06

Saturday
Snap POLL
April
2019 Q. Do you believe the US YESTERDAY’S POLL RESULT:
journal claim that Pakistan Do you think BJP leader LK
did not lose any F16s in the Advani has adhered to the
`3.00 Ÿ Pages 14 aerial dogfight with India? ‘Nation First, Party Next, Self
AHMEDABAD Last’ principle?
www.dnaindia.com
Yes No Can’t say
epaper.dnaindia.com Go to our Twitter handle Yes  71%
twitter.com/dna @dna, look for #DNAPoll No 23%
facebook.com/dnaindia and vote. Can’t say 6%

25°C - 41°C AQI 168 R.N.I. No. : GUJENG/2007/22424

Chopper deal: PM
attacks ‘first fam’
Says Cong, graft Ed’s Allegations
‘inseparable’, after „„During questioning,

ED charge sheet
New Delhi: Prime Minister
Narendra Modi referred to
the Enforcement Directo-
rate’s charge sheet on the
AgustaWestland helicopter
scam on Friday and claimed
that alleged middleman
Christian Michel had pointed
at the involvement of the first
family of the Congress.
Alleging that the Congress
and corruption were “insepa-
rable partners”, Modi said
Michel had disclosed two
names to his interrogators.
“One was ‘AP’ and the other
was ‘Fam’. ‘AP’ stands for
Ahmed Patel and ‘Fam’ stands
for family. Have you heard of
Ahmed Patel? Which family is
he close to?” Modi asked at a
rally in Dehradun.
When he heard the crowd’s
response, he said: “You under-
stood automatically. The fam-
ily cannot tolerate the stern
attitude of the ‘chowkidar’.”
The ED had filed a supple-
mentary charge sheet against
Michel saying he had identi-
fied the initials ‘AP’ as senior
Congress leader Ahmed Patel.
but Michel filed an applica-
tion on Friday claiming he
had not named anybody.
Hitting out at the Modi gov-
ernment, Patel said “baseless
and laughable” allegations
and “jumlas” are raining this
poll season. “A thief sees a
thief in everyone,” he said in a
swipe at the PM,” he said. —PTI
Michel said ‘AP’ stands
for Ahmed Patel and
‘Fam’ stands for Family
in his diary’
„„Code words relate to
alleged kickbacks of 30
million euros paid to IAF
and defence officials,
bureaucrats, and ‘top
political leaders of ruling
party’ at the time
„„Payments routed
through ‘complex
structure’ and withdrawn
in cash through ‘hawala’
route: ED charge sheet
Didn’t name anyone:
Michel flips ED claim
DNA Correspondent correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: Christian Michel pleaded before the court
on Friday that he has not named any politician or bu-
reaucrat in his statement to the Enforcement Directo-
rate which is investigating the AgustaWestland VVIP
chopper deal.
The ED had told the court on Thursday that Michel,
arrested after being accused of helping broker the
chopper deal with the help of kickbacks, had named a
Congress leader, identified by his initials ‘AP’ in a
‘budget sheet’. The budget sheet contains details of
payments made to various people, including politi-
cians, in connection with the deal. The identity of the
said Ahmed Patel is not clear.
Special CBI Judge Arvind Kumar issued a notice
to the probing agency and sought its reply in the next
case hearing on Saturday.
Michel’s counsel, Aljo K Joseph, has stated in the
application:  Turn to P4

IAF reasserts that it shot

BSE Sensex 38,862.23 177.51
NSE nifty 11,665.95 67.95
TOUGH CHOICE for
minority voters
With unity eluding secular Op-
position parties, Muslims have a
tough choice in UP, Bihar & WB.
down a Pakistani F16 jet
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: Dismissing a US
media report, the Indian Air
Force reaffirmed on Friday
that it had shot down an F16
aircraft of the Pakistan Air
Force on February 27 during
aerial combat. It claimed that
its Airborne Early Warning &
Control (AEW&C) aircraft
detected eleven F16 jets air-
borne, and one brought down.
The insistence came after
Foreign Policy magazine re-
ported on Thursday that Pa-
kistan had invited US media
to count its F16s — all sup-
plied by the US — and none
of them were missing. This
contradicts India’s claim that
one of its jets shot down an
F16 during an aerial dogfight
following the Pulwama at-
tack. “During the engage-
Army totals imp Pakistan post on LoC
Srinagar: The Army totalled a Pakistan army post in-
strumental in shelling forward positions and civilian ar-
eas along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch sector of
Jammu division on Friday. Monnowal, which lies on the
opposite side of Digawar sector on LoC, was used by Pa-
kistan to target civilians. Indian troops targeted the Mon-
nowal post with precision fire and sources say it went up
in flames. This was the eighth Pakistani army post tar-
geted in the last three days; seven were smashed on n April
2 in Poonch district.  —DNA Correspondent
ment, one MiG 21 Bison of down. “One was our Wing
IAF shot down an F16 in Commander Abhinandan.
Nowshera sector,” the IAF The second identity is not
said in a press statement. known as Pakistan has not
In an informal briefing revealed it,” it said. 
later, it said images taken by In the statement, the IAF
the AEW&C craft show pres- said: “The Indian forces have
ence of eleven F16s during confirmed sighting ejections
Pakistan’s intrusion, and in- at two places... Electronic sig-
tercepts available with Indian natures indicate the PAF air-
agencies show two craft went craft was an F16.”  Turn to P4

Priyanka gandhi
TURNS UP HEAT
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra holds a
roadshow in BJP stronghold of
Ghaziabad  P5
What Advani-ji said is
BJP’s clear policy. We
never consider (rivals) anti-
nationals. When Venkaiya-ji,
Rajnath-ji & Advani-ji
were (party) prez, this
was said time & again
FM Arun Jaitley
Nat’l Herald: SC relief for Cong
New Delhi: The Supreme
Court has stayed eviction
proceedings against Associ-
ated Journals Limited (AJL),
the holding company that
runs the newspaper National
Herald. An eviction notice
was issued to it by the Land
and Development Office for violation of lease conditions.
The stay came as a sigh of relief for the Indian National
Congress, which virtually controls AJL by way of transfer
of shares of AJL to Young Indian. YI is controlled by Con-
grress chief Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi.
SC: How did
states handle
poll seizures?
Abraham Thomas
abraham.thomas@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: The Supreme
Court has put the spotlight on
the seizure of illegal cash and
valuables during elections by
asking all states and union
territories how they handled
4,937 cases of illegal seizures
lodged by the Election Com-

SC to decide Singh bros fate on Thu
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: The Supreme
Court will decide on April 11
whether to send industrialist
brothers Malvinder Mohan
Singh and Shivinder Mohan
Singh to jail for contempt as
the duo failed to give any con-
crete plan to honour an arbi-
tration order requiring them
to pay over Rs 3,500 crore to
Japanese firm Daiichi Sankyo.
Present before a bench
headed by Chief Justice Ran-
jan Gogoi, the brothers got
enough signs of the court’s
ire as the bench listed the con-
tempt petitions against them
for Thursday next week and
stayed all insolvency proceed-
bitter pill
„„Malvinder & Shivinder Singh
failed to give a plan to pay Rs
3,500 cr to Daiichi Sankyo
„„Daiichi says the brothers
hid information about a probe
against them by US bodies
ings the company is facing ceutical industry, had failed
before the National Company to honour the court’s orders
Law Tribunal (NCLT). The to present a concrete propos-
duo was directed to remain al for paying what is due to
present for the next hearing. the Japanese firm.
The bench, which also had Daiichi approached the
Justices Deepak Gupta and apex court seeking contempt
Sanjiv Khanna, told their action against the duo as they
counsels that the former Ran- had failed to comply with a
baxy promoters, once the Singapore arbital award.
flag-bearers of the pharma- Full report on www.dnaindia.com
mission during the 2014 Lok
Sabha elections.
Each state and UT has
been directed to file status
reports on cases pertaining
to their jurisdictions before
the next hearing on April 25.
The court also sought in-
formation on the cases of il-
legal cash seized so far in the
run-up to the upcoming elec-
tion and asked the finance
ministry and Central Board
of Direct Taxes to report on
the investigations regarding
the source of cash, raids and
arrests. This would be in ad-
dition to the information con-
cerning cases lodged during
last polls.
This is by far the biggest
step by the apex court to en-
sure those who disturb the
process of fair elections are
brought to book.  Turn to P4
 02
daily news & analysis I Ahmedabad I Saturday, April 6, 2019
Modi to roar in his ‘Gadh’ on Wed Congress delivers what it
PM will address two rallies in Junagadh and Songadh, OBC and ST voters on target
DNA correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Only 19 days left for the poll
campaign in Gujarat, as the
state votes for Lok Sabha
elections on April 23. There
will be direct face-off be-
tween major parties BJP and
Congress and amidst this, the
BJP has announced the
schedule of PM Narendra
Modi’s public rallies that that
he will address on Wednes-
day.
The ruling party BJP had
won all 26 seats in the state
under the Modi wave as the
party pitched in ‘Gujarati
PM’ factor and the voters
were swayed by the agenda.
This time in 2017 polls, the
party is making effort to re-
peat the history and therefore
they will strive to save their
fort from any dent that Con-
gress can cause.
The PM will try to create a
wave through the rallies ex-
pected to be scheduled in
days to come before April 21.
State BJP president Jitu Va-
ghani said the rallies would
be conducted in Junagadh
town in the Saurashtra re-
gion and in south Gujarat’s
Songadh.
“On the morning of April
10, PM Modi will address a
gathering in Junagadh town.
People from both Junagadh
and adjoining Porbandar Lok
Sabha seats will converge
there to be part of the gather-
ing,” Vaghani said.
Later in the afternoon, the
PM will address a rally in
Songadh town, in Tapi dis-
trict, which is part of Bardoli
Lok Sabha seat, Vaghani
added. “The PM will address
people from Bardoli as well
as adjoining Navsari Lok
Sabha seats in the Songadh
rally,” he informed.
The entire region is highly
populated by Schedule Tribe
voters and the community
has been showing soft ap-
proach for BJP with electing
the party candidates in Lok
Sabha and assembly polls in
majority. The community
which was ‘pucca’ votebank
for Congress in past, showed
deflection. But the Congress
made the come back in 2017

