26

Sunday
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August
2018 Q. Is Rahul Gandhi right YESTERDAY’S POLL RESULT:
in saying Congress was Should animals be
not behind the anti-Sikh bred in zoos?
`3.00 Ÿ Pages 16 riots of 1984?
AHMEDABAD
Yes No Can’t say
Yes  49%
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24°C - 30°C AQI 61 happy raksha bandhan R.N.I. No. : GUJENG/2007/22424

‘May this Onam give

Congress not Asian shot put gold `46K cr defence
involved in the
Games
2018 & new record buying cleared
P10 New Delhi: The Ministry of

’84 riots: Rahul

you more strength’
London: Congress president
Rahul Gandhi has described
the 1984 anti-Sikh riots as a
“very painful tragedy”, but
Defence cleared on Saturday
Medal winners procurement worth Rs 46,000
crore including helicopters
GOLD
for the Indian Navy and in-
Tajinderpal Singh Toor digenous artillery guns for
(Shot put, men) the Army. The plan to pur-
BRONZE chase 111 utility helicopters

PM Modi assures said the Congress party was

not involved in it. He was “100
Sourav Ghosal
(Squash, men’s singles)
for the Navy for over Rs 21,000
crore will be the first project

Kerala that it has

per cent” for the punishment Tajinderpal Singh Toor set aside the under the MoD’s strategic
Dipika Pallikal
for those involved in any vio- disappointment of not being able to partnership model aimed at
(Squash, women’s singles)
lence against anybody. Nearly attend to his cancer-ridden father, boosting domestic manufac-
Hardik begins nation’s support 3,000 Sikhs were killed in the
riots in 1984 following the as-
Joshna Chinappa
(Squash, women’s
shattering the Asian Games record.
Toor threw the iron ball to 20.75m,
turing of defence equipment
under Prime Minister Naren-
indefinite fast, DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
sassination of former prime
minister Indira Gandhi by
singles) obliterating a six-year old national mark. dra Modi’s ‘Make in India’
programme.  Report, P7
support thin her Sikh bodyguards.

Sitharaman’s ‘parivar’ remark

New Delhi: As God’s Own Gandhi,
Ahmedabad: Patidar leader Country starts on the long who is on a two-
Hardik Patel began his in- road to recovery, Prime Min- day visit to the

was for ex-servicemen: Govt

definite fast on Saturday to ister Narendra Modi ex-
press for quota benefits for pressed hope that the festival
his community and farm of Onam will give new
loan waivers, as security was strength to its people to over-
beefed up in come the adversities in the
Ahmedabad aftermath of the floods that
and other cit- ravaged the state. “May this
ies in Gujarat Onam give further strength to
to prevent any the people of Kerala to over-
flare-ups. Oo- come the adversities they
ver 250 sup- have been facing for the past
porters and few days,” the Prime Minister
members of Patidar Anamat tweeted on Saturday.
Andolan Samiti, and a few He assured them that the
Patidar MLAs were present entire nation stands shoulder-
as he began the protest at his to-shoulder with the state and
home after being denied per- prays for the happiness as well
mission to do the same at a as prosperity of its citizens.
public place.  Report, P3 Over the last fortnight,
UK, told the au-
dience of UK-
based parlia-
After a fortnight of tragedy, those sheltered in flood relief camps in Kochi, mentarians
Kerala find a golden lining during Onam celebrations on Saturday —PTI and local lead-
Our society is the one who faces difficulties. We will ers on Friday that the inci-
dent was a tragedy and pain-
survive the toxic substances we are facing today. ful experiences, but disagreed
Tomorrow, we will make good memories. with the view that the Con-
Pinarayi Vijayan, Kerala CM gress was “involved”.
“I think any violence done
against anybody is wrong.
Kerala witnessed the worst Pinarayi Vijayan sent his There are legal processes on-
floods in a century that greetings on Onam, saying, going in India but as far as
claimed 293 lives and de- “Our society is the one who I’m concerned anything done
stroyed property worth sever- faces difficulties.  Turn to P4 that was wrong during that
al thousand crores of rupees. period should be punished
Reflecting the sentiment, inside and I would support that 100
Kerala’s Chief Minister 293 dead, 15 missing... P7 per cent,” he said.  Turn to P4
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: Terming the con-
duct of a Karnataka minister
“unfortunate”, the Ministry
of Defence on Saturday clari-
fied that the use of the word
“parivar” by Nirmala Si-
tharaman was for ex-service-
men in Kodagu in the state
after she faced criticism for
showing anger at a press con-
ference. The defence minister
was attacked by the Congress
triggering a political row af-
ter she lashed out at a Karna-
taka minister during a press
meet on Friday.
Sitharaman reacted an-
grily when state minister Sa
Ra Mahesh suggested to her
to wind up the press interac-
tion saying a number of offi-
cials were waiting for a meet-
ing with her during her visit
to the flood-ravaged Kodagu
district to review relief op-
erations by defence forces.
Former chief minister Sid-
daramaiah criticised Sithara-
man, alleging that she was
“more interested in dominat-
ing our minister” which re-
flected BJP’s “apathy” to-
wards Karnataka.  Turn to P4
 02
daily news & analysis I Ahmedabad I SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2018
Floods — induced by rain, river, storm or man — are becoming a deadly annual feature in more and more states. Yet,
the authorities demonstrate no urgency in doing the necessary spadework to tackle the inevitable disaster
how long before it sinks in
Team DNA
correspondent@dnaindia.net
M
ore devastating floods
will become the norm in
India if nothing is done
to tackle climate change,
warned a UK-based char-
ity on Friday, in a pro-
phetic-sounding forecast. Much
more beyond controlling carbon
emissions, however, needs to be
understood and undertaken if the
nation is to emerge from its an-
nual flood of woes.
Since the onset of the south-
west monsoon in June, the coun-
try has lost hundreds of people
and thousands of crores to the
havoc wreaked by rains. In God’s
own country, a death toll of over
400 has drowned out celebrations
for the 10-day Onam festival.
Kerala’s extreme circum-
stances bear out a worrying
trend: spike in extreme spells of
rain in the midst of an average
or subpar monsoon. For instance,
last year, monsoon was below
normal but over 200 spells of un-
relenting downpours (over
200mm) submerged whole tracts
of land across the country.
Not knowing enough to
come in out of the rain
The flooding is a grim reminder
that despite an increased expo-
sure to these events, frequently
linked to global warming, the Cen-
tre and states are still not pre-
pared to tackle them. For instance,
the flood in Bihar last year, though
not directly comparable to Kera-
la’s, had similar triggers and con-
sequences. Extraordinary rainfall
in northern Bihar caused Gan-
dak, Kosi, Bagmati and Burhi
Gandak to swell while a huge dis-
charge of water in Sone River
from Madhya Pradesh and Uttar
Pradesh led to the worst floods in
Patna since 1975. Similarly, in the
southern state, many rivers
swelled up due to the uninterrupt-
ed rain between August 10 and 16,
rapidly bringing up water levels
at Idukki, Idamalayar and Mulla-
periyar dams. The authorities had
to open the sluices of these dams,
marooning towns and cities down-
stream.
In the way of justification, Cen-
tral Water Commission chairman
S Masood Husain said that since
Kerala was not as flood-prone as
Bihar, the commission only has
hydrological gauges in the state,
which can monitor terrestrial
bodies of water. “We need to now
look at installing flood forecasting
stations in collaboration with the
state government,” Husain said.
After an audit last year, the
Comptroller and Auditor General
had stated that of the 375 teleme-
try stations across the country, 222
were non-operational. “As a re-
sult, real-time data was not avail-
able for the corresponding peri-
od,” the report said. But Husain
said that the report was mislead-
ing and CWC had clarified its posi-
tion on the issue.
“We issue 6,000 forecasts a year,
mostly during the monsoon. But
now, under the National Hydrol-
ogy Project, we are working on a
water resources management
plan to have integrated informa-
tion on river basins and reser-
voirs,” Husain said.
Himanshu Thakkar, coordina-
tor, South Asia Network on Dams,
Rivers and People, said that states
need to draft credible climate ac-
tion plans that are useful in tack-
ling floods and such. “We need to
realise that floods cannot be avoid-
ed. We need to be better prepared
to tackle them. Increasing the
holding capacity of our catch-
ment areas, transparent and ac-
countable reservoir management
and making floodplains encroach-
ment-free are some steps that
ought to be taken,” Thakkar said.
The calamity in Kerala has
more in common with floods in
Bihar, Chennai and Kashmir, as
far as ecological, natural and
man-made reasons go. DNA at-
tempts to assess if the authorities
are any the wiser after the spate
to tackle them in future.
Chennai unprepared for the
northeast monsoon
In 2015, Chennai recorded 1,218
mm of rain in November against
its normal of 407 mm. On Decem-
ber 1 that year, the city flailed un-
der a record 374 mm. The follow-
ing year, after a dismal monsoon,

