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© 2006-2017 Kasturi & Sons Ltd. -Basha [email protected] tuesday, august 15, 2017

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Pr i n t e d at . C h e n n a i . C o i m b ato r e . Be n g a lu ru . H y d e r a b a d . M a d u r a i . No i da . V i s a k h a pat n a m . Th i ru va n a n t h a p u r a m . Ko c h i . V i j ayawa da . Ma n g a lu ru . Ti ru c h i r a pa l l i . Ko l k ata . H u b b a l l i . Mo h a l i . Ma l a p p u r a m . M u m b a i . Ti ru pat i . lu c k n ow

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CHENNAI

THE HINDU

TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2017

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© 2006-2017 Kasturi & Sons Ltd. -Basha [email protected] tuesday, august 15, 2017

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Chennai City Edition

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22 pages O ₹ 4.00

Kovind wants citizens, govt. to come together to create new India

Maulana Kalbe Jawad dismisses Shia Waqf Board’s affidavit

China halts imports of key products from North Korea

Justin Thomas keeps his nerve, wins PGA Championship

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Pr i n t e d at . C h e n n a i . C o i m b ato r e . Be n g a lu ru . H y d e r a b a d . M a d u r a i . No i da . V i s a k h a pat n a m . Th i ru va n a n t h a p u r a m . Ko c h i . V i j ayawa da . Ma n g a lu ru . Ti ru c h i r a pa l l i . Ko l k ata . H u b b a l l i . Mo h a l i . Ma l a p p u r a m . M u m b a i . Ti ru pat i . lu c k n ow

NHRC seeks report on Gorakhpur deaths

NEARBY

Toll at Uttar Pradesh hospital shoots up to 104

Dhinakaran takes on Edappadi, OPS

Damini Nath Vidya krishnan

MADURAI

The “ousted” AIK (Amma) deputy general secretary T.T.V. Dhinakaran took on both Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and O. Panneerselvam at a public meeting in Melur here on Monday.

New Delhi/lucknow

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Student who attacked beef-eaters punished CHENNAI

The IIT-Madras has barred a student who attacked one of the organisers of a beef-eating protest from the hostel zone and withdrawn his boarding and lodging for six months. CHENNAI

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REPORTS ON PAGE 19

T.N. submits draft ordinance to Centre Union Home Ministry examining proposal for one-time NEET exemption Special Correspondent New Delhi/Chennai

METROPLUS A 16 PAGES

A day after Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman assured for Tamil Nadu’s bid to get exemption from NEETbased issions to undergraduate medical degree programmes, an official team led by State Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan submitted a draft ordinance to the Centre on Monday to facilitate the same. The Union Home Ministry said that it was examining the draft ordinance pro-

posed by the Tamil Nadu government seeking onetime exemption to it MBSS/BDS aspirants based on their Plus Two scores for seats in government medical colleges and government quota seats in private colleges for this year alone.

State hopeful Mr. Radhakrishnan told reporters in New Delhi that he was hopeful that the ordinance would be cleared soon. “We have submitted the draft of the ordinance to the

Home Ministry. As Ministers of State Nirmala Sitharaman and Pon. Radhakrishnan said yesterday [Sunday] that the Centre would clear the ordinance… we are hoping it would be cleared soon.” “The drafts have been sent to the Ministries concerned — Law and Health — for their opinion,” the Health Secretary said. CONTINUED ON A PAGE 14 SITHARAMAN’S EFFORTS HELPED TAMIL NADU A PAGE 14 A NEW TWIST A EDITORIAL

Students appearing for the State-level model test for NEET at a school in Chennai.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Monday issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government over the deaths of dozens of children and others at the Baba Raghav Das Medical College hospital in Gorakhpur. The NHRC notice, terming the case a serious violation of the right to life of patients, came even as 41 more children died since Saturday. With the fresh spurt in fatalities, the death toll has touched 104 in the past week. Taking suo motu cognisance of media reports, the NHRC asked the U.P. Chief Secretary for a detailed report within four weeks.

Details of action sought The NHRC asked for details of the steps taken for the families of the victims and the action taken against officials responsible. A total of 63 patients itted to the intensive care unit of the government-run facility died last week, reportedly because of the oxygen supply being stopped due to pending payments to the supplier. Thirty deaths took place over 48 hours on August 10 and 11. The government has maintained that the children died due to

Future tense: A worried relative of a patient keeps watch outside the intensive care unit at the Baba Raghav Das Medical College hospital in Gorakhpur on Monday. REUTERS *

different illnesses, including Japanese encephalitis ( JE). Acting Principal of the hospital Dr. P.K. Singh said that 12 children succumbed to JE on Saturday, 13 on Sunday and 16 by 9 p.m. on Monday. “The full report for the day will be available only after midnight,” said Dr. Singh. “We see these many cases every year at this time. The deaths are actually in keeping with the corresponding figures from last year,” he added. The NHRC said the incident pointed towards “gross callousness on the part of the hospital istration and the Medical Education and Health Department of Uttar Pradesh.” It observed that it had taken up the issue

of deaths caused by JE with the Chief Secretary during an open hearing and camp sitting conducted in Lucknow on August 9-11. “However, in spite of the assurance given by the State istration, the situation has not improved,” the NHRC said. As reported earlier, the private company providing liquid oxygen to the medical college hospital stopped supply as an outstanding bill of ₹70 lakh had not been cleared. After the deaths, a magisterial inquiry was ordered to find the cause. NO FAITH IN YOGI-ORDERED PROBE, SAYS AKHILESH YADAV; SUPREME COURT DECLINES PLEA FOR INTERVENTION A PAGE 15

Centre likely to differ with J&K on Article 35A Vijaita Singh New Delhi

The Centre is likely to take a divergent opinion from that of the Jammu and Kashmir government on Article 35A, on the grounds that it discriminates against women who marry outside the State from applying for jobs or

buying property, which is in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution, The Hindu has learnt. Article 14 says: “The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India.”

A senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there were apprehensions that any adverse order against the provision could give the separatists a chance to stoke violence in the Valley. The Supreme Court is hearing a Public Interest Lit-

igation petition challenging the constitutional validity of Article 35A. The article prohibits a non-Jammu and Kashmir resident from buying property in the State. CONTINUED ON A PAGE 14 ARTICLE 35A COMES UNDER SCRUTINY A PAGE 14

OPS-Modi meeting fails to speed up merger Sobhana K. Nair New Delhi

A meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and AIK (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma) leader O. Panneerselvam here on Monday failed to provide the push for a merger in the near future with the ruling AIK (Amma) in Tamil Nadu. While Mr. Panneerselvam left no one in doubt that the Prime Minister was playing an active role in bringing the warring factions together, it emerged that the former had set some hard for a reunion, which were unacceptable to the faction loyal to Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami. “I came to convey the wish of our party cadre to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and apprise him of the political situation in Tamil Nadu,” Mr. Panneerselvam told journalists after the meeting, but evaded questions on the merger. “I can’t comment on speculation. We will do what is good for the people,” he said. The BJP has been working hard to negotiate a truce between the two factions while being keen on keeping away the family of jailed party leader V.K. Sasikala from a unified AIK. On Friday, Mr. Palaniswami met Mr. Modi and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Delhi. CONTINUED ON A PAGE 14

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CHENNAI

THE HINDU

TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2017

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© 2006-2017 Kasturi & Sons Ltd. -Basha [email protected] THE HINDU

CHENNAI

TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2017

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CHENNAI

THE HINDU

TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2017

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Schools can order textbooks online

Flight suffers snag, returns

CBSE has asked d schools to place an indent for NCERT books to avoid supply delays

Special Correspondent

Co-optex to launch ahimsa pattu

CHENNAI

A SpiceJet flight from Chennai to Kochi returned to the Chennai airport on Monday night, 30 minutes after take-off, due to a technical snag, according to a enger. SpiceJet flight SG 605 was scheduled to depart at 8.50 p.m. “There was a delay and the flight took off only by 9.15 p.m. After 30 minutes, there was an announcement that there was low cabin pressure and the oxygen masks came off,” George, a enger, said. Later, there was a followup announcement about the flight’s return due to a technical snag. He said the engers were shifted to another aircraft. SpiceJet could not be reached for comments.

supply will be better. Most schools have a few vendors from whom they procure the NCERT books for higher classes and often, they face a shortage of supply for a few subjects,” she said. For the current academic year, the CBSE Schools Management Association (CMSA) reached out to nearly 80 member schools and collected the details of the number of books required by the institutions.

S. Poorvaja CHENNAI

With instances of schools not being able to procure NCERT books on time having led to concern in the past, an online system has been introduced for d institutions to place an indent to obtain the books required for the academic year 201819. In a circular sent out by the CBSE, d schools have been asked to and place a demand for the academic year well in advance so that based on the indent, the NCERT can supply books for all classes to their emled vendors across the country. A principal of a city school said that for the 2017-18 academic year, they had faced

Streamlining education: Most schools opt for NCERT textbooks for classes IX-XII. FILE PHOTO *

difficulties in procuring history books for Classes IX and X, as well as Sanskrit textbooks.

“There was no clear picture in the past about the number of books needed, and now, we hope that the

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Colours of freedom

Easier for schools “We then approached the NCERT and the Ministry of Human Resource Development and managed to procure the textbooks needed. Now that there is an online portal in place, it will save schools some time and they

do not have to approach different vendors,” said P. Ashok Shankar, CSMA secretary. Most schools choose to tie up with vendors from whom they procure the NCERT books. The current system has vendors procuring the books from the NCERT, which a principal said, results in delays since there is a change in demand every year. This change could be due to more schools opening or shifting to using the books, leading to not enough books being readily available or in stock. While a majority of schools opt for the NCERT textbooks for classes IX-XII, schools can chose books by private publishers for middle school and lower classes.

Traffic diversion for I-Day fete Elaborate security on Kamarajar Salai Special Correspondent CHENNAI

All decked up: Ripon Buildings was lit up on the occasion of the 70th Independence Day.

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B. JOTHI RAMALINGAM

Curtains go up on Korean film festival Staff Reporter CHENNAI

The relationship between India and Korea is growing faster than ever before, H.E. Hyung Tae Kim, Consul General, Republic of Korea in Chennai, said here on Monday. While speaking at the inauguration of the Korean Film Festival, he said, “The

relationship is based on a long history of friendship and it has grown in various aspects. There needs to be mutual understanding of each other’s culture, history and lifestyle. Such film festivals help in a great way to strengthen and deepen the understanding.” Cine artiste Sameera said films are a great medium of

exchanging ideas and culture among countries. Principal Commissioner of Income Tax Rajib Kumar Hota said the festival, which showcased only a few films when it started, now boasts of a huge variety. The festival that is being tly organised by the Korean Cultural Centre, the Embassy of the Republic of

CHENNAI TODAY RELIGION Bhagavad Gita Bhashyam: Satyavratananda Saraswati, Kesari HSS., Ponduy Bazar Extn., T. Nagar, 6.30 p.m. Soundaryalahiri: Sengalipuram Sankararama Dikshithar, Ramana Kendra, Mylapore, 6.30 p.m. Kanda Puranam: Madhivannan, Asthika Samajam, Alwarpet, 6.30 p.m. Krishna Gananam: N,V. Alamelu and V. Subbaraman, Sitadevi Garodia Hindu Vidyalaya, East Tambaram, 6.45 p.m. Thiruarutpa: P.K. Prabhakar, Sakthi Vinayagar Temple, P.T. Rajan Salai, K.K. Nagar, 6 p.m. Krishna Jayanthi Celebrations: Asthika Samajam, Veerama Munivar St., Devaraj Nagar, Saligramam, 10 a.m.; Hare Krishna Movement Chennai, 1st Seaward Rd., Valmiki Nagar, Thiruvanmiyur, 9 a.m. and ISKCON, Akkararai, 7 p.m.

CULTURE Natyarangam - Narada Gana Sabha Trust: 21st Bharathanatyam festival - Thyaga Bharatham, TTK Rd.,Alwarpet, 5.30 p.m. Organising Committee: Release of book ‘The Cosmic Code is Illusion’, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mylapore, 4 p.m. Organising Committee: Inauguration of textile exhibition, Thakkar Bapa Vidyalaya, Venkatnarayana Rd., T. Nagar, 10 a.m. Organising Committee: Budding artists drawing exhibition, Animakers, Shanthi nagar, Chrompet, 11 a.m.

GENERAL Independence Day Celebrations: Flag Hoisting: Chief Minister participates, State Secretariat, Fort St. George, 8.30 a.m.; Presentation of Police medals, Chief Minister participates, Kalaivanar Arangam, Triplicane, 11 a.m.Chennai Port Trust - Port Trust istrative Office Building, Rajaji Salai, 7.15 a.m.; Office of the Principal Commissioner of GST and Central Excise, Mahatma Gandhi Rd., Nungambakkam,; The Industial Estate Manufacturer's Association, RV Towers, Guindy; YMCA Madras Kilpauk Branch and Lions Club of Madras Excellence, Halls

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Rd., Egmore, Mother Teresa Social Service Society, Dr. J.G.K.V. Vasuki Kannappan Arangam, Radhakrishna Salai, Mylapore; National Confederation of Small Industry, G.S.T. Rd., Guindy; Kola Perumal Chetty Vaishnav SSS.; Periyar E.V.R. Salai, Arumbakkam; Soka Ikeda College of Arts and Science for Women, Madhanangkuppam; G.S.S. Jain College for Women, Vepery High Rd., Vepery, ; Commissioner of CGST and Central Excise, Chennai Outer Commissionerage, Newry Towers, 2nd Avenmue Anna Nagar, 8 a.m.; Queen Mary's College, Kamaraj Salai, Marina, 8.20 a.m.; Nanganallur Eastern Sectoir Resicents' Welfare Association, Wheel House, 22nd St., Nanganallur; Sundar MHSS., Sundar Nagar, Poonamallee: The Madras Electric Trades Association, META House, Vellam Bangaru St., Purasawalkam; K.C.S. Kasi Nadar College of Arts and Science, Ellaya St., R.K. Nagar; Kancheepuram District Collectorate, Kancheepuram; Income Tax Department, Chennai - Aayakar Bhawan, Mahatma Gandhi Rd., Nungambakkam, ; Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Thalamuthu Natarajan Building, Gandhi-Irwin Rd., Egmore; Church Park, Anna Salai, Gopalapuram, 8.30 a.m.; Chennai District Collectorate Office, Singaravelan Maligai, Rajaji Salai; Integral Coach Factory, South Colony, ICF; Young Men's Indian Association, Moore St., 2nd Line Beach; Hindustan Instiute of Technology and Science, Padur; J.H.A. Agarsen College, Madhavaram, 9 a.m. Southern Railway, RPF Parade Ground, Ayanavaram; Anna Road Head Post Office - Inauguraration of 'Permanent Philately Exhibition', Anna Salai; Lamech HSS., Kaikkankuppam, 9.15 a.m.; Chief istrative Officers/ Construction and Chennai Egmore, 9.30 a.m.; State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission - Frazer Bridge Rd., Esplanade, George Town; Indian Union Muslim League, Party Head Quarter, Mannady, Seva Chakkara Orphanage/Gurukulam, 89 and 91, Sami Pallai St., Choolai, 10 a.m.; Southern Railway - DRM's Office Complex, Park Town,Chief Justice and Companion Judges of the High Court of Madras, Masdras High Court, Young Men's Indian Association, Royapettah, 10.30 a.m.; The Forum Vijaya Mall - programme on 'Vision of Freedom', Vadapalani, 4 p.m.; Makkal

Korea, New Delhi, the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea, Chennai, and Indo Cine Appreciation Foundation will be held from August 14-19 at the Russian Centre for Science and Culture. Six films — Poetry, The Host, Woochi: The Demon Slayer, Hahaha, The Housemaid and My Dear Desperado — will be screened.

For the first time, Chief Minister Edappadi K.Palaniswami will unfurl the national flag on the ramparts of St. George Fort on Tuesday. In view of Independence Day celebrations, elaborate security arrangements have been made on Kamarajar Salai, besides modifications in the movement of traffic from 6 a.m. till the function gets over, a press release said. The stretch of Kamarajar Salai from Napier Bridge up to RBI Subway North on Rajaji Salai and Flag Staff Road will be closed for all vehicular traffic other than vehicles with car es. Vehicles coming on Kamarajar Salai and proceeding towards Parry’s Corner via Rajaji Salai may take the route via Swami Sivananda Salai, Anna Salai, Muthusamy Bridge, Muthusamy Road, R.A. Mandram and NFS Road to reach Parry’s Corner. Vehicles coming on Rajaji Salai and proceeding towards Kamarajar Salai may take the route via NFS Road, R.A. Mandram, Muthusamy Road, Muthusamy Bridge, Anna Salai and Wallajah

Road to reach Kamarajar Salai. Vehicles coming from Muthusamy Bridge/Anna Salai and proceeding towards Parry’s Corner/Kamarajar Salai via Flag Staff Road may take route via Muthusamy Bridge, Muthusamy Road, R.A. Mandram and NFS Road to reach Parrys Corner, and Anna Salai and Wallajah Road to reach Kamarajar Salai respectively. While vehicles with red and purple es that arrive before 8 a.m. are to be parked at the Secretariat, those arriving after 8 a.m., along with vehicles with blue and pink es, are to be parked at the PWD parking lot. Those in vehicles without es will alight near the War Memorial and the vehicles will be allowed to park at the Island Ground through the entry on Anna Salai.

Parking for MTC buses MTC Buses carrying RSP and NSS students will enter Island Ground through the VIP Gate, where the students will disembark. The buses will be parked at the Island Ground at the places allotted for them.

Aims to attract young customers

Comfort-wear: Weavers of 15 looms have been identified to produce ahimsa pattu sarees. K.V.SRINIVASAN *

R. Sujatha Chennai

This festival season, Co-optex will be launching a range of ahimsa pattu sarees to cater to a niche market that shuns silk as conventional production requires killing silk worms. Usually, once the worm has spun the cocoon, which is later used to make yarn for silk, it is dropped in water and killed so that the yarn is continuous. In the ahimsa variety, the silkworm is allowed to mature and escape its cocoon. Since the cocoon is broken, the yarn is discontinuous, and also lacks the lustre of the silk made by ensuring the cocoon is not broken. Since by its nature ahimsa silk would be coarse, the Tamil Nadu Handloom Weavers’ Cooperative Society, popularly known as Cooptex, has decided to use threadwork instead of the usual zari embellishment. “We are looking at ahimsa pattu in two ways — as regular corporate wear that is easy to maintain and as something that is not jazzy but elegant,” said Co-

optex managing director T.N. Venkatesh.

15 looms identified Co-optex has identified 15 looms that would weave only ahimsa pattu. The weavers of these looms have traditionally been doing threadwork on sarees and they have been asked to continue. The society has given them select designs. “They are happy to oblige,” Mr. Venkatesh said. Ahimsa pattu was the result of a survey among customers during its exhibition on vintage Kancheepuram silks, officials said. “We got from those in the 25-35 age group who wanted to wear silk but said they wanted sustainable clothing. The market for ahimsa pattu would initially be in cities such as Chennai, Coimbatore, Bengaluru and Mumbai,” an official said. The silk would be priced higher as the yarn cost for ahimsa pattu is twice that of normal silk. Each month, Co-optex would be selling only around 50 sarees, the officials added.

Spanish art expo begins Staff Reporter Chennai

An exhibition of Spanish art was inaugurated by the Prince of Arcot, Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali, at ITC Grand Chola Hotel on Monday. It is being organised by ‘The Phoenix Company’ as part of their ‘The Arts of the World’ initiative. Spanish artist Silvia Sanchez Ortega exhibited her work —from portraits of

people from different cultural backgrounds to the varying landscapes of Spain and the beauty of table-top flowers. “Exchange of art is a fine way to bring people of different cultures together. We should also display Indian art on a global platform so that people around the world have a better understanding of the rich culture and heritage of our great country,” Mr. Ali said.

CINEMA ● ARTS ● EVENTS Narpani Kalvi Arakkatalai, MMDA Nagarm, 5.30 p.m. Organising Committee: Inauguration of organic farm, CSI Deaf and Dumb School, Santhome High Rd., 11a.m. Alumni Association of P.T. Lee Chengalvaraya Naicker Polytechnic College: Alumni meet, E.V.K. Sampath Rd., Vepery, 2.30 p.m. Mission Academy of Shooting Sports: 2nd Tamil Nadu Inter-School Shooting Championship competitions, 18/1, AE Block, 10th Main Rd., 2nd St., Shanthi Colony Anna Nagar, 5 p.m. The Divine Life Society International: Meeting, AJ 100, 2nd St., Anna Nagar West, 9 a.m. Senior Citizens of Nanganallur: Meeting, Ranjani Hall, 15th St., Nanganallur, 5 p.m. Narcotics Anonymous: Meeting, Self Help Group, Community Service Center, Balfour Rd., Kilpauk, 7 p.m. Al-Anon: Meetings, St. Andrews Church, Oragadam; CSI James Church, Ullagaram; Ezhil Model School, Kodungaiyur; and Port and Dock Educational Trust HSS., Tondiarpet, 7 p.m. Alcoholics Anonymous: Meetings, Santhome HSS., Mylapore; CBF Church, Banu Nagar, Pudur, Ambattur; C.S.I. James Church, Medavakkam Main Rd., Ullagaram; St. Josephs Anglo Indian HSS., Vepery; Dr. M.G.R. MHSS., Arcot Rd., Saligramam; Bedhasda Swimming Pool, Elaya Mudali St., Tondiarpet; Christ the King Church, G.K.M. Colony, Peravallur; St. Teresa Church, Nungambakkam High Rd.; ECI Church, Dr. Ambedkar St., Arumbakkam; Bharath Dass School, Perungudi; Karnataka HSS., Habibullah Rd., T. Nagar S.B.M. School, Perumal Kovil St., Thiruverkadu; and English Language Meeting, Church of Christ, W-76, Anna Nagar, 7 p.m.

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MUSIC DANCE DRAMA

BRAHMA GANA SABHA 9444444767

Also video presentation of Swamiji's talk. Arkay Convention Center, Mylapore.All are Today - Main Hall - Nat- welcome. yarangam - 21st Annual Them- SRI THIAGARAJA atic Bharatanatyam Festival - SANGEETHA VIDWATH Thyaga Bharatham - 5.30 p.m. SAMAJAM, Mylapore, -Sri R.K.Raghavan (Former CBI Ph:24982270. Director & Adviser, TCS Ltd.) inaugurates. Sri R.Krish- Today 6.30 p.m. Vocal concert namoorthy, President, Narada by SMT. LAVANYA with Sri SrikGana Sabha presides. Awardees anth & Sri Kallidaikurichi Sivak- Guru - Smt Radha Sridhar, ukar. All are welcome. Senior Dancer -Sri Sathyanarayana Raju, Emerging Talent Award - Ms. Apoorva Jayaraman, Bharatanatyam Accompaniment - J.B. Sruthi Sagar Flute. Outstanding contribution to Bharatanatyam - Dr.Sudha Seshayyan. 6.30 p.m. - - Theme "Mahatma Gandhi" - Dancers C.P. Satyajit , Keerthana Ravi, Sadhashi Baskar,Sivadas Rajan. Tomorrow - 16th - Theme "Jhansi Rani Lakshmi Bai" - DanChennai Fine Arts cers - Aishwarya Nityananda, Cell : 8939664030 Today 6.00 p.m. Shri Chitravina Janani Murali, Manjula AmNarasimhan inaugurates aresh, Poornima Kaushik. All Sarathy Sangeethotsavam. are Welcome. Group rendition of Divyanama krtis by students at Sri Krishna Mandiram, 19/1 Canal Road, Kamarajar Nagar, Thiruvanmiyur. All are welcome. Narada Gana Sabha Trust, Chennai - 600018 Ph: 24993201

Today 7 p.m. at TAG - M F A C Hall, Oliver Road, Mylapore, Theatre Marina Presents ABHAIYA RANGA THILAGA Tamil Play By J.Raghunathan Dir R.Giridharan. Booking at Hall and at www. Bookmyshow.com CHROMEPET CULTURAL ACADEMY (22651809, 9444690174) Today 8.00 a.m. 70th Independence Day Flag Hoisting. At 6.45 p.m, "Yugpurush-Mahatma of Mahatma" a Special Drama on Desa Pitha Gandhiji directed by Bombay Gnanam.

BHARAT KALACHAR TAMILNADU EYAL ISAI NATAKA MANRAM Today 6 30 p.m. at SRI YGP Auditorium, No.17, Thirumalai road, T.Nagar - 100th Show of UAA's Y Gee Mahendra in "SOPPANA VAAZHVIL" by Gopu Babu All are Welcome. Ph: 28343045 **Please note the play "PRAYACHITTAM" will be staged on 18th Aug**

Vande Bharata Mataram Presented by Rotary Club of Chennai Spotlight

Sri Vishnu Mohan Foundation 94443 81404, 92822 28561, 044-65272991 www.svmf.in SRI KRISHNA UTSAVAM - 2017 : Concluding day today at 10 a.m. - “Saulabhyam of Sri Krishna and of Her Holiness Sri Sathguru Swami Gnanananda Sarasvathi” - Pravachanam by U.Ve. Sri DAMAL RAMAKRISHNAN. At 6 p.m. - “SRI KRISHNA” - Audio-visual discourse by Sri V.A.K. Ranga Rao. At Sri Gnana Advaita Peetam, 7 / 15, New Giri Road, T.Nagar. ission free. All are Welcome. Live webcast at http://www.chennaistream.com/ sripeetam ing us in our celebration of Sri Krishna Utsavam, the Apparao Galleries presents “THE INVISIBLE BLUE MAGIC .... LOVE”, an exhibition of painting to celebrate the spirit of Krishna from 15-08-17 to 1510-17 at Apparao Galleries, 7, Wallace Garden, Nungambakkam, and “GODHULI”, an exhibition inspired by the ancient Pichwai tradition of Nathdwara from 15-08-17 to 3009-17 at The Leela Galleria, Apparao Galleries @ The Leela Palace, MRC Nagar.

Today at 10 a.m. Independence Day Special Concert by Rithvik Raja with R.K. Shriramkumar, Umayalpuram Dr. K. Sivaraman and Dr. S. Karthick followed by Presentation of Lifetime Achievement Award to Umayalpuram Dr. K. Sivaraman at 1145 a.m. in the presence of District Governor Rtn. R. Srinivasan, at Sastri Hall, Luz. Rasikas are cordially invited.

KARPAGAM GARDENS SATSANGH, ADYAR Ph. 24914221 / 9444034221 Gokulashtami and Vinayaka Chathurthi Concert at 7.00 p.m. Manoharan and Balasubramanian & Party Nadaswaram At Karpaga Vinayakar Temple. All are Welcome. Korattur Cultural Academy, Ph.No. 9444123245 Today 6.45 p.m. at Vivekananda Vidyalaya School, Korattur. 'Krishnanubavam'- A thematic musical discouse by Prof. Madhusudhanan Kalaichelvan with Selvi.Ameya KarthikeyanVocal, Sri R. Narayanan-Key Board and S. GomathishankarMridhangam. Programme Conceptualized & Curated by Sri S.L. Narasimhan. All are Welcome.

Poongulam Subramanian (Mrudangam) and Sri G. Hari Hara Sharma (Kanjira) To-morrow 4.30 p.m. Namasankeertan by Gyaneswar Bhajan Mandali & Group 06.45.p.m.Vocal Concert by Sri Sriram Parthasarathy & Party_All are Welcome. www.Vanimahal.com.

MISCELLANEOUS RAMANA KENDRA, 41, Alarmelmangapuram, Ch -4.