PM Modi to address a gathering in Junagadh town on April 10
On the morning of
April 10, PM
Modi will address
a gathering in Junagadh
town. People from both
Junagadh and adjoining
Porbandar Lok Sabha
seats will converge there
to be part of the
gathering.
Jitu Vaghani,
State BJP president
assembly polls and wreathed
several seats in the same belt
falling in Southern part of
state. Therefore, PM’s rally in
this region is believed to be
very important for BJP.
Besides this, the PM will
also address the poll rally in
Junagadh in the evening and
that will cover Porbandar
seat and some parts of Rajkot
seat too. The area is domi-
nated by OBC voters includ-
ing Koli (fisherman) and
Ahir (nomadic) communi-
ties. The OBCs in Gujarat
have major chunk of voters
that constitutes upto 55 per
cent of total votes. The OBC
communities, however, vote
for the leader belonging to
them and not on the party
symbol. Therefore, it is very
crucial to keep this flock in-
tact for BJP to gain.
Shah to launch BJP’s outreach
programme from Gujarat today
DNA correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Gandhinagar: Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) chief
Amit Shah will launch the
party’s voters outreach pro-
gramme at the national level
on Saturday from his home
pitch. Shah will be in
Ahmedabad and will hold a
roadshow in his constituency
Gandhinagar covering two as-
sembly seats Vejalpur and
Sabarmati, whereas he will
also hold a door-to-door cam-
paign and night meeting with
voters in Ahmedabad.
The party chief in Gujarat
Jitu Vaghani on Friday
shared information on Shah’s
visit. He said, “April 6 is the
foundation day of BJP and we
have tradition in our party
that we approach voters on
the day going amidst them.
Amitbhai will launch this out-
reach programme to be held
nationwide from his home
state Gujarat. He will go in the
public and meet voters of
Ahmedabad on Saturday
through roadshow, door to
door campaign and night
meeting.”
BJP president Amit Shah flashes at a road show
The party chief will begin
his programme with paying
floral tribute to party’s found-
er members Syama Prasad
Mukherjee and Din Dayal
Upadhyay in the morning.
The first roadshow will be in
Vejalpur Assembly seat be-
tween 9:30 am to 12:30 pm
whereas the second roadshow
will be held from 5:30pm to
8:00pm covering Sabarmati.
“Amit Shah is the candi-
date of Gandhinagar and he
has great contribution in the
development of this area as
the same is the home ground
for him and he served as elect-
Modi’s Rallies
„„PM will also address
the poll rally in Junagadh
in the evening and that
will cover Porbandar seat
and some parts of Rajkot
seat too. The area is
dominated by OBC voters
including Koli (fisherman)
and Ahir (nomadic)
communities.
„„The OBCs in Gujarat
have major chunk of
voters that constitutes
upto 55 per cent of total
votes. Therefore, it is
very crucial to keep this
flock intact for BJP to
gain maximum votes.
ed representative here. He is
going to hold a massive out-
reach programme. He will
also meet chairmen and sec-
retaries of housing colonies
in the night and will cam-
paign for the party,” Vaghani
added.
The party chief in Gujarat,
Vaghani also added that Un-
ion defence minister Nirmala
Sitharaman would also be in
Gujarat on Saturday. She
would hold the meeting with
intellectuals in Ahmedabad
in the morning and in Va-
dodara at evening time.
 Full report on dnaindia.com
Vaghani accused
of violation of
model code
DNA correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
The Mehsana city unit of the
Congress has written to the
Election Commission seeking
to direct district electoral of-
ficers to take action against
BJP’s state president for viola-
tion of model code of conduct.
The unit in its complaint to
the election commission said
that the violation of the model
code of conduct happened dur-
ing the filing of nomination of
the party’s candidate Sharda
Patel. It said that the party’s
state president Jitu Vaghani
had been sitting beside Patel at
the time of submission of
nomination, wearing a scarf
that had the BJP’s party sym-
bol on it.
The Congress in its com-
plaint also attached two pic-
tures of BJP and Congress
candidates filing their nomi-
nation as proof that the for-
mer had not brought in any
party symbol into the office.
campaign Cong includes agitation leaders Hardik and Alpesh
BJP’s star campaigners: CMs, mins, actors
Chintan Acharya
chintan.acharya@dnaindia.net
Both Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) and Congress have
planned their star campaign-
ers for upcoming Lok Sabha
elections in Gujarat. BJP has
come up with the list of par-
ty’s 40 star campaigners for
the state. The list begins with
the name of the prime minis-
ter Narendra Modi and ends
with the name of Bollywood
actor Vivek Oberoi whose bi-
opic movie on the PM is wait-
ing for Supreme Court’s nod
for the release.
Oberoi made a surprise
entry into the list of BJP’s
star campaigners amidst the
condition when his film on
the prime minister is under
controversy. It is noteworthy
that Oberoi was never on the
board of the party’s cam-
paigners. Besides this, party
has also included Bollywood
actors like Hema Malini who
is candidate from Mathura
ah
www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia
promises: Rajeev Satav
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Congress party has imple-
mented its key promises after
winning Assembly elections
in Madhya Pradesh, Chhatis-
garh and Rajasthan and will
continue to execute what has
been said after winning Lok
Sabha elections as well, Ra-
jeev Satav, in-charge of Guja-
rat Congress said in the city
on Friday during a regional
launch of party manifesto.
“After winning three states
recently, we have started im-
plementing debt-waiver for
farmers. The government has
also initiated process of fill-
ing vacant posts, so there is no
doubt about Congress making
false promises or jumlas. We
deliver what we promise. We
will also stick to our promises
made in the manifesto when
we will win Lok Sabha polls in
2019,” said Satav.
Party’s Nyunatam Aay Yo-
jana (NYAY) announced by
the party promises minimum
income guarantee for the
poor, and will benefit around
two crore citizens of Gujarat
living below the poverty line.
“Each of them would get Rs
72,000 per year. The scheme
has been finalised after con-
sultation with noted econo-
mists. Former Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh has okayed
the scheme as well. Unlike the
BJP, we will implement this
Last date of withdrawal of nomination forms is April 8
Total 573 candidates
in state’s LS poll fray
DNA correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
A total of 573 candidates have
filed their nomination papers
for the 26 Lok Sabha seats in
Gujarat. The state will see a
direct contest between the
BJP, which swept all 26 seats
in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls,
and the Congress, which has
not entered into an alliance
with any party.
Among the main contend-
ers this time are BJP nation-
al president Amit Shah from
Gandhinagar, Union minis-
ter and Dahod MP Jasvant-
sinh Bhabhor, the Congress’
leader of opposition in the
Assembly Paresh Dhanani
and Babu Katara, a former
BJP MP-turned-Congress-
man, who is an accused in a
human trafficking case.
“A total of 573 candidates
have filed their nomination
forms for 26 Lok Sabha seats
of the state. On the last day of
filing nominations, which
was Thursday, 313 candidates
submitted their forms,” Ad-
ditional Chief Electoral Of-
ficer Ashok Manek said. The
elections will be held in a
single phase on April 23.
Vivek Oberoi with Devendra Fadnavis during his film promotion
seat, Paresh Rawal and
Manoj Joshi (both having Gu-
jarati origin). Rawal, sitting
MP is dropped from the list of
candidates of party in Guja-
rat after he conceded. Joshi
was believed to be among the
top contenders to replace him
on Ahmedabad East Lok Sab-
ha constituency.
The list also included par-
ty chief Amit Shah, galaxy of
union ministers like Rajnath
edabad
Cong leaders at regional launch of party’s manifesto —Pravin Indrekar/DNA
key insights
„„In the 2014 Lok Sabha
polls, Congress could
not open its account in
Gujarat as the BJP won
all the 26 seats
„„Polling in Gujarat
will be held on April 23
scheme after coming to pow-
er,” said Satav.
He also said that simplifi-
cation of Goods and Services
Tax (GST) will make things
easier for traders who are in
large numbers in Gujarat.
With Gujarat being a predom-
inantly entrepreneurial state,
the promise to exempt start-
ups from any government li-
cense for first three years will
help youngsters from Gujarat
The scrutiny of the forms
is underway, he added. The
last date of withdrawal of
nomination forms is April 8.
Both the major parties, BJP
and Congress have fielded
their candidates on all 26 seats
whereas the NCP has only one
candidate. Besides this, Bahu-
jan Samaj Party, Aam Aadmi
Party and Pravin Togadiya
led Hindusthan Nirman Dal
candidates are also in poll fray
on different seats. The nomi-
nation filing process begun on
March 28 but no nomination
was filed on first day. The last
day of filing nomination was
April 04 and the district elec-
tion authorities conducted the
procedure of scrutiny of
forms on Friday.
Sources from the chief
electoral office in Gujarat
said, “We have not compiled
the final list yet on the nomi-
nations rejected after the
scrutiny. But the primary re-
ports received from district
election officers indicated
that many of the forms were
rejected after several discrep-
ancies were found in the
forms during the process. We
will be able to make the final
list on Saturday only.”
Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Arun
Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Nir-
mala Sitharaman, Smriti
Irani and others. Whereas Ut-
tar Pradesh CM Yogi Adity-
anath, Maharashtra CM Dev-
endra Fadanvis, Gujarat CM
Vijay Rupani, former CM of
Madhya Pradesh Shivraj
Singh Chouhan and Ra-
jasthan Ex-CM Vasundhara
Raje. They will campaign for
party in Gujarat.
to start their businesses,
which will create jobs as well.
“Just like other parts of the
country, farmers of Gujarat
are also reeling under huge
debt. Small traders are suffer-
ing due to GST. We have tried
to address all these issues in
our manifesto and also offered
our vision to solve them. We
are confident that people will
elect Congress to power this
time,” he said. Satav said, “If
the Congress is voted to power,
it would focus on improving
the quality of education, cre-
ating better health care facili-
ties and more employment
opportunities in the state.”
In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls,
Congress could not open its
account in Gujarat as the BJP
won all the 26 seats. Polling in
Gujarat will be held on April
23. (With inputs from PTI)
Court to decide
pleas against
Rahul Gandhi
DNA correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
A metropolitan court, on Mon-
day, is going to decide whether
to issue notice to Congress
president Rahul Gandhi and
party spokesperson Randeep
Surjewala in connection with
criminal defamation pleas
filed by Ahmedabad District
Cooperative (ADC) Bank and
its chairman Ajay Patel
against the duo. Notably, the
court completed the argu-
ments in the case on Friday
and reserved its order till Mon-
day, when it will decide wheth-
er to take cognisance in the
defamation complaints, or not.
Counsel for the bank and
senior advocate SV Raju, on
Friday, argued before the court
why Gandhi’s tweet and Sur-
jewala’s press briefing were
defamatory and comes under
the purview of section 500 of
the Indian Penal Code, which
deals with punishment for
criminal defamation. The
bank and Patel are demanding
action against the Congress
leaders for defaming them and
projecting them as scamsters
involved in a Rs 745.59 crore
scam of converting demone-
tised currencies within five
days of Prime Minister Modi
announcing the note ban on
November 8, 2016.
Rahul Gandhi
Simultaneously Congress
also released the list of star
campaigners in state. The list
includes president Rahul
Gandhi, UPA chairperson So-
nia Gandhi, former PM Man-
mohan Singh, general secre-
tary Priyanka Gandhi and
others. The party has includ-
ed the community leaders
like Hardik Patel and Alpesh
Thakor in the list to woo the
voters. Both of them actively
led agitations in Gujarat for
different issues related to
Patidars and Other Back-
ward Class (OBC) respective-
ly. Congress party managed
to make a significant come-
back in Gujarat’s politics
during assembly polls held in
2017 by presenting both of
these leaders before the vot-
ers of state.
Congress’ list also is hav-
ing the star attraction with
bollywood actors like
Shatrughan Sinha, Urmila
Matondkar, Nagma and crick-
eter Navjot Singh Sidhu.
 ah
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in brief
18 from city
make it to UPSC
Only one candidate from
the city has made it to top
100 ranks in Union Public
Service Commission
(UPSC), results of which
were declared on Friday.
Whereas eighteen from
the city have made it to
the finals. In a statement,
the UPSC said a total of
759 candidates (577 men
and 182 women) have been
recommended by the
Commission for appoint-
ment to various services
like IAS, IPS, IFS etc.
GWSSB chairman
visits CEPT
An IAS officer JP Gupta,
Principal Secretary (Wa-
ter Supply) and Chair-
man of Gujarat Water
Supply & Sewerage
Board (GWSSB) deliv-
ered a lecture on water
management at CEPT
University. The lecture
was a part of a series or-
ganised by Faculty of
Planning. The session fo-
cused on the journey of
water sector from scarci-
ty to security and high-
lighted to the young stu-
dents the main features
of third wave looking for
sustainable solutions
through efficient demand
and supply side manage-
ment while adopting in-
novative approaches and
technologies.
AMC announces
rebate scheme
The Ahmedabad Munici-
pal Corporation (AMC)
has announced a tax re-
bate scheme for the ad-
vance payers. Under this
scheme, the advance tax-
payers will get 10% re-
bate of the tax and one
can get the benefit of the
scheme till May 5. Also,
those who are going to
make online transactions
will get an additional 2%
discount in their total tax
bill. The civic body has
appealed to carry previ-
ous bills to get the benefit
of the scheme while mak-
ing physical payment at
the civic centres.
Sanjiv Bhatt wants DGPs to Ex-fireman evacuates
be examined as witnesses 30 people from fire at
DNA correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
a building in Satellite
Former IPS officer Sanjiv
Bhatt, who is accused in an
alleged custodial death case
in Jamnagar has moved the
Gujarat High Court after a
trial court occupied with the
matter rejected his plea to
summon nearly 40 witnesses
in the case. The list of wit-
nesses pushed forth by Bhatt
includes former director gen-
erals of police (DGPs) PP
Pandey and HP Singh, and
DGP (admin) TS Bisht.
Notably, the case was filed
against Bhatt in Jamnagar
way back in 1990. Bhatt sub-
mitted before the trial court
that while the prosecution
had cited over 300 witnesses
in the case, only 32 of them
have been examined. There-
fore, he requested the court to
summon around 40 witnesses
for examination, including
the DGPs, who are important
as they were senior to him
and had investigated the
case. He also claimed that
they had all the information
regarding the case.
The state government,
however, opposed Bhatt’s
plea before the trial court
submitting that the case is
three-decade-old and many
of the witnesses in the case
are not alive or in a position
to depose before the court. It
also argued that the available
and important witnesses
edabad
Females outshine males in
pursuing PhD at GU: Data
Out of 273 PhDs
registered at the
varsity in ’17-18,
149 were girls
DNA correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
More female students prefer
doing PhD at Gujarat Univer-
sity (GU) as against boys, as
per the data shared by the
varsity.
According to GU’s data, of
a total of 272 PhDs registered,
a total of 149 were girls
whereas 124 were boys. How-
ever, this trend in GU is con-
trary to what the data from
the Ministry of Human Re-
source and Development
(MHRD) claims. As per the
data by MHRD, 21,000 more
males enrolled for their PhD
across Gujarat.
The situation at GU is
quite different. While the to-
tal number of PhDs at GU had
fallen in 2014-15 to 180 candi-
dates as against 320 in 2012-13,
the total number of female
candidates increased.
Interestingly, the number
of female candidates, except
for two years, has been on an
increase. In 2012-13, of 320
candidates, 170 were females
whereas in 2014-15, of 180 total
candidates, 105 were females.
Speaking about the same,
vice chancellor of Gujarat
University Dr Himanshu
Pandya, said, “All of this has
to do with the entrepreneuri-
al culture in the state. Even
today, many boys, after gradu-
ation join their family busi-
ness due to which they do not
pursue higher education.
Whereas girls, even after
marriage, prefer to do higher
studies. At the university
level, earlier there were not
many guides for PhD. But
now, all 300 teachers across all
Former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt
case file
„„Sanjiv Bhatt is accused
in an alleged custodial
death case in Jamnagar
„„The case was filed
against Bhatt in way back
in 1990
have been already examined
and there is no need to exam-
ine the DGPs. Following the
government’s contentions,
the trial court rejected
Bhatt’s plea against which he
has moved the high court.
Hearing likely on
Tuesday
When the case was initially
taken up for hearing on April
3, the court questioned the
counsel for Bhatt about
whether the order being chal-
A level playing field
Even today, many boys, after graduation join their family business due to
which they do not pursue higher education, according to the VC
Stats from gu
320
270
180
170
150
140
130
105
75
2012-13 2013-14 2014-15
Male Female
departments have to guide a
PhD student. In the Botany
department, we have 54 girls
pursuing a PhD, which is
higher than the number of
boys.” Professor Anil Kumar,
Head Librarian at Vikram
Sarabhai Library at the Indi-
an Institute of Management,
Ahmedabad opined that
while the number of PhD’s
across the institutes are in-
creasing, the quality is still a
„„Now, the case is
likely to be posted for
further hearing before
the single judge bench
of Justice Sonia Gokani
on Tuesday
lenged before the high court
was an interlocutory order or
a final one, and whether a
criminal revision application
was maintainable or not.
Counsel for Bhatt sought time
saying he will cite Supreme
Court judgment clarifying
that the revision application
is maintainable and sought
time till Friday. However,
Bhatt’s counsel clarified to the
court that he will convert the
criminal revision application
into a special criminal appli-
cation.
388
273
205
183
164
149
124
95
69
2015-16 2016-17 2017-18
Total
problem. “The quality of any
thesis is based upon its re-
view. Due to certain amend-
ments in the PhD programme
by the MHRD, an external
expert cannot be the guide of
the student. While the minis-
try has done this to bring
more transparency, it also has
its negative side. Earlier, PhD
was also possible externally
but now it is not possible,” he
said. As per professor Nutan
DNA Correspondent
Correspondent@dnaindia.net
On Friday evening a fire
broke out on the 10th floor of
a building located in Satellite.
The reason behind the fire
was not known, but fire offi-
cials suspect that it must have
occurred due to a short cir-
cuit. The incident took place
at around 5.45pm in a pent-
house located on the 10th floor
of Satellite Tower apartment.
The Ahmedabad Fire and
Emergency Service (AFES)
were informed about the inci-
dent and seven teams were
rushed to the spot to control
the situation.
When the fire broke out an
ex-firemen identified as Pra-
haladbhai, 37 was at a Petrol
pump near the apartment. He
witnessed the fire coming out
from the top of the building
and he immediately rushed to
the spot to help the residenc-
Contrary trend
n According to GU’s data, of a
total of 272 PhDs registered, a
total of 149 were girls whereas
124 were boys.
n The number of female candi-
dates, except for two years, has
been on an increase. In 2012-13, of
320 candidates, 170 were females
whereas in 2014-15, of 180 total
candidates, 105 were females
n However, this trend in GU
is contrary to what the data
from the Ministry of Human
Resource and Development
(MHRD) claims. As per the data
by MHRD, 21,000 more males
enrolled for their PhD across
Gujarat
Kotak from GU’s English de-
partment, girls are more mo-
tivated and focussed. She
said, “One of the reasons for
more number of girls getting
into PhD is because these
days, one needs to have a PhD
to get into university-level
teaching. Another reason is
that girls overall are more
motivated and focussed hence
they want to dig deep into a
subject.”
es. He started evacuating the
residence from the building,
around more than 30 people
were evacuated by him from
the building. He also alerted
the fire department about the
incident and tried to control
the fire.
Prahalad stayed at the spot
fighting the fire, till help ar-
rived at the spot. It was re-
vealed later that Prahalad is
ex-firemen and he was with
the firemen department from
between 2004 and 2009. Rajesh
Bhatt, Additional Chief fire
official, said, “ It took us more
than an hour to control the
situation, the fire safety sys-
tem of the building was out of
order and was not operation-
al. Our team got inside the
building to control the fire,
fortunately, no casualty was
reported in the incident.”
As per officials, when the
team reached the spot locals
were not cooperative.
Ahmedabad I Saturday, April 6, 2019 I daily news & analysis
44K apply for
RTE admissions
on first day
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
The first day of admissions
under the Right to Education
(RTE) went smoothly as par-
ents were able to fill their
forms without any glitches.
However little after 4 pm, the
website showed an error
which continued for a few
hours. As confirmed by the
education department, a total
of 44,000 applications were
filed by the parents in the
state, out of which 25,000 were
confirmed.
This year, the state govern-
ment is targetting to give ad-
missions to 1.10 lakh students
as against 85,000 last year, the
process which will continue
till April 20.
“There were no issues with
the website almost all day be-
fore it crashed around 5 pm,”
said Gulmoin Khokhar, con-
venor of Zubeida Seva Ghar
that works round the clock for
the cause of RTE. He added,
“This year, the process has
been smooth. Last year, the
website crashed at noon due to
which we could not fill forms.
Also, this year, the government
has done away with the man-
date of both child and parents
having a bank account.”
The education department
intends to complete the first
round of admissions under
RTE before the summer vaca-
tion begins. “All went well on
day 1. We have had about 44,000
applications out of which
25,000 applications were con-
firmed, with all necessary
documents,” MI Joshi, director
of primary education said. In
February, the Association of
Progressive Schools (AoPS)
had requested the government
to begin the admission process
from March and allot seats by
April this year.
Smooth process
The first list of admissions
will be declared by April
25 and students whose
names are on the list
will be required to
confirm their admission
before May 1
Quenching thirst
A parrot quenches its thirst with the help of a leaking pipe in the city —Pravin Indrekar/DNA
Man stabbed to death by Nepali youth
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Two men were stabbed after
they tried to defuse a fight
near SP Ring Road on Thurs-
day night. Of the two, Bhavin
Desai, a resident of Nikol died
from his injuries.
A complaint on the same
has been registered with the
Nikol police station. As per the
complaint, the incident hap-
pened after Bhavin and two of
his friends Dharmik Patel and
Jay Patel were returning home
after having a quick snack. On
their way back home, they saw
two Nepali youths fighting in
03
Picture for representation
Woman accuses
her husband of
wife-swapping
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
A complaint was lodged with
Ghatlodia police station on
Thursday by a 24-year-old
woman who accused her hus-
band and three couples of
forcing her into swapping
sexual partners. She alleged
that during a trip, her hus-
band had drugged her and
switched her with his friends’
wives.
According to the police,
the victim is a resident of
Ghatlodia and an MBA stu-
dent. In 2015, she had gotten
married to the accused, who
worked as a clerk in a private
company located in the Paldi
area. Six months after their
marriage, her husband start-
ed talking to her about swap-
ping partners and told her
that all his friends were into
it and that they should also
start doing it. The victim re-
fused and told him that she is
uncomfortable doing it.
As per the complaint, in
January this year, the vic-
tim’s husband and his friends
had planned a trip to Kullu
and Manali. A total of 18 peo-
ple including the couple went
on this trip. While on the trip,
the victim’s husband drugged
her and swapped her with his
friends, identified as Nutak
Thakkar, Hardik Prajapati
and Vishal Pujara. Their
wives, identified as Dipti Th-
the middle of the road. Bhavin
stopped his bike and ap-
proached them to sort the mat-
ter out; Dharmik followed him
at his heels. While trying to
stop the confrontation, a dis-
pute broke between them after
which they were attacked by
one of the Nepali youths. The
akkar, Kinjal Prajapati and
Ketuben Pujara, were also
involved. One of the accused
women had also taken a video
of her and threatened to leak
it online, if she revealed the
incident to anyone.
Inspector P M Gamit of
Ghatlodia police station said,
“On January 11, the couple
returned to Ahmedabad and
on the same day, the victim’s
husband called his in-laws to
their home, saying that he
had a surprise for them.
When the victim’s parents
went over, all seven accused
were present there and they
started abusing them, saying
that their daughter is charac-
terless and that she is having
an extramarital affair.”
As per the police, the vic-
tim was thrown out of the
house and she left with her
parents. The accused didn’t
just stop there.
They made a WhatsApp
group in the name of the vic-
tim and tried to ruin her so-
cial image by sharing it with
friends. When the victim
found out, she lodged a com-
plaint with the Ghatlodia po-
lice station against the seven
accused.
“Right now, we have start-
ed an investigation into the
matter by taking statements
of the alleged accused and
further investigation is on.
No accused has been arrested
yet,” the inspector added.
youth stabbed Bhavin his
chest, while Dharmik was
stabbed in the leg. After the
incident, the attackers fled
from the spot, while Jay
rushed Bhavin and Dharmik
to the hospital. Bhavin died
during treatment, while Dhar-
mik is undergoing treatment.
 04
daily news & analysis I Ahmedabad I Saturday, April 6, 2019
Terror attack plans in J&K foiled
According to intercept inputs, Jaish-e-Mohammed planned attacks between April 5 and 9
Sumit Kumar Singh
singh.sumit@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: Ahead of Lok
Sabha polls 2019, intelligence
agencies have intercepted
plans of a series of attacks
allegedly being planned in
Jammu and Kashmir (J&K)
by Pakistan-based terror out-
fit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)
between April 5 and 9, sourc-
es in the Intelligence Bureau
stated on Friday.
“As per intercept inputs,
JeM has planned attacks tar-
geting Batwara Chowk in
Srinagar,” said the source,
adding that further inputs
revealed JeM’s plan to exe-
cute another terror attack
sometime between April 5
and 9. The attacks target Sri-
nagar city and the national
highway in J&K.
The intelligence bureau
has shared a terror attack
alert with security forces.
They have been directed to
“sensitise and brief under
command troops to keep extra
vigil and alertness to avoid
any untoward incident”.
J&K will go to polls in five
phases from April 11 to May
6. The counting of votes will
take place on May 23. Assem-
bly elections are likely to be
held after the LS polls.
Last week, an attempt was
made to target a Central Re-
serve Police Force (CRPF)
convoy on the Srinagar-Jam-
mu highway at Banihal