(Above) Volunteers and rescue personnel evacuate residents in Kerala’s Ernakulam district last week; (top) Jammu & Kashmir
capital Srinagar was inundated in 2014
The drains should have circular concrete
pipes to help water flow easily. But the
civic body adopted a rectangular design.
A Veerappan, secretary,
Tamil Nadu PWD Senior Engineers Association
the city and its suburbs were
abruptly flooded in the first week
of November, getting 300 mm rain
on November 2, which was 70 per
cent of the average rainfall re-
corded during the month.
Ecologists say the imbalance is
driven by human activity: en-
croachments, poor maintenance
of waterways, and shoddily de-
signed storm water drains.
The Tamil Nadu capital’s 1,894-
km drain network and 30 canals
are supposed to carry the runoff
to the sea via its four crisscross-
ing waterways — Buckingham
Canal, Adyar River, Cooum River
and Kosasthalaiyar River. But
rather than flowing into the
drains, the rainwater spills out on
to the streets and into people’s
homes.
A Veerappan, secretary of the
Tamil Nadu PWD Senior Engi-
neers Association, said that the
drainage system’s design ob-
structs the pull of gravity. “The
drains should have circular con-
crete pipes to help water flow eas-
ily. Instead, the civic body adopted
a rectangular design. They are
also not connected properly to ca-
nals and water bodies.”
To avert flooding, the Greater
Chennai Corporation proposed an
integrated stormwater drain
(ISWD) project at Rs 4,034 crore,
We hope to complete the work before
March. Of the Rs 46 crore to be spent on
Jhelum dredging, we’ve spent Rs 41 crore.
MM Shahnawaz, chief engineer,
irrigation & flood control department, J&K
covering Kosasthalaiyar, Adyar,
Cooum and Kovalam basins, to be
executed in three phases. The
work on Adyar and Cooum basins
has missed several deadlines. “It
would be completed before the on-
set of the northeast monsoon,” a
senior civic official said, “and
work on Kosasthalaiyar and Ko-
valam basins is shelved due to
lack of funds.”
Suburban Chennai’s lakes
have neither been de-silted nor
deepened. “There are 30 lakes in
Tambaram taluk in Kancheepu-
ram, the area severely flooded in
2015 and 2017. If these lakes are
freed from encroachments and de-
silted, it could check floods,” said
V Subramanian, founder secre-
tary of Sabari Green Foundation
in Chennai.
Another reason for widespread
flooding in South Chennai and its
suburbs was the destruction of
Pallikaranai Marshland, which
used to act as buffer zone absorb-
ing overflowing waters from the
lakes, he said.
After 2014 horror, Valley
still not out of the woods
Every time it pours in the Val-
ley, Mohommad Akbar Sofi, 68,
is a bag of nerves. Horrors of
the 2014 floods flash across his
mind. An orchardist, Sofi en-
swept 2017
away in 2008
2007
Bihar 2004
rains 1987
dured huge monetray losses
when half of his seven-and-a-
half hectare apple orchard
stayed submerged in water for
more than 20 days. “The fruits
were ready to be plucked when
the floods hit. We are still reel-
ing under that fear,” he said.
Professor Shakil A Romshoo,
head of the Earth Sciences de-
partment at the University of
Kashmir, said the deluge was trig-
gered by a complex interplay of
atmospheric disturbances which
caused it to rain unceasingly for
seven days before the event.
He cited anthropogenic drivers
that exacerbated the situation —
extensive urbanisation of flood-
plain, loss of wetlands, and de-
creased channel capacity due to
siltation from deforested moun-
tainous landscapes.
An alarmed Centre then sanc-
tioned Rs 399 crore to de-silt the
Jhelum and expand the flood spill
channels to increase their water-
carrying capacity.
The project includes dredging
of the Jhelum, widening flood
spill channels and strengthening
the bunds along riverbanks. “We
hope to complete the work before
March 2019. Under this project,
of the Rs 46 crore to be spent on
dredging, we have spent Rs 41
crore,” said MM Shahnawaz,
500 people die as most districts of North Bihar flooded
626 killed as Kosi breaches the embankment, flooding 18 districts of Bihar and parts of Nepal
1,287 death toll across 19 districts of Bihar
885 die in 20 districts affected by flood
1,399 people killed across 30 flood-hit districts
2014: Valley
woes peak
5,642
Villages affected across the
state with 2,489 in Kashmir
Valley, remaining in
Jammu division
10,050
Milch animals killed;
33,000 sheep and goats
3,53,864
Structures damaged
`6,611 cr
Damage suffered by crops:
Rs 4,043 crore by
agriculture; Rs 1,568
crore by horticulture sector
6.51 Lakh
hectare of land affected due
to floods
Public utilities and
infrastructure including
roads, water supply
schemes, irrigation, power
etc suffered losses worth
Rs 3,000 crore
Government residential
colonies, tourism
infrastructure suffered
damages worth
Rs 5,000 crore
550 bridges/culverts,
6,000 km road network
damaged in the floods
3.000 power sub-stations,
transmission towers, lines
were also affected throughout
the state
the story
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chief engineer, irrigation and
flood control department,
Jammu & Kashmir.
The work is still underway and
already there are demands for an
investigation since there has been
no change on the ground. In June,
a flood-like situation had arisen
with rivers crossing danger
marks. “What was the PDP-BJP
government doing after the devas-
tating floods of 2014? What hap-
pened to the dredging of the Jhe-
lum? Why was the carrying capac-
ity of the flood channel not in-
creased? Where did the money
go?” Omar Abdullah, former
Jammu & Kashmir chief minis-
ter, had tweeted.
Assam at the mercy of a
river in rage
On the morning of June 28, resi-
dents of Golaghat woke up to
things afloat in their houses. In
the upper Assam district, 36 vil-
lages were inundated and 87,000
people hit after NEEPCO’s Doy-
ang hydel project in Wokha dis-
trict of neighbouring Nagaland
slid open the sluices. The avoida-
ble calamity flowed from the lack
of any sort of coordination be-
tween the two neighbouring
states, said Dulal C Goswami, a
(Above) a Coast Guard chopper during the rescue and relief operations in Kerala last
Monday; (top) an undated photo showing a Northern Rail train caught in a flood
former professor at Gauhati Uni-
versity’s Department of Geogra-
phy, who has worked on riverine
issues for years. He stressed that
the Golaghat incident cannot be
overlooked as an odd occurrence.
“We need to work on concerted
integrated planning system,
which is currently not in our
books. Since we ignore small riv-
ers and tributaries, devastation
like this takes place,” he said. As-
sam shares the Subansiri and Ma-
nas rivers with Nagaland and
Arunachal Pradesh.
But Golaghat aside, 15 lakh peo-
ple in over 23 of Assam’s 29 dis-
tricts are afflicted every year
when the Brahmaputra is in spate.
Since the trans-boundary river
flows through India, China, Bhu-
tan and Bangladesh, heavy rains
or landslides upstream have seri-
ous ramifications downstream.
“Countries that share the trajec-
tories of rivers need bilateral or
inter-country policies for river
management,” Goswami said. He
added that the Brahmaputra has
till now accumulated over 5 lakh
hectare of deposits — 8,000 hec-
tare a year — adding layer upon
layer to its bed.
Successive regimes in Assam
have been grappling with the an-
nual deluge for decades. Last year,
the Brahmaputra Board an-
nounced three major projects up-
stream to stop floods and erosion,
in addition to a road-and-embank-
ment project costing Rs 237 crore,
while the Centre has granted
Rs 100 crore to carry out a study
to devise solutions to the problem.
Bihar out of its depth
With 28 districts in Bihar catego-
rised as “flood-prone”, thousands
of people are displaced every year,
even as crores are spent on flood
control and disaster relief and
management.
In 2017, over 500 people died
when flood water engulfed more
than half of the 38 districts of Bi-
har. Two crore people in the state
were affected as hundreds of vil-
lages were laid waste to, other
than the destruction of life and
property,
A water resources department
official said the chief reason is
siltation on riverbeds. “Since
most rivers flowing through Bihar
originate in neighbouring Nepal,
the alluvium carried from the
Himalayas gets deposited at the
bottom, leading to a rise in the
riverbed,” he said.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish
Kumar has repeatedly pinned the
blame on Farakka Barrage in
West Bengal and has even called
for its demolition. Experts, how-
ever, believe that pulling down the
barrage won’t serve any purpose.
“Riverbeds should be de-silted
and embankments with function-
al sluice gates should be cosn-
tructed. Traditional water man-
agement systems like ahar-pynes,
to harvest flood water, should be
revived,” said M K Singh, a Patna-
based professor of Geology.
 ah
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in brief
State minister Kaushik Patel
hands over cheque of Rs10
crore to Kerala CM
AMC collects
`46 lakh penalty
AMC collected Rs46.33
lakh penalty over the
last 24 days from those
who have thrown gar-
bage in the open. The
highest penalty was lev-
ied from the south zone
from where the depart-
ment has collected Rs
12.27 lakh. From North
Zone the department has
collected Rs 8.2 lakh fol-
lowed by East Zone Rs
7.19 lakh, central zone
Rs 7.08 lakh, new west
zone Rs 5.79 lakh and
west zone Rs 5. 72 lakh.
Technical colleges
get IITGn access
Government technical
colleges on Saturday
were interlinked with
Indian Institute of
Technology, Gandhin-
agar to access resources.
Rajul Gajjar, principal,
Vishwakarma Gover-
nment Engineering
college said, “IITGn has
immense resources,
technology park and get
many experts on their
campus.”
Talk on women
entrepreneurs
The Ahmedabad chapter
of Young Ficci Ladies
Organisation (YFLO) or-
ganised a talk show on
‘Law for Women Entre-
preneurs’ at IIM-A on
Friday. Speaking on the
occasion, Namrata
Trivedi said that women
should empower them-
selves with knowledge
of law. She sad that jus-
tice for women can be
ensured when women
enter the legal system.
Civic body scraps
3,500 unused tyres
Gargi Raval
gargi.raval@dnaindia.net
The civic body health depart-
ment on Saturday scrapped
3,500 unused tyres to prevent
dengue. Dengue vector grows
quickest in dumped tyres, an
expert said. “Dengue vector
thrives in places like the cap
of a bottle. Black colour at-
tracts ‘aedes aegypti’ vector
and it is the most-preferred
place where they lay their
eggs,” said Rajesh Sharma,
entomologist, Ahmedabad
Municipal Corporation
(AMC).
“We have collected 3,500
tyres and scrapped them. We
collected them from public
places and slum pockets be-
fore the monsoon,” added
Sharma.
The entomology team
found larva in the squeezed
lemon slide. According to
Sharma, one female mosqui-
Vector-borne diseases in August
3 SVPI airport sources
Chikungunya
52
169
Dengue
Falciparum
875
Malaria
Gandhigiri! Traffic police, students
to tie rakhi to rule breakers today
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
It’s time to go out of the box,
especially when it comes to
Raksha Bandhan. Taking an
initiative, the traffic cops are
going to tie rakhis to traffic
offenders in the city.
Around 14 junctions have
been selected by the traffic
cops in the city where, at each
point, around 10 Mahila po-
lice officers and school and
college students will be de-
ployed who will tie rakhis to
traffic offenders.
Around 100 cops will be de-
edabad
Hardik begins indefinite
fast, gets thin support
Supporters detained at many places before they could reach A’bad
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Patidar reservation leader
Hardik Patel began his indefi-
nite fast at his residence on
Saturday afternoon to press for
quota benefits for his commu-
nity and farm loan waivers,
even as security was beefed up
in Ahmedabad and other cities
to prevent any flare-ups.
Hardik began the fast at
3:00 pm after offering prayers
and amid chanting of shlokas
by his supporters. Around 250
supporters and members of
Patidar Anamat Andolan
Samiti (PAAS), and a few
Patidar MLAs belonging to the
Congress were present as he
began the protest at home af-
ter being denied permission
for the same at a public venue.
Hardik’s home and the area
turned into a virtual fort with
the deployment of dozens of
police and personnel. Security
was also beefed up in Patidar-
dominated areas of
Ahmedabad such as Nikol,
Bapunagar, and Thakkarbapa
Nagar, besides Surat,
Mehsana, and other cities.
Hardik says 16,000
detained, cops refute
Speaking with reporters, the
25-year-old alleged that police
were stopping his supporters
from reaching Ahmedabad.
“More than 16,000 people have
been detained while they were
on their way here. Police have
set up barricades and block-
ades on entry points to
Ahmedabad to stop people
coming from Saurashtra,
north and south Gujarat from
joining my fast,” Hardik said,
appealing supporters to go on
fast wherever they’d been held.
He also lashed out at the
state government for denying
him permission for the fast
and accused it of behaving
like the British to thwart his
agitation.
to can lay 100-150 eggs at a
time and can live without wa-
ter for 2 to 3 years. The eggs
hatch immediately after they
are submerged in water.
The civic body is trying to
make the city malaria-free. It
is also working collectively to
prevent mushrooming of
mosquito breeding sites. Vec-
tor-borne diseases spread fast
during the monsoon,” he said.
“We step up anti-larval ac-
tivity during the monsoon.
We are asking people to emp-
ty their water container for a
day,” said Dr Bhavin Solanki,
an in-charge medical officer
of health, AMC.
“‘Aedes aegypti’ larvae
need just one-inch water to
become disease-carrying
adults. So, those sites need to
be monitored daily,” added
Dr Solanki.
The civic body has an-
nounced to make the city
malaria-free by 2020.
ployed at the junctions and
they will not find the offend-
ers but will give rakhis for the
protection of the offenders.
The junctions where the
students and cops will be de-
ployed will are Mansi Cross-
roads, Somnath Crossroads,
(Clockwise) Hardik Patel offers
prayers before sitting on the fast;
Mevani was there to support; Cops
on high alert outside Patel’s home
—Pravin Indrekar/ DNA
The police, however, denied
Hardik’s claims and said that
only 158 people had been de-
tained. “PAAS members are
claiming on social media that
16,000 people have been de-
tained. We have detained only
158 people as a precautionary
measure. Action will be taken
against those who are spread-
ing lies on social media and
anyone who attempts to dis-
turb peace,” RB Brahmbhatt,
IG (Intelligence Bureau), told
reporters in Gandhinagar.
He also clarified that per-
mission had been denied for
the protest fast keeping in
mind the law & order situation.
“We have denied permis-
sion for the fast after due dili-
gence so that peace and law &
order are not disturbed. Wide-
spread violence by anti-social
elements had taken place on
August 25, 2015, after PAAS
was given permission to take
out a rally,” he said further.
Fast divides Cong, BJP
Hardik’s fast has led to a clear
divide in the political class.
Farmers work in an agriculture field next to apartment blocks on the outskirts of Ahmedabad — PTI
`85 parking fee at airport may become history
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Authorities at Sardar Vallab-
hbhai Patel International air-
port (SVPI) have discontinued
the services of outsourced car
parking management agency
after they received hordes of
complaints in connection to
the toll-booth.
The authorities are pres-
ently working on a new sys-
tem which is likely to take
away the 10-minute free peri-
od, causing inconvenience to
the users.
Sources at the airport said
the plan for charging a nomi-
nal fee is being worked out. In
Menco Crossroads, Kalupur
Crossroads, Subhas Bridge
Crossroads, Dilli Darwaja
area, Panchwati Crossroads,
Townhall area, Paldi Cross-
roads, Shyamal Crossroads,
Pakwan Crossroads, Kargil
Crossroads, Ujaala Cross-
roads and Iscon Crossroads.
Sanjay Kharat, Traffic
DCP west, said “We have tak-
en the initiative to create
awareness among people re-
garding traffic rules. We are
trying to make people follow
the rules by the way of Gan-
dhigiri. We will not fine them
on Rakshabandhan.”
Congress MLA and leader of
Opposition Paresh Dhanani
criticised the state govern-
ment for now allowing the fast
and termed it as a violation of
Constitutional rights.
However, Deputy CM Nitin
Patel accused that the protest
was an attempt to disturb
peace in the state by creating a
divide between different com-
munities. “This protest is be-
ing held at Congress’s behest
as the 2019 elections are ap-
proaching. We are sure that 6
crore people of Gujarat will
not be swayed by this,” Patel
said. Some local Congress
leaders and representatives of
Aam Aadmi Party were among
those who visited Hardik.
Mevani meets Hardik,
extends support
Independent MLA Jignesh Me-
vani also met the PAAS leader
and extended support to him.
He and Hardik issued a joint
statement demanding that the
Sowing time
the present system, any car
that spends more than ten
minutes in the terminal bay
pays Rs 85. Users and passen-
gers also complain of long
queues that forces them to
shell out Rs 85, despite return-
ing within the stipulated time.
“We are now working on a
system where we may charge
Rs 20 or more on every entry,
as a normal fee without any
cap on the timing. But the de-
tails are being worked upon.
Until then, the booth will be
handled by the Director Gen-
eral Resettlement which has
retired defence personnel.”
Airport authorities have
also registered a police com-
Borders no barriers for Raksha Bandhan
Women shop rakhis on the eve of Raksha Bandhan in Ahmedabad
state government should set up
a hospital named after Sardar
Patel and Babasaheb Ambed-
kar rather than building stat-
ues of the two leaders.
Congress MLAs to
sit on a fast
Congress MLA Lalit Vasoya
said he and other MLAs would
sit on a symbolic fast tomorrow.
The MLAs have also sought
time from Governor OP Kohli
to meet him. Joint commis-
sioner of police Amitkumar
Vishwakarma said that police
deployment will continue at
Hardik’s home till the fast.
A team from Sola civil hospi-
tal that went for Hardik’s medi-
cal check-up had to return
empty-handed after he refused
to undergo any test. Saturday
marks the third anniversary of
the Patidar Maharally, which
was organised in Ahmedabad,
to press for reservation in high-
er education and government
jobs for Patidars.
We are now
working on a
system where we
may charge Rs 20 or
more on every entry, as a
normal fee without any
cap on the timing.
plaint against the present
agency handling the booth
and in the past, have imposed
heavy fines on them for mis-
behaving with customers.
A statement issued by air-
port authorities on Saturday
Ahmedabad I SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2018 I daily news & analysis
Van driver’s son secures
2nd rank in CS exec exam
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
A 20-year-old Amdavadi and
son of a school van driver has
secured All India Rank 2 in
Company Secretaries execu-
tive programme exam. The
Institute of Company Secre-
taries of India (ICSI) on Satur-
day announced the results of
CS executive and CS profes-
sional examination.
While 2 students from Gu-
jarat secured the place in AIR
25 in Executive programme
exam, 3 students from the
state secured All India Rank
top 15 in Company Secretaries
professional programme ex-
amination which was held in
June. Mustafa Sibatra, a resi-
dent of Vatva, has scored All
India Rank 2 and topped
Ahmedabad centre rank.
Son of a school van driver,
Mustafa always wanted to
study a professional course.
An avid cricket lover, he
stayed away from gully crick-
et for many months, in order
to achieve this result. Interest-
ingly, Mustafa had come first
in the country in CS founda-
tion programme. “The course
of CS is so lengthy that one
cannot mug up anything. I al-
ways ensured that my con-
PPAs enabled state
save `21,619 cr in
seven yrs: Minister
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
The state government on Sat-
urday rejected the Congress’s
charge that it was favouring
three private power compa-
nies, and said that it had
signed power purchase agree-
ments with companies at
rates lower than other states.
State energy minister Sau-
rabh Patel said that the state
government had signed the
long-term power purchase
agreements at highly com-
petitive rates according to the
Congress-led UPA govern-
ment’s policy of 2006.
The state government has
long-term PPAs with Adani
Power (2,000 MW), Tata Power
(1,800 MW), and Essar Power
(1,000 MW), among others
with per unit price ranging
from Rs2.35 to Rs2.89. Patel
said that the rates at which
Gujarat had signed PPAs are
lower than the other states.
“The lower rates have ena-
bled power consumers in the
state to save Rs21,619 crore
between 2011-12 and 2017-18,”
he claimed, while accusing
the Congress of raising hue
and cry over a non-issue.
Congress leaders Jairam
Ramesh and Shaktisinh Gohil
had two days back accused the
state government of trying to
benefit the three companies.
stated: With effect from Au-
gust 24, authorities have dis-
continued the services of out-
sourced car parking manage-
ment agency. As an interim
measure, the car park will
now be managed temporarily
though ex-defence officials
under Director General of Re-
settlement.
The airport has been strug-
gling since the inception of
toll-booth. To curb the same,
last year, students of HL Com-
merce college were roped in to
monitor and study the toll-
booth, its issues and collect
data thereby helping the offi-
cials with a solution for the
issues faced by commuters.
Preet Desai
Raksha Bandhan has spread
across the globe. Ashni
Vashi and her brother, Ab-
hay Vashi, who live in Cana-
da, celebrate Raksha Band-
han every year.
“We usually forget the in-
separable relationship be-
tween a brother and a sister.
This festival reminds us of
the bond.” said Vashi.
“Raksha Bandhan is re-
ally special to me because
my little sister ties me rakhi
every year,” Vashi said.
With the exchange of cul-
ture becoming too oft, our
families abroad celebrate
the festival happily.
03
Mustafa Sibatra and Sumaeya Kothawala
they made it
Mustafa Sibatra, a reside-
nt of Vatva, scored All
India Rank 2 and also
a topper of Ahmedabad
centre rank. Sumaeya
cepts are clear and except
coaching class and college, I
tried to study at least for 4-5
hours at home,” he said.
The first rank across the
country has been obtained by
Sivachandaran Balachan-
dran. At the second place is
Raghava Odela and Mustafa
Mufaddalbhai Sibatra, fol-
lowed by Romitha Vivekanan-
dan and Nidhi Kirtikumar
Shah at the third position.
While the overall pass per-
cong charges
Congress leaders Jairam
Ramesh and Shaktisinh
Gohil had accused the
state government of
trying to benefit the three
companies. They alleged
that the committee
formed by the state
government to propose
solutions for viability
issues faced by imported
coal-based power plants
was in violation of the
Supreme Court.
They alleged that the commit-
tee formed by the state gov-
ernment to propose solutions
for viability issues faced by
imported coal-based power
plants was in violation of the
Supreme Court. They also
said that any relief provided
to the companies would put a
burden on power consumers.
The Gujarat Congress re-
leased a statement accusing
Patel of being concerned
more with the interest of pow-
er companies than consum-
ers. “Power generation by
government companies has
fallen, while just these three
private companies were paid
Rs32,395 crore for power in
just four years,” state Con-
gress spokesperson Manish
Doshi said.
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International airport (SVPI)
My brother was not even aware of the festival.
He was very fascinated last year when I tied
him the rakhi. He loves celebrating Raksha
Bandhan now.
— Priyanka Sheth, who lives in the USA
Priyanka Sheth, who
works in the United States
of America, recently started
tying rakhi to her younger
cousin brother, Mike Sheth,
who was not aware about
this festival having been
born and raised in there.
“My brother was not
even aware about the festi-
val. He was very fascinated
last year when I tied him
the rakhi. He loves celebrat-
Kothawala who came
All India Rank 5 in the
professional programme
says consistency kept her
going.
centage of the executive pro-
gramme from Ahmedabad
chapter was 3.6 whereas the
same for the professional
module was 5.3.
Another girl from the city,
Sumaeya Kothawala, scored
AI 5 in the professional pro-
gramme. She said, “Consist-
ency is what matters in such
programmes. I scored AIR 7
and was the state topper in the
foundation, scored AIR 17 in
executive and now AIR 5.”
AMC says 6,748
stray bovines
caught since Apr
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
The cattle nuisance and con-
trol department of Ahme-
dabad Municipal Corporation
has captured 6,748 cows since
April. The civic body is work-
ing on the direction of the
Gujarat High Court to capture
abandoned cattle.
On an average, the team
captures around 70 cows in a
day. The HC has asked the
civic body to immediately
take stock of the situation.
Once the animal is caught,
an FIR is filed and the animal
is claimed by the owners. The
authority is also seeking writ-
ten assurance from the own-
ers that they won’t abandon
the animals. Earlier, the au-
thority had decided to impose
criminal charges against the
owners in case they leave
their animals unattended. A
case of culpable homicide
against the owners.
The civic body, in August,
had filed such cases against
two owners. Gujarat HC is
also in favour of taking strong
action against violators.
ing Raksha Bandhan now.
Infact, he ensures that we
meet every year to enjoy the
day and even brings won-
derful presents for me”,
Sheth said.
Rakshabandhan embod-
ies love and the spirit of
duty and protection between
brothers and sisters.
The celebration spirit
crosses all borders, bounda-
ries and barriers.
  04
daily news & analysis I Ahmedabad I SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2018
Statue of Unity to be ready by Oct 25
Sardar Patel’s statue will be the world’s tallest; slated to be inaugurated by PM Modi on Oct 31
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Work on Statue of Unity, the
statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai
Patel in Narmada district, is
going on at full steam, and is
expected to be completed by
October 25, the state govern-
ment said on Saturday.
The statue, which at 182
metres, will be the world’s tall-
est upon completion, is slated
to be inaugurated by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi on
October 31, the birth anniver-
sary of Sardar Patel. It is be-
ing built at a cost of Rs2,989
crore.
Chief Minister Vijay Ru-
pani visited the Statue’s site
on Sadhu Bet near Sardar Sa-
rovar Dam, and reviewed the
ongoing work. He was in-
formed that work on the Stat-
ue’s steel structure would be
completed by September 20,
bronze work by October 10,
and entire finishing work by
October 25. Around 86% of
tenders & Notices
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and his deputy Nitin Patel at the Statue of Unity site
the Statue work has been com-
pleted so far.
“The work on Statue of
Unity will be completed by
October 25, much in time be-
fore its inauguration by
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi,” SS Rathore, chairman
& managing director of Sard-
ar Sarovar Narmada Nigam
Limited (SSNNL), told DNA.
The state government said
that 1.40 lakh sq metre con-
crete, 18,500 tonne steel, 70,000
tonne cement, and 2,000 tonne
bronze would be used in the
Statue’s construction. More
than 3,000 workers and 300 en-
Those involved in
’84 riots must be...
From p1
“I have no confusion in my
mind about that. It was a
tragedy, it was a painful ex-
perience. You say that the
Congress party was in-
volved in that, I don’t agree
with that. Certainly there
was violence, certainly
there was tragedy.” Later,
during an interactive ses-
sion at the prestigious Lon-
don School of Economics
(LSE) when he was again
asked about the anti-Sikh
riots, Gandhi said: “...I am
against any sort of vio-
lence against anybody on
this planet. 
I get disturbed when I see
anybody being hurt. So, I
gineers are working at the
site. Chief Minister Vijay Ru-
pani told reporters after re-
viewing the work that the
Statue would be “a world-class
monument” and a “fitting
tribute for Sardar Patel”.
“A number of programmes
that will depict the life of
condemn that 100 per cent
and I am 100 per cent for
punishment for those in-
volved in any violence
against anybody.”
Senior Congress leader P
Chidambaram came out in
support of his party presi-
dent’s comment, saying he
cannot be held responsible
for something that took
place when he was 13-14
years.
Chidambaram said for-
mer prime minister Man-
mohan Singh had apolo-
gised in Parliament as had
former party chief Sonia
Gandhi for the “terrible
thing” (anti-Sikh riots).
 —PTI
In Numbers
„„1.40 lakh sq metre
concrete, 18,500 tonne
steel, 70,000 tonne
cement, and 2,000 tonne
bronze would be used in
the Statue’s construction.
„„Over 3,000 workers
and 300 engineers are
working at the site.
Sardar Patel and the work
done by him to unite the coun-
try will be organised in the
run-up to the Statue’s dedica-
tion,” Rupani said.
Besides the Statue, the pro-
ject will comprise a museum,
a 52-room Shresth Bharat
Bhavan, research centre,
among others. The Statue of
Unity project was announced
in October 2010 when Naren-
dra Modi was the state’s chief
minister. The construction
work had started in the same
month four years later.
‘Libraries can be catalysts for start-ups’
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Libraries can act as a cata-
lyst for start-ups, said Mad-
hukumar Mehta, chief men-
tor of creating while deliver-
ing a talk at MICA.
Mehta was speaking as
part of a day-long seminar on
‘Startups India and Role of
Libraries’ and spoke about
how dynamic libraries can
play an active role in trans-
forming the Indian society
Sitharaman’s ‘parivar’ remark ...
From p1
The MoD said the personal
remarks made against the
defence minister were in bad
taste. “It has also been noted
that there has been gross
misrepresentation with re-
gard to the use of the term
parivar’ by the defence min-
ister during the press confer-
ence.
“One of the four depart-
ments of the Ministry of De-
fence is the Department of
ah
www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia
MEGA relocates
over 150 families
Gargi Raval
gargi.raval@dnaindia.net
The MEGA (Metro-Link Ex-
press for Gandhinagar
Ahmedabad) authority shifted
around 150 families from the
government building in Gom-
tipur in which a crack in the
wall had made headlines. “We
are horrified and can’t sleep in
the night,” one of the residents
had told DNA.
Occupants of Silver Flats were
shifted cave-ins and land reset-
tlement were reported. The
people can stay in their new
accommodation as long as the
work is finished.
According to a survey con-
ducted to test the land on the
surface and layers beneath re-
vealed that several structures
below the ground were weak.
“We have shifted over 150
families for temporarily. We
have taken all necessary safety
measures,” said IP Gautam,
Managing Director (MD)
MEGA.
“We have initiated repair-
into an enterprising one
by providing learning
spaces, maker spaces, access
to internet, access to numer-
ous subscribed and free
Ex-Servicemen Welfare and
in that context it was stated
that all ex-servicemen are
part of the MoD parivar’. Any
other inference is miscon-
strued and uncalled for,” the
MoD said in a statement.
On Friday, Sitharaman lost
her cool when she was asked
to cut short her engagements.
She said, “I am following a
minute-to-minute pro-
gramme, minister. I do not
violate that. If officials are
edabad
tip of iceberg
According to a survey
conducted to test the land
on the surface and layers
beneath revealed that
several structures below
the ground were weak.
ing work and measured the
effect of digging on the sur-
face. We felt tremors in some
places. Six-and-a-half km of 39
km in the first phase is under-
ground. Four tunnel boring
machines have been called in
to lay the underground line.
The machine can dig up to 10
mts in a day. But, the work has
slowed down due to the mon-
soon,” the MD said, adding
that work has slowed down
now because of the rains.
The authority found an an-
cient sword while digging the
Metro tunnel in the Capital.
However, nothing of that sort
has been found here. But,
Ahmedabad has a rich history.
online resources, and other
services.
“While an entrepreneur
cannot be restricted to get
resources, a librarian and a
library can reduce the time
consumed during his jour-
ney. Only a librarian can
identify right kind of re-
sources which is needed by
start-ups to develop any tech-
nology, etc,” Mehta said.
A variety of speakers
were invited to the seminar
and they spoke about the in-
important, my parivaar [fam-
ily] is also equally important.
I follow the minister-in-
charge. Central minister fol-
lows the minister in-charge
here. Unbelievable,” she told
Mahesh, who was sitting next
to her. The MoD in its state-
ment said on completion of
the field visits, as per the pro-
gramme, the defence minister
was interacting with ex-ser-
vicemen who had been ad-
versely affected by the floods.
RFID gates to
keep others out
of BRTS lane
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Ahmedabad Janmarg Limit-
ed (AJL) introduced RFID-
based gates at L Colony bus
terminus, on Friday, under
the smart city project. The
civic body has installed CCTV
cameras to monitor the tres-
passers and take action
against the violators.
“When vehicles with
RFIDs – BRTS and AMTS —
stop at the terminus, the
gates send alerts and the path
opens automatically and clos-
es after the vehicles pass,”
said Rakesh Shankar CEO of
Smart City Project, AMC.
As of now, the system has
been integrated with doors of
the bus terminus. If the door
opens, the RFIDs will open
too. Based on the findings of
the RFID, the civic body will
expand the same on every ter-
minus. “We are trying to instil
the idea that the BRTS is a
special track. Other vehicles
should not enter that lane,”
added Shankar.
terdependence between li-
braries and startups and the
recent developments in both
the areas. H Anil Kumar of
Vikram Sarabhai Library of
the IIMA said, “The problem
is while new universities are
now realizing the impor-
tance of libraries, lot of push
and change is needed at the
policy level in terms of ap-
pointment of librarians,
they pay scale, etc. We need
to provide the space and am-
bience to students.”
Onam subdued,
PM says nation
with Kerala
From p1
“We will survive the toxic sub-
stances we are facing today. 
Tomorrow, we will make good
memories. For all the Malay-
alees, all over the world.”
Vijayan also reassured
those who lost their docu-
ments in the calamity. “The
government is preparing to
provide all the important
documents and certificates
for those who have lost their
Aadhaar and ration cards in
the floods,” he tweeted.
From United Kingdom,
Congress president Rahul
Gandhi asked people to take a
pledge on Onam to put aside
differences, stand united to-
gether and focus on rebuild-
ing Kerala. “This is a difficult
time for the people of Kera-
la,” he said on Twitter. “In
relief camps and homes
across the state, people are
grieving for their loved ones.
On this Onam, let us pledge to
put aside our differences,
stand united together and fo-
cus on the task of #Rebuild-
ingKerala.”

