35.9° Celsius and Harbans Mukhia be brought to its knees by loud fuse either to look at the writing ty’s own constitution to democra-
the same over central India was 37.78° C. These averag- noise. From then on, significantly, on the wall (and, therefore, to let tise its inner functioning through
even as the Congress has been in any significant change take place fair and transparent elections; to
es belie measurements at the district and sub-divisional

I
f gratitude was a virtue valued
level where several parts of Rajasthan, Punjab, Harya- by the Bharatiya Janata Party
na, Gujarat, and Maharashtra have seen temperatures (BJP), it would have much to
inch towards the mid-40s and breach normals. There is thank the Gandhi family for even
little respite expected in May, which is anyway the hot- in contrary scenarios.
test month, though the India Meteorological Depart- Let us go to the year 1984: the
ment (IMD) says that while north and west India will BJP’s two out of 543 seats in the
Lok Sabha versus the Congress’s
continue to sizzle on expected lines, and must likely
Rajiv Gandhi and its 414 seats,
brace for more heatwaves, the rest of the country is un- which remains unbeaten. It was
likely to see the levels of March and April. A heatwave is hard for any political party to rise
declared when the maximum temperature is over 40° C from the ashes of these
and at least 4.5 notches above normal. A severe heat- dimensions.
wave is declared if the departure from normal temper-
ature is more than 6.4° C, according to the IMD. The Revival of the opponent
However, the BJP did so, with great
proximate causes for the searing heat are an absence of
help from the woolly ‘secularism’
rain-bearing Western Disturbances, or tropical storms of Rajiv Gandhi. In one fell swoop
that bring rain from the Mediterranean over north In- of two ‘secular’ steps, he paved
dia. Cool temperatures in the central Pacific, or a La Ni- the way for the BJP’s revival: by
ña, that normally aid rain in India, too have failed to perpetrating a monstrous amend-
bolster rainfall this year. This is an unusual occurrence. ment of the Constitution to over-
Despite five Western Disturbances forming in April, turn the most sensible judgment
none was strong enough to bring significant rain and of the Supreme Court granting
maintenance to a hapless Shah Ba-
depress temperatures. The IMD has forecast a ‘normal’
no, hoping to win the voluble con-
monsoon or 99% of the Long Period Average (LPA) of 87 servative Muslim clergy to his side
cm and is expected to forecast the monsoon’s arrival instead of abiding by the rising lib-
over Kerala later in May. On the surface, there is no di- eral voices within the community,
rect bearing between the intensity of heatwaves and and two, by having the locks on
the arrival and performance of the monsoon. In fact, the Babri Masjid opened and per-
even as northern India baked for want of rain, April saw mitting shilanyas of the Ram tem-
ple, thus giving space to the asser-
monthly rainfall break a four-year record with high
tion of loud Hindu voices, hoping
rainfall in several parts of southern and north-eastern to win them over too with this
India. May too is expected to see 9% more rain over In- concession.
dia than is usual for the month, though it must be kept Both steps helped the BJP to
in mind that base rainfall is so low in this month that it emerge from the shadows: the first
is unlikely to make a mark. While individual weather
events cannot be linked to greenhouse gas levels, a LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
warming globe means increased instances of extreme
rain events and extended rain-less spells. What is better Court orders ignored
known is it helps to have disaster management plans in The Chief Justice of India
place that help States better deal with heatwaves and (CJI) has reasons to be upset
their impact on health. The official toll due to heat- since the government of the
waves in the last 50 years is put at over 17,000 people, day has been impervious to
according to research from the IMD. The heat island ef- the collegium’s
recommendations on the
fect means urbanisation adds degrees to the already
appointments and transfers
searing conditions; and so, heatwave deaths must be
of judges (Page 1, May 1).
treated as a disaster that merits compensation. Private The greatness of Indian
and public workplaces too must be better equipped to democracy lies in the fact
factor heatwave risk. that no government has
ever refused to adhere to
power, it never had a majority of
its own. More importantly, the
BJP’s divisive agenda has found
steady support to enable it to
come centre stage.
For a drastic transformation
And then there is the history of
events that occurred from 2014 on-
wards. The BJP’s divisive agenda,
barely hidden under the veil of ‘vi-
kas’, has showed the Congress the
writing on the wall: things will nev-
er be the same again. And for its
survival, a drastic transformation
is required — a transformation
starting at the base and going to
the top, and an imagination way
beyond what it was familiar with
in its long history. An imagination
that counters the BJP’s platform of
‘vikas’ at the top and widespread
but localised communal violence
at the ground level. A genuine res-
tructuring of the inner working of
the Congress is needed to give
voice to its supporters at the base
and right up to the top, and a nar-
rative that goes beyond issuing
statements of concern at price rise
and for some of its leaders to be
paying visits to temples on the eve
of every election and a side visit to
a dargah on the way.
The one faint sign of an alter-
nate Congress agenda came up a
month or two before the 2019 gen-
eral election, when it coined its
Letters emailed to letters@thehindu.co.in must carry the full postal address and the full name or the name with initials.
judicial verdicts in spite of
the fact that judges have no
independent means of
enforcing these orders. It
will be harmful for
democracy if any
government decides to flout
these norms.
S.S. Paul,
Chakdaha, Nadia, West Bengal
■ The CJI has been
categorical in pointing out
either in the mode of the party’s
functioning) or to let any alternate
‘Nyuntam Aay Yojana’, or Nyay agenda come to the fore so long as
Yojna, of providing a regular in- they remain ensconced at the top,
come of ₹72,000 a year to the bot- never mind if the bottom keeps
tom 20% of India's families in slipping away. The suggestions
terms of wealth, but it vanished that were reportedly made by pol-
before it could even be heard by itical strategist Prashant Kishor to
the potential beneficiaries, and the party recently contain little
has never been heard of again. that the group of 23 senior Con-
gress leaders has not been making
An inertness over the past two years and more
The challenge the Congress was and getting a tongue lashing by the
expected to pose to the BJP has drum beaters around the top. The
dissipated owing to its sheer iner- only significant new suggestion
tia at both the structural and the made by Mr. Kishor appears to be
ideological planes. The inertia a strategic one — for the Congress
emanates from the refusal to re- to contest 350 odd seats on its own
cognise that a lot of the old gram- and for the rest by seeking allianc-
mar of politics has been over- es with regional parties.
turned. Politics is no longer a The leadership has responded
leisurely activity undertaken a with its time-honoured tactic of
month or two prior to an election burying all implicit criticisms — by
and preparing an appropriate ma- appointing a committee to look at
nifesto; it is an agglomerate of con- them. They have lain buried for
stant activity, not least keeping over two years anyway. Indeed,
your cadres forever active on sev- they have implicitly lain buried ev-
eral fronts and, above all, the lead- er since 2014 when the party
ers being seen leading from the should have woken up to the new
front all the time and not on occa- realities and equipped itself to
sional visits after getting back deal with them. Its ‘introspective’
home from a secret trip abroad. sessions after every defeat should
Prime Minister Narendra Modi easily qualify as a term of political
is not the only leader who has humour. The persistent efforts of
changed the grammar; the Trina- the 23 senior party leaders to awa-
mool Congress leader Mamata Ba- ken the top three in the family
nerjee, the Dravida Munnetra Kaz- have been ignored. Mr. Kishor’s
hagam’s leader M.K. Stalin, the suggestions are a case of an alarm
the defiance of governments after short-changing the Employees’ Pension
that have contributed much classic four ‘D’s — Discussion, Scheme-1995 case is a a
to the docket explosion in Dissent, Debate and (fully glaring example to cite.
the judiciary. A situation has informed) Decision — are the N.S.R. Murthy,
reached where judicial main villains of the piece. Secunderabad
activism is no more Ayyasseri Raveendranath,
considered to be an enigma Aranmula, Kerala Captain again
but the only safety valve to Ravindra Jadeja handing over
ease the putrid smoke of ■ Though what has been said captaincy back to Mahendra
injustice and inaction is not new for suffering Singh Dhoni is a retrograde
suffocating the democratic litigants, justice has been step. Dhoni may play the
ecosystem. Half-baked abnormally delayed for one game for another year or so
legislative enactments made reason or the other. The and the CSK would have to
put its mind to creating an agenda
that stands apart from the BJP’s
(now as well as for the elections),
and to start a sort of full-time inter-
nal movement is clearly the need
of the hour, the leadership has
made it clear that that would be its
last option. It has thus conceded
the 2024 general election to the
BJP. It is increasingly getting hard
to view the Congress and the BJP
as adversaries; they look more to
be complementary to each other,
though the complementarity is en-
tirely one-sided.
Is there any hope that things
might change? Any hope that the
Gandhi family will gracefully retire
and let the party reinvent itself is
far too utopian. Any hope that
they will undertake the requisite
steps themselves is not any more
likely. And the rest of the Opposi-
tion parties getting together with
Congress amounts to “damned if
you do, damned if you don’t” un-
der the current scenario. Yet, the
fact remains that the BJP’s electo-
ral support does not go beyond
40%; 60% of the voters still remain
on the other side.
One can see why Mr. Modi and
the BJP should be grateful to the
Gandhis.
Harbans Mukhia taught history at the
Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, and is
a commentator
To read more letters
online, scan the QR code
scout for a captain again.
Moreover, expecting Dhoni
to turn the team’s fortunes
around when it is
precariously placed at the
bottom, would be a tall
order. A team which was
considered a role model,
now looks out of place.
V. Subramanian,
Chennai

CM A ND-NDE
YK
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THE HINDU
MONDAY, MAY 2, 2022
DELHI
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Funding woes haunt Indian science
NRF could be a game-changer by its intent of democratisation of the knowledge base
C.P. Rajendran
Far back in time, science, like monas-
ticism, attracted people who were
singularly driven by a passion for
seeking the truth. Largely ignored by
the rulers and the state machinery of
those days, science was either sup-
ported by the enlightened and mun-
ificent elites or by the investigators
themselves from their personal
funds. The times have changed since,
and we have never had so many peo-
ple supported by the state, whose
purported purpose of work is to un-
derstand the world better. Thus,
knowledge generation of the natural
world has become a highly competi-
tive endeavour among the nations
and science funding has often been
touted as a marker of social
advancement.
India’s R&D expenditure
With very little participation from
the private sector in the country that
includes some of the richest by glo-
bal standards, curiosity-driven basic
research in India is primarily sus-
tained by direct funding from the go-
vernment. Still, it remains static in
India and hovers between a paltry
0.6 to 0.8% of GDP over a decade,
way below the United States, China,
Japan, the European Union countries
and South Korea. While India’s glo-
bal R&D expenditure remains static
at 1-3% of the global total, the U.S.
and China accounted for 25% and
23%, respectively. This trend of un-
der-funding is also reflected in the
low proportion of qualified research-
ers available in India, considering its
huge population.
The World Bank statistics indicate
that India had 255 researchers per
million people in 2017 — a minuscule
fraction for its size and population,
in contrast to 8,342 per million in Is-
rael, 7,597 in Sweden and 7,498 in
South Korea. Compared to 111 in the
U.S. and 423 in China, India has only
15 researchers per 1,00,000
population.
The budgetary allocations over
the last several years show a consis-
tent downward trend. Much of the
total of the funding available goes to
STATE OF PLAY
Law and order in turmoil
The immediate task for West Bengal’s government
is to restore the reputation of the police force
Shiv Sahay Singh
On May 5, the third Trinamool Con-
gress government in West Bengal will
complete one year in power. This will
also mark Chief Minister Mamata Ba-
nerjee’s 11 years at the helm of affairs
in the State. But, at a time when Tri-
namool Congress should have been
celebrating, the State government is
grappling with a series of incidents
that have raised serious questions on
the law-and-order situation in the
State. The violence at Bogtui village
in Birbhum on March 21 when nine
persons, including seven women
and a child, were burnt to death in a
retaliatory violence after the mur-
der of a local Trinamool Congress
leader is something that is going to
haunt the West Bengal govern-
ment and the State’s ruling party
for a long time.
The Bogtui violence and
the murder of Con-
gress councillor at
Jhalda in Purulia was
followed by a spate
of cases of sexual assault
on women, particularly
minors. These incidents
have come as an embarrass-
ment to the State government.
In half a dozen instances, includ-
ing the violence at Bogtui, the mur-
der at Jhalda, the rape and death of a
14-year-old girl at Hanskhali in Nadia,
the Calcutta High Court directed the
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
to probe the case. In its order direct-
ing the CBI to investigate, the court
has shown little faith in the State pol-
ice and affirmed that a probe by the
central agency is essential to restore
faith among people.
While questions can be raised on
the track record of CBI probes includ-
ing its prolonged ongoing investiga-
tion of the various chit fund scams,
one thing is clear — the West Bengal
government needs to sort out the
prevalent law and order situa-
tion. The common refrain by the
State’s ruling party that these are
“isolated” or “trivial” incidents do
not hold true particularly when the
High Court had to interfere and hand
over the investigation to the CBI in
many cases in a span of just a few
CM
YK
India cannot aspire to be a global leader in scientific research if enough funds
are not injected into basic research. GETTY IMAGES
DRDO, Department of Space and
Atomic Energy, leaving only 30 to
40% for agencies such as Indian
Council of Agricultural Research
(ICAR), Council of Scientific and In-
dustrial Research (CSIR), Depart-
ment of Science and Technology
(DST), Department of Biotechnology
(DBT), Ministry of Earth Sciences
(MoES) and Indian Council of Medi-
cal Research (ICMR); it is from this
last-mentioned allocation that the ex-
tra-mural research from the indivi-
dual investigators are supported.
The current financial year (2022-23)
is no exemption, borne out by the
budgetary allocations for scientific
research. The Union Ministry of
Science and Technology has ear-
marked ₹14,217 crore in the 2022-
2023 Union Budget — a drop of 3.9%
from last year; the DST and DBT are
supposed to receive ₹5,240 crore and
₹2,961 crore, respectively.
While the funding trend remained
frozen between 2011 and 2018, the
number of universities jumped from
752 to 1,016, and doctoral degrees es-
calated from 10,111 to 24,474, which
means that the available number of
people required to do scientific work
as a career option enlarged
exponentially.
Probably realising this demand
from the new generation of research-
ers from the universities, the 2021-22
budget offered ₹10,000 crore ($1.37
billion) every year starting from
2021, over the next five years, for a
new funding agency called the Na-
tional Research Foundation (NRF).
This agency is expected to boost un-
iversity science research, as well as
the work in social sciences. The jour-
weeks. Further, the Trinamool Con-
gress’s habit of pointing at similar or
more violent incidents in the Bharati-
ya Janata Party-ruled States like Uttar
Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh makes
little sense to the people of the State.
After 11 years of continuous rule, the
Trinamool Congress should have
been able to project West Bengal as a
model State, an alternative to the BJP-
ruled States, but the party leadership
seems to perpetually point an accu-
satory finger when cornered over the
declining law and order situation.
In all the incidents where the
Calcutta High Court had
to intervene, questions
have been raised on the
role of the police. Th-
ere have been allega-
tions of the police not taking
action at Bogtui and Hansk-
hali. There have also been cas-
es, like the death of the student
leader Anish Khan and the mur-
der of Congress councillor at
Jhalda, where the police itself
stand accused of being in-
volved in the crime.
On April 27, Chief Minister
Mamata Banerjee publicly
pulled up senior police of-
ficers and asked why the State
should suffer a loss of face because of
their negligence. However, it is not
only negligence. It is an open secret
that the ruling party at the local level
controls the police. This was made
evident on March 23 when the Chief
Minister herself ordered the arrest of
a block president at Rampurhat, for
refusing to deploy the police at Bog-
tui village to prevent the massacre.
Inadvertently, Ms. Banerjee indicat-
ed the power the local Trinamool
leaders wield over the police. At pre-
sent one of the most difficult and im-
mediate tasks ahead for Ms. Banerjee
is to restore the reputation of her pol-
ice force, which has taken a major
battering over the past one year. The
police in West Bengal will have to
shrug off local political interferences
and carry out its functions, without
being partisan, to put a check on
such violent crimes.
shivsahay.s@thehindu.co.in
OPED 7
Invigorating the Ayush industry
Its integration into mainstream systems will give wider
acceptance to traditional systems of the country
mocratisation of the knowledge
base. But it is anybody’s guess why RAJIV KUMAR, Vaidya Rajeshwari Singh & so announced a ₹4000-crore package under
the current-year budget was elo- Ravindra Pratap Singh the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan for the
quently silent on this initiative of the promotion of herbal cultivation.
last financial year, which is yet to be The global market for herbal medicine was There is no doubt about the potential of
approved by the Cabinet. Such a lack valued at $657.5 billion in 2020. It is expect- the sector and the above measures will sure-
of continuity in government policy ed to grow to $746.9 billion in 2022. In China, ly help. However, the Ayush sector requires a
towards science funding is a huge de- the traditional medicine industry had total multi-dimensional thrust, ranging from in-
terrent to achieving the fullest poten- revenue of $37.41 billion in 2018, according itiatives at the institutional level, massive
tial in scientific research in India. to an IBISWorld report. In fact, the Healthy awareness and promotion of cultivation of
Gallup poll of sorts among the re- China 2030 plan forecasts that the value of medicinal plants by farmers, to trade-related
searchers would surely nail the big- traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) market interventions and quality focus measures.
gest hindrance in Indian science — may reach $737.9 billion within China and
the financial bureaucracy, again a le- globally by 2030. SMPBs to be strengthened
gacy of British colonial governance. The growth of the TCM industry in China The National Medicinal Plant Board (NMPB)
To unleash the fullest potential of In- is attributed to the immense attention the implements the medicinal plant component
dian science, a vibrant and respon- sector has received in the country. In 1982, of Ayush through state bodies—State Medici-
sive financial system is required. the Constitution of China gave full recogni- nal Plant Boards (SMPBs). The organisational
*
Such a system should be autono- tion to TCM. Since 2009, there has been con- structure of SMPBs needs to be streng-
mous and more participatory, and tinuous support for TCM in health policies. thened. They should have experts for con-
nal Nature in its editorial dated Fe- less bureaucratic — a problem also China has focused upon developing quality servation, cultivation, R&D, herbal garden
bruary 9, 2021, in a somewhat eu- compounded by the fact that the fi- infrastructure for TCM to co-exist with mod- and nurseries, IEC and marketing and trade
phoric tone, called it “a nance person is made more accoun- ern medicine under the same roof. of medicinal plants. On the trade front, deve-
ground-breaking change”, giving the table to the ministry rather than the loping comprehensive databases on Ayush
fullest credit to the then Principal secretary of the department. It is The NAM scheme trade, products and raw materials is needed.
Scientific Adviser K. Vijay Raghavan widely felt that it is often less difficult In India, the National Ayush Mission (NAM) To date, most ISM (Indian System of Medi-
for seeding this idea to the point of to have a project approved than to was launched in 2014 by the Department of cine) products, herbal products and medici-
fruition. have funds periodically released. A Ayush, Ministry of Health and Family Wel- nal plants products are not identified under
This newly proposed idea is also in corollary question is how to regain fare, to promote Ayush systems and address specific HS (Harmonised system) codes. Ex-
tune with what is being stated in the the autonomy of scientific institu- the needs of the sector in a comprehensive pansion of HS national lines to accommo-
National Education Policy 2020: tions in financial management that way. Providing cost-effective services, date various features of traditional medicine
"The NRF will provide a reliable base has undergone considerable erosion. strengthening educational systems, quality and medicinal plant products based on exist-
of merit-based but equitable peer-re- India must choose to break the bu- control of drugs and sustainable availability ing requirements is required to provide
viewed research funding, helping to reaucratic barriers that exist in the of raw materials are the main objectives of more comprehensive trade data on Ayurved-
develop a culture of research in the government departments and deve- NAM. The industry is projected to reach ic products.
country through suitable incentives lop innovative ways to help basic re- $23.3 billion in 2022, according to a Research Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the
for and recognition of outstanding search flourish. and Information System for Developing foundation of the WHO-Global Centre for
research, and by undertaking major India cannot aspire to be a global Countries (RIS), 2021, report. The Indian Traditional Medicine in Jamnagar on April
initiatives to seed and grow research leader in scientific research if herbal medicine market is worth $18.1 19, 2022. This will be the first and only global
at state universities and other public enough funds are not injected into billion. outpost centre for traditional medicine
institutions where research capabili- basic research by committing to raise The Indian Ayush sector has grown by 17% across the world.
ty is currently limited”. the R&D spending to at least 1% of the between 2014 and 2020. Related segments NITI Aayog has already constituted a com-
GDP. It is also important for the priv- such as plant derivatives grew by 21%, plant mittee and four working groups on integra-
The NRF’s importance ate sector to chip in. But for that to extracts by 14.7%, and herbal plants by 14.3% tive medicine, with more than 50 experts
Despite the announcement of the happen, the government should in- during the same period. across the country, to provide deeper in-
NRF and a huge fund infusion in the centivise the private players by giving Under the ‘Medicinal Plants’ component sights and recommendations in the areas of
science budget, the 2021 budget them tax breaks, etc. The promise to of the NAM scheme (2015–16 to 2020–21), the education, research, clinical practice and
speech had also expressed the inten- set up NRF, independent of political cultivation of prioritised medicinal plants in public health and administration. Considera-
tion of investing about ₹4,000 crore interference, and the related finan- identified clusters/zones is being supported. ble progress has been made by the commit-
over five years for deep-ocean re- cial commitment needs to be real- Cultivation of plants on farmer’s land, esta- tee for the finalisation of the report. Integra-
search and biodiversity conserva- ised. Another option is to upgrade blishment of nurseries with backward lin- tion of Ayush systems into mainstream
tion; and promised to four centres the SERB (Science Engineering Re- kages, post-harvest management with for- systems will certainly give wider acceptance
for virological research and a com- search Board) to play the role as- ward linkages, and primary processing, for traditional systems of the country.
mitment to developing hydrogen signed to the NRF. There are a lot of marketing, etc., are all covered under the The Ayush industry in India can provide
energy. Planned to be an autono- cues to be obtained from China on scheme. For the cultivation of plants, subsi- cost-effective healthcare to people across
mous body and therefore less bu- how it managed to become a world dies at 30%, 50% and 75% of the cultivation States. It has all the ingredients of success, to
reaucratic, the NRF was expected to leader in scientific research. For all cost for 140 medicinal plants are being pro- co-exist with the modern health systems, as
bring thousands of colleges and un- this to achieve, a foremost require- vided. So far, approximately 56,396 hectares a choice-based system of traditional
iversities under its ambit. As most of ment is a dynamic R&D ecosystem, are under the cultivation of medicinal medicine.
the country’s scientific research is which India lacks today. plants, as per the Ministry of Ayush.
being conducted by government lab- Further, last year Union Ayush Minister Dr. Rajiv Kumar is former Vice-Chairman, NITI Aayog.
oratories and a few premier insti- C.P. Rajendran is Adjunct Professor at the Sarbananda Sonowal announced that medi- Vaidya Rajeshwari Singh is Research Officer, and
tutes, this new forum was thought to National Institute of Advanced Studies, cinal plants will be cultivated on 75,000 hec- Ravindra Pratap Singh is personel secretary to Vice
be a game-changer by its intent of de- Bengaluru tares of land. The Ministry of Finance has al- Chairman, NITI Aayog
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
DATA POINT
FROM THE ARCHIVES
FIFTY YEARS AGO MAY 2, 1972
Vietnamisation that never worked
Saigon, May 1: Vietnamisation not only nev-
er worked but never happened despite the
American pull-out. This is the impression of
newsman Peter Arnett and photographer
Horst Faas of the Associated Press, who co-
vered the Vietnam war from 1962 to 1970
and returned three weeks ago to report on
the current Viet-Cong offensive. They write:
what we have seen in the last three weeks
looks like a film strip of the preceding 10
years reversed and rerun. The years peeled
back as images of Vietnam at war flashed be-
fore our eyes. One morning last week, an
American adviser for Rural Development
held up a 1.8 metre computer readout of his
province’s security rating that he had just re-
ceived from Saigon. “Look at this”, he said,
pointing to a bank of numbers. “That is sup-
posed to give the current status of our popu-
lar force units. We cannot reach any of those
units by radio. They have just gone. This
paper is worthless.” He walked over to a
chart detailing development plans for a
score of hamlets in his northern districts.
“We have lost them too”, he said, turning
the chart to the wall. Elsewhere in the three
major fighting areas we visited — the sense of
swift, unexpected reversal was strong. We
arrived 10 days after the North Vietnamese
offensive began. Thrusts had been made
deep into Quanv Tri province.
A HUNDRED YEARS AGO MAY 2, 1922
India’s goal
To the outer view Indian nationalism may
appear to be no more than a demand for a
change in the form of Government, or at
best, for the amenities of an independent ex-
istence, but that is, after all, the secondary
part of India’s aim. The philosophy of her
nationalism consists of a double goal, firstly
the defence of her own civilisation and se-
condly the fulfillment of her mission in the
world. It was this high ideal that inspired In-
dian Nationalism at its very birth; it is this
ideal which, with the depth of a religious
faith, sustains the movement in its latest
phase. India does not want to be swamped
by occidentalism which on its economic side
is almost synonymous with plutocracy and
in the philosophical aspect, is a quick march
towards materialism. This spirit of the West
— which one must differentiate from the ad-
mirable results of her science and art — had
been stealing on India in the past few years,
and Indian nationalism, no longer inert,
wants to safeguard against its invasion.
A ND-NDE

