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cting within 24 hours of the

A
Uttarakhand High Court
reviving the Harish Rawat
Government, the Supreme
Court on Friday stayed the
order, but also restrained the
Centre from revoking
Presidents Rule, till the case is
heard on merit. The apex Bench
of Justices Dipak Misra and
Shiva Kirti Singh granted stay
on Thursdays High Court
order as an interim arrangement till Wednesday in order to
facilitate the Centre to have a
copy of the judgment, expected to be ready by Tuesday.
Putting its best legal foot
forward, the Centre employed
the services of AttorneyGeneral Mukul Rohatgi and
senior advocate Harish Salve to
persuade the Bench to grant a
stay, as the non-availability of
judgment gave an unfair
advantage to the Congress since
the HC had restored the ousted Chief Minister Harish Rawat
to power while directing a floor
test to decide majority in the
State Assembly on April 29.
Commenting on the manner in which Rawat had begun
taking policy decisions by calling a Cabinet meeting late on
Thursday evening, Rohatgi
said, This is not a case where
you have to take possession.
These are constitutional posts
which are not to be grabbed in

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this manner. Higher level of

probity is expected from constitutional authorities like the
Chief Minister.
Without deciding on merits, the Bench felt that propriety demanded suspension of
the HCs order till the copy of
the order is made available to
both parties.
The Congress too fielded its
best legal giants, senior advo-

cates Abhishek Manu Singhvi

and Kapil Sibal, who appeared
for Rawat and Speaker of the
Assembly, respectively.
Referring to charges of
horse-trading against Rawat,
Singhvi contended that even if
the allegation is proved, the SC
in its judgment striking down
President Rule in Bihar held
that the ultimate panacea is a
floor test. He submitted that the

Rawat Government will not

take any decision till April 29
to maintain a level playing
field, but it was not acceptable
to the Centre.
Sibal told the court that the
main grievance of the Centre
was on passing of the
Appropriation Bill in Assembly
without a division. This falls
within the Speakers discretion
to conduct the House. Does the

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t a time when Food

A
Supplies and Consumer
Welfare Minister Sanjay
Dasburma is yet to come clean
on his alleged link with tainted Artha Tatwa (AT) Group
chit fund firm, senior Congress
leader Lalatendu Bidyadhar
(Lulu) Mohapatra on Friday
fired a fresh salvo against the
Minister, though not taking his
name, alleging that he has
taken money from another
ponzi firm, Matrubhumi chit
fund company.
C30 lakh has been transferred from the account number 31799607367 of the
Matrubhumi chit fund company to the account of the
Nilachal Builders. I want to
know who owns the Nilachal
Builders, said Mohapatra,
adding that the concerned
person was the guest for the
inauguration of the chit fund
company.
Mohapatra alleged that a
hotel in Puri, Holiday Resorts,
was raided by the Election
Commission before the 2014
general elections.

During the raid a newspaper owner staying in the

room was coming with money.
Now, he is in jail. On what
charges he was arrested and
from whose account the hotel
bill was paid, asked
Mohapatra.
Stating that two acres of
Idco land was given to the Rix
Technology Company just in
front of the concerned persons newspaper office,
Mohapatra wanted to know the
terms and conditions of land
allotment and its leaseholders
name.
Producing documentary
evidence before media, the
Brahmagiri political heavyweight said that in the 201112 academic year, a residential
college was opened at Sonepur
by producing forged documents while there was a
guideline to deposit C25 lakh
for affiliation.

The college ran for three

years with 300 students. But it
was shut down suddenly. I
want to know that with whom
the college was affiliated,
Mohapatra said.
In another allegation,
Mohapatra charged that a patch
of land was bought from a
Harijan family on March 30,
2012 on the Sonepur town
outskirts at the cost of C50,000
while the market value was
more than C1 crore.
Who has bought the
land, questioned Mohapatra.
He also wanted to know that
who was involved with the now
defunct Rest Treatment Plant in
Sonepur for which C30 lakh is
being coming yearly.
When asked that against
whom he had made such allegations, Mohapatra said the
concerned man would understand and served a two-day
ultimatum to answer.

Cabinet in Delhi decide whether

the Appropriation Bill has been
rightly passed, he asked.
The Bench noted the concern of both sides and said,
The issue before us is the exercise of judicial review pertaining to justifiability of
Presidential Proclamation. Till
it is debated, an interim
arrangement has to be made.
Lawyers may be aware of a
judgment pronounced in court
but for a party to act and take
remedial measures, a written
order is necessary.
Restoring the President
Rule, the Bench told the A-G,
If we are staying the HC judgment, you (Centre) shall also
not revoke Presidential
Proclamation.
Proclamation of Presidents
Rule and quashing of the same
are serious and grave matters
for any State, said the Bench,
adding, You do not revoke
such an order without calling
for files. It creates a dent on
democracy both ways.
The court, however,
refused to entertain a transfer
petition filed by nine disqualified rebel Congress MLAs to
shift their matters pending
before a single judge of
Uttarakhand HC to the SC.
They complained there was
nothing left to decide by the
single judge after the HC on
Thursday observed on their
action to side with BJP as a
constitutional sin.

6ZDVWLN,QGLD
GLUHFWRUKHOG

Bhubaneswar: The CBI on

Friday arrested Swastik India
chit fund company director
Manoranjan Nanda after his
anticipatory bail plea was
rejected by a court.
Earlier, the CBI had arrested company chief Ranjan Das
and directors Pramod Parida
and Sabyasachi Pani on January
6 in connection with a money
laundering case.
The Swastik group had
been started by Das with help
of a former director of the
Artha Tatwa (AT) Group. They
had mobilised depositors
money from the AT to form the
Swastik India. Das, who was
also an accused in the AT chit
fund scam, had previously
been arrested by the CBI in
September 2014.
PNS

0DULN-00LV
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Bhubaneswar: Former Odisha
Director General of Police
(DGP) Sanjeev Marik was on
Friday declared as the Jharkhand
Mukti Morcha (JMM) candidate
for Jharkhands Godda Assembly
by-poll.
JMM president Hemant
Soren announced Mariks
name, sources said. Marik,
who joined the JMM recently,
is a native of Godda.
Notably, the Godda bypoll has been necessitated after
the death of BJP MLA
Raghunandan Mandal in
January.
PNS

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?=BQ 909?DA

olice rescued 17 children

from an illegal Madrasa at
P
Jajpur Road on Friday.
We rescued 17 children
from the Madrasa running
without valid documents. The
district unit of the Child
Welfare Committee (CWC) is
now looking after the rescued
children. As per a written order
of the district Collector, we
sealed the illegal Madrasa after
rescuing the children, said
Jajpur Road police station IIC
Sishir Kumar Mishra.
Collector SK Mallick said,
The district administration has
ordered immediate closure of
the illegal Madrasa after the children were rescued. An inquiry
into the activities of the institu-

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s Odisha turning a heat

island in India? This looks so
Igiven
the fact that when the
countrys hottest parts are
smouldering, Odisha was
burning red hot.
In almost during the last
fortnight in April, places in
Odisha record themselves as
the hottest in the country in
majority of days. Titlagarh was
hottest (around 47deg C) in
country on Wednesday and
Thursday last.
What appears significant
this April is when countrys
hottest zones - North-Western
States, Telengana - relatively
remained less hot, it is States
like Odisha, Chhattisgarh,
Jharkhand and some parts of
West Bengal that were unusually hotter. And, since last
week Odisha was the hottest in
the country as places like
Sundergarh to Titlagarh
topped the mercury chart in
the country.
Though Chhattisgarh and
Jharkhand are also in the grip
of severe heat wave, it is Odisha
that is making to the top of
mercury charts that indicates to
the meteorological parlance of
heat island effect here.
What is heat island effect?
It is the place where the air
remains warmer by around 25 degree Celsius than the surrounding areas. The place is
characterised by little wind,
higher temperature and longer
heat wave spells. And, places in
Odisha this April satisfied
almost all the conditions
whereby they remained quite
hotter, when severe heat wave
warnings by Met Department
were issued for States like
Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand,
parts of West Bengal and
Odisha. Weather experts here
at City Met office are of the
view that this could be due to
more heat trapping in
Odisha comparably. The ominous fall out of heat island
effect: It has the potential to
influence change in wind pat-

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are run without the recognition

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aid from the State.

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with the maximum temperature in the major towns soaring above 45 degrees Celsius
on Friday.
Titilagarh, which is known
as the States hottest place,
topped the chart recording
47.5 degrees, the seasons highest temperature.
Bhubaneswar experienced
40.5 degree Celsius.
Western Odisha towns
that recorded temperature
above 45 degree were Sonepur
(46.3), Sundargarh (46),
Balangir (46), Hirakud (45.5),

Sambalpur (45.2).
Coastal Odisha districts
were slightly relieved with
temperature hovering around
40 degree.
The other places that
recorded temperature above
40 degree were Jharsuguda
(44.8), Bhawanipatna (44.5),
Baripada (43), Keonjhar
(42.7), Phulbani (42.4),
Chandbali (41.8) and Baleswar
(40.4).
Normal life in western
Odisha was completely thrown
out of gear due to the severe
heat wave. The Met department warned that similar condition would be experienced
during next couple of days.
IMD
Bhubaneswar
Director Sarat Chandra Sahu
said the heat wave would prevail in several parts of the State
till April 25 to 26.

terns, clouds and rainfall.

And, environmentalists
describe this as in situ heat
wave (locally centric), and
not due to global warming.
WIO convenor Ranjan Panda
blames the apathy of State
Government in addressing
the constant rising of mercury
in this part (mainly western)
of Odisha as it failed to initiate measures to control the
heat budget of the region.
The probable result:
Troughs of low line eludes to
pass over the State. As troughs
are region of low atmospheric pressure, they induce cooler breeze and resultant rain,
observed experts at Met office
here. A trough line is now
observed extending from
eastern Uttar Pradesh to
Nagaland passing across
Bihar, northern parts of
Gangetic West Bengal, Assam
and Meghalaya. This raises

the spectre of cooler climate

there, observed Director
IMD Odisha Sarat Sahu.
According to Met experts,
Odisha this April experience
more surface highs (means
higher atmospheric pressure
on land surface) - which is a
sinking motion that leads to
clearer skies and lighter
winds. The outcome: It
obscures chances of rainfall
and April saw no rainfall in
Odisha. As IMD predicted
abatement in heat wave from
April 27, conditions for extension or formation of trough
lines over central India
including Odisha in May
looks possible, they observed.
And, environmentalists
warn that surface high condition would be a double
whammy for Odisha as it
could induce higher pollution
since it traps pollutants near
the surface.

?=BQ 17D10=4BF0A

he western region of the

T
State continued to reel
under an intense heat wave

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tion has also been ordered.

Illegal Madrasas are those which

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harging that all leaders in

the ruling BJD are kneedeep in corruption, Pradesh
Congress Committee (PCC)
president
Prasad
Harichandanon Friday lashed
out at Chief Minister Naveen
Patnaik for his mysterious
silence in the issues of graft.
No leaders in the BJD,
even its president and Chief

Minister Naveen Patnaik,

have morality. It is evident
from the CBIs interrogation
of Saroj, a close aide of
Patnaik working at his residence in connection with the
chit fund scam and also from
the frequent revelations of his
other par ty men b eing
involved in several illegal
affairs, said the PCC chief.
Reiterating his allegations
that Prime Minister Narendra
Modi has influenced the CBI
probe into the chit fund scam,
Harichandan said a deal has
been stuck between Modi
and Patnaik, for which the
CBI has slowed down its
investigation process ever
since Saroj was interrogated.
BJD leaders dont have
any ethics and morality. Why
the Chief Minister is silent on
the matter involving
(Minister) Dasburma and also
when links of his party lead-

ers in several corrupt practices and chit fund companies

have come to fore, argued
Harichandan.
Senior BJP leader Pratap
Sarangi also questioned the
CBI probe process, saying
common people now have a
perception that the pace of
CBI probe has slowed down.
People have a negative
view in the CBI probe in the
multi-crore chit fund scam,
said Sarangi.
Interestingly, the statement of Sarangi on the CBI
probe has left the saffron
party embarrassed in view of
party State president Basanta
Pandas recent claim that the
Central investigation agency
is doing its job properly.
Sarangi also targeted the
CM and the BJD, saying that
neither the party nor its
supremo has morality or follows ethics.

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he mortality rate in Odisha

is higher than the national
average. While seven out of
1,000 people die annually at
national level, the rate stands at
8.4 in Odisha.
The Economic Survey
report of the Union
Government has revealed this.
The States mortality rate is
much higher compared to

Kerala (6.9), Jammu & Kashmir

(5.3), Rajasthan (6.5), Gujarat
(6.5) and West Bengal (6.4).
It showed that while the
average life expectancy of a
man is 74.8 years in Kerala, it
is 64.8 years in Odisha. The
States which have average life
expectancy more than 70 years
include Himachal Pradesh,
Jammu
and
Kashmir,
Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil
Nadu and West Bengal.
The average life span in
Assam, Madhya Pradesh and
Uttar Pradesh is below Odisha.
According to the report,
the average life expectancy of
women is higher than men in
the country. The national aver-

age life expectancy of a man

stands at 65.8 years compared
to a woman at 69.3 years. In
Odisha, it is 65.9 years
(women) and 63.8 years (men).
Keral records highest average woman life expectancy
77.8 years. The States which are
above 70 years include J&K,
Himachal
Pradesh,
Maharashtra, West Bengal,

Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan,

Karnataka, Haryana, Gujarat
and Andhra Pradesh.
In case of Infant Mortality
Rate (IMR), Madhya Pradesh
and Assam top the list followed
by Odisha and Uttar Pradesh.
While 54 newborn babies die
against 1,000 infants in Assam
and Madhya Pradesh, the number is 51 in Odisha. The IMR
is 12 in Kerala, 21 in Tamil
Nadu, 24 in Maharashtra and
26 in Punjab.
The national IMR stands at
40.
Similarly, the Maternal
Mortality Rate (MMR) is also
higher in Odisha as compared
to other States.

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he Sub-Divisional Judicial
T
Magistrate (SDJM) court
here on Friday allowed the
Commissionerate Police to take
arrested sex racket kingpin
Sunil Meher on a four-day
remand for interrogation.
The cops had prayed for a
five day-custody. Meher was
arrested by the Quick Action
Team (QAT) of the
Commissionerate Polcie in
Kolkata on Thursday. The
police would try to elicit information about his network

through which he managed to

run the sex racket, and how he
brought foreign young women
into the State as part of his
sleaze business. Meanwhile, it
was revealed from the preliminary investigation that Meher
was running his sleaze business
in the name of paid girlfriend.
Sources said that from the
preliminary investigation it
was revealed that Meher used
to provide beautiful young
women as paid girlfriend to
rich clients for one month. He
was paying the young women
C40,000-50,000 for one month.
Besides, Meher used to
supply young women on 10day contract for more than C2.5
lakh, the sources added.

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s per the directions of the

A
Supreme Court, builder
Tirupati Panigrahi, chairman of
the Hi-Tech Group, on Friday
deposited the remaining
amount of money with the
Apex court to satisfy his bail
condition.
He deposited of C13, 05, 49,
227 with the court, following
which his bail remains in force.
I express my regret for the
inconvenience caused to the
investors. I have (Now)
deposited the full amount as
directed by the court. The
court would look into the matter on how the investors will
get back their money,
Panigrahi said.
On March 18 this year, the
Supreme Court had directed
Panigrahi to deposit a total
amount of C63.55 crore within four weeks for refund to

people who paid money but did

not get the land promised to
them by his company. In the
case of not conforming to the
court order, it would cancel the
conditional bail granted to
Panigrah, the court had said.
The, on February 21, 2014,
had granted conditional bail to
Panigrahi and directed him to
deposit C63.5 crore. Earlier,
Panigrahi had deposited C20
crore, C18 crore, C9 crore and
C3.5 in four installments.

The Economic Offences

Wing (EoW) of the State Crime
Branch had arrested Panigrahi
and his two relatives and directors of the Hi-Tech Group
Tirupati Choudhur y and
Madhusudan Panigrahi on
December 25, 2012 for reneging on the promise of providing residential plots to people
after taking money from them
in 2009.
The probe by the EOW
had revealed that the Hi-tech
Group owed over C315.96 crore
to the investors.
The Group had received
money from 17,181 investors
with a promise of providing
them residential plots. As many
as 16,901 investors are yet to get
land. The Hi-Tech Group owns
real estate firms, two private
medical colleges, and several
other professional educational
institutes at different places of
Odisha.

?=BQ 17D10=4BF0A

he People for Animals,

Bhubaneswar (Ekamra)
along with some locals held a
candlelight vigil at Master
Canteen here on Thursday
evening to pay tribute to
Shaktimaan, the brave police
horse which died on Wednesday
in Dehradun after fighting with

its injuries that he had sustained

during a political rally in New
Delhi. The activists demanded
justice not only for Shaktimaan
but all other animals who are
victims of any kind of cruelty.
The mourning of
Shaktimaans death is to make
the Government realise that
animals too have rights. The
offender got away with a mini-

mal fine of C50 for torturing an

animal or even killing it. This is
certainly unfair, said a member
of the forum. The Animal
Welfare Acts need to be
strengthened and new acts
regarding the same needs to be
passed. Cruelty in a form is
unacceptable and should strictly be punishable by law, the
activist added.

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he DAV Public School,

Chandrasekharpur team
T
emerged as the champions in
the junior group in the national level science project competition held in Mumbai on
Thursday.
The team consisting of
Class-V students Amritansh
Rath, Sneha Mohapatra and
Alisha Basa prepared the project titled Futura: A Sustainable
City under the guidance of science teacher Prasanna Kumar
Dhala. The project illustrated
the concept of four R- Reduce,
Reuse, Recycle and Recreate.

A team of scientists from

the Bhaba Atomic Research
Centre (BARC) under the leadership of Dr Rabi Prakash
Modi evaluated the final round
projects.
More than 12,000 schools
participated in the preliminary
round held in October last year.
The winner were felicitated with
a trophy, memento, certificate
laptop, a seven-day trip to
London along with a cash
r4eward of C50,000 for the school
for grooming the budding scientists. The school authorities
felicitated the students and the
teacher on their arrival at the
school premises here.

s part of the repair of the

Jagamohan (Assembly hall
adjoining the sanctum sanctorum) of the Shree Jagannath
Temple in Puri, a team of
experts began test digging of its
floor on Friday for erection of
steel structures.
Test digging of the
Jagamohans floor using electric
drills began in the presence of
Shree Mandir Technical Core
Committee (SMTCC) members and experts of the
Archaeological Survey of India
(ASI).
Prof AP Gupta, Chairman
of ASIs core committee after
examining the condition of
the stone beam had recommended that it needs to be
given support using stainless
steel frames. A cost estimate of
its design was sent to the
Director General (DG) of the
ASI. The DG ASI has sought a
cost estimate of the foundation

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to be laid for the erection of the
steel structure. In order to
ascertain the nature of foundation, the structure would
require we have requisitioned
drilling machines to find out
what lies underneath the floor.
On the basis of the finding, the
ASI here will decide on the
depth of the holes to be dug for
the foundation of the steel
structures and accordingly send
an estimate to the ASI DG,
informed Dharmapada Mishra,
member of the SMTCC to
reporters.
Notably, Prof Gupta during
his visit to the temple on March
29 had said that repair of the
Jagamohan cannot be delayed
further.

8=1A845

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irector General of Police

(DGP) KB Singh on
Fridayinformed that the Odisha
police would move court seeking remand of Korra Gasi alias
Jhansi (27), one of the abductors
of the then Malkangiri Collector
R Vineel Krishna on remand for
interrogation.
We will bring Jhansi on
remand and will move court in
this regard soon, said DGP
Singh. The woman rebel Jhansi
of Koyyuru along with two

other Maoists, Maoist militia

members Buturi Appa Rao (45)
and Velusuri Lakshmaiah (30),
on Thursday surrendered before
the Visakhapatnam police in
Andhra Pradesh.
She was carrying an Rs 4
lakh cash reward on her head.
The reward amount would be
given to her, said the
Visakhapatnam SP.
As many as 24 cases are
pending against her at different
police stations in Odisha,
Andhra
Pradesh
and
Chhattisgarh.

n the Earth Day on Friday,

the State Government
decided to launch a programme
under which villagers living
close to fire-prone forests would
be given incentives for tackling
forest fire in a bid to prevent
major loss to forest cover.
A Standard Operating
Procedure (SOP) would be followed to tackle forest fire. The
responsibility of controlling
and dousing the blaze would be
entrusted to everyone from
the Divisional Forest Officer
(DFO) level to the Forest
Guards. Each Forest Range
would be equipped with a
blower to control fire.
Moreover, afforestation

would be undertaken with a

target of regenerating 10 lakh
hectares of raged forestland in
the next four years. I would
urge citizens to contribute to
the environment by planting at
least one tree and actively participating in the Governments
programme, said Forest and
Environment Minister Bikram
Keshari Arukh.
We will construct a series
of water conservation and water
harvesting structures across
major forest areas... We are
planning to ensure that these
structures are set up in the next
five years and this will help preserve water for drinking and
irrigation purposes, said Forest
and Environment Secretary
Suresh Mohapatra.

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he Earth Day was observed

on April 22. The first Earth
T
Day was organised in 1970 with
an aim to promote the thoughts
of ecology, reverence for existence on earth and highlighting growing concern over pollution of the soil, air, and water.