Security personnel patrol in Srinagar on Friday —ANI
additional security deployed
„„J&K will go to polls in
five phases from April 11 to
May 6. The counting of votes
will take place on May 23.
Assembly elections are likely
to be held after the LS polls
through a car bomb. While a
CRPF bus suffered minor
damage, fortunately, there
was no casualty. It was like a
re-run of the Pulwama attack.
At 10:30 am, a civilian car
(Santro) exploded near Ban-
ihal while the convoy was
passing by. “The car caught
fire and the rear of a CRPF
vehicle suffered slight dam-
age. However, no CRPF per-
sonnel were injured,” said a
senior CRPF officer. The car
was totally gutted. An intact
„„Recently after taking
stock of the situation in
the valley, the Ministry
of Home Affairs has
deployed additional 800
para-military forces
gas cylinder and a damaged
gas cylinder were found near
the blast site.
A letter recovered from
the scene had identified the
driver as a Hizbul Mujahi-
deen operative, who men-
tioned his intention to carry
out a February 14 Pulwama-
type terror attack. The Pul-
wama attack killed 40 CRPF
personnel after a terrorist of
the JeM drove an explosive-
laden vehicle into a CRPF
convoy.
one for the books
Konyak tribal women participate to set a Guinness World Record for the ‘largest traditional Konyak dance’ in
Kohima on Friday —PTI
Didn’t name anyone: Michel flips...
From p1
“The endower of the pros-
ecution and the agencies,
by supplying documents to
media, is to create a hostile
perception... Such hostile
remarks may curtail the
rights of the applicant to
ensure a free and fair trial.”
The plea also stated
Michel was not provided a
copy of the supplementary
tenders & Notices
919 ‘undeserving persons’
lose their security cover
Sumit Kumar Singh
singh.sumit@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: The Jammu and
Kashmir (J&K) administra-
tion on Friday said it has
withdrawn security cover of
919 people, including 22 sepa-
ratist leaders, claiming them
to be ‘undeserving persons’,
thereby freeing 2,768 police
personnel and 389 vehicles.
The government has been
withdrawing personal secu-
rity cover since Governor’s
Rule took effect on June 20,
2018 in the state.
The list also includes 155
political leaders, including Wa-
hid Parra, a close aide of for-
mer chief minister Mehbooba
Mufti, and ex-bureaucrat,
Shah Faesal. In addition, pro-
Pakistan separatist Syed Ali
Shah Geelani and JKLF chief
Yaseen Malik, who had main-
tained that they never had any
security, Shahid-ul-Islam and
Nayeem Khan, who have been
in jail for over a year now, have
also had their security re-
moved. The administration
stated that the move follows a
strict stance by the Union
Home Ministry on inappropri-
ate usage of scarce police re-
sources in the state.
“It was observed by the
charge sheet filed by ED on
Thursday, which was leaked
to the media, without the
court taking cognisance of
it.
Michel, a British nation-
al extradited from Dubai in
December, is one of the
three middlemen being in-
vestigated for organising
bribes to push the deal with
decision-makers in India.
IAS-turned-politician Shah Faesal
is among those whose security has
been removed —PTI
Centre that many undeserv-
ing persons managed to get
security cover resulting in a
lack of state police resources
for the public at large,” the
state administration claimed.
Further, Union Home Minis-
try told the state that a case-
by-case in-depth review may
be taken on merits.
Following these strict di-
rections, J&K’s Security Re-
view Coordination Committee
(SRCC) held regular meetings
to examine all cases to ensure
strict compliance as per
norms. “After the review, the
state withdrew 2,768 police
personnel from 919 undeserv-
ing persons and also from
those who were having secu-
rity cover in excess than what
is entitled to them,” said the
state administration in a
statement issued on Monday.
The other two are Guido
Haschke and Carlo Gerosa.
Congress spokesperson
Randeep Surjewala said on
Friday, “A single uncertified
page leaked by Enforcement
Directorate of a purported
charge sheet is a cheap elec-
tion stunt to divert attention
from imminent defeat of
BJP.
Full report on: www.dnaindia.com
How did you handle poll seizures, SC...
From p1
A bench of Justices NV Ra-
mana and Mohan M Shanta-
nagouder had passed the
order after they were told EC
has no clue what happens to
the cases it lodges once elec-
tions are over.
It is left to the concerned
states to investigate and
prosecute the cases, and
there is no follow-up by the
EC as it does not have any
investigation or prosecution
wing, the poll panel told the
court.
The EC, represented by
advocate Amit Sharma, pre-
sented a chart to the court
www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia
‘BJP committed to rooting
out terrorism, insurgency’
Bordumsa (Arunachal
Pradesh): Exuding confi-
dence that the BJP will be
re-elected at the Centre,
party president Amit Shah
said Friday it was the Modi
government that brought
peace and development to
the northeast, where mili-
tant activities were ram-
pant even five years ago.
Addressing a rally here
in Changlang district, he
said the saffron party is
committed to take action
against cross-border terror-
ism and insurgency in the
region.
Shah also insisted that
“political stability returned
to the state after the BJP
formed government in the
state”.
Terming the people of
Arunachal “patriots”, he
said that this Himalayan
state withstood the Chinese
onslaught in 1962 even
when then prime minister
Jawaharlal Nehru, in a
statement, expressed help-
lessness for Assam.
“Even five years ago, the
northeast region was dis-
turbed, there was hardly
any development owing to
militant activities among
other roadblocks. The BJP
has brought peace to the
region and paved way for its
development,” he claimed.
The BJP chief also point-
ed out that Prime Minister
Narendra Modi has in-
structed his ministers to
visit the northeast states
every fortnight and resolve
the problems of the region.
“All parts of the north-
east now have air and rail
connectivity. In Arunachal
alone, the government has
sanctioned Rs 50,000 crore
for the development of
roads,” he stated. —PTI
Rahul says he ‘loves’ PM Modi,
berates him for insulting Advani
Pune: Congress president Ra-
hul Gandhi Friday said his
love for Prime Minister Nar-
endra Modi begets anger from
the latter, and berated him for
‘humiliating’ BJP veteran LK
Advani.
Addressing a poll rally at
Chandrapur, Gandhi said,
“BJP talks of Hinduism. In
Hinduism, guru is supreme. It
talks of guru-shishya tradi-
tion. Who is Modi’s guru? Ad-
vani. Joota maar ke stage se
utara (Advani was kicked out
indi
BJP president Amit Shah in Morigoan, Assam on Friday —ANI
Ambedkar calls Modi a ‘blackmailer’
Mumbai: A day after he was
booked for his remarks
against the Election Com-
mission (EC), Dalit leader
Prakash Ambedkar Friday
accused Prime Minister
Narendra Modi of being a
blackmailer.
Addressing a poll rally at
Akola in Maharashtra,
Ambedkar alleged that Modi
blackmailed the UPA chair-
person Sonia Gandhi and
her party saying if she did
not want her son-in-law Rob-
ert Vadra to be in jail, they
should refrain from joining
hands with any other party.
“Can anyone tell me why
Congress did not have an al-
SAD pins hope on junior Badal
Chhavi Bhatia
chhavi.bhatia@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: Fearful of los-
ing its strong footing in the
state they have ruled sev-
eral times, the Shiromani
Akali Dal (SAD), will field
party president Sukhbir
Singh Badal from one of
the two significant seats of
the party. He will contest
either from Ferozpur or
Bathinda — both consid-
ered bastions of the party.
from stage).” Gandhi said
Modi had humiliated Advani,
and added that disre-
specting one’s guru is
not Hindu culture.
His swipe at Modi
over the treatment
meted out to Advani
follows the BJP patri-
arch’s blog published
Thursday where he
said his party never consid-
ered political adversaries as
anti-national.
Gandhi’s remark was a
with state-wise numbers of
cases lodged in 2014 LS polls.
But the bench found the in-
formation “very unsatisfac-
tory”. “It does not show the
specific offence, status of
case and the complaints
lodged in 2019 ongoing elec-
tions. Once elections are
over, nobody bothers. If you
(EC) are an independent au-
thority, what prevented you
from asking the status of
cases from states/UTs? After
all, EC is accountable to the
people.”
The court was hearing an
appeal of Karnataka govern-
ment against a Karnataka
IAF reasserts it shot
down a Pak F16 jet
From p1
“It went missing within eight
seconds, after it was hit by
Wing Commander Abhinan-
dan,” asserted the IAF, add-
ing that the images show the
F16 flew over Mirpur and the
engagement took place in
Subzkot, opposite Rajouri
and Nowshera sectors on the
Indian side.
“At this this point, a dog-
fight took place with Abhi-
nandan and only F16s were
deployed. JF17s were flying
north of this,” the IAF said.
On February 28, the IAF
had displayed pieces of an
AMRAAM missile, which
can only be deployed by an
F16, as evidence that Paki-
stan used the US-manufac-
tured fighter jets during an
liance with any other party
across the country? Modi
had put a condition that if
Congress party wants Ra-
bert Vadra not to be in jail,
then it should refrain from
forging an alliance with any
other party,” he claimed.
“That is why Congress did
not have an alliance with any
party. Modi is a blackmailer.
He is blackmailing Sonia
Gandhi and everyone else.
“This is Modi’s style of func-
tioning that Congress party
did not have an alliance with
the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)
in Delhi and Mamata Baner-
jee in West Bengal,” Ambed-
kar alleged. —PTI
Sukhbir, who has taken
over the party from patri-
arch and former Punjab
chief minister Parkash
Singh Badal, will make a
comeback to General Elec-
tions after a gap of almost
two decades if he gives a nod
for it. It will also make him
the second member from the
Badal family to seek a man-
date in Parliamentary polls.
The Jalalabad MLA last
remained in office as MP in
2004 from Faridkot.
veiled reference to Advani not
getting Lok Sabha poll ticket
from Gandhinagar, from
where BJP has fielded
party president Amit
Shah instead. “I love PM
Modi. Genuinely, I have
no hatred or anger to-
wards the man, but he
(Modi) has anger to-
wards me. I genuinely
do not have anger towards
him,” the Congress leader
said, during an interaction
with students in Pune. —PTI
High Court order quashing a
case of cash seizure from a
businessman during the 2014
Parliament elections in Bel-
lary. The bench said, “After
cash is seized and case lodged,
ultimately one has to trace
out the origin from where the
money came from.”
The lawyer for the ac-
cused, Kuriakose Varghese,
pointed out that it is a prac-
tice in many developed
countries to compile a data-
base on such cases. The
Centre and the EC conced-
ed that there was no such
tracking mechanism they
had so far.
aerial raid targeting Indian
military installations in
Kashmir.
Pakistan had categorically
said that no F16 was used,
now were any of its planes
downed by the IAF.
India has already raised
the matter with the US re-
garding the use of F16s sup-
plied by Washington DC to
Islamabad. Ministry of Ex-
ternal Affairs spokesperson
Raveesh Kumar said on
Thursday, “whether and un-
der what circumstances the
use of F16 is or is not allowed
will have to come from the
US. Fact is, it was used and...
as per the understanding be-
tween US and Pakistan... it
should have not been done.”
Full report on: www.dnaindia.com