8 MONDAY, MAY 2, 2022
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Text & Context
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THE GIST
B The status of Delhi being
a Union Territory under
Schedule 1 of the
Constitution but christened
the ‘National Capital
Territory’ in 2014 put the
dynamics of the relationship
between the State and the
Central Government under
severe strain.
B The Supreme Court ruled
that the L-G shall act as a
facilitator rather than
anointing himself as an
adversary to the elected
Council of Ministers. At the
same time, the Court ruled
that the NCT of Delhi
cannot be granted the
status of a State under the
constitutional scheme
B After the Constitution
Bench laid down the law on
the broad issues involved,
the contested questions
were listed before a
two-judge Bench. While one
Judge found that services
were totally outside the
purview of the Government
of NCT, the other held that
officers below the rank of
joint secretary are under the
control of the Government
of NCT.
EXPLAINER
The recent woes of the jute industry in West Bengal
Is West Bengal's jute industry reeling under a crisis? What are the reasons for it?
Saptaparno Ghosh
The story so far: Member of Parliament
(MP) from Barrackpore constituency in
West Bengal, Arjun Singh, met Textile
Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday to
apprise him about issues concerning jute
farmers, workers and the overall jute
industry. Mr. Singh later said in a tweet
that the meeting was very positive and
expressed hope that the issues would be
resolved soon. The Barrackpore MP had
earlier written to West Bengal Chief
Minister Mamata Banerjee, seeking her
intervention into the “arbitrary decision”
of capping the price for procuring raw
jute from the mills. He was referring to
the Office of the Jute Commissioner
( JCO)’s September 30 notification
mandating that no entity would be
allowed to purchase or sell raw jute at a
price exceeding ₹6,500 per quintal.
Mr. Singh had also written to Chief
Ministers of other jute producing States
as Assam, Tripura, Odisha and Bihar,
seeking their intervention.
The West Bengal BJP vice president, in
a letter, mentioned that the operations of
20 jute mills in his constituency, with
lakhs of people dependent on them, were
adversely affected with many forced to
shut down and many others on the verge
CM
YK
DELHI
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Xiaomi deposits seized Breast cancer screening IMD to spread to cities Hottest April in years Turtle hatchlings
5,551 4 50 122 6,523
In ₹ crore, the In crore, the number of women The number of cities across The years since northwest The number of
deposits of Xiaomi who underwent breast screening India in which the India and central India Olive Ridley
seized by the for detection of its cancer, while Meteorological Department experienced their hottest turtle hatchlings
Enforcement 3.16 crore others were screened (IMD) is set to launch Urban April with average released into the
Directorate (ED) of for cervical cancer under the Meteorological Services maximum temperatures sea from nesting
India on Saturday for violating the Centre's Ayushman Bharat Yojana, (UMS), Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, reaching 35.9 and 37.78°C respectively, sites this year in Goa, State Minister
Indian foreign exchange law, officials Minister for Women and Child Director General, India Meteorological IMD said on Saturday. Addressing a Vishwajit Rane said on Friday. “Turtle
said. In a press release after the ED’s Development, Smriti Irani said on Department informed the press conference, IMD Director General conservation is being carried out at
statement, Xiaomi Technology India Sunday. She added that 45 crore visits presspersons. The weather office had Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said northwest four nesting beaches in Goa: Morjim
Private Limited said its operations in by women were registered in the last launched the UMS for Delhi-NCR in and west-central parts of the country and Mandrem in North Goa, Agonda
the country are “firmly compliant with two years at the health and wellness June last year from 13 weather stations including Gujarat, Rajasthan and and Galgibagh in South Goa. Olive
local laws and regulations”. The seizure centres set up under Ayushman Bharat, to provide current observations Punjab, would continue to experience Ridley turtles are one of five marine
was under sections of the Foreign the Centre's health protection scheme, through Nowcast. Metro cities such as above-normal temperatures in May as turtles that visit these beaches and lay
Exchange Management Act (FEMA) for primary health care. She said that Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai well. He added that parts of northwest eggs from November to April,” he
after a probe was launched by the only 11% of the workforce in the sector and Bengaluru are expected to see the and northeast India were expected to tweeted. The Forest Department keeps
federal agency. PTI comprised of women. PTI launch of UMS in the first phase. PTI get below normal rainfall in May. PTI the eggs in an artificial hatchery. PTI
COMPILED BY THE HINDU DATA TEAM
LETTER AND SPIRIT
The Delhi dual governance conundrum
How did the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court rule on the powers of the Delhi govt. vis-a-vis the Lieutenant Governor? What followed this?
Abhilash M.R. pertaining to the powers of the elected
government of Delhi vis-a-vis the L-G.
Delhi has been the flashpoint of innumerable The five-judge Bench opened a new
power struggles but 2015 was a momentous jurisprudential chapter in the
year in the history of the metropolis. The Administration of NCT by invoking the rule
country’s two main political parties failed of purposive construction to say that the
miserably in an election to see who controls objectives behind the Constitution
the National Capital Territory. The Aam
Aadmi Party swept the election, winning 67
of the 70 seats. However, in the absence of
statehood for Delhi, there has been a
prolonged confrontation on the relative
(Sixty-ninth Amendment) Act shall guide the
interpretation of Article 239AA and breathed
the principles of federalism and democracy
into Article 239AA, thereby finding a
parliamentary intent to accord a sui generis
powers of the territorial administration and status in distinction from other Union
the Union government. Territories.
The Court declared that the L-G is bound
Dilemmas of dual governance by the “aid and advice” of the Council of
The status of Delhi being a Union Territory Ministers, noting that the Delhi Assembly
under Schedule 1 of the Constitution but also has the power to make laws over all
christened the ‘National Capital Territory’ subjects that figure in the Concurrent List,
under Article 239 AA, engrafted by the and all, except three excluded subjects, in
Constitution (Sixty-ninth Amendment) Act, the State List. The L-G ought to act on the
2014, put the dynamics of the relationship “aid and advice” of the Council of Ministers,
between the elected Council of Ministers in except when he refers a matter to the
Delhi and the Central Government under President for a final decision.
severe strain. The Administrator of Delhi, Regarding the L-G’s power to refer to the
renamed as the Lieutenant Governor (L-G) President any matter on which there is a
difference of opinion between L-G and the
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
Council of Ministers, the Supreme Court
This split verdict has resulted in the ruled that “any matter” cannot be construed
present hearing before a three-Judge to mean “every matter”, and such a
Bench presided over by the Chief reference shall arise only in exceptional
Justice, in the course of which the circumstances. L-G shall act as a facilitator
Solicitor General sought reference to rather than anointing himself as an
a Constitution Bench. This has been adversary to the elected Council of
opposed by the Government of the Ministers. At the same time, the Court ruled
that the National Capital Territory of Delhi were totally outside the purview of the It is germane to remember the
NCT of Delhi.
cannot be granted the status of a State under Government of NCT, the other held that observation of Justice Ashok Bhushan
under the aforementioned amendment, the constitutional scheme. officers below the rank of joint secretary are penned as part of the Constitution Bench
crossed swords with the elected government under the control of the Government of decision on NCT (2018) that, “From persons
on multiple issues, including control over Split verdict on services NCT. holding high office, it is expected that they
agencies, namely the Anti-Corruption After the Constitution Bench laid down the shall conduct themselves in faithful
Bureau, the Civil Services and the Electricity law on the broad issues involved, the Back to the Constitution Bench? discharge of their duties so as to ensure
Board. The issues pertaining to the power to contested questions were listed before a This split has resulted in the present hearing smooth running of administration so that
appoint the Public Prosecutor in Delhi and two-judge Bench. The Court unanimously before a three-Judge Bench presided over by rights of all can be protected.”
to appoint a Commission of Enquiry under held that while the Anti-corruption Bureau the Chief Justice, in the course of which the Unless the stakeholders recognise this
the Commissions of Enquiry Act, etc. were belongs to the province of the Centre, the Solicitor General sought reference to a axiomatic precept, Delhi would continue to
vexed legal questions necessitating Electricity Board under Government of NCT Constitution Bench. This has been opposed be under administrative and political
interpretation of the Constitution. is the Appropriate Authority under the by the Government of the NCT of Delhi, distress.
Though the Delhi High Court decided in Electricity Act of 2003. While it held that whose counsel argued that forming another The 2021 amendment to the Government
favour of the Central Government relying on only Central Government has the power to Constitution Bench to decide the matter of National Capital Territory of Delhi
the status of Delhi as a Union Territory, on constitute enquiry Commission under the would amount to a “review” of the earlier Act,1991, is a pointer to the possibility that
appeal by the NCT, the Supreme Court 1952 Act, the power to appoint Public Constitution Bench ruling. The 3-Judge the tug-of-war will not end. The
referred the matter to a Constitution Bench Prosecutor is vested with Government of Bench has reserved its orders on the aforementioned amendment is also under
to decide on the substantial questions of law NCT. While one Judge found that services question. challenge before the Supreme Court.
THE GIST
not acquire their raw material directly of a lower quality of jute fibre in 2020-21 jute exports in comparison to India’s 7%.
from the farmers, but instead through as water-logging in large fields resulted in This can be attributed to the fact that
intermediaries. As a standard practice, farmers harvesting the crop prematurely. India lags behind Bangladesh in
the middlemen charge mills for their Acreage issues were accompanied by producing superior quality jute fibre due
services, which involves procuring jute hoarding at all levels – right from the to infrastructural constraints related to
from farmers, grading, bailing and then farmers to the traders. retting, farm mechanisation, lack of B Mills are procuring raw
bringing the bales to the mills. availability of certified seeds and varieties jute at prices higher than
The government has a fixed Minimum Where is jute used? suitable for the country’s agro-climate. what they are selling
them at after processing.
Support Price (MSP) for raw jute Bulk of the final jute produced is used for What also does not bode well for India is
A September 30, 2021,
procurement from farmers, which is packaging purposes. The provisions of that jute acreage competes with crops as notification mandated
₹4,750 per quintal for the 2022-23 season. the Jute Packaging Material (Compulsory paddy, maize, groundnut, and sesame. that no entity would be
However, as the executive stated, this use in Packing Commodities) Act, 1987 or The increased availability of synthetic allowed to purchase or
reached his mill at ₹7,200 per quintal, the JPM Act mandate that 100% substitutes is further bothering the sell raw jute at a price
that is, ₹700 more than the ₹6,500 per production of foodgrains and 20% sugar demand for jute domestically. exceeding ₹6,500 per
quintal cap for the final product. Though production must be packaged in jute Further, as the CACP report stated, quintal
Workers carrying raw materials to the Union government has come up with bags. The share of jute used for sacks, Bangladesh provides cash subsidies for
Hukumchand Jute Mill in North 24 several schemes to prevent de-hoarding, therefore, increased from 67.9% for the varied semi-finished and finished jute B The cyclone Amphan in
Parganas, West Bengal. FILE PHOTO * the executive believes the mechanism TE (TE: Triennium Ending or three years products. Hence, the competitiveness May 2020 and the
requires a certain “systematic ending) 2010-11 to 78.3% in TE 2020-21. emerges as a challenge for India to subsequent rains in major
of closure. regulation”. On the other hand, jute used for explore export options in order to jute producing States
aggravated the crisis.
A mill executive on the condition of manufacturing other products (such as compensate for the domestic scenario.
anonymity told The Hindu, “We have What happened to supply? furnishing materials, fashion accessories,
been held hostage it seems.” He said that What made the situation particularly floor coverings or varied applications in What is at stake? B Bangladesh provides cash
of approximately 60 mills operating in worrisome recently was the occurrence paper and textile industries) has declined As the jute sector provides direct subsidies for varied
the State, 15 had shut down because of of Cyclone Amphan in May 2020 and the from 15.5% to 9.7% during the same employment to 3.70 lakh workers in the semi-finished and finished
jute products. Hence, the
the crisis. subsequent rains in major jute producing period. country and supports the livelihood of
competitiveness emerges
States. These events led to lower acreage, As per the Food and Agriculture around 40 lakh farm families, closure of as a challenge for India to
What is the problem? which in turn led to lower production Organisation (FAO), India is the largest the mills is a direct blow to workers and explore export options in
In simple words, mills are procuring raw and yield compared to previous years. producer of jute followed by Bangladesh indirectly, to the farmers whose order to compensate for
jute at prices higher than what they are Additionally, as the Commission for and China. However, in terms of acreage production is used in the mills. West the domestic scenario
selling them at after processing. Let’s Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) and trade, Bangladesh takes the lead Bengal, Bihar and Assam account for
understand the mechanism first. Mills do stated in its report, this led to production accounting for three-fourth of the global almost 99% of India’s total production.
A ND-NDE
DELHI