The April 22 date was also

designated as International
Mother Earth Day by a resolution adopted by the United
Nations in 2009. This is an
annual day on which events are
held worldwide to demonstrate
and support for environmental
protection. This years theme is:
Trees for the Earth. This is
because trees help to combat
climate change. They absorb
excess and harmful CO2 from
our atmosphere. Scientists, climate experts, Governments
and international organizations have all agreed that 350
parts per million (ppm) is the
upper limit for CO2 in the
atmosphere. Beyond 350 ppm,
the planet can no longer support human life. In March,
2015, the global monthly average for CO2 concentration
surpassed 400 (ppm). An obvious and necessary solution is to
look for ways to dramatically
cut carbon-emissions. But
there are no longer sufficient
trees on the planet even to
absorb the amount of CO2.
In fact, in a single year, an
acre of mature trees absorbs the

same amount of CO2 produced by driving the average

car 26,000 miles. Trees help us
breathe clean air. Trees absorb
odors and pollutant gases
(nitrogen oxides, ammonia,
sulfur dioxide and ozone) and
filter particulates out of the air
by trapping them on their
leaves and bark. Trees help us
to counteract the loss of species.
By planting the right trees,
we can help to counteract the
loss of species, as well as provide increased habitat connectivity between regional forest
patches. Trees help communities achieve long-term economic and environmental sustainability and provide food,
energy and income.
In majority of the urban
areas throughout the world, the
tree cover is declining and
impervious cover is increasing
due to the demand of the land
for development. Urbanization
appears to contribute to evergrowing levels of greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions and climate change.
The searing heat wave in
western Odisha has reached a

record temperature in April

2016. The daytime temperature in Titilagarh, known as the
hottest place of the State,
recorded 47 degree Celsius on
April 22. Between 2006 and
2016, the maximum temperature in Titilagarh had never
crossed 46 degree. This western
Odisha town has been a hot
zone for decades. However,
the highest here was 48.1
degree recorded on April 30,
1999. As per Bhubaneswar
Meteorological Centre sources,
April 17 was one of the hottest
days in the month of April as

20 towns recorded maximum

temperature over 40 degree.
The very dense forest
(VDF) and moderately dense
forest (MDF) cover in Odisha
has declined by 86 sq km,
according to the latest report of
India State of Forest Report
(ISFR)-2013 compared to 2011.
All lands with tree canopy
density of 70 per cent and
above are categorised as VDF
while land with tree canopy
density of 40 per cent and more
but less than 70 per cent is
taken as MDF. Degradation of
forests is largely responsible for

the change in climate over the

land, variation in rainfall patterns and global warming.
Bhubaneswar was a city
with pleasant climatic condition throughout the year. Since
last decade Bhubaneswar is
experiencing high population
growth, urbanisation and distinct weather condition. The
effects of climate change have
been observed since last few
years. It has been found to be
excessive heat in summer. Over
last one decade, the temperature of Bhubaneswar has been
getting warmer and warmer by
breaking the records in temperature rise and heat wave.
The capital city created a
weather history of 45.7 degree
by breaking all time record in
the month of April on temperature parameter. The city
had recorded maximum temperature of 45 degree Celsius,
highest so far in April, 1985.
Average temperatures in
Bhubaneswar have risen as
tree coverage has declined and
the number of heat-absorbing
roads and buildings has
increased. The number of rainy

days has also been decreased in

the city. Earlier, the city had a
sound coverage of greenery but
now it has decreased substantially, leading to uncomfortable
conditions. Modification of the
land surface by urban development and reduction of open
space is another reason for the
unusual mercurial rise in the
city in summer. Small water
bodies and wetlands are
increasingly being filled up by
multistoried buildings. The
level of pollution has also
increased due to increase in the
number of traffic and decrease
in green areas of the city. The
expansion of the city and a lot
of concrete structures are also
the reason for microclimatic
change over the years.
Human lives are largely
supported by the benefits from
trees. Trees cool the city, by
shading our homes and streets
and breaking up urban heat
islands effect. In the warmer
months of the year, urban areas
realise lower ambient temperatures when trees are strategically planted along streets and
near buildings. Footpaths,

which are provided at the sides

for pedestrians, have to be
shaded by rows of trees. The
open spaces of a city perform
a variety of functions and a
variety of uses. By this, cities
can maintain green space within and throughout their urban
and suburban centres, including trees and green space for
recreation, cooling, storm water
management and simple aesthetic enhancement and livability. a coherent
City climate action plans
often incorporate urban
forestry into climate change
mitigation and adaption strategies. An active urban forest
management for climate change
strengthens community
resilience to climate change
impacts. Urban forests should
be included in the city planning
process. Forest edges are therefore to be regarded as essential
and permanent protection and
should never be cut or removed.
(Dr Praharaj works in the
Department of Architecture,
College of Engineering and
Technology, Bhubaneswar)

Although every possible care and caution has been taken to avoid errors or omissions, this publication is being sold on the condition and understanding that information given in this publication is merely for reference and must not be taken as having authority of or binding in any way on the writers, editors, publishers, and
printers and sellers who do not owe any responsibility for any damage or loss to any person, a purchaser of this publication or not for the result of any action taken on the basis of this work. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent court and forums in Delhi/New Delhi only.
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inally after 25 years, the

Keonjhar district administration on Friday swung to
action to evict Champua
Independent MLA Sanatan
Mahakuds sprawling camp
office built on a huge patch of
Government land at Uchabali
under Barbil tehsil.
As many as 25 platoons of
police forces were deployed to
avoid any law and order situation.
The drive was undertaken in the
presence of Keonjhar Collector N
Thirumalla Nayak, SP Kavita
Jalan and other officers.
The administration acted
upon the direction of the
Supreme Court that had
ordered to evict the five acres
of forest land encroached by
Mahakud since 1980. Mahakud
had tried to take control of the

he National Human Rights

Commission (NHRC) has
T
directed the Forests and
Environment
Special
Secretary to submit details of
compensation paid to the
farmers, whose crops were
damaged by a polluting cor-

property by building a temple

on the land and claiming it to
be a religious site. The massive
office building of the Jagat
Janani Seva Trust, founded by
Mahakud, was also constructed on the land.
His doghouse and cow and
goat sheds (all air conditioned),
guest house, meeting rooms
and office room were demolished on the first day.
Hundreds of his supporters
gathered at the site apparently
to protest the eviction work
could not succeed as the
District Magistrate imposed
Section 144 of the CrPC till 500
metre and deployed a large
number of police forces around
the eviction site.
The Government and the
court are acting against the sentiments of Hindus by demol-

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s the water bodies are drying up in the Kuldiha

Sanctuar y, the Wildlife
Division of Baleswar has taken
an initiative to protect these
water resources apprehending
that this years summer could
be longer and tougher.
Besides creating new structures to cater to the need of the
wildlife, the department has
begun reviving the existing
water bodies. In addition to
about 20 natural spring sources,
there are 52 water bodies
(tanks) of which 12 have gone
dry.
The department has begun
de-silting the tanks and creating vats near the water bodies,
lifting water through motors
and transferring it to the vats
through tankers. It has sent a
list of proposals with an estimated expenditure to the
Government.
Out of the 12 tanks which

were dry, six of them have been

dug and concrete vats (containers) have been made near
them. For de-silting and digging, an expenditure of nearly
Rs 65,000 is made. As soon as
the fund comes, revival of all
the dry tanks would be executed in war footing,
Divisional Forest Officer
Harshbardhan Udgata said,
adding that water near spring
sources is being revived by
deepening and constructing
water pits.
Further, we have a plan to
set up bore-wells at least at
three places in the sanctuary.
From the bore-wells, we would
be drawing water through
motors and further ferry it
through tankers. The tanks
near the forest roads would be
filled through the tankers. The
bore-wells would suffice the
water requirement. The tankers
would be hired. These proposals have been sent to the
department, said Udgata.

ishing a Hindu worshipping

site. If such attitude persists,
Hindu people will quit the
religion, Mahakud told
reporters. He was too present
there.
The district Collector said,
We are acting as per the decision of the court.
Big bulldozers, drill
machines and skilled technicians were engaged to demolish the strongly built wall structures. The drive was undertaken in two phases, from
morning to 11 am and then
from 3.30 am to evening.
The drive will continue till
all identified structures are
completely demolished, said
the Barbil Tehsildar.
Media reporters, local leaders and villagers gathered there
to witness the eviction drive.

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n a shocking incident, a man

hacked his wife to death in
Malkangiri district as she
refused to take alcohol.
The accused Padia Padiami
came home at Kurukundi village under the Kalimela police
station on Thursday evening in
an inebriated state and offered
alcohol to his wife. When his
wife Koshi refused to take it
despite repeated insistence, an
enraged Padiami allegedly
attacked her and two daughters
with a sharp weapon injuring
them critically. While a profusely bleeding Koshi succumbed to her injuries on her
way to the hospital, the two girls
are undergoing treatment at the
District Headquarters Hospital.
Villagers admitted us to
the hospital, said Reena, an
injured daughter of the
accused. Padia Padiami has
been absconding since the
incident.

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The State Government

has submitted its action-taken
report (ATR) which has stated that suitable compensation
has been awarded to affected
farmers.
The
commission
observed discrepancies in the
ATR and stated, The report
reveals that requisite action
has been taken by the concerned authorities and compensation has been paid to the
farmers in accordance with

the damages. But in the letter

dated 8.5.15, total 49 farmers
are said to have been provided compensation whereas
only 31 farmers have been
mentioned in the annexure
who have received compensation, the NHRC observed.
The commission further
directed to submit the details
of compensation paid to the
remaining 18 farmers along
with proof of payment.
Meanwhile, the petition-

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mining of sand in different rivers of Nuapada disItrictllegal

has become rampant.
Villagers of Khudpej and Tukla
gram panchayats in Khariar
block have filed written complaints in the office of the
local tehsildar urging him for
action, but hundreds of tractorloads of sand are still being lifted every day from rivers.
We requested the tehsildar
to take action against the people involved in the illegal mining, but the tehsildar is silent,
said villagers of Khudpej. They

held roadblocks to protest

against the inaction of the
administration and demanding
stoppage of sand mining in
Sundar river near their village.
Ironically, instead of justice,
the villagers faced criminal
action for opposing the mining
last year. A police case was filed
against them by the sand
mafias. The lease was given to
a person on negotiation without having any
public auction said the
villagers. t least a hundred
tractor-loads of sand are lifted
every day from the confluence
of rivers Sundar and Arjuni
near village Tukla, reported
Fakira Jagat of Tukla village.
As per information of technicians working in a bridge
construction project on Arjuni
river, the depth of sand of

these two rivers near Tukla is

only five feet. In such a situation, mining of sand here is
detrimental to the river environment, said Tukla villagers.
Tehsil sources revealed that
officially there are eight sites of
sand mining in Sundar and
Arjuni rivers, but the actual
number is more than that.
There are at least 20 sites in
Sundar river between the
Lower Indra Irrigation Project
site and Tukla village, where
sand mining is done. In most
of the places, the sand depth is
less than five to six feet.
Under such circumstances,
indiscriminate mining would
deplete the sand level further, said Sanjay Tiwari of
Khariar. At least 25 to 30 tractor-loads of sand are lifted
from each site every day, mak-

ing the total lifting to about

600 loads.
It is interesting that none
of the sand leaseholders have
obtained environment clearance as per law.
The Green Tribunal has
imposed a complete ban on
mining of minor minerals like
sand and stone in less than five
hectares of land without environment clearance (EC) from
the State Environment Impact
Assessment
Authority
(SEIAA).
It is learnt that the leaseholders, instead of obtaining
EC, have taken short-term
permits for mining sand,
which is illegal.
The total loss of royalty
would be more than C1 crore
per year at C84 per tractorload, said activist Jagat.

:_PSPf^\T]_a^cTbc C%#%TcW`c;dfXfUR
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omen in Jamadhar panchayat took to the streets

W
protesting against the sudden
hike in alcohol consumption
due to the latest two liquor
counters in the area.
The agitators complained
that ever since the duo liquor
counters opened, the locality
has lost its peace. The women
believe that the convenience of
acquiring alcohol has made the
male members spend all their
earnings there. Also, the male
members of the family create
disturbance in an inebriated
condition and assault their

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wives if they protest against

their drinking. Even college
going youths indulge in such
activities. As the liquor counters are located at roadside, students and women have to put
up with the nuisance of the
drunkards.
Besides, with the increasing
liquor consumption, the social
relationships have deteriorated
along with the economic condition of the people. If the district administration and the
Excise Department do not shift
the liquor shops, we will have
to take law into our own
hands. said a protesting
woman.

?=BQ 970ABD6D30

n the first phase, about Rs

42.42 crore would be spent for
the development of mine areas
in Jharsuguda district.
Management of funds, utilisation and responsibilities of the
committee members were discussed at the first meeting of the
District Mineral Foundation
Trust held on Thursday at the
Collectorate.
District Collector Bibhuti
Bhusan Patnaik apprised the
committee members about the
modalities for the development
of mines after necessary
amendment of the MMDR Act,
if necessary.

Bargarh MP Dr Pravas
Singh and Brajrajnagar MLA
Radharani Panda expressed
their opinion for development of
the living standards of the public with this fund. They also
stressed for permanent solution
of the drinking water problem
of the district. Besides, issues
like development of natural surroundings in the mine areas,
plantation to reduce pollution,
recharging ground water level
were taken up for discussion.
The district Collector is the
Chairman of the committee,
while Bargarh MP, Brajrajnagar
MLA along with other dignitaries were included as the
members of the committee.

:HEVLWHJLYHVIDOVHLQIR
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n a tragic incident, a woman

and her daughter in
INabarangpur
district died after

18A4=3A0BD1D378Q
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coming in contact with a live

ware on Friday.
The deceased were identified as Pati Bhadra (55) and
Jema Majhi (22) of Tutigada
village of Dhamarguda gram
panchayat.
The tragedy occurred
when the duo was washing
dishes outside their house near
a well and an electric wire fell
on them. A police team led by
the Dabugaon police station
IIC rushed to the spot and sent
the dead bodies for postmortem.

espite the Governments

D
tall claims, implementation of the Forest Rights Act,

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porate in Koraput district.

Acting on a petition filed
by rights campaigner Subash
Mohapatra, the rights body
has found Bilt Graphic Paper
Products Ltd guilty of pollution as it has devastated the
farmers livelihood. The crops
were damaged due to discharge of waste water by the
company.
The top official was asked
to submit report within six
weeks.

under which land is given to

tribals free of cast, seems to be
an abysmally low key of affairs
in Kandhamal district.
While
a
special
Government website states
that Kandhamal is the only
district in the country where
integrated forest right was
given to highest number of
1,848 villages, the actual figure
is very low. The website had
been inaugurated by Steel and

Mines Minister Prafulla

Mallick on August 15, 2014.
Furnishing information
sought through RTI Act, the
Integrated Tribal Development
Authority informed that only
176 villagers have been enlisted to avail FRA benefits.
Gopinath Kanhar of Sartaguda
under Tudipaju GP had sought
data in this regard.
As per letter no 2744 of
the ITDA, Phulbani, all the villages have been served sironama since June 18, 2013. But
the information furnished to
the ITDA was found to be
wrong after the district
Collector recently directed

concerned officers to give

sironama to the people
through Post.
As per letter no 1412 dated
15-9-2015 of the ITDA,
Phulbani, it was revealed that
the website had been operated
by the Basundhara, an NGO
based at Bhubaneswar and the
district administration didnt
spend a single pie. It indicated
that the NGO uploaded the
wrong information to garner
benefits.
The motive behind falsely
showing Kandhmal as numberone FRA benefit getter district
should be investigated properly, demanded people.

er demanded that the State

should come clean on the
policies on the loss and damages caused by the corporate
in the State.
The corporate should
respect the environmental
norms. The mere compensation does not help the affected farmers. The State
Government should take
stringent action against the
company as it is found guilty,
said Mohapatra.

1SDGDWULEDOV
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?=BQ =D0?030

he Nuapada Zila Adivasi

Sangha staged a roadblock
T
at Nuapada protesting against
the killing of young Gajapati
Majhi of Patdarha village by
Maoists on Monday. The
Maoist group surmised
Gajapati of working as an
informer for the police.
Hundreds of people from tribal community gathered on
NH-353 at Ekta Chhak blocking the road for three hours.
We condemn the killing of
tribal people by Maoists, who
have already killed 21 of our
people; why such brutality
towards us? asked tribal
leaders.
A meeting was held where
leaders of the Sangha spoke
against the Maoists and their
activities. They are forcing our
people to provide them with
food, water and shelter and any
form protests against their illicit leads to unjust punishments,
said the leaders.
Bhanupratap Singh Majhi,
Vice-President of Nuapada Zila
Parishad, said their people
have only suffered after the
arrival of the Maoists in
Nuapada
district.
Developmental activities have
come to a stand and the tribal
communities have suffered at
the hands of either Maoists or
Police said Majhi.
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The meeting was also
addressed by Khariar MLA
Duryodhan Majhi, Adivasi
Sangha secretary Balakrushna
Sabar, Hema Majhi, Muna
Majhi, Jemamani Dharua and
other tribal leaders of the district. Police force should be
placed at Patdarha to give protection to the people living
there, said Balakrushna Sabar.
The Sangha submitted a
memorandum to the district
authorities demanding arrest of
the Maoists involved in killing
of Gajapati, compensation of
C20 lakh to the family of the
deceased, placement of police
forces at Patdarha, construction
of road from Nangalbod to
Sunabeda via Patdarha and
completion of road from
Bhainsadani to Patdarha.
The road block ended after
the Nuapada SP assured that
the family members of the
deceased would be given an ex
gratia of C2 lakh.

CQVUTbY^[Y^WgQdUbV_b`__bcX_e\TRU7_fdcd_``bY_bYdi

<0=0B94=0

he ongoing heat wave in

Odisha is adding to the
T
misery of the people who are
struggling to get safe drinking
water in this burning summer.
Every person in the country should have water of 70 litters per capita per day within
his/her household premises.
Every person has right to
demand for drinking water as
it is vital to health and wellbeing. But it is most unfortunate
that the primary basic human
necessity for life such as safe
drinking water has not been
ensured for all in the State having plenty of water resources.
The women of the poor

and marginalised sections are

travelling every day a long distance with water pots to collect
water as mostly it has been the
duty of women in family to
ensure drinking water for all
family members, especially for
children and elders. It is the
poor and marginalised people
and those residing in hilly and
mines areas, who are mostly
depending on public water
sources such as river, canal,
stream, tube well, well and
pond and about 90 per cent of
such source became dried up in
summer and tube wells become
defunct as the ground water
level has gone down. The people in rural areas have to spend
time, labour and money to get
drinking water whose cost has
been increasing day by day.
Public water sources have
been getting polluted for a
number of reasons and with
increasing commercialisation
of drinking water the sources
of safe drinking water for poor
have been getting limited.
Water contamination has
increased, especially arsenic
and fluoride content in drinking water has been a major concern in the State. The struggle
to get safe drinking water takes
a major time in collection and

storage and the inadequate

availability of safe drinking
water has got an adverse impact
over health and wellbeing of
the family. World Bank estimates that 21 per cent of the
communicable diseases in
India are related to unsafe
water. Diarrhoea alone causes
hundreds of death of children
and women in rural area due to
non-availability of safe
drinking water.
It is the prime duty of the
State to ensure basic human
need, especially safe drinking
water, for those who are not in
a position to invest on developing private water sources
near their house but, unfortunately, our priority public
spending has not been focused
on drinking water need of the
poor and marginalized. There
has been no plan by the State
Government to ensure safe
drinking water and the State
Government has failed to utilize the Central grant under the
National Rural Drinking Water
Programme besides a host of
other schemes such as MGNREGS and RKVY where drinking water has been identified as
a most urgent priority. Why a
backward State like Odisha
with plenty of surface and

ground water has not been able

to solve the basic human need
since last 65 years of planned
development is a billion dollar
question. It is fact that the
majority of households in the
State are poor who cannot
invest on drinking water. So,
needless to say, it is only the
State investment that can
ensure safe drinking water for
the poor people. Water being a
most precious natural wealth
should be owned and managed
and distributed by the State for
public utility.
The Rural Development
Department data says till
February, 2016 only one fourth
of the total habitation of the
State are covered by piped
water but this figure is far
from reality. The 2011 census
says more than one third of the
total household in the State
were traveling more than 500
meters from their house to collect drinking water. This number has been increasing in
acute distress condition in districts
such
as
Kandhamal,Deogarh,
Subarnapur, Dhenkanal, Angul,
Keonjhar,
Jharasuguda,
Sundaragarh,Mayurabhanj,Bol
angiri and Kalahandi. In most
of the mines and industrial

areas, the ground water level

has gone down and perennial
water streams have dried up as
well as water pollution of existing water bodies is very high
which has been a major cause
of drinking water scarcity.
Water is a free gift of nature
and public good which should
not be a denied to any one on
any ground at any cost. The
State Government should distribute water on the principles
of economic and social equity
and ecological efficiency but
water has been denied on economic and social background

C?391<31>F1C
to the poor and marginalised,
especially SCs, STs and other
marginalised poor.
The Union Ministry of
Drinking Water and Sanitation
in its letter dated April18 to all
Principal Secretaries of 13
States including Odisha has
asked for a detailed report of
measures taken by the State
Government to mitigate drinking water scarcity situation.
The Ministry has made available financial resources to
immediately repair and maintain all water supply systems,
hand pumps and bore wells

and use sufficient number of

pumps along with new bore
wells to be set up in areas having good aquifer. The State
Government must set up
drinking water monitoring cell
at State, district and block levels to monitor such activities.
The funds spent under drinking water must have priority for
coverage of SCs and STs concentrated habitations in the
rural areas. At the central level,
22 per cent of drinking water
programme funds are earmarked for scheduled caste
sub plan and 10 per cent for
tribal sub plan to be utilized for
provision of drinking water
supply to poor SC and ST
concentrated habitations in
rural areas. Habitations in inaccessible areas and with more
than 40 per cent of SC population should get top priority.
It is found that in many
rural villages, Dalit people face
untouchability while accessing water from public tube well,
bore well and tanks in the common place of multi caste village.
There have been cases of caste
conflict over water issue among
rural poor and women are the
worst sufferer in such cases in
everyday life. A majority of the
Dalit habitations lack land and

electricity for installing tube

well or bore wells. As per
guidelines of Government, the
women of SCs, STs and OBCs
should constitute more than 50
per cent of the members of village water and sanitation committee. The schemes such as
MGNREGS resources should
be used to build water sources
for the poor and marginalized
in rural areas. There should be
drinking water testing laboratories at district, sub-division
and block level to ensure water
quality and avoid water contamination and pollution of
drinking water.
It is being told by the Rural
Development Department that
they have supplied field test kits
to Panchayats to access the
quality of drinking water but
the real implementation has yet
to happen. The public institutions such as school and
Anganwadi centres in rural
areas must have linked to safe
drinking water without barriers of social discrimination. But
it is unfortunate that the State
Government has not been following any policy guideline
while implementing schemes of
central assistance to ensure
quality water supply.
The Rural Development

Department should be proactively lead the programmes in

mobilising resources from various sources that includes central assistance, public sector,
State budget and private bodies and also by converging different rural development
schemes to build water bodies
and water distribution infrastructures in rural areas for
public use. The funds under
district mineral foundation,
SCSP, TSP, MGNREGS,
PMKKY, and PRI should be
collectively utilised for providing drinking water in war footing basis and all the projects
must be completed during a
definite time frame.
Drinking water projects
should not be getting delayed
for reason of financial or
administrative ground. It is
also equally important to manage, store and control rain
water, surface water and its pollution and check the misuse of
ground water by regulation,
control, and management and
to provide equal attention for
sustainability of water sources
in the State.
(Emailmanasbbsr15@gamil.com ,
Mob -09437o60797)

]PcX^]#

17D10=4BF0AkB0CDA30H k0?A8; !"! %

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8?B8C010A8:

ounds strange! But it is true.

Inulin, a plant-based nutrient, can help your body deal
with its own insulin needs allowing your pancreas to
catch its breath.
The Inulin molecules
obtained from dahlia tubers are
called Dahlin. After undergoing a special treatment, dahlia
tubers yield pure Laevulose
that is sometimes called Atlanta
Starch or Diabetic Sugar, which
is frequently prescribed for the
needs of diabetic and consumptive patients, and has
been given to children in cases
of wasting illness.
With increasing stress levels human bodys over-flooded
sugar moderating systems are
under increasing pressure. In
spite of unrelenting abuse, a
tiny bit of pancreatic tissue
called the Islets of Langerhans

keep most of us safe from diabetic trauma. These vital

groups of cells, about the size
of a finger, is all that stands
between your health and the
combined assaults of massive
quantities of highly reactive
refined sugars, and a shortage
of soil chromium. There is a
resultant shortfall in dietary
chromium.
Chromium is very much
essential for the pancreas to
create enough insulin molecules to keep up with counterbalancing the effects of the
flood of sugar.
Nutritional support of the
blood-sugar-balancing system
is essential for energy and
endurance, as well as appetite
moderation and the burning of
excess fats.
In a paper read at the
Second International Congress
of the Sugar Industry, held at
Paris in 1908, it was stated that

pure Laevulose is preferably

made by the inversion of Inulin
with dilute acids. The first step
in the technical production of
Laevulose is in the preparation
of Inulin, and Dahlia tubers
contain 6 to 12 per cent of
Inulin are the most suitable
material. Dahlia tubers can
readily be obtained in quantity, and Dahlia plants, if cultivated for the purpose, should
yield in a few years a plentiful
supply of cheap raw material.
For extraction of the
Inulin, the roots or tubers are
sliced, treated with milk of lime
and steamed. The juice is then
expressed and clarified by subsidence and filtration, the clear
liquid being run into a revolving cooler until flakes are produced. These flakes are separated by a centrifugal machine,
washed and decolorised, and
the thus purified product finally treated with diluted acid, and

so converted into Laevulose.