daily news & analysis
Alternate Histories
Barrackpore, 1824: the
fire of mutiny first lit
General Sir George Paget was the original General Dyer
Aneesh Gokhale
H
as there been a typo in the ti-
tle? Isn’t Barrackpore associ-
ated with the year 1857 and
not 1824? But there was in-
deed an uprising in the same
Barrackpore cantonment
thirty years prior to the events of
1857, and this little conflagration
had its full effect on the more well-
known ‘India’s First War of Inde-
pendence’.
By 1824, the East India Compa-
ny’s (EIC) mastery of the Indian
subcontinent was almost complete.
The Marathas had been subdued via
various battles and treaties by 1818
and the smaller states subdued or
made allies – such as the Nizam. The
Sikhs were limited to the west of the
Sutlej via the Treaty of Sutlej and
Sindh was hardly a headache. The
problem had cropped up from the
east in the form of the Burmese
kingdom which had overrun Ma-
nipur and Assam and threatened
British possessions in Bengal. The
Burmese capture and massacre of a
small British garrison at Ramu near
Chittagong made matters worse. Ru-
mours quickly spread about the
‘eminent’ march of the Burmese
general Maha Bandula towards Cal-
cutta, sending the EIC into a tizzy.
The British replied by sending a
naval expedition to Rangoon, which
Maha Bandula evacuated and he
retreated to Ava. With the naval ex-
pedition not finding success, the
EIC resorted to sending troops over-
land – via the Cachar hills of Ma-
nipur and via Chittagong into Ara-
kan, a province of Burma. They
were to then reach the Irrawaddy
river valley and join the soldiers
who had taken Rangoon.
The EIC had three Presidency
Armies – one each for Bengal, Ma-
dras and Bombay. The Bengal
Army was obviously the oldest and
largest and also best positioned for
this Burma expedition. Hence, the
26th, 62nd and the 47th Regiments
of the Bengal Army, then stationed
at Barrackpore in Bengal, were or-
dered to take up the expedition.
Their commander was one General
Sir George Paget – a name which
should have been known to us as an
example of brutality under British
rule but sadly isn’t. While Paget’s
experience as a military man was
vast, his experience in India was
nil. Grievances considered genu-
ine by Indian soldiers but thought
to be trivial by General Paget led to
a very combustible situation a few
days later.
For starters, the soldiers of the
47th Regiment had undertaken fre-
quent long marches in the recent
past. This was another tiring march
against an unknown enemy in
harsh and foreign conditions. More-
over, most of the Bengal Army con-
sisted of Brahmins or Purubias.
Following the prevalent caste
norms, each soldier would carry his
own utensils into a campaign.
Barrackpore finds a firm place in our history not once, but twice!
Making music: The remote is as vital as the mainstream
Gowri Ramnarayan
T
he man sits in silence next to a
rudra veena. Quiet, alert, expect-
ant. Just as he gives the veena a
quick, surreptitious stroke, an-
other man walks into the room.
“I touched your veena,” the first
man confesses guiltily. The other says,
with a smile in his voice, “You can
even play it if you like!”
As you take in this moment, you for-
get that the first speaker is an interna-
tional icon of popular music, the other
a proud representative of the classical
dhrupad tradition. You only see two
human beings bonding, and outdoing
each other in charm: AR Rahman and
Bahauddin Dagar. “Harmony with AR
Rahman”, a recently released five-part
Amazon musical docu-series, directed
by Sruti Harihara Subramanian, pro-
duced by Kavithalaya, has many such
winsome moments.
Ten years ago I knew Sruti as an ac-
tor in my play. She seemed shy and self-
effacing. So I was as surprised as de-
Vol 11 n Issue No. 295 RNI: GUJENG/2007/22424. Printed and Published by Deepak Rajani on behalf of Diligent Media Corporation ltd. Printed at Bhaskar Printing Press, Survey No.148 P, Nagdevta Mandir, Changodar, Bavla Highway, Sanand, Ahmedabad (Gujarat) and Published at Diligent Media Corporation
Limited, Venus Atlantis Building, Unit No. 201 to 208, 2nd Floor, 100 Feet Road, Prahladnagar, Satellite, Ahmedabad 380015. Phone: 079 4060 2000 Editor: Deepak Lokhande Responsible for selection of news under PRB Act.
T
Transporting this baggage meant
employing large numbers of bull-
ocks. General Paget refused to pro-
vide either – sufficient number of
bullocks or sufficient money to pur-
chase bullocks.
Another problematic issue was
the knapsacks provided to the sol-
diers; many of those were worn out
or torn and unfit for a long cam-
paign into the jungles of Burma. In
protest, the 47th Regiment refused
to march to Burma on the designat-
ed day in November 1824.
These were genuine concerns
which could have been settled ami-
cably. Instead, General Paget
reached Barrackpore with two Brit-
ish battalions, an artillery company,
and some bodyguards of Governor
General.
Next morning immediately, the
British Battalions stood facing the
47th Regiment of the Bengal Army.
The sepoys of the latter were armed
and joined by some disgruntled ele-
ments from the other two Barrack-
pore regiments. They peacefully
made a petition to their commander,
listing their problems. Although
General Paget agreed that none
were to be sent via the sea, he was
in no mood to listen to the other
grievances. He was of the view that
the sepoys should first lay down
their arms. Bear in mind that no
Indian soldier had so much as fired
a shot so far.
General Sir George Paget then
ordered his artillery to open fire,
without warning, on the 47th Regi-
ment of the Bengal Army! This was
followed by a cavalry charge of the
British battalions. Over a hundred
died almost instantly. Many
drowned trying to escape via the
nearby Ganges. A court-martial of
the entire regiment was held on the
same day, with 41 being sentenced to
death. A dozen was hanged the next
day to ‘set an example’. Only the Jal-
lianwala Bagh would match the
death count in an unprovoked shoot-
ing. The Regiment itself was dis-
banded.
Its effect on 1857? The memory of
1824 played its role in the events of
1857 – least of all the place. In fact,
one of the soldiers hanged to death
became a martyr of sorts for the
Barrackpore regiments. His uten-
sils and brass paraphernalia were
preserved like relics. Although the
‘uprising’ began on the first of No-
vember 1824 and was brutally sup-
pressed the next day, its memory
and effect continued to felt more
than thirty years later. In fact, Gen-
eral Paget’s actions gave ample rea-
son for the killing of British officers
in 1857, opine some.
Thus Barrackpore finds a firm
place in our history not once, but
twice!
The writer is the author of
Brahmaputra — Story of Lachit
Borphukan and Sahyadris to
Hindukush — Maratha Conquest
of Lahore and Attock. Views
expressed are personal.
lighted to see her act in ace filmmaker
K Balachander’s teleserial, assist ac-
tor/director Revathy Menon, make cor-
porate films and docufilms. “A Far Af-
ternoon”, her documentary on emi-
nent painter Kishen Khanna, won two
national awards. Next came “Sewa
Geet”, a music video, based on Ra-
bindranath Tagore’s song (Matri-
mondir), rendered in Hindi by Javed
Akhtar.
Sruti’s interest in exploring wide-
ranging geographical and cultural ter-
rain is obvious in “Harmony with Rah-
man”. The serial revels in India’s dis-
tinct regional identities, intriguing lin-
guistic contrasts and amazing diversi-
ties by focusing on the panoramic mu-
sic of the subcontinent. Four rare, dis-
parate and ancient genres are seen
through the eyes of AR Rahman, who
has created his own brand of world
music today. As Rahman interacts and
performs with heritage music makers,
what comes alive is not only music re-
claimed and re-contextualised, but also
the journey and struggle of each indi-
06 
Ahmedabad I SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2018
​A poet’s commitment to peace
Vajpayee’s Pakistan and Kashmir doctrines, if implemented, can put an end to cross-border terrorism
By invitation
Gen Ashok K Mehta
he electronic media had a galaxy
of commentators to cover the de-
mise and last rites of India’s first
BJP three-time Prime Minister
Atal Bihari Vajpayee. But conspic-
uously missing from that glitter-
ing gathering were military officers,
considering that the funeral ceremony
was conducted​​almost entirely by them
and, more importantly, Vajpayee’s tenure
was packed with security-related events
on both fronts – China and Pakistan. His
poems ‘Haar nahin manunga’ and ‘yudh
nahin hone doonga’ demonstrated his
steely resolve to deter Rawalpindi and
persist in peace-seeking. The message
from Pakistan on Vajpayee’s passing
away included praise for his faith in​​
SAARC. Vajpayee had immense parlia-
mentary acumen. He learnt to co-habit
with the​​Opposition and built a talented
team of independent-minded ministers
like George Fernandes, Jaswant Singh,
Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie and his
ideological rival and compatriot, LK Ad-
vani.
His first great triumph was the
Pokhran nuclear test, which paradoxi-
cally led to resetting relations with the
US and ruffling Chinese feathers by cit-
ing Beijing as the principal reasons for
the tests. The Jaswant Singh-Strobe Tal-
bott talks ended with the Next Steps in
Strategic Partnership which culminated
in the 2005 India-US nuclear deal. This
became the open sesame of a defining
partnership which Vajpayee described as
the one between ‘natural allies’. The Kar-
gil war which followed his Lahore peace
yatra in February 1999 was rendered
‘non-escalatory’ before securing vacation
of Pakistani intrusions. The Kargil vic-
tory enabled BJP in winning the elec-
tions. Then in December 1999, like a bolt
from the blue came the hijacking of the
Indian airliner from Kathmandu to Kan-
dahar which lasted for a week, ending in
the exchange of three terrorists for 150
Indian citizens. Succumbing to terrorism
haunted the BJP for years.
Despite the hijacking and the betrayal
at Lahore, Vajpayee persisted in his ef-
forts for peace with Pakistan. He would
say: you can change history, not geogra-
phy. The Agra summit in July 2001 came
a cropper due to its sabotage by both
sides. The terrorist attack on Parliament
in 2001 led to Operation Parakram – the
full mobilisation of Armed Forces and
Doubling farmers’ income: Can it be a reality?
The success of various schemes such as a nationwide electronic national agriculture market are crucial
Aranyak Saikia
T
here is much agreement among econo-
mists and policymakers alike that In-
dia’s agriculture is in distress. The
newspaper reports of farmer suicides
and distress sales of vegetables point to a
gloomy picture and warn about the im-
pending obstacles to the government’s
target of doubling farmers’ income by
2022. Addressing the challenges to agri-
culture gets even more important when
the sector that employs about 49 per cent
of the workforce contributes only 14 per
cent to the country’s GDP.
The challenges arise primarily be-
cause agricultural is an inherently risky
sector. There are five basic risks in agri-
culture: input, market, price, credit and
weather-related risks. Input risks arise
from soil quality, the effectiveness of fer-
tilisers and pesticides and possibility of
pest attacks. Thanks to the over-regulated
APMC markets in states, stock limits
through the Essential Commodities Act,
1955, and unpredictable export policies,
farmers face various market risks. Price
volatility is a common risk. During times
of underproduction, prices shoot up but
farmers do not have enough harvest to
sell. During a glut, prices crash. Access to
credit is another source of risk. Although
priority sector lending (PSL) norms of
commercial banks in India mandate a
vidual musician, including Rahman
himself.
Dissimilar locations add to the dra-
ma. Drawing on his scanty Malayalam
vocabulary as he greets mizhavu drum-
mer Sajith Vijayan in Kalamandalam,
Kerala, Rahman starts cycling with
him shouting “Safe landing!” The two
musicians jam under the trees with
He came up with the insightful formula of ‘Insaniyat, Kashmiriyat and Jamhooriyat’ for peace that Modi repeated on Independence Day
bringing the country to the brink of war
not once but twice. First, around January
9, 2002, three days after Vajpayee had at-
tended the Saarc summit in Kathmandu
when Gen Musharraf ambushed him by
shaking his hand. The second D day was
around June 9, after the second terrorist
strike at Kaluchak on May 14, 2002, on
Army barracks full of soldiers’ families.
The US intervened in the crisis extract-
ing pledges from Musharraf on ending
terrorism and infiltration while doves
and hawks in the Vajpayee cabinet furi-
ously debated the gains and losses of a
limited war.
In a briefing in the war room, Army
Chief, General S Padmanabhan told Vaj-
payee: “Sir, I know you won’t let me go to
war” (Vajpayee’s yuddh na hone doonga)
but I am hoping Musharraf will oblige.
Once we go in and you ask me to stop, I
will say ‘I can’t hear you’,” he said half-
jokingly. The war clouds blew over. India
withdrew its forces on October 16, 2002.
The exercise in coercion was only par-
tially successful. Jaswant Singh would
later say that the Armed Forces were not
ready for war. The nuclear overhang was
a big factor in preventing conflict. De-
spite the serial provocations by Pakistan,
Vajpayee neither lost his cool nor his re-
solve to negotiate peace with Pakistan.
Excessive focus on Minimum Support Prices has resulted in a ballooning subsidy bill
certain fraction of loans to be disbursed
to agriculture, in reality, these loans go to
large farmers as banks find them less
risky borrowers. The small and marginal
farmers that make up more than 70 per
cent of the total pool of farmers are
forced to borrow from the usurious mon-
ey-lenders at extremely high rates of in-
terest. As they get trapped in debt, many
of them are left with no option but to end
their lives. Finally, the weather is the
dominant risk faced by farmers. With just
about 44 per cent of the Net Sown Area
under irrigation, a majority of the peas-
traditional drums and electronic in-
struments, the forest resounding to
their rhythms. Moving next to the
Himalayas, Rahman hears a Sikkim
band striving to bring their old music
to the new world. We see flautist Mick-
ma Tshering Lepcha cutting bamboo
and making his panthong palith flute,
playing its heartwrenching first notes
to the god of the tribe, Kanchenjunga,
and in the smoke-hung rituals of his
shaman father. Here as elsewhere, the
beauty of the location is not over-
looked, neither is it overblown to
smudge the music itself.
At AIR, Imphal, Rahman meets
Lourembam Bedabati Devi, the incred-
ible and brilliant exponent of the dis-
tinctly specialised and vanishing vocal
tradition of khuilang eshei, and starts
playing a harmonium lying on the car-
pet. Bedabati joins him in a luminous
circle of melody. The soulfulness of
this impulsive session is offset by com-
ic relief as Rahman reminisces about
uppuma and pongal in the AIR canteen
of his early years — “Free government
opini n
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He did not box India into a corner by
stipulating rigid conditions for dialogue
like terror and talks will not go together.
He followed the Robert Bruce dictum: try,
try and you will succeed.
In April 2003, Vajpayee went to Srina-
gar, extending his hand of friendship to
Kashmiris in a public rally. He coined
the insightful formula of ‘Insaniyat,
Kashmiriyat and Jamhooriyat’ for peace
that Modi repeated on Independence
Day. And in an electrifying gesture
pointing to Islamabad, Vajpayee had
said: “I am extending India’s hand of
friendship to Pakistan. We will discuss
all issues of mutual concern, including
Kashmir.” In a political coup of sorts
during the Islamabad Saarc summit in
January 2004, he extracted a pledge from
ants in India are overwhelmingly depend-
ent on the monsoon. The risk is getting
exacerbated due to climate change, as the
recent Economic Survey has highlighted.
Post Green Revolution, Indian agricul-
tural policy has followed a two-pronged
approach. First, farmer incomes are pro-
tected through the Minimum Support
Prices (MSPs) announced for a variety of
crops every year. Second, research, exten-
sion and introduction of high-yielding
variety seeds, better fertilisers and focus
on mechanization. This has been accom-
panied by falling public investments in
tiffin you know!”
With Bahauddin Dagar it is a meet-
ing of minds in the latter’s Mumbai
flat. At the rose-scattered tomb of his
musician father, the veena player re-
calls how he realised the value of his
heritage only when his father died. He
dropped out of college to fulfil his re-
sponsibility to keep the torch burning.
Rahman talks about his father, and
then unexpectedly, cracks open a trade
secret with, “Do you know, raga
Charukesi is the go-to weapon when
you want sadness.” Dagar laughs and
playfully repeats Rahman’s lines in
that raga.
“No way this film would have
worked but for Rahman Sir’s presence,
support and musical contribution,”
Sruti acknowledges gratefully. “He
gave me complete trust.” Yes, there are
compromises in this film of inclusive
entertainment, obvious — not distaste-
ful. The spectacular finale of the four
musicians celebrating the joy of the
soul, Man mauj, with a zillion member
orchestra centre-staging Rahman... Too
Musharraf that the Pakistani soil would
not be used for terrorism directed
against India.
With this ceasefire agreement at LoC
in November 2003 and Musharraf ’s
pledge of stopping cross-border terror-
ism, India and Pakistan entered the
most peaceful phase of their relation-
ship which lasted five years from 2003 to
2007. During this period, the framework
of a four-point Kashmir solution was
agreed back-channel but could not be
consummated for lack of political will
in India and because Musharraf lost his
job of the Army Chief. It used to be said
and it is true today that only a BJP gov-
ernment in India and the military in
Pakistan can resolve outstanding dis-
putes including Kashmir.
It is unlikely that the Modi govern-
ment will follow up on Imran Khan’s
‘you take one step forward and we will
take two’ till the elections in 2019. This
will allow Khan to work on his ‘new Pa-
kistan’. Modi can at least let Pakistan
hold the 2016 postponed Saarc summit
in Islamabad later this year in a tribute
to Vajpayee’s doctrine: ‘haar nahin ma-
noonga’.
The author is the convenor of the
ongoing India-Pakistan Track II
dialogue. Views are personal.
agriculture. The MSPs have been effec-
tive for mainly paddy and wheat as the
government has proper procurement
mechanisms for these two crops. At the
same time, excessive focus on MSPs has
resulted in a ballooning subsidy bill cou-
pled with rising costs of production,
without any concurrent improvement in
farmer remuneration. Governments have
also resorted to loan waivers from time to
time, putting extra pressure on the fiscal
deficit.
Given the policy complexities enumer-
ated above, there has been a change in
thinking in policymaking from ensuring
stable prices to ensuring stable incomes
for farmers. This shift in policymaking
has resulted in the introduction of vari-
ous schemes, such as a nationwide elec-
tronic National Agriculture Market (e-
NAM), a model law on Contract Farming,
tax incentives to Farmer Producer Com-
panies, an agricultural insurance
scheme, promotion of organic farming,
diversification to horticulture and so on.
The recent announcement of a hike in the
MSP should be a short-term step to pro-
vide immediate relief to farmers in dis-
tress. The long-term success of agricul-
tural policy will depend on how the above
schemes are implemented.
The author is a research scholar
at Delhi School of Economics. Views
are personal.
deliberate a climax?
But the film connects because the
director is not overwhelmed by the an-
chor’s cult status. Every musician is
given equal respect. Also, the stories of
music are told through the stories of
musicians. “At the end of the day, it is a
human story for me, connecting musi-
cians through their passion.”
Then there is Rahman’s bonhomie
and boyish charm. His glitz is undenia-
ble, but so is his humility in approach-
ing other artists. His impish sense of
fun makes him a friend. His journey
becomes our journey, his discoveries
our discoveries. But it is not the mod-
ern music which lingers. The Sikkim
flute haunts you, the Manipuri voice
bewitches you... As this primal music
unfolds, you begin to see that diversity
is not dispensable. It is our source of
knowledge. The remote is as vital as
the mainstream. Only together can
they become our elixir for renewal.
The author is a playwright, thea-
tre director, musician & journalist.
Views are personal.
 indi 
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293 dead since Aug 8, 15 still missing