& Context
MONDAY, MAY 2, 2022
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Text |9

KNOW YOUR ENGLISH

Is ‘flammable’
the same as
‘inflammable’?
‘Inflammable’ was borrowed
ABSTRACT from Latin ‘inflammare’
meaning ‘to set on fire’

A new perspective on S. Upendran

I
f ‘incomplete’ is the opposite of ‘complete’
and ‘incapable’ is the opposite of ‘capa-
ble’, then logic suggests that ‘inflammable
should be the opposite of ‘flammable’. This,

fertility and income levels

however, is not the case – the two words are
used synonymously. Language being a hu-
man creation, such things are to be expected,
I suppose. Any substance that can catch fire
easily can be called flammable or inflamma-
ble. Why does the language need two words
which mean more or less the same thing? Of
Researchers argue that empirical observations that have guided economists till now no longer hold the two words, it was ‘inflammable’ that en-
true, saying the inverse relationship between income levels and fertility has either flattened or reversed tered the English language first – early 17th
century. It was borrowed from the Latin ‘in-
PrashantH Perumal between women’s labour force participation rate from their family, the state, and others when it flammare’ meaning ‘to set on fire’ or ‘causing
and fertility has been explained in terms of the comes to raising their children. Employment to catch fire’. The prefix ‘in’ in this Latin word
"The Economics of Fertility: A New Era," Matthias costs involved for women who are employed conditions may also be better suited to the needs did not mean ‘not’, but ‘to cause to’.
Doepke, Anne Hannusch, Fabian Kindermann, when it comes to having and raising children. As of working mothers, thus encouraging more Confusion started when a century or two
and Michèle Tertilt, April 2022, NBER Working more women have entered the labour force over working women to have more children. Changes later, the word ‘flammable’ entered the En-
Paper No. 29948, JEL No. D13,J13,J16 the decades, the opportunity cost of bearing and in social norms and support for working mothers glish language; for some time, both words
raising children has risen and led many to have may have also helped in the rise in fertility levels were being used synonymously to mean so-
fewer children. For example, a working woman at a time when women’s participation in the

THE GIST
mething that can be set fire to. With the pas-
Economists who study the subject of human labour force has risen, the researchers say. All sage of time, however, problems resulted be-
fertility have traditionally tried to explain two CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
these factors together may have helped lower cause most people had forgotten the
empirical observations in the real world. One of what is known as the “motherhood penalty” that etymology of ‘inflammable’ — that the ‘in’ in
these empirical observations is the fact that in Whether it is the 19th century or the 21st women incur when they choose to work. the word did not mean ‘not’. As the prefix
B Economists have many countries, there is an inverse relationship century, a woman who is thinking about was causing a lot of confusion about the
generally explained the between fertility and income levels. That is, as having children will still factor in the What this means for old theories? meaning of inflammable, by the early 20th
inverse relationship income levels have risen across the world, fertility opportunity cost of having a child in terms What does this all mean for the old theories that century ‘flammable’ began to slowly replace
between income and levels have dropped significantly. In fact, in many of lost potential earnings. economists used to explain empirical regularities ‘inflammable’ in all warning labels. The op-
fertility as due to the
countries in the western world, fertility is at observed in the past? It would be hard to posite of ‘inflammable’ and ‘flammable’ is
decision among modern
households to invest in below replacement levels at the moment and has to forego earnings over a considerable period completely dismiss them because the opportunity ‘non-flammable’.
the quality of children governments are trying to incentivize people to of time when she spends time out of the cost of making and raising children will always
that they raise over the have more children. The second important workforce to have and then raise children. have an effect on the decisions made by What is the meaning of ‘genarian’ in
quantity of children they empirical observation has been the inverse households. Whether it is the 19th century or the ‘octogenarian’? What do you call
make. relationship between women’s participation in Women’s labour and fertility levels 21st century, a woman who is thinking about someone who is in his 20s? (TG
the labour force and their fertility levels. That is, In “The Economics of Fertility: A New Era”, having children will still factor in the opportunity Krishnamurthy, Hyderabad)
B In their paper, authors as women’s participation in the labour force has researchers Matthias Doepke, Anne Hannusch, cost of having a child in terms of lost potential The ‘gen’ in ‘genarian’ is pronounced like the
argue that there is now a risen over the years there has been a fall in Fabian Kindermann, and Michele Tertilt argue earnings. Similarly, households’ decisions on word ‘gin’, while the following ‘a’ sounds like
positive rather than a fertility levels. that the two empirical observations discussed whether to invest in the quality of children they the ‘air’ in ‘pair’, ‘hair’ and ‘air’. The word is
negative or inverse Economists have generally explained the above that have guided economists till date no raise or rather increase or decrease the number of pronounced ‘je-NA-ri-en’ with the stress on
relationship between inverse relationship between income and fertility longer hold true in large parts of today’s world. children they have will also have an effect on the second syllable. A person who is between
women’s labour force as due to the decision among modern households They argue that the inverse relationship between fertility regardless of the times that we live in. In
participation rate and
the age 80 and 89 is usually referred to as an
to invest in the quality of children that they raise income levels and fertility has either flattened or other words, these are truths that always hold ‘octogenarian’. ‘Octo’ in Latin means ‘eight’
fertility levels across
many countries. over the quantity of children that they make. In reversed in many high-income countries. Even true even though empirical observations may lead and ‘genaria’ means ‘ten times’. Similarly,
fact, some economists have argued that the more surprisingly, there is now a positive rather us to believe that they don’t matter anymore. It ‘sex’ in Latin means ‘six’; someone who is in
decision of households to invest in child quality than a negative or inverse relationship between may just be that the effect of income levels and his 60s is called ‘sexagenarian’. Here are the
B Women today get more
over child quantity was what helped many women’s labour force participation rate and labor force participation may be blunted now by other terms frequently used: quadragenarian
support from their family,
the state, and others
countries to build modern economies marked by fertility levels across many countries. That is, even other factors such as social norms, family and (40-49), quinquagenarian (50-59), septuage-
when it comes to raising high productivity. So, according to this view, as the participation of women in the labour force state support, etc. Also, the influence that societal narian (70-79), nonagenarian (90-99), cente-
their children. Work when many households decided to have fewer has risen there has also been a rise in fertility views on the idea of having children may have on narian (100-109), and supercentenarian
conditions may also be kids and also sent these kids to schools to gain levels. The researchers argue that there may be households’ decision to have children may be a (110+).
better suited to the needs various skills over a number of years, for instance, various reasons for the drastic change in these topic of interest worth exploring by social According to the Britannica Dictionary, so-
of working mothers. this helped boost the productivity of the empirical observations that have guided scientists. After all, it can have a significant effect meone who is between the age 10 and 19 is
economy. mainstream economists for many decades now. on the cost that households are generally willing called a ‘denarian’. Those between the age of
On the other hand, the inverse relationship Women today, for instance, get more support to bear to have and raise children. 20 and 29 are called ‘vicenarian’. A ‘tricenar-
ian’ is someone in his 30s. Most standard dic-
tionaries, however, do not list these words.
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
Which is correct? Mr. & Mrs. or Mrs. &
Mr.? (SGA Basha, Chennai)
THE DAILY QUIZ Does it really matter? Native speakers of En-
glish normally write, ‘Mr. and Mrs.’. It is al-
May 2, 2022 is the 101st birth anniversary of one of India’s greatest filmmakers, Satyajit Ray. Here’s a quiz on ways the man first. In India, many people
write ‘Mrs. & Mr.’. This is because of our
Manikda (as he was popularly called) and his creations. mother tongue influence. When people in
our country send invitations to others, it is

1 The original publisher of Jawaharlal

Nehru’s The Discovery of India, this
publishing house was established by Dilip
Feluda’s waist and chest size to which he
replies, “26 inches”. In response, Jatayu
says, “Are you a pig?” and then guffaws,
! This knife-throwing character from Joi Baba Felunath, named Arjun, is played by
an actor who, as the story goes, went to Satyajit Ray’s house and asked for a chance
to act in his films and then went on to essay roles in nine memorable films of his.
customary to write ‘Smt. and Sri.’ on the en-
velope – the woman always comes first. With-
Kumar Gupta and also employed Satyajit Ray drawing smiles from Feluda and his
in India, it makes no difference whether you
Name him. SCREENGRAB FROM YOUTUBE *

as a visual designer who went on to design “satellite” Topshe. Whose “nonsense” write ‘Mrs. & Mr.’ or ‘Mr. & Mrs’. Outside In-
covers for several books including The verse was Jatayu referring to in his dia, it is a different matter altogether. A pro-
Discovery.., Pather Panchali among others. rhetorical question? Please send in your answers to the 5. Sattriya originates from which State. fessor who was teaching in the University of
Name the publishing house. dailyquiz@thehindu.co.in Ans: Assam Georgia in the 1980s once received a threa-