This solution of Laevulose is
neutralised and evaporated to
a syrup in a vacuum pan.
Laevulose can be produced
in this manner from Dahlia
tubers at an enormous reduction of price from the older
methods of preparing it from

molasses or sugar, the resultant

product being of absolute purity. Its sweet and pleasant taste
is likely to make it used not only
for diabetic patients, but also in
making confectionery and for
retarding crystallisation of sugar
products. It can also readily be
utilised in the brewing and

mineral water industries.

Research had indicated
that Dahlin keeps blood sugar
levels constant for up to 10
hours thus controlling cravings
and hunger. Dahlin has also
been shown to conserve the
bodys glycogen stores, increasing the total energy reserves,
providing an effective means of
suppressing appetite.
Additionally, significant
research has been done to support chromium as an effective
supplement in the management of weight loss. Because it
is involved in the metabolism
of glucose, this essential mineral maintains stable blood
sugar levels and will, therefore,
help to promote the loss of fat
and also increase lean muscle
tissue
Athletic Support: Dahlia
inulin has also been shown to
conserve the bodys glycogen
stores, increasing the energy

reserves providing endurance,

strength, vigour, and stamina.
Dahlia inulin is especially good
when combined with chromium in a supplement helps in
the metabolism of glucose,
thus stabilising blood sugar
levels and helping to increase
lean muscle and boost
endurance.
Dahlin is a complex carbohydrate and when combined
with the herb Siberian Ginseng,
it can help power you through
even the toughest workouts,
athletic programmes, or competitive events.
History: Observers of medical research report that long
before insulin was discovered
for treating diabetic patients, a
particular type of sugar was
processed from dahlia tubers,
and used for such treatment.
Today, medical research and
studies have focused on the use
of chemicals present in dahlias

for liver and kidney issues.

Historians say the ancient
Aztecs used dahlia flowers to
treat epilepsy and manuscripts
found in Mexico also recorded
other medicinal uses for the
plant like a preparation of
dahlia stems was used to treat
urinary-tract disorders.
The tuber, alleviates stomach pain, dissipates blowing,
draws forth urine, invokes perspiration, drives out coldness,
strengthens the stomach weak
because of the cold, turns aside
cholic, opens what has been
blocked, and when moved to
the swellings disperses them.
(The author is pursuing
her post-graduate studies in
Floriculture and Landscaping
from the Sam Higginbottom
Institute of Agriculture,
Technology and Sciences
(SHIATS), Allahabad, in
Uttar Pradesh)

6KDNHVSHDUH)HVW ?a^QTX]c^1VPaWc^X[Tc Cd[PbX0_PP__[PdSTSPc6^[ST]CaXP]V[T5X[\5Tbc

WREHKHOGLQFLW\ bRP\ST\P]STS
?=BQ 17D10=4BF0A

?=BQ 10A60A7

he Jai Kishan Andolan

Committee, Bargarh has
T
demanded that Government

?=BQ 17D10=4BF0A

three-day Shakespeare
Theatre Festival will be
held at the RabindraMandap
here from April 24 to 26 by
Utkal Rangamanch Trust.
The festival aims to bring
Shakespeare plays to one
venue at a time. Starting
from Bhubaneswar, it will be
staged in Mumbai, New
Delhi and Kolkata and other
c it i e s i n du e c ou rs e.

Translations of Shakespeares
plays in Odia will also be
released.
State-based theatre group
Think Foundation will stage
the play Macbeth in Odia,
New Delhi-based Film &
Theatre Society will stage
Merchant of Venice in Hindi
and Kolkata-based Naye
Natua will stage Othello in
Bengali on April 24, 25 and
26, respectively.
Eminent theatre persona l it y A n ant Ma h ap at r a
informed at a Press meet
here on Friday.

conduct an investigation into

the alleged toilet scam in
Bargarh district.
The committee has conveyed this demand to the district Collector, RDC, Chief
secretary, HRD Commissioner,
PMs grievances cell, CM Office
and the State Vigilance thorough letters on Thursday.
The committee said the
RWSSs claim of 20 villages of
Bargarh achieving ODF (Open
Defecation Free) is totally
wrong. It said 60 per cent of the
concerned villagers are yet to
use a toilet.
The corrupted officers have

shown it warm their pockets

only.
Officers are taking C500
to C1,000 for passing the bill.
Two officers were caught redhanded and sent to jail earlier.
While more than 50,000 toilets
have been constructed, the
officers have already done a
scam of C5 crore and above.
Many toilets have been constructed very weak too, the
committee alleged.
They said weak works were
done in Sanimal and Kuchipali
villages under Sohela Block
which has been admitted by the
concerned JE. ,
Committee Secretar y
Ramesh Chandra Mohapatra
demanded a fair inquiry into
the allegation and action
against corrupt officers.

dia film Tulasi Apa earned

high praise at the ongoing
Golden Triangle International
Film Festival (GTIFF) here on
Friday.
Based on real life of eminent social activist Padma Shri
Tulasi Munda, the Amiya
Patnaik-directed film was
screened on the second day of
the festival. Actress Barsha
Nayak played the role of the
social activist. The support
cast includes Madhusmita,
Lochhani Bagh, Premanjana
Parida, Mamata Panda and
Sujit Paikray.
Life and struggle of Tulasi
Munda along with different
attractive locations of Keonjhar
district where Munda was born
was appreciated by the viewers.
Besides, as many as 24
Assamese, Kannada, Bengali,

Bangladeshi, Afghanistan,
Kyrgyzstan and Marathi films
would be screened during the
three-day film festival.
The aim of the film festival
is to promote the unique
national and international films
and facilitating the running of
programmes related to films,

said film festival general secretary and actor Pupinder

Singh.
We would also create a
platform for discussions, networking as well as organising
film events and workshops, he
added.
The film festival would

also give an opportunity to the

film lovers to be exposed to the
best of world cinema, Pupinder
said.
The films would be judged
by a three-member panel of
jury and winning films in different categories like feature,
short film, and documentary
would be awarded, he
informed.
The best director, best artist
and best jury award would
also be given in the valedictory ceremony, he said.
Defining the name of the
film festival, Pupinder said,
We have planned to organise
the festival at three places in the
State like, Bhubaneswar, Puri
and Konark.
The three-day film festival,
inaugurated by School and
Mass Education Minister Debi
Prasad Mishra, would conclude on Saturday.

2:@*7_fdcY^V__^ ;_^Qb[\Qe^SXUcQ``d_ <PbbXeT_[P]cPcX^]]TTSTS

_bTUbSU]U^d_^]_RY\U c^RWTRZfPa\X]V
>YbQ]QiQVQ\cU
?=BQ 17D10=4BF0A

he BJP on Friday alleged

that
the
Odisha
Government has misled people
giving false information on
free medicine distribution
under its Niramaya scheme.
The Government on
Thursday said that 421 kinds of
medicine are being distributed
under the scheme. But in reality, only about 50 medicines are
available at different hospitals, said BJP spokesperson
Golak Mohapatra.
Party state president
Basanta Panda has gathered
this information during the
ongoing Janakalyan Yatra from

different hospitals, Mohapatra

said.
The State Government
should distribute more medicines to the poor people free of
cost, Mohapatra demanded,
adding that the Government
has failed to fulfil its promise
vis--vis the Niramaya shceme.
What
the
State
Government had declared earlier on Niramaya scheme, are
yet to be fulfilled, said
Mohapatra.
He too alleged that the
Maternal Mortality Rate has
been increased due to lack of
doctors at the Government
hospitals.

?=BQ 17D10=4BF0A

greener environment has

good effects not only on
A
human beings but also on the
entire bird and animal communities.
However, industrialisation, road widening works
and other construction works
are causing warmer global
temperature, said Prerana
chief Dr Dillip Shrichandan
on the occasion of the observance of the Earth Day organised by the body here on
Friday.
In order to effectively
?=BQ 17D10=4BF0A

he OCL India Limited,

makers of Konark Cement,
T
has launched an android app in
Bhubaneswar to help dealers
place orders through mobile
phones.
With thos app named
Suvidha, dealers can also track
delivery status online, delays if
any, billing details and other
commercial
activities.
Developed exclusively for the
dealers of Konark and Dalmia
Cement, the app has been

address global warming, massive plantation drive must be

taken up by one and all, said
Shrichandan.
Utkal University NSS
programme coordinator Dr
Manoranjan
Mohanty,
Council of Higher Secondary
Education
Programme
C oordinator Dr Ananta
Kishore
Jena,
BJB
Autonomous College professor Kartik Jena joined the
event and called upon everyone to plant trees at their levels. Besides, a procession was
taken out followed by a plantation drive.

launched with four dealers in

the initial phase. The company aims to include other dealers with further progress.
OCL India Zonal Business
Head (Cement Marketing
Division) Abinash Mishra
said, The new app is an
approach to align ourselves
with modern technology and
bring order booking to finger
tips of our consumers.
Ordering through the app
will eliminate two to three
steps of the conventional
order booking process.

@4A=e`Z_gVdeC"&!!TcZ_^Z_Z_X
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he Odisha Coal and Power

T
Ltd (OCPL) would invest
Rs 1,500 crore to develop the
Manoharpur and Dip-Side of
Manoharpur coal blocks to
meet the fuel needs of a power
project in Jharsuguda district.
The OCPL is a 51:49 joint
venture (JV) between the Staterun companies Odisha Power
Generation Corporation
(OPGC) and Odisha Hydro
Power Corporation (OHPC).
The OPGC, the OHPC
and the OCPL signed a shareholders agreement for the
OCPL here on Thursday.
The OCPL was awarded
the two coal blocks under the
public sector undertaking
(PSU) dispensation route for a
4660 megawatt expansion
project of the OPGC in
Jharsuguda.
We need Rs 1,500 crore to
develop the two coal blocks.

While Rs 1,100 crore would be

met through loan to be raised
from the Power Finance
Corporation and Rural
Electrification Corporation,
the balance Rs 400 crore would
come from the promoters,
said a Government official.
The OCPL was incorporated in January 2015 as a
wholly-owned subsidiary company of the OPGC. Later, the
OHPC was also given a share-

holding in the OCPL.

The OPGC will nominate
four members to the OCPL
Board of Directors and the
OHPC three. The Energy
Secretary will be the chairman
of the company.
The JV company plans to
start the mine operation by
April 2019 in accordance with
the stipulations of the efficiency parameters of allotment
agreement signed with nomi-

nated authority. Most of the

major permits and clearances
and regulatory approvals
including environment and
forest clearance are already in
place for the project, said
Energy Secretar y Rajesh
Verma.
The total reserve of the two
coal blocks is 531 million tonne
(Manoharpur coal block 181
MT and Dip-Side Manoharpur
coal block 350 MT).

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?=BQ =4F34;78

iting a series of comments

from the Congress on safC
fron terror, the BJP on Friday
suggested that the charges
against an extremist Hindutva
organisation in the Samjhauta
Express and Malegaon blast
cases could be the result of the
then UPA Government's political prejudice and its vote
bank politics.
The party said new facts
have come to light that were
accessed by the then
Government but never presented before the court or
public. It charged the Congress
of communalising the serious issue of terrorism.
Addressing a Press conference here, party spokesperson
Sudhanshu Trivedi referred to

the Ishrat Jahan case and asked

the Congress to explain if then
Home Minister Chidambaram
had informed the then Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh
and UPA chief Sonia Gandhi
about the reason behind the
change in the first affidavit.
He cited RTI replies, comments of the then officials
connected with these probes,
Intelligence of foreign agencies
and court proceedings to allege
that the UPA Government's
actions have come under deep
suspicion.
Use of such phrases by top
Congress leaders almost oneand-a-half-year before the cases
were properly transferred (to
National Investigation Agency),
when there was no probe
report or court's proceedings
raises a big question about
their intentions and makes it
appear that this was not the
natural outcome of the investigation. It appears to be a

3_^WV_b`b_RU
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?=BQ =4F34;78

he Congress on Friday
demanded that a Supreme
Court-monitored committee
be appointed to look into several cases probed by the
National Investigation Agency
(NIA), and simultaneously
questioned the role of the premier probe agency in several
cases pertaining to alleged saffron terror. At the same time,
the party also questioned the
need to extend the tenure of
incumbent NIA Director
General post- retirement even
though there is no dearth of
good officers in the country.
On a question as to why his
party is demanding the
removal of NIA DG Sharad
Kumar, Congress spokesman
Ajoy Kumar said that this is
because for the past two years
it is incredibly strange that
first the Government
Prosecutor complained that
she has been asked to go easy
on a case so that the optimum
action is not taken.
"The witnesses are turning
hostile on a remarkably fast
pace. Aseemanand made a
confession that he met RSS
who's who Indresh Kumar and
Mohan Bhagwat, despite that
the NIA refuses to continue its
investigation. The strange coincidences between people from
Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand,
Gujarat - all of them meet
together in these different incidents but the NIA is not able to
expose or fast forward and
convict people," Kumar said at
AICC briefing.
Kumar, a former MP,
reminded that the Malegaon
case had Hemant Karkare as
the Investigator from the ATS.
"Hemant lost his life on 26/11
in Mumbai Attack. He was

3TR[PaT:^[[P\
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?=B Q =4F34;78

eft MPs from Kerala on

Friday urged Prime
L
Minister Narendra Modi and
Home Minister Rajnath Singh
to declare the recent temple
fireworks tragedy in Kollam
wherein 114 people were killed
as a national disaster.
In a letter, the MPs said the
declaration of national disaster
would help the affected people
and region's rehabilitation and
relief works in much better way.
The MPs pointed out that
more than 1,600 people are facing several kinds of ailments
and undergoing treatments in
several hospitals. Detailing the
hardships and need of rehabilitation in the Paravur region in
Kollam district the parliamentarians said road, infrastructure, health, communication,
drinking water, electricity in
the area have to be normalized.
CPI(M)
MPs
P
Karunakaran, A Sampath, MB
Rajesh, CP Narayanan, PK
Sreemathy, KK ragesh, PK Biju,
K Somaprasad, Innocent and
Joyce George signed the memorandum to the Centre.
Declaring of the tragedy as
national disaster would only
help in such massive rehabilitation, they said.

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investigating and it was made
very clear that he had found the
actual accused in the case," he
said.
The second issue, Kumar
said, is that the NIA Director is
saying that Col. Purohit got a
clean chit in the Samjhauta
Blast case. First of all, he was
never an accused in the
Samjhauta Blasts. So, obviously you make statements like
that, you derail the whole discussion, whether it is in the
Electronic, Print or Social
Media and that is what our
concern is," Kumar, a former
IPS officer, said.
The party alleged that the
NIA seems to be behaving
totally like a 'tutored parrot'.
Kumar said the Congress is
demanding that all NIA cases
should be monitored by the
Supreme Court, especially all
sensitive terror related cases,
irrespective of whatever, have
great impact on National
Security - everyone of them whether it is Best Bakery,
Mumbai Blast or whether it is
Malegaon Blast, the continuous
compromise of the NIA in all
these investigations would lead
the country to a very disastrous
situation.

deliberate attempt caused by

your (Congress) vote bank politics and political prejudice, he
told a Press conference.
Trivedi alleged that the
phrase, saffron terror was
first used in 2009 and then
Congress vice-president Rahul
Gandhi had reportedly said in
an interaction in July 2010
that Hindu terrorism was
more dangerous than other
terrorism.
P Chidambaram used the
same phrase in Parliament in
August 2010, Trivedi alleged,
and wondered if this was a
mere coincidence. He also
referred to Congress leader
Digvijay Singh releasing a book
that had linked RSS to 26/11
Mumabi terror attack.
He said the BJP was not
responding to the legal aspect
of the cases and their investigation, but only highlighting
political comments made by
Congress leaders.

0A270=09H>C8Q =4F34;78

s MNREGA completes 10
years, the Government is
conducting a pilot study in
seven States on environmental
benefits and green outcomes
due of the world's largest antipoverty public works that guarantee jobs for 100 days annually to the rural poor.
The Rural Development
Ministry will carry out the
two-month-long project from
next month with the help of
United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) in 14
gram panchayats, two each
from seven agro-ecological
zones of the country in Uttar
Pradesh, Jharkhand, Jammu &
Kashmir, Rajasthan, Gujarat,
Maharashtra and Andhra
Pradesh.
A senior official from the
Ministry said that the pilot
study, to be carried out by the

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Hyderabad-based Watershed
Support Services and Activities
Network (WASSAN), will be a
precursor to finalising the
methodology related with
green audit.
A range of green works are
conducted under the MNREGA. (See Box)
In fact, this is the second
such study by the Government,

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the first being in 2013 by the

Indian Institute of Science
(IISc) and other national institutions which had noted that
the scheme generated environmental benefits in a number of States.
The study analysed the
impact of MGNREGA in five
States -- Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh,

Rajasthan and Sikkim - found

that because of the rural job
scheme, ground water levels
and drinking water availability had improved in these areas.
Other works like check
dams, percolation tanks,
desilting of natural water
tanks also contributed to an
increase in the area irrigated
by borewells.

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?=BQ =4F34;78

he second leg of the Budget

Session from Monday is
likely to see a fresh round of
confrontation between the
Centre and Opposition, which
will take on the Government
over its handling of the countrywide drought.
Congress has several issues
like goof up on Joint
Investigation Teams' (JIT) from
India and Pakistan on
Pathankot probe, the toppling of it State Governments
in Arunachal Pradesh and
Uttarakhand on its platter.
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra
Mahajan has called an all party
meeting on Sunday to ensure
smooth functioning of
Parliament.
A senior Congress leader

suggested that the Panama

Paper leaks are also on the
agenda. The Congress will raise
the issues seeking status of the
probe and Governments role in
this regard. "There have been
several issues which the
Government is answerable tofrom killing of democratic
establishments to poor foreign
diplomacy. Most of the
Opposition parties are on
board," said the leader.
Opposition parties would
raise the drought issue as several members have given notices to
Rajya Sabha Chairman for a discussion on the crisis. They are
asking for an all-party meeting
to discuss it and the resultant
water crisis in the country.
Leader of Opposition in
Rajya Sabha and senior Congress
leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and

BdbW\PBfPaPYbTTZbaT_^ac^]
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?=B064=284BQ =4F34;78

xternal Affairs Miister

Sushma Swaraj has sought
a report from the Indian
Embassy in Oman about the
death of Indian nurse Chikku
Robert. Chikku, who was five
months pregnant, was found
murdered in her apartment
on Thursday.
A Pakistani neighbour of
the Indian nurse and her husband have been detained.
"I am sorry to know about
the murder of Chikku Robert
- an Indian national from
Kerala working as a nurse in
OmanI have asked Indian
Ambassador to ascertain all
the facts and report. My
heartfelt condolences to the
bereaved family," Swaraj said
on Twitter.
Ministr y o External
Affairs is in touch with Oman

Government on this and is

following the investigations
closely. Her body will be
brought back to India once
investigations are complete in
Oman.
The 28-year-old nurse was
working at a hospital in Salalah
for the past two years and was
living in Oman with her husband Linson. Both worked at
the same hospital.
According to initial
reports, Chikku was stabbed to
death when she tried to resist
a robbery.
When Chikku did not
report for duty at 11 pm on
Wednesday, her husband went
to check on her and found her
lying dead in a pool of blood.
A Pakistani national, who
was Chikku and Linson's
neighbour, has reportedly
been held in connection with
the incident.

his party colleagues Anand

Sharma, Hussain Dalwai,
Bhubaneswar Kalita, Rajani Patil,
Viplove Thakur, Mohammed
Ali Khan, AU Singh Deo (BJD),
K C Tyagi (JD-U), Satish
Chandra Mishra (BSP), independent member Rajeev
Chandrasekhar and nominated
member KTS Tulsi have already
given a notice to Rajya Sabha
Chairman Hamid Ansari in this
regard, which has been admitted.
The notice seeks a discussion on
"serious situation arising out of
prevailing drought and heat
wave conditions and resultant
water crisis in the country and
the remedial measures taken by
the Government in regard thereto." The Congress said PM
Narendra Modi should hold a
meeting of CMs of drought-hit
States and solve the issue.

New Delhi: The Centre on

Friday approved financial assistance of C842.7 crore for
Karnataka, Puducherry and
Arunachal Pradesh, which have
been affected by drought or
floods. The decision to provide
assistance was taken by a highlevel committee meeting
chaired by Home Minister
Rajnath Singh, an official
spokesperson said.
"The Committee examined
proposals based on the report of
the Central Team which visited
Karnataka, affected by drought,
and Puducherry and Arunachal
Pradesh, affected by floods. The
HLC approved the assistance in
respect of Karnataka to the tune
of C723.23 crore, C35.14 crore for
Puducherry and C84.33 crore for
Arunachal Pradesh. The Central
Assistance of C84.33 crore to

Arunachal Pradesh includes

C18.00 crore under National
Rural Drinking Water
Programme (NRDWP)," said
Union Home Ministry in a
statement.
The meeting was attended
by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley,
Agriculture Minister Radha
Mohan Singh, Union Home
Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and
senior officers of ministries of
Home, Finance and Agriculture.
In all, 10 states, including
Maharashtra and Karnataka,
have declared drought in their
parts. More than Rs 10,000 crore
central assistance has been given
to these states to tide over the situation. While Puducherry was
hit by floods due to heavy rains
in December 2015, Arunachal
Pradesh too was affected by
floods last year.
PNS

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?=BQ =4F34;78

he Indo-Tibetan Border
T
Police (ITBP) will set up 12
'holiday homes' at different
scenic locations across the
country for its jawans and
their families as part of its
unique welfare scheme for the
personne belonging to lower
ranks. The locations identified
for construction of retreat homes
are Shimla, Almora, Joshimath,
Madurai, Gangtok, Chittoor and
Sarhan in Himachal Pradesh
among others.
Director General of ITBP
Krishna Chaudhary took this
initiative for welfare of lower
ranks. "It would be for the first
time that any force has taken
such an initiative," an official said.
"With a view to provide
chance to lower rank officials
to spend their leave on tourist

places with families, border

guarding force ITBP has decided to provide Holiday Homes
to their other rank officials," the
official added. Chaudhary on
Friday laid the foundation
stone for the first such home in
Mussoorie in Uttarakhand.
The ITBP with 80,000 personnel strength is the designated paramilitary force for
securing the 3,488-km-long
Indo-China border that has
treacherous terrain at icy
heights of the Himalayas.
A total of 12 such locations
have been chosen to build
these retreat homes. The infra-

structure will be created in the

ITBP premises already available
at these places. The facility
include separate bedrooms,
kitchen and wash rooms for the
other ranks personnel.
The retreats have been
planned as officers and middle
level officers in respective
forces have their messes at stations for various official duties
and for such purposes.
Four families of the jawans
could stay at these holiday
homes, and the unit commanders and field leaders will ensure
that the personnel avail of these
facilities during their leave period. The retreat homes are being
created as part of the welfare
scheme initiated by ITBP DG for
its personnel, especially in the
lower ranks. Those availing the
facilities will have to pay basic
government service charge.

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?=B Q =4F34;78

he
Ministr y
of
Environment and Forest
T
(MoEF) is working on new
guidelines to boost tiger corridor landscapes in the country.
They are trying to get project
proponents procure land in and
along tiger corridors and
develop them as part of compensatory afforestation.
Acknowledging the importance of corridors, ministry
sources said that these patches of forest cover act as crucial
links between protected areas
help in the dispersal of source
populations of tigers / other
wildlife reducing chances of
inbreeding, bringing about
genetic exchange.
The experts in the Ministry
said that this time specific
guidelines are being drawn up
to conserve tiger corridors.
For this more of forest land is
necessary, and the guidelines
aim at incentivizing the project
proponents in this regard.
They pointed out that the
necessity of forest land in corridors cannot be acquired
through law. Unlike the protected area of tiger reserves,
national park and wildlife sanc-

This has also led to

increased crop yields in 30 out
of the 40 study villages, according to the study.
Till January 2016, nearly
16.5 lakh water related works
(8.9 lakh water harvesting, 4.6
lakh micro irrigation and 3
lakh renovation of traditional
bodies have been carried out,
as per the Ministry's data.