Flood-hit Kerala witnesses a sombre Onam, people from different religions celebrate in relief camps across state
T hir uvananthapur am:
Kerala’s major annual festi-
val Onam was marked on
Saturday by sombre mood
with nearly six lakh dis-
placed people still in relief
camps even as the toll in the
murderous monsoon rose to
293 and 15 people missing.
Onam is celebrated with
great pomp across the state,
but this time around festivi-
ties are the last thing on peo-
ple’s minds as they come to
grip with the devastation.
The nature’s fury at its
worst also saw the best faces
of humanity as people from
different religions came to-
gether to provide shelter to
their brethren with a
mosque, turned into a relief
camp, hosting Onam celebra-
tions in Alappuzha district.
According to the latest fig-
ures released by the state
government, as many as 28
bodies were recovered on
Saturday, pushing the toll to
293 since August 8, when
the second spell of
monsoon turned dis-
astrous for the state,
triggering land-
slides and floods.
kerala
Fifteen people are
floods
still missing, the state
disaster control room
sources said putting the over-
all toll in rain-related inci- cancelled official Onam cel-
Homes damaged, people afraid to leave camps
People look at houses destroyed in landslides in Idukki district —DNA
in brief
Woman washed
away in flooded
canal in U’khand
Dehradun: A woman has
gone missing after being
swept away in a flooded
canal on Saturday in
Pauri district as heavy
rains lashed various
parts of Uttarakhand,
triggering landslides
and rivers flowing in
spate. Flooded by inces-
sant rains, the waters of
Paniyali canal washed
away a portion of a
house located on its
banks in Ampadav area
of Kotdwar, Sub-Divi-
sional Magistrate Kam-
lesh Mehta said. The
strong currents swept
away a woman who lived
in the house, he said,
adding that a search op-
eration was on to find
her. Similar weather has
been predicted for most
parts of the state over
the next 24 hours.
Another loses eye
sight due to liquor
Muzaffarnagar: One
person has lost his eye-
sight after consuming
spurious liquor at Bidoli
village under Jhinjhana
police station, a day af-
ter another man was
hospitalised with simi-
lar complaint, police
said on Saturday. SHO
OP Chaudhary said
Sukhpal lost his eye-
sight on Friday after he
consumed liquor
brought from Kamalpur
village. Police arrested a
woman, Amarjit Kaur,
the wife of Joga Singh
who allegedly supplied
the spurious liquor.
4 cadres of terror
groups held in J&K
Srinagar: Four over-
ground workers of ter-
ror outfits were arrested
and three hideouts of
the ultras busted in Pul-
wama district of Jammu
and Kashmir, a spokes-
man said on Saturday.
The police, along with
security forces, busted a
hideout in Rajpora Lit-
ter area and arrested an
over-ground worker, he
said. Incriminating ma-
terial along with impro-
vised explosive device
was recovered.
TN sends 256
transformers,
40K meters
PTI
Women make a rangoli during ‘Onam’ at a relief camp in Kochi on Saturday
ebrations in view of the mon-
Govt help soon fury.
„„A total of `10,000 A government release is-
each will be transferred to sued late on Friday night
the bank accounts of 3.91 said the flood-hit areas
lakh affected families. would be recorded using a
mobile app, with the help of
„„`242.73 crore has voluntary organisations and
been earmarked from local bodies and compensa-
the Chief Minister’s tion would be distributed
Disaster Relief after this process.
Fund (CMDRF). A total of Rs 10,000 each
would be transferred to the
dents at 445 since
May 29, when South
bank accounts of 3.91 lakh
families affected by the flood
West Monsoon had and Rs 242.73 crore has been
set in over the south- earmarked from the Chief
ern state. Minister’s Disaster Relief
The state government has fund (CMDRF) for the pur-
pose, the release said.  —PTI
G Jagannath
g.jagannath@dnaindia.net
Idukki: Raju Krishnan (57)
of Adi Vasi Colony near
Cheruthoni in Idukki district
which recorded the highest
death toll of 63 in this years
monsoon’s fury, was con-
stantly asking the inmates of
his relief camp at Men’s Hos-
tel where would they go if
they were asked move out of
the camp.
Krishnan is one of the over
5,000 people whose residence
were either fully damaged or
young monks
Foreign delegates arrive to participate in the International Buddhist Conclave, in Bodhgaya on Saturday —PTI
Mani Shankar Aiyar bats for Article 35A
DNA Correspondent issue is being whipped up
correspondent@dnaindia.net unnecessarily. Whipping
up (passions) is not in any-
Srinagar: Amid tensions one’s interest,” Aiyar said.
in a run-up to the Article “I hope Supreme Court
35A hearing in the Supreme will decide the matter in the
Court, newly reinstated interest of country. I wish
Congress leader Mani 35A should stay in the Con-
Shankar Aiyar batted for stitution so the people in
the retention of state sub- J&K do not fear that their
ject law in the Indian Con- rights of last 90 years are
stitution and hoped that the being snatched,” he said.
apex court would decide the Tensions have been
case in national interest. mounting in Kashmir in a
“This issue should not run up to the hearing.
be touched. Article 35A is Joint Resistance Leader-
in the Constitution. No- ship of separatists have
body should even attempt called for two-day shut-
to remove this Article. This down from August 30.
Fruity war: A popular Rakhi attraction in U’khand
Nainital: Rakashabandhan
in Uttarakhand’s Kumaon
region has a unique attrac-
tion, an age old custom of
stone fight which has now got
a fruity twist.
Enthusiastic spectators
climb the rooftops and occu-
py the temple steps to watch
the ‘Bagwal’ (fight) as zealous
Ranbankuras, sporting head-
bands and carrying huge
bamboo shields, pour into the
Dubachaur field in front of
Barahi Devi temple with
their ammunition to please a
local deity. ties, a few years back, banned
But the stones have gradu- stones due to injuries during
ally been replaced by fruits the event which is held in
and flowers after the authori- Champawat district’s Devid-
Tamil tribe to help
deal snake menace
G Jagannath
g.jagannath@dnaindia.net
Idukki: As the complaints
of snake menace witness-
es a five-fold rise in the
flood-hit areas of Kerala, a
team of 60 Irulas — a tribe
of snake catcher’s from
Tamil Nadu — were roped
in to help catch the
reptiles that en-
tered the homes
and residential
localities.
A forest de-
partment offi-
cial in Alappu-
zha district
said they were
receiving 20 to 25
calls a day from flood-
affected people about
snake intrusion. “Before
monsoon, we used to get
only four to five call per
week,” he said. The official
said most of the snakes
were non-venomous py-
thons, but a few venomous
Cobra and Russell’s viper
partially damaged in the land-
slides in Idukki. As the rain
subsided, some went back
home, but those without home
continue living in camps.
“I was living in the house
for 50 years. It got destroyed
in front of me,” Krishnan
said. Marry Joseph of Mani-
varankudi near Cheruthoni
said that she had spent Rs two
lakh this year to repair the
house before monsoon. “Now
I have to repay Rs two lakh
loan for the house that was
completely damaged in the
landslide,” she said.
Rahul to face defamation case MoD OK to 111 copters
& guns worth `46K cr
Muzaffarpur: A complaint
was filed against Congress
president Rahul Gandhi in
a court in Bihar on Saturday
seeking registration of a
defamation case against him
for allegedly tarnishing and
lowering the image of the
country.
The complaint was filed
by advocate Sudhir Kumar
Ojha in the court of Chief
Judicial Magistrate Hari
Prasad, which fixed Septem-
ber 4 as the date for hearing.
Ojha contended that Ra-
hul had “justified terrorism
and explained the emergence
of Islamic State (IS) group
due to increasing unemploy-
hura village.
Traditionally the Bagwal
started with the temple priest
offering prayers in the tem-
were also caught.
Wildlife conservationist
and a snake catcher Vava
Suresh, who had caught
more than 50,000 snakes,
said Irulas were engaged
by the volunteer groups as
they were getting numer-
ous complaints of snake
menace. “About 60 Irulas
were deployed in sepa-
rate teams in vari-
ous flood-hit dis-
tricts,” he said.
He said af-
ter the floods,
he caught
about 80
snakes across
the state.
S Jayakumar,
vice president of Irula
Snake Catchers Coopera-
tive in Chennai said that
they had deputed 18 Irulas
to Kerala to assist Kerala
people. “Irulas can locate
and catch the snakes by
seeing the marks, its
peeled out skin and excre-
ta,” he said.
From 50,000 people living
in the camps at Idukki, it has
come down to about 15,000
people.
George who was leading
relief works at Cheruthoni
in Idukki told DNA that 5,000
houses were either partially
or fully damaged in the land-
slides in the district. “Gov-
ernment has decided to con-
struct new homes for them.
But it will take some time.
Until then we have to accom-
modate them somewhere
that is the main challenge
now,” he said.
UP DGP writes to CBI on witness’ death
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Lucknow: Under pressure
from the media exposé and
AICC President Rahul Gan-
dhi’s tweet, the mysteri-
ous death of a key
CBI witness in Un-
nao gang-rape and
murder case Yu- Unnao
nus Khan has tak- Rape
en a curious turn Case wrote to the Direc-
with Uttar Pradesh
DGP OP Singh writing
a letter to the CBI Director witness quoting the letter
and leaving the decision on of the deceased’s second
exhuming the body for post
mortem examination on
the investigating agency.
Interestingly, the Unnao family sources claimed Yu-
Police, which was so far
ment and likened it with
that of India, which is
an insult to the
country”.
The Gandhi
scion, during his
visit to Germany
and Britain, had
said that terror-
ism was on the rise
in India due to in-
creasing unemploy-
ment, Ojha said in his com-
plaint.
He also held Indian cul-
ture responsible for violence
against women, the com-
plainant said, adding that
the Congress chief had “tar-
nished and lowered the im-
Stones go Soft
The tradition of ‘Bagwal’
in Uttarakhand’s Kumaon
region initially involved
stones, but following
heavy opposition to the
bloodshed fruits and
flowers replaced the
stones a few years ago.
ple complex. Then he pre-
sented her with the com-
manders of the four Khams
who, after receiving her
blessings, lead their Khams
into the battleground.
The Runbaukuras (the par-
ticipants) then start pelting
Ahmedabad I SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2018 I daily news & analysis
A house destroyed in the floods
Coimbatore/Erode: Ta-
mil Nadu government
sent 256 transformers and
40,000 power meters apart
from one lakh litres of
‘Amma’ brand of bottled
drinking water to flood-
hit Kerala on Saturday.
Electricity Minister P
Thangamani said the Ta-
mil Nadu Electricity
Board had sent the trans-
formers and power meters
to the neighbouring state,
which was reeling under
the impact of the floods
and landslides unleashed
by the monsoon fury.
Meanwhile in Coim-
batore, Municipal Admin-
istration Minister SP Ve-
lumani flagged off 11 lor-
ries carrying the water
bottles.
A total of 42 types of
relief materials, includ-
ing rice, grains, medicines
and essentials worth Rs 4
crore has also been sent,
the minister said.
Chief Minister K
Palaniswami has already
announced Rs 10 crore fi-
nancial assistance for
Kerala, he added.
Besides, a non-govern-
mental organisation has
donated a water purifying
machine worth Rs 5 lakh,
which is also part of the
relief materials sent on
Saturday, he said.  —PTI
maintaining that the key
CBI witness had died due to
ill health, has also urged
the Unnao District Magis-
trate to issue orders for ex-
huming the body for post
mortem examination to
ascertain the cause of
death to clear doubts
over his mysterious
death.
DGP Singh
tor CBI to inform
about the death of key
wife Sabina Khatoon.
In his letter, he told the
investigating agency that
nus Khan died due to lung
age of India internation-
ally on foreign soil”.
He filed the
criminal com-
plaint case
against Rahul
Gandhi under
various sections
of IPC including
153B (Imputations,
assertions prejudi-
cial to national integra-
tion), 500 (defamation) and
504 (insult with intent to pro-
voke breach of the peace).
If convicted by the court
in such case, the charges at-
tract a minimum of two to
three years of imprisonment
with fine or both.  —PTI
stones at one another while
trying to shield themselves
from the onslaught with bam-
boo shields or Farras.
This continues until the
priest is satisfied that enough
blood has been shed. The
sound of the conch for the
second time marks the end of
the match.
“The long-standing prac-
tice of pelting stones was
widely opposed and thereby,
stopped by the authorities,”
said an official.
The official said it was not
easy to abolish the old tradi-
tion and the practice was
given up reluctantly by the
Khams.  —PTI
07
Encourage Bhutan
to deploy soldiers in
Doklam, govt urged
New Delhi: A parliamentary
panel adopted a report on the
Doklam issue on Saturday
recommending that India
should encourage Bhutan to
deploy more soldiers on the
northern parts of the sensi-
tive region.
Troops of India and China
were locked in a 73-day stand-
off in Doklam in Sikkim from
June 16 last year, after the
Indian side stopped construc-
tion of a road in the disputed
tri-junction by the Chinese
Army. Bhutan and China
have a dispute over Doklam.
Congress president Rahul
Gandhi is a member of the
Parliamentary Standing
Committee on External Af-
fairs, headed by party MP
Shashi Tharoor. Gandhi was
not present in the meeting on
Saturday.
Earlier this month, the
panel could not adopt the
draft report as most of the
BJP members skipped the
meeting and the quorum
could not be reached, accord-
ing to sources.
Some members of the pan-
el who were present in Satur-
day’s meeting said the report
was adopted with minor
modifications.
The draft report, circulat-
ed among the panel’s mem-
bers on August 6, did not
clarify whether the commit-
tee was favouring increasing
the deployment of Indian
troops in the region.
File photo of Doklam tri-junction in Sikkim where Indian and Chinese
troops were locked in a 73-day stand-off from June 16, 2017
infection and liver cirrho-
sis, and said there was no
foul play. He, however, left
the decision for exhuming
the body on the investiga-
tive agency for autopsy to
ascertain the cause of
death medically.
Yunus Khan was found
dead under mysterious cir-
Abhishek Bhalla
abhishek.bhalla@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: The Ministry of
Defence cleared on Saturday
procurement worth Rs 46,000
crore including helicopters
for the Indian Navy and in-
digenous artillery guns for
the Army.
The plan to purchase 111
utility helicopters for the
Navy for over Rs 21,000 crore
will be the first project under
the MoD’s strategic partner-
ship model aimed at boosting
domestic manufacturing of
defence equipment under
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi’s ‘Make in India’.
The strategic partnership
model has a long-term vision
of promoting India as a man-
ufacturing hub for defence
equipment by facilitating do-
mestic manufacturers to
partner with foreign firms,
acquire niche technologies
and set up production facili-
ties in India.
A parliamentary panel
said recently that nothing
concrete had been done to im-
plement the strategic part-
nership model, which would
cut down defence imports,
unveiled last year. The panel
in its report pointed out that
60 per cent defence equip-
ment was imported.
The Defence Acquisition
Council (DAC) headed by De-
Parl panel
„„A Parliamentary
Standing Committee on
External Affairs headed
by Congress MP Shashi
Tharoor adopted a
resolution on Saturday.
„„The draft report,
circulated among the
panel’s members on
August 6, did not clarify
whether the committee
was favouring
increasing the
deployment of Indian
troops in the region.
BJP members of the panel
had demanded that state-
ments recorded before the
committee by the defence sec-
retary and the incumbent and
former external affairs secre-
taries not be made public.
A member of the commit-
tee on Saturday said that
“nothing sensitive and cru-
cial information” shared
with the panel by officials has
been made public.
The foreign ministry offi-
cials had informed the panel
that Bhutan was firmly with
India on the issue.
During earlier discus-
sions, Rahul Gandhi had
questioned External Affairs
Ministry officials on China’s
objective and why Beijing
chose Doklam to create a con-
frontation, the sources earli-
er said.  —PTI
cumstances on August 18 in
his house in Maakhi village
of Unnao. His brother Jaan
Mohammad had recovered
his body and he was buried
the same day without in-
forming the police. Howev-
er, when the victim’s uncle
and villagers raised doubts
about his death, Jaan Mo-
hammad had written a let-
ter to Javed Ahmad, the SO
Maakhi Police Station re-
questing to exhume his
brother’s body and conduct
autopsy to clear mystery
behind his death.
Yunus Khan was a key
CBI witness in case related
to the death of the Unnao
rape victim’s father on
April 9 in police custody.
fence Minister Nirmala Si-
tharaman also approved the
procurement 150 indigenous
artillery guns, 24 anti-subma-
rine capable, and multi-role
helicopters that are an inte-
gral part of the frontline war-
ships like the aircraft carri-
ers, destroyers, frigates and
corvettes.
MRHs will plug the Navy’s
existing capability gap, the
MoD said.
Homegrown 155mm ad-
vanced towed artillery gun
systems for the Indian Army
at nearly Rs 3,364.78 crore are
expected to be the mainstay
of the force’s artillery fire-
power. “These guns have been
indigenously designed and
developed by the Defence and
Research Development Or-
ganisation and will be manu-
factured by production agen-
cies, as nominated by DRDO,”
the MoD said.
The procurement of 14
vertically launched short
range missile systems was
also cleared by the DAC.
 08
daily news & analysis I Ahmedabad I SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2018
in brief
Zimbabwe Oppn
rejects ruling and
false inauguration
Harare: Zimbabwe’s
main opposition leader
said Saturday he re-
spectfully rejects the
court ruling upholding
President Emmerson
Mnangagwa’s narrow
election win and he
called the inauguration
set for Sunday “false.”
Nelson Chamisa spoke a
day after the Constitu-
tional Court unanimous-
ly rejected the opposi-
tion’s claims of vote-rig-
ging and said it did not
bring “sufficient and
credible evidence.”
Chamisa said “we have
the right to peaceful pro-
test” and that other
routes will be pursued.
Tribal leader says
Sr al-Qaida leader
killed in Yemen
Sanaa: A senior al-Qai-
da leader was killed in
fighting in Yemen’s cen-
tral province of Marib
while fighting alongside
Yemen’s government
forces battling Shiite re-
bels, officials and tribal
leaders said Saturday.
Ghalib al-Zaidi’s death
came a week ago in an
exchange of fire during
clashes with the rebels,
known as Houthis, in
the Sirwah district of
Marib, they said. The
fighting over the area
was supported by air
cover from a Saudi-led
coalition backing Yem-
en’s internationally rec-
ognized government.
6 dead, several
evacuated in
Taiwan floods
Taipei: Six people have
been killed by floodwa-
ters in Taiwan, officials
said Saturday, after days
of heavy rain forced
thousands to evacuate
their homes. A tropical
depression has been
dumping torrential rain
in central and southern
Taiwan since Thursday,
with some districts re-
ceiving close to 1,000
millimetres of rainfall.
Six have died in the
storm so far, according
to government figures.
China: Hot springs
hotel fire devours 19
Beijing: A fire early Satur-
day at a hotel in China has
left at least 19 people dead
and 18 injured, according
to state media.
The blaze broke out dur-
ing the night at the hotel in
Harbin, capital of the
northeastern Heilongjiang
province, the official Xin-
hua news agency reported.
“By the latest count, 19
people have been found dead
and 18 have been taken to
hospital,” the agency said.
An injured died on the way
to the hospital. Images of
the gutted hotel and spa ap-
peared on state broadcaster
CCTV, showing blackened
walls, twisted metal struc-
tures and parts of the ceil-
Charred remains of the hotel seen in Harbin, China on Saturday —AFP
Hurricane treats Hawaii surfers to a taste of the perfect wave
Kailua: Will Rozier could not
sleep on Thursday night, not
because wind and rain from
Hurricane Lane was lashing
his Hawaii home, but because
he was anxious to surf the
huge waves rolling into one
of his favourite beaches on
the Big Island.
“I couldn’t even sit down
and eat breakfast. I had to
throw it all in my car and
drive down to the beach and
eat it while I was watching
the waves and the sun ris-
ing,” said Rozier, 24, a resi-
dent of the archipelago’s
southernmost island who has
surfed since he was a child.
Once or twice a decade a
tropical storm or hurricane