2 In a tour of London in 1950, Ray claims to

have seen 100 odd films over 6 months.
4 Which anthology film by Ray marked
his entry as a music director,
following which he composed the music
Questions (abridged) and Answers to
the previous day’s daily quiz: 1. The
6. In Kathakali, the Pacha (Green) make-up
is used for these type of characters. Ans:
tening letter from a student. The police were
able to determine that the writer was an In-
But there was one film, which he considered for all his films later on? three essential elements of the art form Dhirodatta, the noble-hearted, upright dian because the letter had been addressed to
to be a representative of neorealist cinema according to the Natya Shastra and the hero Mrs. and Mr. X!
and and is considered his inspiration for the
works he pioneered in India — especially his
first directorial film, Pather Panchali. Name
5 The renowned movie critic, Roger
Ebert, had this to say about one of
Ray’s best films — “Ray's people have
individual who codified it. Ans: Nritta,
Natya and Nritya. Bharata Muni
7. The dance form which has three distinct
'gharanas'. Ans: Kathak
“Getting old is like climbing a mountain;
you get a little out of breath, but the view is
the Italian film that was ranked the 10th best genuine emotions and ambitions, like the 2. The traditional name of 8. Giddha, Sammi, and Kikli are folk dances much better.” Ingrid Bergman
film of all time by directors in a list prepared people next door and the people in Peoria Bharatanatyam, and the individual who of this State. Ans: Punjab upendrankye@gmail.com
for the Sight and Sound magazine in 2012. and the people in Kansas City. There is not brought the dance form to the public. 9. The 2 metre statue of Shiva as Nataraja
a person reading this review who would Ans: 'Sadir' and Rukmini Devi gifted by the Indian government is found
3 One of the delightful Ray-created
characters on both screen and books,
Jatayu makes his mark in the film Sonar Kella
not identify immediately and deeply with
the characters in …..”. Name this film
which is an adaptation of the book
Arundale
3. The dance form which uses Jayadeva's
in this institute in Europe. Ans: CERN
Visual: This folk dance from the eastern
For feedback and suggestions for
Text & Context, please write to
in his very first scenes. In one of them, Jatayu Abataranika by Narendranath Mitra. 'Gita Govinda' extensively. Ans: Odissi part of India. Ans: Chhau letters@thehindu.co.in with the
(played by Santosh Dutta) asks the hero about 4. This dance form's name translates to Early Birds: Jharna Kamdar | Pratibha subject ‘Text & Context’
'dance of the enchantress'. Ans: Lohiya | Jatin Tihal | Shruti Balakrishnan
Compiled by: Srinivasan Ramani Mohiniattam | Komal Thakkar
CM A ND-NDE
YK
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10 NEWS
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FROM PAGE ONE
April GST revenues go
past ₹1.67 lakh crore
“Even though the spike in
April’s GST collections part-
ly benefits from year-end
adjustments, the all-time
high magnitude of inflows is
very enthusing, and augurs
well for a robust year-on-
year growth in the months
ahead as well,” said ICRA
chief economist Aditi Nayar,
adding there is evidence of a
healthy pace of economic
activity in March despite the
escalating geopolitical con-
flict in Europe.
There were, however,
wide variations in growth
trends across States. While
Tamil Nadu’s collections
grew just 10% in April, Mah-
arashtra saw collections rise
by 25%, Odisha 28% Harya-
na 23% and Andhra Pradesh
22%. Karnataka and Rajas-
than recorded a 19% uptick
in GST collections, while the
Ex-MLA held in Kerala
hate speech case
Mr. George called the arrest
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vi-
jayan’s gift to Muslim extre-
mist groups.
He was granted bail after
being produced before Thi-
ruvananthapuram Judicial
First Class Magistrate Court
XII Judge Asha Koshy at her
official residence. He was in-
structed to refrain from in-
fluencing witnesses and in-
terfering with the
investigation, and not to en-
gage in similar controversies
and make hate speeches.
The State capital earlier
witnessed high drama as the
police braved several tense
moments to arrest Mr. Ge-
orge. The police convoy
rushed him to the Armed
Reserve camp at Nandava-
nam amid tight security.
Leader of the Opposition
V.D. Satheesan demanded
legal action against Sangh
Parivar leaders at whose
behest Mr. George allegedly
e-Shram to help settle
workers’ accident claims
At the time the portal was
launched in August 2021,
the Ministry had estimated
that there were 38 crore un-
organised sector workers in
the country. According to
the Ministry functionary, an
analysis of the registrations
so far was being carried out
and a new campaign to get
more workers to register
would also be planned.
In her Budget Speech
2022-2023, Finance Minister
Nirmala Sitharaman had an-
nounced the linking of four
portals — the National Ca-
reer Service, e-Shram,
UDYAM (for those interested
in starting MSMEs) and
‘Illegal’ coal trader killed
in Assam police firing
press trust of india
Hailakandi (Assam)
A person allegedly involved
in illegal coal trade, who fled
from police custody, was
killed in police firing in As-
sam’s Hailakandi district in
the early hours on Sunday, a
top police officer said.
The accused was arrested
in Suterkandi area of Karim-
ganj district on Saturday
morning in connection with
alleged illegal transportation
of coal, Hailakandi Superin-
tendent of Police Gaurav
Upadhyay said.
When he was being taken
to a hospital in Lala town for
a routine medical check-up,
he managed to escape taking
advantage of heavy traffic,
the SP said.
The accused escaped at
around 11.30 a.m. on Satur-
day and immediately police
started a search operation in
nearby areas and alerted
their counterparts of border-
ing States, the SP said.
Based on specific informa-
tion that the accused would
try to escape through Lakhi-
CM
YK
growth rate was 17% for Guj-
arat, and 16% for Telangana,
Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.
Dip in revenue
Six States and Union Terri-
tories reported a contrac-
tion in revenues from a year
ago, including Bihar (-2%),
Manipur (-33%), Mizoram
(-19%) and Tripura (-3%).
GST inflows from Lakshad-
weep tanked 18% year-on-
year, while those in Daman
and Diu dropped a sharp
78%.
“The government has set-
tled ₹33,423 crore to the
CGST and ₹26,962 crore to
the SGST from the IGST. The
total revenue of the Centre
and the States in April 2022
after regular settlement is
₹66,582 crore for the CGST
and ₹68,755 crore for the
SGST,” the Ministry said.
made the controversial re-
marks.
Reacting to the develop-
ments, Indian Union Mus-
lim League general secre-
tary P.K. Kunhalikutty
termed Mr. George’s com-
ments a ‘war cry’ that was
aimed at destroying peace
in the State.
The situation remained
tense in the city with the
police having deployed size-
able teams in anticipation of
riots. Amid threats by the
BJP to agitate against the
police action, a large gather-
ing of Democratic Youth
Federation of India (DYFI)
activists threw eggs and
waved black flags when Mr.
George was brought to the
police camp.
A few BJP supporters,
who waylaid the convoy at
Vattappara on the outskirts
of Thiruvananthapuram,
draped a shawl on the polit-
ician.
ASEEM (Atmanirbhar
Skilled Employee Employer
Mapping). The Labour Mi-
nistry announced on April
20 that the inter-linking of
the NCS and e-Shram por-
tals had been completed re-
cently.
“This linkage has enabled
unorganised workers regis-
tered on e-Shram to seam-
lessly register on NCS and
look for better job oppor-
tunities through NCS. So far,
more than 26,000 e-Shram
beneficiaries have regis-
tered on NCS and have start-
ed benefiting from this lin-
kage,” the Ministry had said
in a statement.
nagar area, about 10 km from
Lala town, a police check
post was set up there.
“At around 1.30 am on
Sunday, the accused tried to
cross the checkpoint with
another person on a motor-
bike. When police tried to
stop them, they opened fire
on our team. In retaliatory
firing, the accused was in-
jured, though the other per-
son managed to escape,” the
senior police officer said.
The accused was rushed
to S.K. Roy Civil Hospital in
Hailakandi town, where he
was declared brought dead,
he added.
A police constable has
been suspended in connec-
tion with the escape of the
accused while being taken to
the hospital. The SP said the
accused had more than 50
cases of land scam, illegal
trade, fake currency, and for-
gery pending against him.
He said the deceased was
the mastermind of the illegal
coal syndicate of Barak Val-
ley and a CBI inquiry is also
going on against him.
Six more held in Patiala violence case
Police say the arrested include the key conspirator Barjinder Singh Parwana, who allegedly led a mob
Special Correspondent
Chandigarh
The Punjab police on Sunday
arrested six more persons,
including the key conspira-
tor Barjinder Singh Parwana,
in connection with the “anti-
Khalistan” clash between dif-
ferent groups in Patiala.
Inspector-General of Pol-
ice of the Patiala range,
Mukhwinder Singh Chhina,
said the police had arrested
Mr. Parwana from Mohali in
Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar
district. Five others had
been arrested since Saturday
night.
“Till now, we have arrest-
ed nine persons in connec-
tion with Patiala violence,”
he said.
According to the police,
Mr. Parwana was the main
conspirator from the Sikh
radicals’ group, who alleged-
ly led a mob and incited vio-
lence in Patiala on Friday in
Trade pact
between India,
UAE is active
Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI
The India-UAE Compre-
hensive Economic Partner-
ship Agreement (CEPA),
the biggest bilateral trade
pact between the two ma-
jor economies, was activat-
ed on Sunday.
The agreement was
signed on February 18 bet-
ween the two sides. Coin-
ciding with the important
occasion, Secretary, De-
partment of Commerce,
B.V.R. Subrahmanyam
flagged off the first consign-
ment of goods consisting of
jewellery items from India
to the UAE under the India-
UAE CEPA at an event held
at the New Customs House
here.
The India-UAE CEPA is
the first of the major bilat-
eral trade pacts that India
has been negotiating to
kickstart international
trade in the post-COVID-19
scenario.
Key posts of national security interest to fall vacant soon
Suspense over filling of the posts of Union Home Secretary; Intelligence Bureau Director, and RAW Secretary
Vijaita Singh
New Delhi
The tenures of three high-
profile offices — the Union
Home Secretary; Director,
Intelligence Bureau (IB); and
Secretary, Research and
Analysis Wing (RAW) — are
ending in the next few
months, with suspense over
whether the present incum-
bents will continue in the
posts or new faces will re-
place them. Since Indepen-
dence, none of these offices
have been occupied by a wo-
man.
All three officers were
granted a year’s extension in
office in 2021 and belong to
the 1984 batch of the Indian
Administrative Service (IAS)
and the Indian Police Service
(IPS).
BL Changemaker award entries open
Aim is to felicitate people who made our world a better place to live in
Special Correspondent
Chennai
Changemakers are a rare
breed. Most among us prefer
status quo while some seek
change without wanting to
contribute for it. All they do
is constantly complain about
the present conditions. Only
a few actually do something
to bring about the change.
And these are the people
who need to be supported
and celebrated.
As The Hindu Business-
Line stepped into its 25th
year of publishing in 2018, it
decided to commemorate
this important milestone by
felicitating people who made
our world a better place to
live in through their path-
breaking efforts. Thus, was
born The BusinessLine
Changemaker awards.
DELHI THE HINDU
MONDAY, MAY 2, 2022
Maruti,
Hyundai car
dispatches dip
amid a confrontation sur- Press Trust of India
New Delhi
rounding the holding of a
foot march in the city against Facing production issues
the backdrop of the announ- due to supply chain chal-
cement by the Sikhs for Jus- lenges, leading carmakers
tice (SFJ) to mark the founda- Maruti Suzuki (MSI) and
tion day of Khalistan on April Hyundai Motor reported a
29. dip in vehicle dispatches
from factories to dealers in
AAP’s claim April.
In a press conference, Aam Tata Motors, Toyota Kir-
Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab loskar Motor and Skoda
chief spokesperson Malwin- Auto, on the other hand,
der Singh Kang said the State witnessed a robust growth
government’s quick action in vehicle dispatches last
against anti-nationalist and month.
anti-social elements was The country’s largest
much appreciated. “Thanks carmaker MSI said its dom-
Hand-cuffed: Barjinder Singh Parwana, main accused in the Patiala violence case, being taken to the quick and effective ac- estic sales slipped 7% to
to Mata Kaushalya Hospital for a medical test on Sunday. PTI * tion of Chief Minister Bhag- 1,32,248 units as against
want Mann and the Punjab 1,42,454 units in April 2021.
which four persons, includ- Thackeray) district president Daljeet Singh in different cas- police, the mastermind, Bar- “The shortage of elec-
ing two police personnel, Shankar Bhardwaj and Ash- es related to the violence. Six jinder Singh Parwana, who tronic components had a
were injured. wani Kumar Gaggi Pandit. FIRs were registered in con- instigated violence and pro- minor impact on the pro-
Those arrested include al- Earlier the police had ar- nection with the Patiala voked people, has been ar- duction of vehicles, mainly
leged Sikh radicals Shiv Dev, rested Harish Singla of the violence. rested from Mohali within 48 domestic models,” the auto
Davinder Singh and Rajinder Shiv Sena (Bal Thackeray), On Friday, a clash broke hours of the incident,” he major said.
Singh, and Shiv Sena (Bal besides Kuldeep Singh and out between different groups said. Hyundai Motor India re-
ported a 10% dip in whole-
sales last month at 44,001
units last month, as against
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
49,002 units in April 2021.
Working class unity Similarly, Honda Cars In-
dia Ltd (HCIL) reported a
13% year-on-year decline in
domestic wholesales to
7,874 units for April. The
automaker is hopeful that
the situation will improve
soon.
MG Motor India said its
retail sales declined 22% to
2,008 units last month
compared to 2,565 in April
2021.
COVID impact
The production remained
volatile and immensely im-
pacted by the global supply
chain constraints due to
the sudden and new CO-
VID-19 lockdowns in diffe-
rent parts of the world, the
automaker said.
Home-grown auto major
Tata Motors on the other
hand reported a 66% in-
crease in dispatches to
dealers. Also, Toyota Kir-
loskar Motor said its whole-
sales rose by 57% in April.
Skoda Auto India said its
sales surged by over five-
Vocal for rights: Kashmiri government contractual workers and daily wagers from various labour groups shout slogans during a fold in April at 5,152 units
protest marking International Labour Day on Sunday. NISSAR AHMAD * as compared to 961 units in
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC April 2021.
On May 28, 2021, the Ap- es, if any, will have to be Home Secretary; Director, If the government is to ex-
pointments Committee of made this year as the govern- IB; and Secretary, RAW can haust the five-year extended
the Cabinet (ACC) granted a ment will want continuity be extended by up to two tenure on Mr. Mishra, then
one-year extension in ser- and experienced hands in years beyond the two-year the officer could continue to
vice to IB Director Arvinda the crucial election year. fixed tenure in “public be in office till November
Kumar and RAW Secretary interest”. 2024. A Supreme Court rul-
Samant Kumar Goel. Public interest extension The extended tenure of ing in 2017 had fixed a two-
Their two-year fixed Before the 2019 Lok Sabha another 1984 batch officer of year term for Director, ED
terms would have ended on election, the then chiefs of IB the Indian Revenue Service but the new appointment
June 30, 2021. The ACC on and RAW — Rajiv Jain and (IRS), S.K. Mishra, Director, rules under the Central Vigi-
August 12, 2021 granted a A.K. Dhasmana, respectively Enforcement Directorate lance Commission Act, 2003
year’s extension to Home Se- — were granted a six-month (ED), is also to end in No- (Rule 45 of 2003) relaxed the
cretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, extension in service in De- vember 2022. tenure limit to up to five
beyond his two-year fixed te- cember 2018, beyond their Days before his three- years.
nure that was to end on Au- If new appointments to two-year tenures as the year-tenure was to come to The amendment is also ap-
gust 22, 2021. these posts are made next Centre wanted a status quo an end, the Union govern- plicable to the Director, CBI’s
While Mr. Kumar, an IPS year, they will have a little at the top security posts till ment on November 14, 2021 post, extending the fixed
officer, and Mr. Bhalla, an over six-months in their new the general elections promulgated two ordinances two-year tenure to up to five
IAS officer, belong to the As- offices till the model code of concluded. to allow the Centre to extend years under the Delhi Special
sam-Meghalaya cadre, Mr.
Goel, also an IPS officer, is
from the Punjab cadre.
conduct kicks in and a new
government is formed by
May 2024.
According to the Funda-
mental Rules, 1922 that gov-
ern the appointment and te-
the tenures of the directors
of the Central Bureau of In-
vestigation (CBI) and the ED
Police Establishment Act,
1946 (Rule 25 of 1946).
The present CBI Director
The general elections are
due in the first half of 2024.
There is a sense in the
power corridors that chang-
nures of all government
servants, the posts of Union
from two years to up to five
years.
S.K. Jaiswal’s two-year term
ends in May 2023.
12 passengers injured
in severe turbulence
Press Trust of India assistance was provided
kers.com. The last date for New Delhi upon the aircraft’s arrival in
the nomination is May 15. At least 12 passengers on Durgapur, the spokesperson
Once the nomination win- SpiceJet’s Boeing B737 air- said.
dow closes, the applications craft operating flight SG-945 “SpiceJet expresses its re-
will be screened and evaluat- from Mumbai to Durgapur, gret at this unfortunate inci-
ed by BusinessLine along were injured on Sunday dent and is providing all
with its knowledge partners when it faced severe turbu- possible medical help to the
(Deloitte and Ashoka). lence during descent, sourc- injured,” the spokesperson
The shortlisted nominees es said. Immediate medical added.
will be validated by the vali-
Three editions of the awards — Changemaker - So- dation partner (Niiti Consult-
awards have been held since cial Transformation, Chan- ing) before the list is sent to
then. The 2021 edition could gemaker - Digital Transfor- the independent jury for
not be held due to the mation, Changemaker - picking the winner.
pandemic. Financial Transformation, The website has details of
Young Changemaker and past winners and any other
Five categories Changemaker of the Year. information that one may
The work on the 2022 edi- Lots of interesting nomi- need about the awards, the
tion of the Changemaker nations have been received qualification criteria, details
Awards has begun. The nom- so far. Those who would like about various categories,
ination window was opened to nominate themselves or past winners and so on.
for the public to nominate someone who they knew If you know of a change-
changemakers on March 31. have contributed to make maker who needs to be cele-
Nomination can be made lives better can do so by ac- brated, now is the time to
across five categories of cessing www.blchangema- send in your nominations.
A ND-NDE
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THE HINDU
MONDAY, MAY 2, 2022
DELHI
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Will try to strengthen spirit of
cooperation with Europe: PM
Region facing many challenges and choices, says Modi ahead of three-nation visit
Special Correspondent
New Delhi
Welfare of the Indian diaspo-
ra, the crisis in Ukraine and
renewable energy are ex-
pected to be in focus during
the three-nation Europe tour
of Prime Minister Narendra
Modi that starts on Monday.
In a pre-departure press
statement, Mr. Modi said his
visit would strengthen the
spirit of cooperation bet-
ween India and the Euro-
pean countries.
“My visit to Europe comes
at a time when the region
faces many challenges and
choices. Through my en-
gagements, I intend to
strengthen the spirit of coop-
eration with our European
partners, who are important
companions in India’s quest
for peace and prosperity,”
Mr. Modi said. The visit is the
first big engagement by the
top Indian leadership with
major European powers
since the Russian invasion of
Ukraine on February 24.
Ties with Germany
Mr. Modi will reach Berlin on
Monday morning where he
will hold talks with Chancel-
lor Olaf Scholz. The two
Raj Thackeray
stays firm on
ultimatum
Special Correspondent
Pune
Refusing to budge on the is-
sue of removing loudspeak-
ers from mosques, Maha-
rashtra Navnirman Sena
(MNS) chief Raj Thackeray
on Sunday warned Mus-
lims that if they do not ac-
cept his request, then he
should not be held respon-
sible for what occurs in
Maharashtra after May 4.
He reiterated that he
had no interest or the need
to disturb peace in Maha-
rashtra by causing riots. “I
do not want to poison Id
festivities. But after that
[May 4], we will not listen. I
urge all my Hindu brothers
to play the Hanuman Chal-
isa in front of mosques. If
you [the Muslim communi-
ty] do not listen humbly to
our requests, we will have
no option left,” Mr. Thacke-
ray said at an event in
Aurangabad.
“If they [Muslim com-
munity] do not understand
in simple language, then
let what has to happen
happen… You [the Hindu
community] should not sit
quiet. I urge the police to
dismantle these loudspeak-
ers from mosques,” said
the MNS chief.
He said even loudspeak-
ers outside temples should
be taken down, but only af-
ter the ones in mosques are
removed.
CM
YK
leaders will lead the Indian
and German delegations
during the Inter-Govern-
mental Consultations (IGC).
“I see the IGC as an early
engagement with the new
government of Germany,
within six months of its for-
mation, which will be help-
ful to identify our priorities
for the medium and long
term,” Mr. Modi said.
Holding a special briefing
on the visit, the newly ap-
pointed Foreign Secretary,
Vinay Mohan Kwatra, said
External Affairs Minister S.
Jaishankar and Finance Mi-
nister Nirmala Sitharaman
will accompany the Prime
Minister and hold talks with
their respective counter-
parts.
The visit by Mr. Modi
comes against the backdrop
Face-off casts shadow over Id
prayers at Srinagar’s Jamia Masjid
Administration claims it has inputs about likely protests
Peerzada Ashiq
Srinagar
A confrontation erupted on
Sunday between the Jammu
and Kashmir administration
and the Anjuman Auqaf Ja-
mia Masjid, caretakers of the
historic Jamia Masjid, over
the timing of Id prayers at
the traditional Idgah venue
and the grand mosque in Sri-
nagar, casting a shadow over
permission being granted
for any congregational
prayers at these places.
Sources said the authori-
ties, for a third straight year,
might not allow Id prayers at
the Idgah venue and the his-
toric Jamia Masjid “following
inputs about likely anti-India
protests and violent clashes
on the occasion”.
The administration had
proposed to the Auqaf to
hold Id prayers at the Jamia
Masjid, Nowhatta, by or be-
fore 7 a.m. and had categori-
cally denied permission for
any congregational prayers
at the Idgah, which has wit-
nessed biggest gatherings in
the past with many turning
into anti-India protests.
The Auqaf, which takes
care of the 600-year-old
mosque, however, accused
the authorities of “imposing
conditions” on Id prayers at
the Masjid, including main-
taining peace after the
NEWS 11
Columbia Journalism School award AAP, BJP in a
war of words
for The Hindu Group Chairperson in Gujarat
Dr. Parthasarathy honoured for group’s digital strides Special Correspondent
Ahmedabad
Staff Reporter Aam Aadmi Party national
Chennai convenor and Delhi Chief
persons of Indian origin, and Dr. Malini Parthasarathy, Minister Arvind Kejriwal
Germany has a significant Chairperson of The Hindu and Gujarat BJP leaders
proportion of this diaspora,” Publishing Private Ltd., re- were engaged in a war of
Mr. Modi said, adding that he ceived the Distinguished words on Sunday.
would meet “brothers and Alumni Award of Columbia Addressing a rally of tri-
sisters there”. Journalism School at a func- bal people in Bharuch, Mr.
From Berlin, Mr. Modi will tion organised at the institu- Kejriwal called State BJP
fly to Copenhagen where he tion on Saturday. president C.R. Paatil a non-
will lead the Indian team at She was among the six Gujarati and the super CM
the second India-Nordic alumni chosen for the award of Gujarat. “@CRPaatil of
Summit along with the for 2022. The names of the Maharashtra is the presi-
Prime Ministers of Denmark, award winners were an- dent of Gujarat BJP. Didn’t