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tuaries, tiger corridors are not
protected legally. Hence, efforts
are on to incentivise, the
process while preparing guidelines.
Yet, the ecological importance of tiger corridors cannot
be undermined and has to be
taken into account before clearing projects. The sources further informed as a part of the
ongoing exercise, the most
crucial corridors are being
identified. The project proponents will, henceforth, be
encouraged to procure land in
the corridor to help in its conservation.

Recently, green activists

were up in arms for approvals
given to multiple infrastructure
projects through Kanha-Pench
tiger corridor connecting the
forests of Madhya Pradesh and
Maharashtra. While the
National Highways Authority
of India is widening National
Highway-7 through this corridor the Gondia-Jabalpur railway doubling will also pass
through it.
The National Tiger
Conser vation Authority
(NTCA) and Wildlife Institute
of India (WII) have identified
certain landscape based corridors of the country in a report
called - Connecting Tiger
Populations for Long-Term
Conservation.
The report has identified
corridors under broad landscapes such as Shivalik Hills
and Gangetic plain landscape,
Central Indian landscape,
Western Ghats landscape complex and North East Hills. As
per the report, the KanhaPench corridor, Rajaji-Corbett
corridor and NagarholeB andipur-Muduma laiWayanad corridor are some of
the most crucial tiger corridors
in the country.

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s part of its ongoing efforts to improve

road safety in the country and facilitate ease of transport, the Road Transport
Ministry has convened a meeting of State
Governments to deliberate on various
issues in this regard which need to be
addressed urgently.
The deliberations will focus on what
needs to be done to make road travel safer,
bring down number of accidents, facilitate
ease of transport and enhance customer
experience in transactions with transport
and police departments.

All Principal Transport Secretaries of

states and Transport Commissioners have
been called on April 29 which is part of the
meeting of the scheduled Group of Ministers
(GoM). The GoM headed by Rajasthan
Transport Minister Yunus Khan was formed
by Central Government to suggest a road
map for reforming the road sector.
Safety of non-motorized vehicles,
pedestrians, automobile safety features,
quality control over automobiles, issue of
driving licences, fitness of vehicles, public education, strengthening of traffic
enforcement, enhancing customer experience in transaction with transport and
police department are some of the significant issues to be taken up for discussion,
said a road ministry official.
In this regard a meeting of all stake-

holders like representatives of motor transport companies, state road transport undertakings and bus operators among others
were called on Friday so that all areas of concern could be discussed. Secretary Road
Transport Sanjay Mitra reiterated his
Ministry's commitment to facilitate building of a cogent mechanism for safe and
seamless road travel in the country.
"As a signatory to Brasilia Declaration,
India is committed to reducing the number of road accidents and fatalities by 50
per cent by 2020. We need urgent reforms
to weed out archaic rules so that the road
sector can support the high growth rates
of the Indian economy. We need to amend
the Motor Vehicles Act and make optimal
use of technology to cut down delays," said
Transport Ministry official.

]PcX^]%

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olitbureau member Pinarayi

P
Vijayan, the mightiest
leader of the Kerala CPI(M),
may like to describe nonagenarian Opposition Leader VS
Achuthanandan as just one of
the candidates of the party-led
LDF who enjoys special status
only on the campaign scene,
but it is the latter who is now
setting the agenda for the Left
for the May 16 Assembly election, at least in the case of the
sensitive issue of liquor policy.
On
Friday,
Achuthanandan publicly
rejected the allegedly ambiguous stand adopted by Pinarayi
and his neo-liberalist associates
in the CPI(M) over the question of whether the Left, if it
came to power, would reopen
the bars closed down as part of
the Congress-led ruling UDF's
liquor policy and announced
that these would remain closed

even if the LDF won the polls.

"The party's liquor policy
is what general secretary
Sitaram Yechuri has stated,"
Achuthanandan said in a
Facebook post on Friday. "That
policy is to bring down the use
of booze in phases and thus
implement total liquor renunciation. It was as part of this
policy that Yechuri said bars
closed by the UDF regime
wouldn't be reopened," the
Facebook post said, adding
that the LDF would open no
new bars.
Effectively, the post by
Achuthanandan, who is not
even a member of any of the
decision-making panels of the
CPI(M), is a direct response to
a comment by Pinarayi on the
liquor policy. Asked for his
opinion on Yechuri's stand,
Pinarayi had the other day said
that matters like that would
become clear only when the
LDF decided the liquor policy
for a year after coming to
power.
This, and the earlier statement by LDF convener
Vaikom Viswan, a Pinarayi

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associate, that Yechuri might

not be totally aware of the realities of Kerala while speaking
about bars, had prompted the
Congress and the UDF to
accuse the Left of not having
a clear liquor policy and of
having assured bar owners of
renewed business if it won the
election.
In a tone that rang like an
assertive announcement,
Achuthanandan said, "No new

?C8

bar would open in Kerala if the

LDF came to power. There will
be a total overhauling of the
existing system of liquor distribution. The goal of this
overhauling will be to bring
down the consumption of
liquor," the veteran leader said
in his Facebook post.
"What should actually be
done is not to close down all
bars in one go. What is needed to be done is to promote a

culture conducive to renunciation of liquor and to develop

a campaign in accordance to it.
Such a culture has come up
against smoking. The LDF, if it
comes to power, will adopt a
liquor policy modeled on that
line," Achuthanandan said.
Observers say that the
inter vention
by
Achuthanandan, arguably the
most popular political leader
in the State and certainly the
Left's most valued campaigner, in the issue of liquor policy shows the determination
of the Yechuri camp in
CPI(M)'s central leadership to
formulate and control the
party's strategies for the
Assembly election.
Meanwhile, the Congress
teased the CPI(M) by alleging
that it was groping in the dark
over the issue. "The LDF is still
confused in the matter. What is
its policy? Is it what Yechuri
stated or is it what Pinarayi is
speaking of? The liquor policy
issue has become yet another
problem of divisionism in the
CPI(M)," said State Congress
president VM Sudheeran.

?=BQ :>278

tate
BJP
president
Kummanam Rajasekharan,
Sformer
party chief V
Muraleedharan, accused of
bribery former Minister KM
Mani of the Kerala Congress
(M) and Forest Minister
Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan
of the Congress were among
those who filed nominations
for the May 16 Assembly election in Kerala on Friday, the
first day of the process which
started with the issuance of
notification for the polls.
V Muraleedharan, NDA
candidate in Kazhakkoottam,
Thiruvananthapuram was the
first aspirant to file the papers
in the State while CPI(M) candidate Kadakampally Surendran
submitted the nomination after
planting a sapling as it was
Earth Day. Filing of nominations started at 11.00 am Friday
after the notification for the
polls to the 140 constituencies
in the State was issued.
The filing of nominations
will continue till April 29 and
scrutiny of papers will be held on
April 30. The last date for with-

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drawing nominations is May 2.

Polling will be done on May 16
and the votes will be counted on
May 19. The total strength of the
electorate in Kerala this time is
2,56,27,620 with 1,33,01,435 of
them being women.
A total of 1,373 aspirants
had filed nominations for the
Assembly election of 2011 but
psephologists said that the
number could be much higher this time as a tough triangular battle was expected across
the State with the BJP-led NDA
standing determined not just to
"open account" but to become
a decisive force in the State's
legislative process.
"This election is an

opportunity for me to reply to

certain matters," said 83-yearold Mani, chairman of the
KC(M), third biggest constituent of the Congress-led
r uling
UDF,
as
he
stepped out of his house in
Pala, Kottayam on Friday
morning for filing his nomination. He said he would be
able to prove that all the allegations leveled against him
were part of a conspiracy.
Mani, seeking election to
the Assembly for the 13th time
from Pala, had on November 10
last resigned from the Congressled UDF Cabinet as Finance and
Law minister following certain
adverse comments from the
High Court in a case relating to
the charge that he had taken Rs
1-crore as bribe from the bar
owners of the State.
The others who filed nominations on Friday included
Assembly Speaker N Sakthan,
former
minister
K
Muraleedharan, his sister
Padmaja Venugopal, all
Congress candidates, CP John
of the CMP, a constituent of the
UDF, and CH Kunhambu of
the CPI(M).

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><4A50A>>@Q 7H34A0103

the season of unconvenalliances, Telangana

Iwasntional
also a witness to a political alliance which was unthinkable till now.
In a desperate measure to
ensure its survival in the face
of unrelenting offensive by
ruling Telangana Rashtra
Samiti, the main Opposition
Congress has reached out to its
bitter rival Telugu Desam and
sought its support in the ensuing by-election to Paleru
Assembly constituency in
Khammam district.
In a development which
caught everybody by surprise
Telangana State Congress president Captain Uttam Kumar
Reddy on Friday phoned
Telangana TDP president L
Ramanna and requested him
to support the Congress Party.
According to sources,
Ramanna sought some time to

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consult the national party president N Chandrababu Naidu.

Sources said keeping in
view the tough challenge the
TRS was posing to both the
rival parties, there was a strong
possibility that the TDP will
not field its own candidate but
extend support to the candidate
who can defeat the ruling party.
Khammmam had traditionally been a stronghold of
the Left and the TDP, but both
of them have lost their hold
over it. Though the TRS had
namesake presence till the
2014 elections, later it gained

ground at the cost of the

Congress and the TDP with
many of their key leaders
joining the TRS.
TDP stalwart Tummala
Nageshwara Rao who is now
Minister for Road and
Buildings in the TRS
Government will be the candidate in the by-election slated for May 16.
The C ongress was
mulling over the name of
Sucharita Reddy. The Paleru
seat fell vacant due to the
death of Congress MLA
Venkat Reddy.

amil Nadu saw 77 people,

including five women filing
T
their nomination papers for the

May 16 Assembly elections

when the doors of the offices of
the Returning Officers were
opened on Friday.
One of the first candidates
to file the nomination on
Friday was K Padmarajan,
known as the Election King,
who submitted his papers from
Mettur in Salem district. "This
is my 173rd election and I am
rushing to Ulundurpet to file a
nomination paper against
Vijayakant, the chief ministerial candidate of the PWF," said
Padmarajan who is also
described as a Serial Loser.
With the filing of nomination papers at Ulundurpet,
Padmarajan's record will go up
to 174. Candidates belonging to
major parties, including the
rationalist DMK are expected
to file nomination papers only
by April 25, as it is considered
an auspicious day.

3<:b<:BcP[X]RP\_PXV]X]VU^a_PachRP]SXSPcTb

In Chennai, an independent candidate Kandasamy,

put the election officials in
trouble as he brought the nomination fee of C10,000/ in coins.
Officials of the returning office
at Villivakkam had a tough
time while counting the coins
which Kandasami brought in a
silk cloth.

?X^]TTa_W^c^

Elsewhere in Chennai, the

scorching heat forced the candidates who were campaigning
out in the open run helter- skelter. Some of the candidates like
M Subramaniam of the DMK
who is fighting from Saidapet
who had planned for the day
escaped the fury of the heat.
Subramaniam starts his cam-

paign as early as 5.30 in the

morning and winds up the
morning session by 10 am as
the heat sets in. He resumes his
outdoor campaign after 5 pm
when the mercury comes down
to bearable temperature.
Opposition parties including the BJP have come out
openly demanding action
against the AIADMK leadership
for the death of five persons due
to sun stroke during the campaign rallies addressed by Chief
Minister and party chief J
Jayalalithaa. "It is a criminal negligence and case should be registered against Jayalalithaa and
others," said E V K S Elangovan,
TNCC president. Jayalalithaa
has expressed grief over the
deaths and has written personally to the close relations of the
victims, according to a
spokesperson of the AIADMK.
Jayalalithaa's e;ection rallies
are held between 3 pm and 5
pm because she is using a helicopter for campaigning. She has
to return to Chennai before
sunset because choppers are
not allowed to fly after 6 pm.

$OLSUHVHQWHGDZDUG6HQDV
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t least ten members of the

Shiv Sena were detained
A
near Ram Kathakar Morari

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:D<0A274;;0??0=Q
274==08

he mercury crossed the 40

degree Celsius mark in
Chennai on Friday "ushering "
in dog days of summer. A hot
and sultry wind together with
scorching heat made people
stay indoors for most part of
the day.
According
to
Meteorological Department
of India, the next two-three
days will see a dry westerly
wind blowing across northern
Tamil Nadu (including
Chennai) making the days
hotter. Local doctors said on
condition of anonymity that it
is not advisable to visit
Chennai for the next few
weeks in the backdrop of the
prevailing weather conditions.
"On Friday Chennai
recorded 41.8 degree Celsius
and the next two days will see
the temperature going up by
two to three degree Celsius,"
said Balachandran, Director,
Area Cyclone Warning Centre,
Chennai. To put it bluntly,
Chennai is in for worse times

?C8

Bapu's Ashram in Talgajarda

Village of Bhavnagar district
as they staged a protest against
Pakistani singer Ghulam Ali
on Friday.
In fact the ghazal maestro
was felicitated at the ashram
and honoured with Hanumant
Award. The Shiv Sena members opposed it and tried to
stage a protest, but before
they could do anything they
were detained by the police,
said a source.
Anticipating protest they
had already made adequate
security arrangements and
detained
all
Shiv
Sainiks before they could disturb the function.

1hT[TRcX^]b^]
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Lucknow :
Election
Commission of India (ECI)
has issued a notification for
by-elections to two Assembly
seats of Jangipur (Ghazipur)
and Bilari (Moradabad) on
May 16.
State Chief Electoral
Officer (CEO) Arun Singhal
said in Lucknow on Friday that
the nominations commenced
with the issuance of the notification and will continue till
April 29. Scrutiny of papers
would be done on April 30 and
the last date of withdrawal has
0R^R^]dcbT[[TacPZTbP]P_SdaX]VcWTW^cPUcTa]^^]PccWT<PaX]PX]2WT]]PX^]CWdabSPh
?C8 been fixed as May 2.
Polling would be held at
as the humidity in the metro is because of the severe hot con- Nakshathram (Nakshathram the two constituencies on May
is Tamil for star) when tem- 16 between 7 am and 5 pm and
high and the weather is gener- ditions," said Jayanthi.
This is for the first time in perature and heat peaks up. counting of votes will be done
ally hot and sultry.
"Friday turned out to be a the last ten years that the mer- The elite class in Chennai leave from 8 am on May 19.
horrible day with the temper- cury is crossing the 40 degree for places like Nilgiris,
The Jangipur seat fell
ature remaining high through- Celsius mark, according to Kodaikanal or the cooler vacant following the death of
out the day," said Jayanthi, a Balachandran. "The last time European destinations depend- Panchayati Raj Minister Kailash
senior central government offi- we had 40 plus temperature in ing on their economic status. "If Singh Yadav after a prolonged
cial. She said though the work- April was in 2006. In 2006 the month of April is experi- illness on February 9.
ing hours were over by 5 pm, April we had experienced a encing this kind of heat, we are
The Bilari seat fell vacant
she was forced to remain temperature of 42.1degree scared to even think about the when sitting SP member Haji
month of May," said Mohammad Irfan died in a road
indoor till 6.30 pm because of Celsius," he said.
The month of May is Kattumannarkoil Kannan, a accident in Badaun on March 10
the hot weather. "We may be
able to go out only after 7 pm known as the season of Agni farming leader.
en route to Etawah.
PNS

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Apart from Ali and nine

other famous personalities
associated with various fields
of art were also given award
during the award ceremony in
cluding filmstar Dharmendra.
The Trust had chosen Ali
and five others for Hanumant

Award and film actor

Dharmendra along with three
other artists for Natraj Award
for their contributions in their
chosen fields.
The function was organised by Morari Bapu's
Chitrakut Dham Trust.
The Pakistani singer was
awarded for his contribution
in the field of singing. Every
year the trust orgaises the
annual event Asmita Parv in
which artists perform and are
given awards for their contributions in different fields.
This year the event was
organised from Tuesday and
ended on Friday. According to
sources Ghulam Ali was to
perform on April 19, but due
to some reason his event was
cancelled and he briefly came
to the Ashram on Friday
morning to receive the award.

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t least four persons of

Rashtriya Dalit Mahasangh
on Friday unsuccessfully tried
to damage the pitch of
Khanderi Cricket stadium in
Rajkot in protest against holding of IPL matches in wake of
water scarcity in the region.
Four members of Rashtriya
Dalit Mahasangh entered the
cricket stadium owned by
Saurashtra Cricket Association
on Friday with an intent to
damage the pitch. They were
however spotted by the officials
and removed from the stadium.
The officials later called in
the local police, which deployed
a team of State Reserve Police to
man the pitch. The security of
the stadium too has been tightened after the incident, though
no arrests or detentions have
been made so far.
Former Bharatiya Janata
Party legislator and president of

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Mahasangh, Siddharth Parmar,
sphearheaded a dharna and 48hour fast outside the SCA stadium to protest against the
tournament being held in
Rajkot, given the drought-like
situation prevailing in the region.
The Mahasangh wants the
matches shifted to venue outside Gujarat and SCA to adopt
villages affected by water scarcity or supply water to these villages using SCA pump.
The SCA on its part claims
that they are not supplied water
from the local civic authorities
but have made water arrangements on their own.

Though the election

process for the assembly election began on Friday, all parties
are shuffling and reshuffling
candidates in various constituencies. While the
AIADMK has effected 23
changes in the list of candidates,
the DMK was forced to change
six candidates because of revolt
by a section of the party cadre.
M K Stalin, the DMK's
Chief Minister- in- waiting, is the
only prominent figure who is
seen outdoor campaigning for
party candidates. Stalin, spotting
a new hair style as well as
designer attire as per the sirectives of son-in-law Sabari was
seen campaigning in a spirited
manner despite the scorching
heat of Vellore.
He spent considerable time
with women explaining the
changes to be ushered in by the
DMK government if the party
was voted to power. Stalin, like
his nonagenarian father
Karunanidhi, has special affection for women voters with
whom he finds enough time to
exchange pleasantries.

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?=BQ 60=378=060A

fter taking custody from

Bengaluru, Gujarat Police
on Friday brought back one of
the prime accused of the 2008
Ahmedabad serial blasts case.

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The accused Alamzeb
Afridi, an alleged Indian
Mujahideen operative has been
brought to Ahmedabad
through tranfer warrant from
Karnataka Police. Afridi is a
resident of Juhapura area of
Ahmedabad.
Aridi allegedly absconded
after 18 blasts rocked
Ahmedabad in July 2008,
killing 56 people and injuring
over 150.
As per the FIR, he srategically planted a bomb on a
bicycle to spread terror.
Alamzeb was arrested by the
National Investigation Agency
(NIA) in Bengaluru on January
29 this year in the Church
Street blast case in Bengaluru.
Deepan Bhadran, Deputy
Commissioner of Ahmedabad
Crime Branch said that Afridi
was wanted in the 2008 bomb
blast case and the Gujarat
police sought his custody from
Bengaluru court.
"Now he will be produced
before a local court in
Ahmedabad to seek his
remand," said Bhadran.
According to NIA
repor t Af ridi was also
wanted in a case related
to holding of a terrorist training camp at Waghamon in
Kerala with the help of the
Students Islamic Movement
Of India (SIMI).

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n an ironic corroboration of
Prime Minister Narendra
IModis
Thursday speech that
Mamata Banerjee regime in
West Bengal were darker than
the previous ones, the poll
time violence continued
unabated in the State with
alleged Trinamool Congress
men butchering two more
opposition workers to death at
Khandaghosh block of
Burdwan district.
Their fault: they had volunteered as CPI(M) polling
agents ignoring Trinamool
threats and stopped proxy votes.
The death of Fajle Haq and
Dukhiram Daal late on
Thursday night came hours
after another CPI(M) polling
agent at Domkal in
Murshidabad district was
bombed and stabbed to death.
In all the cases the attackers not
only bombed and then hacked
their victims but also ensured
that the police turned up hours
later allowing them to get a

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painful death.
Mamata Banerjee is responsible for these deaths as she had
repeatedly been threatening that
she would take revenge inch by
inch after the polls, CPI(M) MP
Md Salim said.
The whole village wore a
deserted look as the locals
including womeand children
had deserted the area.
The action not only
remained confined to Burdwan

D? _^[[b)?:PbZb2^]VUa^]cP[
^aVP]XbPcX^]bc^_[PRT^]T
\T\QTaPcTeTah_^[[Q^^cW
Lucknow: Congress poll strategist Prashant Kishor (PK) made
it clear to leaders of the partys
frontal outfits Minority cell,
NSUI, Mahila Congress and
Sewa Dal to ensure at least
one representative from their
outfit in every booth during the
2017 Assembly polls.
PK interacted with leaders
of frontal outfits on the second
consecutive day on Friday.
While the meetings were
chaired by State Congress chief
Nirmal Khatri, AICC general
secretary and UP in-charge
Madhusudan Mistri was absent.
Earlier on Thursday, PK
had met leaders of the Youth
Congress and SC/ST Cell in the
presence of Mistri and Khatri.
If every frontal outfit
deputes at least one dedicated
worker in each of the 1.40 lakh
odd booths, then we would
have won half the elections, PK
said exhorting the workers and
leaders to work for gaining
power in UP.
Accompanied by his specialised team, PK recorded all

statements and demands raised

by leaders of the frontal units
and assured them that they
could contact him directly to
satisfy their doubts.
Nearly 20 members of
Kishors team have already
started working out of the UP
Congress Committees office, a
penthouse to house Kishors
office has been allocated and
would start functioning soon.
At the meeting with leaders of Minority Cell, the common refrain was that the party
should field more Muslim candidates like the Samajwadi
Party and the BSP.
The representatives of Seva
Dal too demanded some seats
for their leaders in the polls.
Mahila Congress workers
were asked to identify seats on
which Bahubali (musclemen)
were likely to contest so that the
Congress could field strong
women candidates.
He has set a two month
deadline for the frontal outfits to
identify booth level workers and
hand over their names. PNS

but spread to neighbouring

Nadia and North 24 Parganas
where armed Trinamool men
burnt down a Congress polling
agents house on Thursday
night and the victims could
barely flee to safety. The incident took place at Haringhata
in Nadia.
A few kilometers away the
Trinamool goons attacked a
former septuagenarian MLA
Nani Malakar of the CPI(M)

?C8

and an ex-State Minister

Bankim Ghosh. The victims
were admitted at Kalyani
Hospital with broken limbs.
At Haroa and Sasan in
North 24 Parganas the
armed Trinamool goons set
on fire many houses and beat
up opposition workers,
sources said.
Further south at Basanti in
South 24 Parganas hundreds of
villagers filed a public interest

litigation at the Calcutta High

Court demanding their rights
to vote preserved.
Through the petition
hundreds of villagers from
Chunakhali village said that
the Trinamool Congress goons
were threatening them for the
past several months against
voting. They want to vote and
have approached the High
Court to get their rights preserved because repeated petitions to the Election
Commission have fallen on
deaf ears the petitioners
advocate said adding the
Court had directed the
Commission to file an affidavit
on the issue.
Meanwhile in yet another embarrassment for the
Trinamool Congress the
C ommission on Friday
directed the State administration to transfer North 24
Parganas SP Tanmoy
Roychowdhury and South 24
Parganas DM PB Salim for
their alleged biased conduct.
While M Annappa will
take
the
place
of
Roychowdhury Abanindra
Singhmwill come in the place
of Salim sources said. The
opposition welcomed the move
saying it would have been better had the officers been transferred earlier.