Sangeetharpanam 9884010225 Today at 6.15 p.m. Dayananda Jayanthi, a musical offering dedicated to Pujyasri Swami Dayananda Saraswati; slokaparam by students and sangeetharpanam by Dayananda sisters.

Sri Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha (Regd) Vani Mahal. Ph 28152166 Today At Sri P.Obul Reddy Hall .In Association with INDO NATIONAL LTD celebrates 8th Sri Jayanthi Music Festival. (Dedicated to the memory of Sri P.Obul Reddy & Smt. P. Gnanamba) 04.30.p.m. Namasankeertan by Ganapriya School of Music & Group 06.45 p.m.Vocal Concert by Smt. V.K.Manimaran with Sri B.Ananthakrishnan (Violin), Sri

SRI SOUNDARYALAHARI, UPANYASAM by Brahma Sri Sengalipuram Sri Sankararama Dikshidar, From 15th Aug. to 21st Aug. Daily @ 6.30 p.m.

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Timings

Tuesday, August 15

RISE 05:57 SET 18:30 RISE 00:00 SET 12:25 Wednesday, August 16

RISE 05:57 SET 18:30 RISE 00:25 SET 13:24 Thursday, August 17

RISE 05:57 SET 18:29 RISE 01:20 SET 14:24

Over 900 casual labourers fight against dengue Civic body unable to carry out mosquito control measures due to staff shortage labourers < > Casual need awareness

Chennai

Unknown persons broke into a house in AA Block of Anna Nagar and decamped with 50 sovereign of jewels and ₹4 lakh in cash.

CHENNAI:

Deadline extended by six months for project completion Aloysius Xavier Lopez Chennai

Special Correspondent

Jewellery missing

Poor record-keeping hits digitisation of civic records

The Chennai Corporation has intensified the drive to control vector-borne diseases such as dengue by roping in casual labourers. Owing to shortage of workers in the Public Health Department, the civic body has been unable to carry out mosquito control operations for the past few months. According to officials, as many as 153 labourers will carry out vector control operations in Tiruvottiyur, 129 in Madhavaram, 125 in Tondiarpet, 85 in Royapuram, 80 in Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar, 122 in Anna Nagar, 114 in Teynampet and 120 workers in Kodambakkam. Each worker will cover 80 houses every day, screening overhead tanks, wells and other mosquito breeding sources. The workers will visit the neighbourhoods that have reported malaria, dengue

and orientation to understand their role and responsibility Corporation official

per day. The workers will get ₹9,920 as salary per month. “Fogging operations are expected to improve. Source reduction operations will improve. Mosquito density will reduce,” said an official.

Intensified drive: Fogging operations are expected to improve in the city, says an official. FILE PHOTO *

and other vector-borne diseases to carry out source reduction operations. The zones have reported huge vacancies in the Public Health Department for the past few years. But the vacancies have not been filled by the civic body. Corporation officials at

the field level said the casual labourers lack motivation to work in most of the zones. “There is a need for more awareness among the casual labourers. They need orientation courses to understand their role and responsibility,” said an official. The Chennai Collectorate has fixed the wages at ₹320

Clearing vacant plots The Corporation has already started clearing waste in vacant plots in various parts of the city. Most of the vacant plots have become sources of mosquito breeding. Residents are requested to report such mosquito breeding sources in their neighbourhood on corporation helpline 1913, said a Corporation official.

Digitisation of records in the Chennai Corporation has been delayed because of the poor record keeping system of various departments. Following a delay in completion of the digitisation project by a private agency, the Chennai Corporation Special Officer’s Council has extended the deadline for completion of the project by six months. Pointing to the “damages caused to records and the challenges in scanning of such pages,” the private agency had requested the Chennai Corporation to extend the deadline.

60 lakh records The agency has to scan 60 lakh records of the Chennai Corporation. The records pertain to various aspects including birth and death records, land records, civic utilities, assets and resolutions ed by the Council. Accepting the request of

cooperation < > The from various departments was not adequate Civic body officials

the private agency, the civic body has permitted the agency to continue the work. Even as the work order was issued by the Chennai Corporation on May 11, 2015, the work was delayed for many months. In a letter dated May 23, 2017 to the Chennai Corporation, the private agency had claimed that it had completed 75% of the work. As many as 7.7 lakh pages had been scanned, the letter said. Corporation officials said the cooperation from various departments was not adequate. “Some of the officials themselves may not want some key records to be digitised. Many land records are missing. Some of the land records from erstwhile local

Student who attacked beef-eaters punished Residents want Otteri Nullah cleaned ahead of monsoon Special Correspondent CHENNAI

The Indian Institute of Technology - Madras has barred a student who attacked one of the organisers of a beef eating protest from the hostel zone and withdrawn his boarding and lodging facility for six months as a disciplinary measure. The student has been instructed to “enter the campus only with the prior permission from the institute for academic reasons.” A notice

has been put up in all hostels on the campus. A clash had broken out between two groups of students in May after one held an impromptu protest against restrictions on cattle trade by eating beef on one of the institute’s lawns. In the clash, R. Sooraj, a Ph.D scholar, was attacked. He sustained a serious injury requiring a surgery for a broken cheekbone. The issue became a national controversy with polit-

ical parties here taking it up. The police booked a case against Manish Kumar Singh and others under four Sections, including rioting, wrongful restraint and criminal intimidation for assaulting. A case was filed against Sooraj based on a counter complaint by Manish. Two months later, the IIT-M Hostel Disciplinary Committee informed the students that the attacker had been punished by cancelling

Biomining to be used to reclaim Sembakkam dumpyard Erode-based firm has been awarded the ₹1.5 crore project T. Madhavan CHENNAI

After tasting success with its first biomining project at Kumbakonam Municipality, the Commissionerate of Municipal istration (CMA) has accorded sanction for a similar project that could also reclaim the dumpyard on the Sembakkam lake. A few months ago, the Southern Bench of National Green Tribunal had ordered the closure of the dump on the lake, following which experts in Anna University were consulted. Based on their suggestion, the CMA has now decided to test the biomining option as a huge volume of garbage has been dumped on the lake bed over two decades. Erode-based Zigma Global Environ Solutions that set up the plant for the Kumbako-

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nam Municipality has been awarded the ₹1.5 crore project. It is expected to take 12 months to complete. “At present, pre-processing work (stabilisation) is going on and once it is over, civil work will start for setting up machinery,” said B. Dharmaraj, the company’s director.

35,000 tonnes of waste The project in Sembakkam has been established under the Design, Build, Own, Operate and Transfer concept for clearing 35,000 tonnes of waste spread over 4.5 acres with a capacity to process 100-200 tonnes a day. “We intend establishing similar plants throughout the south with the target of clearing dump sites and handing them over to the community as valuable land,” said Mr. Dharmaraj.

Officials said the biomining concept was a simple, low-tech, quick and ecofriendly method to reclaim old open waste dumps to achieve near zero emission of landfill gases. In this concept, loosened layers of old waste are sprayed with composting bio-cultures. The waste would be sterilised, stabilised, and using machinery, segregated into organic and inorganic substances, which would be later sent for recycling, reuse or composting. Aggregates such as coconut shells, plastics, wood, rubber, glass, inert, and soil enriching bio-earth are collected. While coconut shells and wood are sold as fuel, rubber and glass are sent for recycling. Plastic is supplied to recycling plants and cement plants, the company officials said.

his hostel accommodation for six months. The disciplinary committee had reprimanded the students who had been involved in the clash, besides those whose act triggered violence. In another unrelated incident, the institute took action against a few senior students who had indulged in ragging during the introduction session in July-end. The institute has asked the parents of these students to meet the dean.

Two school students drown in sea

‘Canal flowing through Anna Nagar reduced to a dump’

Many pages damaged Work on scanning pages of the Law Department and the Education Department is under way now. But many pages have already been damaged. A few months ago, invaluable documents relating to data on birth and death were damaged as labourers hurriedly shifted the records, sources said. The existing records have been shifted several times to facilitate the renovation of Ripon Buildings. While a portion of records are housed in zonal offices of the civic body, a chunk of the records have been preserved at the iconic headquarters.

Lorry driver knocked down Special Correspondent CHENNAI

Pitiful state: Garbage makes the canal a breeding ground for mosquitoes. K. Lakshmi

Special Correspondent

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CHENNAI

Residents living along the Otteri Nullah, a minor waterway that links floodwater to the Buckingham canal, want it to be cleaned ahead of the northeast monsoon. The 12 km waterway es through Anna Nagar, Purasawalkam, Otteri and drains into the Buckingham canal near the Basin Bridge. Residents of Anna Nagar complain that the canal flowing through the 6th Avenue has been reduced to a dump. J. Babu, a resident of 3rd Avenue, said tree branches and garbage on the stretch of the canal obstructs water flow. This has also become breeding ground for mosquitoes. Areas around B Sector in Anna Nagar Western Extension are often flooded during the rains as the Otteri Nullah does not have enough capacity to carry

Two school students drowned off the Marina on Monday. Accompanied by their soccer coaches, students of Guru Nanak Matriculation Higher Secondary’s School had gone to the Marina for practice. The coaching began at 7.30 a.m. The police said that after two hours, the coaches had asked them to go home. However, the boys pretended to leave and returned to the beach. While they were playing in the waters, high tides dragged Kishore Kumar, Deepak and Santhosh, all aged 15, into the sea. Fishermen were able to rescue Santosh. The bodies of Kishore Kumar and Deepak were washed ashore. The victims are from Velachery and Saidapet.

bodies have not been handed over to the Chennai Corporation after the merger. A few officials are aware of this. But they are reluctant to take action. Some of the corporation lands have already been grabbed and encroached upon,” said an official.

floodwater. A. Chockalingam, secretary of B Sector Residents’ Welfare Association, said while people of other areas are concerned about the canal turning a dump, residents of Anna Nagar Western Extension fear water logging during monsoon as the waterway is too narrow to carry floodwater. “Unless the Otteri Nullah is widened, areas near Park Road cannot escape inundation,” he said.

Overgrown vegetation Residents of Purasawalkam also complained about overgrown vegetation and floating garbage in the Otteri Nullah near Bricklin Road. H. Premanand, a resident, recalled that there was an attempt to clear garbage on the stretch near Purasawalkam about six months ago. However, the canal re-

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mains neglected and covered with plastic waste. Besides taking stringent measures against those who dump garbage, the departments concerned must initiate periodical cleaning of the canal. Meanwhile, the Water Resources Department plans to prioritise desilting of city waterways and execute the pre-monsoon exercise wherever necessary. Every year, the department desilts waterways in the city ahead of the northeast monsoon to ensure free flow of floodwater. However, this year, the work would be prioritised and machinery engaged to desilt vulnerable portions. The major waterways, Cooum and Adyar rivers, are being periodically cleaned. “As there was not much of rain last year, other waterways may not require much desilting,” an official said.

A 40-year-old lorry driver died after being hit by a vehicle on Sunday night at the Chennai Port. The victim has been identified as Barani Raj, a native of Cuddalore. He had parked his container lorry near a gate and was walking to check the rear side. A rashly driven vehicle knocked him down. He was seriously injured and succumbed to injuries on the way to the Government Stanley Hospital. A few lorry drivers protested, urging the police to arrest the driver of the vehicle.

Graduation day held Staff Reporter CHENNAI

R.M.D. Engineering College held its 12th Graduation Day on August 13. M. P. Poonia, vice-chairman, AICTE, delivered the graduation day address and distributed degrees to 908 students and University rank certificates to 69, including two gold medallists. R. S. Munirathinam, founder-chairman, R.M.K group of institutions, presided. K. Sivaram, principal, spoke. College director R. Jothi Naidu, vicechairman R. M. Kishore and secretary Yalamanchi Pradeep participated.

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Dhinakaran demands probe into Jayalalithaa’s death Addressing a public meeting in Melur, he says Panneerselvam, who was the Chief Minister at the time of her demise, would be the first to come under scrutiny PonVasanth Arunachalam MADURAI

Seeking to take the wind out of the sails of Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and rebel leader O. Panneerselvam, the AIK — Amma’s ‘ousted’ deputy general secretary T.T.V. Dhinakaran, at a massive rally here on Monday, urged the Tamil Nadu government to order a probe into the death of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. “From the beginning, I have said that we (Sasikala family) have nothing to hide, and therefore, nothing to fear. So, I am asking the government now to order a probe,” declared Mr. Dhinakaran at a rally attended by thousands of cadre. The rally at Melur, organised to celebrate the birth centenary of party founder M.G. Ramachandran, turned out to be a platform for Mr. Dhinakaran, who was sidelined by Mr. Palaniswami’s camp, to showcase his resourcefulness in organising

Show of strength: ers of T.T.V. Dhinakaran attending his public meeting. a mammoth turnout. Referring to the demand of AIK (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma) leader Panneerselvam, he said, “In fact, it was Mr. Panneerselvam and others who were in charge (of the istration) at the time of Amma’s ( Jayalalithaa’s) death. If there is a probe, they should be enquired first.” He ridiculed the claim of Mr. Panneerselvam’s faction that they were waging a

‘dharma yudham’. “What they are doing is not a ‘dharma yudham,’ but a war against dharma,” he said. Most of Mr. Dhinakaran’s speech was sharply critical of Mr. Palaniswami and his Cabinet colleagues, MLAs and other party functionaries ing the latter.

‘You owe it to Sasikala’ Stating that MLAs alone are not the party, Mr. Dhinakaran urged the government led by Mr. Palan-

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iswami to bear in mind that they are in power because of party general secretary V.K. Sasikala (now jailed) and act according to the wishes of party cadre and the public. Justifying his earlier comments that recent actions of Mr. Palaniswami and a few others to sideline him amounted to cheating punishable under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code, he said, “The party cannot be run by a few people conducting closed-door meet-

‘BJP seeking to saffronise Tamil Nadu’ AIK organ sees Prime Minister Modi’s hand in splitting the party several < > Across States, you can

B. Kolappan CHENNAI

Even as the AIK factions led by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam are adopting an extremely soft approach towards the BJP-led Central government, the party mouthpiece, Dr. Namadhu MGR, has castigated the Centre, accusing it of attempting to paint Tamil Nadu saffron and destroy the AIK. The party organ is under the control of the family of V.K. Sasikala, the jailed interim general secretary of the AIK (Amma). Justifying its criticism of

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witness the (BJP) government’s anti-democratic moves and dictatorial attitude Marudhu Azhaguraj Editor, Dr. Namadhu MGR

the BJP, Marudhu Azhaguraj, the editor of Dr. Namadhu MGR, said, “We cannot afford to remain silent as we deem that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is directly involved in splitting the AIK into one more faction [ing T.T.V. Dhinakaran]. Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami adopted a resolution against

general secretary Sasikala [who appointed Dhinakaran] and immediately rushed to New Delhi to meet Mr. Modi. What does it mean?” Kaavi Adi, Kazhagathai Azhi (Paint saffron, destroy AIK), a poem published in the party mouthpiece, mocked Mr. Modi’s achievements, saying they included converting currency notes into mere papers and burying the concept of pluralism in the country. Recalling late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s 2014 Parliamentary slogan asking voters to choose between “this lady and Modi”, the poem accused Mr. Modi of splitting the AIK into three and

freezing its ‘Two Leaves’ symbol for challenging him. “They (BJP) could make Congress MLAs openly vote for their candidate. Be it Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Bihar or Gujarat, you can witness the (BJP) government’s anti-democratic moves and dictatorial attitude,” contended Mr. Azhaguraj. The paper also alleged that independent Central agencies including the CBI, the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax department had become pawns of the BJP, adding that the party was using them to settle scores with the opposition.

ings in the head office and indulging in acts of forgery (misuse of the AIK letterhead). They do not have any connect with the public or the party cadre.” He also accused the faction led by Mr. Palaniswami of kidnapping and detaining a few MLAs to prevent them from attending the meeting on Monday. He also accused the faction of denying police permission for the meeting, because of which the court had to be approached. Arguing that the party should focus on ing a huge victory in the 2019 Parliamentary elections, he said that the State government should therefore focus on implementing policies that would benefit the people. Asking Mr. Palaniswami and his faction not to get carried away by the fact that they were in power, he said, “We are the commanders of the party, who are serving our cadre. If the cadre order us, we would not hesitate to take extreme steps.”

Edappadi camp remains unfazed T. Ramakrishnan CHENNAI

The ruling AIK (Amma), which is hopeful of an early reunion with the AIK (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma), appears to remain unfazed by the public meeting conducted by its ‘sidelined’ deputy general secretary T.T.V. Dhinakaran in Melur. R. Vaithilingam, one of the organising secretaries of the AIK (Amma), said that compared to the ori-

ginal expectations of the organisers of the Melur event with regard to the participation of legislators, the number of MLAs who took part was much lower. “[By taking part in the meeting], some legislators may have been temporarily carried away. But, this need not be viewed as something that would pose a threat to the existence of the present government as none of the legislators want the regime to collapse,” he pointed out.

Finance Minister D. Jayakumar said there may have been some “minor issues” with the AIK (PTA), “which happen among siblings.” He added that a “formula” is being worked out to thrash out all the differences. Going by media reports on Monday’s meeting between Mr. Panneerselvam and Prime Minister Modi, the Finance Minister saw a “positive signal” from the development.

20 MLAs, six MPs in attendance Staff Reporter MADURAI

At least 20 MLAs and six MPs attended the birth centenary celebrations of former Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran, organised by the T.T.V Dhinakaran-led faction of AIK (Amma), in Melur on Monday. Speaking to The Hindu, former Higher Education Minister and Pappireddipatti MLA P. Palaniappan confirmed that 20 MLAs, including himself, and six MPs, attended the function. However, police sources said that there were 21 MLAs and seven MPs.

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IN BRIEF

Nirmala’s promise on NEET draws flak

Weather Watch Rainfall, temperature & air quality in select metros yesterday

There is confusion which Minister is handling what portfolio, says Congress leader P. Chidambaram However, BJP MP L. Ganesan said Ms. Sitharaman had not made any unilateral announcement, but shared the information when a question pertaining to NEET was raised.

B. Kolappan CHENNAI

Soldier laid to rest with military honours SIVAGANGA

Hundreds of grief-stricken people of Kandani village bade a tearful farewell as the body of P. Ilayaraja, the sepoy who was killed in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday morning, was laid to rest at his native village near Ilayangudi on Monday evening with the full military guard of honour. Colonel S.S. Pandian, Station Staff Officer, Station Headquarters, Tiruchi, spoke.

Dalith youth stabbed to death near Vellore VELLORE

A Dalit youth was murdered by a few caste Hindus near Chinna Naagal village in K.V. Kuppam police station limit on Sunday night, police sources said. Elavarasan, 25, a resident of M.M. Kuppam, owned a poultry farm near Thenkani Malai. About 10 days ago, his brother was stopped by Natarajan, a resident of Manganipatti near Chinna Naagal and was questioned why he was ing by Chinna Naagal. When Elavarasan and his friend Rajini were going to the farm around 6.30 p.m. on Sunday, Natarajan and two others allegedly stabbed Elavarasan.

History-sheeter dies in police custody TIRUNELVELI

A history-sheeter, who was facing more than 20 cases, died on Monday morning after he was picked up by the police during a vehicle check at Alangulam on Sunday. Sources said, S. Palani, 37, of Sivalaarkulam near Alangulam here, was intercepted owing to a sudden spurt in crimes in and around Alangulam and also as a precautionary measure ahead of the Independence Day.

States’ rights on the wane, says Ramadoss CHENNAI

On the eve of Independence Day celebrations, Pattali Makkal Katchi founder Dr. S. Ramadoss on Monday contended that States have lost more rights than they have gained over the past seven decades. “Tamil Nadu stands first in reinforcing national unity, but the State’s rights are being consistently denied by its neighbours, ” said Dr. Ramadoss. He cited the NEET controversy in of his view.

Union Minister of State for Commerce Nirmala Sitharaman’s announcement that that the Centre would “cooperate” to grant a one-time exemption from NEET-based issions through the ordinance route in government medical colleges and the government quota seats in private medical colleges has evoked strong criticism from a section of leaders. “Commerce Minister promises on NEET. Power and Coal Minister rejects GST rate changes. Who is in charge of which portfolio?” tweeted former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram. “Is she the Union Health Minister or Home Minister or

P. Chidambaram Prime Minister? Something is happening,” I(M) State secretariat member K. Kanagaraj said. “I suspect she might be projected as the BJP’s face in Tamil Nadu in the future as even Pon. Radhakrishnan, the only Union Minister of State from Tamil Nadu, appeared unaware of the development,” he added.

Legal implications He said though there was a reason behind Tamil Nadu’s demand, the Centre had to look into the legal implications of giving exemption to one State which might affect other States. “Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda consulted leaders from Tamil Nadu and AIK ministers and leaders also met him. I have attended the meetings and Ms. Sitharaman also took part in the consultations. When a decision was taken by the

Japanese encephalitis under control in T.N. Data show number of cases decreased last year Zubeda Hamid CHENNAI

In the wake of the deaths of 60 children in a government hospital in Gorakhpur recently, all eyes now are on a disease for which some of the children were believed to have been itted: Japanese Encephalitis ( JE). Tamil Nadu has a long history with the disease — it was first recognised in India in 1955, with cases reported in the then North Arcot district of the State and from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. JE is a viral disease transmitted by the bite of the Culex mosquito. Acute Encephalitis Syndrome is a group of neurological conditions caused by a number of pathogens, including bacteria and viruses. Blood tests can establish if a case of AES is specifically JE. Data from the National Vector Borne Disease Surveillance Programme for Tamil Nadu since 2010 show that the number of cases went up for a few years, but dropped last year. From 11 cases in 2010, the number went up to 53 cases in 2015, but dropped to 51 cases last year. As of August 6 this year, 22 cases were reported. Hundreds of cases of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES), however, continue to be reported year on year — this year there have been 659 cases in the State, while in 2016 there were 859. “Though JE is a disease that has high morbidity and mortality, T.N. has had no deaths due to it for three years now,” said Director of Public Health K. Kolandaisamy. He explained that the State had adopted a multi-faceted approach to the disease. Surveillance for AES has been ongoing for around 30 years

now. “Even before the vaccine came in, if there was a report of any child with AES, an epidemic-control response was immediately launched in the area,” he said. The second approach involved surveillance of the virus through collection of mosquitoes to check for positivity, even if cases had not been reported in the area. The vaccine is now istered along with the Measles Rubella vaccine to all children in these districts in two doses. Coverage, he said, was around 85%. “The vaccine is not generally available in the private sector, which is why it is not 100%,” he said. The cases reported, he said, were of people who had not been vaccinated, and sporadically, cases from other districts and States. The JE vaccine is istered in 13 endemic districts in the State — it was initially piloted in three districts and later extended to cover the others.

No anti-viral treatment “There is no anti-viral treatment for JE,” explains Dr. Bala Ramachandran, chief of paediatric intensive care, Kanchi Kamakoti CHILDS Trust Hospital. The disease causes an inflammation of the brain and can be accompanied by fever, seizures and diminished consciousness. “Though some patients go on to recover, many continue to have neurological issues even after they are cured. These include seizures, developmental delays and learning disabilities among others,” he said. Management of the disease includes istration of anti-edema medicines, said T. Ravichandran, director, Institute of Child Health, Egmore.

government we conveyed it to the people as we are also part of the government,” explained Mr. Ganesan. BJP State president Tamilisai Soundararajan echoed his views, saying Ms. Sitharaman had only responded to a pointed question on the subject. “We are all part of the discussion held on the subject after the Prime Minister visited Rameswaram. Since she was also fully involved in the discussion, she has expressed the government’s stand,” Ms. Soundararajan told The Hindu. She said the Centre had resorted to the ordinance route because NEET was said to severely affect the prospect of rural students entering medical colleges.

Asked whether Ms. Sitharaman would be given a bigger role in Tamil Nadu politics, Mr. Ganesan said he could not judge what would happen in the future. “She is a Tamil and had her education in Tamil Nadu and abroad. She is one of the very efficient ministers in the Union Cabinet. Tamils should be proud of her achievement,” said Mr. Ganesan. Reacting to Mr. Chidambaram’s tweet, he said in the Congress government many decisions, which were supposed to be taken by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, were taken by others. “Mr, Chidambaram might have forgotten the fact, but the nation still re,” he said.

Chennai Police Commissioner to get President’s Medal Honours for 26 other T.N. officials as well Sankar; ASP – M. Baskaran; DSPs –V. Ashok Kumar, P.A. The Union Home Ministry Sundaram, K.Vashas announced Presidanthaselvan, S. Panbalan ent’s Police Medal for Disand K. Dhanasekaran; Intinguished Services to City spectors – C. Rajesh, O. VetPolice Commissioner A.K. riselvan, S. Nelson, J. NagaViswanathan, Additional rajan, K. Mohan; SSIs – S. Commissioner S.N. SeshaSekar, U. Arumugam, A. sai and Additional SuperIruthayaraj and L. Josephintendent of Police C. A.K. Viswanathan raj. Raja, Core Cell Security Meanwhile, the State Branch CID. government has also announced Mr. Viswanathan, a 1990-batch Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s Medal IPS officer who took over as the City for Excellence in Public Service, on Police Commissioner in May, was the occasion of Independence Day conferred with the President’s Police to six police personnel including Medal for Meritorious Service in ADGP K. Jayanth Murali, IG C. 2006. Easwaramoorthy, D A.. MyilvagS.N. Seshasai ed as DSP in anan, DSP M. Chandrasekaran, In1987. He was promoted as Superin- spector S. Vijayan and constable J. tendent of Police in 1997 and as IG in Sudha. 2013. He held the post of CommisAnother 10 police personnel have sioner of Police, Tirupur before be- been awarded Chief Minister’s coming Additional Commissioner of Medal for Excellence in InvestigaPolice. tion. The Centre has also announced The following persons will receive award of medals for 26 officers of the medal for excellence in investigthe State police. The 23 officers who ation: ASP K. Veeramani; DSP P. have been awarded the Police Medal Ashok Natarajan; Inspectors – V. for Meritorious Service are: DIGs – Chandrasekaran, J. Nagarajan, C. Deepak M. Damor, Anisa Husain, V. Umadevi, A. Siva Ananth, J. Anbu Vanitha, Karthikeyan and K. Prakash, P. Parthiban and J. Bhavaneeswari; SPs – P.K. Senthil Malarkodi; and SI – M. SundaraKumari and N.Z. Asiammal; A – G. moorthy. Special Correspondent CHENNAI

Temperature Data: IMD, Pollution Data: CB, Map: Skymet (Taken at 18.00 Hrs)

Forecast for Tuesday: Heavy to very heavy rain is likely at isolated places over Andaman & Nicobar Islands, east Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Rayalaseema, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry city rain max min Agartala................30.... 33.0.... 25.2 Ahmedabad..........0.6.... 33.4.... 25.2 Aizawl ................... —.... 27.7.... 13.2 Allahabad .............. —.... 33.4.... 27.2 Bengaluru .............. —.... 28.3.... 21.6 Bhopal................... —.... 30.0.... 22.9 Bhubaneswar ........28.... 31.8.... 24.9 Chandigarh ..........0.4.... 35.2.... 26.7 Chennai ...............9.4.... 33.7.... 26.6 Coimbatore............ —.... 32.3.... 23.4 Dehradun............... —.... 32.7.... 22.9 Gangtok................24.... 22.5.... 17.2 Goa .....................4.5.... 31.0.... 25.7 Guwahati ...........41.1.... 30.1.... 25.4 Hubballi................. —.... 28.0.... 21.0 Hyderabad ...........3.5.... 30.4.... 21.9 Imphal....................3.... 31.2.... 22.2 Jaipur .................... —.... 32.3.... 23.5 Kochi..................... —.... 31.6.... 25.0 Kohima................1.8.... 26.9.... 18.0 Kolkata..............17.8.... 32.2.... 26.0

city rain max min Kozhikode ............... —.... 32.4.... 25.2 Kurnool .................2.1.... 33.1.... 24.4 Lucknow.................. —.... 31.6.... 25.8 Madurai..................10.... 33.2.... 23.2 Mangaluru ............... —.... 30.7.... 24.5 Mumbai...............11.4.... 29.8.... 24.5 Mysuru.................... —.... 31.8.... 19.8 New Delhi ............... —.... 35.8.... 27.4 Patna ....................0.9.... 29.4.... 25.7 Port Blair ................ —.... 30.9.... 26.0 Puducherry.............. —.... 32.7.... 25.6 Pune ....................... —.... 29.1.... 21.9 Raipur ..................... —.... 31.3.... 25.1 Ranchi...................1.6.... 30.5.... 22.4 Shillong...............39.2.... 23.9.... 15.6 Shimla...................2.8.... 25.3.... 15.6 Srinagar ................2.2.... 21.6.... 14.3 Trivandrum ............. —.... 31.7.... 25.1 Tiruchi .................... —.... 36.3.... 26.0 Vijayawada ............1.4.... 33.9.... 24.2 Visakhapatnam ......... —.... 32.0.... 27.4

Particulate matter in the air you are breathing CITIES

Yesterday

SO2 NO2 CO PM2.5 PM10 CODE

Ahmedabad ......... ....—.....— ...— ....... — .......—.......— Bengaluru ................9 ...50 ..50 ....... —....110 ......* Chennai....................7 ...15 ..59 ...... 99 .......— ......* Delhi......................11 ...63 ..32 ...... 93 .......— ......* Hyderabad .............22 ...13 ..13 ...... 58......60 ......* Kolkata ..................20 ...59 ..47 ....... —......89 ......* Lucknow ..................5 ...27 ..40 .... 150 .......— ......* Mumbai ...................5 .....8 ..17 ...... 20......40 ......* Pune ......................40 .....3 ..74 ...... 19......35 ......* Vishakhapatnam .......7 ...12 ..60 ...... 34....202 ......*

In observation made at 4.00 p.m., Horah, recorded an overall air quality index (AQI) score of 187 indicating a moderate level of pollution. In contrast, Nashik, Maharashtra recorded a healthy AQI score of 30

Air Quality Code: * Poor * Moderate * Good SO2: Sulphur Dioxide. Short-term exposure can harm the respiratory system, making breathing difficult. It can affect visibility by reacting with other air particles to form haze and stain culturally important objects such as statues and monuments. NO2: Nitrogen Dioxide. Aggravates respiratory illness, causes haze to form by reacting with other air particles, causes acid rain, pollutes coastal waters. CO: Carbon monoxide. High concentration in air reduces oxygen supply to critical organs like the heart and brain. At very high levels, it can cause dizziness, confusion, unconsciousness and even death. PM2.5 & PM10: Particulate matter pollution can cause irritation of the eyes, nose and throat, coughing, chest tightness and shortness of breath, reduced lung function, irregular heartbeat, asthma attacks, heart attacks and premature death in people with heart or lung disease (Individual pollutant data for various cities are averages for the previous day)

Three MLAs Kadiramangalam residents Special Correspondent KUMBAKONAM

Three MLAs belonging to various outfits but elected to the Assembly on the AIK symbol have pledged their to the protesting Kadiramangalam villagers and have promised to take up their cause with Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami during their visit to the troubletorn village on Monday. The Kadiramangalam tour of the three MLAs has to be seen against the backdrop of their to beleaguered AIK deputy general secretary T.T.V. Dhinakaran.