of multiple visits by Euro- Iceland, Finland, Sweden nounced in December 2021. the BJP get a single Gujarati
pean leaders to Ukraine who and Norway. The summit is After receiving the award, Malini Parthasarathy, Chairperson, The Hindu Group, receiving for its president? People
have pressed for a common expected to focus on the Dr. Parthasarathy said in a the alumni award on Saturday. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
*
say he is not only the presi-
front against Russia. post-pandemic economic tweet: “Receiving a Distin- dent but also runs the Guj-
Mr. Kwatra, however, indi- path, climate change, digiti- guished Alumni Award from cy moderated by him. mation of The Hindu arat government. He is the
cated that India would stick sation and renewable the Columbia J-School Dean In her acceptance speech, Group’s editorial products, real Chief Minister. This is a
to the cautious stance re- energy. @SteveCollNY. Truly a high Dr. Parthasarathy said, “The particularly the 143-year-old gross insult to the people of
garding Russia. “We have On his way back, Mr. Modi point in my life journey, vali- Hindu has been my life sup- flagship national daily The Gujarat. BJP people, give
been calling for cessation of will meet French President dating as it does forty years port and is my primary con- Hindu. Gujarat a Gujarati presi-
violence,” he said. Emmanuel Macron who re- of my work in journalism, nect to journalism. I am fo- “Parthasarathy has been a dent,” Mr. Kejriwal later
India has refused to en- cently won the re-election making all the struggles so rever grateful. The Hindu political journalist for over tweeted.
dorse an outrightly pro-Uk- against far-right candidate worthwhile!” newspaper remains a bea- three decades, writing news Responding to the jibe at
raine line at the United Na- Marine Le Pen. “Deeply honoured and con of the highest editorial stories and editorials on ma- him, Mr. Paatil called the
tions and has maintained “President Macron and I humbled today to receive a values in these challenging jor themes in Indian politics, Delhi CM a “threat to na-
neutrality in the face of will share assessment on va- Distinguished Alumni Award times. I would like to dedi- including the rise of Hindu tional security”.
mounting pressure from rious regional and global is- from my alma mater the cate my award to The Hindu nationalism and the conse- “Giving responsibility in
Western countries. sues and will take stock of iconic @columbiajourn and its sustained commit- quent challenges to the ex- his party to people with
ongoing bilateral coopera- School,” she said in another ment to producing great isting political consensus,” it Khalistani mentality and
Indian diaspora tion. It is my firm belief that tweet. journalism.” said. believing that making a de-
Mr. Kwatra said outreach to two countries that share Dr. Parthasarathy re- While announcing the The awardees include mand for Khalistan is a
the Indian diaspora would such similar vision and va- ceived the award from Steve award in December, the in- Thomas Maier, investigative constitutional right, @Ar-
be an important part of Mr. lues for the global order, Coll, Dean of Columbia Jour- stitution credited Dr. Par- reporter at Newsday; and vindKejriwal is a threat to
Modi’s visit. must work in close coopera- nalism School. She also took thasarathy, who was in its Mukhtar Ibrahim, founder, the security of the coun-
“Continental Europe is tion each other,” Mr. Modi part in a panel discussion on class of 1982, with steering a editor and executive direc- try,” he tweeted in
home to over one million said in his statement. press freedom and democra- journey of digital transfor- tor of Sahan Journal. Gujarati.
‘Uddhav not a
true adherent
Time running out for plea in
of Hindutva’ SC against J&K delimitation
Special Correspondent
Pune Petitioners cite urgency saying exercise may get over soon
BJP leader Devendra Fad-
navis on Sunday launched Krishnadas Rajagopal too, wants the Supreme fore an appropriate Bench.
a scathing attack on Maha- New Delhi Court to also examine why But a letter from the peti-
rashtra Chief Minister and Time may be running out for Jammu and Kashmir has tioners’ lawyers to the Regis-
Shiv Sena president Udd- a petition filed in the Su- been “singled out” for de- trar, Supreme Court, on
hav Thackeray, accusing preme Court challenging the limitation when Article 170 April 27 showed the case had
him of forming a govern- Centre’s decision to appoint of the Constitution says that still not been listed. The let-
ment with the Congress a Delimitation Commission, such an exercise for the en- ter pointed out the urgency
which had spoken against headed by former top court tire country is due only in in the case. It said the delim-
Lord Ram. judge Justice Ranjana Pra- 2026. itation may get “over soon”,
Speaking at the BJP’s kash Desai, to redraw the by May 6, 2022.
‘booster dose’ rally in Lok Sabha and Assembly Early listing “It is most respectfully
Mumbai, Mr. Fadnavis said constituencies in Jammu The case was filed on March submitted that the matter be
that Mr. Thackeray was not and Kashmir following the 28 this year. On April 13, the listed before an appropriate
Missing the buzz: A view of the locked entrance to the Jamia a true adherent of revocation of the special sta- petitioners’ lawyers, senior Bench,” Mr. Sriram Parakkat
Masjid in Srinagar. NISSAR AHMAD* ‘Hindutva’. tus under Article 370 and advocate Ravi Shankar Jand- wrote in his letter.
“The [late Chief Minis- the bifurcation of the former hyala and advocate Sriram The petition argued that
Id to be celebrated tomorrow ter] Kalyan Singh had sa-
crificed his government for
State.
The petition filed by two
Parakkat, made an oral men-
tioning in court for an early
the Centre had usurped the
jurisdiction of the Election
Lord Ram when he refused Jammu and Kashmir resi- listing of the case. Commission by notifying the
Press Trust of India Fatehpuri Masjid Imam to fire on the kar sevaks dents, Haji Abdul Gani Khan The court had directed its delimitation of Jammu and
New Delhi Mufti Mukarram Ahmad said who demolished the Babri and Mohammad Ayub Mat- Registry to list the case be- Kashmir.
Id-ul-Fitr, which marks the that the Ruet-e-Hilal Com- Masjid in Ayodhya in 1992.
culmination of the fasting mittee of the mosque con- But you [Uddhav Thacke-
month of Ramzan, will be tacted many places in the ray] are sitting on the lap of
celebrated on Tuesday as country to establish that the those [the Congress and
the moon was not sighted on moon had not been sighted Rahul Gandhi] who have
Sunday evening. anywhere. spoken against Lord Ram
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD and questioned his exis-
tence,” Mr. Fadnavis said.
prayers. The Auqaf had ear- The Masjid has by and “I say with great pride
lier announced that Id large remained closed since we demolished the Babri,
prayers would be held at the Centre ended Jammu which was nothing but a
9.30 a.m. Sources said the and Kashmir’s special con- mere structure. And I was
Auqaf had decided not to ad- stitutional position in August there as well with the kar
vance the timing of prayers 2019. The authorities, ho- sevaks… Of the 32 people
as suggested by the wever, allowed Ramzan who were accused in the
administration. prayers this year. Head Babri demolition, there
The authorities have not priest of the mosque and were no leaders from Mah-
formally announced their Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz arashtra who are part of
decision on allowing Id Umar Farooq also remains Mr. Thackeray’s govern-
prayers at the Jamia Masjid. under house arrest. ment today,” he said.
A ND-NDE
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12 NEWS
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IN BRIEF
HDFC raises lending
rate by 5 basis points
NEW DELHI
Mortgage lender HDFC Ltd
on Sunday raised its
benchmark lending rate by 5
basis points, a move that will
increase the EMIs for existing
borrowers. The rate increase
is in line with other lenders,
including the State Bank of
India and Bank of Baroda.
"HDFC increases its Retail
Prime Lending Rate on
Housing loans, on which its
Adjustable Rate Home Loans
(ARHL) are benchmarked, by
5 basis points, with effect
from May 1, 2022," the
company said. PTI
‘LIC keen on retaining
some stake in IDBI Bank’
NEW DELHI
The Life Insurance
Corporation has said that it
will retain part of its stake in
IDBI Bank to reap the benefits
of the bancassurance
channel. Along with the
government, the LIC will also
divest its stake in IDBI Bank,
but may not exit completely,
LIC Chairman M.R. Kumar told
PTI in an interview. The LIC is
currently doing roadshows for
its maiden public issue, which
opens for subscription on
May 4. The Central
government for the past few
years has been planning to
sell its 45% minority stake in
IDBI Bank to strategic
investors as part of its
privatisation drive. PTI
BJP MLA arrested for
attacking govt. officer
BHUBANESWAR
A Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) MLA in Odisha was
arrested for allegedly
attacking a senior
government officer here on
Sunday. Based on the
complaint from Tileibani
Block Development Officer
(BDO) Krushnachandra
Dalapati, the BJP MLA from
Deogarh Assembly seat,
Subash Chandra Panigrahi,
was arrested from his official
residence in Bhubaneswar.
Two of his supporters were
also arrested by police. The
BDO in his complaint said that
he was beaten up by the MLA
during a field visit at
Chhepalipali village. PTI
Drunken man throws
3 children into well
BHUBANESWAR
A man threw three of his
children into a well in an
inebriated condition
following a squabble with his
wife in Odisha’s Sundargarh
district on Saturday evening,
the police said. The bodies
were recovered on Sunday.
Pandu Munda, 21, returned to
his village Kulla from a nearby
market in a heavily drunken
state on Saturday. He got into
a quarrel with his wife.
According to the Koida police,
Munda soon picked up an axe
and chased his wife to kill her.
She ran away from the spot
and hid behind a bush. Munda
returned home and found his
daughter Sina Munda, five,
son Raju Munda, two, and a
six-month-old daughter. PTI
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
(set by KrisKross)
■ ACROSS
1 Repair motor to propel boat the next day (8)
5 Prosperous from repairing old engines (6)
9 Seize short weapon at entrance (8)
10 A season to return to bar, finally (2,4)
12 Pray God briefly — He initially guides difficult subject in school (9)
13 Shelter from sun inside home (5)
14 Melts away stains, say (4)
CM
YK
Keep health facilities prepared Parties oppose relocation
for heatwave cases, says Centre terms set by Shillong Sikhs
Provide uninterrupted power supply, ensure availability of medicines, it tells States
Bindu Shajan Perappadan
New Delhi
Health facilities need to in-
crease resilience to extreme
heat by arranging uninter-
rupted electricity supply for
cooling appliances and in-
stalling solar panels, wherev-
er feasible, and taking steps
to reduce indoor heat
through special roofing, win-
dow shades, and such other
measures, the Health Minis-
try said on Sunday.
The Ministry has written
to the Chief Secretaries of
the States and the Union Ter-
ritories advising that the pre-
paredness of health facilities
must be reviewed for the
availability of adequate
quantities of essential medi-
cines, IV fluids, ice packs,
ORS and equipment.
Sufficient drinking water
The availability of sufficient
drinking water at all the
health facilities and the con-
tinued functioning of cooling
appliances in critical areas
Railway restructuring to lead to closure of major wings
SRESTHA closed and 32 directorates merged to form seven verticals; unions say move is demoralising employees
S. Vijay Kumar
Chennai
Going ahead with its down-
sizing plan, the Indian Rail-
ways has announced the clo-
sure of the Special Railway
Establishment for Strategic
Technology and Holistic Ad-
vancement (SRESTHA),
Lucknow.
Established in March
2016, the SRESTHA directo-
rate, part of the Research De-
signs and Standards Organi-
sation (RDSO), was tasked
with the role of taking up
long-term railway research
projects requiring technolog-
ical advancement.
As part of the restructur-
ing plan, the Railways also
decided to merge 32 directo-
rates of the RDSO and
brought them under seven
Pawan Hans sale: Cong. flays govt. CBI books Educomp, others
Party asks why Centre did not explore merging the helicopter firm with ONGC
Press Trust of India
New Delhi
The Congress on Sunday
raised questions over the
deal to sell the Centre’s 51%
stake in helicopter services
provider Pawan Hans Ltd.
(PHL), asking why the go-
vernment did not explore
merging the firm with ONGC
instead of deciding to hand it
over to a consortium that is
just six months old.
The Finance Ministry on
Friday said Star9 Mobility
Pvt Ltd will buy the govern-
ment’s 51% stake in helicop-
+ 13545
DELHI
MONDAY, MAY 2, 2022
THE HINDU
They want land, house-building expenses for moving out
Special Correspondent
ported, the Health Ministry Guwahati
said. Some political parties and
“States may also use Infor- NGOs in Meghalaya have op-
mation, Education and Com- posed the conditions set by
munication (IEC) as well as Mazhabi or Dalit Sikhs and
community-level awareness other non-tribal residents to
materials regarding the pre- move out of a prime com-
cautions to be taken by pop- mercial area in the State cap-
ulation to safeguard them- ital of Shillong.
selves against heatwave,” The Harijan Panchayat
Union Health Secretary Ra- Committee (HPC), repre-
jesh Bhushan said in his let- senting the residents of Shil-
ter. long’s Harijan Colony or Four years after a communal flare-up, the Harijan Panchayat
Punjabi Lane, had agreed to Committee had agreed to relocate in April. FILE PHOTO *
Standard template relocate in April, four years
The Health Ministry has dis- after a communal flare-up tures in the vacated area ters and the others made to
Women shielding their children from the sweltering heat in seminated a standard tem- associated with a drive to ev- untouched. leave the area.
Prayagraj on Saturday. PTI * plate of Public Health Advi- ict them. There are 342 fami- The United Democratic “If government em-
sory incorporating dos and lies in the 3.33-acre colony Party (UDP), the largest ally ployees start demanding
must be ensured, the Minis- normal maximum tempera- dont’s, prepared by the Na- with two-storey hovels flank- of the National People’s Par- permanent land and build-
try said. tures in many areas of the tional Centre for Disease ing a 300-metre lane. ty in the coalition govern- ings to be built by the go-
It added that the rainwa- country and much higher Control. It added that this The conditions included ment, said the HPC’s de- vernment, it will set an unac-
ter harvesting and recycling temperatures in the central, can be used as a template resettling the residents in mands were “absurd, ceptable precedent for all
plants may also be explored western and northern parts and customised to suit local one locality with 200 sq.m illogical and against the bas- government servants,” he
for attaining self-sufficiency of the country. needs as well as translated in of land for each family and ic tenets of equal opportuni- said.
in water supply. Temperatures have alrea- local languages for wider dis- ₹20 lakh to build a basic ty and justice”. Meghalaya Chief Minister
The Ministry said that the dy touched 46 degrees Celsi- semination. dwelling, letting some 60 UDP leader Paul Lyngdoh Conrad K. Sangma said,
seasonal and monthly out- us at some places and devia- He urged to disseminate community shopkeepers to said the government em- “The problem needs to be
look from the India Meteoro- tion up to six degrees Celsius the guideline document “Na- carry on with their business ployees among the Harijan resolved keeping in mind
logical Department for from expected normal tem- tional Action on Heat Relat- in the colony after relocation Colony residents should be the sentiments of people
March-May forecasts above peratures have also been re- ed Illnesses” to all districts. and leaving religious struc- shifted to designated quar- from both sides.”
CPI(Maoist)
leader
surrenders
posed to create new posts in tion in running hospitals and despite stiff resistance from Staff Reporter
the rank of Executive Direc- schools is in line with the re- the employees’ unions, said BHUBANESWAR
tor, Design, to be posted at commendations for rational- N. Kanniah, president, All In- A member of the outlawed
the Integral Coach Factory, isation of government bodies dia Railwaymen Federation. CPI(Maoist) surrendered
Chennai, Rail Coach Factory, made by Principal Economic “Similarly other establish- before the Odisha police
Kapurthala and Modern Adviser Sanjeev Sanyal. ments proposed for closure and laid down arms here
Coach Factory, Rae Bareli, In his proposal to the Rail- have crucial modernisation, on Sunday.
under the Railway Board’s way Minister, Mr. Sanyal technological and research- Lalsum, alias Laxman,
Rolling Stock Directorate. called for the winding up of oriented goals in the near fu- was the secretary of the Ka-
The creation of the top-rank- organisations such as the ture. Winding them up pre- lahandi area committee in
ing posts assumes signifi- Central Organisation for Rail- maturely not only defeats Banshadhara Ghumsur Na-
The Special Railway Establishment for Strategic Technology cance against the backdrop way Electrification (CORE), the very purpose of their gabali division of the Od-
and Holistic Advancement has been closed. PTI *
of the decision to roll out the Central Organisation for creation but demoralises the isha State committee.
more than 200 Vande Bharat Modernisation Of Work- officers/employees,” he He was carrying a re-
verticals — administration, Bridges & Structures Directo- rakes at an estimated shops (COFMOW), the warned. ward of ₹5 lakh and surren-
infrastructure, rolling stock, rate. ₹26,000 crore. Centre for Railway Informa- In a letter to Railway Mi- dered before Rajesh Pan-
traction and power supply, The establishment of Prin- tion Systems (CRIS) and the nister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Na- dit, Deputy Inspector-
signal and telecommunica- cipal Executive Director, De- Sanyal’s proposals Indian Railways Organisa- tional Federation of Indian General of Police (South-
tion, resource and testing fence Research, at the De- The restructuring plan of the tion for Alternative Fuel Railwaymen general secre- west Range) Koraput, Sara-
and traffic and psychology. fence Research and country’s largest employer (closed on September 7, tary M. Raghavaiah said vana Vivek M. Superinten-
Another notification is Development Organisation, and transporter which is re- 2021). there was widespread unrest dent of Police, Kalahandi,
that the Geotech Engineer- New Delhi, was detached sulting in the closure or The Railways was continu- and resentment against the and Biplab Sarkar, Com-
ing Directorate will be from the RDSO. merger of major establish- ing with the closure/merger proposal of the Principal mandant, CRPF,
merged with the Track and The Railways also pro- ments and private participa- of crucial establishments Economic Adviser . Bhawanipatna.
in ₹360-crore bank fraud
ter services provider Pawan are committing a series of Private Limited, Maharaja Special Correspondent guarantor Jagdish Prakash, sortium arrangement res-
Hans Ltd (PHL), along with blunders”. The reserve price Aviation Private Limited and New Delhi Edu Smart Services Private tructured the credit facilities
the transfer of management for the sale of this 51% major- Almas Global Opportunity The CB) has booked Edu- Ltd. (ESSPL); and others. and sanctioned more funds.
control, for ₹211.14 crore. ity stake was fixed at ₹199.92 Fund SPC, was set up just six comp Solutions Ltd. (ESL) Unknown bank officials are After exiting the restruc-
The reserve price for the crores and the other two bid- months ago on October 29, and others for allegedly also under the scanner. turing, the borrower moved
strategic sale, which comes ders that participated made 2021. cheating Jammu & Kashmir The accused persons had an application under the In-
after three unsuccessful at- bids of ₹181.05 crore and Star9 Mobility Private Ltd. Bank of ₹360.3 crore. The approached the bank to get solvency and Bankruptcy
tempts, was fixed at₹199.92 ₹153.15 crore, respectively, does not have any helicop- agency had earlier booked credit facilities for the execu- Code before the National
crore based on the valuation he said. ters of its own while Big the related entities in two tion of 1,233 contracts with Company Law Tribunal in
carried out by the transac- Charter Private Ltd. has just other bank fraud cases in- schools for the installation May 2017. During a forensic
tion adviser and asset valuer. New entity three helicopters on its fleet, volving over ₹2,761 crore. and implementation of inquiry, the auditors found
Congress spokesperson Mr. Vallabh said while this he said. Also, Almas Global In the latest case, among smartclass equipment alleged instances of irregu-
Gourav Vallabh said that in may seem like a normal dis- Opportunity Fund SPC is set those accused are the then through the ESSPL. The larities. Invoices were forged
the series of miscalculated investment, there are several up under the jurisdiction of company’s managing direc- bank started extending the and balance sheets manipu-
and injudicious disinvest- things that raised eyebrows the Cayman Islands and has tor Shantanu Prakash; direc- loans in December 2011. In lated, stock price was inflat-
ment decisions to justify as Star9 Mobility Private Ltd, no correlation or experience tors Vijay Kumar Choudhary 2014, the bank along with ed and funds were diverted
their financial policies, “they a consortium of Big Charter in this sector, he said. and Vinod Kumar Dondana; other lenders under a con- to unlisted subsidiaries.
Display keystrokes of genius.
SCAN TO PLAY SUDOKU FAITH
Type your answers in our online grids.
@ https://qrgo.page.link/jjpTn The ideal of selfless bhakti
16 Dinner in the skies? (7) Karma yoga and jnana yoga are said to lead to bhakti yoga.
19 Passion to collect gold all the time (7) Jnana yoga is the meditation on one’s atma swaroopa. That
21 Father scoring runs for daughter’s team (4) is, one tries to meditate on one’s atma as always being sup-
24 It could make me cry over marriage, missing you (5)
ported and commanded by the Lord. One should always be
aware that he is subservient and subordinate to Him.
25 Test team suffering defeat in another game (9)
In a discourse, Asuri Sri Madhavachariar drew attention
27 Retro song describing America’s southern state (6) to the gap between knowing this truth as a piece of informa-
28 Carol drinks beverage with a drop of milk, very hot (8) tion and experiencing it in one’s daily routine amid the
29 Offer from nurse (6) strong worldly pulls. Yoga abhyasa as taught by Krishna can
30 Shoes are loosened in beach (8) reveal the atma within which is not tangible to the human
senses. The Lord urges the jiva to control one’s senses and
■ DOWN
the mind by practice of karma yoga. Jnana yoga is possible
1 Woman bitten by flying gnats throbs with pain (6) via karma yoga which is easier to practise for a majority of
2 Fabulous judge of beauty? (6) us. When done in the proper spirit, it leads to the realisation
3 Ok in Spain to move around in luxury car (5) of the atma swaroopa that is the object of jnana yoga. The
4 Leading technologist involved in work for a powerful organisation (7) next step is to enter bhakti yoga which is shown to rest in the
6 Completely undisciplined, a rude German is defeated in debate (9) deep meditation on the Lord’s omniscience, omnipotence
and omnipresence.
7 Ice pack is 25% this (8)
Ramanuja explains bhakti in practice as a gradual deve-
8 Never worn by a tot perhaps for swimming (8) Solution to puzzle 13544 Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku lopment in three stages, para bhakti, para jnana and parama
11 Indian farmer to perish without money finally (4) bhakti. In the first stage of para bhakti, the individual is able
15 Hotel hides new oven — it is something patentable (9) to see the Lord in his mind. It is a kind of internalisation. In
17 After office, regularly love to dance? Sure sure (2,6) the next stage para jnana, one is able to dwell in the expe-
18 Arranged treats including popular children’s toy (5,3) rience of the Lord and savour it. Here, one may get glimpses
20 Couple starting off for competition (4) of God with some clarity. This encourages him to long for
His vision more frequently and one develops vairagya to-
21 Ghost with secret power to transform (7)
wards worldly objects. The next stage is parama bhakti,
22 On the contrary, central London is actually a better place (6)
which is the experience of intense love to the Lord as is ex-
23 Just having a 1000 dollars? That’s insufficient (6) emplified by the Gopis. It is the highest form of selfless bhak-
26 King has to become a poet (5) ti when even the early stage of fear of separation is tran-
scended by His grace.
A ND-NDE
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THE HINDU
MONDAY, MAY 2, 2022
DELHI