Xcb[TPSTabc^^Z\^]ThPbS^]PcX^]
B0D60AB4=6D?C0Q :>;:0C0

arada editor Mathew

Samuel on Friday tore
through the Trinamool
Congress argument that the
wads of notes its senior leaders
received from him during a
sting operation were not given
as bribe but as donation.
Had it been donation then
there would be receipts. But
where is the receipt, Samuels
said insisting the money was paid
in lieu of certain future favours.
On how he could get to the
Ministers and MPs and other
senior leaders he said
Trinamool MLA Iqbal Ahmed
and IPS officer Mirza acted as
intermediaries wondering why
some Trinamool leaders were
attacking him for making calls
to Dubai.
Everyone knows that we
have office in Dubai and I can
make 10-15 calls a day to that
office, he said and wondered
how Derek OBrien could
know about what calls I made
to Dubai. This means that they
were tracking my telephone
number, which was unethical
and illegal, he maintained.
On why he would not

0=PaPSP=TfbbcX]V^_TaPcX^]
R^]SdRcTSQhBP\dT[fWT]RTWT
_aTbT]cTSWX\bT[UPbPQdbX]Tbb\P]
bW^fTSPW^bc^UC<2[TPSTab
aTRTXeX]V\^]ThUa^\WX\X][XTd^U
_a^\XbX]VUPe^dab
come to Kolkata earlier after
the High Court asked him to
file an affidavit here, he said he
was concerned about the security of his video footages. Now
that I know that the footages
are safely preserved upon
courts order I decided to come
to Kolkata.
A Narada News sting operation conducted by Samuels
whence he presented himself as
a businessman showed a host
of Trinamool Congress leaders
including half-a-dozen MPs, a
couple of Ministers receiving
money from him in lieu of
promising favours.
Among those shown in
the footage were MPs Sougato
Roy, Kakoli Ghoshdastidar,
Sultan Ahmed, Ministers
Firhad Hakim, Subroto
Mukherjee, Kolkata Mayor
Sobhan Chatterjee and former
Trinamool students wing chief

Shankudeb Panda.
Meanwhile the Trinamool
Congress on Friday made a
representation before the State
Chief Electoral Officer where it
demanded immediate cancellation of Samuels programmes
in Kolkata on account of the
fact that it was election time in
Bengal and that the Narada
issue was sub-judice and had
also been taken up by the Lok
Sabha Ethics Committee for
investigation.
The representation had
been forwarded to the Election
Commission of India, CEO
sources said.
The opposition Left filed a
counter representation saying
the EC could not stop Samuel
from attending programmes in
Kolkata as it would hurt the
very essence of individual freedom guaranteed by the
Constitution of India.

&HQWUHV8NKDQG
GHFLVLRQWKURZQLQWR
GXVWELQ6KLY6HQD

CWTBT]PfWX[TfT[R^\X]VcWT[P]S\PaZeTaSXRcc^aTbc^aTcWTST\^RaPcXRP[[h
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?C8 Q <D<108

n yet another attack on the

Modi Government after the
Uttarakhand High Court verdict, key NDA ally Shiv Sena
on Friday said the Centres
decision to impose Presidents
rule in the hill State has been
thrown into the dustbin and
that it had disrobed itself.
The Modi Government
suffered a major embarrassment after the Uttarakhand
High Court in a stunning verdict on Thursday quashed the
imposition of Presidents Rule
in the State.
The Sena while welcoming
the landmark verdict to restore
the democratically elected
Government said it also belittled the office of the President.
The judiciary has thrown
into the dustbin the Centres
decision to impose the

Presidents rule in Uttarakhand.

It has also discredited Centres
stand that the President had
endorsed its recommendation,
said an editorial in Senas
mouthpiece Saamana.
The Courts observation
that the President can err literally means the Modi
Government has committed a
mistake by imposing Central
rule in the hill State, it said.
The Modi Government
tried to use the Presidents
office for political gains but
were prevented from doing so
by the Court. Thus, not only
has the Centre disrobed itself,
but also belittled the office of
the President, it said.
Looking from a democratic perspective, the verdict should
be welcomed, the Sena said.
The HC also castigated the
Centre for uprooting a democratically-elected Government.

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ow working with the

Congress, Prashant
Kishore, the election
strategist who was
part of the Narendra
Modi campaign in 2014 and the
Nitish Kumar mission in Bihar in
2015, is focusing on Uttar Pradesh.
His plan is to revive the party in
Indias biggest State, in terms of
population and Lok Sabha seats.
From an impressive 21 seats (out
of 80 seats) in 2009, the Congress
fell to merely two seats in 2014.
Only Congress president Sonia
Gandhi (Rae Bareli) and Congress
vice president Rahul Gandhi
(Amethi) managed to win.
Rahul Gandhi was given a
spirited fight by Smriti Irani of the
Bharatiya Janata Party, who has
been visiting the constituency over
and over again after her defeat and
looks set to lock in the Congress
vice president in 2019. In State
Assembly elections, the Congress
has been a no-hoper, consistently
finishing a poor fourth among the
four major parties in the State. In
the 2012 Assembly election, Rahul
Gandhi campaigned for many
months and even sought to build
an OBC constituency for the
Congress which has historically depended on Brahmins and
upper caste groups as well as
Dalits and Muslims in the State. It
was all to no avail and the Congress
scion was humiliated.
Why should it be different in
2017, when Uttar Pradesh sees its
next election? It would appear that
the major battle will be between the
two regional parties, Mayawatis
Bahujan Samaj Party and Mulayam
Singh Yadavs Samajwadi Party,
now in Government. The BJP,
organisationally weak in the State,
hopes a new local unit president and
a shake-up in the State party, along
with the supportive role of the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh network which was so critical in
2014 will help revive the party
and bring it back on rails, even if not
to power immediately.
For the Congress, Kishore has
proposed a blockbuster initiative:
Making Priyanka Gandhi the
partys candidate for Chief Minister.
This is a high-risk, potentially
high-outcome idea. In the 19th
century, there was a movement for
heroic medicine in Europe. It
entailed taking risky steps that
could cure immediately but also
potentially threaten a patients wellbeing: Cure or kill, to use shorthand. The Priyanka Gandhi option
is the political equivalent of heroic medicine for the Congress.
What could be the underlying
logic? Uttar Pradesh is a polity com-

prising several community and

caste groups and each electoral victor in recent years has had to weld
a successful coalition. If one segment is brought on board, it is easier to appeal to other segments and
groups. Without that first group, of
course, there is a viability problem.
In recent years in the State, the BSP,
the SP and even the BJP have begun
with a base vote. The Congress does
not have a single demographic
unit that is loyal to it. It has no core
vote around which to gather the
incremental vote; its loyal vote is
ageing and voting from memory.
Kishores calculation could be
that bringing a Nehru-Gandhi
family member, especially an
untested one such as Priyanka
Gandhi, would be the tonic to
attract a certain quantum of
Brahmin voters and Muslims.
This will bring the Congress into
contention and from then on a
sustained and sharp-focused election campaign could draw in
urban voters from the many towns
of Uttar Pradesh and other floating members of the electorate.
In theory, this is a fair assessment. In 1999, it took a short burst
from Priyanka Gandhi to snatch
the Brahmin vote from the BJP in
Amethi. This reduced Arun Nehru
(then the BJP candidate) from an
obvious front-runner to fourth
place. Precisely the same mechanism, of using a Nehru-Gandhi
family member as chief minister-

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ial nominee, had been speculated

upon in 2007, with Rahul Gandhi
suggested for the role.
Can all this hold true today?
There are several factors and caveats
that need to be considered here.
Much water has flown down the
Gangetic plains since 1999 or even
2007. The freshness and untested
nature of the Nehru-Gandhi siblings has given way to a degree of
listlessness and fatigue, if not
ridicule and downright hostility.
Younger voters have no memories
of Atal Bihari Vajpayees
Government, let alone of the peak
of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and
of Indira and Rajiv Gandhi. After
the UPA years, and following a
series of start-stop political attempts,
Rahul Gandhi can no longer be sold
as an innocent newcomer, untainted by office and power.
While his sister has been
outside formal politics, some of
the UPA eras power overhang
would have affected her too. True,
if she becomes a chief ministerial candidate she will take away a
lot of attention, if nothing else. Yet,
she could also draw attention to
her husband, and how that will
play out is another story. More
than that, the Nehru-Gandhi
template of all or nothing, of making its members either Prime
Minister or take no position, will
need to be revised if Priyanka
Gandhi is to present herself as
chief ministerial hopeful. This

B>D=318C4

may seem a small matter for

most politicians; in the self-created and self-serving mythology of
the Nehru-Gandhi universe it
amounts to an astral explosion.
Presume Kishores counsel is
heeded and the experiment is taken
up. What next? Let us take a generous view and decide that Priyanka
Gandhi will be a rousing campaigner and move the Congress to 100125 seats (in a State Assembly of
403). Do note that even these
numbers seem absolute fantasy at
the moment, but let us just believe
they will occur. At this stage, there
will be a surge in the Congress to
scale up the Priyanka model and
expand it to the rest of the country,
to promote her to a national role
and junk Rahul Gandhi. How the
family will cope with that, remains
a piquant question.
Alternatively, what if the
Priyanka project falls flat and she,
like her brother in 2012, cannot
lift the Congress beyond the 2530 seat trap. In that situation, the
Congress would have exhausted
its self-proclaimed brahmastra
(weapon of last resort). It will
need to prepare for the 2019 general election with a brother vanquished in 2012 and 2014 and a
sister vanquished in 2017. After
that, would anything matter?
(The writer is senior fellow,
Observer Research Foundation. He
can
be
reached
at
malikashok@gmail.com)

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5S_^_]YScdQRY\Ydi
Sir This refers to the editorial,
Rajans harmless remark (April
22). Reserve Bank of India
Governor Raghuram Rajans
remark should have been taken in
the right spirit. There is no reason
to be too happy with the current
economic growth in the country, as
much needs to be done before we
can achieve the eight per cent to
nine percent growth. Rajans comments were aimed at highlighting
the fact that India should utilise this
time to keep its house in order so
that when the global economy
turns around, we are in proper
shape to march ahead.
Bal Govind
Noida

3_^cdbeSdYfUb_\U
Sir This refers to the editorial,
Lost jewel of the crown (April 21).
The bid to get the Kohinoor back
to India, received a shot in the arm
with the recent proceedings in the
Supreme Court, following the filing
of a PIL, seeking clarity on the
Governments stand on the issue.
As the Solicitor General of
India is yet to present a formal reply
on the Governments stand on the
much-coveted treasure, it is amus-

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ing to see a concerted effort on the

part of some political leaders to misrepresent facts, to project as if is the
Governments failure to get the jewel
back. This only betrays the
Oppositions desperate bid to hit out
at the Modi Government. It would
be better if constructive criticism,
rather than dubious one-upmanship, becomes the order of the day.
Isha Shah
Delhi

4_]Y^Q^d\Q^WeQWU
Sir This refers to the article,
Sanskrit-Buddhism: A saas-bahu
equation? (April 20) by Rajesh
Singh. Mahayana Buddhist texts
were composed in Sanskrit and
not in Pali. Pali and Sanskrit are
mutually intelligible languages.
Sanskrit was taught in Buddhist
monasteries for centuries.
Surya
Via web

7bQc`UQcY\i
Sir This refers to the article,
Sanskrit-Buddhism: A saas-bahu
equation? (April 20) by Rajesh
Singh. Buddha wanted his followers to learn his philosophy in a language that was easily understood by
all. Therefore, Buddhist texts are

available in other languages for people who do not understand Sanskrit

or Pali languages.
Jeffrey
Via web

:eTYSYQ\QSdYfYc]
Sir Dealing a major blow to the
Modi
Government,
the
Uttarakhand High Court quashed
the imposition of Presidents rule in
the State and revived the Harish
Rawat-led Congress Government.
While the Governments actions are
subject to judicial review, setting
aside the Presidents rule in the State
appears to be too much of judicial
activism. The judiciary is assuming
for itself executive functions.
P Arihanth
Secunderabad

4eRY_eccdbQdUWi
Sir This refers to the editorial,
Chidambaram in a soup (April
20). The strategy of the Congress
was to neutralise the then Gujarat
Chief Minister Narendra Modis
emergence as a national leader.
Niladrinath Mohanty
Via web
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he worlds highest paid female
T
athlete for 11 years in a row,
Maria Sharapova, admitted publicly

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in the first week of March that she

had tested positive for meldonium
or mildronate a drug recently
banned by the World Anti-Doping
Agency (WADA).
Though she was born in Siberia,
her destiny with the ball and the racket was spotted quite early. She had
migrated to the US with her father
who was carrying a paltry sum of
$700. She was then just seven years
old to start a life full of world-class
brands and glamour. At the age of 11,
she clinched her first deal with Nike
when the sports brand had top league
players across all the games. She had
won her first grand slam title at 17 in
Wimbledon in 2004 which put her
into the league of the most sought
after women tennis players of the
world. Then she had come all the way
to win her first US Open title in 2006,
followed by the Australian Open in
2008, and the French Open twice in
2012 and 2014. Again, she won a silver medal at the London Olympics in
2012 wherein she was carrying the
Russian national flag as the brand
ambassador for her home country.
Today with a total of 35 WTA
singles titles in her kitty and an earning (only from playing) of a whopping $36,766,149, she has exactly fallen from all the glory and grace which
she has gathered up till the age of 28.
Once described as one woman
marketing machine, she was so
much in demand that from clothes
to beauty products to cars to shoes,
including Porsche, Evian, Tag Heuer,
Avon and the most favourite Nike,
all desperately desired to have none
other than Sharapova be their brand
ambassadors.
Now let us see what is the scandal all about which has simply
dragged the diva out of the court for
the time being? Sharapova was tested positive for meldonium or mildronate (its chemical name) after she
lost the Australian Open quarter
finals on January 26 this year to
Serena Williams. The controversial
meldonium was put under the
banned list of drugs by the WADA
on September 16, 2015, effective
from January 1, 2016. WADA
assigned meldonium an S4 classification belonging to the group of
hormones and metabolic modulators. Some experts feel that the
agency decided to ban it from the
beginning of this year because of
high level use of the drug by athletes
for non-therapeutic purposes, mostly by East European athletes across
various sports. Ironically Russian

doctors, fitness experts and athletes

compare it to Vitamin C and it was
treated at the same level as levocarnitine, which is widely available and
used across Russia and countries of
Eastern Europe. It was invented in
Latvia by a chemist named Ivar
Kalvinish in 1975.
Sharapova has been using this
drug since 2006 as per the advice of
her family doctor for treating various health problems, including flu.
She says, I had a deficiency in magnesium. I had irregular EKG results
and I had a family history of diabetes
and there were signs of diabetes.
Experts say meldonium is used to
treat ischemia i. e. inadequate blood
supply and resultant ailments like
angina, chronic heart failure and various neurodegenerative syndromes.
For athletes, it is highly beneficial as
it constantly enhances blood supply
to muscles. Also it helps increase
endurance and fight extreme level of
stress which is found in sportspersons. The inventor of the drug,
Kalvinish, does not considers meldonium as doping. To him, with
meldonium, an athlete cannot run
faster or farther, he is only protected from ischemia and oxygen deficiency when working at full capacity. But Sharapova could definitely
apply for a retroactive therapeutic use
exemption permissible by WADA,
which allows an athlete to use a
banned substance if her particular
medical condition demands the
same. Otherwise the standing rules
of WADA would disqualify a first
time user up to four years for intentional use of a banned drug. The
maximum penalty for unintentional use is up to two years.
Sharapovas lawyer John
Haggerty came in full defense of the
tennis prodigy. We think there is a
laundry list of extremely mitigating
circumstances that once taken into
consideration would result in dramatically reducing any sanction that
they might want to impose on Maria
(Sharapova). She should be appreciated that she did not deny the findings of the test. Even she had
declared it before the International
Tennis Federation (ITF) completed
the whole enquiry process. While
admitting the doping test, she said,
I have to take full responsibility
because it is my body and its what I
put into it and I cant blame anyone
but myself.
Tennis is not an exception to doping. In the past, biggies in the tennis
world had fallen from grace one after
another; like John McEnroe, Andre
Agassi to name a few. But it is entirely shocking and confusing how a dis-

ciplined team which works round the

clock to mentor and manage a player of Sharapovas stature could miss the
e-mail sent by WADA alerting athletes
on December 22, 2015 about the new
list of banned drugs wherein meldonium was very much included.

Sharapova says she did not check this

particular e-mail, which also seems
quite irresponsible on her part.
Though the larger tennis fraternity is
sympathetic about her case, yet world
champions like Roger Federer urged
the tennis authorities to implement a

doping crackdown round the year. He

says, I still believe we should keep
blood samples for 10 years, so athletes
and tennis players know thats the case,
that you could get punished retroactively. I am a big believer in that. It
seems tennis world demands a total
no-nonsense regulation on doping to
make the game safer and cleaner than
ever before.
On the other hand, the Byzantine
rules of WADA and their insensitive
(at times) regime of the global governance of sports must be corrected
while handling doping cases like
Sharapovas. The Canada-based
agency is being portrayed as another weapon to target mostly Russian
athletes, hitting back at the authoritarian Putin administration for allowing full permission from the State to
use the controversial meldonium. But
in reality, WADAs decisions are not
anti-Russian in nature. However
many experts in the anti-doping
world, like Richard Ings, the former
head of the Australian Anti-Doping
Agency, feel, Maria Sharapova is
Russias most celebrated international athlete. She is a five-time
Grand Slam champion. She carried
the Russian flag at the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic
Games. She is an icon of Russian
sport and her positive test is a huge
blow to her personal and professional
reputation. A repercussion of her positive will be a loss of confidence by
the public in Russian sport.
In the meantime, the documentary produced by German TV journalist Hajo Seppelt spearheaded the
investigation into the Russian doping scandal by claiming that one in
five Russian athletes used meldonium till last year. The Moscow
Times reported that out of 4,316 samples drawn from Russian athletes,
traces of the drug were found in 724
samples or 17 per cent, almost eight
times the level internationally. Olesya
Shevchenko, a former tennis journalist, quoted as saying that almost
every athlete in Russia and Eastern
Europe took meldonium. Apart from
Sharapova, some other Russian athletes also tested positive for using
meldonium are Yekaterina
Bobrova (Olympic Gold medalist in
figure skating), Alexander Markin
(national volleyball team member),
Semion Elistratov (Olympic short
track speed skating champion) and
Pavel Kulizhnikov (two times world
speed skating all-round sprint champion and world record holder for 500
metres). Even Russian Sports
Minister Vitaly Mutko admitted that
unfortunately a lot of athletes took
this medicine.

The WADA has already suspended membership of the All Russia

Athletic Foundation (ARAF) in the
International Association of Athletics
Federation (IAAF). It is so unfortunate that with the request of WADA,
the doping samples of Russian athletes are currently undergoing tests in
Britain. This is how Russian sports
have been dragged into the centre
stage of doping scandal and
Sharapovas case has just given the
most wanted lead in the same.
As the story of Sharapovas doping unfolds in international media,
there is a bit of relief coming to her
in the midst of the worst-ever crisis
the star is facing in her long successful career. By the second week of
April, WADA came out with the view
that there is lack of scientific evidence regarding the duration of the
drug on the body. With this,
Sharapova and a number of athletes
might get a lifeline to come out of the
crisis. WADA in a clarification paper
said its preliminary tests showed that
it could take weeks or months for the
drug to leave the body. In such cases,
WADA considers that there may be
grounds for no fault or negligence on
the part of the athlete. Let us wait and
watch how the cases of Sharapova
and many other tainted players
unfold in the days to come.
For the first time, with
Sharapova coming in the doping net,
the WADA, major professional bodies in the tennis world and particularly the sponsoring giants have all
come up in arms against doping.
However, finally the onus falls on the
individual players. It is the full
responsibilities of the players who
must adhere to the thin redline prescribed by the WADA and more particularly, the ethical backpack, they
carry as a professional, for upholding the grace and dignity of the very
game and trust of the common people, which are earned probably after
years of struggling on the court.
Beyond the millions and stardom,
players like Sharapova, must keep in
mind how she has grown big in the
long sojourn from her native Siberia
to the rich and glamorous world of
tennis in New York. Hope the
WADA, the ITF, the other professional tennis bodies, her good old
sponsors (which could really earn)
and millions of fans would bring
back the glam girl to the court (of
course after all the legal hassles are
sorted out) for which she desperately
appeals. I really hope to be given
another chance to play this game.
Why not?
(The writer is an independent
analyst based in Delhi)

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a dramatic change that
lead to numerous dopIingncould
cases being thrown out,
athletes who tested positive for
meldonium may be able to
avoid sanctions because of a
lack of scientific evidence on
how long the recently banned
drug stays in the system. The
World Anti-Doping Agency
(WADA) last week said provisional suspensions can be lifted if it is determined that an
athlete took meldonium before
it was placed on the list of
banned substances on January
1, 2016. Its not an amnesty as
such, said WADA President
Craig Reedie.
The WADA said 172 positive tests for meldonium have
been recorded so far in various
sports and countries many
in Russia since the drug was
prohibited. The highest profile
case involves Maria Sharapova,
who announced in March that
she tested positive during the
Australian Open in January.
Some athletes who have tested
positive have claimed meldonium remained in their systems
for months even though they
stopped using it last year.
Sharapova did not specify when
she had last used meldonium.
The Latvian-made drug,
which is typically prescribed for
heart conditions, was widely
used as a supplement by athletes in Eastern European countries. The drug increases blood
flow, which improves exercise
capacity by carrying more oxygen to the muscles. In a notice
to national anti-doping agencies, the WADA acknowledged
that there is a lack of clear scientific information on how
long it takes for meldonium to

clear the system.

While several studies are
currently being carried out by
WADA-accredited laboratories, preliminary results show
that long-term excretion of
meldonium can take weeks or
months, the world anti-doping
body said. As a result, it is possible that athletes who took
meldonium before January 1,
2016 could not reasonably
have known or suspected that
the drug would still be present
in their bodies after that date,
the WADA said. In these circumstances, the WADA considers that there may be
grounds for no fault or negligence on the part of the athlete, the statement said.
The WADA President said
the notice was sent out to all
national anti-doping bodies
on April 12. It was released first
publicly by Russias anti-doping
agency on April 13 before
being posted on WADAs website. It is designed to explain
the science that we know,
Reedie told the AP in a telephone interview. The issue
that it deals with is the time this
drug takes to come out of the
system. Its an attempt to clarify the many questions that
weve been asked, said Reedie.
In a separate statement, the
WADA stressed that meldonium remains a banned substance and athletes face the rule
of strict liability whereby they
are responsible for any prohibited drug found in their
body. Meldonium is a particular substance, which has created an unprecedented situation and therefore warranted
additional guidance for the
anti-doping community,

Reedie said.
The Russian Sports
Ministry and national Olympic
committee have welcomed the
WADA statement, and the
countrys officials suggested
there could be a mass amnesty
of Russian athletes. Russian
Tennis Federation head Shamil
Tarpishchev told the R-Sport
agency he hoped that
Sharapova would be able to

play at the Olympics in Rio de

Janeiro in August, while the
head of the Russian swimming federation suggested
there could be a swift return to
competition for suspended
world champion Yulia Efimova.
In no way does this serve
as an amnesty for athletes that
are asserted to have committed
an anti-doping rule violation,
WADA spokesman Ben

Nichols told the AP in an

email. Rather, it serves as
guidance for how anti-doping
organisations should assess the
particular circumstances of
each individual case under
their jurisdiction.
The meldonium cases have
no bearing on the ongoing suspension of Russias track and
field team following a WADA
commission report into what it

called state-sponsored doping.