Grievances heard Manithaneya Jananayaka Katchi’s Thameemun Ansari, Tamil Nadu Kongu Ilaignar Peravai’s founder U. Thaniyarasu and Mukkulathor Pulipadai founder Karunas — all elected on AIK’s Two Leaves symbol in the last Assembly elections — visited Kadiramangalam on Monday and listened to the grievances of the villagers. Speaking to them, Mr. Ansari pointed out that their fight was not for money or power but to save agricultural operations that provided livelihood to thousands of people. The residents were also fighting to preserve the fertile lands for the future generations. The three MLAs also brought to the notice of the villagers that they had severally raised the Kadiramangalam issue in the Assembly and had also collectively taken the issue to the notice of the Chief Minister. They also demanded that the ONGC accept the blame with regard to pipeline bursts and stop alleging that those who oppose their dangerous projects are “anti-development and are working against the nation’s progress”'. Mr. Thaniyarasu noted that the Centre must not the anti-people activities of the ONGC and must respect the sensitivities of the villagers. CM YK

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IN BRIEF

Women’s s case against P.C. George

Amit Shah downplays Lingayat, State flag issues them political game plan of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah Staff Reporter

The Kerala Women’s Commission on Monday informed Speaker P. Sivaramakrishnan that it had filed a case against Kerala Congress legislator P.C. George. It had earlier opened an inquiry against Mr. George on the charge of “shaming” a woman actor who was abducted in Kochi.

Bengaluru

BENGALURU

Gururaj, actor and son of BJP MLC Jaggesh, was stabbed in a case of road rage at R.T. Nagar on Monday. According to the police, Mr. Gururaj’s car was damaged when another car tried to overtake him. An argument ensued, and it turned violent with the other driver stabbing the actor in the thigh.

Director of Mass Leader was not aware of the latest rules MURALIDHARA KHAJANE BENGALURU

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Road rage: actor Gururaj stabbed in the thigh

In absence of permission, Kannada film blurs tricolour

Bharatiya Janata Party national president Amit Shah, who concluded his three-day visit to the city, sought to downplay the demand for a religion status by the Lingayats and a separate flag for Karnataka. He termed them a “political game plan” of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The BJP was confident that the people of the State would not believe in such plans, he told a press conference in Bengaluru on Monday. Asked about the demand for a State flag and anti-Hindi protests in the State, he wondered why the issue was being raised just before the elections. “Even Mr. Siddaramaiah is not serious about the issue. It’s only vote bank politics,” he said. On the de-

To make a point: BJP national president Amit Shah on his way to a meeting with journalists in Bengaluru. BHAGYA PRAKASH .K *

mand for a minority religion status by the Lingayats, Mr. Shah said the party’s stand was that it was only a political game plan. He refused to elaborate further. However, it is learnt that Mr. Shah has told the State leaders to prepare an action

Leopard rescued from well Wayanad officials bring it out without using tranquillizer

plan to counter the Congress on emotive issues of State flag, anti-Hindi protests, Lingayat religion status and Mahadayi river water row.

‘Politics of appeasement’ Mr. Shah came down heavily on the Congress gov-

ernment for “appeasement politics,” leading to a compromise in the security of the State. He was referring to the recent communal cauldron in coastal Karnataka. “There have been 20 murders of RSS activists in the State. But the government seems to be protecting groups indulging in such activities. Why were all cases against the Socialist Democratic Party of India withdrawn,” he asked. On whether the 2018 Assembly polls would be fought between Mr. Siddaramaiah and Narendra Modi or Mr. Siddaramaiah and State BJP president B.S. Yeddyurappa, Mr. Shah said they would be fought under the leadership of Mr. Yeddyurappa. But “the goodwill of Narendra Modi-led Union government will help.”

The recently-released Shivarajkumar-starrer Mass Leader, which is about an Army officer fighting terror, had the tricolour blurred in all the scenes where it appeared. The soon-to-be-released Bharjari, starring Dhruva Sarja, may also have to do the same if the director fails to get the go-ahead from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in time. This is the stipulation set down by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), following a six-month-old Supreme Court order, which not many Kannada filmmakers are aware of. It is now mandatory for every film using the national flag to get permission from the MHA. Film-makers are to specify whether the script really demands the use of the national flag and abides

by the measurements of the flag and flagpole as prescribed by the law. “The time is too short. We may also be forced to blur the national flag,” said Chetan Kumar, director of Bharjari. Tarun Shivappa, producer of Mass Leader, was told by the Regional Office of CBFC, Bengaluru, to “delete the flag or blur it.”

Supreme Court verdict When ed, Srinivasappa, Regional Officer, CBFC, Bengaluru, said the rules were made following the court’s recent verdict. The national flag had been specified as an emblem in the (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950. It could not be used for the purpose of any trade or business, without the permission of the MHA. Violation of the norm shall be punishable with imprisonment for a

term which may be extended to three years, or with fine, or both. “The board had asked the producer of Mass Leader to blur the tricolour in some scenes in the absence of permission,” he said. Director of Mass Leader, Narasimha, said he was not aware of the rules. “By the time the CBFC asked us to blur the flag, the film was completed and we did not have the prescribed permission. As we did not want to dilute the intensity of the scenes by deleting it, we compromised by blurring the flag,” said the director. Bharjari is about a patriotic family, which hoists the national flag on all national festivals. “We shot a few scenes of the fluttering tricolour without the knowledge of the norms of the MHA and the CBFC,”said Mr. Chetan Kumar.

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At 70-plus, he adopts 70 students to mark 70th I-Day Chittoor-based social worker looks beyond distributing uniforms & books, wants children to imbibe patriotism

Staff Reporter KALPETTA

A male leopard that fell into an open well in a private property at Pozhuthana in Wayanad district on Monday was rescued by the personnel of the forest department. Shrawan Kumar Verma, Chief Conservator of Forest, Northern circle (Kannur), told The Hindu that the property belonged to Haneefa of Puthan Purakkal. His wife found the wild cat in the well on Monday morning. Locals who reached the spot alerted the forest officials.

Net & lifebuoy Personnel of the forest department, South Wayanad Forest Division, with the as-

CM YK

K. Umashanker CHITTOOR

Waiting for help: The leopard that fell into a well at Pozhuthana in Wayanad district on Monday.

sistance of the police and fire and rescue services, used a net attached to a lifebuoy and a ring-shaped device to rescue the animal, the forest officer said. “In rescue operations, we resort

to tranquillizer shots but we could manage to rescue the animal without a single dart of tranquillizer,” he said. Aged about seven, it was healthy and bore no signs of injuries, Mr. Verma added.

On Monday, the eve of the 70th anniversary of Independence, Parvathareddi Parthasaradhi Naidu, a Chittoor-based social worker, adopted 70 children of the local municipal elementary school and anganwadi centre of Balaji Nagar. Mr. Naidu, 76, a household name in Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh, has been extending for four decades financial and moral to hundreds of families afflicted by poverty and life-threatening ailments. Celebrating the occasion with the children, Mr. Naidu

said that by adopting the schoolchildren, mostly belonging to urban poor households, he didn’t merely mean distribution of uniforms, books, stationery and food.

Vibrant builders “At this age, I look at them as vibrant builders of the country’s destiny. Apart from their regular welfare, I wish to see the young minds learn the true meaning of Independence Day celebrations, and imbibe the spirit of love for the country,” he said. The veteran social worker said that in the last decade, he had been pursuing the

dream of bringing schoolchildren to libraries. He wanted them to devote time to learning about the lives of great leaders who brought freedom to the country. “This will make our children the strongest citizens,” he said.

Moral lessons Mr. Naidu said he would arrange regular moral lessons for the children and make them participate in cultural activities and physical training. The school authorities and parents were all praise for Mr. Naidu’s gesture towards the children.

Future beckons: Parthasaradhi Naidu with schoolchildren whom he adopted at Balaji Nagar in Chittoor on Monday.

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IN BRIEF

HC puts out auction notice for Aamby Valley MUMBAI

The Bombay High Court on Monday published a notice to auction Subrata Roy’s hill city township Aamby Valley at a reserve price of ₹37,392 crore. Official liquidator (OL) Vinod Sharma issued the notice inviting prospective bidders for the 6,762.1 acres near Lonavala, located between Mumbai and Pune. Talking to The Hindu, Sahara's advocate Shri Gautam Awasthi said: “There are several steps before the auction takes place.”

GJM asks ers to end hunger strike KOLKATA

A day after meeting Home Minister Rajnath Singh, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) on Monday asked its ers to withdraw their “indefinite hunger strike” in the Darjeeling hills. “Given that tomorrow [Tuesday] is the 70th Independence Day, I am also of the view that the Home Minister’s appeal should be respected and the hunger strike by the Yuva Morcha withdrawn as a first step in achieving our goal of Gorkhaland,” GJM chief Bimal Gurung said in a release.

Six killed in Uttarakhand cloudbursts In Himachal, families flee homes Kotrupi in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi on Sunday morning fled their homes to nearby villages, since the mud slide and fall of boulders have not stopped. They have demanded that the istration help them in their rehabilitation.

Press Trust of India Dehradun

Six persons were killed and 10 others, including six Army jawans, were reported to be missing in two incidents of cloudbursts in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand early on Monday. One of the cloudbursts occurred near Tawaghat at 2.45 a.m., sending a rivulet, the Mangti Nullah, into spate and its swirling waters swept away a few shops and three Army tents, an official release said. Two bodies were recovered from the spot, while eight persons — five Army jawans, a Junior Commissioned Officer and two locals — were missing, the release said. The second cloudburst also occurred around the same time at Malpa and swept away six persons. Rescue teams recovered four bodies from the area while two were still missing. Meanwhile, about 20 families of farmers who witnessed the landslip havoc of

Highway traffic hit After a cloudburst, an entire portion of a big hill came down and a number of houses and vehicles on the Mandi-Pathankot National Highway were buried. The authorities who are working overtime to restore the highway said it would take a couple of days more for traffic to resume. The search operation at the disaster site continued on Monday but no more bodies were recovered. Forty-six bodies were recovered on Sunday and 14 of them were yet to be identified, Deputy Commissioner Sandeep Kadam said. (With inputs from Kanwar Yogendra)

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Rain triggers flash floods in Bihar 41 dead in Bihar, situation grim in Assam, Bengal & Arunachal; crucial rail link to northeast snapped Press Trust of India Patna/Guwahati/Kolkata

Heavy rain in the last three days triggered flash floods in parts of Bihar, where 41 people have died so far, and inundated large areas in Assam and North Bengal, paralysing normal life and snapping rail link to the Northeast from the rest of the country. In Arunachal Pradesh too, the flood situation continued

to be grim in several districts with recurring landslips disrupting road traffic. In Assam, floods claimed three more lives, taking the toll this season to 102. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who conducted an aerial survey of flood-hit areas, told reporters that Araria was the worst-affected district. Flood waters have engulfed areas in Kisanganj, three blocks of Purnea and

one block of Katihar damaging roads. Mr. Kumar said heavy rain in Nepal and Bihar in the last three days had led to this situation and the State government was carrying out relief work on a war footing.

Trains cancelled The Railway Board has cancelled all incoming trains from various parts of the country towards the north-

east region till 10 a.m. of August 16, a top official said. Tracks have been inundated at various places. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said: “We are concerned about the flood situation and are monitoring it round the clock.” State government sources said Phulahar river had crossed its danger level, while 20 villages, mostly under Harischandrapur block-II

and Ratua block in Malda district were inundated.

Rhinos in distress With the Kaziranga National Park (KNP) and the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam getting submerged, rhinos and other animals have taken shelter on the highlands. Hence patrolling has been intensified as poachers could take advantage of the situation, a KNP official said.

Bengal villagers find shelter in Bangladesh

68 insurgents surrender with arms in Manipur

Minister thanks neighbour for gesture; Siliguri city and Cooch Behar district cut off

IMPHAL

Sixty-eight insurgents, including four women, from six outlawed groups in the State, surrendered before Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh on Monday at a “homecoming ceremony”. The insurgents also handed over a huge cache of arms, ammunition and explosives. Welcoming them, the Chief Minister promised protection and said a nodal officer had been appointed to look after the needs of the former insurgents.

No respite: Banana rafts have become the mode of transport in the flood-affected Morigaon district of Assam. At right, a villager shifts grains from a flooded village in Araria district of Bihar. RITU RAJ KONWAR & PTI

Suvojit Bagchi Kolkata

A policemen asks the crowd at the site of Sunday’s landslip near Urla in Himachal Pradesh, to move back. AFP *

Najmool Haq called several times from Moghulhut town in Bangladesh’s Lalmonirhat district to say that his “real name” should not be disclosed as he crossed the border without papers to take shelter in a flood centre in Moghulhut town in north Bangladesh. Moghulhut is about 15 minutes on foot from Mr. Haq’s village, Daribosh, located in the extreme north-

eastern border of the State’s Cooch Behar district. In the middle of last week Mr. Haq, his two children, wife and parents left the village as the river Dharla, about three km from his house, overflowed its banks and entered his village. The adjacent village Jaridhorla is also under water, he said. “A few thousands from the two villages took shelter in the flood centre in Moghulhut’s Union Council flood centre. Many have also

sought refuge in the houses of their relatives here,” Mr. Haq said. “We will all celebrate Independence Day in Bangladesh this year.” Realising that Bangladesh has stepped up its machinery to accommodate the “few thousand” children, women and men from Cooch Behar, the Minister of North Bengal Development Department Rabindra Nath Ghosh thanked the Awami Leagueled government. “Many thousands had to

take shelter in Bangladesh and we are immensely thankful to the government of the country for accommodating and feeding so many people without any fuss,” Mr. Ghosh said. The entire north Bengal is reeling under the impact of incessant rain in both the plains and the hills. Both Siliguri city and Cooch Behar district are cut off from the rest of Bengal. About a dozen people had lost their lives, the Minister said.

In the border villages of West Bengal, many have taken shelter on roof tops. *

SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Finish work at Haji Ali dargah by year-end: SC Beautification won’t cost you much, it tells government Krishnadas Rajagopal NEW DELHI

Urging the Maharashtra government to seize the “great opportunity” and take the initiative to beautify Haji Ali dargah and its surroundings in Mumbai, the Supreme Court on Monday said it “hoped and expected” the work to be completed by December 31 so that the visitors in the new year can see the famed shrine in all its splendour. A Bench of Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud directed that a meeting be held on September 4 by the Mumbai Collector and all other stakeholders to finalise the proposed beautification plans. “Why don’t you do the beautification and get the credit for it? It will not cost you much… It is a great opportunity for you,” Chief Justice Khehar told the Maharashtra government.

The Haji Ali Dargah in Mumbai.

The State’s counsel said he would convey this to the authorities. The court posted the case for hearing on October 4, when the finally approved plan would be placed before it. The court had earlier directed the authorities to remove all encroachments around the dargah and made it clear that no excuses for non-compliance of

SC for videotaping of court proceedings Petitioner seeks CCTVs for fair trial

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AFP

the Bombay High Court order to remove squatters in the contentious 908 square metre area near the shrine would be accepted. It observed that “believers of religion will never encroachments,” while refusing pleas by the shopkeepers to modify its order directing the removal of encroachments near the historic 700-year-old shrine.

3 of Manipur outfit held Staff Reporter New Delhi

Legal Correspondent NEW DELHI

A Supreme Court Bench has mooted the possibility of having audio and video recordings of proceedings in the constitutional courts — the Supreme Court and the High Courts. A Bench of Justices A.K. Goel and U.U. Lalit on Friday said judges in other countries do not consider recording of proceedings as a violation of privacy of court proceedings. The Bench observed orally that the U.S. Supreme Court has video and audio recordings of its proceedings. The discussion with Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh came during the hearing of a petition CM YK

filed by Pradyuman Bisht for installing CCTV cameras in criminal courts as a measure to ensure fair trial. On March 28, the Supreme Court directed that at least “two districts in every State/Union Territory, CCTV cameras (without audio recording) may be installed inside the courts...” “We make it clear that the footage of the CCTV camera will not be available under the RTI [Act] and will not be supplied to anyone without permission of the High Court concerned,” the Supreme Court had ordered. Mr. Singh submitted that 12 High Courts had already installed cameras in two districts, while others were in the process of doing so.

The Delhi police special cell claims to have arrested the commander-in-chief, finance secretary and another member of the banned Manipur-based terror outfit Kangleipak Communist Party (K) on Sunday. The accused were arrested from north Delhi. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Pramod Singh Kushwah said they received a tip-off that K leader Laishram Ranjit Meitei alias Manao alias Apik alias Tamnganba alias Loya was in Delhi to set up the organisation’s base in the Capital. “It was learnt that he had plans to set up a hideout in Delhi for anti-national activities,” Mr. Kushwah said. M CH-CHE

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12 EDITORIAL

CHENNAI

THE HINDU

TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2017

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Partition or Independence? The horror of Partition is gradually coming to displace the idea of freedom. This carries immense dangers ally as much as ideologically. But have these recoveries of the region’s violent history, interestingly originating in the two partitioned provinces of British India, given us a clearer idea of freedom or further obscured it?

A new twist

A hasty order SEBI’s order against suspect companies smacks of heavy-handed justice

faisal devji omething insidious has been happening to our commemorations of Independence over the last two decades or so. It seems as if the horror of Partition is gradually coming to displace the idea of freedom and dominate our annual reflections on the momentous events of August 1947. How did this shift occur, and what are its implications? In their early decades as independent states, India and Pakistan both sought to play down and even forget the violence of Partition, which is of course one way in which trauma manifests itself. But their response was also a strategic one, since the leaders of both nations realised that any official recognition of these brutal events would not only detract from the achievement of freedom, but also ran the risk of imperilling the religious minorities who might be held responsible for it. Without a single monument to mark it, Partition was for many years ed only by two kinds of groups, religious ones on the far right which viewed the new states as being soft on belligerent minorities loyal to foreign powers, and those on the far left who saw them as agents of a bourgeoisie loyal to international capitalism. Despite their vehement opposition to one another, it is striking how much these two movements shared in their more or less conspiratorial visions of history.

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Virtue in forgetting Of course Partition had been a world historical event immense in its destructive force, and so it is only right to it. Yet forgetting is also a crucial virtue, both in moral and political , because when paired with justice and forgiveness it is the only thing that stitches together societies divided by violence. As Gandhi had always said, European ideas of history, and the national, communal and other identities based upon it, could only produce violence either

CM YK

Unfinished business The first breach in this wall of silence came neither in India nor Pakistan, and didn’t even have Partition as its subject. It took the emergence of Bangladesh in 1971 out of a genocidal civil war to change the script of independence in the region. Apart from the brutality of its birth, Bangladesh was created at a time when genocide and crimes against humanity had become viable legal categories internationally. Bangladeshi nationalism was thus defined by these figures of horror, but having been unable to hold Pakistan or its army culpable for their crimes, its founders and their political heirs have increasingly focussed on searching out traitors and collaborators from within. Whatever the justice of this enterprise, it has produced a violent and vengeful national culture unable to move beyond the trauma of its creation. When a history of violence overshadows ideas of freedom, the latter can either be sacrificed in its

Failure of communalism I would like to suggest that however necessary it might be, the focus on Partition and its violence has obscured our ideas of freedom, whether of the historical or utopian kind. Both scholarly and amateur explorations of Partition these days, especially those relying upon oral history, have come to displace traditional narratives about apportioning responsibility with more nuanced discussions of everyday life in 1947. Fascinating though they are, such stories stray even further from any inquiry into the idea of freedom. Indeed they tend to reinforce long-standing s about communal or religious loyalties trumping nationalist ones at a time when the social and political order had broken down. But did Partition in fact mark the triumph of communal loyalties, if not outright hatreds? While historians and others have emphasised the undeniable importance of such violence, sometimes mitigated by the malignant role of the colonial state or ‘secular’ parties and politicians, they have for the most part ignored the fundamental betrayal of religious allegiances that provided their context. For rather than demonstrating the power of communal loyalties, India’s partition illustrated their massive betrayal, as Hindus and Muslims willingly abandoned their coreligionists in both countries. Those like Gandhi and Jinnah who had relied upon such communal allegiances, not simply inter-religious ones, to hold the country together and force more negotiations were astounded to see how easily they unravelled. It was not trust in the other country that allowed Indian and Pakistani leaders to agree to Partition, but at the very least the famous ‘hostage’ theory, whereby a Hindu or Muslim minority in one country was thought to guarantee the good treatment of its fellows in the other. And yet despite all claims to the contrary, majorities in either state were happy to endanger their core-

Faisal Devji teaches history at Oxford University

A great divide There is a contrast between the status of women and their political presence, as Nagaland and Haryana show 68% of SC women and 41% of SC men. But quite interestingly, women’s representation increased to an average of 42% across all levels in comparison to 36% in the fourth panchayat election held in 2010.