MONEYWISE 13
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ASK US
Manoeuvring you may look at the credit
rating of the instruments
in the portfolio i.e. AAA,

market risks
AA etc., which conveys the
credit quality.
There are government
bonds in some debt funds,
which are safer than even
AAA-rated instruments.

As long as fluctuations are within range, Other risks

There are certain other
K. NITYA KALYANI
you should stay put with your investments types of risk in the portfo-
Joydeep Sen the volatility in your port- as you lio construct, which you
Q. My wife and I work in the government folio? There is a concept have time on should keep in mind. One
sector, and our salaries are ₹35,000 and Everything in life comes called mark-to-market, your side and are is concentration risk. This
₹54,000 (net), respectively. We are both in with risk. The same goes which indicates the price not in a hurry to exit is about your portfolio be-
our forties and have jointly taken a home for your investments. It is you would realise if you from that investment, ing spread across a rela-
construction loan of ₹60 lakh for 25 years. important to note here, were to sell your portfolio there is nothing to worry. es; these are all part of the tively lesser number of in-
The question is about the choice of insurance that talking about risks in or sell that particular hold- Time heals not just emo- like equity can government machinery. the highest credit rating struments, which implies
cover my wife or I should opt for, to protect / your investments is not ing. To be noted, it is ‘if ’, tional wounds, but market give you high re- Among banks, you have denoting best quality, fol- that if something were to
waive our home loan, should any uncertain
about discouraging you, that is you are not actually corrections as well. The turns if they are on the to look at the ownership lowed by ‘AA’ and so on. go wrong in a particular
event occur.
but about the right per- selling your portfolio ev- question for you here is: right side but on the and performance profile. Apart from direct in- equity stock or bond, you
RAVINDRA KUMAR
spective. Even if you are ery day; it is just a measure ‘what is an adequate time wrong side, it would not Public sector banks are vestments in equity stocks are exposed to that extent.
A. Mortgage insurance is usually bundled not aware of them, risks which is reflected in your frame that would take care impact you much. safe by virtue of govern- or bonds, you may invest MF portfolios are alrea-
with home loans. The sum assured on these abound. But, when you statement of holdings. You of any transient market The next major risk as- ment ownership, though through mutual funds dy spread out across adeq-
loans match the loan amount and the policy are aware, you are better need not be unduly turbulence?’. The ballpark pect is credit risk or de- protection of funds is not a (MFs). Here, volatility risk uate number of securities,
period matches the tenure of the loan. The informed and can think guide here is 10 years, and fault risk, which is typical stated guarantee. Among is reflected in your state- hence you need not buy
policy is assigned to your housing loan In some markets
<
> such as equity or
company so the claim payment is made to
about mitigation. if you can make it even of fixed income. There is private banks, there are ments. Returns are com- into too many funds.
them, enabling them to adjust it against the The major and most longer, say 15 or 20 years, no default risk in equity, as the leading ones that are puted on the basis of the If you are doing the
outstanding portion of the loan, interest and prevalent is the volatility gold, the extent of you are not only safe, but your returns are driven by doing well and are safe. net asset values (NAVs) of portfolio construct your-
charges and pay the balance to your risk. When you are invest- fluctuation is relatively can expect to earn decent market price movements. In the cooperative your funds, which reflect self, you should buy in-
nominee. The function of the cover is to ing in the markets, be it higher returns. In fixed income, your mo- banks space, issues with the market price of that struments across catego-
make good the outstanding loan and interest equity or any other mar- ney is due from somebody regard to safety of deposits day and of the securities in ries and have an optimum
should the borrower pass away without ket, price levels are bound worked up in times of ne- Time horizon on maturity: bond maturi- have arisen; hence you the portfolio of the fund. number. Liquidity is
clearing the loan. to fluctuate. In some mar- gative volatility. The other question for you ty is due from the issuer, need to be careful. Bank Over a short holding pe- another aspect to note, in
This leaves the property loan-free for the
kets such as equity or gold, The perspective for you is: if the time horizon is deposits from the bank or deposits up to ₹5 lakh are riod, market movement case you need access to
surviving owners/ family members who are
contending with the loss of a loved one and the extent of fluctuation is here is the extent of volatil- not as long but say five corporate and the like. secured by the Deposit In- may or may not be in your funds prior to maturity or
the bread-earner at that. relatively higher, while in ity that the market has years, what should you Here, the mitigation fac- surance Credit Guarantee favour. Over a long period, intended holding period.
For some reason you have not opted for it others such as fixed in- seen historically. Unless do? Then, exposure to re- tor is the profile of the en- Corporation. market cycles play out and Investments such as RBI
or your housing loan company has not made come, it is relatively lower. there is a fundamental latively more volatile in- tity from which your mo- Beyond that, the profile things even out. You need bonds are not redeema-
it mandatory. A good first step is to ask them In some markets like real change in that market and vestments like equity or ney is due. There are of the bank should help not check your portfolio ble. In equity stocks or
for their options/offers, if any, so that the estate, the price discovery as long as the fluctuations gold should form a smaller certain government or you decide. Then, there statement every day. equity MFs, you can sell
insurance will work seamlessly with your does not happen every are within the range, you part of your portfolio and quasi-government enti- are deposits accepted by Check it periodically, any time, but if your hold-
home loan.
day, hence the level of should stay put. What then relatively more stable ones ties, which are highly safe certain corporates and say, once a month. As long ing period is short, your
That having been said, term insurance
policies backing home loans have certain fluctuation is lower. is the mitigation for this such as fixed income The Reserve Bank of In- bonds issued by various as you are clear about your returns are subject to mar-
rigidities as they have been defined for the Apart from the general risk? Time is a critical fac- should be higher. The ra- dia issues bonds and the types of issuers. The pa- investment time horizon, ket movements.
requirements of your lender. measures of market vola- tor in tempering the ef- tionale is, over a period of small savings schemes are rameter to watch out for is just hold on. On the fixed (The writer is a corpo-
For example, the cover will be tility, how do you measure fects of volatility. As long five years, volatile ones administered by post offic- the credit rating. ‘AAA’ is income oriented funds, rate trainer and author)
co-terminous with your loan, that is, it will
end at the same time as your loan is schedule
to be paid off, while you may well want to
continue with the policy as a protection for COVER NOTE: POLICY PICK TECH TRAIL: PRECIOUS METALS
your family beyond that date. Please scout
around for term insurance independently,
with matching sum assured and policy
periods.
If you spot something that you like, tweak
the sum assured and tenure to your liking,
Buy in haste, regret at leisure Gloss dims on price weakness
ensuring that the former is higher than your
housing loan amount and the latter is longer
You get just one chance to get your life cover right as it is a life-long commitment B. Krishnakumar

than the loan tenure. You are unlikely to find Precious metals lost their sheen in
better rates as the housing loan company K. Nitya Kalyani
find out your cost of migrat- April with both gold and silver clos-
would have negotiated a bulk rate, but no
harm doing this research. You may find A delightful part of my work ing out. ing on a weak note at the end of the
add-on covers you like. You can ask your while writing the Cover Note Health insurance is so- month. Concerns around the possi-
housing loan company to get these add-on column is responding to mewhere between the two. bility of aggressive interest rate in-
covers for you, but they may or may not be readers’ questions. They You need not discontinue creases by the U.S. Federal Reserve,
inclined! want to know which policies the policy, but can tweak along with the spike in the dollar
Q. I have an endowment insurance policy
to buy, how to weigh op- your coverage at the annual played a key role in keeping pre-
which needs the premium to be paid for 10 tions, claims, queries and renewal. You can usually ex- cious metal price subdued in April.
years and I also have a pure term insurance problems in getting them re- pand the cover also, some- Comex gold lost 2.2% in April to
policy for 25 years with sum assured of ₹1 solved. There is significant Blind faith: A knee-jerk reaction to pesky marketing leads to a times with riders, which are close at $1,911.7 an ounce. Comex sil-
crore. Is it advisable to have both insurance post-purchase dissonance. belief that the policy touted is the best. GETTYIMAGES/ISTOCK
* modular. You can increase ver saw a much deeper cut of 8.2%
covers? If not, and if I surrender the As often as not, this is be- sum insured and work out in April to settle at $23.09 an ounce.
endowment policy, what are the pros and cause they haven’t applied the profile of your protection Confusion, an untold fear, the waiting period for pre- Mirroring the global trend, MCX that was mentioned last month. The
cons? their minds and have made entirely. Just choose a diffe- or just a knee-jerk reaction existing conditions for the gold futures fell 0.79% to ₹51,754 per price touched a high of ₹53,663 on
JOEL KIRUBHAKARAN sub-optimal decisions. rent set of risks to cover, dif- to pesky harassment a.k.a. enhanced cover. Best of all, 10 gm. MCX silver futures lost 5.6% April 18 before receding. The short-
A. Since you have purchased both policies My heart goes out to re- ferent sums insured, more of selling and marketing leads you can port the policy from to settle at ₹64,349 per kg, at the end term outlook remains positive.
and have been paying the premium, only morseful buyers as they seek this cover, less of that, opt to a blind belief that the pol- one insurer to another. of April. A move past ₹53,350 would pro-
affordability or creating more efficient solutions to correct the er- for a flood cover, or not. You icy touted is the best; and All said, an insurance pur- Comex gold price is still confined pel the MCX gold price higher to the
coverage can be reasons to surrender the ror. I have been there myself. can also change insurers or two, accept the fallacy of in- chase decision is worth get- in the $1,880-$2,005 range. The major target zone of ₹54,500-
endowment policy. Some errors can be cor- intermediaries. You may surance combined with in- ting right the first time short-term outlook hinges on the di- 55,000. The positive outlook would
If you want to do that, you can check if
rected; some others can, but have to spend some quality vestment returns. around. Makeovers are mes- rection of the breakout from this be invalidated on a close below
your policy has become eligible to become
paid-up or for surrender. The website of your with lost time and opportun- time on phone or in person Life insurance is a case sy, can cost money and time range. Though there was a brief ₹49,500.
insurance company and your agent can also ity and/or monetary sacrif- to protect your no-claim bo- where less is more. Just focus and, in the worst cases, leave poke a few days ago, below the low- As observed last month, MCX sil-
help you with the information and ice. Some just can’t be cor- nus on vehicle policies. on the one key benefit of risk you high and dry at a time of er end of the range, the price staged ver remained weak and drifted be-
formalities. If you make the policy paid-up, rected. When it can be set Life insurance policy protection. For returns, in- need. a sharp recovery immediately. low the lower end of the trading
you don’t have to pay premium any more and right, it’s better to do you ho- choices seem to lead to the vest elsewhere, including in So, take the time and use The short-term outlook is positive range at ₹64,000. The breach of the
the policy coverage will continue with a mework so that you migrate most regrets. Hard-sell may investment type policies, those ‘little grey cells’ to in- and a move to $1,960-1,980 appears lower end of the trading range is a
smaller sum assured. with the least financial be the biggest reason for it. provided your risk protec- vestigate what the optimum likely. The positive view would be in- sign of weakness and the price could
If you want to recover some of the money damage. Remember, hard-sell works tion requirement is taken cover you need is, and
already invested right now, you can surrender
validated if the price closes below drift lower to the ₹59,500-60,000
the policy, depending on the terms and In all cases, if events have only on a soft target. Don’t care of. where and how you can pur- $1,850. A drop below $1,850 could zone. Only a close above ₹67,000
conditions. You will get back a portion of the overtaken you, that is, if a let that be you. You get only one chance chase it to your benefit. push the price lower to the 1,800- would invalidate the negative out-
premium you have paid and the coverage will loss has taken place, then You can hardly turn to get it right with a life insu- (The writer is a business 1,810 zone. look for MCX silver.
cease. Having done that, you can stay with you just have to claim as per around without being bom- rance policy because it is a journalist specialising in in- The short-term outlook for Co- To summarise, the short-term
your term insurance if you think it is the policy and live with that barded with life insurance life-long commitment and surance & corporate history) mex silver appears weak and the outlook for precious metals depends
sufficient, or apply the premium you avoid reality. Having said that, let marketing and advertising who knows what the next price could dip to the immediate tar- on the breakout past the trigger le-
paying on the endowment or the surrender us see what can be done in material. Yet, much hand- moment brings. get zone at $21.75-22.20. The price vels mentioned above. As observed
value you received, towards a new term various cases. wringing relates to having In life and annuity poli- has to move past $24.5 to invalidate last month, it would be prudent to
policy. You will have more coverage than
with the earlier combination because of the
The simplest errors to cor- bought an endowment poli- cies, there is no mid-course ICQC
the negative outlook. Breaching wait for prices to breach either of
premium rate differences between the two rect are vehicle policies, per- cy, for example, and realis- correction without a cost. 2022-24 $21.5 would be a major sign of weak- the levels, before concluding on the
types of policies. sonal accident policies, and ing after a few months or Abandoning the policy is ness and could push the Comex sil- direction of the next move.
home policies. years that a term policy the worst choice. If you need ver price to the $20.40-20.50 range. (The writer is a Chennai-based
Q. I am 28 years old and have an endowment These are annually renew- would have been more to migrate, start your re- The MCX gold price moved past analyst / trader. This is not meant to
plan of 20 years’ tenure that started in 2018.
able and you can transform suitable. search from scratch and also the positive trigger level of ₹52,400 be trading or investment advice)
The premium I pay now is ₹3,400 per month.
After going through many finance-related
articles including The Hindu’s MoneyWise
section, I now think that an endowment plan
is not the best investment option. What
would be a better plan for me if I surrender
my endowment? Also, will there be any
demerits in surrendering it before maturity?
AJIN KRISHNAN K

A. Surrendering comes at a price. You will get

a refund only of part of the premium you
have paid until now and coverage will come
to an end. You can check if the policy is
eligible to become paid-up. In this case you
can stop paying the premium and the
coverage will continue on a reduced basis.
You can then rebuild your life insurance
portfolio to the levels you want at better
prices.
Almost all the information you need to
compare the costs of surrendering or making
it paid-up will be available on the face of the
policy or on the website of your insurer. Your
agent or the branch of your insurance
company will support you with information
and procedures as well. They will also tell
you the demerits of such discontinuance and
strongly advise you against it. Get their side
of the advice, but also undertake some
research yourself and come to the decision
that is right for you.
(The writer is a business journalist
specialising in insurance & corporate history)

Readers can e-mail queries on personal finance and

investing to the moneywise@thehindu.co.in ID.
The experts on personal finance will answer select
queries. Moneywise will not give specific
recommendations for investment in a particular
mutual fund scheme, share or fixed deposit.