Pope: Church shamed by
‘repugnant’ Irish abuse
Survivor says Pope’s remarks didn’t acknowledge Vatican’s role in cover up
Dublin: Pope Francis marked
the first papal visit to Ireland
in 39 years by acknowledging
that the failure of Church au-
thorities to adequately address
“repugnant” clerical child
abuse crimes there remains a
source of shame for the Catho-
lic community.
Francis arrived on Satur-
day for a highly charged visit
to a society transformed
since more than three-quar-
ters of the population flocked
to see Pope John Paul II in
1979 and beset by the kind of
abuse scandals that have
once more mired the Catholic
Church in crisis. “I cannot
fail to acknowledge the grave
scandal caused in Ireland by
the abuse of young people by
members of the Church
charged with responsibility
for their protection and edu-
cation,” Francis told a state
reception attended by some
abuse survivors.
“The failure of ecclesiasti-
cal authorities - bishops, reli-
gious superiors, priests and
others - adequately to address
these repugnant crimes has
Mount Etna volcano spews lava during an eruption early on Saturday. Mount Etna in Sicily, Italy has roared back
into spectacular volcanic action, sending up plumes of ash and spewing lava —AP
ing hanging precariously.
Those hospitalised had in-
haled toxic smoke or suf-
fered burns, CCTV said,
adding that an investigation
is underway into the cause
of the fire.
Deadly fires are common
in China, where fire secu-
rity regulations are rou-
tinely neglected. In April,
18 people were killed and
five more injured in a fire at
a karaoke establishment in
the country’s south. In No-
vember, a fire left 19 people
dead and eight injured at a
boarding house in Beijing.
And in May 2015, 38 people
were found dead in a fire at
a retirement home in cen-
tral Henan province. —AFP
pushes powerful surges of
water towards the Hawaiian
Islands, generating perfect
waves to test the mettle of the
legions of experienced surf-
ers who call the islands home.
For tourists and less expe-
rienced surfers, the waves can
be deadly, and state beaches
were closed across Hawaii on
Friday as the hurricane
lashed the islands with high
winds, torrential rains and
heavy seas, even as the storm
steadily weakened during the
day. “If you’re inexperienced,
you want to stay away from
these surf breaks, but for eve-
rybody out here, we’re run-
ning to the ocean,” Rozier, an
instructor and guide for surf
Irish PM wants
justice for abuse
victims globally
A protester holds a picture of Pope Francis during a demonstration against
clerical sex abuse, in Dublin, Ireland on Saturday —Reuters
rightly given rise to outrage
and remains a source of pain
and shame for the Catholic
community.”
One of the abuse survivors
present, Colm O’Gorman,
called the pope’s remarks a
staggering effort at deflection
that failed to acknowledge
the Vatican’s role in covering
up the crimes. “It was quite
shocking actually in some
ways,” O’Gorman, a leading
abuse campaigner, told na-
tional broadcaster RTE.
orange fury
Musk ends
bid to take
Tesla private
Washington: Elon Musk
scrapped his plan to take Te-
sla Inc private, a remarkable
reversal more than two
weeks after blindsiding em-
ployees and investors with
the idea in a bombshell tweet.
In a blog post published late
Friday, Tesla’s chairman, CEO
and largest shareholder said
he had met with the board and
“let them know that I believe
the better path is for Tesla to
remain public. The Board indi-
cated that they agree.”
The about-face ends specu-
lation about how Musk would
raise money to take Tesla pri-
vate, but it’s unlikely to ward
off scrutiny of the maverick
CEO’s actions. Musk’s Au-
gust 7 tweet that he wanted to
take the electric-car maker
private at $420 a share and
had “funding secured” sent
the shares soaring before it
became apparent he didn’t
have financing lined up. The
episode led to a subpoena
from the US Securities and
Exchange Commission, ac-
cording to a person familiar
with the matter. Musk’s be-
haviour, including a tearful
interview with the New York
Times that touched on his
lack of sleep, has led to calls
for Tesla to hire a chief oper-
ating officer to help reduce
stress on the CEO.—Bloomberg
Surfers ride swells generated by Lane on Waikiki beach, Hawaii —AFP
shop Kona Boys, said after rid-
ing a break off Kona pier that
he said had appeared for the
first time in four years. Hono-
lulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said
Today, Ireland is no longer
the staunchly Catholic country
it was in 1979 when divorce and
contraception were illegal and
over the past three years, vot-
ers have approved abortion
and gay marriage in referen-
dums, defying the will of the
Church.
Francis asked that Ireland
would not forget “the powerful
strains of the Christian mes-
sage” that have sustained it in
the past, and can continue to
do so in the future. —Reuters
England: Women can take abortion pill at home
London: Women seeking to
end early pregnancies in
England soon will be allowed
to take an abortion pill at
home under a new govern-
ment plan set to take effect by
the end of the year.
Currently, women under-
going medical abortions up
to the 10th week of a preg-
nancy must take two pills at
a clinic 24 to 48 hours apart.
The new plan would allow
them to take the second pill
at home. Supporters said
the current requirement
puts women at risk of hav-
ing miscarriages while
Iran resumes talks with Russia to Doctors order 16 off
build new nuke power installation stranded Italian boat
as Salvini defies UN
Tehran: Iran has resumed
talks with Russia to build a
new nuclear power plant ca-
pable of generating up to
3,000 megawatts of electrici-
ty, energy minister Reza Ar-
dakanian said Saturday, ac-
cording to the Tasnim news
agency.
The Islamic Republic cur-
rently has the capacity to pro-
duce 1,000 megawatts of nu-
clear electricity, Tasnim re-
ported. Iran already runs one
Russian-built nuclear reactor
at Bushehr, its first. Russia
signed a deal with Iran in
lifeguards were out in force
with bullhorns, some of them
on jet skis, ordering people off
the beach and out of the water.
On Maui, further north in
Dublin: Irish premier Leo Var-
adkar urged the pope to ensure
justice for abuse victims world-
wide in a blistering criticism
of the Church’s legacy in Ire-
land where Francis began a
two-day visit on Saturday.
“Wounds are still open and
there is much to be done to
bring about justice and truth
and healing for victims and
survivors. Holy Father, I ask
that you use your office and
influence to ensure that this
is done here in Ireland and
across the world,” Varadkar
said standing next to the pon-
tiff. “We must now ensure that
from words flow actions,” he
said. Vardkar referred to mul-
tiple abuse scandals in Ire-
land, calling them “stains” on
the Catholic Church, the state
and society as a whole that
had left “a legacy of pain and
suffering”. —AFP
Washington cuts more than
$200 mn in aid to Palestinians
Washington: The United
States said Friday that it had
canceled more than $200 mil-
lion in aid for the Palestini-
ans in the Gaza Strip and
West Bank, leading their am-
bassador to accuse President
Donald Trump’s administra-
tion of being “anti-peace.”
A senior State Department
official said the decision,
made “at the direction of the
president,” came after a re-
view of aid programs to the
Palestinian territories.
The funding previously al-
located for programs in the
West Bank and Gaza will
“now address high-priority
projects elsewhere,” said the
official.
A file photo of a pro-abortion demonstration in London, Britain
they are travelling home
from a clinic.
Chief Medical Officer for
England Sally Davies said Sat-
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani
—AFP
2014 to build up to eight more
reactors in the country.
The United States in May
‘bit of a rush’
„„Derrick Grace, a
45-year-old beginner
and US Army lawyer,
was riding a few waves
while he could
„„“This is my second
time out. It looks like
a bit of a rush,” said
Grace, who recently
moved to Hawaii from
Virginia
the island chain, Debra Frey
closed her surf school as she
waited for the storm to hit.
Even though authorities shut
beaches to everyone, she sus-
www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia
Nuke talks: Trump junks
US Secy’s Pyongyang trip
Washington: US President
Donald Trump abruptly
canceled his top diplomat’s
planned trip to North Korea
on Friday, publicly acknowl-
edging for the first time that
his effort to get Pyongyang to
denuclearise had stalled
since his summit with the
North’s leader.
Trump partly blamed Chi-
na for the lack of progress
with North Korea and sug-
gested that talks with Pyong-
yang, led so far by Secretary
of State Mike Pompeo, could
be on hold until after Wash-
ington resolved its bitter
trade dispute with Beijing.
It was a dramatic shift of
tone for Trump, who had pre-
viously hailed his June 12
summit with North Korean
leader Kim Jong Un as a suc-
cess and said the North Ko-
rean nuclear threat was over,
despite no real sign Pyong-
yang was willing to give up
its nuclear weapons.
But Trump still kept the
door open to a second summit
with Kim, with whom the
president recently said he
has “great chemistry.””I have
asked Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo not to go to
North Korea, at this time, be-
cause I feel we are not mak-
ing sufficient progress with
A file photo of Palestinians
protesting against Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat and Donald
Trump during a rally —AFP
The move “takes into ac-
count the challenges the in-
ternational community faces
in providing assistance in
Gaza, where Hamas control
urday the move helps ensure
women “receive safe and dig-
nified care.” Lesley Regan,
president of the Royal College
russian deal
Iran already runs one
Russian-built nuclear
reactor at Bushehr, its
first. Russia signed a deal
with Iran in 2014 to build
up to eight more reactors
in the country
pulled out of a deal between
Tehran and major powers to
limit Iran’s nuclear ambi-
tions, and Washington im-
posed new sanctions on Teh-
ran in August.—Reuters
pected her instructors were
surfing. “They’re not sup-
posed to, but if you know
how, you go out and surf,”
said Frey, who owns Waves
Hawaii Surf School in Kihei
on the south shore of Maui
In Waikiki, a Honolulu
neighbourhood that is world-
renowned for its surf beach,
swells were already powerful,
and Gregg Stebbins, 60, a life-
long surfer from Florida,
chose to be cautious and wait
on the beach until conditions
were calmer.
By Friday afternoon, Lane
had been downgraded to a
Category 1 storm, the lowest
ranking on the five-step Saf-
fir-Simpson scale. —Reuters
w rld
A file photo of Mike Pompeo in Pyongyang in July —Reuters
Beijing slams ‘irresponsible’ accusations
Beijing: China on Saturday
called Donald Trump “irre-
sponsible” after the US pres-
ident cancelled his top diplo-
mat’s trip to North Korea
and suggested Beijing was
stalling efforts to disarm
Pyongyang.
Beijing hit back at Trump’s
“capricious” accusations
respect to the denucleariza-
tion of the Korean Peninsu-
la,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
Negotiations have been all
but deadlocked since the
June summit in Singapore.
Pompeo has pressed for tan-
endangers the lives of Gaza’s
citizens and degrades an al-
ready dire humanitarian and
economic situation,” he said.
In January, the United
States had already made
drastic cuts to its contribu-
tion to the UN agency for Pal-
estinian refugees UNRWA.
Relations between the US
administration and the Pales-
tinian Authority took a nose-
dive after Trump announced
the US decision to recognize
Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The Palestinians have sus-
pended contacts with the ad-
ministration and consider
that it can no longer play a
mediation role in the Middle
East peace process. —AFP
the new plan
Currently, women
undergoing medical
abortions up to the 10th
week of a pregnancy
must take two pills at
a clinic 24 to 48 hours
apart. The new plan
would allow them to take
the second pill at home
of Obstetricians and Gynae-
cologists, praised the plan for
providing women compassion-
ate care and more choice. —AP
Catania: Doctors ordered on
Saturday that 16 sick mi-
grants be allowed to leave the
Italian rescue ship docked for
five days in a Sicilian port as
Interior Minister Matteo Sal-
vini said he was working on a
“positive solution” for the re-
maining 134 people on board.
The migrants, mainly from
Eritrea, have been stranded in
the port of Catania since
Monday because the Italian
government is refusing to let
them off the boat until other
European Union states agree
to take some of them in.
The United Nations called
on Saturday for reason from
all sides after a meeting of
envoys from 10 EU states in
Brussels a day earlier failed to
break the deadlock. “Fright-
ened people who may be in
need of international protec-
tion should not be caught in
the maelstrom of politics, the
UN refugee agency UNHCR
said in a statement. It ap-
pealed to EU member states to
“urgently” offer relocation
places to the rescued people,
in line with an agreement at
an EU summit in June, and in
the meantime urged Italy to
allow “the immediate disem-
barkation of those on board.”
But the anti-establishment
government that took office
three months ago shows no
sign of backing down, despite
and said it had lodged an of-
ficial diplomatic complaint
over the comments. “The US
statement is contrary to ba-
sic facts and is irresponsible.
We are seriously concerned
about this,” foreign ministry
spokesman Lu Kang said in
a statement posted on the
ministry website. —AFP
gible steps toward North Ko-
rea’s abandonment of its nu-
clear arsenal while Pyong-
yang is demanding that
Washington first make con-
cessions of its own.
 —Reuters
Aus PM starts
work as anger
over party vote
simmers
Sydney: Australia’s latest
leader, Scott Morrison, spoke
with President Donald
Trump, organised his Cabi-
net and met drought-affected
farmers on Saturday as the
backlash continued over yet
another prime minister se-
lected by an internal party
vote.
A day after replacing Mal-
colm Turnbull following a
ballot among parliamentari-
ans from the ruling Liberal
Party, Morrison had what he
called a “great” phone con-
versation with Trump.
“Had a great discussion
with @realDonaldTrump
this morning,” Morrison
tweeted.
“We affirmed the strength
of the relationship between
the US and Australia.”
Trump had earlier tweeted:
“Congratulations to new Aus-
tralian Prime Minister Scott
Morrison. There are no great-
er friends than the United
States and Australia!”
Morrison, who also spoke
by phone to Joko Widodo,
president of Australia’s
neighbor Indonesia, may
meet Trump in person in No-
vember at a Pacific Rim sum-
mit in Papua New Guinea.
Trump is reportedly consid-
ering a visit to Australia on
the same trip.
—AP
Migrants seen aboard the Italian
Coast Guard ship Diciotti in the port
of Catania, Italy —AP
mental strain
Stefano Principato, a Red
Cross representative,
said the migrants’
problems “are more
psychological than
physical.”
fierce criticism from rights
groups and the opposition.
More than 6,50,000 people have
reached Italian shores since
2014 and Rome says it will not
let any more rescue ships dock
unless the migrants are
shared out around the EU.
Inspectors from the Italian
Health Ministry and the Red
Cross went on board the
coastguard vessel Diciotti to
visit the migrants. Following
the check up, they ordered
that 11 women and five men
be allowed off the boat and
taken to Catania’s Garibaldi
hospital. —Reuters
26
Sunday
August
2018
Ahmedabad
www.dnaindia.com
Pic: Victoria Lautman
Mahila baag
jhalra:
jodhpur
Pic: Dr Swapna Liddle
Rajon ki
Baoli: Delhi
India is facing the worst water crisis in its history – by 2030, it is estimated that the demand for water will be twice that of its
T A
he sight of women
walking hours in the
scorching sun to fetch
water from wells many
miles away is a com-
monplace in rural India
– especially in the arid
west and central regions. But in the
tiny village of Modi, located in Nee-
much district in Madhya Pradesh,
women have managed to escape
this chore.
Neemuch district abuts Rajasthan
and is extremely dry; shortage of wa-
ter is a reality of life for people here.
No more however. The trust that
runs the Kheda Mata temple in the
village has revived a stepwell on its
premises. It took a lot of funds, pro-
vides enough water for domestic use,
cutting short the daily hike that the
women had to previously make. “It
took around four years to revive the
stepwell and now the entire village
benefits from it. The temple is quite
popular so several people visit it and
the water is used by these travellers
to freshen up as well as well to drink.
Apart from this, the villagers use the
water for domestic chores too,” in-
forms Nemichand Jain, a trustee of
Kheda Mata temple.
Back in time
For most of us city slickers, step-
wells are relics of the past – we mar-
vel at their beautiful architecture
and layout, the intricate stone carv-
ings and columns. That they once
had a purpose – harvesting and stor-
ing rain water – doesn’t come to
mind immediately. And how would
it? The beds of most of the stepwells
today are dry and filthy.
Stepwells, or baolis, vavs and
bawadis as they are called locally,
were built by royal men and women,
or rich merchants, all across the sub-
continent from ancient times. “Essen-
tially, these are wells to access sub-
surface water, but with a value addi-
tion to the form resulting in an archi-
tectural creation [that contributes to]
the socio-cultural milieu,” elaborates
Jodhpur-based architect A Mridul,
who designed Birkha Bawari, a mod-
ern stepwell that provides water to a
township in the city. These buildings,
says Mridul, were almost like temples
to water, and while holding water and
making it easily accessible remained
the principal function, they were also
designed to serve as a community
space enriching the flora, fauna and
micro-environment.
The downhill
journey
So if these magnificent stepwells had
been constructed to cater to a very ba-
sic human need – water – and if the
supply. In such dire times, can stepwells help curb the crisis? Pooja Patel investigates
step
to battle India’s
water
crisis?
life of an entire society revolved
around it, then what led to their aban-
donment? “They’d been in use for well
over a millennium before the slow de-
cline started in roughly the late 18th-
early 19th century, thanks to the frag-
mentation of the Mughal Empire. The
ascendency of the British Raj, along
with new technologies
in water distribution
hastened the demise of
stepwells,” points out
Victoria Lautman, an
American journalist
and author of The
Vanishing Stepwells
of India.
In his book FLOW –
India Through Water,
naturalist, writer and
Pic: Pooja Patel
photographer Sunjoy
Monga highlights how
harvesting and stor-
ing water were a way
of life in India. “These
magnificent, indige- The Queen’s Stepwell at Patan,
nously designed and Gujarat
nurtured structures
called bawari, jhalara,
talab, nadi, johad, tanka, khadin,
kund – which we today call ponds,
step-wells and embankments – had
for centuries supported the water
needs of a large part of the country
that lay in the dry belt. Unfortunately,
changing lifestyles, commencing
with the colonial rule, the advent of
technological interventions such as
large-scale water impoundments
along the course of a river, and piped
water supplies, whilst they met rising
demand, came at the cost of erosion
of the raindrop value, of traditional
knowledge, and pushed centuries of
human ingenuity into the back-
ground.”
Pic: Victoria Lautman
Neemrana
Baoli:
amer
New age, old
solutions?
Can this phenomenon be reversed in
contemporary India?
With increasingly weak, unpredict-
able monsoons, leading to frequent
droughts, higher temperatures, and
an unprecedented
water crisis – a NITI
Aayog report says
millions of lives and
livelihoods in India
are threatened by ‘the
worst water crisis in
its history’ – can we
look at this ancient,
sophisticated water
storage system to pro-
vide succour? Can
stepwells be revived
as a source of potable
water for domestic
use?
“It really depends
on which region we
are considering, as
each has a different to-
pography,” explains
Vikramjit Singh Rooprai, a Delhi-based
heritage activist. Delhi has 31 baolis,
some of which have been cleaned and
revived in the last decade. Water from
the baolis inside Purana Qila, Red Fort
and Feroz Shah Kotla are used to irri-
gate the gardens within; in Matia Ma-
hal in old Delhi, the baoli is even sup-
plying water to the local community.
Rooprai emphasises that construction
activity and concretisation of the area
around them are major obstacles in re-
viving stepwells in urban spaces. Given
the shrinking of the catchment area, wa-
ter can’t be recycled, he says. The step-
wells need space from where water can
be refilled naturally. “With concrete roads
Just Before Monday
Pic: Pooja Patel Pic: A Mridul
Birkha
Bawari:
Jodhpur
Pic: Vikramjit Singh Rooprai
Hazrat
Nizamuddin
Ki Baoli:
Delhi
Adalaj
stepwell:
Ahmedabad
The kunds of
and buildings everywhere, there isn’t
much open ground left in cities,” he says.
Dr Swapna Liddle, convenor of the
Delhi chapter of heritage body Intach,
Braj Bhoomi
sounds a word of prudence. “Whether
or not the stepwell should be revived de-
pends on the water table and needs to be
considered on case to case basis. If there
P
is a plan to revive a stepwell, then its
water quality needs to be checked,” she ilgrims on their way to Govardhan hill near Mathura,
cautions. a revered pilgrim site associated with the life of Lord
Lautman expresses a similar line of Krishna, may have noticed a beautifully maintained
thought. “Harvesting water – in any form pond on the roadside, fenced off with pink stone rail-
or in any manner – can only help combat ings, paved with stone embankments, with clear water
the dire scarcity faced today. Women are and a manicured patch of green. This is Rinmochan
forced to walk many miles to fill water The ascendency Kund, where Krishna is said to have prayed to his ancestors.
every day, and farmers can no longer wa- As recently as five years ago, however, Rinmochan Kund
of the British
ter their crops. Stepwells aren’t the an- was a very different sight – covered with garbage and with
swer to such a monumental crisis, they Raj, along with not a drop of water. That was when Braj Foundation, a non-
are only a way to help minimise it in are- new profit working to restore the environmental and cultural her-
as where the water table is accessible.
This won’t be possible in the countless
technologies in itage of Braj Bhoomi, the mythological birth place of Krish-
na, where he performed his ‘leela’, took it up for revival.
places where it’s dropped precipitately.” water According to Gaurav Kumar Gola, project coordinator,
distribution Braj Foundation, the entire Braj area, measuring about
Symbiosis hastened the 5,000 sq km, has about a thousand such kunds, each of
Mridul has a different take. Birkha Ba- which has a religious
wari’s design of a modern stepwell is a
demise of and mythological sig-
stepwells
subterranean sandstone masonry res-
ervoir that was constructed in 2009 to
nificance. A dip in the
Rinmochan Kund, for
harvest rainwater from the 110-acre Victoria Lautman, instance, is said to take
catchment area of an under-construc- journalist and author away the debts (‘rins’)
tion private housing township called of The Vanishing of an individual. How-
Umaid Heritage in Jodhpur, a water Stepwells of India ever, says Gola, 800 of
strapped city situated on the fringe of these kunds are in a dry
the Thar Desert of India in Rajasthan. and dilapidated condi-
“A majority of the stepwells are lying tion. The foundation
abandoned, but have the potential to has surveyed around
bounce back to life,” says Mridul. “In- 400 of these using mod-
dia is largely depending on mega Braj Bhoomi ern technological tools
schemes for water. With growing scarci- such as satellite image-
ty, clearly these are far from being suffi- ry, and work on desilt-
cient. The ancient stepwells and other At Rinmochan Kund, a ing 46 of these has been
water bodies of the country continue to necessary part of the started. Rinmochan is
be potential sources of water that can
complement the mega schemes and
restoration was to create the fourth kund to be
revived – the others be-
help in building a water network inte- The ancient a sewer line to divert the ing Goving Kund, Brah-
grating the macro and micro level.”
stepwells... dirty water that flowed ma Kund and Jai Kund.
In fact, he also emphasises that it is
continue to be into it and create the high It hasn’t been an
now essential to re-initiate the tradi- easy task. Work on the
tion of building stepwells and similar potential fences so people didn’t Rudra Kund was
water bodies at the level of the neigh-
sources of throw solid waste choking stopped for five years
bourhood, village and city, in order to
water that can it again after a local leader, who
supplement the larger water network had encroached on the
and help mitigate the growing water complement the kund, went to the Alla-
stress in India. mega schemes habad high court and got a stay order on the activities of the
Monga, who has done extensive re- Foundation. Then there is the expense – the Rinmochan
search for his book, is of the opinion
and help in Kund restoration project cost `2 crore, contributed by Mum-
that going back to the roots is a good building a water bai-based Ajay Piramal Foundation. There is also the task
way to start addressing the problem. network of making sure that they don’t dry up again, given that this
“First of all, we have to re-accept the
wisdom of this simple marvel of hydro-
integrating the area receives very little rainfall – only about 63 cm in a year.
Besides, with the watershed areas destroyed by encroach-
logical engineering that also served as a macro and micro ment, there is the difficulty of reviving the natural acqui-
platform for social interaction and cul- level fers, which supply water to the kunds.
tural growth. To a point, stepwells could At Rinmochan Kund, a necessary part of the restoration
serve as local fillers, mostly to ensure A Mridul, architect was to create a sewer line to divert the dirty water that
freshwater supplies in times of scarcity. flowed into it and create the high fences so people didn’t
In some regions of North West India, throw solid waste choking it again. Besides, to ensure that
they could serve a somewhat more big-
ger role but it really depends on how se-
water did not stagnate and remained in circulation – it
helps in the infusion of oxygen and fresh air in the water –
riously we wake up to the relevance of an innovative double level structure was created that also
this traditional wisdom.” became a decorative element.
dna.sunday@dnaindia.net; @dna – Gargi Gupta
 Iran’s Moradi lifts new mark
Iran’s Olympic champion Sohrab Moradi sets weightlifting world record, lifting a
189kg snatch en route to victory in men’s 94kg class. He breaks weightlifting’s
longest standing WR of 188kg set in 1999 by Greece’s Akakios Kakiasvilis