ball
ballet
lok sabha election 2019
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Split Oppn leaves Muslim voters in fix
Matrix of ongoing elections, especially in UP, Bihar & Bengal, has put a tough task of choice before the community
Manan Kumar
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: Come elections
and Muslims are back in the
debate and on drawing boards
of political parties as well.
While the usual academic
interest remains in knowing
how the minority that dots the
Indian landscape is going to
behave during polls, parties
fancy their chances on how to
woo them in constituencies
where they can be decisive.
Some parties also try to po-
larise or create a majority-
minority wedge to maximise
their benefits. Sad as it seems,
Muslims, more often than not,
are used as pawns on board of
political chess by most play-
ers of the electoral game.
In this spiral game that
gets repeated every election,
Muslims are forced to bear
the brunt of administration’s
apathy and thus remain at the
bottom ebb of Indian polity.
No tall community leader
India today cannot boast of
a single tall Muslim leader
who can channelize the com-
munity towards a better life
and help them rise above nar-
row sectarian lookout. This
void has allowed every party
to make use of mediocre Mus-
lim leaders who make use of
religion to grab power.
Muslims during NDA govt
During the last five years,
the Modi government has dab-
bled into various schemes and
issues to strike a chord with
the Muslims, like promoting
Urdu language, improving the
education standards of ma-
drasas, promoting Sufi mysti-
cism and trying to bring legis-
lation on triple talaq.
The cultural fountainhead
of BJP, the RSS, has in its own
manner tried to make inroads
into the community. Its Mus-
lim Rashtriya Manch under
Sangh’s Margdarshak Indresh
Kumar strives to promote as-
similation.
However, most of its initia-
tives failed to make much
headway, thanks to the poison-
ous utterances by some lead-
ers and the backlash of right-
wing outfits like Hindu Yuva
Vahini, Bajrang Dal and cer-
tain unknown vigilante out-
fits. Mob lynching, especially
by cow vigilante groups.
The latest cases of Muslim
bashing post-Pulwama terror
attack also contributed to the
distancing of Muslims from
the BJP. The legislation on tri-
ple talaq could have fetched
BJP some genuine support;
but that too failed to click as
the legislation failed to pass
in brief
‘Cong-JD(S) govt
will fall post-polls’
Bengaluru: Karnataka BJP chief
BS Yeddyurappa Friday exuded
confidence that his party will
win 22 of the state’s 28 Lok
Sabha seats, and claimed the
“differences” between ruling
Congress and JD(S) would
reach its peak after the results
and may lead to the fall of the
government. The 76-year-old
leader also said he was not wor-
ried about the party “neglecting”
him, after stalwarts such as LK
Advani, MM Joshi and Sumitra
Mahajan were denied tickets,
and vowed to work for the
growth of the BJP regardless of
being given any position or not.
MM Joshi meets
Advani at his home
New Delhi: Senior BJP leader
Murli Manohar Joshi Friday met
party veteran L K Advani at his
residence, a day after Advani
said his party has never regarded
those who disagreed with it
politically as “anti-nationals” or
“enemies”. Advani’s comments
assume significance as top BJP
leaders have been attacking op-
position with anti-national barbs.
t
where minority muslims wins over majority
political parties fancy their chances on how to woo the community in constituencies where they can be decisive
Percentage of Muslims in the country
All India
14.23%
J&K
68.31%
Delhi
12.86%
Rajasthan
9.07%
Gujarat
9.67%
Maharashtra
11.54%
Karnataka Lakshadweep
12.92% 96.58%
the test in Rajya Sabha.
2019 Lok Sabha elections
The ongoing elections are
no different and the focus is
back again on Muslims who
constitute 14.23% of India’s
total population. Unlike the
majority community, the im-
pact of Muslims is on fewer
seats depending on their head
count in a particular seat.
As a vote bank, Muslims
have the capacity to decide the
government in very few states
& UTs -- Lakshadweep, which
is overwhelmingly Muslim
with 96.58% population, J&K
with 68.31%, Assam (34.22%),
West Bengal (27.01%), Kerala
(26.56%), UP (19.26%) and to
some extent Bihar (16.87%).
In Uttar Pradesh, Muslim
voters can play a decisive role
in about a dozen odd seats and
somewhat significant role on
another 10 seats. Similarly, in
West Bengal, Muslims can
sway the results in 12 districts
or about 18 LS seats; in Assam
in 13 districts; Kerala six, in-
cluding Wayanad where Con-
gress president Rahul Gandhi
is contesting; Bihar seven
districts; Maharashtra three
and Karnataka, two districts.
Lalu claim on Nitish overtures bogus: JD(U) Won’t contest LS polls; BJP free
Vithika Salomi
vithika.salomi@dnaindia.net
Patna: RJD leader Lalu Pras-
ad Yadav’s biography ‘Go-
palganj to Raisina’ has
kicked up a storm in Bihar
politics with excerpts from it
claiming Bihar chief minis-
ter (CM) Nitish Kumar had
sent “ambassadors” includ-
ing JD(U) vice president
Prashant Kishor to Lalu,
seeking a re-entry into the
Grand Alliance (GA) within
six months of parting ways
in July 2017.
Kishor has termed the
claim “bogus” though he con-
firmed meeting Lalu “many
times” before joining the Nit-
PM can’t list even one feat, says Priyanka at Ghaziabad roadshow
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra during a roadshow in Ghaziabad on Friday
Maha phase-1
116
candidates are left in fray for
1st phase of LS polls for seven
Lok Sabha constituencies in
Maharashtra on April 11
EC to consult its legal experts before taking final call on release date of PM Modi’s biopic
Urban Rural
8.23% 12.41%
Uttarakhand U.P.
13.95% 19.26%
Assam
34.22%
Bihar
16.87%
Jharkhand West Bengal
14.53% 27.01%
Kerala Andhra Pradesh
26.56% 9.56%
‘Modi govt alone helped uplift madrasas’
Chhavi Bhatia
chhavi.bhatia@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: The minorities
have always been a key vote
bank in elections. In many a
state they are the game-chang-
ers. The reason why parties
dole out freebies and promises.
The right-wing NDA govt too
has initiated various projects
for Muslims and allocated Rs
332.16 crore for proliferation
of Urdu. DNA spoke to chair-
man of national council for
proliferation of Urdu lan-
guage Dr Aquil Ahmed to
find about how the govt fared
in its minority report card.
„„ The general perception
The political matrix
The matrix of ongoing
elections has put a tough task
of choice before the Muslims.
In UP for example, the SP-
BSP-RLD Gathbandhan’s
failure to bring Congress into
its fold has made the choice
difficult for Muslims in sev-
eral seats. A case in point is
Saharanpur that has strong
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar
ish’s Janata Dal (United).
“The claims made by Laluji as
reported (in media) are BO-
GUS. This is nothing but a
poor attempt seeking rele-
vance by a leader whose best
days are behind him. Yes, we
1.30cr
voters in the state are eligible
to cast their vote in the first
phase, said the Election
Commission.
This general election is a contest between
nationalists and people who take favours from anti
national elements. This election will decide the respect,
safety and progress of the nation
Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra Chief Minister
Uttar Pradesh
Bijnor Bareilly Rampur
43.04% 34.54% 50.57%
Moradabad Saharanpur
47.12% 41.95%
Assam
North Twenty Four South Twenty Four
Parganas 25.82 % Parganas 35.57 %
Barddhaman Kolkata
20.73 % 20.60 %
Kannur Maldah
29.43 % 51.27 %
Murshidabad Birbhum
66.27 % 37.06 %
Haora Uttar Dinajpur
26.20 % 49.92 %
Malappuram Kozhikode Palakkad
70.24 % 39.24 % 28.93 %
Barpeta Cachar Darrang
70.74 % 37.71 %
Bongaigaon Chirang Dhubri
50.22 % 22.66 %
is that NDA govt is not mi-
nority-friendly...
There is no hostility to-
wards minorities in this
country. The Modi govt has
given a fertile platform to mi-
norities, especially Muslims,
to flourish in their cultural
and lingual diversity. It is
the first govt to have
given maximum
grant for prolifera-
tion of Urdu.
„„ How do you quan-
tify that NDA govt
worked for uplift-
ment of minorities?
This govt is the
only one to show
interest towards
41.95% Muslim presence.
Both Congress and Gath-
bandhan have put up two
strong Muslim candidates –
Imran Masood and Fazlur
Rehman against BJP’s sit-
ting MP, Raghav Lakhanpal.
This has turned Saharanpur
contest a tough one.
Similarly, in Bihar’s Be-
gusarai – the fight between
did meet many times before I
joined JDU, but if I were to tell
what all was discussed then
he would be quite embar-
rassed,” Kishor tweeted.
However, Lalu’s younger
son and RJD leader Tejashwi
Prasad Yadav countered
Kishor asking if the latter had
ever met anyone without spe-
cific purposes? “The claims
are 100% right. My uncle Nit-
ish has sent many emissaries
even to me, sent several offers
to Laluji and Congress to re-
turn to Mahagathbandhan
within six months,” he told
reporters in Patna. Kishor in
turn targeted Tejashwi saying
his only achievement was be-
ing Lalu’s son.
Saswat Panigrahi
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Ghaziabad: With just six
days to go for the first phase
of Lok Sabha polls, AICC gen-
eral secretary Priyanka Gan-
dhi Vadra on Friday turned
up the poll heat by holding a
roadshow in Ghaziabad.
Priyanka, during the two-
hour-long road show, tried to
woo the voters in support of
party’s candidate from Gha-
ziabad LS seat Dolly Sharma.
Draped in a maroon colour
saree, Priyanka was seen sit-
44K
EVMs and 20,000 VVPAT
machines will be put to use. Total
73,837 employees are deputed to
conduct the polling.
Baghpat Muzaffarnagar
27.98% 47.3%
Meerut Ghaziabad
34.47% 25.35%
Koch Bihar
25.54 %
Dakshin
Dinajpur
24.63 %
Kerala
Kannur Kasaragod Wayanad
29.43 % 37.24 % 28.65 %
Assam
Goalpara Kamrup
64.34 % 57.52 % 39.66 %
Hailakandi Karimganj
79.67 % 60.31 % 56.36 %
neglected madrasas, uplift-
ing and modernising them
with proper infrastructure
and facilities to impart qual-
ity education. A board too
has been constituted as a go-
by between the government
and madrasas. The mode of
education there too is
turning digital.
„„Is NDA govt’s lar-
gesse for Urdu due to
minority tag?
Urdu is not the lan-
guage of a minority
community or Mus-
lims alone. Many re-
nowned Urdu
writers, poets,
academi-
Gathbandhan (RJD’s) Tan-
veer Hassan, BJP’s Giriraj
Singh and has again become
a tough contest because of the
entry of CPI’s Kanhaiya Ku-
mar. A better understanding
between opposition parties
ensuring a straight fight
would have given Hassan a
definite edge over Singh,
claim Bihar observers.
The co-author of the book
Nalin Verma, a senior jour-
nalist based in Patna, denied
revealing much but said, “It is
a long chapter (Lalu and Nit-
ish) and only one paragraph
has come out in the media
about their meets. When you
read the book you will know
Lalu is not bitter for Nitish
and there is much more to it.
More can be said on after the
book comes out in a few days.”
Tejashwi though got sup-
port from GA leaders includ-
ing Sharad Yadav, former
JD(U) president. “Yes this is
correct. He talked to a lot of
people to return to the fold,”
he said while replying to a re-
porter’s query on the matter.
ting atop a white SUV along
with Dolly Sharma and wav-
ing the cheering supporters.
Congress cadre were walk-
ing along with Priyanka’s
cavalcade holding party flags
and various cut outs dotted
with party slogans against
the Modi government.
As her cavalcade passed
through the narrow lanes
and bylanes of Ghaziabad,
supporters – lined on both
sides of the road as well as on
the roofs of houses – were
seen greeting Priyanka by
showering flowers at her.
Kanhaiya
battle-fit
Former JNU student union
leader Kanhaiya Kumar
during a public meeting
ahead of the Lok Sabha
elections, in Begusarai,
on Friday. Kanhaiya is
fighting on a CPI ticket
and is pitted against NDA
as well as RJD-Congress
candidates in the
constituency, making it a
triangular fight.
Ahmedabad I Saturday, April 6, 2019 I daily news & analysis
Maharashtra
Aurangabad Osmanabad
21.25 % 25.06 %
Mumbai City
25.06 %
Bihar
Araria Kishanganj
42.95 % 67.98 %
Darbhanga Purnia
22.39 % 38.46 %
Katihar Sitamarhi
44.47 % 21.62 %
Pashchim Champaran
21.98 %
Karnataka
Dakshina Kannada
24.02 %
Dharwad
20.94 %
Kokrajhar Nagaon
28.44 % 55.36 %
Morigaon Nalbari
52.56 % 35.96 %
cians are Hindus. For in-
stance Gulzar and Firaq
Gorakhpuri. The grant is to
help revive Urdu to its lost
glory.
„„ Does this mean Muslims
as minority is a misnomer?
The NDA has strived to
bring all communities to the
mainstream. The genesis of
minorities was Congress as
it always wanted us to re-
main as second-class citi-
zens. The party created fear
psychosis that Hindu domi-
nated parties like BJP, RSS
will drive us out of the coun-
try. It is this manufactured
fear that destroyed India’s
social fabric.
The situation is no differ-
ent in West Bengal, where
TMC, Congress and Left par-
ties are in a triangular contest
in many seats. This same ma-
trix is playing across scores
of key seats in important
states which can eventually
decide the fate of elections
and how intelligent Muslims
voters prove themselves to be.
to make its choice, says Mahajan
New Delhi/Indore: With the
BJP appearing to be in a di-
lemma over fielding her, out-
going Lok Sabha Speaker and
eight-time MP from Indore,
Sumitra Mahajan Friday opt-
ed out of contesting the elec-
tions saying she has freed the
party to make its choice.
Informing reporters in In-
dore that she has written to
BJP chief Amit Shah about
her decision, she said, “I have
made the party worry-free.”
Mahajan, who turns 76 next
Friday, said there had been
speculations whether the
VK Singh won here with record margin
„„VK Singh had created history by winning Ghazi-abad
seat with a margin of 5.67 lakh votes in 2014
„„Even on Friday, slogans like ‘Modi Modi’ and ‘Main Bhi
Chowkidar’ were raised during Priyanka road show.
„„Ghaziabad LS seat goes to polls on May 11.
The Gandhi scion also left
no stones unturned, obliging
her supporters, clicking self-
ies with them. Slogans like
‘Priyanka Gandhi aandhi
hai. Dusri Indira Gandhi hai’
(Priyanka Gandhi is a ty-
Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Abhishekh Manu Singhvi, Ahmad Patel
and Surjewala coming out after meeting EC in Delhi on Friday —DNA
Shah filed wrong
affidavit, should
be barred: Cong
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Ahmedabad: Congress on
Friday urged Election Com-
mission of India (ECI) to can-
cel nomination of BJP presi-
dent Amit Shah from Gandhi-
nagar Lok Sabha constitu-
ency claiming that Shah has
willfully filed a wrong affida-
vit not mentioning his liabil-
ities. It said Shah’s omissions
would attract criminal provi-
sions under existing laws and
precedent as laid down by the
Supreme Court.
Congress mentioned that
candidates contesting elec-
tions to the Lok Sabha have to
disclose their liabilities to any
public financial institutions
in the affidavits while filing
nomination. Shah has two of
his properties mortgages to
Kalupur Commercial Coop-
erative Bank for his son’s
business venture Kusum Fin-
serve LLP for a substantial
loan of Rs 25 crore. This liabil-
ity of Surety as coextensive
with the person taking the
loan and cannot be defined as
a contingent liability.
The party said that Shah
had not disclosed this liability
during filing his nomination
for Rajya Sabha and did not
update it in following years.
“This would attract several
criminal provisions under the
existing laws and precedent
EC orders transfer of Andhra Chief Secy
New Delhi: The Election
Commission on Friday or-
dered the transfer of
Andhra Pradesh Chief Sec-
retary Anil Chandra Pune-
tha and posted IAS officer
L V Subrahmanyam in his
place, officials said. The EC
has asked the state govern-
ment to effect the order by
Saturday forenoon.
The poll panel’s move
Outgoing Speaker Sumitra Mahajan
party would field someone
who has crossed the 75-year
age bar. “There were specula-
tions and so I decided to end
phoon) were raised as her
cavalcade criss-crossed Gha-
ziabad constituency.
Interestingly, slogans like
‘Modi Modi’ and ‘Main Bhi
Chowkidar’ were also raised
during Priyanka’s road show.
05
EC pulls up Niti
Aayog Vice-chief
New Delhi: Notwith-
standing Niti Aayog vice
chairman Rajiv Kumar’s
explanation that he com-
mented on Congress NYAY
scheme in his personal
capacity, the Election Com-
mission pulled him up on
Friday. Serving Kumar a
censure, Commission said,
it has come to a conclusion
that his comments regard-
ing Congress ‘minimum
income guarantee scheme’
violate the model code.
“The Commission, there-
fore, decided to convey its
displeasure to you for your
comments and expects
that you shall exercise cau-
tion in future,” EC said.
laid down by the Supreme
Court,” said the memorandum
submitted by the party to the
ECI. Shah’s acts also constitute
a corrupt practice of ‘undue
influence’ under Representa-
tion of the People’s Act – 1951.
Terming Shah’s act as a
serious act of corruption
through willful and deliberate
suppression, it urged ECI to
initiate appropriate proceed-
ings to disqualify Shah from
contesting the upcoming polls.
comes in the backdrop of
Andhra government re-
portedly refusing to shift
three IPS officers -- DGP
(Intel) AB Venkateswara
Rao and two SPs -- in viola-
tion of EC instructions.
The ECI directed that
Punetha, scheduled to re-
tire from service May-end,
be posted to a ‘non-election’
position. —PTI
them and free the party to
make its choice. I will not con-
test the LS polls,” she said.
Mahajan, popularly known
as ‘Tai’ (elder sister in Mar-
athi) however, maintained
that she would continue to
work for the party and cam-
paign for it.
“The party (BJP) had not
been able to name a candidate
(from Indore Lok Sabha seat)
for so many days and there
were speculations if someone
over 75 years of age will be
fielded. So I decided to end all
this,” she said.
Speaking at Maliwara
Chowk, Priyanka criticised
the Modi government alleg-
ing under the current dispen-
sation “those in the corridors
of power only were getting
stronger,” and that PM Modi
is unable to list even one
achievement of his rule.
Talking to DNA, a PCC
member, on condition of ano-
nymity, said Priyanka’s road-
show “hardly makes an im-
pact” as Ghaziabad will ulti-
mately vote for BJP and Un-
ion Minister VK Singh. Gha-
ziabad goes to polls on May 11.
 06
Ahmedabad I Saturday, April 6, 2019
 opini n
www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia

daily news & analysis

A stymied political career
Disillusioned by a string of factors, the voters in 2019 LS polls might be left with only limited choice

Outstaying the welcome

A great revolution
is never the fault of
the people, but of
the government,
Advani should have hung up his boots when time was ripe the famous Ger-
man writer JW von

W
hen he decided to retire from all forms of cricket, the Goethe had said.
great legend that he is, Sunil Gavaskar had quoted an- Gurcharan Das,
noted Indian au-
other legend of Indian cricket — Vijay Merchant: one
must retire when people ask why and not wait for them to ask Chirantan Chatterjee thor and former
head of Proctor
why not. Gavaskar’s batting average in the year when he re- and Gamble India, recently pointed out
tired was better than most Indian batsmen of the time; he had a problem that voters across India may
just cracked his first and only One Day International cen- face during the upcoming Lok Sabha
tury, and at such incredible pace that he ensured India did elections. Disillusioned by a string of fac-
tors that form a major chunk of the en-
not face a tough cricket rival, Pakistan, in the semi-finals of tire election process, the voter in 2019
1987 Cricket World Cup. And yet, when he got out cheaply in might be finally left with only a limited
the semi-final against England, the people who had come to choice. While the NOTA will be an op-
watch India win the match did not think twice booing him. tion, the bigger mathematics is who shall
This was in Mumbai, where Gavaskar started his life in crick- rise to power after standard tenets of the
et. No one booing him remembered he was the first Test crick- median voter theorem are taken care of.
As April 11 nears, the question that
eter to surpass none other than Sir Don Bradman in terms haunts many citizens is whether the po-
of centuries or was the first batsman to score 10000 runs or litical entrepreneurship stymied and
more in Test cricket. All that mattered to those booing the muted in our country.
great cricketer was that he did not post a good score in what To start with, the Election Commis-
turned out to be his last match. Our politicians, across parties sion of India (ECI) data suggests that
and especially those in the Bharatiya Janata Party, who are currently there are 7 national parties in
India. The eligibility to become one is to
now striking a dissent note after not getting a ticket to contest win at least 2% seats in the Lok Sabha
Lok Sabha polls need to take a note of this. History is kind (LS), the upper house of the Indian Par-
to them to see their time is up and bow out gracefully. If they liament. In addition, they have to win at People stand in a queue to exercise their electoral rights — file photo
don’t, humiliation, even if it is unintentional, is inevitable. least win four Lok Sabha seats. The na-
It is hard to believe Sumitra Mahajan, Murli Manohar Joshi tional parties also have to get the recog- cro-foundations of entrepreneurship and phones in their hand and aspirations in
and above all, Lal Krishna Adavni did not see what was com- nition as a state party in at least four pathways related to politics as a career their mind, India’s youth may prioritize
states. While one can debate whether could provide a starting answer. There WhatsApp, malls, Instagram. But if they
ing for them. None of them saw that their glory days are past these cut-offs need a revisiting or if these are no estimates, but one wonders if it have the foresight (even selfish ones for
them; especially Advani, who is in his nineties and who has restrictions are prohibitive, seven na- has become costlier to pursue active that matter are fine), they should also
been accorded the second highest executive post, that of the tional parties for a country of 1.33 billion politics as a career opportunity. In addi- ponder taking their future in their
deputy Prime Minister, back in 2003-04. Once the sun set on seem less. It immediately suggests that a tion, the controversial and fuzzy elec- hands. From being amnesiac here, to the
him after consecutive defeats in 2004 and 2009, Advani should market power is being exercised by the toral bonds are perfect instruments as death anniversary of Bhagat Singh last
have made way for the next generation of leaders which dominant ones rather than the ones on entry barriers for incumbents. Also, week was not exactly a great sign to this
the fringes. What heightens the curiosity with the 1991 liberalisation, India has regard, but one would like to remain
would have elevated respect for him in the eyes of the BJP is that 1999, and also the last LS polls, saw seen the advent of market forces, such hopeful that tomorrow young India will
supporters. That Advani could not become the Prime Minis- the classification of a national party, that the role of the state as a social plan- wonders if this comes at the cost of turn- still be inspired by him and that will spur
ter is not the fault of the party. He chose his brand of politics namely the Nationalist Congress Party. ner has become more corrective in na- ing the oblivious to inequalities that mar- political competition.
that was not acceptable to the allies of his time and had to Since then, we have had 5 national ture (when there are market distortions), ket forces are bringing forth and the Speaking in recent months to promi-
nominate his contemporary and a more acceptable Atal Bi- elections and the story gradually turned rather than being directive. negative externalities created tomorrow nent healthcare leaders and entrepre-
hari Vajpayee when the power was within grasp. Advani to state parties. The ECI data suggests Yet, since puzzlingly India’s crony even in their private lives with their short- neurs in India, former North American
that there are 55 such parties today, with capitalism and chaebol point to an un- term thinking. For those who are sensi- diplomats and faculty colleagues, this
knew back then that the government formation was not pos- 14 new entrants from 2010 to 2019. Eight steady system in existence where mar- tive to these trade-offs, the way to solve idea, as to whether India needs a revolu-
sible if Vajpayee was not pushed to the top. He lost the chance state parties entering in the 2000s, 10 in ginal returns to becoming a politician, India’s ills seem to be becoming agrarian tion intriguingly keeps coming back in
and with that, his name in the history. If only Advani and the 1990s, 7 in the 1980s, 5 in the 1970s, 3 potentially exists within one’s ethical entrepreneurs, embedding oneself in ru- conversations. But to be substantive
others like Mahajan and Joshi had declared they were not in the 1960s, and 3 more post-Independ- compass on the edge. That may explain ral India, blending in innovation, technol- about it, it would be wiser to create con-
going to contest LS polls to make space for younger genera- ence, the rest pre-1947. entry of criminals and contentious reli- ogy and new business models to solve the ditions and incentives guiding Indian
tion, they would not have faced the criticism from their own And even without going into their sur- gious leaders, but successful entry from ills afflicting life beyond metros. youth towards a systematic approach
vival probabilities, one can see a compe- the average middle class remains a far One wishes that many of them, in- here to foster revolution with national
today. If the younger lot sings apna time aayega, it is cool. It tition from even the less-recognised cry. In fact, India’s growing middle class, deed, endogenously or exogenous, turn political rivalry. The emergence of a
doesn’t suit the octogenarians and nonagenarians. bunch of regional parties. Clearly, as we predominantly young and aspirations, into political entrepreneurs and would Jignesh Mevani, Alpesh Thakor, Hardik
get familiar with the Indian politics may no longer be beholden to a behav- advance governance and public policy in Patel, Kanhaiya Kumar, Sheila Rashid or
which is now highly decentralised, we ioural mind set of thinking of the state India. A final point can be drawn from Shah Faesal is good regionally, but may-

The star factor

see the national competition is being
substituted by a sub-national flavour.
Another point to take away from here
is the potentially average conversion ra-
Parties must give hard-working activists more importance tio of a state party to a national party,
which is declining over the years.
as the go-to secure fallback for livelihood
and even as an influencer of life. They
want to move on, and over the years, In-
fosys or the current Flipkart-generation
may prioritise the value of bazaars in
guiding life’s satisfaction.
Imran Khan, the current Pakistani
Prime Minister, interviewed last year on
the Australian TV programme for 60
minutes. His was an observation that
could be equally true for much of South
Asia when he noted that maybe Pakistan
be India’s national parties need the ani-
mal spirits of competition to stay rooted
to their broader social welfare mission.
That could give India its newest revolu-
tion (with political entrepreneurship),
beyond its digital or fin-tech revolution.