CM A ND-NDE
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14 WORLD
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Civilian evacuations begin in Mariupol
100 people rescued from besieged steel plant; U.S. Speaker Nancy Pelosi meets Ukrainian President
Agence France-Presse
Kyiv
Roughly 100 civilians have
been evacuated from the be-
sieged Mariupol steel plant
in eastern Ukraine and are
heading out of Russian-con-
trolled territory, Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelen-
sky said on Sunday.
The announcement came
after the UN said a “safe pas-
sage operation” was ongoing
at Azovstal, where Ukrainian
forces say they and hundreds
of civilians have been shel-
tering from Russian
bombardment.
“Evacuation of civilians
from Azovstal began,” Mr.
Zelensky said on Twitter.
Mr. Zelensky said the
group was expected to arrive
in the city of Zaporizhzhia,
which is under Ukrainian
control, on Monday.
Russia’s Defence Ministry
gave a lower figure of 80 civi-
lians. The UN has not said
how many civilians it is tran-
Indian-origin IT expert
to head tech dept. at CIA
Nand Mulchandani picked for the post
Press Trust of India
Washington
Nand Mulchandani, an In-
dian-American Silicon Val-
ley IT expert who studied at
a Delhi school, has been ap-
pointed the Central Intelli-
gence Agency’s (CIA) first-
ever Chief Technology
Officer.
The announcement was
made by Director William J
Burns on social media. Ac-
cording to the CIA, Mr. Mul-
chandani has over 25 years
of expertise working in Sili-
con Valley.
“I am honoured to join
the CIA and look forward to
working with the Agency’s
incredible team of technolo-
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
SPORT
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LIVE TELECAST
Khelo India Games: DD
Sports, 6.15 a.m.
IPL 2022: Star Sports 1 (SD &
HD) & Hotstar, 7.30 p.m.
La Liga: MTV, Voot Select &
Jio TV, 12.30 a.m. (Tuesday).
Serie A: Voot Select & Jio TV,
12.15 a.m. (Tuesday).
IN BRIEF
Bagnaia wins
Spanish MotoGP
JEREZ DE LA FRONTERA (SPAIN)
Italian Francesco Bagnaia
won the Spanish MotoGP at
Jerez on Sunday ahead of
France's reigning world
champion Fabio Quartararo,
who increased his lead at the
top. Spaniards Aleix
Espargaro and Marc Marquez
took the next two places as
Alex Rins failed to score. AFP
Australia not to send
athletes to Asian Games
SYDNEY
Australia said on Sunday that it
will not be sending athletes to
the Asian Games. The event is
scheduled in Hangzhou from
Sept. 10 to 25, less than
200km from Shanghai, which is
battling a large Covid-19
outbreak. AFP
Taylor edges Serrano as
boxing history is made
NEW YORK
Ireland’s Katie Taylor, left in
pic., retained her undisputed
lightweight World title with a
split decision win over Puerto
Rican Amanda Serrano on
Saturday in a history-making,
epic fight here. The first
women’s bout to headline a
fight card at the iconic New
York venue in its 140-year
history did not disappoint.
AFP
CM
YK
Transit point: Evacuees from near the Azovstal steel plant
looking out of a bus in Donetsk, Ukraine, on Sunday. REUTERS
sporting and it was not im-
mediately clear why the
sides had given different
figures.
The fate of Mariupol, a
strategic port city linking
Russian-held areas of south-
ern and eastern Ukraine, has
drawn worldwide
condemnation.
gists and domain experts,”
Mr. Mulchandani said.
Mr. Mulchandani most re-
cently served as the CTO
and Acting Director of DoD’s
Joint Artificial Intelligence
Center. He also co-founded
and was CEO of several suc-
cessful startups– Oblix (ac-
quired by Oracle), Determi-
na (acquired by VMWare),
OpenDNS (acquired by Cis-
co), and ScaleXtreme (ac-
quired by Citrix).
He has a degree in Com-
puter Science and Math
from Cornell, a Master of
Science degree in Manage-
ment from Stanford, and a
Master in Public Administra-
tion degree from Harvard.
Unseeded Wang stuns Yamaguchi
Takes the women’s singles honours at Asia Championships
BADMINTON
Agence France-Presse
Manila
Unseeded Wang Zhiyi with-
stood a late fightback from
World champion Akane Ya-
maguchi to record a stun-
ning victory in the women’s
singles final of the Badmin-
ton Asia Championships on
Sunday.
Pulsating action
The Chinese World No. 16
needed treatment on a back
injury before hanging on to
beat the Japanese top seed
and defending champion Ya-
maguchi 15-21, 21-13, 21-19 in
just under an hour and a half
of pulsating action that had a
raucous crowd rocking.
As in her semifinal win on
Saturday over second seed
An Se-young of South Korea,
the 22-year-old Chinese had
to recover from the loss of
the opening game.
After levelling the match,
Wang looked to be heading
towards a comfortable
victory.
Powerhouses of Indian football promise a fascinating finale
In focus: Jesin, who struck five times in the semifinal, will be watched with
interest. SAKEER HUSSAIN
* ate football fans one would
*
Pope Francis on Sunday
used his weekly Angelus
prayer to renew his appeal
for humanitarian corridors
from Mariupol, saying that
the city had been “bombed
and destroyed in a barbaric
manner”.
Thousands have been
killed and millions displaced
IS claims bus
bombing in
Afghan capital
Agence France-Presse
Kabul
The Islamic State on Sun-
day claimed responsibility
for a bomb attack on a pas-
senger bus that killed one
woman in Afghanistan’s
capital.
Dozens of people have
been killed and scores
wounded in deadly attacks
that have punctuated the
last two weeks of the fast-
ing month of Ramzan,
which ends on Sunday. A
woman was killed and
three others were wound-
ed in the bus attack, Kabul
police said.
The bombing was the se-
cond in the country’s capi-
tal in as many days.
Bouncing back: Wang rallied after losing the first game
against Yamaguchi to clinch the title. AFP
She raced to a 16-5 lead in
the decider before nerves
and her niggling back kicked
in yet again to give Yamagu-
chi a lifeline.
The Japanese player used
all her experience to claw
her way back as Wang began
to make unforced errors and
Yamaguchi levelled at 19-19
after a lung-bursting 30-shot
rally among them.
But Wang, who moments
earlier had needed attention
from the trainer at the side
by Russia’s invasion, which
began on February 24.
Western powers have
rushed to send military aid
to Ukraine and imposed hea-
vy sanctions on Russia.
Pelosi’s visit
“Do not be bullied by bul-
lies,” U.S. Speaker of the
House Nancy Pelosi told re-
porters at a press conference
in Rzeszow in southern Po-
land on Sunday after return-
ing from Ukraine..
“If they are making
threats, you cannot back
down. That’s my view of it.
We are here for the fight and
you cannot fold to a bully,”
she said.
Ms. Pelosi met with Ukrai-
nian President Volodymyr
Zelensky in Kyiv on Saturday,
becoming the most senior
U.S. figure to visit since the
war began.
“We are visiting you to say
thank you for your fight for
freedom... Our commitment
Taliban chief praises
‘security’ in Afghanistan
He makes rare appearence to mark Id
Agence France-Presse
Kandahar
Afghanistan’s supreme lead-
er appeared publicly for on-
ly the second time in six
years on Sunday, telling
worshippers celebrating Id-
ul-Fitr the Taliban had
achieved freedom and se-
curity since seizing power
last year.
Speaking just two days af-
ter a bomb ripped through a
mosque in Kabul, an at-
mosphere of heightened se-
curity surrounded the man
introduced as Hibatullah
Akhundzada, the chief of
the Taliban.
“Congratulations on this
security and for the Islamic
* The 26-year-old lost her
of the court, summoned up
reserves of energy and
forced Yamaguchi to go long
to set up a first champion-
ship point.
Marathon rally
Another marathon rally fol-
lowed, but when Yamaguchi
netted the rising star of Chi-
nese badminton collapsed
on to her back in exhaustion
and elation as she became
Asian champion for the first
time.
is to be there for you until
the fight is done,” she told
him.
Ms. Pelosi also promised
to enact the $33-billion (31-
billion-euro) arms and sup-
port package announced by
U.S. President Joe Biden last
week.
Meanwhile, Russia has
moved to solidify its grip on
areas it controls and from
Sunday introduced the Rus-
sian ruble in the region of
Kherson — initially to be used
alongside the Ukrainian
hryvnia.
“Beginning May 1, we will
move to the ruble zone,” Ki-
rill Stremousov, a civilian
and military administrator of
Kherson, was cited as saying
earlier by Russia’s state news
agency RIA Novosti.
He said there would be a
period of four months in
which the hryvnia could be
used, but then “we will com-
pletely switch to settlements
in rubles”.
system,” he told thousands
of worshippers at the Eid-
gah mosque in Kandahar,
the hardline Islamist group’s
de facto power centre.
While the number of
bombings across the coun-
try has dropped since Kabul
fell to the Taliban last Au-
gust, attacks soared over the
final two weeks of the fast-
ing month of Ramadan.
Dozens of civilians have
been killed in the primarily
sectarian attacks targeting
members of the Shiite and
Sufi Muslim communities.
Friday’s bombing of a
Sunni mosque in capital Ka-
bul killed at least 10
persons.
It was really unfair, says Sindhu
The Indian star’s dreams of winning gold derailed
Press Trust of India
Manila
Two-time Olympic medallist
P.V. Sindhu was left in tears
after an “unfair” call by the
umpires midway through
her semifinal match against
Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi
derailed her dream of win-
ning a gold at the Badminton
Asia Championships.
Leading 14-11 in the se-
cond game after having won
the first game, Sindhu was
handed a point penalty for
taking too much time to
serve between points.
momentum after that inci-
dent, losing 21-13, 19-21, 16-21
to eventually end with a
bronze, her second in the
continental individual
championship.
Reasons for loss
“The umpire told me you’re
taking a lot of time but the
opponent wasn’t ready at
that point. But the umpire
suddenly gave her the point
and it was really unfair. I
think that was one of the rea-
sons why I lost,” said Sindhu
Bengal takes on a rampant Kerala in summit clash today
SANTOSH TROPHY
P.K. Ajith Kumar
MANJERI
To say that Bengal has its task
cut out against Kerala in the
final of the Santosh Trophy
National football champion-
ship at the Malappuram Dis-
trict Sports Complex Stadi-
um on Monday night would
be an understatement.
Bengal faces a side that
stormed into the final after
slamming home seven goals
in the semifinal. And that
team will be playing in front
of some of the most passion-
Saudi Arabia offers Pakistan
$8 billion in financial support
Islamabad is plagued by inflation and sliding forex reserves
Press Trust of India
Islamabad
Saudi Arabia has agreed to
provide Pakistan with a
“sizeable package” of
around $8 billion to help the
cash-starved country bolster
dwindling forex reserves
and revive its ailing econo-
my, a media report said on
Sunday.
Pakistan has faced grow-
ing economic challenges,
with high inflation, sliding
forex reserves, a widening
current account deficit and a
depreciating currency.
Pakistan secured the deal
during the visit of Prime Mi-
nister Shehbaz Sharif to Sau-
di Arabia. The financial
package includes a doubling
of the oil financing facility,
additional money either
through deposits or Sukuks
(Islamic financial certifi-
cate), and rolling over of the
existing $4.2 billion facili-
ties, The News newspaper
reported.
Prime Minister Sharif and
his official entourage have
left Saudi Arabia but Minis-
ter for Finance Miftah Ismail
is still in the Gulf country to
finalise the modalities of the
financial package.
Pakistan had proposed
doubling the oil facility from
$1.2 billion to $2.4 billion
and Saudi Arabia agreed to
it. It was also agreed that the
existing deposits of $3 bil-
lion would be rolled over for
an extended period of up to
June 2023.
“Pakistan and Saudi Ara-
bia discussed an additional
package of over $2 billion
and it is likely that more mo-
ney will be provided to Isla-
mabad,” the report said.
Saudi Arabia provided $3
billion deposits to the State
Bank of Pakistan in Decem-
ber 2021 while the Saudi oil
facility was operationalised
from March 2022, providing
Disappointed: Sindhu was penalised for apparently taking a
long time at a crucial stage of the match. AFP
after the match on Saturday.
“I mean that is my feeling
because at that moment it
was 14-11 and could have be-
come 15-11 but instead, it be-
came 14-12 and she took con-
tinuous points. And I think it
was very unfair. Maybe I
would have won the match
and played in the final.”
“I told the chief referee,
he came and said it is alrea-
dy done. As a chief referee,
you need to at least make
sure what was the mistake.
come across anywhere in the
world — and there would be
around 25,000 of them.
When the teams met early
on in the competition, in the
group stage, the host had
won 2-0; so form, too, fa-
vours Kerala. But Bengal
could fall back on history,
though. It has won the tour-
nament 32 times and been
the runner-up on 13 occa-
sions. Kerala has lifted the
trophy six times. Its last tri-
umph came in 2018, when it
defeated Bengal in a shootout
at Kolkata.
Four years and a pandem-
ic later, the two powerhouses
DELHI
MONDAY, MAY 2, 2022
THE HINDU
New way out: Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, right,
welcoming Shehbaz Sharif in Jeddah on Saturday. AFP *
Khan booked for slogans
against Sharif in Saudi
Press Trust of India Mosque in Madina on
Lahore Thursday. The Pakistani
Pakistan’s Punjab police pilgrims also used abusive
have booked ousted Prime language against the
Minister Imran Khan and delegation members.
150 others, including some Madina police claim to have
members of his former arrested five Pakistanis
Cabinet, in connection with
the hounding of Prime
involved in the
sloganeering.
Minister Shehbaz Sharif and
his delegation at
Masjid-e-Nabwi in Saudi
According to the FIR,
over 100 supporters of Mr.
Khan were sent to Saudi
Arabia, officials said. Arabia from Pakistan and
Video clips circulating on the U.K. to carry out the
social media showed some mission.
pilgrims — apparently Mr. Khan, in a TV
supporters of Mr. Khan — interview, on Saturday
shouting ‘chor’ (thief ) and distanced himself from the
‘gaddar‘ (traitor) as soon as incident saying he could
Mr. Sharif and other “not imagine asking anyone
members of his delegation to carry out sloganeering at
arrived at the Prophet’s the sacred place.”
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
Pakistan with $100 million weeks and nosedived to
to procure oil. $10.5 billion.
Saudi Arabia has provided With the rising current ac-
an enhanced financial pack- count deficit and pressing
age to Pakistan when its eco- external loan repayment re-
nomy is in dire straits and quirements, Pakistan re-
the country is facing a ba- quires financial assistance of
lance of payment crisis. The $9 billion-$12 billion till June
country’s foreign exchange 2022 to avert further deple-
reserves have depleted by $6 tion of foreign currency re-
billion in the last six to seven serves.
Gukesh beats
Alinsasab,
among leaders
Sports Bureau
. Gukesh (two points)
D stayed among the 10
leaders after beating Ira-
nian Woman International
Master Mobina Alinsasab
in the second round of the
Chessable Sunway Interna-
tional chess tournament at
Punta Prima, Spain, on
Saturday.
Eyeing a third successive
title, the fourth-seeded In-
dian needed 40 moves to
post a second straight
victory.
*
Maybe, he should have seen Sasikiran held
the replay and done someth- Second seed K. Sasikiran
ing about it.” (1.5) drew with Julien Song
Sindhu’s father P.V. Rama- (France) following a three-
na said she was extremely fold repetition of the
disappointed with the moves. Soham Das (0.5)
decision. split the point with his Pe-
“She was confident of ter Cafolla (Ireland).
winning a gold this time and
so was very disappointed.
She was crying when she
spoke to me but I told her
Indian girls
that it is done and dusted
and she should forget about
claim silver
it,” Ramanna said.
Press Trust of India
NEW DELHI
India claimed silver in the
second Asian girls’ youth
beach handball champion-
ship in Bangkok, the Na-
tional federation an-
nounced on Sunday.
of Indian football promise India twice defeated
another fascinating final. The Hong Kong, while against
focus would certainly be on the host, the country won
Kerala striker T.K. Jesin, who once and lost another to
scored five goals after coming finish second in the tourna-
on as a substitute in the sem- ment held from April 25 to
ifinal against Karnataka. 30.
Jijo Joseph is another Indian was represented
player Bengal needs to be wa- by Anushka Chauhan, Jas-
ry of. The captain has not just si, Sanjana Kumari, Chetna
been scoring goals for Kerala, Devi, Vanshika Mehta, Isha
but creating them too. Bengal Majumdar.
is also capable of playing at- The silver-medal finish
tacking football as it showed also earned the team a spot
in its 3-0 win in the semifinal in the World Youth
against Manipur. Championship.
Its strikers Fardin Ali Moll The senior women’s
and Dilip Orawn could trou- team, on the other hand,
ble the Kerala defence. finished with a bronze.
A ND-NDE
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THE HINDU
MONDAY, MAY 2, 2022
DELHI
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Ruturaj and Conway sizzle as Super Kings outshine Sunrisers
Openers put on a record 182-run stand to blunt the Hyderabad attack; Washington’s injury doesn’t help Williamson’s side; Pooran’s blitz not enough
IPL 2022
Amol Karhadkar
PUNE
Ruturaj Gaikwad and Mukesh
Choudhary marked their re-
turn to home turf in style
while Devon Conway gave his
Indian Premier League fran-
chise a perfect return gift for
his wedding as Chennai Super
Kings scored a 13-run win
against Sunrisers Hyderabad
at the MCA Stadium on
Sunday.
Riding on a record 182-run
opening partnership — CSK’s
highest-ever in the IPL, eclips-
ing the unbroken 181 between
Shane Watson and Faf du Ples-
sis against Kings XI Punjab in
Dubai in October 2020 — Sup-
er Kings scored a mammoth
202 for two.
Mukesh then didn’t let his
poor fielding — he dropped a
sitter from Abhishek Sharma
off Maheesh Theekshana —
spoil his confidence with the
ball. The left-arm pacer regis-
tered his best T20 figures (four
for 46) to seal the deal.
Mukesh’s strikes off succes-
sive balls in the last two balls
of the PowerPlay — Abhishek
Sharma holed out to long-on
and Rahul Tripathi to short
third-man — gave Super Kings
the edge. The pacer had to
wait till the 18th over for his
hat-trick ball. Even though
Weight of captaincy
affected Jadeja: Dhoni
Says transition process began last year
AMOL KARHADKAR
PUNE
Minutes after marking his
return as CSK captain with a
win, M.S. Dhoni revealed
that he had sounded out Ra-
vindra Jadeja about taking
over the reins of the IPL
franchise.
Big burden
“Once you become captain,
it means a lot of demands
come in. But it affected his
mind as the tasks grew. I
think captaincy burdened
his preparation and perfor-
mances,” said Dhoni after
the victory against Sunrisers
Hyderabad on Sunday.
“Between me and Jadeja,
he knew last season itself
that he will be given a
chance to captain this year.
High-flying RR takes on a struggling KKR
SANTADEEP DEY
MUMBAI
High-flying Rajasthan Royals
(RR) will look to shrug off the
disappointment of a five-
wicket defeat against Mum-
bai Indians when it meets a
struggling Kolkata Knight
Riders (KKR) in a return leg
Indian Premier League (IPL)
match at the Wankhede Sta-
dium on Monday.
Losing streak
Knight Riders, who got off to
a bright start in the 2022 edi-
tion, are now on a five-match
losing streak. Captain
Shreyas Iyer’s statement after
his side's loss to Delhi Capi-
tals was telling.
“The combinations ha-
ven't worked for us. We are
trying to settle in on one,” he
said.
Knight Riders have made
CM
YK
Super Kings! Ruturaj and Conway put the Sunrisers attack to the sword, smashing 10 sixes and 14 fours between them.
Shashank Singh struck him ov-
er mid-off to thwart it, Mukesh
took two more wickets in the
same over.
The Super Kings spin trio of
Ravindra Jadeja, Theekshana
and Mitchell Santner pro-
He knew and got enough
time to prepare. I wanted
that transition to happen,”
said Dhoni.
Let him decide
“In the first two games,
there was information going
in towards Jaddu and after
that I left it to him to decide
which angle to bowl and all
that.
“At the end of the season,
you don’t want him to feel
as if the captaincy was done
by someone else and he was
just going for the toss. So it
was a gradual transition.
“Spoon-feeding doesn’t
really help a captain. On the
field, you have to take those
crucial decisions and you
have to take responsibility
for them,” said Dhoni.
13 changes to their playing
eleven — the most by any
team — at the halfway mark.
On Monday, Orange Cap
holder Jos Buttler and Purple
Cap owner Yuzvendra Cha-
hal will look to pick up from
where they left in the first leg
against KKR on April 18.
It was the first time in the
IPL’s 15-year history that a
batter scored a century and a
bowler took a hat-trick and
five wickets in the same fix-
ture. Although Shreyas and
Aaron Finch scored 85 and
58 respectively, RR went on
to pip KKR by seven runs.
KKR has lost the most
wickets in the first six overs
thus far — 18. With Trent
Boult and Prasidh Krishna
spearheading the Royals at-
tack in the PowerPlay, the
Knight Riders’ top-order will
have to look sharp.
duced an impressive perfor-
mance on a strip that offered
turn.
While skipper M.S. Dhoni
used them for 10 overs com-
bined, the lack of a quality
spinner haunted the Sunrisers
Rahul, Mohsin help Super Giants do the double over Delhi Capitals
The Lucknow outfit survives a late scare from Pant’s team to pull off a six-run win, climbs to the second spot
SANTADEEP DEY
MUMBAI
Captain K.L. Rahul’s seventh
fifty-plus score in his last 10
matches at the Wankhede
Stadium and Mohsin Khan’s
impressive four-wicket haul
helped Lucknow Super
Giants (LSG) do the double
over Delhi Capitals (DC) with
a six-run win in an Indian
Premier League match on
Sunday.
Rahul (77, 51b, 4x4, 5x6),
opting to bat on a new track
on a humid afternoon,
opened alongside Quinton
de Kock. The South Africa
wicketkeeper-batter got Sup-
er Giants off to a brisk start,
but fell to an off-cutter from
Shardul Thakur within the
PowerPlay.
In at No. 3, Deepak Hooda
(52, 34b, 6x4, 1x6) was quick
to get off the blocks, and
alongside Rahul made good
use of the smaller boundar-
ies. Capitals finished with
their worst bowling Power-
Play this season, conceding
57 runs.
Huge six
With Rahul’s humongous
maximum that bounced off
the tarps underneath the Sa-
chin Tendulkar stand, the fif-
ty-run partnership for the
second wicket came off just
33 balls.
The two also brought up
their individual fifties in
back-to-back overs shortly
after.
Soon Shardul got rid of
Hooda and Lalit Yadav, hav-
ing dropped Rahul on 15 and
Stoinis on seven, made
amends by holding on to a
blinder to see the back of the
LSG captain.
Although Marcus Stoinis
and Krunal Pandya strug-
Shimron Hetmyer’s finish-
ing acts have often saved RR
the blushes.
However, the Guyanese
batter, who is adept at scor-
ing valuable runs at the
death, will need the likes of
Riyan Parag and Daryl Mitch-
ell to provide him support
from the other end.
as the Chennai openers made
merry against the pacers.
Washington Sundar, the
lone specialist spinner in the
Sunrisers ranks, injured his
bowling hand in the fourth ov-
er while trying to stop a Rutu-
Telling blow: Mohsin pegged back Capitals by getting rid of Pant after Rahul powered Super Giants to 195.
gled, a six off the Aussie’s
blade in the final over took
LSG to a challenging 195 for
three.
Early setbacks
In reply, DC suffered early
setbacks, losing openers
Prithvi Shaw and David War-
ner cheaply.
However, Rishabh Pant
(44, 30b, 7x4, 1x6), joining
Mitchell Marsh (37, 20b, 3x4,
3x6) at the crease, seemed
unperturbed. The two
forged a fifty-run partner-
ship off just 16 deliveries.
Things, however, started
going downhill after Marsh
was dismissed. The Australia
all-rounder was given out
caught behind only for the
UltraEdge show no spike.
Arsenal stays ahead of Spurs, Everton gets a boost
Milan surges five points ahead, Juventus firms up top-four finish; Atletico suffers a big blow
EURO LEAGUES
Agencies
London
Everton kept alive its hopes
of Premier League survival
by shocking Chelsea 1-0 on
Sunday, as Arsenal main-
tained its two-point lead ov-
er Tottenham in the battle to
qualify for next season’s
Champions League.
Arsenal was a 2-1 winner
at West Ham to move back
above Spurs, which earlier
beat Leicester 3-1 thanks to a
Son Heung-min double.
Atletico Madrid’s hopes of
finishing second in LaLiga
and securing a spot in the
next Spanish Super Cup in
Saudi Arabia took a blow as it
lost 2-0 at Athletic Bilbao on
* SPORTZPICS/IPL
raj pull on the square-leg
boundary. His absence forced
skipper Kane Williamson to
use Aiden Markram and
Shashank for four overs and it
cost the side 46 runs.
The way Ruturaj waded in-
Ravi Bishnoi’s googly
turned square to deceive La-
lit an over later.
With Rovman Powell (35,
21b, 3x4, 2x6) beginning to
Saturday. It remains fourth
on 61 points, three behind
second-placed Sevilla and
two off third-placed
Barcelona.
Simeone’s worries
Coach Diego Simeone’s wor-
ries are not just about a Sup-
er Cup spot as Atletico is only
four points ahead of fifth-
placed Real Betis, which has
a game in hand and visits Ge-
tafe on Monday.
Only LaLiga’s top-four go
into the Champions League.
AC Milan’s Rafael Leao
took advantage of a late goal-
keeping howler as the Serie
A leader went five points
clear at the top with a 1-0 win
against Fiorentina on Sun-
day.
to pace-bowling sensation
Umran Malik was a treat to
watch. The 13 deliveries the
pacer bowled to the opener
fetched 33, including two six-
es and four fours. Though
there was a streaky boundary
switch gears in the 12th over,
Rahul brought on Mohsin
Khan to deliver the death
blow.
Mohsin’s military medi-
Happy: Holding, centre, is over the moon after scoring
Arsenal’s opener. AFP
*
Earlier, Leonardo Bonucci
celebrated his 35th birthday
by putting Juve on the brink
of Champions League foot-
ball with a double in Sun-
SPORT 15
SCOREBOARD
CHENNAI SUPER KINGS
Ruturaj Gaikwad c Bhuvneshwar
b Natarajan 99 (57b, 6x4, 6x6),
Devon Conway (not out) 85
(55b, 8x4, 4x6), M.S. Dhoni c
Umran b Natarajan 8 (7b, 1x4),
Ravindra Jadeja (not out) 1 (1b);
Extras (lb-6, w-3): 9; Total (for
two wkts. in 20 overs): 202.
FALL OF WICKETS
1-182 (Ruturaj, 17.5 overs), 2-
192 (Dhoni, 19.2).
SUNRISERS BOWLING
Bhuvneshwar 4-0-22-0, Jansen
4-0-38-0, Natarajan 4-0-42-2,
Markram 3-0-36-0, Umran 4-0-
48-0, Shashank 1-0-10-0.
SUNRISERS HYDERABAD
Abhishek Sharma c Pretorius b
Mukesh 39 (24b, 5x4, 1x6),
Kane Williamson lbw b Pretor-
ius 47 (37b, 2x4, 2x6), Rahul Tri-
pathi c Simarjeet b Mukesh 0
(1b), Aiden Markram c Jadeja b
Santner 17 (10b, 2x6), Nicholas
Pooran (not out) 64 (33b, 3x4,
6x6), Shashank Singh c Dhoni b
Mukesh 15 (14b, 1x4), Washing-
ton Sundar b Mukesh 2 (2b),
Marco Jansen (not out) 0 (0b);
Extras (lb-2, w-2, nb-1): 5; Total
(for six wkts. in 20 overs): 189.
FALL OF WICKETS
over the ’keeper, Ruturaj dom-
inated the pacer. The lofted
drive through long-on was the
highlight of the night.
While Ruturaj slowed down
after racing into the 70s by the
12th over, Conway, who was
*
SPORTZPICS/IPL
um-pace proved enough to
take down Pant, Powell and
Shardul in the final two ov-
ers of his spell.
Stoinis, summoned to
day’s 2-1 win over Venezia.
The results: Premier League:
Everton 1 (Richarlison 47) bt
Chelsea 0; Tottenham 3 (Kane
22, Son 60, 79) bt Leicester 1
1-58 (Abhishek, 5.5 overs), 2-58
(Tripathi, 5.6), 3-88 (Markram,
9.5), 4-126 (Williamson, 14.2),
5-151 (Shashank, 17.4), 6-153
(Washington, 17.6).
SUPER KINGS BOWLING
Mukesh 4-0-46-4, Simarjeet 2-
0-24-0, Santner 3-0-36-1,
Theekshana 4-0-26-0, Jadeja
3-0-15-0, Pretorius 4-0-40-1.
Toss: SRH.
MoM: Ruturaj.
CSK won by 13 runs.
relatively quiet until then,
took over. The Kiwi displayed
his ability to clear the boun-
dary as well as caress the ball
through the gaps. This was a
day when the openers and
CSK hardly put a foot wrong.
SCOREBOARD
LUCKNOW SUPER GIANTS
Quinton de Kock c Lalit b
Shardul 23 (13b, 3x4, 1x6), K.L.
Rahul c Lalit b Shardul 77 (51b,
4x4, 5x6), Deepak Hooda c & b
Shardul 52 (34b, 6x4, 1x6), Mar-
cus Stoinis (not out) 17 (16b,
1x4, 1x6), Krunal Pandya (not
out) 9 (6b); Extras (lb-4, w-13):
17; Total (for three wkts. in 20
overs): 195.
FALL OF WICKETS
1-42 (de Kock, 4.2 overs), 2-137
(Hooda, 14.3), 3-176 (Rahul,
18.4).
CAPITALS BOWLING
Mustafizur 4-0-37-0, Sakariya
4-0-44-0, Axar 4-0-25-0, Lalit
1-0-16-0, Shardul 4-0-40-3,
Kuldeep 3-0-29-0.
DELHI CAPITALS
Prithvi Shaw c Gowtham b
Chameera 5 (7b, 1x4), David
Warner c Badoni b Mohsin 3
(4b), Mitchell Marsh c de Kock b
Gowtham 37 (20b, 3x4, 3x6),
Rishabh Pant b Mohsin 44 (30b,
7x4, 1x6), Lalit Yadav b Bishnoi
3 (4b), Rovman Powell c Krunal
b Mohsin 35 (21b, 3x4, 2x6),
Axar Patel (not out) 42 (24b,
1x4, 3x6), Shardul Thakur c
Krunal b Mohsin 1 (2b), Kuldeep
Yadav (not out) 16 (8b, 1x4,
1x6); Extras (w-3): 3; Total (for
seven wkts. in 20 overs): 189.
FALL OF WICKETS
1-5 (Shaw, 1.2 overs), 2-13
(Warner, 2.6), 3-73 (Marsh, 7.1),
4-86 (Lalit, 8.5), 5-120 (Pant,
12.6), 6-146 (Powell, 16.1), 7-
148 (Shardul, 16.4).
SUPER GIANTS BOWLING
Mohsin 4-0-16-4, Chameera 4-
0-44-1, Krunal 1-0-19-0,
Holder 4-0-45-0, Bishnoi 4-0-
28-1, Gowtham 2-0-23-1,
Stoinis 1-0-14-0.
Toss: LSG; MoM: Mohsin.
LSG won by six runs.
bowl the final over, defend-
ed 21 runs, having survived
an initial scare when Kul-
deep Yadav tonked him over
square-leg off the first ball.
(Iheanacho 90+1); West Ham 1
(Bowen 45) lost to Arsenal 2
(Holding 38, Gabriel 54).
Serie A: Juventus 2 (Bonucci 7,
76) bt Venezia 1 (Aramu 71);
Empoli 1 (Zurkowski 56) lost to
Torino 3 (Belotti 78-pen, 87-
pen, 90+6); AC Milan 1 (Leao
82) bt Fiorentina 0; Udinese 1
(Pussetto 72) lost to Inter 2
(Perisic 12, Martinez 39).
La Liga: Elche 1 (Pere Milla 84)
drew with Osasuna 1 (Budimir
67-pen).
Saturday: La Liga: Valencia 1
(Duro 27) drew with Levante 1
(Duarte 81); Athletic Bilbao 2
(Hermoso 8-og, I. Williams 56-
pen) bt Atletico Madrid 0.
Serie A: Sampdoria 1 (Sabiri 25)
bt Genoa 0; Spezia 3 (Amian 9,
Agudelo 35, Hristov 54) lost to
Lazio 4 (Immobile 33-pen, Pro-
vedel 54-og, Milinkovic-Savic
68, Acerbi 90).
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16 SPORT DELHI THE HINDU