Asian Ascent Asian Games

2018 Jakarta
Palembang

ROWING India’s Sayali Shelake, hospitalised on Friday, will stay in Palembang for 1 more week after undergoing operation for intestinal blockage 10
Ahmedabad I SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2018

golden boy
PTI

Medals Tally
Rank Nation G S B T
Shot
put’s
1. China 72 51 30 153
2. Japan 34 31 44 109
3. South Korea 25 26 33 84
4. Iran 14 11 9 34
5. Indonesia 10 12 16 38
6. DPR Korea 10 5 6 21
7. Thailand
8. India
8 8 24 40
7 5 17 29
India’s Tajinderpal Singh Toor bags gold with new Games Record, hurls iron
9. Chinese Taipei
10. Uzbekistan
6 11 13 30
5 10 7 22
ball for distance of 20.75m; Hima sets National Record en route to 400m semis
Jakarta: Tajinder Pal Singh season with a throw of National champion Dutee n zone India’s Dipika Pallikal (L) fights it out with Malaysia’s Nicol David in Saturday’s
India Results
9
Toor set aside the dis- 20.24m, achieved at the Fed- Chand, competing in her first semifinals. Dipika loses to settle for bronze in women’s singles squash —PTI
No. of gold India have won
appointment of not eration Cup in Patiala. big event after winning her

Ghosal, Dipika,
in men’s shot put. Tajin-
MEDALS being able to at- The winning throw came gender case at the CAS, quali-
derpal Singh Toor’s is also
tend to his cancer- in the fifth attempt though he fied for the semifinals of the
ATHLETICS: MEN: Tajinderpal Singh the first gold in this event after
ridden father, was leading the field with his women’s 100m with a timing
Toor won gold in shot put finals Bahadur Singh won in 2002
shattering the first throw of 19.96m. of 11.38.

Joshna bag bronze

Busan Games
SQUASH: Dipika Pallikal won Asian Games record China’s Liu Yang won sil- Running in lane 4, Dutee
bronze in women’s singles, Joshna to open India’s gold medal ac- ver with season best effort of edged out Kazakhstan’s Olga
Chinappa won bronze in women’s count even as several nation- 19.52, ahead of Kazakshtan’s Safronov (11.46) and Uzbeki- did you know?
singles, Sourav Ghosal won bronze Men’s shot put has fetched
al records tumbled on the Ivan Ivanov (19.40m). stan’s Nigina Sharipova
in men’s singles most medals in athletics for In-
opening day of the athletics (11.59) to win Heat 2. Jakarta: India’s squash singles
dia in Asiad history. Tajinderpal
competition. Hima dazzles The effort was slightly slow- campaign in the Asian
Singh’s gold is India’s 9th yel-
He threw the iron ball to Meanwhile, India’s rising er than her national record Games yielded three
lARCHERY: MEN: India lost to South low metal besides 3 silver and
Korea 1-5 in Recurve Team Quarterfinals; 20.75m, obliterating a six- star Hima Das qualified for (11.29) and the timing of 11:32 bronze medals after
7 bronze since 1951
WOMEN: India lost to Chinese Taipei 2-6 year old national mark, set by the 400m final with a new na- with which she had won Saurav Ghosal, Dipika
in Recurve Team Quarterfinals Om Parkash Karhana (20.69). tional record as she timed gold at the National Palikal and Joshna
lATHLETICS: MEN: Chethan Bal- The previous Games record exact 51.00s breaking a Games. With seven laps Chinappa lost their re-
asubramanya finished 5th (2.15m) in was 20.57, set by Sultan-Al 14-year-old record set by to go, Suriya was be- spective semifinal clashes
Group B of High Jump Qualifications, Hebshi from Saudi Arabia at Manjit Kaur (51.05s) in Chen- hind runners and San- here on Saturday.
Shreeshankar finished 3rd (7.83m Q) the 2010 Guangzhou Games. nai in 2004. Hima ran with jivani was also strug- Ghosal frittered away a two-
in Long Jump Qualifications, Yahiya Toor, hailing from Pun- Bahrain’s Salwa Naser, who gling to catch up. set advantage to lose the men’s
Muhammed Anus (45.30 Q) finished jab’s Moga, was front-runner is favourite to win this event Asian champion singles semifinal after Dipika
1st Arokiarajiv (46.08 Q) finished 6th in
for the gold in men’s shot put and won the Heat 1 with a Mohammed Anas also and Joshna suffered defeats in
400m Semifinals; WOMEN: Sarita Singh
finished 5th (62.03m) in Hammer Throw as he had entered the event as new Games record. emerged as a strong the women’s singles semifinals
Finals, Suriya Loganathan 32:42.08 best athlete on display this Also qualifying for the gold medal contender in earlier in the day. Irrespective of
finished 6th, Sanjivani Jadhav (33:13.06) 400m final was Nirmala She- the men’s 400m by qualifying the defeats, this is India’s best India’s Joshna Chinappa (R) in action
finished 9th in 10,000m finals, Dutee oran, who stood fourth over- for the final with a timing of ever show in the Asian Games in during her semifinal loss to Malaysia’s
Chand (11.38 secs) finished 3rd in 100m all with a timing of 54.09s. It 45.30s. It was fastest time in squash singles. In the 2014 Asian Sivasangari Subramaniam —PTI
qualification, Hima Das (51.00) finished was best effort in Heat 3. the semifinal. —PTI Games, India won two singles
2nd in Heat and Nirmala (54.09) finished
4th in Women’s 400m qualification medals – Ghosal had a silver and
Dipika a bronze. did you know?
lBADMINTON: MEN: SS Rankireddy/ Ghosal was going great guns When Joshna Chinnappa won her
C Shetty lost 17-21, 21-19, 17-21 to maiden Asiad medal on Saturday
S Choi/M Kang, M Attri/BS Reddy lost but lost 12-10 13-11 6-11 6-11 6-11 to
Chun Ming Au from Hong Kong joining Dipika Pallikal, this was the
13-21, 21-17, 23-25 to L Ji/ Y Liu in
in an intense semifinal. first time India have won 2 medals
Round of 16 Doubles; WOMEN: Saina
Nehwal bt Fitriani 21-6, 21-14, PV Sindhu In the first game, Ghosal in the same squash event
bt Tunjung 21-12, 21-15 in Round of 16 trailed 4-9 at one stage but made
Singles, A Ponappa/NS Reddy lost to a remarkable comeback to snatch
Q Chen/ Yjia 21-11, 24-22 in Doubles the lead. In the second game, he
n zone

4
Quarterfinals No. of Asian Games medals Dipika
Tajinderpal Singh had a 4-0 lead but Chun Ming was
BOWLING: MEN: India 13th in 2nd Bloc Toor in action on not in a mood to throw in the Pallikal has won in squash, the
lBOXING: WOMEN: Pavitra bt Perveen Saturday towel and stretched the Indian. most for an Indian woman. Only
by RSC in Light (60kg) Round of 16 It was neck and neck at 8-8, 9-9 Saurav Ghosal has won more medals for
and 11-11 but Ghosal found a win- India in this sport
lCANOE/KAYAK SPRINT: MEN: India
finished 5th in Canoe TBR 200m Tail Tajinderpal’s ner at crucial time to take a 2-0
Race; WOMEN: India finished 3rd in
Canoe TBR 200m Tail Race shot at gold lead in the match.
However, in the third set, from
away the “intensity” from him.
“I don’t want to make excuses
lEQUESTRIAN: Fouaad Mirza (22.40 Q), a lead of 6-5, Ghosal lost six but it’s hurting badly. Against
Rakesh Kumar (35.80 Q) , Ashish Malik Attempts 1 2 3 4 5 6 points in a row to allow Chung this player, you need to have high
(55.10 Q), Jitender Singh (84.00 Q) in Ming make a comeback. The mo- intensity. Towards the end of the
Eventing Individual Cross Country; India
REUTERS

113.30 in Eventing Team Cross Country

Distance
(m) 19.96 19.15 X 19.96 20.75 20.00 mentum had shifted and Ghosal second game it flared and I lost

lGOLF: MEN: (Rd 3) Rayhan Thomas (GR)

was now finding it tough to get
going and meekly lost the fourth
my intensity. But credit to him
for fighting back after losing two
T10 (-3), Aadil Bedi T10 (-3), Kshitij and fifth set. sets,” Ghosal said. —PTI
Naveed Kaul T21 (+1), Harimohan Singh

After gold, Toor to attend to cancer-stricken dad

T41 (+11); TEAM: India T5 (-5), WOMEN Ghosal said he suffered an in-
(Rd 3): Ridhima Dilawari T20 (+5), Sifat jury in his left leg towards the end
Sagoo T23 (+6), Diksha Dagar 26th (+7) of the second set and that took
in Individual; TEAM: India 9th (+4)
lHANDBALL: WOMEN: India bt Malaysia Jakarta: It was not easy to sacrifices have been made. For
54-19 in 9-10 place playoff leave behind his father, battling the last two years, my father
cancer in a Punjab hospital, but (Karam Singh) has been battling
l HOCKEY: WOMEN: India bt South n zone