T
he number of actors and actresses contesting elections is So what explains the trend? The mi- Normatively this may be fine, but one needs a revolution. Today, with smart  The author is a professor, IIM-A
going up over a period of time. Actors testing their for-
tunes in the political arena is not peculiar to India. In the
south, one has seen some great Chief Ministers like MG Ra- QUOTE HANGER slowburn
machandran, Karunanidhi, J Jayalalitha and NT Ramarao
who left an indelible mark on their state politics. They proved
that they were not mere screen idols, but had something to
Dalai Lama Bill Gates Just one drink a day may up stroke risk
@DalaiLama @BillGates

E
offer both in terms of ideology and administration. Late ven one to two alcoholic drink every other words, reducing the risk of stroke.
Sunil Dutt, whose peace march in Punjab during the peak of We need education to When Paul and I founded @ day may increase blood pressure and When it came to the effect of alcohol on
Khalistan militancy was one of the most courageous acts, too strengthen inner values, not just Microsoft together, we were confident the risk of having a stroke, warns a heart attack risk, the researchers said
study published in The Lancet journal. the effects were not clear cut and more
will be remembered for the humility he brought to his sup- pursue material goals. We need to that computers would change the world. The study that followed 500,000 Chinese data needed to be collected over the next
porters and voters. What we are seeing today, however, is a
introduce emotional hygiene, much But we never could have imagined how people for 10 years, counters previous few years. — PTI
rush of actors that are being used by political parties for only claims that one or two drinks a day could
two reasons --- use their popularity to get audience to cam- as we teach physical hygiene. much fun we would have along the way. be protective. The findings are relevant
paign rallies and of course to win a few seats. Late Rajesh to all populations and the best evidence Now, ‘beauty spots’ in
Khanna was brought in to keep Advani on his toes and he Sadhguru yet on the direct effects of alcohol, re-
had to contest from Gandhinagar in case he suffered shock @SadhguruJV
searchers said. The researchers, from
the University of Oxford, Peking Uni-
human genome found
Give Prime Minister
S
defeat at the hands of the first superstar of the Bollywood. Life is not about what versity and the Chinese Academy of cientists have pinpointed parts of the
Amitabh Bachchan was roped in to check Hemvati Nandan Medical Sciences, found that drinking human genome linked to facial beau-
Bahuguna in Allahabad. While the Chhora Ganga Kinare- you have, what you wear, where you Narendra Modi another five one to two alcoholic drinks every day ty by using genetic information from
wala emerged victorious in the electoral battle, he confessed live, or who is around you. It is years, BJP will find increased stroke risk by 10-15 per cent. 4,383 people. The study found that genes
Drinking four drinks every day in- play a role in determining the beauty of
later that he was not cut out for the rigour of politics.We have about the profoundness of your out each illegal creased the risk of having a stroke by 35 a person’s face, but that role varies with
also seen some glamour in Rajya Sabha which is considered experience. per cent. “It is very roughly the opposite the person’s sex. Humans tend to be pre-
the House of elderly. It is believed that when such people are migrant and effect of taking a statin, which are drugs occupied with beauty — a person’s at-
sent to RS, they will represent their industry and the issues
Mayank Agarwal
throw them out prescribed by doctors to help lower cho- tractiveness is associated with academic
faced by them. That has rarely happened. The beauty queens lesterol levels in the blood and prevent performance, career success and eco-
and the nightingales have received more brickbats over their @mayankcricket of West Bengal heart attacks and strokes,” said Profes- nomic mobility, said researchers from
sor David Spiegelhalter, from the Uni- the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
non-attendance and/or not opening their mouths. It is about Find a girl who looks at —Amit Shah, versity of Cambridge. The study also However, despite its importance, scien-
time parties forfeited the short-term gains and rewarded BJP
hard-working activists who are more connected to the people you the way @klrahul11 look at me found no evidence of light or moderate tists know little about the genetic basis
president drinking having a protective effect, in for having a pretty face. —PTI
and their issues. #bromancegoals
send your feedback to editor@dnaindia.net

... Advani, Modi & the saffron party’s foundation day

The Bharatiya Ja- er and first president, Syama Prasad
nata Party (BJP) Mukherjee, died in Srinagar less than
was formed on two years later, on June 23, 1953.
April 6, 1980. To- Mukherjee entered Kashmir on May
day, with a vaunt- 21, 1953, to protest against Article 370
ed membership of granting special status to the state.
100 million people, His slogan, “Ek desh me do nishan,
it is the world’s do pradhan, nahin chalega, nahin
largest political chalega,” had become popular all over
Makarand R. organisation. India at that time. Mukherjee was ar-
Paranjape What is more, rested at Lakhenpur soon after he had
from a dismal tally crossed the “border,” then transferred
of just two seats in 1984, the first gen- to Srinagar Central Jail. When
eral elections after it was founded, in his health deteriorated, he was
2014 it notched up an impressive 282 of placed under house arrest. There,
the National Democratic Alliance’s total diagnosed as suffering from “dry
of 336 seats in the 543-seat Lok Sabha. pleurisy,” he had a severe reaction
What an incredible success story, even to streptomycin administered by
its harshest critics would admit. Dr Ali Mohammad. On June 22,
Actually, the climb of the BJP to its Mukherjee was transferred to the hos-
current summit is even more remarka- pital after suffering a heart attack. The
ble than it might first appear. In its ear- very next day, he died in circumstances
lier avatar, it was known as the Akhil which many regard as “suspicious.”
Bharatiya Jana Sangh or Jana Sangh, No post-mortem was conducted, nor
for short. did Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru
The Jana Sangh was started on 21 seek to an inquiry.
October 1951. Unfortunately, its found- If Mukherjee was its founder, Deen
Dayal Upadhyaya was Jana Sangh’s
most influential ideologue. His “Inte-
gral Humanism” remains the guiding
philosophy of the BJP.
Upadhyaya became the president of
Jana Sangh in December 1967. Just a
couple of months afterwards, he was
murdered on February 11, 1968.
Around 2:00 am, he was pushed out of
a moving train nearing Mughalsarai
Junction. His body was found some 700
metres from the platform. A one-man
inquiry commission by Justice
Y.V. Chandrachud, then of Bom-
Soft bay High Court, concluded that
Power “nothing that has come before me
can support the accusation that
there was any politics in Shri
Upadhyaya’s murder.” Last August,
Mughalsarai was renamed PT. Deen
Dayal Upadhyaya Junction.
During the anti- and post-Emergen-
cy period of 1977-1980, the Jana Sangh
merged into the Janata Party. This con-
glomeration of ideologically diverse
pollical forces, which had come togeth-
er to oust Indira Gandhi from power,
fell apart, giving rise to most of the
non-Congress political formations that
are present till today in our complex
electoral arrangements. The issue
flagged by the opponents of the Jana
Sangh faction within the Janata Party
was the former’s “dual membership”
or link with the other “Sangh,” their
parent organisation, the RSS. Indeed,
it is this umbilical cord that actually
defines the BJP’s distinctive identity in
our political spectrum.
That is why the two “real” progeni-
tors of the BJP must not be overlooked.
“Guruji” Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar
became the Sarsanghachalak or head
of the RSS in 1940. He inspired
Mukherjee and other right-leaning
leaders, giving them several RSS work-
ers to start a political party. Before
him, “Doctorji” Keshav Baliram
Hedgewar, the founder and first Sarsa-
ghachalak of the RSS, had already rec-
ognized the need for a political party to
safeguard the interests of the Hindus.
That is why the Jana Sangh was estab-
lished close to his birthday, Gudi Pad-
va, the start of the new year for Maha-
rashtrians, Telugus, and Kannadigas.
A former Congressman, Hedgewar
founded the RSS in 1925 and was a
prominent member of the Hindu Ma-
hasabha. The latter, however, failed to
take off. After independence, Gol-
walkar decided to support another po-
litical organisation, which is how the
Jana Sangh came into being.
Given this background, when one of
the founders of the BJP, nonagenarian
LK Advani, writes a blog, the nation
sits up and takes note. Especially on
the eve of the 39th anniversary of the
foundation of the party and just before
the general elections. Who can disa-
gree with the view that “in our concep-
tion of Indian nationalism, we have
never regarded those who disagree
with us politically as ‘anti-national’”?
Or that “Nation First, Party Next, Self
Last” and “the triad of Satya (truth),
Rashtra Nishtha (dedication to the Na-
tion) and Loktantra (democracy, both
within and outside the party)” should
guide the party? PM Narendra Modi,
the BJP’s star campaigner, was quick
to take advantage of Advani’s admoni-
tions. He tweeted: “Proud That Greats
Like LK Advani Strengthened BJP”
and “Perfectly sums up true essence of
BJP” thus check-mating the opposi-
tion’s and media’s attempt to turn Ad-
vani’s statement against the current
BJP leadership.
Author is Director, IIAS, Shimla
Views are personal