MONDAY, MAY 2, 2022
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Bengaluru City retains hockey title
Osmania blanks Rajasthan in women’s tennis final; Aparna wins women’s 100m hurdles
KHELO VARSITIES
Special Correspondent
Bengaluru
Bengaluru City University
defended its title by defeat-
ing Guru Nanak Dev Univer-
sity 3-0 in the men’s hockey
final of the Khelo India Un-
iversity Games on Sunday.
Harish Mutagar, who fin-
ished as the top goal-scorer
of the tournament, recorded
a brace for the champion.
In the women’s tennis
team event final, Osmania
University blanked Universi-
ty of Rajasthan 2-0.
In the women’s 100m hur-
dles, Aparna Roy (14.28s) of
University of Kerala took top
honours. In women's 3000m
steeplechase, Komal Jaga-
dale of Savitribai Phule Pune
University took the gold me-
dal with a timing of 10:13.49s.
The results: Athletics (Win-
ner): Women: 100m hurdles:
Aparna Roy (University of Kera-
la) 14.28s.
Archery: Recurve individual, fi-
nal: Men: Sachin Gupta (Ku-
rukshetra) bt Yashdeep Bhoge
(Sant Gadge Baba Amravati)
6-4.
Women: Charuta Kamalapur
(Savitribai Phule, Pune) bt
Bhavna (Guru Jambeshwar )
5(9) - 5(9) (Charuta’s arrow was
closer to centre).
Hockey: Men: Final: Bengaluru
City 3 (Harish Mutagare 28, 60,
Vasant Kumar Gokavi 51) bt Gu-
ru Nanak Dev 0.
Tennis: Women: Final: Osmania
bt University of Rajasthan 2-0
(Sama Satwika bt Sachi Sharma
6-2, 6-2; Rashmika Srivali bt
Renee Singh 6-0, 6-0).
Shooting: Women: 10m Indivi-
dual Air Pistol: Final: Yuvika
Tomar (Ch Charan Singh) bt
Radhika Tanwar (Ch Bansi Lal)
16-6.
50m Rifle 3 Positions Indivi-
dual: Final: Ashi Chouksey (Gu-
ru Nanak Dev) bt Shrishti Mis-
htra (Barkatullah) 17-15.
Coach Ankit Patel sums up the
agony of India falling short
‘Rare to lose from 9-5 in the super tie-break in doubles’
WJT
Kamesh Srinivasan
NEW DELHI
The Indian team had five
match points in the doubles
to win the quarterfinals
against Korea, the eventual
champion, and book one of
the four berths for the World
Group under-14 tennis
competition.
As destiny would have it,
the Koreans survived the
match points to eventually
emerge as the No.1 team.
Coach Ankit Patel, the
captain of the under-14 boys’
team in the Asia-Oceania
World Junior Tennis compe-
tition in the capital, was in-
deed disheartened about the
host finishing fifth, but ex-
pressed confidence that the
boys can gain from the expe-
Golden run: Komal Jagadale, who won the women’s 3000m steeplechase. * K. MURALI KUMAR rience and get better.
“The loss against Korea
was most disheartening and
the super tie-break in dou-
bles. Both Arnav (Paparkar)
and Tanussh (Ghildyal) had
served aces and unreturned
serves in winning six of the
first 14 points. We made the
mistake of changing the win-
ning strategy at that stage,”
recalled the captain.
“Our plan was to come in
for volley, rebound the pace
that they were hitting and
give them less time to make
big back swing. After 9-5, we
changed the game plan and
tried to hit hard from base
line,” Ankit said, about the
Indian pair veering off its
winning path.
The coach felt that the In-
dian team was easily among
the three best out of 16 as-
sembled countries, along
with Japan and Korea.
“Arnav played five singles
and won all five. Our boys
really deserved to be in the
final. Both Arnav and Ta-
fore their matches, during
the tournament.
“Arnav did not play sin-
gles against Japan because of
an upset stomach, and Ta-
nussh was having cramps af-
ter beating the Japanese,
thus not being able to play
the doubles.
“Because we lost to Japan
in the league, we had to play
Korea or Kazakhstan in the
quarterfinals. As destiny
would have, we met Korea,”
said Ankit.
Learning from mistakes
The coach felt that with im-
proved fitness, proper nutri-
tion and sleep, the Indian
players could match the best
in the game.
“Overall, it was good, but
could have been better. If we
want to succeed, we should
not be worried about fai-
lures. Of course, we should
learn from our mistakes,

Dalilah, Parchment and Crouser finish on top very hard to digest. It is rare
for a team to lose from 9-5 in
nussh were only 70% fit and
were having medicines be-
and pursue the right path,”
he said.

The Olympic champions shine in the tune-up for the Worlds in July
dles in a 2022 world best of Parchment, the reigning in the world this year and
ATHLETICS 53.88s, defeating Panama’s Olympic 110m hurdles cham- 1.02 ahead of American run-
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Gianna Woodruff by a pion from Jamaica, won the ner-up David Kendziera.
WASHINGTON second. event in 13.47 with American American Tia Jones led a
Olympic champions Dalilah “It felt good,” Dalilah said. Jamal Britt second in 13.53 US sweep in the women’s
Muhammad, Hansle Parch- “I just wanted to go out there and Barbados’ Shane Braith- 100m hurdles in 12.84 after
ment and Ryan Crouser won and have a clean race and waite third in 13.69. Tokyo Olympic champion
titles at the Drake Relays in bring it home.” “Technically not so great Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of
Des Moines, Iowa, on Satur- US compatriot Crouser, but I came through injury- Puerto Rico struck the first
day in a tune-up meet for Ju- the two-time reigning Olym- free... that’s the most impor- hurdle and did not finish.
ly’s World Championships. pic champion and world re- tant thing,” Parchment said. New Zealand’s Sam Tan-
Reigning World 400m cord-holder in the men’s In the men’s 400m hur- ner won the men’s 1,500m in
hurdles champion Muham- shot put, topped the charts dles, Brazilian Alison Dos 3:41.28 with American Casey
mad, the 2016 Olympic with an effort of 21.63m with Santos, third last year at the Comber second in 3:45.20.
champion and last year’s Italy's Nick Ponzio second at Tokyo Olympics, won in Mexico’s Laura Galvan Tough luck: Ankit Patel felt that the Indian team was among the three best, along with Japan
Dalilah. *
FILE PHOTO runner-up, won the 400 hur- 21.04m. 48.41, the second-best time won the women’s 1,500m . and Korea. KAMESH SRINIVASAN
*

Fit-again Nadal back in the swing

The Spaniard could face Djokovic in the semifinal
TENNIS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MADRID
Back home, Rafael Nadal
looks to resume his season
where he left off before be-
ing sidelined by an injury
that halted a great start to
his year.
Nadal will seek his fourth
title of the season this week
at the Madrid Open as he re-
turns to action following a
rib stress fracture that kept
him out for about a month.
The Spaniard had won his
first 20 matches of the year
before getting injured in the
semifinals at Indian Wells.
He made it to the final but
lost to Taylor Fritz for his
first defeat. Until then, it had
been the third-best start to a
season on the ATP Tour
since 1990.
Nadal won the Australian
Open for a record 21st Grand
Slam title and also clinched
titles in Melbourne and Aca-
pulco. He missed tourna-
ments in Miami, Monte Car-
lo and Barcelona because of
the injury.
The 35-year-old will be
Nadal. *
FILE PHOTO
trying to win the Madrid title
for the sixth time, and his
first since 2017, though he
said last week he would have
“few chances” of winning af-
ter arriving “with minimum
preparation.”
Nadal could face a semifi-
nal against top-ranked No-
vak Djokovic, who has been
trying to regain his form af-
ter a slow start to the season.
A three-time winner in
Madrid, Djokovic was com-
ing off a runner-up finish in
Serbia, where he won three
three-set matches before los-
ing the final to Andrey
Rublev.
Another home favourite
in Madrid will be the young
sensation Carlos Alcaraz,
who made it to No. 9 in the
world after titles in Rio de Ja-
neiro, Miami and Barcelona.
The 18-year-old, touted by
many as Nadal’s heir, could
face his idol in the quarterfi-
nals. He lost to Nadal in the
second round last year.
Former World No. 1 Andy
Murray, a two-time winner
in Madrid, will be back at the
clay-court tournament for
the first time since 2017. He
will face a marquee first-
round match against former
World No. 3 Dominic Thiem,
a two-time finalist in the
Spanish capital.
Thiem has been recover-
ing from a wrist injury that
sidelined him for eight
months. The 34-year-old
Murray had earlier said he
would skip the clay season
but ended up accepting the
wildcard.

Ancelotti in a class of his own

Only coach to have clinched all five major European titles
FOOTBALL
Agence France-Presse
Madrid
Real Madrid coach Carlo
Ancelotti might have
thought his days of winning
Europe’s biggest leagues
were a thing of the past but
on Saturday he added La Li-
ga to his glittering list of
honours.
Madrid’s triumph en-
sured Ancelotti becomes Inspirational: Ancelotti has managed to make Benzema and
the only coach to have Vinicius into a potent strike force. REUTERS *

clinched all five major Euro-

pean league titles.
He also won the Premier
League with Chelsea, Serie
A with AC Milan, Ligue 1
with Paris Saint-Germain
and the Bundesliga with
Bayern Munich.
And while Ancelotti’s
Chelsea pipped Alex Fergu-
son’s Manchester United to
the league by a single point
in 2010 the others have all
been won at a canter, with
Real’s latest success another
emphatic and long-expect-
CM
YK
ed title win for Ancelotti to
add to his CV.
At the top of Ancelotti’s
successes this season has
been the transformation of
Vinicius Junior from an ex-
citing but erratic young for-
ward to one of the world’s
most clinical strikers.
Benzema, meanwhile,
has hit a new, stratospheric
level under Ancelotti, conti-
nuing his upward trajectory
since the departure of Cris-
tiano Ronaldo in 2018.
Luka Modric has been
outstanding again, the 36-
year-old Croatian the most
resounding riposte to early
concerns about Ancelotti’s
lack of rotation
And the Italian shored up
the defence with little fuss.
The departures of Sergio
Ramos and Raphael Varane
broke up a long-established
partnership but the perfor-
mances of Eder Militao and
David Alaba have ensured
neither have been missed.
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