Sharapova, a winner of five
Grand Slam titles, said she had
been taking meldonium for
medical reasons over a 10-year
period and had not seen a
WADA notice last year that the
drug would be banned starting
in 2016. Sharapova was provisionally suspended by the
International Tennis Federation
pending a disciplinary hearing.

We can confirm that the case

is ongoing and that there will be
a hearing, ITF spokesman
Nick Imison told the AP. I have
seen the statement from
WADA and obviously any
ongoing cases will take that
information from WADA, but
it wont affect the fact that
there is an ongoing case.
The notice underscores
why so many legitimate questions have been raised concerning WADAs process in
banning meldonium as well as
the manner in which they notified players, Sharapovas attorney John Haggerty said in a
statement. This notice should
have been widely distributed in
2015, when it would have made
a difference in the lives of
many athletes, he added.
The WADA said prosecution of meldonium cases can be
stayed and provisional suspensions lifted if the concentration of the drug in the system is between 1 and 15 micrograms per millilitre and the test
was carried out before March
1, or if the level is below 1
microgram per millilitre and
the doping control was conducted after March 1. In both
cases, the drug could still be in
the athletes system from before
January 1, 2016.
The agency said doping
cases should be pursued, however, in the case of athletes who
admit having taken meldonium on or after January 1,
2016. The same applies to
cases where the concentration
of the drug is above 15 micrograms per millilitre and where
the level is between 1 and 15
and the drug test was after
March 1, 2016.
AP

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eliance Industries on
Friday announced its
highest quarterly net profit in
over eight years. Fall in oil
prices boosted refining and
petrochem margins, helping
the company post a 16 per
cent jump in its earnings at
C7,398 crore for the threemonth period ended March
31.
Consolidated net profit
in January-March at C7,398
crore or C25.1 a share was 15.9
per cent higher than C6,381

crore or C21.7 per share profit a year ago.

Standalone net profit was
17.25 per cent higher at C7,320
crore.
This is the highest quarterly net profit for RIL since it
clocked C8,079 crore net profit in the third quarter of 200708.
RIL, operator of the
worlds biggest oil-refinery
complex, earned $10.8 for
turning every barrel of crude
oil into fuel in the fourth quarter of 2015-16 compared with
a gross refining margin of

$10.1 per barrel a year ago.

The GRM outperformed
Singapore benchmark by $3.1
a barrel.
Sales, however, dropped
12 per cent to C64,569 crore in
January-March.
The company posted a
record annual net profit at
C27,630 crore or C93.1 per
share in 2015-16, up 17.2 per
cent over C23,566 crore, or
C80.1 a share.
Turnover was, however,
down 23.8 per cent to
C2,96,091 crore on lower oil
prices.

RIL Chairman and

Managing Director Mukesh
Ambani said the much-talked
about 4G telecom and highspeed broadband services will
be launched this year. But he
did not give a specific date.
The commercial roll-out
of Jio services this year will
digitally enable a billion
Indians and propel growth
for India and Reliance, he
said.
The refining segment of
oil-to-telecom conglomerate
recorded the highest ever
quarterly pre-tax profit (EBIT)

of C6,394 crore, up 30.4 per

year-on-year. Petrochemical
EBIT was up 35.4 per cent at
C2,713 crore.
The two helped offset 84.4
per cent drop in EBIT from oil
and gas business at C14 crore.
The segment profitability was
impacted by lower oil and gas
price realisations and decrease
in domestic upstream volume.
US shale operations were
impacted by low commodity
prices despite marginally higher volumes, RIL said.
The companys retail business saw 17.5 per cent rise in

PBDIT at C235 crore in Q4 of

2015-16 fiscal. Reliance Retail
added 624 stores, taking the
total number to 3,245 across
532 cities.
Debt rose to C1,81,079
crore from C1,78,07 crore as
on December 31. Cash balance
also rose to C86,033 crore as on
March 31 as compared to
C91,736 crore as on December
31.
Interest cost at C813 crore
in the fourth quarter was
higher than C677 crore in
corresponding period of the
previous year due to higher

average exchange rates.

FY 2015-16 has been a
year of outstanding achievement for our downstream
hydrocarbon businesses,
notwithstanding persisting
global economic uncertainty.
Refining and petrochemicals delivered record
operating and financial performances. Our refineries
sustained double-digit GRMs
and record levels of utilizat i on t h rou g h t he ye ar,
Ambani said.
Balanced petrochemical
portfolio, across products

and feedstocks, helped capture the benefit of vastly

improved naphtha cracking
economics and favourable
polymer markets.
Reliance Retail continued
its path of profitable expansion while maintaining a
robust revenue growth of 23
per cent during the year.
Looking ahead, we are
focused on ensuring a flawless startup and stabilization of the new growth
platforms across our hydrocarbon and consumer businesses.

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rime Minister Narendra

Modi will on May 1 launch
an ambitious C8,000 crore
scheme to provide 5 crore free
LPG connections to BPL families using the money saved
from 1.13 crore cooking gas
users voluntarily giving up
their subsidies..
Modi will launch the
Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala
Yojana at Ballia in Uttar
Pradesh on May 1 and do a
repeat function at Dahod in
Gujarat on May 15.
Though Give-it-Up campaign seeking the well-heeled
to voluntarily surrender cooking gas subsidies for one year
was launched in January, 2015,
Modi on March 27 last year
officially launched the programme.
Since the launch, 1.13
crore people have given-up
LPG subsidies and are buying
cooking gas at market price,
Oil Minister Dharmendra
Pradhan told reporters here.
Maharashtra tops the list
with 16.44 lakh consumers
giving up subsidies. Uttar
Pradesh saw nearly 13 lakh
users give up subsidies, followed by Delhi (7.26 lakh).

Prime Ministers home state of

Gujarat was way down the list
with just 4.2 lakh giving up
subsidies. Pradhans home state
of Odisha was even lower at 1.3
lakh.
Five
states
of
Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh,
Delhi, Karnataka and Tamil
Nadu account for roughly half
of the people who have given
up LPG subsidies, Pradhan
said.
Consumers are currently
entitled to 12 cylinders of 14.2
kg each or 34 bottles of 5 kg
each in a year at subsidised
rates. A subsidised 14.2-kg
cylinder is currently available
at C419.13 per bottle in Delhi
while the 5-kg pack costs C155.
Market-priced LPG is
available at C509.50 per 14.2kg cylinder.
Giving up subsidised LPG
will help cut the Governments
subsidy bill, which was at
C30,000 crore on the fuel last
fiscal.
Nearly C5,000 crore of subsidy saved through the campaign is being used to provide
LPG connection to the poor.
We have released 60 lakh
new connection to poor in the
last one year, he said.
Modi, Pradhan said, will

on May 1 launch the Pradhan

Mantri Ujjwala Yojana for providing providing free LPG
connections to women from
BPL households.
Under the scheme,
8,000 crore has been earmarked for providing 5 crore
LPG connections to BPL
households, he said, adding
that in the first year 1.5 crore
connections will be provided.
The scheme provides a
financial support of
1,600
for each LPG connection to the
BPL households. The identification of eligible BPL families
will be made in consultation
with the State Governments
and the Union Territories, he
said. Pradhan said the country
currently has 16.64 crore
activeLPG consumers.

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?=BQ =4F34;78

S carmaker Ford will recall

around 42,300 units of hatchU
back Figo and compact sedan
Figo Aspire in India to fix a software glitch that could lead to malfunctioning of airbags during a
collision.
Ford India is proactively
issuing a voluntary safety recall for
the two models built at the
Sanand plant since the launch
until April 12, the company said
in a statement.
The affected vehicles may
contain a software error, which
could result in the airbags not
deploying in certain collisions in
which they are intended to
deploy, it added.
Figo and Aspire customers
will have a software upgrade
carried out free of charge through

their Ford dealership, the company said.

A corrective action on all
Figo and Figo Aspire vehicles,
presently at Ford dealerships,
has been undertaken, leading to
a resumption of deliveries to
customers, it added.
Last November, the
automaker had announced to
recall 16,444 units of compact
SUV EcoSport in India to fix
faulty rear twist beam bolt, a part

in vehicles suspension.
Previously, Ford India had
recalled 1,66,021 units of Figo and
Fiesta Classic models in
September 2013 to rectify faulty
rear twist beam and the power
steering hose.
Automobile manufacturers
have been recalling vehicles on
safety issues since industry body
Society of Indian Automobile
Manufacturers (Siam) initiated a
voluntary policy in July 2012.

airn India on Friday

announced its biggest
C
quarterly loss of C10,948 crore

in the quarter ended March 31

because of impairment loss on
goodwill and non-producing
oil and gas assets due to drop
in oil prices.
Net loss of C10,948.22 crore
in January-March compared
with a net loss of C240.82 crore
in the same period a year ago,
the company said in a statement.
Due to decline in crude oil
prices in the international market, the Group has recorded an
impairment on the carrying

value of goodwill and some of

its non-producing oiland gas
assets aggregating to C11,389.63
crore and C284.17 crore respectively, it said.
Cairn said the impairment
of C11,674 crore largely reflects
the lower crude price, prevailing discount on oil produced
from Rajasthan block as well as
adverse long term impact of
revised cess.
All the companys projects including Bhagyam and
Aishwariya enhanced oil recovery (EOR), Aishwariya Barmer
Hill as well as the Raageshwari
deep gas project remain viable
at the price assumptions taken
for impairment, it said.

Production dipped 8 per

cent to 206,170 barrels of oil
and oil equivalent gas in the
fourth quarter of 2015-16. Its
mainstay Rajasthan field produced 5 per cent less oil at
164,826 barrels per day.
Turnover fell 36 per cent to
C1717 crore on lower oil prices.
The company realised an
average of $27.8 per barrel for

Sukthankar said the bank is

seeing some demand for longterm loans from corporates, but
working capital and mediumterm loans continue to be the
mainstay of corporate demand.
On the retail front, he said
the lender will continue to
focus on the consumption
demand-led credit needs,
adding that the commercial
vehicle book is performing
well for over two quarters now.
The lender has grown both
its credit cards and personal
loan books over the past fiscal
by 27 per cent and 44 per cent,
respectively, and continues to
see opportunity in the unsecured book due to the underpenetration in the market.
He said the introduction of
digital banking, like the 10-second personal loans, helped
grow the unsecured book.
The retail and corporate
lines grew at an equal pace in
2015-16 and from a book composition, both stand at an
almost equal footing.
On the asset quality front,
Sukthankar said the bank was
able to maintain the gross
non-performing assets ratio at
0.94 per cent and the restructured book at 0.1 per cent, but
conceded that the environment is challenging.
Without giving details
like the quantum of loans or
the sectors, he said the bank

witnessed two slippages by

corporates during the reporting quarter. Sukthankar said
there has been some uptick in
assetquality on loans to small
businesses and agriculture,
which is cyclical in nature.
During the quarter under
review, the bank bought
C4,799 crore of home loans
which originated from its
parent HDFC, he said.
The bank met its overall
priority sector lending target
at 40 per cent, but was not
able to achieve the sub-targets
for small and marginal farmers and weaker sections, he
said.
The private lenders overall capital adequacy stood at
15.5 per cent with core tier-I
capital standing at 13.2 per
cent.
It announced a dividend
of C9.50 per share of C2 face
value as against C8 declared
last fiscal.
Analysts at domestic brokerage Choice Broking said
even though the numbers
were consistent with past performance, the 0.03 per cent
improvement in gross NPA
was a surprise and the bank is
well positioned to benefit
from economic revival.
The banks scrip closed
0.11 per cent up at C1,092.30
at the BSE, whose benchmark fell 0.16 per cent. ?C8

Of the 21 million tonne

LPG requirement, nearly 40
per cent is imported and this
will go up as demand rises by
double digit with new connections.
We expect import ratio
will rise to 50-55 per cent, he
said. Those who have decided
to give up their subsidies have
to buy the product at the market price.
The surrendered subsidy is
used by the Government to
provide cooking gas connection to the poor in rural households free of cost, the official
said.
On March 27, Modi had
officially launched the Give-itUp campaign, urging the welloff to surrender their LPG
subsidy so that it can be targeted for the needy. The aim is
also to bring down the countrys dependence on energy
imports by 10 per cent by 2022.
LPG subsidy is transfered
to beneficiaries directly in
their bank accounts in
advance.
Consumers can opt out of
the subsidy by submitting
written request to the distributor or electronically at
mylpg.In.
Pradhan said with LPG

coverage being predominantly in the urban and semiurban areas, there are serious
health hazards associated with
cooking based on fossil fuels.
According to WHO estimates, about 5 lakh deaths in
India alone due to unclean
cooking fuels. Experts say
having an open fire in the
kitchen is like burning 400 cigarettes an hour.
Providing LPG connections to BPL households will
ensure universal coverage of
cooking gas in the country.
This measure will empower
women and protect their
health. It will reduce drudgery
and the time spent on cooking. It will also provide
employment for rural youth in
the supply chain of cooking
gas, he said.
Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley had in his Budget for
2016-17 provided
2000
crore to provide deposit free
LPG connections to 1.5 crore
women belonging to the
Below Poverty Line (BPL)
families.
Further, the Budget
announced that the Scheme
will be continued for two
more years to cover 5 crore
households.

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*R\DOZRRVLQYHVWRUVPHHWV

=4F34;78)Promoters of small
companies who get written consent from at least 90 per cent of
the public shareholders to delist
shares will be considered to
have complied with the delisting
norms, according to Sebi.
The clarification has been
provided in the latest set of
Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQs) on Sebi (Delisting of
Equity Shares) Regulations,
2009.
The promoter of a small
company would be considered
to have complied with the condition under regulation 27(3)(d),
if the public shareholders, irrespective of their numbers, holding 90 per cent or more of the
public shareholding give their
positive consent in writing to the
proposal for delisting, Sebi said.
In this regard, the regulator
has also made a reference to a
Securities Appellate Tribunals
order in November 2011.

3(JLDQWV%ODFNVWRQH:DUEXUJ
?C8Q =4FH>A:

ooing global investors

including private equity giants such as Blackstone
and Warburg Pincus, Power
Minister Piyush Goyal highlighted the initiatives taken
by the Government to make
India more business friendly.
He assured them that the
government is taking all steps
that are necessary to sustain
the current economic growth
in India and it will continue
with all major initiatives to
enhance the ease of doing
business.
According to the Power
Ministry, he also highlighted
the need of India to have low
cost, long tenor finance for
his ambitious renewable

&DLUQ,QGLDUHSRUWVELJJHVWTXDUWHUO\ORVVRICFULQ4
?=BQ =4F34;78)

<D<108) Countrys second

largest private lender HDFC
Bank on Friday reported a
20.2 per cent jump in its March
quarter net at C3,374.2 crore,
helped by a healthy rise in core
net interest income (NII).
The city-headquartered
bank, which registered around
30 per cent profit growth for
over a decade till 2013-14,
posted a 20.4 per cent growth
in post-tax profit at Rs 12,296.2
crore for fiscal 2015-16.
For the January-March
period, NII rose 24 per cent to
C7,453.3 crore, while the noninterest income was up 11.8 per
cent to C2,865.9 crore.
Deputy Managing Director
Paresh Sukthankar said NII was
up on advances growth, which
came in at 27 per cent for the
fiscal, along with an expansion
in the net interest margin
(NIM) at 4.3 per cent.
He said the bank will maintain its NIMs at 4 to 4.4 per
cent and it does not see any
impact of the marginal cost of
funds-based lending rate on its
spreads.
Fees and commissions
grew to C2,172.4 crore from
C1,834.8 crore, but it was a dip
in the forex and derivates revenue and gains on revaluation
or sales of investments which
limited other income growth to
11.8 per cent in the fourth
quarter of 2015-16.

oil it produced in JanuaryMarch, down 43 per cent from

$48.6 per barrel a year ago. Gas
price realisation was however
up 19 per cent at $7.4 per million standard cubic feet.
For the full 2015-16 fiscal,
the company posted a net loss
of C9,432 crore as compared to
C4,480 crore profit in the previous year.
The loss did not prevent the
company board from declaring
a C3 per share dividend by dipping into cash reserves of
C19,521 crore.
Mayank Ashar, Managing
Director and CEO of Cairn
India said, The Cairn team has
delivered a resilient perfor-

mance in a challenging year.

Drive for cost efficiency and
rationalisation of capital investment have aided free cash generation despite crude prices
plummeting to a 12 year low.
The company has successfully executed one of the worlds
largest EOR project at Mangala
oilfield in Rajasthan block.
The company continues
with its pre-development activities to be future ready to tap the
resource base, he said.
Cairn India, he said, is
engaged with the Government
on extension of Rajasthan
license beyond 2019 for further
investment in the prolific
Rajasthan block.

energy scale of and requested investors to look at India

for investments and take
advantage of three Ds -
democracy, demography and
demand.
Goyal held meetings with
the Blackstone Group Cofounder, CEO and Chairman
Stephen
S chwarzian;
Warburg Pincus Saurabh
Agarwal; New York Green
B ank President Alf red
Griffin; Chairman of Energy
and Finance, Of f ice of
Governor of New York,
Richard Kauffman and Big
Belly CEO Jack Kutner yesterday.
The minister, who also
holds t he p or t folio of
Renewable Energy and Coal,
is vising the US to participate

in the launch of programmes

under International Solar
Alliance on Friday at the
United Nations.
He expressed hope that
given the prediction of a
good monsoon this year,
India may see double digit
growth by end of 2016-17
financial year itself.
Goyal briefed the business delegations and investors
on various steps undertaken by
the government to improve
energy access, rapid scale up of
renewable energy, enhancing
grid reliability, integration of
renewable in the grid and the
massive opportunity presented by the untapped demand in
the Indian market.
He outlined the steps being
taken to improve the contrac-

tual/counter-party risk framework, that is critical to all

investors.
He also informed about
the initiatives such as greening
the grid, National Solar
Mission, LED programme for
enhancing energy efficiency.
Speaking on the Ujwal
Discom Assurance Yojana
(UDAY), Goyal stressed upon
the steps being taken to bring
a drastic change in Indias
power sector that can take
India to double digit growth
trajectory in the economy.
He also mentioned that
India already has surplus
power and demand stimulation through UDAY coupled
with the growth in the Indian
economy will quadruple electricity consumption by 2030.

)RUFLQJ0DOO\DWRFRPHEDFN

WR,QGLDLVEDGVWUDWHJ\VD\V3DL
7H34A0103)Forcing beleaguered

businessman Vijay Mallya, who

owes over C9,000 crore to several banks, to come back to India
is a bad strategy, says tech
investor TV Mohandas Pai, who
favours a negotiated settlement.
I think its a bad strategy to
force him to come back because
I dont think they have a strong
case to do what they are doing,
the former Chief Financial Officer
of software major Infosys said.
Better strategy, he said, is to
get the Debt Recovery Tribunal
to pass an order invoking guar-

antee he has given to banks and

attach his assets.
Today, there is no proof for
or against Vijay Mallya asking
him to pay back any money.
There is no court order. Dispute
is in the court. Court has not
given any order. Everybody is
saying pay back, pay back but
pay back what? For paying back,
you need a court order...Exactly
how much to pay and all that. I
think its being badly handled,
Pai told the news agency.
Pai, co-founder of Aarin
Capital, favoured requesting the

Supreme Court to pass an order

for negotiations with the liquor
baron.
He noted that nobody has
claimed that Mallya siphoned off
money and indulged in money
laundering till Enforcement
Directorate (ED) went after
him.
Nobody knows what evidence ED has. None of the banks
has found evidence, no body
spoke about it. Now only ED is
saying, said Pai, currently Chief
Adviser to the Manipal Education
and Medical Group.
?C8

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?=BQ =4F34;78

iti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant

on Friday highlighted the
need for India to grow at 9-10 per
cent every year for at least three
decades, which he said can be
instrumental in taking Indo-US
ties to the next level.
It is possible to provide
greater momentum, greater fillip
to Indo-US relationship if India
continues to grow rapidly. India
is growing at about 7.5 per cent
per annum. Its an oasis of growth
in the midst of a very barren economic landscape, Kant said at an
event organised by American
Chamber of Commerce in India.
But the challenge for India is to
grow at 8-9-10 per cent per
annum, year after year, for three

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decades or more. And only when
we grow at those rates, our
(Indo-US) relationship will get
strengthened. He also spoke
about the importance of taking

several measures for India to

grow at this clip and wants the US
to do its bit for imparting greater
momentum to the bilateral ties.
The economy grew at 7.6 per cent

jca^l

in 2015-16. Another pre-condition for such growth is to make

India very easy and simple place
to do business, Kant stressed. We
need to make things very very
easy, and this Government is very
determined to do this. We have
done away with a number of
approval processes at the central
level, Kant added.
He was of the view that
though Indo-US relationship
has done very well during the
past one year, it is yet to be fully
tapped and can be taken to far
greater heights. Kant acknowledged that the more the market
opens up, the greater the scope
for manufacturing expansion,
calling upon the US to roll out a
red carpet to the Indian service
sector and software companies.

ndia witnessed an increase of

156 per cent in social media
Iscams
with every sixth scam

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N E W D E L H I : In d i a i s
expected to overtake the
US as the second-largest
smartphone market next
year with robust annual
g row t h , s ay s a Morg an
Stanley research report.
According to the report
on global technology and
te l e c om , t h e c ou nt r y ' s
smartphone market will
g row at a c omp ou n d e d
annual growth rate (CAGR)
of 23 per cent through 2018
and would account for 30 per
cent of the global growth
during the period.
We expect India to overtake the US next year as the second-largest smartphone market
by units. India will grow nearly
five times faster than the world's
largest smartphone market
China, where growth has decelerated, the report said. PTI

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globally impacting an Indian,

security software firm Symantec
has said.
According to Symantec's
Internet Security Threat Report,
India was the most targetted
country in Asia and second in
the world.
A whopping 94 per cent of
these scams were spread
through manual sharing, proving India's burgeoning social
media population remains a
favoured target of scammers,
Symantec Director Solution
Product Management Asia
Pacific and Japan (APJ) Tarun
Kaura told PTI.
Scammers are using social
media to leverage the trust people have in their own social circles to spread scams, fake links
and phishing, he added.
According to the report, India
ranked third globally (3.4 per
cent) and second in the APJ
region as source of overall mali-

cious activity, after China (23.7

per cent) and the US (18.9 per
cent). India was once considered the spam capital of the
world, India has seen a steady
decrease in the amount of
spams originating from its borders. After ranking 6th in 2014,
India now ranks 18th as a
source of spam, he said.
However, it continues to
rank as the third top source of
overall malicious activity including spam, malware, phishing
hosts and bots, etc. Year 2015
also saw Indian organisations
becoming the sixth most targeted in the APJ region as targeted firms received an average
of two attacks. Public utilities
and financial sector organisations, that were targeted once,
were most likely to be targeted
again at least two times more
throughout the year.
Mining was the highest
risk prone sector, where one out
of two companies was attacked
at least once last year, the report
said. Also, 40 per cent of BFSI
businesses were also attacked at
least once, it added.