Vol 12 n Issue No. 151 RNI: GUJENG/2007/22424. Printed and Published by Prashant Saxena on behalf of Diligent Media Corporation ltd. Printed at Bhaskar Printing Press, Survey No.148 P, Nagdevta Mandir, Changodar, Bavla Highway, Sanand, Ahmedabad (Gujarat) and Published at Diligent Media Corporation
Limited, Venus Atlantis Building, Unit No. 201 to 208, 2nd Floor, 100 Feet Road, Prahladnagar, Satellite, Ahmedabad 380015. Phone: 079 4060 2000. Editor: Deepak Lokhande Responsible for selection of news under PRB Act.
 w rld
www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia
in brief
20 US states file
motion to block
Trump’s border
wall funding
Washington: Twenty US
states have filed a motion
to block President Donald
Trump’s method of fund-
ing a border wall by di-
verting federal funds
through a national emer-
gency declaration, the
New York state attorney
general said on Friday.
“This wall is unneces-
sary, and an abuse of
power that will take away
resources that could be
used to help Americans
across our nation,” New
York Attorney General
Letitia James said on
Twitter. The states filed a
lawsuit in February after
Trump declared a nation-
al emergency to help
build a border wall that
was a signature of his
2016 campaign for presi-
dent. The motion for a
preliminary injunction to
block Trump’s effort that
was filed late Thursday
formalised that request.
Amazon’s Bezos,
wife reach biggest
divorce deal yet
Washington: Amazon
founder Jeff Bezos and
his wife, MacKenzie, fi-
nalized the biggest di-
vorce settlement in histo-
ry on Thursday, leaving
him with 75 percent of
their stock in the tech gi-
ant and giving her nearly
$36 billion in shares.
MacKenzie Bezos said
she would give all of her
stake in The Washington
Post and the space explo-
ration firm Blue Origin
to her husband -- the
world’s richest man -- as
well as voting control of
her remaining Amazon
stock. Jeff Bezos, 55, and
MacKenzie, 48, a novel-
ist, married in 1993 and
have four children. Jeff
Bezos founded Amazon
in their Seattle garage in
1994 and turned it into a
colossus that dominates
online retail.
US revokes world crimes court Japan probe blasts asteroid in evolution study
prosecutor’s visa over Af probe
Washington: The United
States has revoked the visa
for the chief prosecutor of
the International Criminal
Court, her office said Friday,
over a possible investigation
of American soldiers’ ac-
tions in Afghanistan.
Prosecutor Fatou Bensou-
da would continue to pursue
her duties for the Hague-
based court “without fear or
favour” despite the ban, her
office said in a statement.
The move against Bensou-
da, a Gambian national,
comes weeks after US Secre-
tary of State Mike Pompeo
announced restrictions on
ICC staff who probe US or al-
lied personnel.
“What we can confirm is
that the US authorities have
revoked the prosecutor’s visa
for entry into the US,” the Of-
Public Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda —Reuters
and they rise uproar over provocative slogans prompts debate on women’s rights, cultural values
Periods and ‘dick pic’ posters ignite feminist firestorm in Pak
Islamabad: “Anything you
can do I can do while bleed-
ing,” read one defiant poster
at a recent women’s march in
Pakistan, while another de-
manded: “Keep your dick
pics to yourself ”. Then came
the backlash, including rape
and death threats.
The posters were just part
of the colourful spectacle as
tens of thousands of women
took to the streets for the sec-
ond annual Aurat (Women)
march in major cities across
Pakistan, marking Interna-
tional Women’s Day on
March 8. But this year the
slogans caught the attention
of the media, many of whom
showcased them online,
UK PM May asks the EU to
delay Brexit until June 30
EU in turn asks remaining members to allow extending deadline by a year
London: British Prime Minis-
ter Theresa May on Friday
sought to delay Brexit until
June 30 to avoid a chaotic with-
drawal from the European Un-
ion in one week, but a key
leader of the bloc suggested an
even longer pause in the diffi-
cult divorce proceedings.
The question over timing is
vital because Britain is set to
leave the EU without a with-
drawal deal in place on April 12
unless an agreement is reached
at a Brussels summit set to
take place two days earlier.
In a letter to European
Council President Donald
Tusk, May asked for an exten-
sion until June 30 and agreed
to make contingency plans to
take part in European Parlia-
ment elections on May 23-26 if
necessary. Tusk proposed a
longer time frame. He urged
the 27 remaining EU nations to
offer the UK a flexible exten-
sion of up to a year to make
sure the nation doesn’t leave
the bloc in a chaotic way that
could undermine commerce.
Two EU officials said Tusk
wants a one-year period, which
has been dubbed a “flexten-
sion,” and hopes to get it ap-
proved at the EU summit on
April 10. The officials spoke on
condition of anonymity be-
cause they weren’t authorized
to disclose information before
it was made public.
Such a move would mean
that the UK would need to take
part in the elections to the Eu-
ropean Parliament, something
the UK prime minister has
long argued would not be in
either side’s interest.
The elections pose a sub-
stantial stumbling block be-
cause Britain would be expect-
ed to take part, if it is still an
EU member, so its people have
representation in the Europe-
an Parliament. Officials worry
that the legitimacy of Europe-
an institutions could be jeop-
ardized if the population of a
fice of the Prosecutor of the
ICC said in a statement.
Bensouda’s office said that
under the Rome statute gov-
erning the ICC -- which Wash-
ington has declined to join
since it was set up in 2002 --
she had an “independent and
impartial mandate”.
“The prosecutor and her
office will continue to under-
take that statutory duty with
utmost commitment and pro-
fessionalism, without fear or
favour,” it added.
The US decision was not
expected to impact Bensouda
if she is travelling to the
United Nations in New York
where she gives regular brief-
ings to the UN Security Coun-
cil on investigation, it said.
There was no immediate
comment on Bensouda’s visa
ban from Washington. —AFP
while a handful of the most
provocative went viral -- ig-
niting weeks of outrage, with
shocked organisers reposting
a slew of violent threats.
The uproar has provoked a
rare and at times acrimoni-
ous debate on women’s rights
and cultural values in a con-
servative Muslim country
that has, until now, been
largely unconcerned with the
global #MeToo movement.
Celebrities and television
personalities have weighed
in, and a retaliatory “Men’s
March” was even organised
in Karachi, though reports
suggest just two showed up.
One Karachi cleric, of-
fended by a poster that an-
A Brexiteer demonstrates outside the Houses of Parliament in London —Reuters
EU sees significant damage to fishing firms from a no-deal
Brussels: The European
Union’s Environment, Mar-
itime Affairs and Fisheries
Commissioner Karmenu
Vela said on Friday the bloc
was hoping to maintain re-
ciprocal access to UK fish-
ing waters after Brexit but
was also preparing for the
alternatives.
Vela told a news confer-
ence: “In case of a no-deal
Brexit, EU fishing vessels
member state is not involved in
the process. Any extension to
the deadline will need unani-
mous approval from the rest of
the EU. French President Em-
manuel Macron has thus far
seemed cautious about giving
Britain more time, saying the
bloc cannot be held hostage by
Britain’s political deadlock
over Brexit.
There are also concerns in
Europe that some British poli-
Malaysia does
U-turn on joining
court over fear of
Oppn backlash
Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia’s
government did a U-turn Friday
on its decision to join the Inter-
national Criminal Court, the
prime minister said, after a
backlash from a powerful Is-
lamic ruler and opposition poli-
ticians. The Southeast Asian
nation announced in March it
was joining the world’s only
permanent war crimes tribunal
after a reform-minded govern-
ment came to power last year.
But the move sparked an out-
cry from opposition politicians
and the powerful sultan of
southern Johor state, who were
furious the country’s revered
Islamic royals would not be ex-
empted from potential prosecu-
tion by the court. Malaysia’s
decision not to join the ICC is a
severe blow to the tribunal in
The Hague, which has been un-
der pressure following high-
profile acquittals, while Burun-
di became the first country to
quit the court in 2017. “We have
made a decision that we will not
recognise the Statute of Rome,”
Prime Minister Mahathir Mo-
hamad said, referring to the
ICC’s founding treaty. —AFP
Pakistani designer Lubaina Rajbhoy at her home in Islamabad —AFP
nounced “My body, my
choice”, used twisted logic to
claim that men, also, have
agency over their bodies --
would have to leave UK wa-
ters and UK vessels would
have to leave EU waters.
This would have significant
negative economic conse-
quences on the part of the
EU fleet, which depends on
access to UK waters.”
“Obviously, even on the
part of the UK fleet fishing
in EU waters.”
Vela said the bloc’s exec-
utive, the European Com-
ticians who want to provoke a
“no-deal” Brexit might try to
make trouble from inside the
bloc, a course that outspoken
Brexit advocate Jacob Rees-
Mogg suggested Friday.
He tweeted that “if a long
extension leaves us stuck in
the EU, we should be as diffi-
cult as possible.” The Conserv-
ative Party lawmaker suggest-
ed using Britain’s position to
veto any EU budget increases,
Tokyo: A Japanese probe on
Friday launched an explosive
device at an asteroid, aiming
to blast a crater in the surface
and scoop up material that
could shed light on how the
solar system evolved.
The explosive mission is
the riskiest yet attempted by
the Japanese space agency’s
Hayabusa2 probe that aims to
reveal more about the origins
of life on Earth. Hayabusa2
successfully released as
scheduled the so-called
“small carry-on impactor” --
people’s wrath
People carry hung effigies with faces of Algerian businessman Ali Haddad and former prime minister Ahmed Ouyahia,
during a protest to push for the removal of the current political structure, in Algiers, Algeria on Friday —Reuters
therefore they have a right to
sex with whomever they
want.
“My body my choice ...
mission, would authorise
state aid by EU states to
their companies cut off
from UK waters. He said the
EU and UK could also de-
cide to keep access open to
fishing waters even after a
no-deal Brexit.
The impact of Brexit on
the fishing industry is par-
ticularly sensitive for EU
states like France, Ireland
and Denmark. —Reuters
block the establishment of an
EU army, and make it impos-
sible for Macron to push fur-
ther EU integration.
Brexit backer Nigel Farage,
who has long ridiculed Eu-
rope’s institutions, also said he
would campaign in European
Parliament elections.
If any EU nation refuses to
back an extension, Britain will
be expected to leave as sched-
uled on April 12. —AP
a cone-shaped device capped
with a copper bottom -- as the
probe hovered just 500 metres
above the asteroid Ryugu.
The impactor was pro-
grammed to explode 40 min-
utes later, propelling the cop-
per bottom towards Ryugu,
where it should gouge a cra-
ter into the surface of the
asteroid that spins 300 mil-
lion kilometres from Earth.
Hayabusa2 moved smartly
away from the area to avoid
being damaged by debris
from the explosion or collid-
your body your choice ...
Then men’s body men’s
choice ... They can climb onto
anyone they want,” he argues
in a video which swiftly went
viral, with tens of thousands
of views.
Many of the informal
group of activists behind the
march said they had expected
a reaction, but were taken
aback by its ferocity.
“The level to which they
took offence, to the point of
giving death threats to people
who were the organisers ... is
too much,” says Lubaina Ra-
jbhoy, a graphic designer
whose posters evoking Com-
munist revolutions became
emblematic of the march.
Ahmedabad I Saturday, April 6, 2019 I daily news & analysis
Firms cutting ties with Brunei
over gay sex death penalty rise
London: Travel agents, Lon-
don’s transport network and
finance houses were among
the rising number of compa-
nies on Friday to cut ties with
businesses owned by Brunei
to protest over the Sultanate’s
introduction of the death pen-
alty for gay sex and adultery.
The Muslim-majority for-
mer British protectorate on
April 3 began implementing
Sharia laws which punish sod-
omy, adultery and rape with
death, including by stoning,
and theft with amputation.
As protests mounted glob-
ally, a corporate backlash
gathered pace after actor
George Clooney and singer
Elton John called for a boy-
cott of hotels owned by the
Southeast Asian country, in-
cluding the Dorchester in
London, the Beverley Hills
Hotel in Los Angeles, and the
Plaza Athenee in Paris.
STA Travel, a global travel
agency owned by privately-
Duterte warns China
over disputed island
Manila: Philippine President
Rodrigo Duterte has warned
Beijing to back off from a dis-
puted island in the South Chi-
na Sea, warning of possible
military action if China
“touches” it amid rising ten-
sions over the key waterway.
Duterte, aiming to attract
trade and investment from the
Asian superpower, has mostly
withheld his early criticism of
Beijing’s expansive claims to
the sea -- a point of regional
contention because trillions of
dollars of goods pass through
it. But as the Philippine mili-
tary warned this week that
hundreds of Chinese coast
guard and fishing vessels had
“swarmed” the Manila-held
Pag-asa island, also known as
Thitu, the Philippine president
spoke out late Thursday.
“I will not plead or beg, but
I am just telling you that lay off
the Pag-asa because I have sol-
diers there,” Duterte said in
Stones and sand seen after bullets
were fired into the surface of the
asteroid by Hayabusa2 —AFP
ing with Ryugu while also
releasing a camera to capture
images of the event.
The backlash against the
slogans, Rajbhoy said,
“shows a height of intoler-
ance in our country, which
again is one of the purposes
of the march”.
‘Equal rights for all’
Women have long fought for
basic rights in Pakistan,
where activists say men com-
mit “pervasive and intracta-
ble” violence against them.
Much of society lives under a
patriarchal, outdated code of
so-called “honour” that sys-
temises the oppression of
women who defy tradition by,
for example, choosing their
own husband or working out-
side the home. —AFP
07
Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah —AFP
held Swiss conglomerate
Diethelm Keller Group, said
it would no longer sell flights
on Brunei’s national carrier,
Royal Brunei Airlines.
“We’ve taken this stance to
add our voice to the calls on
Brunei to reverse this change
in the law and in support of
LGBTQI people everywhere,”
the company said in a state-
ment. Transport For London
(TfL), which is responsible
Rodrigo Duterte —AP
speech to prosecutors.
“If you touch it, that’s an-
other story. Then I will tell my
soldiers ‘prepare for suicide
missions’”, he added.
Duterte has repeatedly said
war with China would be futile
and that the Philippines would
lose and suffer heavily in the
process. His words came after
his Department of Foreign Af-
fairs issued a statement calling
the Chinese ships’ presence an
“illegal” violation of Philip-
pine sovereignty. —AFP
Images from a different
camera at the bottom of the
probe showed the impactor
was released at the right posi-
tion and angle.
Yuichi Tsuda, Hayabusa2
project manager, told report-
ers that the Japanese space
agency (JAXA) was able to
confirm the impactor hit the
surface of the asteroid based
on an image captured by the
camera released by the probe.
“I think it’s a success. We
could not have asked for
more,” he said. —AFP
Ukraine election rivals
take drug tests amidst
growing media drama
Kiev: Ukrainian leader Petro
Poroshenko and comedian
Volodymyr Zelensky took
drug tests on Friday ahead of
their election runoff as the
ex-Soviet country’s presiden-
tial race becomes increas-
Reuters
ingly sensational.
Zelensky, a 41-year-old ac-
tor best known for playing
the president in a television
show, is favourite to become
Ukraine’s next leader after he
dominated a first-round vote
on March 31, despite many
dismissing his candidacy as
a joke. The drug and alcohol
tests are part of unusual condi-
tions laid down by Zelensky
before he would agree to a pub-
lic debate between Poroshenko
in the country’s biggest sports
stadium.
Despite the flamboyant me-
dia spectacle, the stakes are
high for the country of 45 mil-
lion seen as the biggest fron-
tier between the European
Union and Russia.
Ukraine is mired in a
smouldering war with Mos-
cow-backed separatists in the
industrial east, a conflict that
has claimed 13,000 lives.
German Chancellor Angela
Merkel will meet Poroshenko
in Berlin next week, her
spokesman said Friday, declin-
ing to be drawn on whether
Merkel would also meet Zelen-
sky ahead of the April 21 run-
off vote.
Spokesman Steffen Seibert
dismissed suggestions the visit
represents interference in the
hotly contested election.
Zelensky won more than 30
percent of the first-round vote,
for London’s transport sys-
tem, removed adverts pro-
moting Brunei as a tourism
destination from the city’s
public transport network.
“Given recent information
that has come to light, it is
clear that this is an issue of
great public sensitivity and
controversy so the advert will
be removed from our net-
work,” TfL said in a state-
ment. —Reuters
Rare overtime
protest by tech
workers goes
viral in China
Beijing: Chinese technology
workers are protesting online
against gruelling overtime
hours at some companies, a
rare push back against the
work culture in the country’s
tech industry.
The posts on Microsoft’s
GitHub, which calls itself the
world’s largest code host, and
other programming tools
have gone viral amid large-
scale layoffs in the sector.
The protest is aimed at the
industry’s “996” work cul-
ture, which refers to the 9 am
to 9 pm workday, six days a
week. An anonymous activist
launched project “996.ICU”
on GitHub last week where
workers share examples of
excessive overtime and vote
for the top blacklisted compa-
nies as well as firms with bet-
ter working conditions.
“What’s the difference be-
tween these 996 companies
and the old landlords who op-
pressed peasants???” said one
post. Alibaba Group Holding
Ltd, JD.com Inc and drone
maker DJI Technology Co
Ltd were among the black-
listed firms. Alibaba did not
immediately respond to a re-
quest for comment on Friday,
a public holiday in China.
A DJI spokesman said the
company does not discuss
specific employment issues,
but it has “a firm commit-
ment to treating our employ-
ees with the highest respect
and providing a healthy
working environment.” A
spokesman for JD.com de-
clined to comment. —Reuters
Presidential candidate and
comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy
undergoes a drugs and alcohol test
‘New traditions’
„„Ukrainian leader Petro
Poroshenko, 53, chose
to play along, presenting
himself to medics at a lab
at the Olympic Stadium
on Friday
„„He rolled up the
sleeves of his white
shirt and had his
blood drawn in a video
broadcast live on his
Facebook page
„„“We are creating
new traditions,” a smiling
Poroshenko said
while Poroshenko garnered
almost 16 per cent.
Poroshenko is eager to
make up lost ground before the
run-off vote by showing off his
experience and oratory. He in-
vited his political novice rival
to spar in the election debate,
but the comedian countered
with an array of conditions,
including the medical tests and
that the meeting be held in Ki-
ev’s Olympic Stadium, which
seats over 70,000 people. —AFP
 06
Saturday
April
2019
Ahmedabad
www.dnaindia.com
Basketball
Pelicans’s Anthony Davis is fined $15,000
by the NBA for directing an obscene gesture
toward a fan. NBA official says Davis made
the offending gesture as he left the court
CRICKET Supreme Court says BCCI Ombudsman Justice (retd) DK Jain will reconsider quantum of punishment for S Sreesanth
BALL GAME
Afghanistan sack
captain Asghar
Asghar Afghan was on
Friday sacked as Afghan-
istan skipper with its
cricket board splitting
the leadership role across
three formats, a move
that has not gone down
well with senior players
Rashid Khan and Mo-
hammad Nabi. The devel-
opment comes with less
than two months to go for
the World Cup. The Af-
ghanistan Cricket Board
(ACB) removed Asghar
from captaincy in all
three formats, naming
Rahmat Shah, Gulbadin
Naib and Rashid as skip-
pers of Test, ODI and T20
teams respectively.
I play according to
conditions: Nabi
At a time when the en-
tire cricket world is en-
amoured by the wrist-
spinners, Afghanistan’s
Mohammad Nabi has
emerged as a dependable
finger spinner, who re-
lies on his natural game.
“I do nothing different. I
play my natural cricket.
It is just that the condi-
tions are different, so I
adjust to the conditions
as soon as possible,”
said Nabi after Hy-
derabad beat Delhi.
Chris Gayle is fit,
says Agarwal
Chris Gayle has
achieved his fitness after
recovering from a back
injury which kept him
away from the last game
against Delhi Capitals,
said Kings XI Punjab
batsman Mayank Agar-
wal Saturday. “I can’t
tell you whether he
(Chris Gayle) is playing
or not (laughs), but he is
fit,” Agarwal said on the
eve of match against
CSK in Chennai.
on the tube
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Cricket Star Sports 1, 2
& 1 Hindi- 16:00 IPL: CSK
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League Men/Women
It was the worst pitch ever: Ponting blasts Kotla track
New Delhi: Livid with the
pitch, the struggling Delhi
Capitals coach Ricky Ponting
said the Feroz Shah Kotla
ground staff provided the
“worst” pitch possible for the
home team in the IPL encoun-
ter against Sunrisers Hy-
derabad here.
Sunrisers comfortably beat
Delhi Capitals by five wickets
on Thursday night on a track
where run-scoring was diffi-
cult and suited the visiting
team’s bowlers even more.
The former Australian
captain made it a point to
mention that inputs provided
by the groundsmen were
completely opposite to how
the pitch played out.
“I think it is fair to say that
the wicket surprised us a lot.
Talking to the groundsmen
before the match, we thought
this would be the best pitch
that we had by far but it was
the worst. You saw how little
it bounced and how slow it
was,” Ponting told reporters
after the match.
Sunrisers’ Afghan spin
New Orleans
It ain’t over till Russell says it’s over
KKR swashbuckler scores 13-ball 48* to steer side to five-wicket win and hand RCB fifth straight loss; Kohli, de Villiers hit fifties
Match No. 17
DNA Correspondent
sports@dnaindia.net
Mumbai: When Kolkata
Knight Riders’ Andre Russell
walked in to bat, the team
needed 67 runs from 4.2 overs
with an asking rate of over 16
runs per over. And after the
Caribbean worked a storm in
the middle raining sixes,
they needed just one run of
the last over to hand Royal
Challengers Bangalore yet
another loss.
Shubman Gill took strike
in the last over and played
one to long leg for a single to
win the match by five wickets
and end the agony for hosts
RCB, that was inflicted on
them by Russell, who scored
48 from 13 balls which includ-
ed seven sixers.
Chasing a target of 206,
KKR did not seem like they
were leaving enough balls for
Russell to take the team
home. There was a good part-
nership between Chris Lynn
and Robin Uthappa. Nitish
Rana and captain Dinesh
Karthik tried their best.
Rana played a useful
knock scoring 37 at a brisk
pace. And when he fell, in
walked Russell.
He hit sixes in all direc-
tions, from every length and
line. He even clobbered a
beamer, second one from Mo-
hammed Siraj, over the
boundary rope between deep
midwicket and long on.
The single that Gill took
made the ending look rather
CSK
Match No. 18, Venue: MA Chidamabaram Stadium, Chennai
Live on Star Sports 1, 2, 1 Hindi, 4pm
can kings xi tame super kings?
CSK: Having lost their
last game to Mumbai,
CSK would hope to
bounce back. However,
they will miss out on the
services of Dwayne Bravo,
who injured his
hamstring.
Harbhajan
Singh
Chris Gayle is fit and it is most likely that he would play. The contest
between veteran offie Harbhajan Singh and the dangerous KXIP
opener would be a mouth-watering one
Played: 19, CSK: 13, KXIP: 6
Pitch Report: Expect the
wicket to aid spinners
throughout the day.
7 8
Punter Point:
CSK : 8/13,
KXIP: 5/4
Delhi Capitals’ mentor Sourav Ganguly (L) and coach Ricky Ponting in
conversation at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi on Thursday —BCCI
duo of Mohammed Nabi and
Rashid Khan took three wick-
ets among them, giving away
only 39 runs.
“Look, at the end of the
day, it is the same pitch for
both teams but if you would
have asked me, would I have
wanted to play Sunrisers on
that type of pitch? I mean,
there couldn’t have been a dif-
ferent wicket where you
would have wanted to play
Orange cap
David Warner
(SRH)
264 runs
Jonny Bairstow (SRH) 
Andre Russell (KKR) 
Six meter
12 1 9
RCB skipper Virat Kohli plays a shot
en route to his 84 —PTI
tame. It was like a mild gust
of fresh breeze after a storm
had blown over. A storm that
RCB expected but did not
know how strong.
Earlier, after their team
set a target of 204, it appeared
like the fans of Royal Chal-
lengers Bangalore will final-
ly have a reason to celebrate
after had patiently backed a
floundering team while being
the brunt of not-so-flattering
memes.
The imposing total did
suggest that RCB were in the
VS KXIP
KXIP: The good news is
Team Chris Gayle is fit. That he
News
will play will be revealed
on day of the match Having
registered a win in their last
game against Delhi Capitals.
KXIP would look to continue
their fine form.
Key Chris
contest
Gayle
Weather Report: Chennai’s
humidity levels are high and
players will have a tough time
Watchability quotient: (1-3: Forget it;
4-7: If there is nothing else to watch;
8 and above: try not to miss it)
Sunrisers on,” Ponting said.
He then explained that
how the slowness of the na-
ture took his team’s pacers
like Ishant Sharma and Kagi-
so Rabada out of equation
and in turn helped their
seamers Sandeep Sharma
and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
“It (Pitch) absolutely suited
their game. They have great
spinners and all their seamers
just bowled slower balls. And
Cricket Chennai Super Kings’ star
all-rounder Dwayne Bravo will be out of action for
two weeks owing to a grade 1 hamstring strain, the
team’s batting coach Mike Hussey said on the eve of
their match against Kings XI Punjab
Purple cap
Yuzvendra Chahal
(RCB)
9 wickets
246 Imran Tahir (CSK) 7
207 Kagiso Rabada (DC) 7
HOW THEY STAND
TEAM M W L T P NRR
SRH 4 3 1 0 6 1.780
KKR 4 3 1 0 6 0.534
KXIP 4 3 1 0 6 0.164
CSK 4 3 1 0 6 -0.084
DC 5 2 3 0 4 0.029
MI 4 2 2 0 4 -0.087
RR 4 1 3 0 2 -0.333
RCB 5 0 5 0 0 -1.616
driver’s seat. Even as the
chants of R-C-B gained voice,
there was an under layer of
trepidation that sowed
doubts. And that nervous-
ness went by the name Andre
Russell.
The swashbuckling Carib-
bean could make all the dif-
ference. And he did.
Earlier, Virat Kohli and
AB de Villiers shared a de-
lightful 108-run stand to pro-
pel RCB to 205 for three.
Kohli (84 off 49) and AB de
Villiers (63 off 32) smashed
sensational half centuries
after KKR opted to field on a
good batting surface.
Kohli and de Villiers ham-
mered the bowlers at will,
recreating the magic they
have woven many times in
the past. During his sublime
knock, Kohli also overtook
Suresh Raina to becoming
leading run-getter in IPL his-
tory besides completing 8,000
runs in T20 cricket.
 (With PTI inputs)
‘Flexibility key
to my success’
Hyderabad: Suryakumar Ya-
dav is enjoying his new role at
number three for Mumbai In-
dians after having batted in
the lower-order for Kolkata
Knight Riders in the past, say-
ing his ability to be flexible
has kept him in good stead.
The 28-year-old had played
the role of a finisher for Kol-
kata from 2014 to 2017, but
since last year Mumbai Indi-
ans have asked him to bat at
the top-order, and he said he is
happy to carry the responsi-
bility on his shoulders.
“I have always enjoyed bat-
ting anywhere because I have
kept myself flexible,” said
Suryakumar, who had scored
a 43-ball 59 to set up MI’s win
over Chennai Super Kings in
their last match. “As you
know, when I was with other
franchises I have batted at all
numbers. It is a different role
but at number three it is close
to opening as well, so I don’t
see it any differently. —PTI
on that wicket, when you bowl
slower balls it is near impos-
sible to hit,” he reasoned.
The coach then said that if
the nature of the Kotla track
remains the same during the
remaining four home games,
he will have to seriously think
about his team combination.
“But if the wicket is going
to remain like this, then we
have to think about our selec-
tion in our team as well. May
be our bowlers were not suit-
ed to that wicket today but it
was not what we expected so
we are as surprised as any-
body else,” he said.
However, Ponting put up a
brave face after team’s third
defeat and expected the tal-
ented bunch of players to
bounce back.
“It is not the end of the
world by any stretch of im-
agination. We have a good
mix of experience with Shi-
khar and Morris. Even
Rishabh (Pant) and Shreyas
(Iyer) have played 4-6 editions
of IPL, so they are not inex-
perienced,” he said. —PTI
KKR’s Andre Russell celebrates after starring in his team’s win over RCB in Bengaluru on Friday —BCCI
SRH
Match No. 19, Venue: Rajiv Gandhi Intl Stadium, Hyderabad
Live on Star Sports 1, 2, 1 Hindi, 8pm
mi seek momentum
SRH: SRH is one of the
most formidable sides
in the league. It is only
in the pace department
that they lack some qual-
ity. Bhuvneshwar Kumar
will hope to sort
out the issue.
Rashid
Khan
Rohit Sharma hasn’t really set the IPL on fire. He would be hoping to
do that in this game. He has magical Rashid Khan in the opposition
camp. Can he overcome the K-factor?
Played: 12, SRH: 7, MI: 5
Pitch Report: Batsmen
will enjoy their stay on
this batting friendly track
Punter Point:
SRH : 8/11,
MI: 11/10
DC coach was misled by their
pitch co-ordinator: DDCA official
New Delhi: Delhi Capitals
coach Ricky Ponting might
have blamed the Feroz
Shah Kotla groundsmen
for providing the team with
the “worst pitch” but the
head coach may not have
been properly briefed
about the nature of the
track by his team’s support
staff.
A senior Delhi & Dis-
tricts Cricket Association
Official (DDCA) official
said that neither did Pont-
ing speak to any of the
groundsmen, nor was he
promised a fast and fast
track.
“To the best of my
knowledge, Ricky Ponting
only takes inputs from Del-
hi Capitals’ designated
pitch coordinator. There-
fore none of the DDCA
VS MI
MI: Rohit Sharma won’t
Team have the services of Lasith
News
Malinga. He will have to
find a good replacement.
However, he would be keen
on carrying on their winning
momentum after their last
victory over CSK.
Key Rohit
contest
Sharma
Weather Report: It’s going to
be super hot with the weather
touching 40 degree Celcius
Watchability quotient: (1-3: Forget it;
4-7: If there is nothing else to watch;
8 and above: try not to miss it)
groundsmen ever told Pon-
ting that the pitch will aid
fast bowlers. I feel Ponting
was completely mislead by
their pitch co-ordinator,
the gentleman, who proba-
bly is not a qualified cura-
tor,” a senior DDCA offi-
cial, privy to the develop-
ment said on Friday.
After the match on
Thursday night, DC advi-
sor Sourav Ganguly was
seen talking to Kotla pitch
curator Ankit Datta for
close to half an hour.
Repeated calls to Datta
went unanswered, but the
senior DDCA official said
that DC have been assured
that they will try and do
some “recovery work” as
the next match is on April
18, against Mumbai Indi-
ans. —PTI
‘Rahul respectful
towards women’
KXIP owner Preity Zinta (C) is happy with KL Rahul’s (R) batting form —BCCI
New Delhi: India batsman
KL Rahul is “very respectful
towards women” and it was
sad to see him become a sub-
ject of nationwide criticism
in the wake of his and
Hardik Pandya’s sexist re-
marks on a chat chow, Kings
XI Punjab co-owner and not-
ed actor Preity Zinta said
Friday.
Both Rahul and Pandya
were handed a provisional
suspension for their contro-
versial comments on ‘Koffee
with Karan’, a show Zinta
herself has appeared on.
Their suspension was lifted
but they still face a BCCI in-
quiry conducted by Ombuds-
man DK Jain.
“It is so good to see Rahul
back in form. He is a very
very nice guy. What hap-
pened is in the past. I just feel
the bad the way the whole
thing turned out but you live
and learn,” Zinta said.
“Actually, he is very sweet
and respectful with women,
so I don’t know the way it all
came out. As I said, these are
teachable moments.”
His friend and teammate
Pandya was trolled more for
his loose talk on women but
Rahul too has admitted that
he had started to doubt him-
self as a person after the inci-
dent. He has put the contro-
versy behind and is very
much in the reckoning of a
World Cup spot.
As a co-owner and some-
one who is used to handling
08
SCOREBOARD
RCB vs KKR
Match No. 17, Venue: M Chinnaswamy Stadium,
Bengaluru
Toss: KKR, elect to bowl first
RCB R B 4/6 SR
P Patel lbw b Rana 25 24 3/0 104.16
V Kohli c & b Kuldeep 84 49 9/2 171.42
AB de Villiers c Gill b Narine 63 32 5/4 196.87
MP Stoinis not out 28 13 3/1 215.38
M Ali not out 0 2 0/0 0.00
Extras (LB1, W4) 5
Total (for 3 wkts in 20 Ovs) 205 (10.25 runs per over)
Fall of wickets: 1-64 (PA Patel, 7.5 ov), 2-172 (V Kohli,
17.1 ov), 3-185 (AB de Villiers, 18.5 ov)
Bowling: M Prasidh Krishna 3-0-41-0, P Chawla 4-0-32-0,
S Narine 4-0-30-1, L Ferguson 2-0-32-0, Kuldeep Yadav
4-0-31-1, N Rana 2-0-22-1, A Russell 1-0-16-0
KKR (tgt 206) R B 4/6 SR
C Lynn b Negi 43 31 4/2 138.70
S Narine c Negi b Saini 10 8 2/0 125.00
R Uthappa c Southee b Negi 33 25 6/0 132.00
N Rana c Klaasen b Chahal 37 23 1/2 160.86
D Karthik c Chahal b Saini 19 15 1/1 126.66
D Russell not out 48 13 1/7 369.23
S Gill not out 3 3 0/0 100.00
Extras (LB2, NB3, W8) 13
Total (for 5 wkts in 19.1 Ovs) 206 (10.74 runs per over
Fall of wickets: 1-28 (SP Narine, 1.5 ov), 2-93 (RV
Uthappa, 9.5 ov), 3-108 (CA Lynn, 11.3 ov), 4-139 (N Rana,
15.4 ov), 5-153 (KD Karthik, 16.6 ov)
Bowling: T Southee 4-0-61-0, N Saini 4-0-34-2, Y Chahal
4-0-24-1, Mohammed Siraj 2.2-0-36-0, P Negi 3-0-20-2,
MP Stoinis 1.4-0-28-0
Result: KKR win by 5 wickets
Man of the match: Andre Russell
kohli’s ipl record
RCB captain Virat Kohli
on Friday overtook
Suresh Raina to become
the leading run-getter
in the Indian Premier
League. India captain
achieved the feat during
the game against Kolkata
Knight Riders. He scored
84 off 49 balls, taking his
IPL runs tally to 5110.
Kohli also became the
second Indian to score
8000 runs in T20 cricket.
It is so good to see
Rahul back in
form. He is a very
very nice guy. What
happened is in the past. I
just feel the bad the way
the whole thing turned
out but you live and
learn
Preity Zinta,
KXIP owner
fame and money after spend-
ing decades in Hindi film in-
dustry, Zinta said she does
share her experiences with
the youngsters in the KXIP
squad.
“Yes, we do have those con-
versations, we have been
there and done that. These
are young guys and they will
live and learn with time. Un-
less you make a mistake or
falter, you will never learn,”
she said.
Asked to name the most
“fun guy” in the KXIP dress-
ing room, Zinta picked vet-
eran Chris Gayle. “My all
time favourite is Chris Gayle.
He is unbelievable. He is a
true superstar, in terms of
how he comes across, in
terms of how he plays, he
how he is with the young-
sters, he is so humble, he is
always on time, he is just un-
believable and he is so much
fun at the same time.” —PTI
 sP rt
www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia
09
Ahmedabad I Saturday, April 6, 2019 I daily news & analysis