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he order of the Securities and Exchange Board of India imposing trading restrictions on 331 companies suspected of being shell entities is an example of rash regulatory action. The Securities Appellate Tribunal has since rightly ordered the lifting of the trading restrictions imposed on two of the companies that approached it, namely J Kumar Infraprojects and Prakash Industries. In fact, the tribunal stated in its order that “it is apparent that SEBI ed the impugned order without any investigation.” Interestingly, the regulatory body had acted on a list of suspect companies that the Ministry of Corporate Affairs had forwarded after consultation with the Serious Fraud Investigation Office and the Income Tax department. Instead of conducting an independent investigation into these suspect companies, SEBI ed the buck to the exchanges and asked them to impose immediate trading restrictions on the companies. Before a proper investigation by SEBI or the exchanges, the companies were put under stage four of the Graded Surveillance Measure, whereby trading is limited to one day a month, the trading price is capped, and buyers are required to deposit money. It is suspected that trading on the shares of these “shell” companies was used as a way to launder black money. In fact, 169 out of the total list of 331 companies had already been suspended from trading before the order. But on the list were also companies with huge market capitalisations, and it is reasonable to assume that the predominant share of trading on any given day is legitimate. An interesting unknown, meanwhile, is the basis on which the MCA prepared the list of suspect companies that was forwarded to SEBI. The government’s resolve to act against dodgy companies, for the sake of bringing business practices under the purview of the law, is indeed warranted. According to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, since demonetisation the Centre deed well over 1,60,000 dormant companies until early July. It has also identified over 37,000 shell firms and 3,00,000 firms engaged in suspicious dealings, according to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. At the same time, a sound business environment also requires that the government adhere to the basic rules of justice at all times. Handing out extremely harsh punishment on suspect companies without giving them an adequate chance to explain their positions smacks of heavyhandedness. The economic costs of freezing the trading of shares of popular companies are not commensurate with the purported benefits of such action. While the SAT order has brought some fairness to the entire proceedings, SEBI’s action will deal a blow to its credibility among investors as being an effective and unbiased regulatory body. Not surprisingly, investor unease was at least partially evident on the street where stocks witnessed a sharp fall after the order. In order to restore confidence, SEBI and the government must explain the rationale behind their actions.

name or remain undeveloped, as seems to be the case in Bangladesh, probably South Asia’s most authoritarian state today. Whereas 1947 is a meaningless number for Bangladeshis, despite the immense brutality it entailed for Hindus in the erstwhile East Pakistan, in India its violence became the subject of commentary and reflection only in the 1980s. This happened following the Punjab insurgency, when it became clear that a great deal of unfinished business remained from Partition. It was from this period that the formerly subtle and discreet references to Partition in art, cinema and literature were transformed into academic studies and other, rather too obvious, invocations of freedom’s violence. Unlike the right and left-wing emphasis on asg responsibility for such violence to internal enemies, the liberal discovery of Partition entailed blaming both sides to acknowledge their common inhumanity and by that token humanity also. As with the nationalists of old, the British could also be held responsible if required, and while they certainly deserved blame, such a move was meant only to exculpate one or another Indian group from it. In Pakistan, always late to the game, Partition has only become a publicly debated issue quite recently. For unlike India, where independence had always been a mixed blessing, given not its violence so much as the loss of territory involved, in Pakistan it had signalled unalloyed victory following a brave struggle. To reflect on the violence of Partition in Pakistan, then, is to question the very legitimacy of the state, even without belonging to the right or left politic-

in attempts to recover past glories or out of resentment at present conditions. While Indian and Pakistani leaders in the period immediately following Independence might not have been so interested in justice and forgiveness, they understood the importance of forgetting, and knew that to link their countries’ freedom with violence was a dangerous thing, if only for their own political futures. Not only could it delegitimise independence and threaten civil strife, but make for an embittered and properly hysterical nationalism playing into the hands of their opponents on the right and left.

radhika kumar

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he incidents of protests and violence by tribal bodies in Nagaland earlier this year over 33% reservations for women in urban local bodies have once again highlighted the issue of women and representation. In this context, it is interesting to look at the case of Haryana which conducted elections to rural panchayat bodies in January last year. The State amended the State Panchayati Raj Act, even including criteria such as educational qualifications and standards for candidates to meet while seeking election to panchayat bodies. Academically, men from the general category had to be matriculates, women and Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates had to have ed out of middle school, while SC women should have ed standard five. This raised criticism as it disqualified

Decoding the data Along caste categories, State Election Commission (EC) data show that SC women panches were 32.81% in comparison to women from the Backward Classes (BC) category who constituted 27.49% of elected women panches. In fact SC women have higher representation than BC women at all levels of local governance except for the office of the sarpanch wherein the difference is 2.41% in favour of BC women when calculated as a percentage of the total number of elected women sarpanches. Also, 9.24% of the total seats in panchayat elections were reserved for BCs (both men and women), while 10.87% were for SC women. Therefore, reservation for SC women did bolster their numbers, enabling them to overtake BC women representatives. The second development with regard to the category of gender is

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR For an overhaul The bitter reality is that while we pat ourselves on the back for being one of the fastest growing economies of the world that has taken giant strides in science and even carved a niche for itself in the global corporate world, what eclipses these achievements are our dismal social parameters, especially our health indices. Exemplifying this fact is that no remedial measures have been adopted despite Japanese encephalitis claiming more than 10,000 lives in Uttar Pradesh between 1978 and 2005. This abject apathy towards life is inexcusable (Editorial – “Wages of neglect”, August 14). Though the Centre has cleared the long-awaited National Health Policy 2017 which promises health-care services to all Indian citizens, particularly the underprivileged, the figure

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ust when it appeared that this year’s medical issions in Tamil Nadu would be solely based on the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) and that no further legal avenue was available to circumvent it, the Centre has added a new twist. It is now, according to Union Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, ready to cooperate with Tamil Nadu in its efforts to obtain a one-time exemption from NEET. Tamil Nadu, which abolished entrance tests for professional courses in 2006, fears that the introduction of NEET would jeopardise the ission prospects of rural students who cannot afford the extra coaching and higher workload that preparing for NEET entails. In its desperation to get around the NEET barrier, it ed two Bills seeking to preserve its existing system of itting students to medical and dental courses based on Class 12 marks. However, the Centre, understandably reluctant to grant such exemption to one State alone, did not recommend presidential assent to these Bills. As ission season closed in, the State government decided to go by NEET rankings, but reserved 85% of seats for students ing out of its own school Board. The Madras High Court struck down this order. The Supreme Court dismissed the State government’s appeal. With medical issions already delayed by a month, one would have thought the State government would see the writing on the wall and move ahead with the ission based on NEET. But its efforts were unrelenting. What it could not achieve legally, it seems to have achieved politically, albeit for just one year. This belated move is bound to spawn further litigation and encourage similar demands elsewhere. The eleventh-hour change in the basis for ission will cause heartburn to students who have cleared NEET, a demanding test. There is no denying that the exemption will please many students, but if the Centre was ready to grant a one-time exemption, it ought to have done so much earlier and not now. The argument all along was that it did not want to treat one State alone differently; nothing was done to allay the impression that the test was being thrust on an unwilling State. Now, there is a sudden realisation that Tamil Nadu’s situation is unique. It is difficult to miss the political messaging given that it was Ms. Sitharaman, a minister involved in her party’s affairs in Tamil Nadu, who made the announcement, and not the Health Minister. If the exemption is stayed by the courts, another set of students and parents will once again feel short-changed. In any case, the State government is only postponing the inevitable, as upgrading academic standards in its own schools and preparing students for future challenges are unavoidable imperatives.

DEEPAK HARICHANDAN

The last-minute NEET exemption to Tamil Nadu will only lead to more litigation

ligionists in the other. And they continue to do so into the present. Perhaps the real trauma of Partition has little if anything to do with the egregious violence among Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. After all, this can now be spoken of so easily as to belie the existence of any traumatic kernel in such narratives. Instead it is the still unspeakable memory and reality of betrayal, of treachery against one’s own religious community, which might inspire the rage of Partition in its own time as well as in our own. This was already clear in a number of difficult conversations Gandhi had with refugees from Pakistan, and from literary and anecdotal evidence is certainly true of those who left India as well. This means that the problem posed by Partition is not merely or even primarily a Hindu-MuslimSikh one, but instead something that needs to be addressed by each group internally if it is to achieve any resolution. At the moment such treachery is projected onto religious minorities in both countries. As far as Indo-Pakistani relations are concerned, Gandhi was surely right in saying that no peace between the two was possible until all those who had been driven away were given rights to return and compensated for their losses of life and property by some form of contrition and restitution, incomplete as it would necessarily be. And yet this betrayal was problematic not because it happened, but did so in such an incomplete way. For it has always been the unconcern of their citizens for each other that has kept India and Pakistan united. In other countries, insurgencies and indeed provincial civil wars in places like Balochistan or Punjab would have led to their fragmentation. But in South Asia, all this can happen in one province while others enjoy peaceable lives. Maybe it is the imperial rather than national character of these diverse societies that keeps them together, the mutual relations of citizens defined neither by love nor hatred but indifference. The quest for cultural or religious unity and the hunt for traitors will only put this unity at risk.

that the representation of SC women exceeds that of SC men among the panches at the village level and among of the zilla parishad. This is again heartening given that reservation for SC women as a total of SC reservations for panchayat ’ at all three levels was 48%, while for SC men it was 52%. Primary research makes it clear that the spurt in women’s representation was not by design but by default. A newly elected woman panch from a Jat-dominated village in Ballabgarh block in Faridabad district said that she had heard of her nomination after it was announced by the locals and when she was not present in the meeting. Her nomination was a

result of the new criteria introduced in the amended Panchayati Raj Act of Haryana. An amendment to the Act resulted in her husband being disqualified from contesting as he had a criminal case pending against him while her son was ineligible being a minor. In a bid to retain the panch seat among her community that is concentrated in a particular area of the village, it was decided to nominate her instead of her husband. Therefore, she was a consensus candidate.

West to east Data from the Haryana EC website shows that 42.3% women candidates at the level of the village panch were elected unopposed. Women campaigned actively in the panchayat elections. Women nominees also participated in village rallies and sought electoral . Most election posters used pictures of both the woman candidate and a male relative. Scaling up the analysis to the level of the Legislative Assembly, Haryana has the interesting distinction of electing the highest percentage of women representatives among all States, namely 14.44% or 13 out of the 90

of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs). On the other hand, there is no woman MLA in Nagaland. Yet, in of sex ratio and female literacy, Nagaland scores over Haryana. According to the 2011 census, female literacy in Nagaland was 76.69% as against 66.77% in Haryana. The sex ratio in Nagaland was 931 women per 1,000 men as against 879 women per 1,000 men in Haryana, which is the second lowest in the country. Clearly, there is a disconnect between the low social status of women in Haryana and the comparatively higher political presence that they enjoy in representative bodies. The more vexing question is the case of Nagaland, wherein women have formal agency in of literacy and numbers but lack a democratic voice as political representatives and decision makers. The question that one must then ask is this: Can democratic rights and representation be traded off for tradition and the promise of development? Radhika Kumar is Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Motilal Nehru College, New Delhi

Letters emailed to [email protected] must carry the full postal address and the full name or the name with initials.

of 2.5% of GDP spending is still a paltry sum and inadequate to meet the requirements of a country such as India. Augmenting investment in public health care with appropriate utilisation management is pivotal to sustaining India’s growth. In lieu of focussing on issues such as ‘Gau Rakshak’, the need is for Centre and States to focus on ‘Shishu Rakshak’. Remedial measures such as mosquito eradication while simultaneously embarking on a vaccination drive will help matters. Nalini Vijayaraghavan, Thiruvananthapuram

■ It has become a dubious norm for all the Opposition parties, without exception, to fish in troubled waters in times of crisis. How many among the Opposition could have looked into the welfare of affected children before they lost their lives or had a

Pushpa Saran,

exhortation of Swachh Bharat has fallen on deaf ears. In all this, one is reminded of the Camus novel, The Plague. In Tamil Nadu, the situation is not different. Dengue fever has been raising its ugly head while the State’s politicians are fully engaged in their internecine quarrels.

Chennai

M. Vathapureeswaran,

word of solace for their parents? In contrast, when a calamity strikes in the West, the Opposition works in tandem with the government and ensures that succour is extended to the needy. We need to be more humane and civil when catastrophes strike.

Madurai

The death of many children in a place which has elected the Chief Minister of a State speaks volumes of how insensitive and callous politicians, bureaucrats, ministers and doctors have become in their attitude towards the most vulnerable in society. It was a historic moment when Railway Minister Lal Bahadur Sastri resigned owning moral responsibility for a train accident at Ariyalur in Tamil Nadu in November 1956. The Prime Minister’s

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Poor sanitation, pathetic health-care systems, inadequate public awareness campaigns and apathy of the government and the municipality are what result in the spread of the tropical diseases every year. The stakeholders concerned must also stop adding political colour to the tragedy. The adoption of proper sanitation measures through public awareness campaign, scientific waste management techniques, penalty for offenders

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responsible for water stagnation, regular fumigation and constant monitoring at all hospitals, public or private, should be the priority of the government.

consistently burnt at a scorching pace. There was no trademark Bolt side-on victory stand, both arms stretched diagonally. It was pathetic to see his relay teammates Yohan Blake, Shreyans Jain, Julian Forte, and Omar New Delhi MacLeod lifting up the fallen Bolt. However, “his name Final lap will always live on” (‘Sport’ – The unfinished is sometimes “Bolt, Farah farewell party unforgettable. It was sad to falls flat”, August 14). C.V. Venugopalan, see the legendary Bolt reduced to tears and in deep Palakkad pain in his final appearance more letters online: on a track which he had www.hindu.com/opinion/letters/ corrections & clarifications: A sentence in “Miles covered, miles to go” (Non Fiction, August 13, 2017) read: “But this book commiserating the 25 years of economic reforms is not focused on those juxtapositions.” It should have been commemorating. In the story headlined “A Battle and a betrayal” (Magazine, August 13, 2017) there was a reference to a ten-day march to Myanmar. It should have been Rangoon. It is the policy of The Hindu to correct significant errors as soon as possible. Please specify the edition (place of publication), date and page. The Readers’ Editor’s office can be ed by Telephone: +91-44-28418297/28576300 (11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday); Fax: +91-44-28552963; E-mail:[email protected]; Mail: Readers’ Editor, The Hindu, Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860 Anna Salai, Chennai 600 002, India. All communication must carry the full postal address and telephone number. No personal visits. The of Reference for the Readers’ Editor are on www.thehindu.com M CH-CHE

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THE HINDU

OPED 13

CHENNAI

TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2017

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An overhaul at seventy

The child’s right to dignity ably consume energies at the cost of national priorities, but what distinguishes serious states from Third World frivolousness is the attention to national needs. Unless the key priorities are attended to, what kind of nation will remain to play politics in? Building up state power to establish and sustain our position in a troubled and troublesome world should long have been our topmost priority. How many in governmental circles, leave alone the country, even realise what that involves? French Premier Pierre Mendes- observed: “To govern is to choose.” How do you govern a country if it chooses rebuilding temples as its leading objective?

K. Shankar Bajpai After 70 years, how capable have we made ourselves to handle our nation’s challenges? One needs an apparatus for arousing awareness of what requires attention, for deciding what ought to be done, and the instruments for doing it. We have run down dangerously in all these respects. A handful of people at the top, elected or professional, are keeping our country going somehow, but the machinery for attending to our affairs is simply inadequate. Governments everywhere nowadays find existing institutions and processes unable to cope with people’s needs, much less their expectations or the complexity of modern problems. Democracies face the greater difficulty that their very essence, the concepts, ideas and practices that engendered and developed democracy, are shaken and endangered. Looking at the world’s oldest today is enough to justify worries about all, not least our own.

Old civilisation, new battles India is an exceptional state, inevitably with exceptional problems. Never in history have so many diversities — and in such huge numbers — constituted that self-governing system called a democracy. For nearly seven decades, the theory of a plural society obtained obeisance, not always practised or believed in, but somehow bowed to, howsoever perfunctorily. It is no longer being attempted, with consequences yet unknown. One statistical fact reflects our greatest change: in our first elections (1951-52), our electorate was 173 million, the turnout was 110 million; last time (2014) 815 million could vote, 540 million did. Numbers apart, today’s Indians are not the same in what or how they think, in what matters to them. Howsoever everlasting Eternal India’s culture, its putative heirs behave very differently now than at Independence. Two current manifestations hardly fit our traditions: violence and intolerance. Perhaps we are more prone to violence than supposed: Gandhiji called off his civil disobedience movement because we erupted. But we used to live

“Whether in organising appropriate weapons supply or developing our internal infrastructure, our defence situation suffers from amateurishness and neglect.” Indian Army soldiers carry arms and ammunition south of Jammu AP *

far more on the basis of Reason: rigorous, methodical, sedulous argumentation used to shape our thought, without our being dogmatic about it — ours is perhaps the only country with a religion believing there are other ways to God. Such a cast of mind leads to a live-and-letlive acceptance of diversity essential to our unique nationhood. Is it operative now? When his first atomic explosion succeeded, Robert Oppenheimer famously quoted the Vedas. When I asked what made him interested in them, he answered; “Your ancestors asked the right questions, which we scientists are still struggling with.” That intellectual curiosity, that search for knowledge, for meanings, for all the other truths leading to the Ultimate, drove us to our initial heights. To imagine we are still on those heights, to ignore the expansion and modification of knowledge, to ignore experience, is dangerous folly. We are emerging from a long period of backwardness, when we lost the qualities that had first made us great, and had succumbed to newer, more efficient forces. We will get nowhere by fighting yesterday’s battles all over again — and that too in yesterday’s ways. As the Victorian novelist-poet George Meredith wrote, “In tragic life, no villain need be… We are betrayed by what is false within.” Using changes in knowledge to change beliefs and practices is what enables people, societies, nations to

improve their conditions and circumstances. Leaving aside the endless debate on modernity-versus-tradition, modernity here means simply this readiness to benefit from additions and corrections to existing knowledge rather than suffer from the outdated. Where would we all be if orthodoxy insisted the world is flat? Consider our own history: we keep blaming colonialism for various deficiencies, without asking why we fell. No great forces invaded us, we were outplayed by a few adventurers because we wallowed in careless obsolescence, whereas they used discipline, training, organisation, new weapons and methods — i.e., modernity. What have we learned?

Focussing on national priorities Till the 1980s, China and India hardly differed in various economic parameters or the pace of progress. In our present tensions, comparisons are particularly unwelcome, but we must understand the crucial importance of the lesson they learned and we reject: ‘Never Again.’ India actually suffered foreign humiliation far more extensively, and directly, but the determination ‘Never Again’ galvanised China into modernity. They adamantly aim to outdo others in all fields. We Indians blame the distractions of democracy but there is a deeper fault: there is no thinking-out of vital priorities, no acceptance of modern ways. Yes, winning State elections, consolidating central power, democratic politics inescap-

Defence situation Late though it is, we must choose national security as our overriding priority. Whether in organising appropriate weapons supply, developing our internal infrastructure or in ensuring effective management, our defence situation suffers from cumulative amateurishness and neglect. How our Defence Ministry has been operating almost from the beginning staggers belief. Indeed, our entire istrative machinery has become so dysfunctional, one despairs of reform. While the considerations that go into decision-making hardly measure up to the issues, the instruments of implementation simply don’t work. Overhauling this machinery is surely the sine qua non for our survival, leave alone our progress. We may prefer blind eyes, but others see all this too clearly, not least the two neighbours with major claims on our territory. We increase their opportunities for mischief while limiting our own options by disregarding our failings. How you appear to others shapes their approach: being seen as a state strong, knowing what to do and equipped to do it, exerts an innate deterrence; look sloppy, ill-prepared and problem-ridden, you are bound to encourage aggressiveness. Our government came to power arousing expectations of firm, effective governance. It looks like having a long run ahead, with the only possible national challenger bent on suicide and State leaders ever more parochial. The greatness of India they proclaim will only be possible if we put our house in order to suit modern times. K. Shankar Bajpai is a former Ambassador to Pakistan, China and the U.S. and Secretary, External Affairs

Neither is all sexual with children rape nor should there be a blind exemption to sexual violence within marriage

Swagata Raha & Shraddha Chaudhary Recently, a two-judge Bench of the Supreme Court heard a petition on the constitutionality of the marital rape exception in the IPC (Exception 2 to Section 375). The petitioners pointed to the contradictions between the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO Act), which defines “child” as a person below 18 years, and the marital rape exception in the IPC, which states that sexual intercourse between a man and his wife (who is not under 15 years) is not rape. The Bench apparently inquired whether the court must intervene to provide protection to married girls between 15 and 18 years from sexual exploitation by their spouse, given the legislative intention to exempt marital rape from prosecution. The technicality is easily answered because the POCSO Act does not carve out any exception in favour of marriage. The legislative intention is also evident from Section 42A of the POCSO Act, which provides that in case of inconsistency with the provisions of any other law, the POCSO Act will override.

Disjunction between law and reality The marital rape exception under the IPC has not prevented the police from ing cases under the POCSO Act when the victim is above 15 years and is married to the accused. Studies by the Centre for Child and the Law at the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru have revealed that the victim was married to the accused before or during trial in 19% of the cases in Delhi, 8% in Assam, and 6% in Maharashtra. The percentage of cases in which the victim was in a “romantic relationship” with the accused, including marriage, stood at 29% in Delhi, 20% in Assam, and 21% in Maharashtra. In almost all the cases, the special courts acquitted the husband or boyfriend because the victim turned hostile, or her age was not proved, or she stated that the marriage was consensual. The higher judiciary has largely taken a lenient approach in such cases. The Gujarat High Court in Yunusbhai Shaikh v. State of Gujarat (2015) quashed the FIR against the accused under the IPC and POCSO holding, “[the victim] is itting... that she had accompanied the applicant on her own free will and... since she was in love with the applicant and the applicant also loved her, they decided to get married.” It added, however, that proceedings under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 (PCMA) should be initiated against the person(s) who performed the nikah, since the PCMA being

‘special law’ would override ‘general’ personal laws. The Gauhati High Court in Jahirul Maulana v. State of Assam (2016) quashed the chargesheet against a man who had allegedly raped a minor. Since the victim was his wife and had borne his child, the court felt that to continue criminal proceedings would defeat the ends of justice. However, the Karnataka High Court faced a case (Soni Nihal v. Sri. Sandeep Patel, 2017) with nearly identical facts and observed that the “criminal proceedings initiated for the alleged offence [rape] cannot be quashed.” Acquittals are the norm as Section 42A of the POCSO Act is not aligned with the social reality of normal sexual exploration among teenagers and the belief about the sanctity of marriage held by most judges, prosecutors, and the police. A few Delhi judges held that a strict interpretation would interfere with the autonomy of teenagers. Many special courts felt the parties were married, and it would be unfair to punish the man for what appeared to be a consensual relationship.

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We must choose national security as our overriding priority to sustain our position in a troubled world

The POCSO’s approach fails to recognise the autonomy and evolving capacity of children, particularly adolescents. Parliament and the Supreme Court need to consider the South African Constitutional Court’s conclusions in Teddy Bear Clinic for Abused Children v. Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development (2013), in which provisions that criminalised consensual sexual conduct of adolescents between 12 and 16 years were held unconstitutional. At the same time, the government and courts cannot be oblivious to sexual violence within personal relationships. CCL studies show that courts do not consider whether the minor consented freely, or the child was groomed by the accused, or whether the marriage was forced. Demands for strict construction of all sexual with children as rape and the blind exemption accorded to sexual violence within marriage are both incompatible with the constitutional guarantee of a right to life of dignity and protection against violence. An acceptable exception would only be one that is premised on respect for adolescent children’s right to physical integrity and freedom of expression with safeguards against grooming, force, coercion, and exploitation. Swagata Raha is senior legal researcher (consultant) & Shraddha Chaudhary is legal researcher, Centre for Child and the Law, NLSIU, Bengaluru

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Feared and feted

FIFTY YEARS AGO AUGUST 15, 1967

Foreseeing breakthrough in agriculture

The Rwandan President’s record is a mismatch between growth and persecution

“We are it seems to me, poised for a major breakthrough in the matter of agricultural production” said President Zakir Hussain, in a broadcast to the nation to-night [August 14, NEW DELHI], on the eve of Independence Day. The President said the problem hitherto had been to persuade the farmers to adopt new techniques but now a deep psychological change had come about and it was the farmer who were pressing for the provision of greater and more up-to-date facilities. Dr. Hussain recounted in detail the country’s progress since independence 20 years ago and expressed optimism for the future. “The investments we have made in our economy are about to yield their full results and soon. In ten years or perhaps even in five, I am sure we shall see our country as the centre of a great economic change which will have its impact not only on our own 500 millions, but on the whole of Asia and Africa,” he said.

GARIMELLA SUBRAMANIAM

REUTERS

The record of Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, elected recently for a third consecutive seven-year term, is a mismatch of prosperity and persecution. The combination underpins the dangerous, if familiar, assumption that economic growth and an efficient istration are a fair trade-off for the democratic rule of law and free expression of dissent. A former guerrilla leader of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), Mr. Kagame is credited with the restoration of peace and security after the 1994 genocidal killings of some 8,00,000 ethnic Tutsis and their Hutu sympathisers. But in the years since, his past military instincts seem to have got the better of Mr. Kagame. Multi-party elections held periodically since 2003 have been all but a near monopoly of the RPF. Many of the regime’s dissenters are either in exile or face constant threats. The meticulous planning that goes into the country’s feted infrastructure development may be evidence of a rational approach to nation building. The absence of street-level corruption likewise may imply a firmness of purpose. But the attempt to foster reconciliation between the majority Hutu and the minority Tutsi communities seems to betray the same impatience for results. In the years after the massacres, perpetrators and victims were told to affirm a Rwandan identity rather than their particular ethnicity. To emphasise one or the other was frowned upon as “divisionism”. Such quick fixes could be a case of social engineering carried to a clinical extreme with potential risks. On the external front, Mr. Kagame seldom ceased to leverage the moral guilt among donor nations on their failure to intervene in the genocide and subsequent humanitarian relief and refugee crises in neighbouring Congo. For their part, western countries began to count on Rwanda’s strongman as a shining light of human development thanks to the comprehensive socio-economic transformation he spearheaded. “Impressive but repressive,” was a familiar refrain among the aid and business communities about his authoritarian ways.

Impulse for self-perpetuation Rwanda has ed average annual growth figures of 5% for over a decade. The country also jumped many notches up the World Bank’s ‘ease of doing business’ index. The proportion of women represented in Parliament is said to be one of the highest in the world. Mr. Kagame was also nominated to the UN Millennium Development Goals Advocacy Group by Ban Ki-moon. These achievements should be enough for the man to rank among Africa’s finest leaders. But the impulse for selfperpetuation rather than a place in history has apparently influenced the President’s actions in recent years. He accordingly ensured the prolongation of his rule, through a 2015 constitutional amendment, to allow him to run for three more , subsequently ratified in a popular referendum. His victory this August is only the first of them. His tinkering with the Constitution as well as his politics of fear have drawn widespread international condemnation. Also, there are concerns regarding Rwanda’s democratic future in view of the entrenched one-man rule and fear of a Hutu reprisal. CM YK

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ABSTRACT

In pursuit of power Good men are likely to lose out in the race for power Prashanth Perumal J.

After any human disaster caused by people who wield political power, there is almost always a bunch of utopian dreamers who argue that the disaster could have been avoided if only good people held such power. Power, if held by good people with good intentions, can lead to good things for all, they say. Many former ers of the socialist regime in Venezuela, for instance, argue that socialism failed to work in the country only because it was hijacked by power-hungry people. If not for these greedy people, they say, socialism would have worked in the erstwhile Soviet Union and China as well. Very little thought, however, goes into why it is often the worst among men who get to occupy charge of positions of power and misuse it. In

fact, most good and decent men who wish to do good for others try to avoid rather than embrace positions of power. “Dishonesty and Selection into Public Service: Evidence from India”, a 2017 paper by Rema Hanna and Shing-Yi Wang published in the American Economic Journal, provides evidence that it is indeed the worst among people who get attracted to power. The authors find that students “who cheat on a simple laboratory task are more likely to prefer public sector jobs”. They further argue that cheating on the task they study predicts future corruption among civil servants. So what is it about power that tends to attract towards it the worst among all people? For one, since power involves the use of coercive force, rather than peaceful and voluntary interaction, it tends to at-

tract people who have a preference for bullying others into submission. In fact, Hanna and Wang in their study find that students with pro-social preferences were “less likely to prefer government jobs”. People with anti-social preferences, of course, are less likely to use their coercive powers for the good of society either. Typically, one could still argue that good people when given coercive powers can nevertheless use it towards achieving the good of society. But, as public choice economists would argue, such good men are quite likely to lose out to the bad ones in the race for power. This is because while the good people may fight for power to do good for society, bad people pursue power to do good for themselves, which in turn makes them more ruthless in their pursuit of power.

The Railway Strike. There has been no improvement in the G.I.P. Railway workshop strike situation [in Mumbai]. To-day [August 14], the Agent, in a notice to the strikers, recapitulates various increases in the grades of wages recently announced and concludes with a warning that the Company is obliged to consider means of carrying on work in their shops by other sources and necessary steps are now being taken to do this. The notice adds: Unless the workmen return at once re-engagement could not be guaranteed and anyone who did not return by Friday at the latest would be considered dismissed and the portion of his holdings in the provident fund representing contributions plus interest would be forfeited. The strikers had been trying to molest those who have given in, but so far nothing serious is reported. The relief committee, as usual, distributed rice, dholl, etc., and is arranging for discharge of men’s rent bills.

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14 NEWS

CHENNAI

THE HINDU

TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2017

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Centre likely to differ with J&K on Art. 35A The Article also ensures job reservation for residents. A 2002 order by the J&K High Court in the State of Jammu and Kashmir Versus Dr. Sushila Sawhney and Others had said that the daughter of a permanent resident marrying a person outside the State would not lose the status of permanent resident of J&K. The official explained that Article 35A was a provision that had been inserted in the Constitution through a “presidential order”, and it was not ratified by Parliament. There was an option with the Centre to ratify the provision by sending it to Parliament, the official said. He, however, added that it had not been considered yet. The Home Ministry has held a series of consultations with the Law Ministry on the provision. Coming together on the issue, J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and former Chief Minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah have objected to any tinkering with Article 35A.

Ms. Mufti has held multiple meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and claims to have got an assurance that “status quo” will be maintained. Attorney-General K.K. Venugopal informed the Supreme Court on July 17 that the issue being discussed in the court was a matter of interpretation of law for which “no affidavit was required.” The State government had filed a counter-affidavit against the petition. The Centre also told the Supreme Court that it wanted a “larger debate” on the subject. Ms. Mufti had said earlier that “any attempt to tinker with Article 35(A) would have repercussions, and India will not get a shoulder to carry its national flag in J&K.” The official said it was for the Supreme Court to decide whether the issue was to be treated as a “procedural issue” as per the PIL petition or a “substantive issue.”