BU\:Y_d_\Qe^SXS_]]UbSYQ\
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?=BQ=4F34;78

eliance Jio Infocomm will launch

commercial operations in coming months as its test programme has
established smooth operations of all
aspects of the network, company's
parent RIL said on Friday. Reliance
Jio, the telecom arm of Reliance
Industries, launched full scale service offerings for group employees,
partners, vendors and associates on
a trial basis on December 28, 2015.
Over half a million users have
been onboarded on the network.
The initial feedback is very encouraging and has established smooth
operations of all aspects of the network, RIL said. RIL Chairman and
Managing Director Mukesh
Ambani said the 4G telecom and
high-speed broadband services will
be launched this year. But he did not

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lue Mount Appliances Pvt

Ltd - Indias first alkaline RO
water purifier brand with LED
display technology is betting
big on expanding it reach in
Tier-II and Tier -III cities, targeting revenue of C200 crore by
FY 2016-17. To achieve this,
Bluemount have started utilising
various trade channels, modern
trade, E-commerce portals and
direct sales initiatives to reach
out to the customers in smaller
towns pan India.
Managing Director of
BlueMount Appliance Pvt Ltd.,
Vishal Gupta said, India is a
highly strategic market for Blue
Mount and one of the fastest
growing regions worldwide. In
recent past, we have seen a high
adoption rate for water purifiers
in smaller towns which encourage us to come out with more
product ranges to cater the
large size customers, adding
that to fuel up this growth, the
company has invested C60 crore
in its initial phase and chalks out
plans to invest another C100150 crore over next 2 years.

3^C^ZbA9X^A2^\b_TRcad\
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NEW DELHI: Department of
Telecom has approved the spectrum sharing deal between
Ambani brothers-led telecom
firms, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd
and Reliance Communications.
We wish to inform that
Department
of
Telecommunications (DoT) has
taken on record 800Mhz
Spectrum Sharing in 7 circles of
give a specific date.
The commercial roll-out of
our Jio services this year will digitally enable a billion Indians and
propel growth for India and
Reliance, he said. The company

the company and 2 circles of

Reliance Telecom Limited (RTL),
wholly-owned subsidiary with
RJIL on 21st April 2016, Reliance
Communications said in a regulatory filing. This approval covers major mobile services market in the country-Mumbai, UP
East, MP, Bihar, Odisha,
Haryana, Himachal, Assam and
North East.
PNS
said average monthly consumption per user is in excess of 18 GB
within the first month of service
and is increasing rapidly whereas
average voice usage is over 250
minutes within the first month.

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ndia is set to become fourth

largest solar market this year
and pip 3 major European
markets - the UK, Germany
and France - with likely capacity addition of 5.4 GW in 2016.
India is poised to become
the fourth largest solar market
in 2016, leaving behind three
major European solar markets
(UK, Germany and France)
with expected new capacity
addition of 5.4 GW in 2016,
consulting firm Bridge to India
said in its latest edition of India
Solar Handbook report.
According to the report,
with rapid falling costs and
increased demand for solar
installation, the market has
seen tremendous growth over
past 12 months, making it one
of the most favourable markets
for investments from global
players.
As per the report, about 65
GW of solar capacity is expected to be added globally in

2016, with Asian countries

dominating the global PV market. As of April 2016, India has
already installed 6.6 GW of utility scale solar and 740 MW of
rooftop solar capacity.
Our estimates show that
unless challenges like transmission and financing are
addressed urgently, the industry will miss the targets by big
margins, Bridge to India
Managing Director Vinay
Rustagi said.
Its India solar CEO Survey
shows that the industry is very
buoyant about sector growth
prospects and expecting new
capacity addition to increase
from a stagnant 1 GW per
annum to about 6-8 GW per
annum going forward.
The industry is also very positive about the prospects of
domestic manufacturing and
expecting an annual cell-module
manufacturing capacity of 5 GW
by 2022. As the survey shows, the
southern states are playing the
lead role in the sector.

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fter weeks of Donald

Trumps unremitting attacks
A
on the Republican establishment and its crooked and
rigged nomination system,
his top campaign aides have
sought to assure party bosses
that the brash billionaire will
indeed be changing his ways
and style and even working
with the very party apparatus
that he has despised so far.
Youll start to see more
depth of the person, the real
person. Youll see a real
different guy, Trumps newlyinstalled campaign strategist
Paul Manafort told the
Republican
National
Committee at a private meeting in Florida on Thursday, a
recording of which has been
obtained and reported by the
Associated Press.
When hes out on the
stage, when hes talking about
the kinds of things hes talking
about on the stump, hes projecting an image thats for that
purpose, Manafort said,
adding, The part that hes
been playing is evolving into
the part that now youve been
expecting, but he wasnt ready
for, because he had first to

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Beijing: China and India
should meet each other
halfway to reach a fair and
reasonable political solution
to the border dispute acceptable to both sides, the Chinese
Foreign Ministry has said in
an indication of Beijings willingness to make concessions
on the vexed issue.
As National Security
Adviser Ajit Doval, who along
with his Chinese counterpart
Yang Jiechi held border talks,
concluded his visit here, China
said in a statement that both
sides had in-depth and candid
exchanges on the boundary
question, bilateral relations
and relevant international and
regional issues.
Both sides agreed that the
negotiation on China-India
boundary maintains a positive
momentum, with boundary
disputes effectively controlled
and boundary regions generally peaceful and stable, said
the statement on the boundary talks held on April 20-21.
China has rarely publicly
talked about meeting India
half way on the vexed
boundary dispute. Dovals predecessor, Shivshankar Menon,
said in 2014 during a meeting
that all the technical work has
been done and it is for the
leaders of both the countries
to take a call.
PTI

complete the first phase. The

negatives will come down. The
image is going to change.
Stating that Trump by no
means is running against the
RNC, the top aide has said that
the billionaire will help raise
funds for the party. As part of
the changed approach, Trump
is reportedly planning to deliver a foreign policy speech at the
National Press Club in
Washington next week, using

teleprompters and a speechwriter as opposed to his mostly extempore addresses so far.

Trump is also planning events
to reach out to women who,
according to polls, hold a largely unfavourable opinion of him.
But a public demonstration
of the new, evolving Trump is
still to be seen. As recently as
Wednesday a day after his
New York sweep and a day
before the RNC meeting in

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hina is edging closer to

building its first floating
maritime nuclear power platform with the prospects of
deploying it in the disputed
South China Sea, a state-run
daily said on Friday even as the
Foreign Ministry declined to
react, saying it had not heard of
the plans.
The Global Times in a
report said the nuclear
platforms could significantly boost the efficiency
of the countrys construction work on islands in the
strategic South China Sea.
It said the nuclear
power platforms could
sail to remote areas and
provide a stable power
supply. China Shipbuilding
Industry Corp, the company in charge of designing and assembling the
platforms, is pushing forward
the work, said Liu Zhengguo,
the director of its general office.
The development of
nuclear power platforms is a
burgeoning trend, Liu told
the paper when asked to comment on a previous media
report that China plans to
build 20 maritime nuclear
power platforms.
The exact number of

plants to be built (by CSIC)

depends on the market
demand, he said, without confirming or denying the reported number.
Judging by various factors,
the demand is pretty strong,
Liu said, adding the construction of the platforms is based
on mature technology. He
emphasised that the plants are
mainly for civilian use, such as
providing electricity for oil

drilling platforms.
The daily quoted a report
published by eworldship.Com,
a Shanghai-based shipbuilding
industry website, that Bohai
Shipbuilding Heavy Industry
Company will be responsible
for building Chinas first maritime nuclear power platform,
and the CSIC will build about
20 such platforms in the
future.

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Florida Trump had railed yet
again at a Maryland rally
against the partys crooked
and rigged system, saying it
was so designed as to enable the
party bosses to pick whomsoever they wanted and keep people like him out.
Trump himself reflected
on the image makeover theme
at a Pennsylvania rally on
Thursday, remarking that he
was not really ready yet to act
presidential. I just dont know
if I want to do it yet, he said,
quipping: At some point, Im
going to be so presidential that
you people will be so bored.
At the same time, in an
interview to The Wall Street
Journal, Trump hinted at a
changed approach since he did
not want to blow away his
chances.
The campaign is evolving
and transitioning, and so am I.
Ill be more effective and more
disciplined, he was quoted as
saying, yet noting that there
might not be a substantial
change to his personal style and
populist message that attract
large crowds to his rallies.

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President Barack Obama

with a message for
USarrived
the UK to vote to remain within the European Union in the
June 23 referendum, saying
the bloc enhances Britains
global leadership.
In an article for the Daily
Telegraph newspaper, Obama
on Friday said the UK is
stronger within the 28-member

bloc and will also be more

effective in fighting terror as
part of the EU. The European
Union does not moderate
British influence it magnifies it. A strong Europe is not
a threat to Britains global leadership; it enhances Britains
global leadership, he wrote.
The United States sees
how your powerful voice in
Europe ensures that Europe
takes a strong stance in the
world, and keeps the EU open,
outward looking, and closely
linked to its allies on the other
side of the Atlantic.
So the US and the world
need your outsised influence to
continue including within
Europe from intelligence
sharing and counter-terrorism
to forging agreements to create
jobs and economic growth
will be far more effective if it
extends across Europe. Now is
a time for friends and allies to
stick together, he urged.
Together, the United
States, the United Kingdom,
and the European Union have
turned centuries of war in
Europe into decades of peace,
and worked as one to make this
world a safer, better place.
What a remarkable legacy that
is. And what a remarkable

legacy we will leave when,

together, we meet the challenges of this young century as
well, he concluded.
In response, British Prime
Minister David Cameron
tweeted, The US is one of our
closest allies. So its important
to hear Barack Obama on why
we should remain in the EU.
However, Obamas strong
intervention in favour of the
Remain camp of the debate
attracted strong criticism from
the Vote Leave campaign,
which accused him of being
downright hypocritical.
For the United States to tell
us in the UK that we must surrender control of so much of
our democracy it is a breathtaking example of the principle
of do as I say, not as I do. It is
incoherent. It is inconsistent,
and yes it is downright hypocritical, said London mayor
Boris Johnson, one of the leading voices calling for Brexit.
The Americans would
never contemplate anything like
the EU for themselves or for their
neighbours in their own hemisphere. Why should they think
it right for us, he said. Obama,
along with First Lady Michelle
Obama, arrived for his three-day
visit of the UK late last night.
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n a breakthrough in the fight

against HIV/AIDS, Chinese
scientists have modified a gene
in embryos in an attempt to
make humans immune to the
HIV virus. Researchers from the
Guangzhou Medical University
used a gene editing technique
named CRISPR/Cas to replace
the CCR5 gene in 26 human
embryos with an HIV-resistant
mutation. Only four embryos
were successfully edited, while
the other 22 cases failed to produce the desired results.
The research was published in the Journal of Assisted
Reproduction and Genetics.
In this study, we demonstrated that the HIV-resistant mutation could be introduced into
early human embryos through
the CRISPR system, said Fan
Yong, a researcher of the
Guangzhou Medical University
and an author of the paper was
quoted as saying by state-run
China Daily.
The CRISPR/Cas9 gene
editing technique, better
known as the molecular Swiss
army knife, is a technology
developed by US scientist
Jennifer Doudna and
French scientist Emmanuelle
Charpentier in 2012.

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Aleppo: Air strikes on rebelcVa`ceWR\V
held neighbourhoods in Syrias
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second city Aleppo on Friday

killed at least 14 civilians
and wounded more than a
dozen others, the local civil
defence said.
The Syrian Observatory
for Human Rights said regime
warplanes carried out the air
strikes and gave a toll of 10
dead. An AFP correspondent in
the opposition-held eastern
part said several neighbourhoods were targeted and that
the wail of ambulances could be
heard throughout the morning.
AFP

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London: Male, 26, single, quite
well-educated but not an expert
on the Quran this is the profile of an average fighter joining ISIS.
Analysis of thousands of
entry documents leaked from
the terrorist group has provided vital new insight into the
background and expertise of its
international jehadis. The US
militarys Combating Terrorism
Center (CTC) said all evidence
pointed to the cache being
genuine, exposing personal
details of 4,188 militants who
joined ISIS in 2013 and 2014.
The importance of this

data for understanding the ISIS

and, in particular, the foreign
fighter flow, cannot be overstated, analysts said, hailing an
important step in fathoming
the groups motivations and
techniques. A unique personnel
form exists for each individual,
containing their real and war
names, ages, education level,
jehad experience, nationalities
and numerous other details.
Each recruit was also asked
whether they wanted to be a
fighter, istishhadi (suicide
bomber), or inghimasi (suicide
fighter), with the overwhelming
majority choosing the former.

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hen ambitious actresses are clawing

their way to the top, Swara Bhaskar
comes as a respite. Her choice of roles
have never been starry but one cannot deny the
importance of her characters in the movie. She
was even dissuaded by many when she agreed
to play Salman Khans sister in Prem Ratan Dhan
Payo. People raised an eyebrow and said, Who
does that? How will you ever play Salmans heroine if you agree to be his sister? But I knew what
I wanted, said Bhaskar, confidently.
The 28 year old radiated the same confidence and determination when we caught up
with her during the promotions of her latest Nil
Battey Sannata where she breaks two images
one of a maid and the other of a mother.
Excerpts from the interview:

QWhat was it about the film that attracted you

the most?
It was actually the character of Chanda (her
character) that interested me and the potential
that I thought she had. It was quite a challenging performance, too. The first attraction for me
was the process of playing it that challenge
of becoming that character. And then, of
course, it was a beautiful story and I thought it
had a good possibility of it turning into a very
moving film.

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of it. And I hope I have done a decent job.

QHow did you finally identify with one, being

a mother and two, of the character that you

are portraying?
The first thing I had to do was get into the
character that of a maid. So I went to Agra,
found a bunch of maids and I spent some time
travelling with them to their place of work, waiting for them to finish and travelling back with
them. I stayed with them, ate with them and
interviewed them about very basic things like
what their favourite colour is and who their
favourite childhood hero was and about their
dreams. That way I got to know their way of
life. I came back to Mumbai and listened to
those interviews over and over again. I learnt
their dialect and the way they speak that
way.
And as for identifying with the image
of a mother, Ashwini (director) helped.
She asked me to go to my own mom and
that helped. During my interaction with
my mother, I realised that parents are
very helpless with their emotions when
it comes to their children. They do not
have a choice but to love their children.
It is a physical emotion, a visceral one,
which is why probably I could not relate
to it. I never understood why my mom
would be beside herself with worry if I
returned late. Because that emotion has no
logic, it is my rational. It was a bit difficult
for me to cope up with that because I do not
have access to it. So my mother actually helped
me to become a mother for the movie. And that
is why I believe that parents have these melodramatic reactions when we tease them.
They are actually helpless because they cannot be any other way as they are bound by
that biological and physical emotion.
QApart from the mother child relationship,

the movie also explores the importance of

education. Do you think this kind of subjects should be explored more?
I do not know when films are made but
I think that new subjects should be told and
new stories should be brought to light. I
feel that the film industry is a very powerful medium. It is a visual medium and
goes straight to your heart and is accessible to everyone. The first screening of
this film was in China and I have not seen
a better emotive response to the film. So
the language matters less. With a powerful medium like this I think it is our
responsibility that we do not limit it to
entertainment only. It should be used
with some responsibility. I am not saying that make issue based films but at
least make positive films and not ones
which are negative and hateful.

QChanda is a character you have never played

before...
There were actually two problems that I
faced with Chanda. First, I had never played a
character belonging to that particular class (of
a housemaid). Its a world I knew nothing of
except in the form of the people coming to my
house to work and my interaction with them.
I did not know how they lived their daily lives
like. That was one thing that I felt was challenging but I was keen to do it.
The second thing was the fact that she was
a mother, and that too was a live experience. I
know how my mother is but I do not have access
to that kind of emotion. So it was, in a way, difficult for me. It was really the challenge of playing something where you do not have access to
the feelings and emotions. When you play a
character younger to you, you know how it is
because you have already been through it. So I
thought, This is a totally unknown territory, lets
see what I can make out

Q How and why do you think

Bollywood is churning out more

content-based movies than before?
Bollywood is changing and I
think that change is largely coming
from the audience because they are
going to watch new kind of films.
They are going for films like
Mardaani and Piku or Queen. See, at the end
of the day a film is also about economy. They
need to make money so the producers hope to
get something in return either in terms of
money or appreciation.
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o stranger to the role of Steve

Rogers/Captain America after
N
developing the character over three
films, Chris Evans tells us that there
is still more to learn about the quintessential American hero in Marvels
Avengers: Age of Ultron. Steve
Rogers is still trying to figure out
where he belongs, says Evans. Hes
always been a soldier and hes fit in
that format. He enjoys structure and
he enjoys having orders and a plan,
and without that he does feel a bit
aimless, but he is still searching for
whether or not he can have a life outside of being Captain America. Hes
been of service for so long that trying to figure out what he would do
without his uniform and shield is a
bit of a puzzle.
Post Marvels Captain America:
The Winter Soldier, Evans points out
that the world has changed for The
Avengers team. S.H.I.E.L.D. has fallen since the last Captain America,
so now were all kind of relying on
one another, explains Evans.
Theres really no one to report to,
so its this loose hierarchy. Theyre
just leaning on each other as soldiers;
theres no one person giving commands but they are operating as a
true group now.
As far as Captain Americas
role in the new world order, Evans
says, Cap is certainly giving the
orders, but its not the sort of hierarchy where he gives commands and
people have to do it. Its truly in the
sense that when battle breaks out and
they need structure, Cap has no
problem organising a team
approach. In terms of how they
behave when theyre not fighting a

foe, theres still is a loose chain of

command; no one is technically in
charge but Cap certainly does lean
towards the side of structure; on the
battlefield is where he feels most
comfortable.
Captain America and The
Avengers take on the mega-villain
Ultron in Marvels Avengers: Age of
Ultron and, at first, Evans wasnt sure
what to expect. Ultron is written as
a very smug and sarcastic character
with a personality, offers Evans. Its
not just a mindless robot. It has attitude and I had a hard time understanding how this character was
going to be portrayed when I first
read the script. I knew Spader was
playing it, but I really had no idea in
what direction he was going to go.
The first day where he gives his
speech at the party, all of us were
eager to be the audience.
In each subsequent film,
Captain Americas fighting style is
enhanced. You have to assume
that the guy, as a soldier and as a military mind, is going to constantly be
trying to better himself, so hes has
to be adopting new fight tactics,

approaches and disciplines, says

Evans about his character. In
Captain America: the Winter Soldier
they set the bar pretty high. Cap was
involved in very fluid, acrobatic,
sequences, taking down jets singlehandedly, so we didnt want to take
a step back. It was trying to continue in the evolution of a constant,
fluid and acrobatic style of fighting.
Reuniting with writer/director
Joss Whedon led to another positive
acting experience for Evans.
Recounting the on-set relationship
Whedon has with his actors, Evans
says, Joss is not just our director, hes
our writer, so that level of involvement that he has with these characters and the material is beneficial. If
youre struggling with a scene, or
with a line, hes not only phenomenal with coming up with things on
the spot but he is also very witty and
has wonderful banter and repartee,
so he can always make adjustments.
But hes a comic book fan, so one of
the main demographics he is trying
to please are the fan-boys and since
he is one, its a very safe exchange
knowing that anything he suggests
will be met with approval.
Evan admits that playing
Captain America has definite
rewards. One of the perks of this
job is seeing a little kids face light
up, says the actor. Playing a role
in their childhood is pretty awesome because I know I had certain
movies that I grew up with that I
loved, so if you get to be a part of
that in someone elses memory,
thats a treat.
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ilms, theatre productions, texts think of anything

remotely related to literature and arts and there is one
name that beats the rest, even after 400 years of his birth.
William Shakespeare, till date is unmatched. And when we
talk about Bollywood, there;s no denying that time and again,
makers have turned to the bard for stories. From Angoor
to Maqbool and from Haider to Omkara the numbers
are aplenty.
Jonathan Gil Harris, professor of English at Ashoka
University, Sonipat, Haryana also agrees that Shakespeares
plays have been a constant inspiration for the filmmakers
of Hindi cinema. In India, there are several interpretations
of Romeo and Juliet and they are known by different names.
Be it Heer-Ranjha or Laila-Majnu, their love story is similar to the Shakespeares play. Even Hindi movies have had
their interpretation of the storyline in Ishaqzaade and RamLeela, he explained.
Harris is the author of six books on Shakespeare and
his contemporaries, including Shakespeare and Literary
Theory and Untimely Matter in the Time of Shakespeare.
Before joining Ashoka University, he was a professor of
English at George Washington University and an associate
editor of Shakespeare
Quarterly, the worlds
leading journal of
Shakespeare studies. His
most recent book is The
First Firangis: How To Be
Authentically Indian.
On the 400th death
anniversary of the Bard,
the British Council has
dedicated the whole day
to the Shakespeare.
Today, they have organised a day long celebration titled Shakespeare
Lives with a range of
exciting activities for all
ages with various exciting programmes like
quiz, discussion, a film
screening of Hamlet, et
al.
Harris will conduct a
talk on Shakespeare and
Bollywood. When we
asked him about his discourse he mentioned
that there is a connection
between the Bard and
the Indian entertainment
<^bc^U
industry. On a lighter
BWPZTb_TPaTb
note he added that if
_[PhbPaT
Shakespeare were alive
today, he would be writfaXccT]eTah
ing for Bollywood films.
fT[[P]ScWPc
If he were alive,
XbPaTPb^]
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UX[\\PZTab
probably asked him to
write and he would have
_XRZcWT\d_
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his films have been adoptQTR^\TbTPbh
ed, he laughed.
He explained why
U^acWT\c^
Bollywood resorts to
X]cTa_aTcXcX]
Shakespeare every time it
\P]hfPhb
needs to fall back on a
successful story. Its simple. It is because, like a
typical Bollywood masala film, Shakespeares plays have all
the ingredients of a Bollywood blockbuster comedy,
romance, conspiracy, family feuds and tragedy. Also, like a
movie, the plays have highs and lows, Harris pointed out.
The historian, most of his works are on the Bard and
his works, is of the opinion that the reason why his plays
are so often picked up by filmmakers is because they are
written so well. Therefore, it becomes easier for a filmmaker to interpret it in a 100 different ways, he said.
Shakespeare is more than just his plays. He has more
sonnets and poems to his name than we give him credit for.
But for some reason his plays are more talked about than
his other literary pieces. Harris explained, In some parts
of the world, people really love his sonnets but in India, I
have noticed that it is not so popular. I think it is because
people associate him only with his plays.

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:KDWDVSDW
ctor Hrithik Roshan and his lawyers
A
seem to be in no mood to step back
a bit from the ongoing legal battle with

hen we took the toboggan down the snow

slope, we had no idea
that by the time we reached the
bottom we would be on our bellies. Thats how unpredictable,
and not to mention fun, a slide
down a snowy, slippery slope is.
And try as you may, but there is
no way you can get back on your
feet in the first try. You think we
are talking of a real location,
somewhere in the Himalayas?
While people in Delhi/NCR
were sweltering in a blazing temperature of 42 degrees, we were
trying hard not to get our hands
frozen and managing to barely
save our dignity by not slipping
on ice and landing on our backs.
Right here in Noida, and more
specifically at Ski India, Indias
first Sci-Fi themed Snow Planet
in DLF Mall of India.
It is a planet, alright. And it
has its own unique species of
creatures, too. You can meet Dr
Kit and D-Fly, the super intergalactic penguins and Z-Timo
(Snow Planets version of an eskimo) and Orran, whose voice will
guide you through the planet
and all the snow-filled adventures
you can be a part of.
This unique land of dreams
has been conceptualised and
brought to life by Chiliad

Procons, the people behind

Mumbais Snow World. The idea
for Ski India began there and it
took two years of relentless hard
work to get this experience started. It has taken a lot of determination to make this possible in
NCR, where the estimated population is over three crore, said
Prasuk Jain, co-founder and managing director of Ski India. He
added, The winter themed
sports activities, so far, have been
untapped, pan-India. Therefore,
we decided to conceptualise an all
year round indoor snow sport
resort introducing indoor skiing
for the first time in India, thanking the string team of creative
designers and engineers behind
turning the idea into reality.
The entire look of the arcade
is very international, with a huge
space given to the storage of proper snow clothes jackets, gloves
and boots in all sizes. The temperature inside the planet is -15
degrees because, face it, you are
in outer space. And the ice! How
can we forget the ice. It is real like.
You skid, slip, fall and everything.
Although the layer of snow is not
that deep, where you have to pull
your leg out or can build a snowman, but it is enough to engage
in a snow fight with.
Although our fingers were

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going numb and smoke billowing

out of our mouths and nostrils,
there was no stopping us from
taking pictures. Trust us, you will
want to take pictures, plenty of
them, either with the reindeer
sledge with a big snowman on it
or with the figurines of the intergalactic species strewn all over the
snow floor.
To get the place to freeze at
that temperature through the
year was an arduous task but the
makers did not make any compromise in bringing in the latest
international technology and
installing more than the required
number of coolers and ACs.
It is no less than a snow resort
where you can choose from various gradient tubes, toboggan
down a 100 feet slope (or take the
bob sledge) and have fun. Escape
from the heat outside for sometime, Benny, from the design
team put it.
He took us through the spe-

cial cave, housing more species

from the planet. We imagined
walking and moving creatures but
they were figurines. But we were
amazed to see several versions of
penguins and eskimos exhibited in a snowy area.
This snow park opens to the
public around next week and tickets are priced at C1,200 (per
head) for a one hour and 45 minutes of frozen experience. And its
not just the summers that the Ski
India is going to be active. Feel
free to enjoy the experience in the
winters, too, Jain wrapped up,
throwing a snow ball at us.