Griezmann’s
Hot on Heels I can’t take it anymore,
I need to tell the people
India face tricky I want to stay

choice
Nepal test in Oly Antoine Griezmann,
qualifiers Rd 2 revealing his decision of not
going to Barcelona in a
The Indian women’s TV documentary in
football team faces a
stern test against a June last year
tricky Nepal outfit in
their Olympic Qualifiers
Round 2 match in Man-
dalay, Myanmar, on Sat-
urday. The two teams
will be up against each
other for the third time
since February. In the
Gold Cup, Nepal had tri-
umphed 2-1 in Bhubane-
Griezmann this La Liga season
A year back, Atletico Madrid star rejected a move to
30 13
swar, while the Indians
had a revenge of sorts in
their 3-1 win in the
SAFF Championship fi-
Barcelona, today he heads to Camp Nou for crucial Matches Goals

title clash wondering what might have been 3 7

nal. India head coach
Maymol Rocky said her Shots per
side would look to score game Assists

first and put the opposi-
tion under pressure.
Warriors roll past
Lakers 108-90
Madrid: Antoine Griezmann was convinced
Atletico Madrid were making progress but,
10 months on, he may wonder if he was right
to stay after all.
2,573
Champions League final at their own Wanda
Metropolitano were dashed last month, after
a last-16 defeat to Juventus. Minutes
The expectation is that a disappointing sea-

DeMarcus Cousins had
21 points and 10 re-
bounds, and the Golden
State Warriors rolled
past the Los Angeles
Lakers 108-90 in pursuit
76.6
Atletico play Barcelona on Saturday at the son will be followed by a string of departures.
Camp Nou, where Griezmann could have Bayern Munich have already announced Pass
been walking out behind Lionel Messi, a few the signing of Lucas Hernandez while success %
weeks from almost certainly winning a La Diego Godin, Filipe Luis, Jan Oblak,
Liga title, perhaps a domestic double, and pos- Jose Gimenez, Thomas
sibly the Champions League too. Partey and Saul Niguez have
Instead, he remained, his choice to reject all been linked with exits. antoine against Barcelona

of the No. 1 seed in the
West. With four regular-
season games remain-
ing, the Warriors own
25 4
Barca revealed in a television documentary But, along with Oblak,
in June. “Atletico are doing everything pos- currently perhaps the
sible to make sure the team keeps growing, world’s finest goalkeep- Matches Won
it’s incredible,” he said. “I can’t take it any- er, Griezmann would be the hardest to absorb.

6 15
the best record in the more, I need to tell the people I want to stay.” “I cannot imagine the next season without
West (54-24) and have a ‘The Decision’, also the programme’s him because he has a contract with the
two-game lead over idle title, took several months to material- club,” Simeone said last week. Draw Lost

second-place Denver.
The defending NBA
champions also hold the
tiebreaker over the Nug-
gets in the race for the
top seed. Kevin Durant
6 5
ise as a very public and protracted tug- “Antoine will remain with Atleti, for
of-war between Atletico and Barcelona sure,” said the club’s president En-
left both clubs feeling aggrieved. rique Cerezo. Goals Assists
Griezmann might even have gone a Barcelona’s interest appears to have
year earlier, in the summer of 2017,
when Manchester United thought he was
cooled, perhaps given the improved
performances from Ousmane Dembele or per-
HEAD TO HEAD did you

added 15 points, eight as-
sists and six rebounds.
Mirabai to lead
12-member squad
Mirabai Chanu will lead
a 12-member Indian
team in the upcoming
Asian Weightlifting
Championship starting
from April 18 in Ningbo,
China. The Asian Cham-
pionship is one of the
6
theirs until the Frenchman opted to sign a haps because their pride simply prevents know?
new contract, persuaded that Atletico’s trans- them from going back again. But for Griez-
fer ban would prevent them from buying a mann, who turned 27 last month, another Draw n Atletico Ma-
replacement. But his new deal was not defini-
tive, with a release clause included that would
drop to 100 million euros 12 months later.
year like this is surely out of the question.
Most would consider him behind only
Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in terms of tal-
28
Matches 6
drid will have to
end a 13-year
unsuccessful
But Barcelona were too eager and Atletico ent, and even if Barca have moved on, other Atletico streak, having
reported them to FIFA for an illegal approach. elite clubs would surely be keen. Madrid not beaten
Griezmann declared he would decide before It means Griezmann is likely to have a Barcelona in at
Camp Nou in
16
the World Cup while Luis Suarez spoke about spring in his step on Saturday, when Atletico
the deal as if it was already done. will hope to reduce the gap on Barca to five 18 consecutive
Many were surprised when the answer to points with seven games left to play. matches in all
Barcelona
Barca came back a no. At least one will falter, giving Real Madrid competitions,

150
qualifying events for the The world’s star players rarely turn down a chance to move closer if they can beat Eibar dating to 2006
Amount (in million euros) esti-
n Atletico have