T.N. submits draft ordinance to Centre The draft Indian Medical Council (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Ordinance, 2017, said: “Replacing the present system of issions in State government seats based on marks secured in NEET examinations from 2017-18 is a very emotive issue. There is unanimity among all political parties of the State that the existing policy of issions to the Medical and Dental colleges, which has protected the interests of poor students from rural areas and also ensured that medical personnel are available in all remote parts of the State, should not be replaced without addressing the concerns of the student community...” The Home Ministry will have to obtain the instructions of the President for the ordinance to be promulgated by the Governor be-

fore August 30. “In Tamil Nadu, in academic year 2016-17, about 4.2 lakh students studied biology as one of their subjects in Class XII in State board schools… of the over 88,431 students who appeared for NEET in TN, at least 95% are from the State board, while only 5% are from CBSE and other Boards. Any change of syllabus cannot be abrupt, but has to be built up from base classes. Just because the syllabus was available in NEET guidelines, a student from another Board could need considerable time to get adequately equipped. This would also require special coaching which poor and rural students can ill afford and that was the logic for abolishing entrance examinations for professional courses in TN in 2006,” the ordinance said.

OPS-Modi meeting fails to speed up merger According to sources, Mr. Panneerselvam is insisting that he be either given the chief ministership or the post of party general secretary as a condition for merging with the AIK (Amma). The other formula, according to his aides, is to share the Chief Minister’s post on a rotational basis. On the record, though, Mr. Panneerselvam has been placing only two demands — a probe into former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s death and expulsion of the Sasikala family from the party. “We have made our conditions very clear. I can’t say anything more on the merger,” Rajya Sabha Member and AIK (PTA) leader V. Maitreyan told The Hindu. Meanwhile, the AIK (Amma) is getting uncomfortable about conditions dictated by the AIK (PTA). “If they are not ready to make any concession,

how can there be a merger,” a senior MP asked. However, Finance Minister D. Jayakumar told journalists in Chennai that the ruling faction saw “positive signals” in Mr. Panneerselvam’s statements in New Delhi. A couple of days ago, both camps looked like almost taking synchronised steps. The Panneerselvam faction submitted an affidavit to the Election Commission, along with a copy of the resolution ed by the Palaniswami faction, nullifying the appointment of T.T.V. Dhinakaran as deputy general secretary. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), meanwhile, is gleefully watching the negotiations. “Even if the two come together, they will not be able to save the AIK unless they get Mr. Dhinakaran too on board. Such a scenario is unlikely,” DMK MP T.K.S. Elangovan said.

Create an India that does not discriminate: President In I-Day eve address, he calls for partnership between citizens and government

Approves five Kirti Chakras

New Delhi

President Ram Nath Kovind, in his first address to the nation on the eve of the Independence Day, called for a partnership between citizens and the government to create a new India “that does not discriminate on gender or religious background”. Spelling out his vision, President Kovind said when India completes 75 years of Independence by 2022, it should have a comionate society. “New India must include that integral humanist component that is in our DNA, and which has defined our country and our civilisation,” he said.

Inclusive development The President said the goal of creating a new India can be achieved only when disadvantaged sections like the Scheduled Castes and Tribes, Other Backward

Special Correspondent NEW DELHI

Building new nation: President Ram Nath Kovind addresses the country on the eve of 71st I-Day on Monday. PTI

Prominent Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawad has dismissed the Shia Waqf Board’s offer to “build a mosque a little distance away from the disputed site” in Ayodhya as having been made under duress. He said the statement of Maulana Kalbe Sadiq, vicepresident of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, that Muslims should agree to the construction of a Ram temple on the disputed site was meant to curry favour CM YK

with the government. The Maulana, who heads the Anjuman-e-Haidari, said: “The current government in Uttar Pradesh has recommended a CBI probe into some scams in the working of the Shia Waqf Board, and we feel [Board chairman] Waseem Rizvi’s affidavit is related to it.”

Probe ordered The State government has recommended a probe into allegations of misappropriation on a report from a member of the Central Waqf

President Ram Nath Kovind approved five Kirti Chakras on the eve of Independence Day, of which three were awarded to Army personnel and two to personnel from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) for their role in counter-terror operations. However, the highest peacetime gallantry award, Ashok Chakra, was not given this time.

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Classes are part of the national development process. President Kovind said senior citizens, the differently-abled, the poor and underprivileged should always be part of a comionate “society’s thought and not an after thought”.

Special Correspondent

The President recalled the contribution made by the freedom fighters including Jawahar Lal Nehru and urged citizens to draw inspiration from them and invoke the same spirit for the task of nation building. “The stress on the moral

basis of policy and action, belief in unity and discipline, faith in a synthesis of heritage and science, and promotion of the rule of law and of education — all of it was located in a partnership between citizen and government,” said the President.

In the customary address to the armed forces on the eve of Independence Day, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday avoided reference to the ongoing standoff with China at Doklam even as he recalled the pre-emptive surgical strikes by the Army last year to prevent infiltration by terrorists. “Despite our repeated requests to our Western neighbour not to use our territory occupied by it, not only to train terrorists but also use it as launch pad for pushing these militants into India, such nefarious activities continued. We ran out of patience as these terrorists were not only targeting our armed forces but also civilians… the Indian Army conducted surgical strikes on September 29 last year at several of these launch pads to pre-empt infiltration by terrorists,” the Union Minister said. He added that during

NEET waiver: Sitharaman’s Article 35A comes efforts helped Tamil Nadu under scrutiny Minister emerges as key go-to person between T.N. & Centre

To be decided by Constitution Bench

Nistula Hebbar

Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI

NEW DELHI

Union Minister for Commerce Nirmala Sitharaman has emerged as a key go-to person between the Tamil Nadu government and the Centre over the NEET (National Eligibility and Entrance Test) issue. Top sources in the government confirmed that it was the Minister’s efforts, along with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP and Central Minister Pon Radhakrishnan, that resulted in the ordinance by the State government getting a hearing in New Delhi. “Throughout the Monsoon Session of Parliament, there were hectic parleys between the State government and the Centre over a reprieve for Tamil Nadu on the NEET issue. The State government presented figures that showed that the intake of students in private medical colleges and post graduate courses in medical schools in the State this year showed that students in urban areas and those with Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schooling were over represented and rural students with State Board Matriculation getting

The question whether Article 35A, relating to special rights and privileges of the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir, is ultra vires of the Constitution or not is likely to head for a decision before a five-judge Constitution Bench. The indication that the constitutionality of Article 35A will be under scrutiny came from a Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and A.M. Khanwilkar while hearing a petition filed by Charu Wali Khanna, who has challenged the Article as well as Section 6 of the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution, which deal with the permanent residents’ status in J&K.

Trump greets Modi on I-Day eve

Larger role: Nirmala Sitharaman’s efforts along with Pon Radhakrishnan had positive impact in New Delhi. FILE PHOTO *

left out,” said a senior government source. “Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha, M. Thambidurai, in fact met with the Minister almost everyday of the session, with the deadline for ‘doing something’ to alleviate the problems of the rural students being August 30,” added the source.

Meeting with PM Both Ms. Sitharaman and Mr. Radhakrishnan had a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the last week of the monsoon session to discuss the matter with him. “Prime Minister Modi was sympathetic but also cautioned that the legal

Dinakar Peri

Press Trust of India

NEW DELHI

New Delhi

Amid the standoff at Doklam, uncertainty continues over the ceremonial Border Personnel Meeting (BPM) between the armies of India and China on the eve of Independence Day. “As of now BPM is unsure. We have invited them; acceptance from China is yet to come,” a senior official said on Monday. Before ceremonial BPMs that are held on national days, either side gives confirmation a couple of days in advance. However, that has not

U.S. President Donald Trump called up Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Monday night to convey his greetings on the eve of India’s Independence Day celebrations. Mr. Modi shared this information through a tweet. “Appreciate the warm felicitations from @POTUS, who called this evening to convey Independence Day greetings. Thank you @realDonaldTrump,” Mr. Modi tweeted.

Board council. “As for Maulana Kalbe Sadiq’s speech, it is his personal opinion, perhaps aimed at some influence he may want to exert on the government,” he said. The Shia Waqf Board, in an affidavit to the Supreme Court, had claimed ownership of the disputed Ayodhya site. Maulana Kalbe Jawad said the Board’s affidavit claiming to be a party to the Babri Masjid case had come 70 years too late. A court in Faizabad in 1946 had ruled in favour of the Sunni Waqf

position of the Centre should not be compromised in the law courts,” said the source. The State government, in the last two meetings that Chief Minister E.K. Palaniswami held with Prime Minister Modi (the last on August 11), had assured the Centre that the State had implemented NEET in the issions to private medical colleges and post-graduate courses, but that ission to government medical colleges and to fill the government quota in private colleges (where fees were reasonable) required some more time to redress the ruralurban divide that was emerging in student intake.

India-China border meet hangs in balance

Offer to build mosque away from disputed site meant to curry favour, says cleric NEW DELHI

He talked of last year’s surgical strikes New Delhi

Special Correspondent

‘Waqf Board plea made under pressure’ special correspondent

Jaitley speech skips mention of Doklam

Board in the claim to the land and the Shia Board had not appealed against the verdict. “Even as the Shia Waqf Board chairman, you are only the caretaker of the property; you cannot give it away. A Masjid belongs to Allah, it is no one’s personal property,” the Maulana said. “He [Waseem Rizvi] is surrounded by the CBI because of what he did, and he is trying to get out of the situation.” He said he was awaiting the SC’s verdict and was not ive of this affidavit.

happened this time. “We will wait and see what happens tomorrow,” the source added. The five BPM points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) are at Bum La and Kibithu in Arunachal Pradesh, Daulat Beg Oldi and Chushul in Ladakh and Nathu La in Sikkim. In addition, there is also uncertainty over the annual bilateral military exercise Hand-in-Hand to be held later this year. The t planning conference has not taken place thus far, but it has not been formally cancelled either.

Kashmir tense, red alert issued special correspondent Srinagar

Kashmir remained on the edge on the eve of Independence Day on Monday as the authorities imposed restrictions in parts of the Valley and issued a red alert in the wake of the killing of a Hizb operational commander and two civilians on Sunday. Mobile bunkers were set up and quick response teams stationed in all volatile pockets. Separatists have called for a shutdown on Tuesday.

Property rights The petition said Article 35A protects certain provisions of the J&K Constitution which denies property rights to native women who marry from outside the State. The denial of these rights extend to her children also. “This should ideally go before a Constitution Bench,” Justice Misra said. Article 35A also em-

powers the State’s legislature to frame any law without attracting a challenge on grounds of violating the Right to Equality of people from other States or any other right under the Constitution. “Section 6 of the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution restricts the basic right of women to marry a man of their choice by not giving the heirs any right to property if the woman marries a man not holding the Permanent Resident Certificate. Her children are denied a permanent resident certificate thereby considering them illegitimate — not given any right to such a woman’s property even if she is a permanent resident of Jammu and Kashmir,” the petition, filed through advocate Bimal Roy, said. The court tagged the petition along with another filed by NGO We the Citizens challenging Article 35A. The NGO’s petition contended that the State’s special autonomous status under Articles 35A and 370, was discriminatory against non-residents as far as government jobs and real estate purchases are concerned.

Arun Jaitley these counter-terrorism operations, militants and those ing them suffered significant casualties.

Welfare measures In addition, Mr. Jaitley dedicated a major part of his speech to the welfare measures taken by the government for military personnel. These include implementation of the One Rank One Pension (OROP), increase in allowances including the hardship allowance, enhanced penury grant to non-pensioner, ex-servicemen and widows among others.

SC tells Karti to cooperate in probe Krishnadas Rajagopal NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court on Monday lifted the Madras High Court’s stay order on a Look Out Circular (LOC) issued by the Bureau of Immigration against Karti Chidambaram. The court also urged him to “cooperate and participate” in the investigation of a corruption case involving kickbacks paid by INX Media for obtaining clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board. Staying the August 10 High Court order, a Bench of Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar and D.Y. Chandrachud emphasised that Mr. Karti, son of former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, has to participate in the investigation by appearing before the probe officers for questioning. “Our business is only one. You must go for the investigation. How will it be if people of this country do not respond to investigations against them?” Chief Justice Khehar asked. “But our little thing is that you cannot, as of now, leave the country till you participate in the investigation. That’s all,” CJI Khehar observed.

With loyalists expelled, Sharad remains defiant People removed are long time party : JD(U) leader Nistula Hebbar NEW DELHI

Senior Janata Dal (U) leader Sharad Yadav struck a defiant note after the party’s Bihar unit chief, Bashishtha Narain Singh, removed 21 people said to be loyal to the former from the party. Refusing to comment on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Mr. Yadav said he was preparing for the August 17 programme of the combined opposition parties, termed Saanjha Viraasat (Syncretic Traditions) to be held in New Delhi. “The people removed today are old of the JD(U) and are in fact the real JD(U),” he said. Speaking to a television channel, Mr. Yadav said the sarkari (official) JD(U) would soon find themselves tired of expelling people.

N MP to attend Sources said Tariq Anwar, Nationalist Congress Party MP in the Lok Sabha from Bihar, will the opposition programme on Thursday. The decision comes despite both N MLAs in Gujarat having voted for the BJP in the recent Rajya Sabha elections in the State. Meanwhile, Mr. Yadav's New Delhi residence saw a

State units backing Nitish, says Tyagi Special Correspondent NEW DELHI

A day after the Sharad Yadav faction of the Janata Dal (United) claimed it was the “real” party, with “14 JD(U) State units” ing it, party general secretary K.C. Tyagi said that four out of the five recognised State units were with Nitish Kumar. “Mr. Nitish Kumar was made party president in the Patna special session of April 23, 2016. Only five State units have recognition in the party: Bihar, Jharkhand, Kerala, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Jammu and Kashmir. The others had not

steady stream of opposition leaders including Congress leader Ahmad Patel, who narrowly won in the Gujarat Rajya Sabha polls because of a single vote cast in his favour by JD(U) MLA Chhotubhai Vasava. A bouquet presented by Mr. Patel occupied the pride

completed the hip process and thus, are not recognised State units,” he said. Mr. Yadav renounced the party of his own free will despite his journey of 40 years with the party, Mr. Tyagi said. He itted it was not easy for the party to “remove” a senior leader like him. “We respect the Sharad Yadav of yesteryears, who resigned from the Lok Sabha. He is not corrupt. But, unfortunately, he wants to go with those today he had once taught us to fight. He has decided to go with those who are with dynasty and corruption.”

of place in the drawing room. I(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury also met Mr. Yadav for discussions on the August 17 meet. “This programme has nothing to do with the JD(U) and its decisions; it was decided three months ago,” Mr. Yadav told The Hindu. M CH-CHE

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THE HINDU

NEWS 15

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No faith in Yogi govt.-ordered probe: Akhilesh SC declines plea seeking intervenion

After visiting family of the victims, former CM says government should order an independent investigation Omar Rashid LUCKNOW

A day after the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government ordered a highlevel bureaucratic probe into the deaths of children at the BRD hospital in Gorakhpur, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav demanded an “independent probe.” The former U.P. Chief Miniester said he “did not have any faith” in the probe ordered by the BJP government. He, however, did not specify what kind of probe he wanted. The BJP government has initiated a probe by a highlevel committee under the Chief Secretary which will submit its report in a week. “They launched CBI inquiries for everything to do with us [previous SP government]. At least ensure an independent probe. We want the truth of the incident to come out. We want the government to fix responsibility and ability so that such an incident is not repeated,” Mr. Yadav said in Gorakhpur, after meeting the family of children

who died in the BRD hospital. In Gorakhpur rural, Mr. Yadav visited the homes of Brahmdev Yadav and Santosh Gond of Baghagada village in Belipur and Kishun Gupta of village Belwar in Khorabar area. After meeting the families, Mr. Yadav said they told him that their children did not get the necessary medical facilities and treatment in the BRD hospital.

Compensation sought The SP chief demanded that ₹20 lakh each be given to the families of the children who died. “The government must tell us why the innocent children died. If there was no oxygen supply, who was responsible for it,” Mr. Yadav said. As Opposition parties continue to corner the Adityanath government over the incident, which happened in his constituency, Mr. Yadav said his party did not want to politicise the issue but only help the poor families who were affected. Deputy CM Keshav Prasad

Legal Correspondent NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court on Monday declined a plea to take suo motu cognisance of the deaths of children in a government hospital at Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh. A lawyer made the plea before a Bench led by Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar, who responded that he should approach the Allahabad High Court. The Bench reasoned that the incident happened in “one State and in one hospital”, and the High Court was best to deal with the case, in case a petition is filed before it. The court also asked why it should intervene as the authorities had already swung into action. The lawyer wanted an Special Investigation Team to be constituted under the directions of the SC to probe the deaths of children at the BRD Hospital.

Painful wait: People rest on the floor outside the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Baba Raghav Das hospital in Gorakhpur on Monday. REUTERS *

Maurya, however, said the government is taking all steps to ensure that the culprits are punished and that such incidents are not repeated. ”The probe is on and whoever be the culprit, he will not be spared. The de-

ceased can’t be brought back but our sympathies are with them and we stand with them in this hour of sadness,” Mr. Maurya said, while speaking to a news agency. Meanwhile, Director General Medical Education K. K.

Gupta criticised the functioning of former Principal of the BRD medical college R.K. Mishra, who has been held responsible for the delay in payment to the oxygen company. Soon after he was suspended, Mr. Mishra resigned

on moral grounds, saying he had made several requests to the State government to settle the dues but the amount was transferred only on August 7, a week after the company wrote a threatening reminder.

Ignoring the science behind encephalitis deaths Without accepting the link between endemic scrub typhus and brain inflammation, the U.P. govt. is unlikely to tackle the medical emergency Priyanka Pulla

Sometime last week, dozens of seriously-ill children at Gorakhpur’s Baba Raghav Das Medical College Hospital were starved of oxygen from the ventilators that were keeping them alive. News reports say this happened because the hospital didn’t pay its oxygen vendor. This image of babies being suffocated because someone didn’t get their cash is an obscene one.

Unusual suspect But the story of why the babies were in the hospital in the first place is equally worrying — it’s one of medical researchers not looking beyond the obvious while investigating the three-decade old scourge at Gorakhpur. Even though this recurring epidemic has killed over 5,000 people since 2010, its primary cause wasn’t identified until early this year. Now, researchers have

Cong. demands PM’s apology in I-Day speech Special Correspondent NEW DELHI

The Congress on Monday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to apologise to the country in his Independence Day address for the death of over 60 children at a State-run hospital in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur district, from where sitting Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has been elected five times. The party also sought the resignations of the CM and the State Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh for trying to “save” the guilty in the tragic deaths of these children. Attacking Mr. Modi for remaining silent on the deaths of these children, re-

learnt that a majority of the children being itted to BRD have scrub typhus — a mite-borne disease endemic in Uttar Pradesh. Because they weren’t treated during early stages of the disease, the scrub typhus triggered brain inflammation, which can be very hard to cure. This means that the children at the hospital didn’t have much of a chance anyway — a fact the Yogi Adityanath government is citing as a defence of its incompetence. The confused history of research into the Gorakhpur pestilence begins in 1978, when the epidemic first broke out. Within a few years, doctors at the sentinel hospital confirmed that the outbreak of encephalitis, or brain inflammation, was mainly due to the Japanese encephalitis ( JE) virus. Today, researchers suspect that Japanese encephalitis wasn’t the only cause even then. Scrub typhus was hiding in the encephalitis

burden during the seventies as well.

Wrong approach Why did it take so long to pinpoint scrub typhus? First, because we were too focused on the usual suspects to look beyond them. Over the past few decades, organisations such as the National Institute of Virology and the National Centre for Disease Control, visited BRD Hospital repeatedly and ran lab tests for dozens of pathogens known to cause encephalitis, such as enteroviruses, the chikungunya, herpes simplex and dengue viruses, and the malaria parasite. But researchers like Govindakarnavar Arunkumar of the Manipal Institute of Virus Research, who first found scrub typhus in BRD’s encephalitis wards, say this was the wrong approach. The scientists should have studied the symptoms of each patient in detail, logging data such as the length of fever before encephalitis,

and involvement of organs other than the brain, like the liver and the spleen.

Deaf to data These symptoms would have revealed that the epidemic wasn’t due to typical viruses, but the scrub-typhus bacterium that is not known to trigger encephalitis outbreaks. Instead, the focus remained on lab testing, allow-

ing the disease to continue killing, unseen. The second lapse was that the Uttar Pradesh istration wasn’t listening to the scientists, who were finding that the Gorakhpur outbreak had changed over the years. Once Japanese Encephalitis vaccinations began in 2007, incidence of this disease at the hospital fell to less than 20%, but encephalitis cases kept coming. It was

obvious to researchers that something other than Japanese encephalitis was at work. For a brief period, doctors at BRD suspected that enteroviruses, a class of viruses to which the poliovirus belongs, were the top cause for the epidemic. But research didn’t bear out this suspicion either. Yet, even today, the Yogi Adityanath government is talking of poor sanitation as the reason behind the pestilence at the hospital (enteroviruses spread through contaminated water). And while pushing Japanese encephalitis vaccination campaigns is crucial, as the government is doing, this won’t make a dent in the hospital’s burden.

Timely treatment The government can’t ignore the science for a number of reasons. First, it’s going to take a miraculous effort by the government to weed out scrub typhus in the State. Most patients who develop

fever, the first sign of scrub typhus, go to private healthcare practitioners and not government hospitals. So, these private practitioners, many of whom aren’t medically qualified, must be targeted in training programmes. Unless they suspect scrub typhus in children and treat it before it advances to encephalitis, children will keep coming to BRD. The hospital will be able to do precious little then. The real danger is that if the government ignores scrub typhus, children will continue to die, and we’ll never know if the science pointing to scrub typhus bears out. Dumping the hypothesis without testing it fully is the most criminal thing the istration can do. But Yogi Adityanath’s statements to the media raise the very real fear that this will happen. (Priyanka Pulla is a freelance science and medical journalist)

There have been incidents like this before: Amit Shah Action will be taken based on inquiry report, he tells media Staff Reporter Bengaluru

Ajay Maken

portedly because of a shortage in the supply of liquid oxygen, Congress senior spokesperson Ajay Maken said, “The PM uses Twitter to say something about tragedies even in Turkey or USA, but he has not found any words to console the families of the dead children….We hope he apologises to the country.”

BJP national president Amit Shah has said that incidents similar to the one at a hospital in Gorakhpur of Uttar Pradesh, where over 60 children have died over the last five days due to non-supply of oxygen, have happened before. “The work of the Congress,” he said, “is only to ask for resignations.” He was responding to a question whether Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath should resign owning moral responsibility for the incident.

Amit Shah

Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru on Monday, as part of his threeday tour of Karnataka to strengthen the party in the

poll-bound State, he said the BJP did not believe in taking action against anybody without first holding an inquiry. “The Chief Minister has instituted a time-bound inquiry. Once the report is submitted, we will make it public and take action against those responsible.” To another question on the alleged insensitivity of the Chief Minister calling for a grand celebration of Krishna Janmashtami, Mr. Shah said everybody was pained by the death of the children. But Janmashtami was not a government programme.

Varun Gandhi pledges ₹5 cr. for child care unit Announcing the project at Sultanpur, he asks fellow MPs to take up similar projects in rural areas Special Correspondent NEW DELHI

Jolted by the tragedy in Gorakhpur where 30 children died in a government hospital reportedly due to a lack of oxygen cylinders, BJP MP from Sultanpur, Varun Gandhi pledged ₹5 crore from his Member of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) fund to build a state-of-the-art paediatric wing in the Sultanpur district hospital. “The human tragedy in Gorakhpur has left me jolted,” said the young MP in a statement posted on his twitter , adding that “while grieving the terrible loss of lives of all the chilCM YK

Varun Gandhi

sponsibility funding,” he added in his statement. He hoped that with sufficient additional funds from external donors, the paediatric wing would be fully functional in six months. “The wing would also include an in-house research centre that would work on matters of child healthcare and prevention of several water/air-borne diseases that could affect these defenceless children,” he said.

hospital. This will be accompanied by a matching grant of ₹5 crore more, to be raised personally through donations and collections from Corporate Social Re-

Free vaccination The wing would also provide free vaccination for children under the National Vaccine Programme. It would also set up a pharmacy within the

dren, the incident must act as an impetus to take actions that serve as a deterrent to recurrence of such an event.” Mr. Gandhi said he spoke to the Chief Medical Superintendent, the Chief Medical Officer and the District Magistrate of Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh, a Lok Sabha seat that he represents, to co-ordinate the setting up of the paediatric wing.

State-of-the-art facility “I have pledged an amount of ₹5 crore from my MPLADS fund, to build a Model Hospital Paediatric Wing with state-of-the-art infrastructure, in the district

hospital premises for providing medicines to children at a lower cost.

24x7 access “An intensive care unit (ICU) consisting of 100 beds will be established to ensure no child goes untreated. The wing would have 24x7 access to water for drinking and sanitation, electricity and oxygen supply,” Mr. Gandhi said, adding, that three ambulances would cater specifically to children. “It is my hope that other MPs who represent a rural constituency, also initiate something similar in their respective areas,” Mr. Gandhi added. M CH-CHE

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16 WORLD

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THE HINDU

TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2017

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ELSEWHERE

They wanted to create terror: witnesses Charlottesville mobilises in protest against violence by white supremacists; gains on justice under threat, says professor Varghese K. George Charlottesville

Oz Deputy PM ineligible due to dual citizenship SYDNEY

Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said on Monday that he may not be eligible for Parliament after being told he may be a dual citizen of Australia and New Zealand. Aussie politicians are not eligible to be elected to Parliament if they hold dual citizenships, a rule that has forced the resignation of two senators in recent weeks. Reuters

Yemen has seen 5 lakh cholera cases since April GENEVA

Cholera is believed to have affected more than 5,00,000 people and killed nearly 2,000 since late April, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday. A full 5,03,484 suspected cases and 1,975 deaths are attributable to the outbreak, a WHO overview showed. AFP

Use legal route, says Kenyatta to Opposition NAIROBI

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta on Monday appealed to the Opposition to hold legal demonstrations, not street protests, and allow Kenyans to get back to normal life after last week’s disputed vote. “...we continue to appeal to them ... to use... legal mechanisms... to express their dissatisfaction,” he said. AFP

“We learn love, not hate,” read a card pinned to a single orchid placed at the feet of an imposing statue of Thomas Jefferson at the University of Virginia (UVA). The violence on the campus, unleashed by white supremacists who descended there on Friday night, took the community by surprise and fresh graffiti denouncing racism has appeared over the weekend. “The events on Friday night were completely unexpected. Their rally was announced for Saturday,” said Sankaran Venkataraman, Professor of Business istration at the UVA. “In the last 20 years that I have been here, I have not seen anything like this.”

1 dead, 19 injured Racists and neo-Nazi groups had assembled in the town to protest against the proposed removal of a statue of a confederate general, one that invokes memories of racial oppression. Heather Heyer, a 32-year old legal assistant, was killed when a 20year old man allegedly drove his car into the crowd. Nineteen people were injured in

ISLAMABAD

Hackers targeted many sites of the Pakistani government on Monday, when the country was celebrating its Independence Day, officials in the telecommunication authority said. The hacked websites included those of the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Information Technology and the Ministry of Environment.