Kangana Ranaut. They said they will

prove their client Hrithik has had no
relationship with the actress.
Hrithiks lawyers told IANS: The
facts have been now presented to the
authorities. Lets not get confused in this
war of words. We will prove that our
client Hrithik Roshan has had no relationship with Kangana Ranaut. We
have presented solid evidences of this
nature to the investigating authorities.
They should present any credible evidence if they have to those who are
authorised to investigate this matter.
The lawyers added: We are not
interested in playing the game of notices
and counter-notices. We are only pursuing this to bring out the correct facts
and that will happen through bonafide
investigation. Facts will very soon come
out. We would like to remind that this
case is not about man vs woman, powerful vs weak, it's about lie vs truth.
The counter statement was sent by
Hrithiks team after Kanganas lawyer
Rizwan Siddiquee issued a statement on
Thursday evening.
Siddiquee stated: My client Ms.
Kangana Ranaut has alleged that Mr.
Hrithik Roshan was continuously hacking her email accounts due to which she
was forced to shut and abandon her two
primary email accounts more than
eight months ago. These allegations were
also contained in my counter notice cum
reply dated March 1, 2016, to which
Hrithik has still not replied despite lapse
of more than fifty (50 days).
It is a matter of record that Hrithik
filed his FIR only on March 5, 2016, i.e.

after my client claimed that her emails

were hacked. It is therefore apparent that
the emails that Hrithik is referring to or
relying upon, in all probabilities are not
genuine at all and could largely be fabricated.
In any event my client is bold
enough to admit and accept the emails
which were genuinely communicated to
Hrithik on his correct email id, only
once she verifies the contents of the
same.
Until such verification and acceptance on the part of my client, any
emails circulated by Hrithik to the
media in an effort to tarnish my
clients name and image or to put pressure on her and/or to outrage her modesty should be treated as fabricated, he
added.
Issues began when Kangana recently hinted at Hrithik being her ex when
she said in an interview that she fails
to understand why exes do silly things
to get your attention.
Siddiquees statement read:
Hrithik needs to understand that by
circulating such unreliable emails or by
asking my client to relinquish all her
legal rights and liberties and quietly
record her statement with the police
without asking any questions, proves
the extent of his desperation and nothing else.
If he really wants to clear his public image, then he should answer all
questions publicly and not keep quiet
on the main subject matter of his
notice. Such acts of deviation or putting
pressure will not work with my client.
His acts of commissions and omissions
have proved it all, so far. Hope better
sense prevails before it is too late.

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turn out pop melodies worthy of

Motown or lay down the deepest
grooves this side of Sly and the
Family Stone. But no one could
mistake his sound for anyone but
Prince.
The dazzlingly talented and
charismatic singer, songwriter,
arranger and instrumentalist who
died Thursday at his home drew
upon the history of modern popular music and created a genderand genre-defying blend of rock,
funk and soul. With hits including 1999, Purple Rain and Little
Red Corvette, Princes records sold
more than 100 million copies and
earned him Grammys and an
Academy Award for music.
The Minneapolis native stood
just five feet, two inches, yet
made a powerful visual impact at
the dawn of the MTV era, proving to be the Little Richard for the
80s, from his wispy moustache
and tall pompadour to his colorful and suggestive outfits the
counterpart to the openly erotic
lyrics that made him one of the
most sexually daring artists of the
era.
But his greatest legacy was as
a musician, summoning original
and compelling sounds at will,
whether playing guitar in a flamboyant style that drew on
Hendrix, switching his vocals
from a nasally scream to an erotic falsetto, or turning out album
after album of stunningly innovative material. Among his other
notable releases: Sign O the Times,
Graffiti Bridge and The Black
Album.
He rewrote the rulebook,
forging a synthesis of black funk
and white rock that served as a
blueprint for cutting-edge music

in the Eighties, reads his dedication in the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame. Prince made dance music
that rocked and rock music that
had a bristling, funky backbone.
From the beginning, Prince and
his music were androgynous, sly,
sexy and provocative.
The 57-year-old superstar
passed away Thursday at his
home in suburban Minneapolis.
The local sheriff said deputies
found Prince unresponsive in an
elevator late Thursday morning
after being summoned to his
home, but that first-responders
couldnt revive him.
I am confirming that Prince,
the legendary iconic performer
has died at his home this morning at Paisley Park, his publicist,
Yvette Noel-Schure, told The
Associated Press in a phone call.
No details about what may
have caused his death have been
released. Prince postponed a concert in Atlanta on April 7, saying
he had fallen ill with the flu, and
he apologised to fans during a
makeup concert last week. An
autopsy is scheduled for yesterday.
Mick Jagger was among
numerous musicians, actors and
other public figures praising the
artist, tweeting: Princes talent
was limitless. He was one of the
most unique and talented artists
of the last 30 years. Madonna
called him a true visionary,
while Oprah Winfrey tweeted:
Prince the doves really are crying now. Listening to your music.
Remembering you.
Even President Barack Obama
for whom Prince was a White
House guest last year released
a statement, saying he and his wife
joined millions of fans from
around the world in mourning
Princes sudden death.
Few artists have influenced

the sound and trajectory of popular music more distinctly, or

touched quite so many people
with their talent, Obama said. A
strong spirit transcends rules,
Prince once said and nobodys
spirit was stronger, bolder, or
more creative.
Buildings around the country
glowed with the artists signature
purple Thursday night.
Born Prince Rogers Nelson,
Prince broke through in the late
1970s with the hits Why You
Wanna Treat Me So Bad? and I
Wanna Be Your Lover, and soared
over the following decade with
such albums as 1999 and Purple
Rain. The title song from 1999, his
funky and flippant anthem about
an oncoming nuclear holocaust,
includes one of the most quoted
refrains of popular culture: Tonight
I'm gonna party like its 1999.
He won seven Grammys and

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received an Academy Award in

1985 for his music from the movie
Purple Rain. In 2004, Prince was
inducted into the Rock and Roll of
Fame, which hailed him as a
musical and social trailblazer.
Prince made his acting debut
in Purple Rain, playing a sexy,
androgynous young musician on
the cusp of fame. The film amplified Princes popularity and was a
box-office success with $68 million
in ticket sales. Besides winning the
Oscar for Original Song Score, the
Purple Rain soundtrack won
Grammys for its writing and performance. The film received
mixed reviews, but Roger Ebert
called it one of the best combinations Ive seen of music and
drama.
Prince was fiercely protective
of his independence, battling his
record company over control of
his material and even his name.
Anxious to get out of his contract
with Warner Bros., he identified
himself by a key-like symbol with
an unpronounceable name.
(Journalists called him TAFKAP,
or The Artist Formerly Known as
Prince). Prince also once wrote
slave on his face in protest of not
owning his work and famously
fought and then departed Warner,
before returning a few years ago.
Whats happening now is
the position that Ive always wanted to be in, Prince told The
Associated Press in 2014. I was
just trying to get here.
Music was in his blood.
Princes father played in a jazz
band in Minneapolis, under the
name Prince Rogers, and his
mother was the singer. The precocious young Prince taught himself to play the piano at age 7, the
guitar at 13 and the drums at 14.
But his home life was also troubled. His parents separated when
he was 10, and Prince, who ended
up with six siblings and half siblings, moved back and forth
between the homes of his mother and father.
In 1978, the year he turned 20,
Prince debuted with the album
For You. It was a declaration, if
nothing else, that he could do anything: He wrote and sang the
material, and served as his own
one-man band on guitar, bass,
drums, synthesisers, chimes and
assorted other instruments.
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aptain Virat Kohli and AB de

Villiers smashed brisk half centuries
to power a batting-heavy Royal
Challengers Bangalore to an imposing 185
for three against Rising Pune Supergiants
in an Indian Premier League match, here
on Friday.
While de Villiers made 83 off 46 balls
with the help of six boundaries and two
sixes, Kohli's 80 came off 63 deliveries during which he struck seven fours and two
hits over the fence.
Thisarra Perera (3/34) was the pick of
the bowlers for Pune, picking up all the
three wickets to fall.
Sent into bat, RCB had a relatively
quiet start, stitching 27 runs off 22 balls
for the opening wicket before KL Rahul (7)
became the first victim.
Rahul was caught at thirdman by
Ishant Sharma off Perera's bowling as the
batsman went for an ugly hoick, only to
get a thick outside edge.
But the dismissal brought together two
most destructive batsmen of modern day
cricket in Kohli and De Villiers and as
expected the duo played fearless cricket
and displayed a vast array of shots to put
together 155 runs off just 95 balls for the
second wicket.
As ususal De Villiers was at his attacking best from the word go while Kohli
played the second fiddle.
De Villiers and Kohli shared their
fourth half-century stand this season
with a two off Rajat Bhatia in 9.5 overs.
De Villiers came out with a plan and
targetted young Muruigan Ashwin by welcoming the spinner with a six and then followed it up with another hit over the fence
in the final ball of the 11th over.
De Villiers didn't let Murugan Ashwin
settle down and smashed the bowler for
two boundaries in his next over.

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over.
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It was all Kohli and De Villiers show
till the last over when both the batsmen
perished in sucessive balls in search of big
shots but note before setting the platform
for the huge total.
Kohli started off the final over in great
fashion, hitting Perera for two boundaries
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n a roll after a poor start,

Delhi Daredevils would look
to complete a hattrick of victories
with yet another impressive performance on home turf when
they take on defending champions Mumbai Indians in an Indian
Premier League encounter, here
on Saturday.
After the loss to Kolkata
Knight Riders by nine wickets in
their tournament opener, the
Daredevils bounced back strongly riding on the batting display to
comfortably beat Kings XI Punjab
and Royal Challengers Bangalore
in their next two games.
The Daredevils are presently third in the league standings
with four points from three
games, while the Mumbai
Indians are placed fifth with
two wins and three losses from
five matches.
Mumbai Indians so far has
had a mixed bag having won two
games against Kings XI Punjab
and Royal Challengers Bangalore
while losing three matches in a
lousy fashion.
After a flop show in their
opening match, Daredevils batting came to party in the last
game against RCB.
In the first match against
Kolkata Knight Riders, Daredevils
were shot out for 98 and then
went untested in the second game
against Kings XI Punjab as the tar-

get was a meagre 112.

But in the last game RCB, the
9th season of IPL witnessed its
maiden century when South
Africa opener Quinton de Kock
blazed his way to 108 off just 51
deliveries to guide Rahul Dravid's
men to a seven-wicket win over
RCB while chasing an imposing
192-run target.
Besides, De Kock, young
Karun Nair also played a pivotal
role with an unbeaten 54 off 42
balls and come on Saturday the
duo would hope to carry on their
good form against the Mumbai
Indians. But what would worry
Daredevils coach Dravid most is
that besides De Kock and Nair,
the team's batting line-up is relatively untested.
Delhi's fortune will also

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depend on the performances of JP

Duminy and big buys like Pawan
Negi and Carlos Brathwaite, who
are capable enough to win matches for their team.
Brathwaite became the toast
of the cricketing world after hitting England's Ben Stokes for
four consecutive sixes to win the
ICC World T20 final for the West
Indies, would like to make a big
impact in the tournament.
On the bowling front,
Daredevils has experience with
captain Zaheer Khan leading the

pack and showing that there is still

plenty left in his armoury. While
Chris Morris has been economical upfront, Mohammad Shami
leaked a few runs despite picking
up two wickets in his comeback
IPL game after a long lay-off.
Currently India's best legspinner Amit Mishra has time
and again risen upto the occasion
and will be leading Daredevils
spin department in company of
Pawan Negi.
Misfiring Mumbai Indians, on
the other hand, intially struggled
to get their team combination
right but they did come good with
a convincing chase of 170 plus
score against Virat Kohli's RCB.
Two-time title winners, MI
have slumped to defeats in both
their home matches this season
to IPL debutants Rising Pune
Supergiants and Gujarat Lions
but they would be taking heart
from the fact that their away campaign has so far been impressive.
Mumbai's top-order batting
has been miserable so far barring
captain Rohit Sharma, who was
instrumental in both their wins
scoring superb half-centuries.
But in the other three games,
the leading batsmen have failed to
click as a unit. Martin Guptill, who
replaced injured Lendl Simmons,
failed to live upto the expectations
in his first game against Sunrisers
Hyderabad, prompting Mumbai
team management to drop him
against RCB in the last match.

?C8Q =4F34;78

ack on track with two successive

wins after a poor start to the ninth
B
season of Indian Premier League,
Delhi Daredevils have the momentum
on their side going into the match
against defending champions Mumbai
Indians here on Saturday, said middleorder batsman Karun Nair.
After the loss to Kolkata Knight
Riders by nine wickets in their tournament opener, the Daredevils
bounced back strongly riding on
their batting to comfortably beat
Kings XI Punjab and Royal
Challengers Bangalore in their next
two games. The Daredevils are
presently third in the league standings
with four points from three games.
Asked about Saturdays game,
Nair said: "I think we have momentum on our side. Mumbai Indians are
a good side, they are the defending
champions. So whichever team plays
well on the day will win the game. We
are just concentrating on our process.
We will give our best on the ground."
Chasing a target has been the preferred choice of most teams in the
ongoing IPL and Nair feels all the
sides have worked on this aspect over
the years.
"The teams have become smart
over the years. They come out with
certain strategies. They know how to
chase and when to go after which

bowler. The teams are chasing really

well. In the past years chasing has been
a problem for every team but every
team has really worked on that aspect,"
the batsman from Karnataka said.
Nair feels having a young and
vibrant side under Rahul Dravid's
mentorship has been a blessing in
disguise for the Daredevils this
time around.
"The good thing is that all of us
are young and we want to improve
everyday. Everyone is looking forward
to their opportunities. All of us are
hungry to do well for the team. The
intensity on the field is also very
high," he said.

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ack to their winning ways after sucessive victories, a rejuvenated Sunrisers

B
Hyderabad will look to continue their

otwithstanding their
bad run so far in IPLN
9, Kings XI Punjab skipper

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umbai Cricket Association on Friday

moved the Supreme Court against
the Bombay High Court order directing
shifting of IPL matches outside
Maharashtra. The plea was mentioned
before a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and
Shiva Kirti Singh by senior advocate Kapil
Sibal which listed the matter for hearing
on April 25. The cricket association in its
plea said that it will not be using potable
water for the cricket pitches but use treated sewage water instead. The Bombay
High Court had on April 13 ordered shifting of all IPL matches scheduled in
Maharashtra after April 30 to another state
in view of the severe drought in the state.

David Miller on Friday

asked his players to remain
positive and focus on
Saturdays game against
Sunrisers Hyderabad.
"Mood in the camp is
very good. We are trying to
remain positive at all times,
win or lose. We have had
one and half days off. Good
to be in Hyderabad. The
boys are ready," Miller said
at the pre-match press conference.
After losing two games
in a row, Sunrisers
Hyderabad made a turnaround in their fortunes by
registering two stupendous
wins in their last two matches - against Mumbai Indians
(by 7 wickets) and Gujarat
Lions (by 10 wickets) on
Thursday. With two points
from four matches, Kings XI

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good run when they take on laggards
Kings XI Punjab in an IPL T20 clash at
the Rajiv Gandhi International stadium
here on Saturday.
After losing two games in a row,
Hyderabad made a quick turnaround in
their fortunes by scoring two stupendous
wins in their last two matches - against
Mumbai Indians (by 7 wickets) and Gujarat
Lions (by 10 wickets) on Thursday.
Despite injuries to its
HEAD Moises Henriques, Eoin
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The KXIP batting has
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ing the last two matches.
SRH captain and the swashbuckling Vohra putting up decent scores and others
Australian batsman David Warner has been falling short of expectations. Needless to say,
in great form, having made unbeaten 74 in the Punjab side needs to pull up its socks and
48 balls against Gujarat yesterday and 90 its batsmen, including Miller, Maxwell and
Vohra, have to come out with all cylinders
not out in the contest against Mumbai.
The other SRH batsmen, including blazing to pose any challenge to Hyderabad.

2aXRZTc1aXTU[h

Punjab, on the other hand,

are at the bottom of the
table. "Obviously, we have
not had the greatest of the
starts. The table is pretty
tight at the moment. But, we
do want to win tomorrow
and change a lot of things.
We have to stay positive and
ready for the battle. We are
just going to stay mentally
strong and make sure that
we do our basics right. Keep
it simple and no more
things," Miller said.

Shaun Marsh regaining his touch with the bat,

has been one of the positives
for the side, the skipper felt.
"There has been few
positives. We always take
negatives as well. But it is
good to see Shaun Marsh
back among runs. He has
been a very successful run
scorer for us in the past.
Always good to have confidence with him.
"Of course, we did not
start too well with the ball,
but finished well. We pulled
that back very nicely, got a
few wickets. That's very positive. Tomorrow, we are
going to start really well be
with bat or ball. Making the
first punch and like I said,
just keeping things very simple and working on the
basics," Miller said. Replying
to a query, he said young
Armaan Jafar, a member of
the KXIP squad, is a fantastic player who can do a lot of
things during tournament.

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05?Q ;>=3>=

hasing a gilded finale to a difficult season, Louis van Gaal's Manchester United
C
face an Everton team reeling from Merseyside

0?Q ;>=3>=

l e x i s
Sanchez
was surrounded by
thousands of
empty seats
inside Emirates
Stadium as he
scored twice
against West
Bromwich
Albion to ease
Arsenal back
into third place
with a 2-0 win
on Thursday.
Because
A r s e n a l
announced
59,568 tickets
were sold for the
English Premier
League game, the
north London
stadium should
have been near
capacity to see
Sanchez make it
five goals in four
games. But the
swathes of unoccupied red seats
told a different
story, reflecting
mounting unrest
among fans frustrated that it is 12
years
since
Arsenal lifted the
league trophy. "If
you love football,
you go out there
and I think you
see quality football," Arsenal
manager Arsene
Wenger said in a
post-match message to fans who
shunned this
rare Thursday
night domestic
game. Murmurs
of discontent
among fans have
grown
as
Leicester has
astonishingly
climbed to the
summit, with
some calling for
Wenger to go
after nearly 20
years in charge.

derby humiliation in Saturday's first FA Cup

semi-final at Wembley.
Van Gaal found himself back in the
media's crosshairs following a 3-0 defeat at
Tottenham Hotspur earlier this month, but
not for the first time this season, his side
responded with a timely burst of wins.
Victory at West Ham United in their FA
Cup quarter-final replay provided the spur
for back-to-back league wins over Aston Villa
and Crystal Palace that have bolstered
United's quest for Champions League qualification and they will travel to London with
renewed confidence.
"We are further than last year," Van Gaal
said of his side's FA Cup progress. "Then it
was the quarter-final, now it is the semi-final.
It means we are better than last year.
"We are in the semi-final and still in the
race for fourth. That was our aim."
A long, dark English winter is threatening to burst into a far more pleasant spring
for Van Gaal, who is seeking to steer United
to a first FA Cup final since they lost 1-0 to
Chelsea in 2007.
Uncertainty surrounding the Dutchman's
Old Trafford future continues to swirl, with Jose
Mourinho and Tottenham Hotspur manager
Mauricio Pochettino continually touted as
potential successors in the British press.
But success in the FA Cup, which United
last lifted in 2004, allied to a top-four finish
in the Premier League would strengthen Van

Gaal's hand greatly as he approaches the final

year of his three-year contract.
Marcus Rashford, the 18-year-old striker who only made his debut in February, continues to play, and score, with the coolness
of a seasoned professional and his displays
have been supplemented by the verve of fellow forwards Anthony Martial, 20, and 23year-old Jesse Lingard.
The trio's displays have meant that captain Wayne Rooney, back in action after a
knee injury, has had to drop into a midfield
role, which is where he is likely to play if
selected against his old club on Saturday.
While the worm may be turning, albeit
slowly, for Van Gaal, the same cannot be said
of Everton manager Roberto Martinez, who
is living through the blackest days of his
Goodison Park tenure.
Martinez has tasted FA Cup glory once
before, memorably leading Wigan Athletic to
a shock 1-0 victory over Manchester City in
the 2013 final, and he has called on his players to re-focus as quickly as possible.
Everton's task has been complicated by
the fact that centre-back Ramiro Funes
Mori will be suspended after being sent off
at Anfield for an ugly ankle-high challenge
on Divock Origi.
With captain Phil Jagielka and John
Stones both doubtful, due to a hamstring
injury and illness respectively, it could leave
Martinez with a crisis in central defence.
Right-back Seamus Coleman is nursing
a hamstring problem and midfielder Gareth
Barry is also a doubt after sustaining a groin
injury against Liverpool. But should Everton
need inspiration, they need not look far back,
having overcome United in a penalty
shootout when the teams last met in an FA
Cup semi-final at Wembley in 2009.

D`]ZU4YRhcRdZR
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?C8Q B74=I74=278=0

ndian golfer SSP Chawrasia

produced a solid fourunder 68 to regain his Tied10th place at the halfway
stage of the USD 2.8 million
Shenzhen International,
where play was suspended
overnight before round two
could be completed.
Chawrasia experienced the
highs and lows on the first day
itself as he was lying tied-third
from where he fell to Tied-50th
in a matter of two holes, where
he double bogeyed and
bogeyed another. However, he
was in great form over the last
12 holes.
Starting from the 10th,
Chawrasia opened with a series
of five pars and then bogeyed
the 15th, which he doubled on
Thursday. But after that he did
not make a single mistake and
had five birdies. He birdied
16th and 18th to turn in oneunder and then added three
more birdies on first, fourth
and eighth holes.
Chawrasia has three

European Tour titles, the latest

being last month at Hero
Indian Open. All his three
titles and a fourth on Asian
Tour have come at home in
India and he is looking for his
first win outside India.

:0?DAC843!=38=90?0=

CHIBA (JAPAN): Shiv Kapur

shot a four-under 67 in windy
conditions to sit one shot
behind the leader at the
halfway stage of the 150 million
Yen (approximately $1.27 million) Panasonic Open.
Kapur with rounds of 68
and 67 is seven-under 135
and lying sole second. He was
one behind Japan's Kodai
Ichihara. Ichichara is also chasing for a career breakthrough
win and leads at eight-underpar 134 at the Chiba Country
Club, Umesato course.
Two other Indians Rahil
Gangjee (69-73) in tied-39th,
down from overnight tied
13th and Jeev Milkha Singh
(74-70) up from tied 88th
overnight to the cutline at tied
61 made the cut.