6
Korea 4-1 in Pool B Tajinderpal Singh Toor re- with cancer. My family though
mained strong in pursuit of his never let me get distracted. They
lSAILING: MEN: Varun Ashok Thakkar/
Ganapathy Kelapanda Chengappa passion and all the sacrifices allowed me to chase my dream.
finished 2nd in Race 3, 2nd in Race 4 made, paid off on Saturday with A lot of sacrifices have been
and 1st in Race 5 in 49er Skiff; WOMEN: an Asian Games gold medal. made by my family and friends
Shweta Shervegar/Varsha Gautham Toor said he did not think of and all those have paid today.
finished 3rd in Race 3, 3rd in Race 4, winning gold and his target “My family never pressurised No. of Asiad med-
3rd in Race 5 in 49er Skiff; MIXED: Har- was to breach the 21m mark. to attend my father in hospital als Saurav Ghosal
shita Tomar finished 3rd, Govind Bairagi
finished 10th in Race 3, Harshita Tomar
“I had just one aim in mind. and it was always my friends has won. He joins
finished 3rd, Govind Bairagi finished 10th I wanted to clear 21m. I didn’t who took care of all the hospital Malaysia’s Ong
in Race 4, Govind Bairagi finished 3rd , think of gold. But I’m happy formalities in my absence. I have Beng Hee for a
Harshita Tomar finished 7th in Race 5 of with this. I was trying hard to not gone home much in this pe- total of 6 medals
Open Laser 4.7, India 7th after Race 3, break the national record for riod since I was training in in squash. Only
7th after Race 4, 8th after Race 5 the last 2-3 years and it hap- Dharamsala,” the burly athlete. Nicol David (MAS)
Reuters

lSEPAKTAKRAW: MEN: India lost to pened today, that too with a “Now I will meet my dad but I has won more
South Korea 0-2 in Regu Preliminary Meet record,” Toor said. will be there for only two days. I medals. She is
Group B “This medal is my biggest have to get ready for the next India’s Saurav Ghosal in action during men’s slated to win her
lSHOOTING: MEN: Sheeraz Sheikh Tajinderpal Singh Toor celebrates his gold medal feat with supporters in Jakarta achievement because a lot of challenge,” he said. —PTI squash semifinal on Saturday —PTI 8th on Sunday
finished 10th, Angad Vir Bajwa finished
12th in Skeet Qualification Day 1, Anish

Sindhu, Saina sail

finished 9th, Shivam Shukla finished 11th
in 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Qualification
Stage 2; WOMEN: Ganemat Sekhon
finished 9th, Rashmi Rathore finished
10th in Skeet Qualification Day 1
lSPORT CLIMBING: MEN: Bharath
Stephen Pereira Kamath finished 10th,
Chingkheingamba Maibam finished 16th
in Combined Lead Qualification; WOMEN:
Shreya Sanjay Nankarin finished 17th in
Combined Lead Qualification
lVOLLEYBALL: MEN: India bt Maldives
25-12, 25-21, 25-17 in Pool F; WOMEN:
India lost to Chinese Taipei 23-25, 21-25,
25-18, 18-25, 13-15 in Pool B
lWEIGHTLIFTING: MEN: Vikas Thakur
finished 8th in 94kg finals
Indian women
into quarterfinals
Jakarta: Top Indian shuttlers
PV Sindhu and Saina
Nehwal advanced to
the women’s singles
quarterfinals after
beating their respec-
tive opponents in
straight games on Saturday.
Olympic and World Champi-
onship silver medallist Sindhu
outwitted local player and world
No. 22 Gregoria Mariska Tun-
India Watch
PV Sindhu in action against Tunjung —AP
India sure of 2 medals in bridge
India are assured of two medals in bridge after
the men’s and mixed teams reached the
semifinals. The men’s team comprising
Jaggy Shivdasani, Rajeshwar
Tewari, Ajay Khare, Raju Tolani,
Debabrata Majumder and Sumit
Mukherjee was placed fourth
after 13 qualification rounds. The
mixed team made up of Kiran
Nadar, Hema Deora, Himani
Khandelwal, Bachiraju
Satyanarayana, Gopinath Manna
and Rajeev Khandelwal finished
on top after seven qualification
rounds.
Handball: Women finish ninth
The Indian women’s handball team ended its campaign on a
winning note by beating Malaysia to finish ninth, one place
below where they finished in Incheon 4 years ago. India
thrashed Malaysia 54-19. They led 19-5 after first period and
the gap widened in the second session.
Canoers put up dismal show
The Indian canoeing contingent fared poorly in the men’s
and women’s Traditional Boat Racing (TBR) 200m. Both
teams did not qualify for the main final and could not
make an impact even in the tail race. The women finished
third in the tail race out of five teams. The men’s team
fared even worse in the tail race, finishing fifth and last.
Thakur 8th as lifters fail
Indian weightlifters’ listless campaign
came to an end as Vikas Thakur finished
eighth in the men’s 94kg category
competition. Thakur lifted a total of 335kg
(145kg+190kg). After two unsuccessful
attempts, Thakur managed to lift 145kg in
his snatch. In the clean and jerk, he
successfully lifted 190 kg but faltered in
his final two attempts of 197kg. For the
24-year-old Indian, a total of 335 kg was a
climb down from the Commonwealth
Games earlier this year, where he lifted his
personal best of 351 kg (159kg+192kg) to
win a bronze medal.

book semis berth jung 21-12 21-15 in 35 minutes af-

ter Commonwealth Games gold
medallist Saina dispatched an-
Jakarta: Gurjit Kaur struck other crowd-favourite Fitriani,
twice as Indian women’s hockey ranked 40th, 21-6 21-14 in another
team beat South Korea 4-1 to second-round match.
register its third straight In the quarterfinals, Saina will
win and book semifinals face Thailand’s fourth seed Ratch-
berth here on Saturday. anok Intanon while Sindhu will
Navneet Kaur gave India take on the Thailand’s Nitchaon
the lead with a field strike Jindapol.
in the 16th minute which Commonwealth Games silver
was neutralised by Korea’s Yurim medallists duo of Satwiksairaj
Lee (20th) via penalty stroke. Gur- Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty,
jit (54th, 55th) converted two pen- however, couldn’t cross the sec-
alty corners for India before Van- ond round after their gallant
dana Katariya (56th) scored a fight ended with a 17-21 21-19 17-
field goal to take the game away 21 loss against Korea’s Choi
from the Koreans. —PTI Solgyu and Min Hyuk Kang in
men’s doubles.
Manu Attri and B Sumith
Reddy also lost their men’s dou-
No medal for archers
bles Round of 16 match against The Indian recurve archers will return empty-handed with both the men and
Li JUnhui and Liu Yuchen of women sides crashing out in the quarterfinals of the team events. The women’s
China 21-13 17-21 23-25. team represented by Ankita Bhakat, Promila Daimary and Deepika
In women’s doubles quarterfi- Kumari lost 2-6 to Chinese Taipei after beating Mongolia 5-3The men
nals, the Indian duo of Ashwini lost 1-5 to Korea in the quarterfinals after defeating Vietnam 5-3 in
Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy the previous round.
lost to Chen Qingchen and Jia
Yifan of China 11-21 22-24.
In women’s singles pre-quar- Anish disappoints
terfinals, Sindhu zoomed to a 8-1
CWG gold-medallist, 15-year-old Indian shooter
lead early on before Gregoria
Anish Bhanwala produced a below-par performance
fought back to reduce the gap to
to finish without a medal in the men’s 25m rapid fire
7-10. The Indian then unleashed
India’s Pavitra (L) punches Rukhsana Perveen of Pakistan during her win in air pistol event on Saturday. He finished ninth overall
a smash leaving the Indonesia
women’s lightweight 60kg category on Saturday. Pavitra was powerful that there with a score of 576. Another Indian, Shivam Shukla,
stranded to enter the interval
were 2 knockdowns for Perveen and the bout did not go beyond Round 1 —AFP ended 11th with 569.
11-8. —PTI
 sP rt
www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia
11
Ahmedabad I SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2018 I daily news & analysis

hot on heels
Lorenzo on India’s latest sensation Rishabh Pant says ‘A’ stint in
MotoGP pole England helped him cope with pace and bounce

‘I just see the ball

Three-time MotoGP
world champion Jorge
Lorenzo gave his hopes
of catching Marc Mar-
quez in the champion-

and react to it’

ship standings a boost
by claiming pole for
the British Grand
Prix on Saturday.

India U-16
win easy that thing. I am going to wait for the out-
The Indian India in side edge. That is the only solution.”
U-16 national England On his Test debut, Pant said: “It is a
football Test series great experience, actually. I have played
team on with all the people (team members) in IPL
Satrday Nottingham: Young wicket- and domestic cricket but when you play
defeated keeper batsman Rishabh Pant for the country, it is a different feeling. It
local side has credited India ‘A’ stint in was a dream for me to play Test cricket.” Alexandre Lacazette celebrates Arsenal’s second goal against West Ham United in London on Saturday —AFP
Besiktas 5-1 England this summer for his More than his skill behind the wickets,
in a training
match during
an exposure
impressive showing on Test de-
but, saying it helped him to cope
with pace and bounce at Trent Bridge.
India needed solidity and gumption in
batting as Dinesh Karthik was struggling
to stay long at the wicket. Man City held by Wolves,
Arsenal end wait for win
tour of Turkey. The 20-year-old made a confident start Pant, who scored crucial 24 in the first
to his Test career at Trent Bridge, scoring innings, showed maturity in countering
Nation may host an attacking 24 in the first innings and the English attack when India lost their
Diamond League then taking seven catches, the latter a way late on day one.
India might get to host record for Indian keeping debutante. The standout moment for Pant came Manchester: Manchester Laporte’s towering header Stopwatch: Arsenal 3
the Diamond League of “Keeping in England is always diffi- when he smacked Adil Rashid for a six City offered hope to the chas- registered his first goal for the (Monreal 30, Diop 70-og,
athletics as the glitzy cult because the ball wobbles off the second ball that he ing pack that the Premier club. Welbeck 90+2) beat West
showpiece, which fea- a lot behind the wicket. The n zone faced in Test cricket. “I was League champions won’t be Raheem Sterling and Ser- Ham 1 (Arnautovic 25);

1
tures the top stars of the thing is that I have been play- nervous. Everyone is nerv- the same unstoppable force as gio Aguero struck the wood- Bournemouth 2 (King 75-pen,
sport, needs to be taken ing India-A cricket since last Rishabh Pant became last season in a 1-1 draw at work for the visitors before
ous when they play their Ake 79) drew with Everton 2
to all major cities of the two-and-a-half months in the first Indian to open Wolves on Saturday, while Ar- the break and Aguero was
first match. When I see the (Walcott 56, Keane 66); Hud-
world, IAAF President England, so it has been help- his account with a six in senal ended their wait for a denied again by the crossbar
ball I don’t think too much, dersfield 0 drew with Cardiff
Sebastian Coe said. ful for me,” Pant said after Test cricket victory under new boss Unai with virtually the last kick of
just see the ball and react to 0; Southampton 1 (Bertrand
India beat England by 203 it. That is what happened. I Emery. the game from a fiercely dip- 52) lost to Leicester 2 (Gray
Anand splits runs in third Test. did you know? was just playing normal Everton’s flying start to ping free-kick. 56, Maguire 90+2); Wolver-
point with So “I am practicing in the Rishabh Pant became the cricket — that is all,” he their new era under Marco However, City boss Pep hampton Wanderers 1 (Boly
Victory again eluded nets on how to deal with first India wicket-keeper to said. Silva also stumbled as Guardiola insisted he 57) drew with Manchester
five-time World Champi- that and it is working now,” take five catches on Test It has been a heady rise they threw away a 2-0 had no regrets and City 1 (Laporte 69)
on Viswanthan Anand added Pant, who played for debut for the youngster from lead to draw 2-2 at even claimed it had
as he played out his India A against England Li- Roorkee. Making waves in Bournemouth and saw been a “good point” for PLAYING TODAY
sixth draw after split- ons and West Indies A be- Delhi’s domestic circuit, £50 million record his side. “We created
ting points with Ameri- fore being named in the Test squad. then scoring big runs in Ranji Trophy, signing Richarlison enough chances to win (Live on Star Sports Select
can Wesley So at the During his debut Test, Pant spilled a garnering eyeballs in the IPL and then sent off. the game but it doesn’t 1, 6.15pm), Watford v Crystal
Sinquefield Cup chess few chances, particularly against Jasprit performing at the international stage. City looked in omi- count and we drew the Palace Newcastle v Chelsea
tournament in St Louis Bumrah, but he said it was owing to the He credited his time as Delhi limited- nous form to start the cam- game 1-1 and I don’t have too (8:30 pm)
(USA). angle that the pacer creates at time of overs’ captain, while also attributing his paign in cruising to victory many regrets,” said
Also playing: Fulham v Burnley
delivery. meteoric rise to India-A coach Rahul against Arsenal at the Emir- Guardiola.“There was a little
India Red seizes “It is a big challenge, but the thing is Dravid and his childhood coach Tarak ates and thrashing Hudders- lack of rhythm sometimes but
advantage that when Bumrah bowls, he bowls with Sinha. “It helps a lot as captain because field 6-1 last weekend. I am satisfied in general with went in front thanks to Marco
India Red secured the a different angle. So, sometimes we react you have to take the responsibility for the But a mixture of an in- the performance.” Arnautovic’s fine long-range
all-important first in- to it. That day I reacted too much on that team as well, playing IPL also helps you spired performance from strike.
nings lead against India ball and the edge came off. I’m not saying a lot. Everyone in the team supports you newly-promoted Wolves and Arsenal off the mark On an afternoon dominat-
Blue on the third day of that it was not too difficult a catch; I could and you perform, then it builds your con- some misfortune for City City ensured Emery was ed by red cards, Pierre-Emile
the Duleep Trophy in have pulled it off,” he said. fidence. Then you watch players who are means Liverpool can move handed a baptism of fire at Hojbjerg’s second booking for
Dindigul(TN). “As a keeper you have to wait for the around you, and learn. All these factors two points ahead of their title the Emirates a fortnight ago diving cost Southampton as
Brief scores: India Red 316 & outside edge. That is the only thing I can have been very helpful (in my career rivals with victory at home to and defeat in a five-goal thrill- Leicester came from behind to
156/4 (A Mukund 50, S Lad 47 do, and that is what I have learnt after growth),” Pant said. —PTI Brighton later on Saturday. er at Chelsea last weekend put win 2-1 at St. Mary’s thanks to
batting) vs India Blue 293 Wolves opened the scoring the Spaniard under pressure Harry Maguire’s deflected
(Dhruv Shorey 97, P Rasool It is a great experience, actually. I have played with all the people in in highly controversial cir- to finally get points on the 92nd minute winner.
4/107) IPL and domestic cricket but when you play for the country, it is a cumstances when Willy Boly board. Huddersfield and Cardiff
turned Joao Moutinho’s cross His Arsenal side faced showed why they are favour-
different feeling. It was a dream for me to play Test cricket into the net with his arm. West Ham, who are also point- ites to be relegated in a 0-0 de-
on the tube Rishabh Pant, India wicket-keeper on his Test debut City responded via an un- less despite a near £100 mil- void of quality and only note-
expected source 21 minutes lion investment in nine new worthy for Jonathan Hogg’s
(All Live)
from time when Aymeric players, and the Hammers dismissal. —AFP
ASIAN GAMES

Agarwal’s ton guides Hamilton snatches record fifth pole

Sony Ten 2, Sony ESPN,
Sony Ten 3
07:00 Day 9
Bhardwaj ends
CRICKET strike, patches
Star Sports 2
14:00 & 18:30 KPL
03:25 (Mon) CPL
India B to easy win Spa-Francorchamps: Lewis
Hamilton tip-toed his way to
a memorable record fifth pole
On the grid
1 L. Hamilton (Mercedes)
up with Sharma
FOOTBALL Bengaluru: Mayank Agar- Ambati Rayudu top- position at the Belgian Grand 1:58.179 Chander Shekhar Luthra
Star Sports Select 1 wal continued his sublime scored for India A with 48 off Prix on Saturday as he and shekhar.luthra@dnaindia.net
18:00 EPL, Watford vs form with yet another ton, 75 balls, while Krishnappa Mercedes handled the capri- 2 S. Vettel (Ferrari) 1:58.905
despite being ignored for the Gowtham and Sanju Samson cious weather conditions at New Delhi: It was a smooth
Crystal Palace senior Indian team, to guide made 35 and 32 respectively. the famous Spa-Francor- 3 E. Ocon (Force India) 2:01.851 end to an otherwise ugly
20:30 EPL, Newcastle
vs Chelsea
India B to a comfortable sev- Meanwhile in another champs circuit with tactical 4 S. Pérez (Force India) 2:01.894 fought internal battle be-
en-wicket win over India A match of the series, Austral- aplomb. tween Delhi & District Crick-
Star Sports Select 2 in a Quadrangular Series ia A defeated South Africa A The championship leader 5 R. Grosjean (Haas) 2:02.122 et Association (DDCA) presi-
22:00 Bundesliga- encounter, here on Saturday. by 32 runs in a high-scoring produced a decisive lap in the dent Rajat Sharma and Sec-
Borussia Dortmund vs Chasing a modest target encounter. last drying seconds of a rain- 6 K. Räikkönen (Ferrari) retary Cricket Sanjay Bhard-
2:02.671
RB Leipzig of 218, Agarwal smashed 112 Electing to bat, Australia hit session in 1min 58.179sec waj, with the later agreed to
Sony Ten 1 off 114 balls with the help of A rode on Travis Head’s 110 to outpace nearest rival Se- 7 M. Verstappen (Red Bull) end his 60-hour-long indefi-
14 boundaries and three six- Marnus Labuschagne’s 65 to bastian Vettel of Ferrari, who 2:02.769 nite hunger strike on
01:45 (Mon) LaLiga:
es to help India B romp home post an imposing 322 for five. is 24 points behind him in the Saturday.
Girona vs. Real Madrid in only 41.1 overs. Besides the duo, D’Arcy title race, by 0.726sec. Force India’s Esteban Ocon in action during qualifying round of Belgian GP 8 D. Ricciardo (Red Bull) Both the factions, though,
2:02.939
Sony Ten 2 Besides Agarwal, Shub- Short (49) and Matt Renshaw “That was excruciating, an in Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday —REUTERS claiming victory in what is be-
00:00 (Mon) Serie A: man Gill scored 42, while Is- (42 not out) also made useful awesome lap, you really 9 K. Magnussen (Haas) ing termed as amicable solu-
Inter Milan vs. Torino han Kishan and skipper contributions with the bat. nailed it in that last sector,” glad I managed to keep it “Kimi (Raikkonen) was 2:04.933 tion in the end. But DNA has
UFC Manish Pandey made 25 and Chasing the imposing tar- Hamilton’s race engi- together. obviously rushing to get out
10 V. Bottas (Mercedes) DNS reliably learnt that president
Sony Six 21 respectively. get, Khaya Zondo’s 117 went neer Pete Bonnington “It’s so competitive again - but look now and we Sharma has only promised to
07:30 Gaethje vs. Vick Left-arm pacer Khaleel in vain as South Africa fell told him on team radio. this year and we are in have sunshine and it is dry. implement Justice Lodha
FORMULA 1
Ahmed (2/33) picked up two
wickets for India A.
short by 30 odd runs. “That was one of the
toughest I can remember,”
F1 a big fight with Ferrari.
Everyone is on the edge of
“I had a bit of traffic with
Esteban and maybe I was not
Grosjean of Haas, their teams
taking a positive view of the
panel report in toto within
Supreme Court given dead-
Star Sports Select 2 Earlier opting to bat, In- Brief scores: India A 217 all out said Hamilton who had their seats.” as calm as I would like to be, conditions and timing their line ending on September 20.
18:35 Belgian GP dia A wilted in front of M in 49 overs (A Rayudu 49, K Gowtham claimed the 78th pole of his Vettel conceded that Fer- but hopefully tomorrow tyre-changes perfectly. Sharma came to DDCA to
MOTOGP Prasidh Krishna’s (4/50) 35; MP Krishna 4/50) lost to India B career thanks to well-timed rari had not managed their we will have the pace with Kimi Raikkonen, in the meet representatives of crick-
Sony Ten 1 opening spell before being 218/3 in 41.1 overs (M Agarwal 124, laps in the improving condi- strategy well in the rapidly- the car.” second Ferrari, had looked a et clubs when this issue of
15:35 British Grand Prix bowled out for 217 in 49 S GIll 42); Australia A 322/5 in 50 tions at the end of the session. changing conditions. Esteban Ocon took third likely front-row qualifier be- hunger strike was raised by
GOLF overs. overs (T Head 110, D Short 49, M “The track looked dry in “We didn’t time it great, place for the re-born Force fore heavy rain swept across all. Judging the mood of club
Sony Ten Golf HD Shreyas Gopal also Labuschagne 65) beat South Africa A some places, but it was actu- but, look, in these conditions India team, under new owner- the circuit and he ended up representatives, Sharma of-
chipped in with two wickets, 290 all out in 484.4 overs (K Zondo ally wet. It was so hard... I we might as well take sec- ship, ahead of his team-mate sixth ahead of Max Verstap- fered Bhardwaj to join the
16:30 Czech Masters-
giving away 38 runs. 117, G Cloete 50; M Swepson 3/40) went off twice, but I am so ond,” he said. Sergio Perez and Romain pen —AFP meeting and end his agitation.
Day 4 “We’ll be abided by all the Jus-
Neo Sports tice Lodha panel recommen-