*

various incidents. Larry Goedde Jr. grew up in Charlottesville, and moved to Canada 11 years ago before returning only last week — “to a different America”, he said. He makes and repairs guitars for a living, and the first week of his new beginning in his old city turned out to be eventful on Saturday when he was targeted by the nationalist crowd. “A group suddenly

jumped off a pick up truck, slammed me on to the pavement and started stomping all over me,” he recalled. The same group then drove around the town and attacked many others. “The crowd had come from all over — from Florida, Texas, North Carolina... there was hardly anyone from Virginia itself,” Mr. Goedde Jr. said. He stopped a man who

Agence -Presse Washington

U.S. President Donald Trump, under pressure to explicitly condemn a weekend rally by white supremacists that ended in bloodshed, on Monday denounced racism and slammed the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis as “repugnant”. “Those who spread violence in the name of bigotry strike at the very core of America,” Mr. Trump said in nationally televised remarks from the White House. ”Racism is evil. And

another two decades before women were itted across courses. Those gains on racial and gender justice over centuries are now under threat, said Mr. Ehnbom, an expert on South Asian art history, pointing out that the violence over the weekend is a sign of the political turmoil in the country. Another professor at the university, who did not want

Ouagadougou

Attacker denied bail Earlier on Monday, Mr. Sessions said in an interview that the car attack “does meet the definition of domestic terrorism”. On Monday, a judge denied bail for the suspected attacker, James Fields.

Suspected Islamist militants killed at least 18 people and injured many during a raid on a restaurant in Burkina Faso’s capital overnight, but security forces shot dead both the attackers. “This is a terrorist attack,” said Communications Minister Remi Dandjinou at a press conference on Monday. Burkina Faso, like other countries in West Africa, has been targeted sporadically by jihadist groups. Most attacks have been along its remote northern border with Mali, which has seen activity by Islamist militants for more than a decade.

to be named, said the surprise attack on Friday night was inspired by the American Right’s contempt for the liberal university system itself. “They think universities are a problem. And the fact that there is resistance to their politics here also allows them to have a showdown, violence and national publicity,” he pointed out. Mr. Ehnbom agreed.

French citizen killed A French citizen was among the dead, French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said. French President Emmanuel Macron discussed the situation with Burkina Faso President Roch Marc Kabore, his office said, including the role of a new multinational military force aimed at fighting Islamist militants across the vast Sahel region of Africa.

those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans,” he said.

‘We can’t have another Korean war’

Iron ore and seafood among the items targeted as part of new UN sanctions

South Korean President Moon Jae-in appeals for calm

Beijing

China will halt iron, iron ore and seafood imports from North Korea starting Tuesday, following through on new UN sanctions after U.S. pressure for Beijing to strong arm Pyongyang over its ally’s nuclear programme. The decision was announced on Monday after days of increasingly bellicose rhetoric between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un’s regime, which

has raised international alarm about where the crisis is headed. Beijing had pledged to fully enforce the latest sanctions after the United States accused China of not doing enough to rein in its neighbour, which relies heavily on the Asian giant for its economic survival. The Chinese Commerce Ministry said on its website that all imports of coal, iron, iron ore and seafood will be “completely prohibited”

from Tuesday. Beijing had already announced a suspension of coal imports in February. The United Nations Security Council, including permanent member Beijing, approved tough sanctions against Pyongyang on August 6 that could cost the country $1 billion a year. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi vowed after the UN sanctions were approved that his country “will for sure implement that new

312 killed in Sierra Leone flooding

Student groups to protest on I-Day

More than 2,000 left homeless

To condemn violence against minorities

Agence -Presse

Vidya Ram

Freetown

London

At least 312 people were killed and more than 2,000 left homeless on Monday when heavy flooding hit Sierra Leone’s capital of Freetown, leaving morgues overflowing and residents desperately searching for loved ones. Red Cross spokesman Patrick Massaquoi told AFP the death toll was 312 but could rise further as his team continued to survey disaster areas in Freetown and tally the number of dead. Mohamed Sinneh, a morgue technician at Freetown’s Connaught Hospital, said 180 bodies had been received so far at his facility alone, many of them children.

Reuters

Racism is evil: Trump

China bans imports from N. Korea Agence -Presse

Pakistan government’s websites hacked

Un-American: Effigies condemn white supremacist groups and President Donald Trump in Chicago. AFP

was pointing a machine gun at a family of four, including children, sometime earlier that day. “They wanted to create terror. But by the end of it all, those with the guns were on the defensive. They had their guns strapped on to them, but their back to the wall. They realised their bluff was called,” he said, ruing that he perhaps missed some “best years of America”. Today, the town of Charlottesville in general, and UVA in particular, are both bastions of progressive politics in America. However, their history is as complex as the fact that Jefferson, who wrote the words “all men are created equal” into the decoration of American independence, owned dozens of slaves, explained Daniel Ehnbom, director of the Center for South Asian Studies at UVA. There were separate schools for the Whites and the Blacks, and when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the practice, the State of Virginia ordered schools closed rather than combine them in the 1950s. The university did begin itting African American students in 1950s, but it took

18 killed in Burkina Faso ‘terror attack’

Flooded streets in Regent, Sierra Leone. AFP *

Meanwhile disaster management official Candy Rogers said that “over 2,000 people are homeless”, hinting at the huge humanitarian effort that will be required to deal with the fallout of the flooding in one of Africa’s poorest nations.

A group of student organisations are to hold a protest in London on Tuesday, the Independence Day, to protest the recent attacks on people from the minority communities, which they argue have turned India into a “Republic of fear.” Several hundred people are expected to take part in the march, which will begin near the statue of Mahatma Gandhi on Tavistock Square and end at the Indian High Commission with a petition calling for stronger action from the government against the perpetrators. It is being organised by the South Asia Solidarity Group, Caste Watch U.K. and other organisations, including the Anti Caste Dis-

resolution 100%, fully and strictly”. China, which is suspected of failing to enforce past UN measures, s for 90% of North Korea’s trade. Among the latest banned products, China imported $74.4 million worth of iron ore in the first five months of this year, almost equalling the figure for all of 2016. Fish and seafood imports totalled $46.7 million in June, up from $13.6 million in May.

Agence -Presse Seoul

South Korean President Moon Jae-in called Monday for calm in the stand-off with North Korea, saying there should never be another war on the peninsula. Tensions have flared since U.S. President Donald Trump, responding to the North’s latest missile tests, warned it of “fire and fury like the world has never seen”. The North in turn threatened to test-fire its

missiles towards the U.S. Pacific island of Guam. Mr. Moon, who has previously advocated dialogue with the North, urged it to “stop all provocations and hostile rhetoric immediately, instead of worsening the situation any further”. He also indirectly urged the U.S. to resolve the crisis peacefully. “Our top priority is the national interest of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and our national in-

terest lies in peace,” Moon told advisers in a meeting. “We cannot have a war on the Korean peninsula ever again,” he said. Mr. Moon on Monday also met General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the U.S. t Chiefs of Staff. According to Mr. Moon’s spokesman, Gen. Dunford said in the meeting that the U.S. would only consider military action against North Korea if all diplomatic and economic sanctions failed.

crimination Alliance, the Indian Society at SOAS University, and the Federation of Ambedkarite and Buddhist Organisations. “On this day it is important to remind people what independence means. It means you need to include the lives of all your people and take responsibility for them… over the past 70 years so many people haven’t benefited from that promise… so many are still sitting on the sidelines, facing constant atrocities, living under threat, not able to share the economic benefits,” said Satpal Muman, chair of Caste Watch U.K., who is one of the organisers, and expects people from within and outside London to the demonstration.

Garden Bridge’s demise prompts relief Move follows London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s decision not to back it Vidya Ram London

The decision to scrap the plans for a pedestrianised ‘garden bridge’ across the Thames river in central London has been welcomed by residents of the city with a mixture of anger and relief. The controversial project, which has had questionable levels of public , has already cost the taxpayer over £37 million. The Garden Bridge Trust, set up to build and run the project, expressed regret while talking of the decision on Monday, blaming it on a move by Mayor Sadiq Khan not to the back the project. “The Garden Bridge would have been a unique place, a beautiful new green space in the heart of London, free to use and open to all showcasing the best of British talent and innovation,” it insisted.

Johnson’s The project, based on the vision of British comedienne Joanna Lumley, had won the CM YK

Scrapped: A computer generated image shows the design for ‘Garden Bridge’ across the River Thames. AFP *

backing of the then London Mayor Boris Johnson, who even described those who objected to the bridge as adopting a “Taliban-like hatred of objects of beauty”. However, a strong local opposition movement built up swiftly, led by Thames Central Open Spaces, which criticised the lack of local consultation, the destruction of open green space on the river’s bank, and the vast amounts of public money being pumped into a project at a time when the country’s public finances were being stretched like never before.

Others pointed to the fact that the bridge’s location — in a part of London with many other crossing points — was far from the city’s most pressing need. A damning report published in April by Margaret Hodge, a well respected parliamentarian, had called for the project to be scrapped, pointing to the tripling of the project’s costs, and the mere £69 million in private backing it had attracted. Though an astounding £37.4 million of public money had gone into the project, the report concluded it would be better

for the “taxpayer to accept the loss than to risk the additional demands of the project proceeds”. Following the report, London Mayor Sadiq Khan insisted that no further public funds would go into it. “Londoners will, like me, be very angry that London’s taxpayers have now lost tens of millions of pounds — committed by the previous Mayor on a project that has amounted to nothing,” he said on Monday, following the trust’s announcement. However, anger surrounding it remained, particularly in the wake of the debate around austerity and the provision of social housing following the Grenfell Tower fire in West London, where at least 80 people died. “I shall not weep for the death of the #gardenbridge but for the loss of the £37 million of public money that ought to have been spent on social housing,” tweeted David Boothroyd, a Labour Councillor. M CH-CHE

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BUSINESS 17

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market watch 14-08-2017

% CHANGE

Sensex dddddddddddddddddddddd 31,449 ddddddddddddddd0.75 US Dollar dddddddddddddddddddd 64.12 ddddddddddddddd0.00 Gold ddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 30,050 ddddddddddddddd0.00 Brent oil ddddddddddddddddddddd 52.24 ddddddddddddddd0.01

Retail, WPI inflation accelerate I inflation quickens to 2.36%; wholesale inflation at 1.88% as food costs surge Press Trust of India

NIFTY 50

NEW DELHI PRICE CHANGE

ACC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1784.80. . . . . . . 24.25 Adani Ports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396.20. . . . . . . 13.45 Ambuja Cements. . . .. . . . . . 265.10. . . . . . . . . 1.75 Asian Paints. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1154.00. . . . . . . 10.10 Aurobindo Pharma . . . . . . 714.50. . . . . . . . . 9.50 Axis Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491.75. . . . . . . . . 2.05 Bajaj Auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2831.60. . . . . . . 43.40 Bank of Baroda . . . . . .. . . . . . 142.25. . . . . . . . . 0.00 Bharti Airtel . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 408.55. . . . . . . . -6.00 Bosch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22138.10. . . -485.10 BPCL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478.35. . . . . . . . -5.95 Cipla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570.05. . . . . . . 28.65 Coal India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238.15. . . . . . . . . 2.25 Dr Reddys Lab . . . . . . . .. . . . 2002.05. . . . . . . . -9.10 Eicher Motors. . . . . . . . .. 30385.60. . . . . 758.25 GAIL (India). . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 372.50. . . . . . . . . 3.55 HCL Tech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 860.10. . . . . . -12.20 HDFC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1713.95. . . . . . . 18.60 HDFC Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1757.20. . . . . . . . . 8.15 Hero MotoCorp . . . . . .. . . . 3957.05. . . . . 116.15 Hindalco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229.15. . . . . . . . . 8.15 Hind Unilever . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1155.70. . . . . . . . . 2.90 Indiabulls HFL . . . . . . . .. . . . 1175.75. . . . . . . 25.85 ICICI Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291.80. . . . . . . . . 4.85 IndusInd Bank . . . . . . . .. . . . 1624.70. . . . . . . . -0.65 Bharti Infratel . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 379.85. . . . . . . . -2.45 Infosys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 981.45. . . . . . . . -6.25 Indian OilCorp . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 419.45. . . . . . . . . 7.65 ITC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271.25. . . . . . . . -0.25 Kotak Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 982.60. . . . . . . . -9.60 L&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1146.90. . . . . . . 14.95 Lupin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 966.85. . . . . . . 25.95 M&M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1355.75. . . . . . . . . 7.70 Maurti Suzuki . . . . . . . . .. . . . 7608.45. . . . . 151.05 NTPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171.75. . . . . . . . . 2.90 ONGC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161.70. . . . . . . . . 2.05 PowerGrid Corp . . . . .. . . . . . 222.75. . . . . . . . . 3.85 Reliance Ind . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1573.05. . . . . . . 26.80 State Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278.20. . . . . . . . -1.95 Sun Pharma . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 471.80. . . . . . . 21.80 Tata Motors . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 375.40. . . . . . . . . 0.90 Tata Motors DVR. . . .. . . . . . 226.45. . . . . . . . . 3.25 Tata Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79.55. . . . . . . . . 3.00 Tata Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623.75. . . . . . . 27.00 TCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2469.40. . . . . . -26.65 Tech Mahindra . . . . . . .. . . . . . 402.20. . . . . . . . -0.60 UltraTech Cement . .. . . . 3960.50. . . . . . . 37.95 Vedanta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289.15. . . . . . . 10.05 Wipro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288.50. . . . . . . . -1.20 YES Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1778.50. . . . . . . 39.10 Zee Entertainment . . . . . . 517.20. . . . . . . 12.30

Retail inflation as measured by the consumer price index (I) accelerated to 2.36% in July after easing for three straight months. The gains in retail prices were driven by a hardening of prices in sugar and confectionery items, pan, tobacco and intoxicants. However, there was disinflation in the food basket. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which factors in I for arriving at its monetary policy, had earlier this month slashed the key interest rate (repo rate) by 25 basis points to 6%. Separately, skyrocketing tomato prices propelled inflation at the wholesale level to 1.88% in July from 0.9% in June, with the food category overall contributing significantly to the uptick in WPI . Inflation in the food segment of the primary articles category in July came in at 2.15%, snapping a two-

Better price realisation adds to profit

Plans to add more than two dozen outlets in small towns

NEW DELHI

Indicative direct rates in rupees a unit except yen at 4 p.m. on August 14

State-run gas company GAIL ed 21% rise in profit after tax of ₹1,026 crore in the first quarter of this financial year, compared with the same period of the previous year. “GAIL (India) Limited ed 295% increase in profit after tax in the first quarter of financial year 2017-18 vis-à-vis previous quarter Q4 FY17,” the company said in a release. “GAIL’s profit before tax for the quarter increased by 81% to ₹1,569 crore vis-à-vis ₹866 crore in the previous

TT SELL

US Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 63.92. . . . . . . 64.24 Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 75.39. . . . . . . 75.77 British Pound . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 82.90. . . . . . . 83.32 Japanese Yen (100) . .. . 58.27. . . . . . . 58.57 Chinese Yuan . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 9.58. . . . . . . . . 9.63 Swiss Franc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 65.99. . . . . . . 66.32 Singapore Dollar . . . . . . .. . 46.92. . . . . . . 47.18 Canadian Dollar . . . . . . . . .. . 50.32. . . . . . . 50.57 Malaysian Ringitt . . . . . .. . 14.88. . . . . . . 14.98 Source:Indian Bank

BULLION RATES

CHENNAI

August 14 rates in rupees with previous rates in parentheses Retail Silver (1g) . . . . . . . . . . . 42.20. . . . . (42.40) 22 ct gold (1 g) . .. . . . . . . . . . . 2,769. . . . . (2,783)

CM YK

‘Seasonal, temporary’ Tomatoes witnessed blistering inflation of more than 209% in July, compared with a contraction of 29.4% in June, according to data with the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). Brinjal, too, witnessed a sharp acceleration in inflation to 21.1% in July, from the previ-

ous month’s contraction of 3.1%. Okra (Bhindi) saw inflation at 32.4%. “What we have to recognise is that these are seasonal influences and are therefore temporary in nature,” D.K. Srivastava, chief policy advisor at EY India, said. “We must look at core WPI inflation and see if there are any factors pushing it up. Otherwise, this increase will subside shortly. As far as fuel is concerned, there has not been any significant movement in crude oil

MUMBAI

Shares of Reliance Communications soared 16% to close at ₹24.10 on the BSE on Monday after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) itted the company’s petitions seeking approval for the merger of its mobile phone services with Aircel and the sale of a majority stake in its telecom towers unit to Brookfield. The tribunal posted both the petitions for final hearing on September 13. The Department of Telecom, represented by senior council Beni Chatterji, had earlier told the tribunal that it would be appropriate for Aircel and RCom to take permission from the Supreme Court since the issue of 2G spectrum of Aircel is pending there. The transactions are expected to help cut Rcom’s debt by ₹25,000 crore. (With inputs from Press Trust of India)

Titan sees up to 30% rise in sales with stores expansion

Special Correspondent

TT BUY

month contraction. Within this, the fruits and vegetables segment contributed the most, with inflation coming in at 29%.

Special Correspondent

GAIL net rises 21% on better LHC sales

EXCHANGE RATES

CURRENCY

Turning pricier: WPI inflation in the food segment came in at 2.15% in July, snapping a two-month contraction.

prices, so that wouldn’t put any pressure in either direction,” Mr. Srivastava said. “The index for ‘Food Articles’ group rose by 6.2%... due to higher price of fruits and vegetables (29%), peas/ chawali (6%), ragi (4%) and condiments & spices, barley, poultry chicken and paddy (1% each),” the government said in its release. Inflation in the minerals segment of the primary articles category accelerated to 24.8% in July from a contraction of 2.02% while manufactured products saw a marginally lower 2.18% compared with June’s 2.27%, marking the sixth month of slowing inflation in the segment. “Wholesale-based prices have edged up in the month of July on back of sharp increase noted in vegetable prices,” Pankaj Patel, president, FICCI, said in an email. “However, the broad conditions for agri prices remain conducive.” (With inputs from Sharad Raghavan in New Delhi)

RCom jumps 16% as NCLT its plea

quarter Q4 FY17.” The company said the year-on-year growth in net profit was led by a better performance of the gas transmission and the liquid hydrocarbon (LHC) segment, better price realisation in the LHC segment, and a decrease in the cost of production and finance costs. “... the company ed growth in physical performance in LHC sales, natural gas transmission & LPG transmission by 16%, 4% & 26% respectively as compared to corresponding period of the previous year.”

Reuters PANAJI

Titan expects its jewellery sales to rise by 20%-30% in 2017-18 fiscal year ending March, as it plans to add more than two dozen retail stores to boost its presence in small towns, a senior company official said. “We are planning to add 25 to 30 stores on franchise basis this year on top of the existing around 250 stores,” Sandeep Kulhalli, senior vice president, retail and marketing at Titan, told Reuters. Titan shares rose as much as 4.6% to a record high of ₹636.65 on Monday.

Customers see no benefit in buying from small jewellers, says Sandeep Kulhalli.

They have risen 86% this year up to Friday’s close. The company’s total income in the June quarter surged 43% to ₹4,050 crore

from a year earlier due to higher jewellery sales during the annual Hindu and Jain holy festival of Akshaya Tritiya. The government’s efforts to bring transparency in bullion trading by making large cash transactions illegal and mandating tax code for such deals is also helping the company, he said. “Earlier, people were buying from small jewellers as they were not asking for PAN card or accepting cash. With the government restrictions, they don’t see any benefit in buying from small jewellers,” Mr. Kulhalli said.

Rising colour: Cotton yarn, fabrics and handloom products were among commodity groups that saw export growth.

Export growth in July slows to 3.94% Slowest since Nov. ’16, in dollar Special Correspondent New Delhi

Goods exports rose for the twelfth consecutive month with shipments in July ing a 3.94% year-on-year growth to $22.5 billion. However, this was the slowest pace of growth since November 2016, when exports grew by 2.56%. Data released on Monday by the commerce ministry showed that major commodity groups of export showing positive growth in the month included engineering goods (15.16%), petroleum products (20.27%), organic and inorganic chemicals (20.67%), cotton yarn/fabrics and made-ups and handloom products (5.39%) and marine products (30.53%). Non-petroleum and non-gems and jewellery exports in July increased 6.93% to $22.5 billion. Meanwhile, goods imports in July recorded 15.42% to $33.99 billion — the slowest pace since 1.13% growth in January 2017. This led to trade deficit (goods) narrowing on a month-on-month basis to $11.45 billion, the lowest since $10.5 billion recorded in the month of March 2017. T.S. Bhasin, chairman of the country’s apex engineering exports body EEPC

India, said, “growth in exports has certainly slowed, with rising value of rupee (against the U.S. dollar) adversely impacting the bottom line of exporters.

‘Rising rupee hurts’ “This is quite evident from the trade data that shows that while exports for July grew by 3.94%, in rupee the growth has turned negative.” In rupee , exports shrunk 0.32% in July to ₹1.45 lakh crore. Mr. Bhasin added that, “while engineering exports have still been growing at a respectable pace, it is due to pick up in base metals. But, the rupee value is a cause of concern for exporters.” Major commodity group of imports showing high growth in July were petroleum products (15.02%), electronic goods (22.5%), machinery, electrical and non-electrical (7.34%), pearls, precious and semiprecious stones (6.86%) and gold (95.05%). Oil imports grew 15.02% in July to $7.84 billion, while non-oil imports rose 15.55% to $26.14 billion. The commerce ministry said global Brent prices rose 8.03% in July 2017 vis-à- vis July 2016 as per World Bank commodity price data.

M CH-CHE

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18 BUSINESS

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THE HINDU

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IN BRIEF

ITI disinvestment may face delay

Natco to unveil 8-10 branded formulations

Telecom equipment maker expects follow-on public offer to hit markets by December Pradeesh Chandran Jay Shankar Bengaluru

Apollo Hospitals Q1 net falls 51% on higher costs NEW DELHI

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise reported a 51.21% dip in its standalone net profit to ₹35.21 crore for the quarter ended June, mainly due to higher depreciation and interest costs on adding new beds. The company had reported a net profit of ₹72.17 crore in the yearearlier period, the firm said in a BSE filing. Total income from operations rose to ₹1,684.46 crore for the said quarter from ₹1,465.43 crore in April-June 2016. PTI

RBI rejects lenders’ plea on GMR plant stake sale HYDERABAD

GMR Infrastructure Limited said that the RBI had declined to extend the deadline to lenders of GMR Rajahmundry Energy Limited for the sale of their 55% stake in a gas-based power project in Andhra Pradesh. A consortium of lenders led by IDBI Bank had put on sale 55% of their stake in GMR Rajahmundry Energy, which they acquired last year as part of conversion of debt into equity. PTI

Granules India Q1 net profit declines 5.54% HYDERABAD

Pharma firm Granules India has posted a consolidated net profit of ₹36.80 crore for the quarter ended June, which is a decline of 5.54% compared with ₹38.96 crore in the year earlier period. Total income increased 9.49% to ₹386.33 crore (₹352.83 crore). Krishna Prasad Chigurupati, CMD, said the firm would continue to build on its strengths by commercialising additional API and PFI capacities during the year.

State-owned telecommunications services provider and equipment maker ITI Ltd.’s, plans of a follow-on public share offer to meet market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India’s minimum public shareholding requirement of 25% has been delayed, two people familiar with the development said. “We are awaiting the government’s order on divestment of its shares,” S. Gopu, chairman and managing director of the Bengaluru-based company, said in an interview on Monday. He did not elaborate further but two top officials confirmed that the firm would proceed with a follow-on offer. “The Department of Telecommunications has given its nod for the plan to go ahead this month,” said K. Alagesan, director, production. “In July, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Af-

Get, set, go: ITI is awaiting the government’s order on divestment of its shares, says CMD S. Gopu. SUDHAKARA JAIN *

fairs had extended all the divestment plans to August next year. Still, we are working on the offer to hit the market by December this year.” “Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) is yet to give its approval,” Mr. Alagesan said. The Department of Disinvestment was

renamed as DIPAM from April 14, 2016.

‘Revival plan’ The Centre and the Karnataka government together hold 94.86% of ITI and 5.14% is held by public. The Union government, in February 2014, had approved a revival plan for ITI with a funding of

Special Correspondent HYDERABAD

Drug maker Natco Pharma plans to introduce 8-10 products in the domestic branded formulations segment as well as target more than 20% year-on-year growth in the current fiscal. In an investor presentation it submitted to the bourses on Monday, the Hyderabad-based firm counted these among its near-term goals. Maintaining leadership position in the oncology and gastro-hepatology segments, building on the traction in the newly-unveiled Cardiology and Diabetology (CnD) division and extension of the Hep-C franchise through the introduction of Velpanat are the other components of its growth strategy. In the fourth quarter of 2016-17, consolidated net profit of Natco Pharma increased 181.4% to ₹176.7

Veteran spent 24 years with Unilever

Special Correspondent

Special Correspondent

Mars Food, a segment of Mars Inc., has signed an agreement to acquire majority stake in Preferred Brands International, a manufacturer and marketer of readyto-heat Indian and Asian food products sold primarily under the Tasty Bite brand, for an unspecified amount. While a majority of sales of Tasty Bite products occur in North America, Preferred Brands International also makes products that are sold through retailers in the U.K. and Australia and through food services in India. Tasty Bite branded products are manufactured at the company’s manufacturing facility in Pune and a

MUMBAI

Tata Motors has announced the appointment of P.B. Balaji as its new chief financial officer. Mr. Balaji has resigned as CFO of Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (HUL). He has worked for 24 years with the Unilever Group, including a stint as chief ant with the parent in London. He will Tata Motors Group from mid-November 2017. Mr. Balaji will replace Tata Motors group CFO C. Ramakrishnan, who is scheduled to retire by end of September, 2017, after 37 years of service in Tata Motors including an eight-year

P.B. Balaji stint at the group chairman’s office. “Mr. Balaji will drive financial performance and bring greater rigour to operations and investment decisions across the different entities,” Tata Motors said in a statement.

Majority share in owner of Tasty Bite brand to help expand vegetarian fare in U.S.

To help ensure quality in procurement

through the Google App. “Using voice to dictate a message is not just convenient, but it is also up to three times faster than typing,” the company said. Google said s could now use voice input in their local language to search for what they are looking for without the need to type on a tiny keyboard, making the experience that much faster and easier. To perform voice-based search, s will need to set their language in the Voice settings menu in the Google app.

Special Correspondent New Delhi

The special purpose vehicle, which operates the Government e-Marketplace (GeM), and industry body CII on Monday inked an MoU to ensure quality of products and services procured — especially from small firms — by the government, its agencies and PSUs. Similar MoUs shall be signed soon with other industry associations, according to a statement. The GeM is a one-stop portal facilitating online procurement of commonuse goods and services re-

₹5,933. This subsidiary will continue to be listed after the acquisition, Mars Food said in a statement.

MUMBAI

‘Facility is thrice as fast as text search’ Google has unveiled its voice search facility in eight additional Indian languages. In a statement, the technology major said that the latest move was part of its efforts to help solve the challenge for India’s next billion s. The new languages include Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu. Speakers of these languages will be able to use their voice to dictate queries — both in Gboard on Android as well as in Search

Eyes 20% annual revenue growth

Mars buys stake in Preferred Brands

Public marketplace signs pact with CII

BENGALURU

planning to enter markets in Africa and neighbouring Bhutan.” Under the revival plan, several projects have been planned for implementation at various manufacturing plants of ITI. In addition to telecom products such as GPON (Gigabit ive Optical Network), MLLN (Managed Leased Line Network) and broadband equipment, a major thrust has been given for the manufacture of encrypted telecommunication equipments required for the defence sector, Mr. Gopu said. ITI has six manufacturing plants located in Bengaluru; Rae Bareli, Mankapur and Naini in Uttar Pradesh; Palakkad in Kerala; and in Srinagar. For the year ended March 2017, ITI posted a revenue of ₹1,903 crore compared with ₹1,674 crore in the last fiscal year. Net profit before tax for the period rose 21% to ₹305 crore.