Rafa seeks second straight title at Flushing Meadows

21:30 The Northern dations,” was all that Sharma
Trust promised, thus shifting the
focus to newly-appointed om-
ff the field budsman justice (retired) Ba-

‘I can say I have a big

1
2 Open — where he has won 11
3 mowed down
Send in your answers to
sportsdna@gmail.com. Names of
the first 10 winners will be published
tomorrow
New York: World number one
Rafael Nadal is feeling rested
and ready as he looks to de-
fend his US Open title.
The Spaniard has put to-
gether back-to-back major
crowns only at the French
of his 17 Grand Slam titles.
A year ago
at Flushing
Meadows, he
a men’s field
that was
missing five of the top-ranked
11 men, with Novak Djokovic,
Andy Murray and 2016 US
Open champion Stan Waw-
rinka among the injured ab-
sentees.
His brutally one-sided vic-
tory over Kevin Anderson in
his third Grand Slam final of
the year gave him a second
major of 2017 -- after two years
in which he failed to reach a
Slam final. “Last year has
been a very special year after
a couple of years,” Nadal said
Friday. “2015 was not a posi-
tive year in terms of level of
tennis, 2016 I was playing good
features a full complement of
the world’s top-ranked players
and seven former US Open
champions, but Nadal believes
he’s had an ideal build up,
starting with a hardcourt
Masters title in Toronto.
“That’s important for the
feelings, for the confidence,”
Nadal said. “That gave me a
chance to rest the week after
in Cincinnati.”
After scooping his 80th ca-
reer title — and his 33rd Mas-
ters 1000 — Rafa pulled out of
Cincinnati to focus on his US
Open prep. “I was resting from
Spain’s Rafael Nadal will take on his good friend and Davis Cup partner competing, not resting from
David Ferrer in his opening clash at US Open —File/AFP working,” said Nadal, adding
that as the tournament draws
2015 was not a positive year in terms of level of closer the signs are all encour-
tennis, 2016 I was playing good tennis but I aging. “The last couple of days
(before the tournament) is the
got injured. Had the chance to get back in moment to understand, that
2017. Of course I won on clay, but then to win on you really realize if you are
hard again is something that means a lot to me better, you are worse — when
you start to put the full mind
Rafael Nadal, US Open defending champion on what you’re doing.” He’s
set to open his campaign on
tennis but I got injured. Had something that means a lot to Monday with what promises
the chance to get back in 2017. me, especially here in New to be an emotional 31st career
Of course I won on clay, but York.” encounter with his good
then to win on hard again is This year the men’s field friend David Ferrer. —AFP
chance for this tourney’
New York: Simona Halep,
her number one ranking se-
cure and a Grand Slam title
on her resume, is riding high
heading into the US Open but
that doesn’t mean she’s tak-
ing anything for granted.
“I don’t feel the pressure,”
said the 26-year-old Romani-
an, whose intensity on the
court hasn’t always worked
to her advantage.
A victory in the French
Open — after disappoint-
ments in three Grand Slam
finals — confirmed for Halep
that she had truly arrived at
the top. “Inside myself some-
thing changed,” she said.
“I’m more relaxed. These
two were my dreams -- to be
number one in the world and
to win a Grand Slam. Always
I say number one in the world
without a Grand Slam, you
are not a real number one.
Simona Halep
“After the French Open, I
really started to believe that
I’m a real number one.”
That ranking isn’t in jeop-
ardy at the final Grand Slam
of the year, but Halep is un-
der no illusion as to how dif-
ficult it will be to claim a sec-
ond major.
“I can say I have a big
chance for this tournament,
but it’s tough to say that I’m
the favorite even if I’m No. 1,”
she said.—AFP
dar Durrez Ahmed.
As reported earlier, the
tussle between Sharma and
Vinod Tihara group started
last week when the executive
committee suspended the
later objected to various ap-
pointments, including those
who were part of the Cricket
Improvement Committee,
senior and junior selection
committees and CEO, CFO
and COO.
Not to forget that it was
Tihara who was instrumen-
tal in getting maximum num-
ber of votes to Sharma dur-
ing the elections held recent-
ly in DDCA. Soon after elec-
tions, Tihara alleged that he
was not taken into confi-
dence while finalising al-
most all the names in various
committees or even in the
administration.
That forced Bhardwaj to
make an official complaint to
the DDCA ombudsman re-
garding conflict of interest
levelled against former and
current players, who have
been named in various com-
mittees of DDCA.
 Atal Bihari Vajpayee would always
be remembered as an exemplary second
front
statesman and leader who worked
selflessly for peace and development
in India and the world.
— Antonio Guterre, UN Secretary General
page
12 www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia Ahmedabad I SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2018 I daily news & analysis

PC tosses 4 Qs on Rafale, China harps on India Lalu returns to

snapshot
‘Healthcare in Patna; ED says
India must be joining its BRI plan ‘enough proof

says ‘we’ve no evidence’

poor-friendly’ Shastri Ramachandaran
correspondent@dnaindia.net in PMLA case’
DNA Correspondent
Harbin, Heilongjiang correspondent@dnaindia.net
Province (China): For the

M Venkaiah Naidu,
Vice President
Doctors must interact
1 with patients and
their families with
compassion. Their healing
touch approach should help
patients feel better.
Medical facilities and
2 healthcare made af-
fordable for common
man. The focus should be
more on rural healthcare and
strengthening of medical
infrastructure in the country.
Doctors, nurses and
3 medical workers
should also be well
trained to cope with new
frontiers of medicine, treat-
ment and research to bridge
the rural-healthcare gap.
The Centre and the
4 states should make
three years posting of
doctors mandatory in
rural areas in order to get
next promotion. This will help
Ex-FM launches Cong campaign to rake up the issue in run-up to ’19 polls
Arshad Ali
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Kolkata: Former Finance
Minister P Chidambaram on
Saturday tossed four ques-
tions to the BJP-led Central
Government in connection
with the controversial Rafale
deal, with an intention to
make it a campaign point in
the run-up to 2019 elections.
Chidambaram, talking to
media here on Saturday, how-
ever, said he did not want to
say there was a scam involved
because at present he did not
have enough evidence. “At
present, I only want answers
to these questions. I don’t
want to cross the line unless
I get facts,” he said.
He also made clear the Con-
gress plans to hype up the is-
sue. The party plans to hold
100 news conferences across
the country to seek answers
from the Centre over the deal.
Posing four questions to the
BJP, he asked: “Why was the
price of each of the aircraft,
which was at Rs 526 crore each
Chidambaram addresses media at PCC office in Kolkata on Saturday —PTI
during the UPA rule, raised to
Rs 1670 crore during the NDA?
Why was the defence procure-
ment procedure ignored and
ministers and strategic com-
mittees which need to be
mandatorily consulted to be-
fore the deal, were kept in the
dark? Why was Dassault, the
French company given the
freedom to choose a private
firm as its offset partner in-
stead of Hindustan Aeronaut-
ics Ltd (HAL)? Why was the
technology transfer clause
excluded in the new agree-
ment with Dassault?”.
“And if it was an emer-
gency purchase for the de-
pleted squadron then why
has not a single aircraft ar-
rived till today when the
agreement took place on
April 10, 2015?,” he asked.
Anil Ambani files
defamation suit
Ahmedabad: Anil Am-
bani’s Reliance Group
has filed a Rs 5,000-crore
defamation suit against
Congress-owned Nation-
al Herald, claiming an
article published in the
newspaper regarding the
Rafale deal was “libel-
lous and derogatory”.
The civil defamation
suit was filed by Reliance
Defence, Reliance Infra-
structure and Reliance
Aerostructure against the
Associated Journals Ltd,
the publisher of National
Herald, its editor in-charge
Zafar Agha, and author of
the article, Vishwadeep-
ak. The suit was filed in
the city civil and sessions
court here, which issued
notices to the respondents
and sought replies by Sep-
tember 7.—PTI
second time this week, Chi-
nese officials reiterated the
expectation that India would
join the Belt and Road Initia-
tive (BRI). Speaking to a visit-
ing delegation of 20 Asian
journalists, officials of the
Foreign Affairs Office of Hei-
longjiang expressed the de-
sire that India would come on
board the BRI. “India is al-
ways most welcome. We hope
it will join the Belt and Road
Initiative and take our mu-
tual cooperation further,”
said an official.
Clearly, the fact that China
keeps harping about India
joining the BRI suggests that
the reiterations, by the for-
eign affairs office of the prov-
inces, are orchestrated. It is
not necessarily because there
are two Indians among the
visiting Asian journalists.
Although there is a Korean
and a Japanese also in the
delegation, there is no repeat-
ed mention about China
wanting to bring Korea and
Japan on board the BRI.
Earlier on August 22, Mrs
Chen Wenling Chief Econo-
mist of the Center for Inter-
national Economic Exchang-
For representation
India is always
most welcome.
We hope it will
join the Belt and
Road Initiative and
take the mutual
cooperation further.
Chinese official, to a visiting
delegation of Asian journalists
es (CCIE), which is the No.1
think tank on economic and
issues had claimed that India
has started showing interest
in China’s flagship Belt and
Road Initiative.
The Heilongjiang offi-
cials said that every effort is
being made to encourage
India to participate in the
two trade fairs that are held
annually in Harbin.
Patna/New Delhi: A day af-
ter Jharkhand High Court
rejected former Bihar Chief
Minister and RJD president
Lalu Prasad Yadav’s plea for
extending his bail and asked
him to surrender by August
30, Yadav returned to Patna
from Mumbai where he was
being treated for heart and
kidney troubles.
Yadav was undergoing
treatment at Asian Heart In-
stitute, Mumbai, for the last
three weeks, but got dis-
charged after his bail exten-
sion was cancelled.
He reached Patna airport
on Saturday afternoon but
refused to speak to reporters
saying he was unwell. “I have
been instructed by the court
not to make any media state-
ments,” he reiterated when
some reporters pressed for
his comments on the recent
Muzaffarpur sex scandal.
Meanwhile, the Enforce-
ment Directorate on Satur-
day told a Delhi court that
there was enough evidence to
take cognisance of its charge
sheet and summon RJD chief
Lalu Prasad, his wife Rabri
Devi and others as accused in
connection with the IRCTC
hotels allotment money laun-

UP PDS scam: 1.8L LeT’s Cyber Mujahid cells in Pak

people living in remote areas. dering case.
Special Judge Arvind Ku-
Medical students
5 must serve rural peo-
mar reserved his order on
whether to summon Prasad,

Aadhaar cards used target India in a propaganda war

ple after completion
of their graduation first. It
will provide them a plethora
of rich experience about the
lifestyle of the poor.
Doctors should
6 educate patients and
attendants about
the huge amount of money
involved in cancer treatment
and how to lead an active,
better and healthy lifestyle.
Gold up by `250
his wife, their son former Bi-
har deputy chief minister
Tejashwi Yadav as accused.
The ED’s special public
DNA Correspondent anomalies in ration shops prosecutor Atul Tripathy
correspondent@dnaindia.net in 43 out of 75 districts in Ishfaq-ul-Hassan top or a mobile with an inter- told the court that the agency
Lucknow: In a shocking
the state. “Orders have
been issued to register
h_ishfaq@dnaindia.net net connection, you can fight
for Kashmir Jihad sitting in
had gathered enough evi-
dence against the accused
case revealing large-scale FIRs against PDS shops Srinagar: Forget gun-toting your home. That is what they and had submitted them
corruption in Public Distri- owners involved in the terrorists, Lashkar-e-Taiba are doing,” said Vaid along with the charge sheet.
bution System (PDS) in scam,” said Kumar. has introduced ‘Cyber Muja- Under this plan, the Cyber “These evidence are
Uttar Pradesh, own- The modus op- hids’ (warriors) to unleash Mujahids are tasked to dis- enough to take cognisance of
ers of ration erandi adopted y new psychological warfare seminate propaganda and the charge sheet and sum-
shops misused these PDS shop and radicalise youth for ter- whip up passions on Kashmir moned those named in them
over 1.80 lakh owners was ror in the strife-torn Jammu in a bid to lure youth to Jihad. as accused,” the counsel said.
Aadhaar cards equally shock- and Kashmir. Sources said the Cyber Muja-
to splurge on the
food of the poor.
ing. They
changed the Aad-
Cyber Mujahid cells have
been set up across Pakistan
hid cells have a job cut out to
post graphic videos, spread

on global cues, Hundreds

festive demand
New Delhi: Gold prices rose
by Rs 250 to Rs 30,900 per 10
grams at the bullion market
on Saturday, thanks to brisk
buying by local jewellers and
firm trend overseas.
Silver followed suit and
advanced by Rs 400 to Rs
38,250 per kg due to increased
offtake by industrial units
and coin makers.
Marketmen said senti-
ment bolstered after gold
prices rose in global mar-
kets as the dollar came un-
der pressure, raising inves-
tors’ appetite for the pre-
cious metal as a safe haven
investment.
Globally, gold rose 1.75 per
cent to USD 1,205.30 an ounce
and silver gained 2.14 per
cent to USD 14.77 an ounce in
New York in Friday’s trade.
Furthermore, continued
buying by local jewellers and
retailers ahead of “Raksha
Bandhan” also supported the
upside, they added.
In the national capital,
gold of 99.9 per cent and 99.5
per cent purity spurted by Rs
250 each to Rs 30,900 and Rs
30,750 per 10 gram, respec-
tively. The precious metal had
gained Rs 30 in Friday’s trade.
Sovereign, however, re-
mained steady at Rs 24,500 per
piece of eight grams.—PTI
tonnes of
of
ration,
meant for distribution
among card holders, was
diverted by PDS shop own-
ers after pocketing huge
government subsidy.
Food Commissioner
Alok Kumar said so far the
department has detected
all in the family
Nobel laureate Amartya Sen with his daughter actress Nandana Sen (R) in a compartment of Santiniketan Express
on the way to Kolkata, at Bolpur railway station in Birbhum district of West Bengal on Saturday. —PTI
haar card num-
bers of ration cards
holders in the Electronic
Point of Sale Devices and
fed new Aadhaar numbers
of people known to them.
“It was found that in Alla-
habad alone as many as
107 Aadhaar cards were
used 37,574 times,” he said.
to exploit the social media
and target the gullible youth
in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Sponsored by some exter-
nal forces, these elements are
using social media to radical-
ise our youth for their vested
interests. Across border they
have put youth on this job,
called Cyber Mujahids,” said
Dr Shesh Paul Vaid, director
For representation
fake news and upload Jihadi
videos to glamorise militancy.
J&K police are keeping a
general of police (DGP), Jam-
mu and Kashmir.
cial media to the hilt.
“They (Jamat-ud-Dawa)
check on vulnerable youth.
“Some have been counselled
Jamat-ud-Dawa, the foun- have openly issued advertise- and a few of them found seri-
tainhead of Lashkar-e-Taiba, ments in the newspapers in ously involved have been
has issued advertisements in Pakistan stating that to fight charged. Social media units
the local newspapers in Paki- jihad you need not go to Kash- have been established at dis-
stan seeking volunteers to mir and you can do it from trict headquarters to counter RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav arrives
fight Cyber Jihad using so- home. That if you have a lap- the propaganda,” said Vaid. at Patna airport on Saturday —PTI
22 new AIIMS
coming across
country: Nadda
Bhubaneswar: Union
Health Minister JP Nadda on
Saturday said 22 new AIIMS
are coming up across the
country and admitted that
there was a shortage of
skilled human resource in
the health sector.
He also said ensuring the
highest standards of medical
education was a top priority
for the government.
“Twenty-two new AIIMS
are coming up across the
country under the Pradhan
Mantri Swasthya Surakhya
Yojana to reduce regional im-
balance in the healthcare and
tertiary fields,” Nadda said
while addressing the first
convocation of the All India
Institute of Medical Sciences
(AIIMS), Bhubaneswar.
Admitting a shortage of
skilled human
resources in

A year later, Rohingya await justice

Kutupalong, B’desh: Thou-
sands of Rohingya Muslim
refugees on Saturday marked
the one-year anniversary of
the attacks that sent them
fleeing to safety in Bangla-
desh, praying they can re-
turn to their homes in Myan-
mar and demanding justice
for their dead relatives and
neighbors.
More than 15,000 gathered
in the morning on a hilltop in
the Kutupalong refugee
camp, part of a sprawling
web of settlements that are
now home to nearly 900,000
Rohingya who have fled My-
anmar to escape violence.
The camps exploded in
size last year after Myan-
mar’s army launched a wave
of anti-Rohingya attacks on
Aug. 25, with some 700,000
Rohingya eventually pouring
across the border. Thousands
Rohingya women at a protest rally in Bangladesh on Saturday
crackdown anniv were killed in the violence.
“25th August — Black
Thousands of Rohingya Day,” one banner announced
staged protests for “justice” Saturday. The protesters —
on Saturday on the first men, women and children —
anniversary of a Myanmar marched through the muddy
military crackdown that camp, chanting slogans such
forced them to flee. as “No more genocide, we
want justice.” At a mass
prayer rally, one speaker re-
peatedly shouted, “Who are
we?” to which the crowd re-
sponded in chorus: “Rohing-
ya! Rohingya!”
Most people cried as they
raised their hands while an
imam who led the prayer
sought God’s blessings, say-
ing, “Please consider the peo-
ple who have been killed as
martyrs and place them in
heaven.”
Some of the protesters car-
ried paper flags of Myanmar.
Newly setup shops inside the
camp were closed during the
protest, which lasted several
hours. “We are Rohingya, we
are Muslims, we have been
driven away from our land,
from our homes,” an uniden-
tified speaker told the crowd
on Saturday. “We want justice.
We want to go back to our
homes,” he added.—AP
the health sec-
tor at all levels,
the health min-
ister said the
Centre has
planned for a
JP Nadda, rapid expan-
Union Minister sion of medi-
cal education.
Nadda said as medical ed-
ucation forms the apex of the
healthcare pyramid, it is the
quality of graduating doctors
and specialists that will de-
termine the quality of ser-
vices in the country for gen-
erations to come.
Many initiatives such as
increasing the retirement age
of doctors to 65, setting up of
more medical and nursing
schools, multi-skilling of doc-
tors to overcome the shortage
of specialists, have been tak-
en by the Centre, he said. “We
are also expanding the net-
work of our medical colleges
in a big way by upgrading 58
district hospitals to medical
colleges,” he said.—PTI