HUL’s Balaji to Tata Motors as CFO

Google voice search in eight more languages Special Correspondent

₹4,156.79 crore. It comprised ₹2,264 crore as equity for capital expenditure for upgradation of manufacturing infrastructure in all the six plants of ITI for implementation of new projects and ₹1,892.79 crore as grant-inaid to clear part of its liabilities. Out of ₹2,264 crore, government had already released ₹192 crore as firstphase disbursement to the company towards capital expenditure and has made an allocation of ₹80 crore for capital expenditure for the year 2016-17. The infrastructure upgradation for implementation of various projects was completed at different plants of ITI and some of the projects are under implementation. Government will help ITI enter into manufacturing of products in different market domains ‘in a big way’, Mr. Gopu said. “After necessary permissions from the government, we are

Tickling taste buds: Tasty Bite’s focus on Asian cuisines complements Mars’s portfolio, says Fiona Dawson. REUTERS *

majority of the products are exported to the U.S. Preferred Brands is also present in the food service business under which it supplies food products to other food manufacturers and quick-service restaurants in India.

Shares of the company’s subsidiary, Tasty Bite Eatables, rose 9.71% to close at ₹5,645.95 on Monday on the BSE, taking its market capitalisation to ₹1,449 crore. The price has seen a 52-week low of ₹2,800 and a high of

‘Natural complement’ “Tasty Bite’s broad range of dinner-time products, focused on Indian and Asian cuisines, makes it a natural complement to our existing portfolio,” said Fiona Dawson, global president, Mars Food. “Upon closing of the acquisition..., Mars Food will expand our all-natural vegetarian offerings in the U.S., and leverage Tasty Bite’s strong product development pipeline, flavour expertise, and strategic sourcing of quality ingredients throughout our portfolio,” she said.

crore, as compared with the ₹62.8 crore in the yearearlier period, on the back of launch of the generic version of Tamiflu (Oseltamivir) influenza drug in the US in December 2016. Separately, on Monday, Natco Pharma announced the receipt of final approval for an Abbreviated New Drug Application from the USFDA for Lanthanum Carbonate chewable tablets 500 mg, which are indicated to reduce serum phosphate in patients with EndStage Renal Disease.

IDBI Bank Q1 loss at ₹853 crore SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT Mumbai

IDBI Bank reported an ₹853-crore loss in the first quarter compared with a profit of ₹241 crore in the same period of the previous year. Almost a quarter of its loans have turned into non-performing assets. The bank had reported a loss of ₹3,200 crore in the Jan-March quarter. Its gross non-performing assets almost doubled to ₹50,173 crore in one year with gross NPA ratio rising from 11.92% to 24.11%. “Fresh slippages have reduced to ₹7,659 crore in Q1 FY 2018 compared to ₹11,531 crore in Q4 FY 2017,” said a statement.

quired by various government departments, organisations and PSUs. The government procurement market is estimated to be about $300 billion. The MoU aims to establish a GeM Samvaad — ‘a participative and collaborative approach with the industry to promote entrepreneurship’ the statement said. As part of this initiative, the GeM and India Inc. will work together to create awareness and seek inputs from the industry on technical specifications for procurement .

RERA rules CREDAI’s London meet Industry representatives voice concern over law’s impact on ongoing projects count, the Act prevails, so technically speaking you are in violation,” said Jaxay Shah, the national president of CREDAI, who has called for more clarity on the rules. “We welcome RERA and we are not shying away from laws but this is a serious and most fragile situation.”

Vidya Ram LONDON

A recent meeting of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) in London was dominated by discussions over the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act 2016, better known as RERA, with industry representatives voicing their concerns particularly over the legislation’s impact on ongoing projects. The CREDAI delegates attending the meeting debated the changing dynamics and opportunities in the Indian real estate market — as well as the opportunities in Britain, which is keen to lure investment from India into its real estate sector.

Definition of ‘ongoing’ RERA, brought in to protect the interests of home buyers, and codify the running of the sector (with the aim of boosting investment in real estate over the long term) came into force on May 1, with individual States required to declare the rules within a 90 day period. While CREDAI has welcomed the regulations, on grounds that it will help CM YK

Housing for all: CREDAI says some rules pose a risk to the long-term goal of increasing affordable housing. REUTERS *

weed out unscrupulous developers and set higher standards, its are concerned about the provisions regarding ongoing projects, warning that it could have long term, negative reverberations for the industry, ultimately hitting supply and pricing. Part of the problem lies around the lack of clarity on what constitutes an ongoing project said Prakash Challa, the Chairman of Chennaibased SSPDL Ltd.. He argued that the law, when it comes to ongoing projects, is actually unimplementable in several ways — ranging from the treatment of common areas in buildings to the defect li-

ability period, to the legislation’s requirement that 70% of proceeds from the project be placed in a separate . Under the law, developers have 90 days to ongoing projects, but with many States having pushed close to the deadline to declare the rules (Maharashtra was the only state to declare them from the outset), developers have been struggling to meet the 90-day registration process, leaving them potentially in breach of the legislation, and unable to market or sell their projects. “Irrespective of what reassurances the States are giving or not giving on this

Need ‘pragmatic’ fix “Short term there has to be a pragmatic solution for RERA on ongoing projects,” said CREDAI Chairman Getamber Anand. He argued that in its effort to protect customers, the legislation was in danger of going to the other extreme, potentially risking the long-term goal of increasing secure and affordable housing. “In the legislation there is no place where we can go as developers, if we don’t get a completion certification in time for a completed project, there is no provision if I don’t get the electricity connection, the water for my completed project…there is a documented shortage of housing which is why we have the ambition of housing for all by 2022, but why are we actually shooting ourselves in the foot?” M CH-CHE

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CHENNAI

TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2017

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No change in the script

Camaraderie secret of success: Kohli Special Correspondent

Sri Lanka bowled out for 181 in its second dig; India seals series 3-0 INDIA IN LANKA K.C. Vijaya Kumar Pallekele

Virat Kohli sat on the staircase, the India cap slung low over his head, his eyes focussed on his cellphone. The minutes ticked away and a Monday evening waned. Inside the press-conference hall within the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium premises, Dinesh Chandimal was holding court in Sinhala, speaking in a sing-song manner, pausing often. It was a picture of a distressed host captain trying to keep up his dignity. The seconds stretched and as Chandimal’s inquisition by the Sri Lankan scribes extended, Kohli walked in discreetly, leant on the corner wall, texted a bit, read some messages, smiled to himself and then gazed at the packed room. Yet, he had to wait his turn to address the media. It was the only time when he looked a wee-bit lost and had to bank on patience. But earlier on the field, the India skipper had no such hassles. A scheduled press conference could be delayed but not an emphatic triumph. Kohli’s men won the third and final Test by an innings and 171 runs to seal the series 3-0. Sri Lanka was bowled out for 181 in its second outing. The verdict was a reiteration of India’s overwhelming dominance. If the Tests at Galle and Colombo were each pocketed with a day to spare, the concluding contest was secured with two days remaining! It was a story of the number one team maximising its strengths against a wilting host. The third day dawned with Sri Lanka following-on and resuming at 19 for one and gaping at a 333-run deficit. Dimuth Karunaratne and night-watchman Malinda Pushpakumara had the onerous task of attempting to bat for long hours. But the soulstirring fight-back proved elusive. In the third over, Karunaratne, rooted to the crease and stunned by the extra bounce that R. Ashwin extracted, edged to slip. Mohammed Shami then flung a few knives, his line asking probing questions around off-stump and topped with a hint of swing, just enough to unsettle the

Pallekele

Consistent success emanating from team-strength and camaraderie within the ranks is a template that Virat Kohli swears by in most press conferences. After the dust settled at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium and the sprinklers came on, Kohli was at it again. A happy India skipper spoke to the media after winning the Test series here on Monday. Excerpts. Good cricket: We played good cricket. We won all three tosses and looking at the nature of the pitches that was a massive factor as well. We put constant pressure on the opposition to make sure we won more sessions and that has led us to win this

No excuses: Chandimal Special Correspondent

Delivering the goods: Mohammed Shami bowled a probing line around off-stump to come up with a match-haul of five for 49. AP *

willow wielders. Pushpakumara nibbled and perished, Kusal Mendis shuffled across and got his pad rapped. Sri Lanka tottered at 39 for four and a question arose — will the side be bowled out before lunch.

Elegant drives That ignominy was avoided as Chandimal and Angelo Mathews commenced their 65-run fifth-wicket partnership spread over 166 deliveries on either side of the

break. The Sri Lankan skipper threaded fours with elegant drives, Mathews, as usual, was about the muscular hoick but at least there was a semblance of a resistance. Ashwin was forced off the back-foot, Kuldeep Yadav was lofted and for the few fans, those were the only moments of cheer. Chandimal, though, succumbed to Kuldeep, tapping straight to Cheteshwar Pujara at short-leg.

Niroshan Dickwella walked in and knelt low and slog-swept the chinaman, one of those embers from a dying flame. The sweep-bug bit Mathews and when he tried to replicate that stroke, he missed and Ashwin’s appeal for lbw was approved. The distraught batsman sought a review, failed to reverse the verdict and retreated. Dickwella clattered a few fours and watched Dilruwan Perera and Lakshan Sandakan depart, with Ashwin and Shami ing for them. Sri Lanka’s wicketkeeper-batsman eventually fell to Umesh Yadav. Trying to guide one past slip, Dickwella found the safe hands of Ajinkya Rahane. And when Lahiru Kumara defended without a clue and found Ashwin disturbing his timber, it marked the finishline for another one-sided clash. It was time for the Indian camp to do the high-fives and the hugs while Kohli sought his stump-souvenir. The Indian first innings prospered for 122 overs while Sri Lanka, with both its digs combined, lasted just 112.1. It summed up a script that was devoid of any surprises and highlighted one certainty — the mind-boggling superiority of Kohli’s men.

Pallekele

Dinesh Chandimal said that he and his men have no excuses to offer following their Test series loss to India here on Monday. “Credit goes to India for playing outstanding cricket in the series. If we could have dragged the game to the fifth day, we could have learned something, but (after) losing within two and half days, you cannot give any excuses,” the Sri Lanka captain told reporters. Batting failures and the absence of key players due to injuries were the twin factors that Chandimal identified as the causes behind Sri Lanka’s debilitating loss. “When you go to the middle, you have to put your plans into practice. “In this series, there were so many injuries starting from Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal, Rangana Herath and Asela Gunaratne. We have to perform better than this,” the home team skipper said.

Hardik Pandya .

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AFP

series 3-0. The mindset: We want to consolidate every situation, we want to make sure that we are correcting things along the journey and that’s the mindset we want to take forward. You can’t raise or lower your intensity according to your opposition be-

cause that I feel is disrespecting the sport. Pace duo: (Mohammed) Shami and Umesh (Yadav) have done well in the last home season as well, with the new and old ball. That’s the reason why we backed them in this series. It’s great to see them still bowling with a lot of heart and putting in that effort. I certainly rate Shami among the top-three (fast bowlers in the world) for sure. Pandya and the chinaman: A guy (Hardik Pandya) who can get a fifty and a hundred in his first three games batting at number eight has to have something special in him. The innings he played here, after being 320 for six, wasn’t just mad slogging. He used his brain and batted

with the tail which is a great sign. He brings in great balance, is a gun fielder and gives you break-throughs. Inside the team we have 120% faith in him. Kuldeep is a great talent. We believe in him and he has delivered both times he played. Friends succeed together: We are more like a bunch of friends playing together rather than being senior or junior. We don’t even think of the number of games an X has played or a Y has played within the change-room. We have embraced each other and accepted each other with our different personalities and that is the reason why people coming in feel like they don’t have to do anything different from what they know already.

‘We try to pick best possible team’ years. He played till 36 and won so many Grand Slams. So you never know. We don’t say it (Dhoni’s selection) is automatic but we will see. If he is delivering, why not? If he is not, then we will have to look at alternatives.

K.C. Vijaya Kumar PALLEKELE

The accent is on a fitter, stronger Indian team with the lodestone being the 2019 World Cup in England. Selection committee chairman M.S.K. Prasad spelt out this specific goal in his media-interaction here on Monday afternoon. Excerpts Fitness the ultimate yardstick: If I put my hand on my heart and say, after the Champions Trophy we felt that we need to be a fitter, stronger side. We need to raise our fielding standards. There will be an official note from the BCCI. We are fixing fitness parameters. We have two to three phases in those parameters leading up to the 2019 World Cup and if someone fails to match those parameters, he will not be considered irrespective of whoever it is. Skill-level, we are number one but when it comes to fitness, we need to raise our standards. Selecting Manish Pandey and Shardul Thakur in the ODI squad: We need to give due recognition to performances at the domestic level and also on ‘A’ tours. We

M.S.K. Prasad.

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FILE PHOTO: PTI

have around 25 players and we will rotate them and see how they progress. After a certain period, we will (draw a) short-list and focus on those players leading into the World Cup. The Yuvraj question: We initiated the process of rotating and resting some of the players so that we can see how the youngsters do. We will take a final call by the end of the year. You can say that Yuvraj is rested. Doors are never closed. In of selection, we try to pick the best possible team. Dhoni and the World Cup: He is a legend and yes we have a plan. Discussions happen about everybody, it is not just about MS. I was reading (Andre) Agassi’s book Open, and for him life actually started after 30

K.L. Rahul at No. 4: We will try K.L. Rahul at No. 4 in this (ODI) series. He is too good a player to sit out. Rishabh Pant and the road ahead: Rishabh is one to watch out for in the future. We have been grooming him for ‘A’ tours. He went to South Africa but had an ordinary tour but that doesn’t mean he is not in our radar. There is one more ‘A’ tour coming up. We all know Rishabh more as a Twenty20 player, so we will look at him in that format too. Rahul Dravid as India-A coach: We are blessed to have Rahul at the ‘A’ level as he is giving finished products to the senior team. It is lucrative and glamorous to be a senior India coach, but for accepting the ‘A’ team (coaching role) we have to give credit to Rahul.

Ashwin for Worcs Special Correspondent Pallekele

R. Ashwin will play for Worcestershire this season. The India off-spinner, who was rested for the ODI series against Sri Lanka, could play a few matches in his maiden county stint. India is scheduled to tour England next year and the experience that Ashwin gains, even if it is limited to some games, could come in handy. Besides Ashwin and Cheteshwar Pujara, who is already contracted with Nottinghamshire, Ishant Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja are also in the reckoning for county spots. It is a development that selection committee chairman M.S.K. Prasad welcomed: “It is a blessing in disguise for both of them (Ashwin and Pujara) because we will have a fullfledged tour of England in June, when we will play five Tests. It is good to play and get a first hand feel of the conditions.”

Sri Lanka likely to play in Lahore Special Correspondent Pallekele

Sri Lanka may well play a Twenty20 match against Pakistan at Lahore in September, if security and logistical concerns are addressed. “We had our security experts visit and make an assessment and things look positive,” said SLC president Thilanga Sumathipala. CM YK

M CH-CHE

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CHENNAI

THE HINDU

TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2017

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IN BRIEF

Kings book playoff berth

Exciting match-up Abhinav could turn out for Patriots

To meet Karaikudi Kaalai in the Eliminator at Natham

TNPL

S. Dipak Ragav

S. Dinakar

Chennai

Barcelona signs Paulinho for €40 million BARCELONA

Barcelona has signed Brazilian Paulinho from Guangzhou Evergrande for €40 million. He is Barca’s first g since Neymar’s move to PSG. AFP

India shocks the Netherlands WAALWIJK (THE NETHERLANDS)

Manpreet Singh scored twice as the Indian men’s hockey team stunned the Netherlands 4-3 in the Robo Super Series on Sunday. Manpreet (30, 44), Varun Kumar (17) and Harjeet Singh (49) scored for India while Bob de Voogd reduced the margin with two goals. Mink van der Weerden scored the other. PTI

Bhargav advances Megh Bhargav Kuma Patel rallied from a set down to beat Krishna Teja Raja 2-6, 6-0, 6-2 in the first round of the adidasMCC National junior under-18 tennis tournament at the MCC here.

CHENNAI:

The results (first round): Boys: Parikshit Somani (WB) bt Tarun Karra (TS) 6-2, 6-3; Amit Beniwal (Del) bt Akshat Agarwal (WB) 6-1, 6-2; Dipin Wadhwa (Del) bt Sarthak Suden (Del) 6-4, 6-2; Arjun Channathimmiah Honnappa (Kar) bt M. Nidhish (TN) 6-1, 6-1; Megh Bhargav Kuma Patel (Guj) bt Krishna Teja Raja (TN) 2-6, 6-0, 6-2. Dev V. Javia (Guj) bt Dharmil Shah (Guj) 6-2, 6-1; Dhakshineswar Suresh (TN) bt Dhruv Tangri (Pun) 6-1, 6-0; J. Oges Theyjo (TN) bt K.S. Dheeraj (TN) 7-6(6), 6-0. Girls: Bhakti Shah (TS) bt Smriti Singh (Har) 6-3, 6-2; Mubashira Anjum Shaik (TS) bt Ashraya Maheshwar (TN) 6-1, 6-1; Bela S. Tamhankar (Mah) bt Srujana Rayarala (TS) 6-2, 6-3; Vineetha Mummadi (TS) bt Devaki Sai (TN) 6-1, 6-0; Chandrika Joshi (Kar) bt G. Kiran Rani (TN) 6-0, 6-2; Smriti Bhasin (TS) bt Shefali Arora (Del) 6-3, 7-5; Shreya Tatavarthy (TS) bt Kashish Bhatia (Del) 6-3, 6-2; Adrija Biswas (WB) bt Srishti U. Ray (Mah) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

ENGAGEMENTS Cricket: TNCA league, IV-C,

Purasawalkam vs. Fox Trotters (MIT); Netaji vs. Port Trust (Gandhi Nagar); Garnet vs. Minerva (Union); Bharathi vs. Ranji (Marina); V-A, Kamyuth vs. St. Mary’s (St. Bede’s ‘A’); UFCC (Cgl) vs. Youth Centre (St. Bede’s ‘B’); E, National vs. Eccentrics (Engg.); Comrades vs. TVS MSC (St. Patrick’s), 9.30 a.m.; VI-B, HSBC vs. Chennai Corporation Officials (GE ‘A’); Free Lancers vs. Saidapet Gymkhana (GE ‘B’), 8 a.m.; VI-A, Presidency College vs. Komaleeswarar (GE ‘A’); Varsity Occasionals vs. Bank of India (GE ‘B’), 1 p.m. General: Bertram Memorial tournaments, Loyola College, 1 p.m.

Lyca Kovai Kings coasted to a seven-wicket victory over Ruby Trichy Warriors in its must-win game to book the final playoff berth in the Tamil Nadu Premier League. Chasing a modest total of 135, Kings lost its skipper M. Vijay for a duck. The India opener attempted to play on the on-side, but ended up edging to the cover fielder. However, opener L. Suryapprakash and B. Anirudh stitched together a 71-run partnership for the second wicket. The right-left duo went about the chase methodically, rotating the strike and picking boundaries at will. Warriors should have done better after both batsmen perished in quick succession. However, R. Rohith and V. Akshay were up to the task and saw the team home with an unbeaten 55-run stand for the fourth wicket. Kings will now meet Karaikudi Kaalai on Wednesday in the Eliminator at Natham. Earlier Warriors, after electing to bat, started badly losing K. Bharat Shankar for

CHENNAI

Final charge: V. Akshay guided Kovai Kings home with an unbeaten 34. a duck in the first over, and skipper B. Indrajith in the third over with the score reading nine. R. Nilesh Subramanian and J. Kousik resurrected the innings with some sensible play. The duo collected a boundary each in the fourth over off Thamarai Kannan to kick-start the chase. The duo added 78 off just 62 balls for the third wicket. In the 13th over, Kousik struck a boundary, punching through the covers off pacer

Harish Kumar and tired to go over long on the very next ball but could only find a fielder. From there on, Warriors’ innings lost momentum as the team struggled to find a boundary till the 18th over. In the final over, Harish Kumar scalped three to restrict Warriors to 134. The scores: Ruby Trichy Warriors 134 for seven in 20 overs (R. Nilesh Subramanian 57, J. Kousik 43, K. Vignesh two for 18, S. Harish

RACING

That’s My Class has an edge in feature event HYDERABAD: That’s My Class has an edge over his rivals in the K. Mahipathi Rao Memorial Million (1,400m), the chief event of the races to be held here on Tuesday (Aug. 15). TREASURE WIND PLATE (Div. I), (1,100m), 5-y-o & over, rated 26 to 46, (Cat. III), 1-15 p.m.: 1. Apache Gal (5) Gopal Singh 60, 2. Dolce (11) B.R. Kumar 58.5, 3. Ice Cave (8) Akshay Kumar 58.5, 4. True Pearl (3) Khurshad Alam 58.5, 5. Princess Ballerina (ex: Matica) (4) Md. Ismail 57.5, 6. Golden Angel (6) Rafique Sk. 57, 7. Cash For Rank (2) Hannam 54.5, 8. In Command (10) S. Sreekant 53, 9. Sefarina (7) G. Naresh 52.5, 10. Wonder Star (1) Sai Kumar 52.5 and 11. Nelly (9) Ajit Singh 51.5. 1. ICE CAVE, 2. PRINCESS BALLERINA, 3. CASH FOR RANK K. MAHIPATHI RAO MEMORIAL MILLION (1,400m), 3y-o only (), 1-45: 1. Prince Caspian (3) Nakhat Singh 58.5, 2. That’s My Class (2) Akshay Kumar 58.5, 3. Prevalent Force (1) Srinath 55.5 and 4. Sam The Brave (4) C. Umesh 55.5. 1. THAT’S MY CLASS, 2. PREVALENT FORCE TREASURE WIND PLATE (Div. II), (1,100m), 5-y-o & over, rated 26 to 46 (Cat. III), 2-15: 1. Royal Rajkumari (5) Ajit Singh 60, 2. Egyptian Wind (9) Md. Sameeruddin 59.5, 3. Perfection (10) Hannam 59.5, 4. Western Express (7) Aneel 59, 5. Naamdhari (3) Koushik 58.5, 6. Romantic Fire (2) G. Naresh 57, 7. Abracos (8) Akshay Kumar 55, 8. Pegasus (4) A.A. Vikrant 54.5, 8. Blaze Of Glory (1) Ajeeth Kumar 53.5 and 10. Racing Ikon (6) Nakhat Singh 52.5. 1. PERFECTION, 2. ROYAL RAJKUMARI, 3. ROMANTIC FIRE MACHIAVELLIANISM PLATE (Div. II), (1,000m), 3-y-o & over, placed 2nd or 3rd not eligible, rated upto 30 (Cat. III), 245: 1. Gaandeevan (9) Koushik 60, 2. Kohinoor Legend (5) Rafique

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Sk. 59.5, 3. San Vinto (6) Md. Ismail 59.5, 4. Arrow Arrow Arrow (2) Aneel 59, 5. Glorious Grey (3) Deepak Singh 58, 6. Little Royal (1) C. Umesh 58, 7. Sisco (4) Ajeeth Kumar 58, 8. Cannon Grey (10) Kunal Bunde 56.5, 9. Molon Labe (8) Ajit Singh 55 and 10. Top Sprint (7) G. Naresh 52. 1. SAN VINTO, 2. GLORIOUS GREY, 3. GAANDEEVAN B. MARIDESWARA RAO MEMORIAL CUP (1,200m), 3-y-o & over, rated 42 to 62 (Cat. II), 3-15: 1. Always Together (11) C.P. Bopanna 60, 2. Amorous White (12) Hannam 59.5, 3. Dancing Leaf (4) A.A. Vikrant 59.5, 4. Dream Girl (13) Rafique Sk. 59.5, 5. Princess Hina (1) B. R. Kumar 59, 6. Big Flash (9) Deep Shanker 57, 7. Vallee Sceptre (2) Akshay Kumar 56.5, 8. Ambitious Approach (14) Aneel 56, 9. City Of Pearls (3) K. Sai Kiran 55.5, 10. Rebellion (6) Sai Kumar 55.5, 11. Royal Dynamite (7) Md. Ismail 53.5, 12. Strengthandbeauty (8) Nawal 53, 13. Sprint Legend (5) Kunal Bunde 52.5 and 14. Roi’s Cruise (10) Khurshad Alam 52. 1. AMOROUS WHITE, 2. DANCING LEAF, 3. AMBITIOUS APPROACH INDEPENDENCE CUP (Div. I), (1,400m), 3-y-o & over, rated 58 to 78 (Cat. II), 3-45: 1. City Of Wonders (7) K. Sai Kiran 60, 2. O Ms Akilah (2) Srinath 59.5, 3. Limitation (9) Nakhat Singh 57.5, 4. Crown Royal (3) Kuldeep Singh 56.5, 5. Italian Cypress (8) Khurshad Alam 56, 6. Top Contender (1) Deep Shanker 55.5, 7. Prospero (11) C. Umesh 55, 8. Batur (5) Rohit Kumar 54.5, 9. Without Makeup (10) Rafique Sk. 54.5, 10. Magna Carta (4) G. Naresh 54 and 11. Awesome Approach (6) Akshay Kumar 52.5. 1. O MS AKILAH, 2. PROSPERO, 3. TOP CONTENDER PEDDAPALLI PLATE (1,400m), 4-y-o only, rated 26 to 46 (Cat. III), 4-15: 1. Ruby’s Gift (14) N. Rawal 60, 2. Citi Colors (10) Kunal Bunde 58, 3. Avantika (13) Deepak

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Singh 57, 4. Queen To Rule (2) Ajeeth Kumar 57, 5. Mountain Of Light (9) C. Umesh 55, 6. Raja Hindustani (12) Ajit Singh 55, 7. Magical Skill (6) C.P. Bopanna 54.5, 8. Samba (8) Hannam 54.5, 9. Golden Image (11) G. Naresh 53.5, 10. Vijay’s Empire (5) S.S. Tanwar 53.5, 11. Chinese Thought (7) Md. Ismail 53, 12. Darakhshan Setarah (4) Akshay Kumar 53, 13. Ikigai (3) Rafique Sk. 52.5 and 14. Golden Adara (1) Md. Sameeruddin 51. 1. MOUNTAIN OF LIGHT, 2. DARAKHSHAN SETARAH, 3. AVANTIKA INDEPENDENCE CUP (Div. II), (1,400m), 3-y-o & over, rated 58 to 78 (Cat. II), 4-45: 1. That’s My Darling (2) Akshay Kumar 60, 2. Green Image (4) P. Gaddam 59.5, 3. Naazaan (6) Kuldeep Singh 56, 4. Masti (7) Hannam 54.5, 5. Sea Castle (8) Deepak Singh 54, 6. Carolina Moon (5) A.A. Vikrant 53.5, 7. Aakash Vani (9) B.R. Kumar 53, 8. Atlas Star (3) K. Mukesh Kumar 53, 9. Miracle King (1) A.S. Pawar 51.5 and 10. Like Wise (10) Nakhat Singh 51. 1. SEA CASTLE, 2. CAROLINA MOON, 3. THAT’S MY DARLING MACHIAVELLIANISM PLATE (Div. I), (1,000m), 3-y-o & over, placed 2nd or 3rd not eligible, rated upto 30 (Cat. III), 5-15: 1. Novitious (3) Ajit Singh 60, 2. Sugar Land (2) Kunal Bunde 59.5, 3. Proud N Arrogant (5) Aneel 59, 4. Divine Silver (7) Akshay Kumar 58.5, 5. Dare To Love (10) Rohit Kumar 58, 6. Jasmine Garden (8) Nakhat Singh 58, 7. Royal Victory (6) Khurshad Alam 57.5, 8. Rustom (9) G. Naresh 57.5, 9. Cannon Dear (4) N. Rawal 55.5 and 10. Negress Princess (1) Ajeeth Kumar 55.5. 1. NOVITIOUS, 2. PROUD N ARROGANT, 3. JASMINE GARDEN Day’s best: AMOROUS WHITE Double: THAT’S MY CLASS — SEA CASTLE Jkt (i): 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 (ii): 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9; Tr (i): 1, 2 & 3; (ii): 4, 5 & 6; (iii): 7, 8 & 9; Tla: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9.

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Kumar four for 23) lost to Lyca Kovai Kings 135 for three in 18.4 overs (L. Suryapprakash 30, B. Anirudh 44, V. Akshay 34 n.o., Vignesh Kannan two for 28). Final points table: Tuti Patriots 7, 7, 0, 0, 14, +1.845; Super Gillies 7, 6, 1, 0, 12, +0.501; Kaalai 7, 4, 3, 0, 8, +.033; Kings 7, 3, 2, 2, 8, -0.086. Veerans 7, 3, 4, 0, 6, +0.553; Dragons 7, 2, 4, 1, 5, +0.347; Warriors 7, 1, 6, 0, 2, -1.181; Super Giant 7, 0, 6, 1, 1, -2.585. (Read as played, won, lost, no result, points, net run rate).

Twenty20 cricket is a hectic brand of the game but the format, on occasions, can also be tactically stimulating. For instance, what would be Chepauk Super Gillies’ strategy to neutralise the threat from Albert Tuti Patriots’ rampaging left-right opening combination of Washington Sundar and Kaushik Gandhi? Despite the prospect of India opener Abhinav Mukund returning for Qualifier-1, Patriots is likely to stick with its in-form opening combination for the marquee clash on Independence Day. Abhinav, if he arrives from Sri Lanka on time, could bat at No. 3 in a strong Patriots line-up that also includes the marauding Dinesh Karthik, who must be smarting after his surprising omission from the India ODI squad. The loser in this potentially high-octane clash will get a second chance but both teams would be keen to book their place in the final. Patriots has rolled over the opposition, won all its

seven matches in the league, but coach J.R. Madanagopal said, “The real tournament for us begins only now.” Super Gillies, which has lost just one match in the league, can pack a weighty punch on its day. Strokeful opener K.H. Gopinath has been in rousing form and the experienced Thalaivan Sargunam has batted with maturity and enterprise at the top of the order. The left-handed U. Sasidev has sparkled in the middle-order while Antony Dhas, better known for his seam bowling, has been delivering the big blows with the bat. The key man in the Super Gillies attack is the tall leftarm spinner R. Sai Kishore who can both contain and strike with his turn and bounce. Skipper R. Sathish, grappling with a strained groin, should be fit for the game. The action should be engaging under the lights.

PLAYING TODAY DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Qualifier 1: Tuti Patriots vs Chepauk Super Gillies, MAC, 7.15 p.m., Live on STAR Sports 1, 1 HD, Vijay Super.

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Queen Credible wins main event BENGALURU: Queen Credible (P. Trevor up) won the Dharmaprakasha L.S. Venkaji Rao Memorial Trophy, the main event of the races held here on Monday. The winner is owned by Miss. Anita A Khalakdina, Mr. Rehanulla Khan, Dr. Phiroz T Khambatta & Mr. Shantanu Sharma & Mr. H.M. Sampath & Mr. M.K. Mohan & Satish G Kundapur & Mr. Aziz A. Jaffer & Mrs. Poonam A. Rupali & Mr. Rajiv S. Ghule and trained by Rehanulla Khan.

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CONFUCIOUS STAKES (1,100m), rated 00 to 20: ANMOL HIRA (Syed Imran) 1, Tic Tac Toe (Rayan Ahmed) 2, Kanthaka (Nazerul Alam) 3 and High Voltage (Darshan) 4. 1, 2 and Nk. 1m, 09.45s. ₹61 (w), 17, 11 and 13 (p), SHP: 31, THP: 49, FP: 250, Q: 134, Trinella: 416 and 151, Exacta: Rs. 4,019 and Rs. 2,368. Favourite: Tic Tac Toe. Owner: Mr. Chandrakant Narshi Dedhia. Trainer: Rajendra Singh.

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MINISTERIAL CUP (1,400m), maiden 3-y-o only, (): AS TIME GOES BY (A. Sandesh) 1, Concept Win (S. John) 2, Habanero (P. Trevor) 3 and Alberetta (Irvan Singh) 4. Not run: Wonderlust. 2-1/4, 3-3/4 and 3/4. 1m, 26.88s. ₹36 (w), 12, 18 and 11

(p), SHP: 55, THP: 33, FP: 391, Q: 149, Trinella: 797 and 220, Exacta: 1,008 and 389. Favourite: Alberetta. Owner: Mr. Haik H. Sookias. Trainer: Neil Darashah.

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SMART CHIEFTAN CUP (1,200m), rated 30 to 50: BLACK SWAN (Dhanu Singh) 1, Interesting (Srinath) 2, Mint (Irvan Singh) 3 and Carolina (S. Shiva Kumar) 4. 1/2, 1-1/2 and Lnk. 1m, 13.69s. ₹160 (w), 25, 14 and 37 (p), SHP: 34, THP: 79, FP: 635, Q: 203, Trinella: 7,902 and 3,951, Exacta: 1,11,058 and Rs. 23,798. Favourite: Streak Ahead. Owner: Mrs. Kumud Sharma. Trainer: Magan Singh.

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DHARMAPRAKASHA L.S. VENKAJI RAO MEMORIAL TROPHY (1,200m), rated 45 to 65: QUEEN CREDIBLE (P. Trevor) 1, Fair Game ( Jagadeesh) 2, Silver Ikon (Dhanu Singh) 3 and Attorney General (A. Sandesh) 4. Lnk, 3/4 and 2-3/4. 1m, 12.89s. ₹30 (w), 14, 22 and 16 (p), SHP: 60, THP: 52, FP: 207, Q: 134, Trinella: 650 and 200, Exacta: 1,159 and 458. Favourite: Attorney General. Owners: Miss. Anita A Khalakdina, Mr. Rehanulla Khan, Dr. Phiroz T Khambatta & Mr. Shantanu Sharma & Mr. H.M. Sampath & Mr. M.K. Mohan & Satish G Kundapur & Mr.

Aziz A. Jaffer & Mrs. Poonam A. Rupali & Mr. Rajiv S. Ghule. Trainer: Rehanulla Khan. JAYANT SHAH MEMORIAL TROPHY (1,600), rated 30 to 50, 4-y-o & over: SAPTAJIT (Syed Imran) 1, Super Smart (P. Trevor) 2, Courtship (Dhanu Singh) 3 and Raw Gold (Srinath) 4. Not run: Rising Brave. 1-1/4, 1-1/4 and 1-1/4. 1m, 39.61s. ₹76 (w), 20, 12 and 25 (p), SHP: 35, THP: 64, FP: 435, Q: 139, Trinella: 1,834 and 1,641, Exacta: 6,872 and 2,945. Favourite: Super Smart. Owners: Mr. Laksh Bhatia & Mr. Bhoomi Reddy Raghunath Reddy. Trainer: Azhar Ali. SANS CRAINTES STUD STAKES (1,200m), rated 15 to 35, 5-y-o & over: PRINCEAZEEM (Dhanu Singh) 1, Irish Prince ( Janardhan P) 2, Game Guy (Nazerul Alam) 3 and Cool Springs (Shobhan) 4. Not run: Cullinan. 2-1/2, 1/2 and 31/2. 1m, 14.73s. ₹42 (w), 15, 23 and 17 (p), SHP: 68, THP: 56, FP: 479, Q: 181, Trinella: 1,562 and 735, Exacta: 6,462 and 4,431. Favourite: Amalfi Coast. Owner: Mr. Syed Muheeb. Trainer: Rajendra Singh. Jackpot: ₹94,970 (five tkts); Runner-up: ₹11,306 (18 tkts); Treble (i): ₹2,879 (four tkts); (ii): ₹1,613 (25 tkts).

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5-match ban for Ronaldo AFP Madrid

Cristiano Ronaldo was hit with a five-match ban by the Spanish football federation on Monday for pushing the referee after being sent-off in Real Madrid’s 3-1 Super Cup first-leg away win over Barcelona. He was also fined €3,805, and has 10 days to appeal the ban. The result: Barcelona 1 (Messi 77-pen) lost to Real Madrid 3 (Pique 50-og, Ronaldo 80, Asensio 90).

Ramkumar gets in as ‘lucky loser’ SPorts Bureau Cincinnati

Ramkumar Ramanathan lost 7-6(6), 7-6(2) to Maximilian Marterer in the second and final qualifying round of the Cincinnati Masters on Sunday, but made the main draw as a ‘lucky loser’ thanks to Gael Monfils’ withdrawal. Other results: $15,000 Futures, Nonthaburi: First round: Kaza Vinayak Sharma & Vijay Sundar Prashanth bt Pattanapong Borisutpong & Vorachon Rakpuangchon (Tha) 6-4, 6-3. $25,000 ITF women’s: First round: Karman Kaur Thandi bt Kamila Kerimbayeva (Kaz) 6-3, 6-2.

Kushagra stuns Laxman Kushagra Mohan, a 13-year-old from Hyderabad,upstaged GM R.R. Laxman on a day when the top four seeds, led by Aravindh Chithambaram, conceded a draw each and dropped out of the leaders’ pack in the National Challengers chess championship on Monday. GMs like second seed S.L. Narayanan, fourth seed N. Srinath, eighth seed Debashis Das and 11th seed Tejas Bakre were among those held. AHMEDABAD:

TENNIS

Zverev masters Federer in Montreal Agence -Presse Montreal

Alexander Zverev shocked second seed Roger Federer 6-3, 6-4 in the Montreal Masters final on Sunday to win his fifth title of the season. In the doubles final, Rohan Bopanna and Ivan Dodig, seeded seventh, lost 4-6, 6-3, [10-6] to fifth seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut. Zverev, who had lost 6-1, 6-3 to Federer in the Halle final in June, is now tied with Federer for the most titles this season at five.

Federer later announced that he will give this week’s Cincinnati Masters a miss. Zverev, meanwhile, will play doubles at Cincinnati partnering Leander Paes. In Toronto, Elina Svitolina crushed Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-0 to win the women’s title on Sunday. The results (finals): At Montreal: Alexander Zverev bt Roger Federer 6-3, 6-4; Doubles: Pierre-Hugues Herbert & Nicolas Mahut bt Rohan Bopanna & Ivan Dodig 4-6, 6-3, [10-6]. At Toronto: Elina Svitolina bt Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-0.

Rising star: Alexander Zverev used his booming serves to blow away Roger Federer in straight sets. AP *

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THE HINDU CROSSWORD 12086

■ ACROSS 1 Replacement's a joke, internally team leader's against, to a large extent (13) 10 Harry s bid to trap middlemen for a crime (6,3) 11 Review, perhaps Dennis Lillee brought about (5) 12 Cool but reserved restraining one's delight primarily (5)

CM YK

(set by Afterdark)

13 Acquired through unfair means? Somehow let it go, earn love, get a new start (3-6) 14 Wife's right; stranger's child is a devil (6) 16 Some beta-keratin found in stomach... (4) 19 ... a bit found in fat, oil on review (4) 20 Course's revised to it adult (6) 25 In India, road and road across a river has a gate that permits one at a time (9) 26 Dark horse after initially faltering, gets organized basically by end of day (5) 27 Electronic news' interface leads to dissatisfaction (5) 28 Fruit used to make certain concoction is imported from Northeast (9) 29 Garment made with calico distributed around Kent ripped out India essentially, leading to stress and stonethrowing (8,5) ■ DOWN 2 Lacking form, Usha received direction to exercise at the start of day (8) 3 Characters in Mossad lynch unfortunately (5) 4 A performer in club keeps

FAITH

SUDOKU

Vishnu addresses Prthu

orchestra leader in touch (6) 5 Order to appear in Mount Abu later (8) 6 Excellent rocket absorbs pressure in such atmospheric condition (3,6) 7 Found firm's turnover is behind outlook essentially at some point (6) 8 Saying used often in epitaphs earlier is also used by fellers (6) 9 Say, one kidnapping an investigator... (5) 15 ... is a dangerous sick loner, lacking energy, taking first step to form a bond (5-4) 17 Cut short, that's ruling group's castle (8) 18 Birds in cage, one in crosshairs of guns (8) 21 Mess returns vegetable to gain margin (6) 22 Tell channel head to quit (5) 23 Second class corn mixture and egg given to untrained horse (6) 24 Writing implement and repaired appliances shipped out ASAP (6) 26 Lady in show has talent (5)

Solution to puzzle 12085

Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku

King Prthu wanted to do asvamedha yagas and successfully completed 99 such yagas. But Indra stole the horse just before the hundredth yaga, since a person who completes 100 asvamedha yagas can ascend to Indra’s throne. Prthu’s son tracked down the horse and brought it back, but again Indra stole it. The purohits conducting the yaga told Prthu that they could make Indra lose his power. But Brahma arrived and advised the purohits and Prthu to leave Indra alone and Prthu did not hurt Indra. Lord Mahavishnu then appeared before Prthu and lauded his decision to forgive Indra and not harm him, said P.T. Seshadri in a discourse. “Sadhus will never treat anyone as an enemy,” said the Lord to Prthu. “They know that the body and the atma are different. So you must always control your senses and do your dharma. “A king’s duty is to protect his subjects and if he fails in this duty, then he will be sinning gravely. Such a sin can never be got rid of.” The Lord then spoke about jnanis. “A jnani does his duties, but remains unattached to the results. My love for such jnanis is indescribable. Such jnanis are unaffected by joy or sorrow. They are in control of the mind and the senses. As for a king, he should protect his kingdom.” The Lord then elaborated on the duties of a ruler. “If a king does not protect his subjects, but collects unfair taxes and is indifferent to their welfare, then one sixth of the sins of the subjects will go to his . His punyas will go to the of the people, and the ruler will be left with nothing good to his credit. A man does not reach Me through yagas. He must have good thoughts and good conduct. Your conduct has pleased me, King Prthu, for you are a jnani.” M CH-CHE

© 2006-2017 Kasturi & Sons Ltd. -Basha [email protected] EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

THE HINDU

SPORT 21

CHENNAI

TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2017

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Felix and Semenya finish on a rousing note Barshim wins men’s high jump while Perkovic takes women’s discus

Bolt rules out return Reuters London

Usain Bolt took an emotional final bow on the track at the end of the World Championships on Sunday before declaring that, definitely and definitively, there was no way he would ever return to sprinting. “No, I’ve seen too many people come back and make things worse and shame themselves. I won’t be one of those people who come back,” Bolt said firmly.

Agence -Presse London

Athletics greats Allyson Felix and Caster Semenya lit up the track to bring the curtain down on the World Championships in great style on Sunday. Felix ran a stunning leg in 48.7s in the women’s 4x400m relay to set the United States up for an easy victory and take her record world medals tally to 16, two ahead of retired Jamaican duo Merlene Ottey and Bolt. South African star Semenya added a third 800m crown to her tally to put her alongside another African great Maria Mutola as the only women to have won the title three times. The Americans may have dominated the 10-day competition but there was to be no final flourish as Trinidad and Tobago’s men’s 4x400m relay team ran superbly to take the gold. Mutaz Barshim won the men’s high jump

Soaring high: Sandra Perkovic produced a golden performance on the final day.

gold with a jump of 2.35m, while double Olympic champion Sandra Perkovic of Croatia claimed women’s discus with a throw of 70.31m. India’s K.T. Irfan finished 23rd out of 58 competitors in men’s 20km walk. He clocked 1h 21m 40s, less than a minute outside his season’s best of 1:20:59. The results: Men: 1,500m: 1. Elijah Motonei

Manangoi (Ken) 3:33.61s, 2. Timothy Cheruiyot (Ken) 3:33.99, 3. Filip Ingebrigtsen (Nor) 3:34.53. 4x400m relay: 1. Trinidad and Tobago (Jarrin Solomon, Jereem Richards, Machel Cednio, Lalonde Gordon) 2:58.12, 2. United States 2:58.61, 3. Britain 2:59.00. 20km walk: 1. Eider Arevalo (Col) 1hr 18min 53sec, 2. Sergei Shirobokov (ANA - neutral)

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AFP

1:18:55, 3. Caio Bonfim (Bra) 1hr 19:04. 50km walk: 1. Yohann Diniz (Fra) 3hr 33:12, 2. Hirooki Arai (Jpn) 3:41:17, 3. Kai Kobayashi (Jpn) 3:41:19. High jump: 1. Mutaz Essa Barshim (Qat) 2.35m, 2. Danil Lysenko (ANA) 2.32, 3. Majd Eddin Ghazal (Syr) 2.29. Women: 800m: 1. Caster Semenya (RSA) 1:55.16s, 2. Francine Niyonsaba (Bdi) 1:55.92, 3.

Kasparov will be prepared to the teeth: Anand The St. Louis rapid and blitz event is without World champion Carlsen Rakesh Rao Ahmedabad

The buzz in the chess world is palpable. Over the next six days in the city of St. Louis, America’s chess Capital, retired chess legend Garry Kasparov, 54, will play nine rapid and 18 blitz games, plus playoffs if necessary, against some of the strongest players in the game. Notably, the 10-player field of the $150,000 St. Louis rapid and blitz event is without World champion Magnus Carlsen, the prodigious talent once trained briefly by Kasparov who retired in March 2005. Viswanathan Anand, the man who fought many a battle against the former World champion and the undisputed No. 1, will be part of the field that includes six players from last week’s Sinquefield Cup.

Just curious “Everyone is just curious and that’s all. There is a lot of interest to see how he’ll play. The players, I feel, are more practical in of, “what I’m going to play against

him? What will he do?” I think, it’s very unlikely that he’ll be the old Kasparov. He’ll have to make changes, as well, because the world has moved on (in 12 years),” said Anand to The Hindu. On being reminded that Kasparov was last seen as part of the four-man Ultimate Blitz Challenge in April 2016, Anand said, “Yes, he has done a little bit before, but that was blitz. And in blitz, may be he’s more forgiving because, any way, it’s quite random.” About Kasparov’s preparedness, Anand was cat-

egorical. “We know Kasparov. He is going to be prepared to the teeth. In fact, he’s going to be onto the teeth. No doubt about that. I’m sure he’s taking it very seriously. He might have well spent the last couple of weeks, trying to brush up and get back his speed. “He’ll be dangerous and unpredictable. (As a participant), you also do your training and get ready as much as you can.” Does he see Kasparov’s return to the classical format as a possibility? “Twelve

years ago, he explicitly ruled rapid and classical (formats) and said he would never play classical again. But then, nothing stops anybody from changing their minds. After all, it is not a legal declaration and you are not going to sue him (laughs). Anything is possible. “For the moment, I’m also thinking in more practical rather than wondering what he’ll do when. “I’m thinking not only about him, but I have to think of the whole tournament, as well. Again, the nice thing for the tournament is that it’ll draw a lot of attention.” Finally, what could be that one factor that Kasparov could find hard to deal with? “One general thing is the sheer lack of practical experience. You cannot recreate the sensation of playing at the board very easily. “You may have lost some practical skills. Under attention and pressure, you do things differently than you do at home. Those are the things that could go wrong. And he knows that.”

Already he was looking forward to an exciting future, he said, with his management camp talking to IAAF President Sebastian Coe, about what he might be able to do for the sport

Ajee Wilson (USA) 1:56.65; 4x400m relay: 1. United States (Quanera Hayes, Allyson Felix, Shakima Wimbley, Phyllis Francis) 3:19.02, 2. Britain 3:25.00, 3. Poland 3:25.41. 20km walk: 1. Jiayu Yang (Chn) 1h 26:18s, 2. Maria Guadalupe Gonzalez (Mex) 1:26:19, 3. Ant-

New Delhi

India brought back top singles player Yuki Bhambri to counter Canada in the Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie while veteran Leander Paes was not considered due to his low ranking. Also making a comeback was big-serving Saketh Myneni, who is ranked eighth among the Indians in the ATP list at 495 but made the cut. Prajnesh Gunneswaran (220) Sumit Nagal (261), N. Sriram Balaji (291), Vishnu Vardhan (410) and Sasi Kumar Mukund (440) are

Finishes two strokes ahead of Molinari, Reed and Oosthuizen PGA CHAMPIONSHIP Reuters Charlotte

Bolt... bidding adieu.

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AFP

in an ambassadorial capacity. And his immediate aims? In typical Bolt fashion, he just smiled and declared: “The first thing I’m going to do is have some fun. Have a party and have a drink. I need to chill.”

onella Palmisano (Ita) 1:26:36; 50km walk: 1. Ines Henriques (Por) 4:05:56, 2. Hang Yin (Chn) 4:08:58, 3. Shuqing Yang (Chn) 4:20:49. Discus: 1. Sandra Perkovic (Cro) 70.31m, 2. Dani Stevens (Aus) 69.64, 3. Melina Robert-Michon (Fra) 66.21.

Bhambri, Myneni back; Paes out Press Trust of India

Justin Thomas has the last laugh

Justin Thomas validated his reputation as one of golf ’s great talents when he stormed to a two-stroke victory at the PGA Championship on Sunday. Thomas vaulted to the front with four birdies in a sizzling seven-hole stretch mid-round and held firm over the dangerous final three water-lined holes, known as the ‘Green Mile.’ The 24-year-old made a rare birdie at the par-three 17th to all but secure victory, and a bogey at the last was academic as he carded 68 to finish at eight-under 276. Fellow American Patrick Reed (67) bogeyed the last to finish equal second with sco Molinari (67) and Louis Oosthuizen (70). Hideki Matsuyama held the lead briefly mid-round before fading with three consecutive bogeys from the 11th. He carded 72 and finished three shots behind, with Rickie Fowler (67). Overnight leader Kevin Kisner (74) finished four

shots back. Thomas came into the final major of the year ranked 14th in the world. But he came through by executing under pressure as some of his rivals withered, ing his good friend Jordan Spieth, with whom he shared a house at the British Open last month, in the Major champions club of 2017. Thomas s Sergio Garcia (Masters), Brooks Koepka (US Open) and Spieth (British Open) as the year’s Major champions. Anirban Lahiri finished the tournament with a round of 78. Put alongside his earlier rounds of 72, 73 and 76, he finished at 15-over 299, for 75th place. The scores (final round): 276: Justin Thomas (73-6669-68); 278: sco Molinari (73-64-74-67), Patrick Reed (69-73-69-67), Louis Oosthuizen (70-67-71-70); 279: Rickie Fowler (69-70-7367), Hideki Matsuyama (7064-73-72); 280: Graham DeLaet (70-73-68-69), Kevin Kisner (67-67-72-74); 283: Jordan Smith (70-75-70-68), Matt Kuchar (71-74-70-68), Jason Day (70-66-77-70), Chris Stroud (68-68-71-76).

placed above him but Myneni was chosen ahead of the others due to his ability to play both singles and doubles. Myneni will team up with Rohan Bopanna, who was an automatic choice for the doubles rubber being the highest ranked Indian in ATP doubles chart at number 17. “We look at the rankings but not always,” selection committee chairman S.P. Misra said. Davis Cup team: Yuki Bhambri, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Saketh Myneni, Rohan Bopanna. Reserves: Prajnesh Gunneswaran, N. Sriram Balaji.

A family’s triumph: Parents Jani and Mike have kept every golf ball from every tournament Justin Thomas has ever won, and the one from here will go alongside all of the others. AFP *

India-A on the brink Press Trust India Pretoria

India-A is on the verge of losing the first unofficial ‘Test’ against South Africa as it struggled to reach 192 for six at stumps on the third day. Ankit Bawne (46, 82b), who looked set, was out off the last delivery of the day. Earlier, South Africa-A declared its second innings at 220 for five, riding on impressive performances from skipper Markram (79) and Rudi Second (74). Navdeep Saini (three for 20) was the most successful bowler for India-A. The scores: South Africa-A 346 & 220 for five decl. (Aiden Markram 79, Rudi Second 74, Navdeep Saini three 20) vs India-A 120 & 192 for six (Ishan Kishan 39, Karun Nair 30).

Indian colts make it 4-0 SPORTS BUREAU BRISTOL

India defeated England by one run in a rain-affected fourth Youth ODI to make it 4-0 in the five-match series here on Monday. Chasing England’s 276 for eight, India was 151 for four in 28 overs when rain ended play. The scores: England u-19 276 for eight in 50 overs (L. Trevaskis 50, L. Banks 30, F. Organ 61, T. Lammonby 50, Shiva Singh five for 38) lost to India u-19 151 for four in 28 overs (Shubman Gill 66, Abhishek Sharma 45 n.o.). Revised target: 150 in 28 overs.

CM YK

M CH-CHE

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CHENNAI

THE HINDU

TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2017

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Big Ben to go silent for four years Pak. hoists flag on 400 ft pole at Wagah MUBASHIR ZAIDI

The last bong before the clock’s refurbishment will be at 1100 GMT on Aug. 21 period that Big Ben, whose bongs are familiar to many people around the world because of their use in BBC radio and television broadcasts, has been silent in its 157-year history.

Agence -Presse London

Britain’s much-loved Big Ben will fall silent for four years from next week as conservation work is carried out on the 19th -century bell in a clock tower next to the Houses of Parliament in London. “Big Ben falling silent is a significant milestone in this crucial conservation project,” Steve Jaggs, whose official title is ‘Keeper of the Great Clock’, said in a Parliament statement on Monday. “This essential programme of works will safeguard the

clock on a long term basis, as well as protecting and preserving its home — the Elizabeth Tower.” It will be the longest

Bell weighs 13.7 tonnes The Great Bell, popularly called Big Ben, weighs 13.7 tonnes and strikes every hour to the note of E. Four smaller bells also chime every 15 minutes. The last bong before the refurbishment will be at 1100 GMT on August 21, the statement said. The clock will still

tell the time silently until 2021 and the chimes will continue to be rung on important occasions such as New Year’s Eve. The clock’s cogs and hands as well as the four dials will be removed, cleaned up and repaired as part of the work. The project’s cost was estimated last year at £29 million. Because the clock mechanism will be temporarily out of action, a modern electric motor will drive the clock hands until the clock is reinstated.

ISLAMABAD

On its 70th Independence Day on Monday, Pakistan hoisted what it claimed was the tallest flag in south Asia on the Wagah-Attari border. The 120 by 180 feet flag

was installed on a 400 foot pole and hoisted by Pakistan Army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa. The decision to hoist a flag on a 400 foot pole came after India hoisted a flag at 360 feet last year.

Pakistani authorities said the new flag was the eighth tallest in the world. The Army chief said Pakistan’s flag was a symbol of its dignity and congratulated the Pakistan Rangers for arranging a grand flag-

hoisting ceremony on the Wagah border. However, given the height, there are fears of strong winds damaging the flag. India has had to replace its flag four times since it was hoisted last year.

Japanese economist wins award Special Correspondent

The Japan Society of Economic Statistics ( JSES) presented its 2017 Award to Jun-ichi Okabe, professor, Yokohama National University, for the book A New Statistical Domain in India: An Enquiry into Village Panchayat Databases, which he co-authored with Aparajita Bakshi. The book draws on fieldwork in Warwat Khanderao village, Buldhana district, Maharashtra, and Raina village, Bardhaman district, West Bengal.

Actor-writer Joe Bologna dies at 82 Press Trust of India Los Angeles

Actor-screenwriter Joe Bologna, whose comic timing won him many plaudits, has ed away at the age of 82. He was suffering from pancreatic cancer. Actor Renee Taylor, his wife of 52 years, confirmed that the Emmy Award-winning writer breathed his last at City of Hope in Duarte, California. Bologna and Taylor wrote their first Broadway show Lovers and Other Strangers, which was directed by Charles Grodin. The film adaptation of the play was nominated for an Academy Award for best screenplay.

CM YK

M CH-CHE