2020 Tokyo Olympics. In-
dia had fielded its junior
team at the previous
qualifiers, the World
Championship in No-
vember last year, as the
n zone
its most glamourous clubs and after four and bounce back from a 2-1 defeat to Valencia mated to be the current market
years at Atletico, Griezmann could have been on Wednesday, their first since Zinedine Zi- value of Antoine Griezmann, not beaten
forgiven for feeling his time had come. dane’s reappointment. according to transfermarkt.com. Only Lionel Barcelona in
Perhaps it had. Atletico trail their oppo- Madrid sit 13 points behind Barcelona, the Messi (160) has a higher current market the La Liga
nents this weekend by eight points in the same number they trailed the Catalans by at value in the Spanish league since a home
league and their hopes of playing in the this exact stage last season. —AFP triumph in

senior weightlifters had
opted to continue their
rehabilitation pro-
gramme.
Mumbai’s Talib to
represent India
Golfers Sahil Jain of
Delhi, Murad Talib of
Mumbai and Satish
Cheeti of Hyderabad
booked their spots to
represent India at the
World Finals of the 2019
Mercedes Trophy, sched-
uled to be held in Stutt-
gart in October later
this year. A total of 41
qualifiers and two wild
card entry from across
11 cities participated in
the National Finals of
the largest amateur golf
tournament in the coun-
try in Pune.
Vijay, Joshi named
top seeds
Vijay Kumar, the Chen-
nai-based player from
Services, and Urwashi
Joshi of Maharashtra
have been seeded num-
ber one in the men’s and
women’s categories re-
spectively in the Otters
Club Vedanta Squash
Open, a PSA Satellite
event, to be held in
Mumbai from April 9-13.
Vijay is followed by his
Services teammate Ran-
jit Singh in the men’s
seedings while Ab-
hishek Agarwal of Ma-
harashtra is seeded in
the 3/4 bracket.
13
No. of goals Antoine Griezmann 2010 — a run
has scored in this La Liga season, of 17 matches
let’s Show our identity, urges Simeone the sixth most by any player in the in a row in all
Diego Simeone called on his Atletico Madrid side to show their league. The Frenchman, however, remains the venues
true colours against Barcelona. Atletico have never beaten highest goal-scorer for Atletico Madrid
the Catalans in the top flight since Simeone took
charge in 2011. “That we’ve never won at PLAYING TODAY
the Nou Camp makes me very optimistic,”
Simeone said. “If we win tomorrow Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid (Live on Sony Ten 2; 12.15am, Sun)
(Saturday) and then we don’t win the Also playing: Girona vs Espanyol (4.30pm),
next games, it counts for nothing. Real Madrid vs Eibar (7.45pm), Rayo Vallecano vs Eibar (10pm)
Tomorrow we have to show the
identity which this team has.” Antoine Griezmann is likely to have a spring in his step on Saturday as
Atletico hope to reduce the gap on Barcelona in the table —Reuters
Injuries leave City with Ronaldo gives ‘good signals’ Zizou lavishes praise
tricky Mendy dilemma ahead of CL quarters
London: Manchester City The Ukrainian has depu-
on ‘fantastic’ Hazard
London: Zinedine Zidane
are strong favourites to take tised ably at left-back, despite Turin: Cristiano Ronaldo from Cristiano Ronaldo expressed his admiration for
another step towards an un- being a midfielder by trade could be back in the Juven- ahead of the match with Eden Hazard on Friday
precedented quadruple of prior to Guardiola’s arrival, tus line-up in time for their Ajax,” he said on Saturday. ahead of an expected move
trophies in Saturday’s FA while $68 million World Cup Champions League quarter- Ronaldo will however not for the Chelsea forward from
Cup semifinal against winner Benjamin Mendy has final with Ajax, coach Mas- be ready for Milan, who are Real Madrid this summer.
Brighton at Wembley. been sidelined for much of similiano Allegri revealed battling to qualify for next Hazard’s contract expires
A potential 13 more games the past two seasons due to on Friday. season’s Champions League, in June 2020 and he is yet to
lie between Pep Guardiola’s knee injuries. Ronaldo hasn’t played for after missing recent wins sign a new deal, leaving “He is a player that has
men and a clean sweep of FA Guardiola’s patience with the runaway Serie A leaders over Empoli and Cagliari, Chelsea in a difficult posi- played in France, that I have
Cup, Premier League and Mendy has worn thin and since scoring the sensational the latter of which was over- tion if they want to avoid watched a lot and that I know
Champions League to add to was tested again this week hat-trick that saw Juve come shadowed by racist abuse losing the Belgian for free. personally. There’s nothing
the League Cup they lifted in when the defender was back from a 2-0 first-leg defi- directed at young Italy strik- After last year’s World new about what I think of
February. filmed in a nightclub at cit to knock out Atletico Ma- er Moise Kean. Cup, he admitted “it might him as a player. He’s a fantas-
However, with another 3.30am last Saturday morn- drid last month. Meanwhile, Juventus be time for something dif- tic player.”
seven matches to come be- ing, hours before the English He was rested in the subse- turn their focus to nailing ferent” while in October, he Real Madrid have certain-
fore the end of April, Guar- champions travelled to Ful- quent 2-0 league defeat at down an eighth consecutive said it would be a “dream” ly struggled for goals this
diola faces a headache in a ham. —AFP Genoa and then picked up a Serie A title in record time to play for Real Madrid, “the season. They have scored 26
familiar problem position. thigh injury on international this weekend. —AFP best club in the world”. fewer than Barcelona in the
Oleksandr Zinchenko suf- duty with Portugal last week, Asked about Hazard be- league.
fered a hamstring injury in
Playing today but Allegri is confident the fore Madrid’s La Liga game “I know the numbers and
Wednesday’s routine 2-0 win FA Cup semifinal: 34-year-old will be ready for Playing today against Eibar on Saturday, it has cost us,” Zidane said.
over Cardiff that restored Manchester City vs Brighton Wednesday’s first leg in Am- Juventus vs AC Milan Zidane said: “He is a player I “This year we have had diffi-
City to the top of the Premier (Live on Sony Ten 2, 10pm) sterdam. (Live on Sony Ten 1, 9.30pm) have always rated, as every- culty scoring. Will we change
League. “There are good signals one knows. things? Yes.” —AFP

Srikanth goes down fighting to Long Sathiyan lone Indian to make

1 Kuala Lumpur: A fighting
2 finals at the Malaysia Open
3 opening game to eventually
Send in your answers to
sportsdna@gmail.com. Names
of the first 10 winners will be
published tomorrow
Kidambi Srikanth suffered a
straight-game loss to Olympic
champion Chen Long of Chi-
na to bow out of the quarter-
here on Friday.
The eighth seeded Indian,
who had reached the finals of
India Open last week, squan-
dered a huge advantage in the
lose the quarterfinal match
18-21 19-21. This was Sri-
kanth’s fourth quarterfinal of
the season.
Srikanth blew a 16-11 lead
in the opening game, while in
the second he fought back
from 7-11 down to level scores
at 19-19 before ending up on
the losing side.
The 26-year-old had a 1-5
head-to-head record against
Chen Long, whom he had de-
feated in their last meeting at
the 2017 Australian Open.
The Chinese showed great
defence, playing some excep-
Kidambi Srikanth squandered a 16-11 lead in the opening game to lose to
Olympic champion Chen Long in Malaysia Open quarterfinals —AFP
tional shots like a between-
the-legs return to keep the
spectators entertained at the
Kuala Lumpur Sports City.
In the first game, the Indi-
an opened up a 11-7 lead at the
first break. He kept his nose
ahead till 16-11 before Chen
started slowly clawing back
into the contest.
The Chinese drew parity at
17-17 before sealing the game
with a cross court return that
left the Indian stranded.
In the second game, Sri-
kanth kept himself close to
the Chinese before Chen
grabbed a 11-7 lead at the
MATCH STATS
LongSrikanth
4 Most consecutive points 4
2 Game points 0
79 Total points played 79
42 Total points won 37
breather. The Indian won a
long rally when Chen went
wide and then the Chinese
lost a couple of more points
near the net before attacking
the Indian’s backhand to
reach 17-11.
Srikanth reduced the mar-
gin to 17-18 with the Chinese
falling into a heap of errors.
The Indian levelled the
scores at 18-all and was 19-19
when Chen hit another long
shot. But the Chinese sent one
at the backline to move to
match point and sealed it
when a fighting Srikanth
dived full stretch but couldn’t
keep the shuttle in. —PTI
cut; Sharath, Manika ousted
Yokohama: G Sathiyan was
the lone Indian to progress to
the preliminary round while
it was curtains for both Shar-
ath Kamal and Manika Batra
at the ITTF-ATTU Asian Cup
here on Friday.
Sathiyan, the world No. 28
who had reached the semifi-
nals at the Challenge Plus
Oman Open in Muscat re-
cently, accounted for the most
experienced player in the
tournament, Chuang Chih-
Yuan of Chinese Taipei 11-5
11-4 11-8 to finish third in
Group C. This enabled him to
qualify for the playoff on Sat-
urday for one of the two slots
in the quarterfinals.
The tournament’s format
allows the top two players in
each of the first three groups
to directly make the quarter-
final grade while those who
finish third in those groups
G Sathiyan
and the fourth group (D) top-
per complete for the remain-
ing two slots.
Sathiyan began badly los-
ing first to Koki Nowa of Ja-
pan 7-11 9-11 12-10 8-11 but
won the match against No. 8
seed from Taipei 11-5 11-4 11-8
before losing the last group
match to Lee Sangsu of Korea
7-11 4-11 11-6 11-5.
The No. 10 seeded Indian
will take on Kazakh’s Kirill
Gerassimenko on Saturday in
the preliminary round. A win
for the Indian will take him to
the quarterfinals where he
may be facing one of the two
top seeds, Fan Zhendong or
Ma Long of China.
Earlier, Sharath, ranked
37th, and placed in group B
lost all three matches as he
opened with a loss to second-
seeded Ma Long 5-11 5-11 5-11
and then Taipei’s Yun-Ju Lin
12-10 6-11 9-11 8-11 before fi-
nally losing to Tomokazu Ha-
rimoto of Japan 6-11 12-14 11-9
11-5 7-11 to end his unsuccess-
ful campaign.
For Manika Batra, it must
have come as a real shock
when she failed to win a sin-
gle match despite having
been pitted against the lesser-
ranked players and in the
regional group D.
The Indian, who is ranked
No. 56, lost both her opening
matches to players she had
never lost before. —PTI

10 www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia
snapshot
‘Yoga gaining
popularity
across world’
Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu
Yoga helps to reduce
1 mental stress and in
treatment of several
serious ailments.
When a man came up
2 to me and said he had
a problem doing surya
namaskar, I told to do the
exercise everyday as it helps
to reduce all problems like
mental and physical stress....
It is gaining popularity the
world over and yoga centres
are being opened
Non-communicable
3 diseases have
increased from 30 per
cent to 55 per cent between
1990 and 2016, while the
communicable diseases
dropped from 61 per cent
to 33 per cent in the same
period
I think the major
4 diseases that inflict
us today are high
levels of stress, increased
incidence of diabetes, blood
pressure, smoking, exces-
sive consumption of alcohol,
lack of exercise and lack
of proper sleep. Lifestyle
modification is one of the
key interventions needed
to prevent premature heart
attacks.
It has been proven
5 beyond doubt that
regular moderate
intensity aerobic exercise
like brisk walking, cycling,
jogging would reduce the
probability of heart disease
India, Brazil ink repatriation Drunk Irish lawyer asked to pay 27K to AI staffer she spat on
treaty for sentenced prisoners
New Delhi: India and Brazil
have sealed a treaty for repa-
triation of convicted prison-
ers so that they can serve
their remaining jail term in
their own country.
According to a Home Min-
istry notification, the Instru-
ments of Ratification by In-
dia and Brazil were ex-
changed on January 24, 2019.
A sentenced person will be
transferred under this agree-
ment only on the conditions
that the sentenced person is a
national of the receiving
state, the death penalty has
not been imposed on the sen-
tenced person, the judgment
is final and there is no in-
quiry, trial or any other pro-
ceeding is pending against
the sentenced person in the
transferring State.
Besides, at the time of re-
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and first lady Michelle at the new general
officers’ promotion ceremony at Planalto Palace, Brasilia, on Friday —AFP
What next Police say active arrest warrant against Assange At hand, ready to execute it
UK cops outside Ecuador embassy amid WikiLeaks tweets
London: The British police
stationed armed officers out-
side the Ecuadorian Embassy
in London on Friday after twe-
ets from WikiLeaks quoted wh-
at it said were high-level sourc-
es saying that Julian Assange
could be kicked out of the bui-
lding within “hours to days.”
The red-brick embassy
building with white window
frames and balconies was
quiet, though a few protesters
gathered outside. No embassy
official commented on the
WikiLeaks founder’s status,
while British Foreign Secre-
tary Jeremy Hunt said As-
sange is a “free man” and can
leave the embassy whenever
Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao
is a flop and has not been
able to provide any real
help to the girl child
—Mamata Banerjee,
West Bengal Chief minister
Remember mahamilawat,
PM asks UP ahead of polls
PM Modi takes on Gathbandhan, Congress at Saharanpur marathon rally
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: Addressing a
mammoth rally in Western Ut-
tar Pradesh’s Saharanpur,
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi on Friday hit out at the
three-party Gathbandhan and
the Congress as well alleging
their only agenda was to dis-
lodge him from power and pro-
mote dynastic politics.
Several key seats in Western
Uttar Pradesh, along with Sa-
haranpur, that went to the BJP
in 2014 are heading for polls in
the first phase on April 11. “The
opposition’s only agenda is
‘Modi hatao’ (remove Modi).
Their only intention is to pro-
mote ‘vansvaad’ (dynastic poli-
tics),” he said.
Calling the Congress mani-
festo a “dhakosla patra (sham
document)” PM Modi targeted
Congress president Rahul Gan-
dhi for being against the wel-
fare of the backward classes.
Wooing the jat community, he
also accused RLD chief Ajit
Singh, part of the Gathband-
han, of forgetting the atrocities
against people and not “raising
his voice for selfish reasons”.
The huge crowd kept the at-
mosphere charged with chants
of Modi..Modi..Modi whenever
PM Modi allowed them the
chance by pausing.
Modi slammed the Opposi-
tion parties with spreading
canard in Saharanpur, Kairna,
Muzaffarnagar and the entire
western Uttar Pradesh that Sa-
haranpur was their “new labo-
ratory” that will make them
win. “Remember, when there
was ‘mahamilawat’, the gov-
ernment at the Centre and then
SP government in Uttar
ceipt of the request for trans-
fer, the sentenced person still
has at least one year of the
sentence to serve, that the
acts or omissions for which
that person was sentenced in
the transferring state are
those which are punishable
as a crime in the receiving
in-between the lines
A sentenced person will
be transferred only on
conditions that s/he is a
national of the receiving
state and a death penalty
has not been imposed
on him/her. As per the
pact, the two countries
agree to maintain
highest possible mutual
cooperation in all matters
related to the transfer to
sentenced persons.
he chooses. Asked about the
presence of armed officers
outside the Ecuadorian Em-
bassy, London’s Metropolitan
Police force said there had
been no change in police pro-
cedure. Police said in a state-
ment there is an active war-
rant for Assange’s arrest and
that the police are “obliged to
execute that warrant should
he leave the Embassy.”
Police withdrew the round-
the-clock guard outside the
embassy in October 2015 after
more than three years in favor
of what the service called a
“covert” approach. Assange
hasn’t left the embassy since
August 2012, fearing if he
PM Narendra Modi speaks at the election rally, in Saharanpur on Friday — PTI
pm leaves no room to escape for oppn
„„Modi slammed the
Opposition parties with
spreading canard in
Saharanpur, Kairna,
Muzaffarnagar and the
entire western Uttar
Pradesh that Saharanpur
was their “new laboratory”
Pradesh did an experiment in
Muzaffarnagar also,” he said.
Striking an emotional chord
with sizable population of sug-
arcane farmers, Modi said,
“Yogi government is taking
caring of pending sugarcane
dues and trying to ensure that
in the future it did not happen.”
He also talked about triple ta-
laq issue, alleging that while
his government tried to save
state, or would constitute a
criminal offence if commit-
ted on its territory, the sen-
tenced person has not been
convicted for an offence un-
der the military law and the
transfer of custody of the
sentenced person to the re-
ceiving state shall not be
prejudicial to the sovereignty,
security or any other interest
of the transferring state, the
notification said.
As per the pact, the two
countries agree to maintain
highest possible mutual coop-
eration in all matters related
to the transfer to sentenced
persons pursuant to the
terms and provisions of this
agreement, a person sen-
tenced in the territory of one
contracting state may be
transferred to the territory
of the other contracting state
in accordance with the provi-
sions of this agreement in
order to serve the sentence
imposed on him and to that
end, may express to the trans-
ferring state or to the receiv-
ing state his or her wish to be
transferred.
The full text of the agree-
ment on transfer of sentenced
persons was signed by India
and Brazil on October 15, 2013.
It was ratified by India on
January 1, 2014 and by Brazil
on October 24, 2018 and the
Instruments of Ratification
by India and Brazil exchanged
on January 24, 2019. —PTI
Julian Assange
steps off Ecuador’s diplomat-
ic soil he will be arrested and
extradited to the U.S. for pub-
that will make them win
„„“Remember, when
there was ‘mahamilawat’,
the government at Centre
and then SP government
in UP did an experiment in
Muzaffarnagar,” he said
Muslim women from triple ta-
laq and make their lives safe,
the Congress and its allies
stopped them from doing so.
“I want to tell the Muslim
daughters that in the SP, BSP
and the Congress rule, exploita-
tion of Muslim women will
continue. They will not allow
law against triple talaq and will
not let the ordinance we bought
to pass,” Modi said.
London: An Irish internation-
al human rights lawyer who
was caught on camera making
abusive rants at Air India crew
after she was refused alcohol
on a flight from Mumbai to
London has been jailed for six
months in the UK.
Simone Burns, was de-
scribed as “drunk and obnox-
ious” during a hearing at Isle-
worth Crown Court in London
on Thursday, where it emerged
that she also spat at a flight at-
tendant during her foul-
People transport their plants in a boat through a flooded street in the Jukyty neighborhood, in Asuncion, Paraguay,
on Friday. More than 20,000 people have been evacuated after torrential rains caused extensive flooding. —AP
the spark
WikiLeaks tweeted:
“BREAKING: A high
level source within the
Ecuadorian state has
told @WikiLeaks that
Julian Assange will be
expelled within “hours
to days” using the
#INAPapers offshore
scandal as a pretext —
and that it already has an
agreement with the UK
for his arrest.”
lishing thousands of classi-
fied military and diplomatic
cables through WikiLeaks.
“They (opposition) give
threat of ‘boti-boti’ (cut into
pieces) and we talk of honour
of ‘beti-beti’ (daughter),” he
said reminding public of Con-
gress candidate Imran
Masood’s “boti-boti” remark in
2014 against him. “Here those
who talk of ‘boti-boti’ are close
to ‘Shehzade’ (Rahul Gandhi),
but we talk of security and hon-
ours of ‘beti-beti’ (daughters),”
he said. He attacked Congress
once again alleging that the
party honoured ‘tukde-tukde’
gang and favours talk with
those who patronise terrorists.
“Special power of security
forces will be withdrawn. The
Congress wants to put the
country at stake for votes, but
people will thwart their de-
signs,” said Modi.
mouthed racist tirade after she
was refused alcohol on the
flight in November last year.
“The experience of a drunk
and irrational person in the
confines of an aircraft is
frightening, not least on a
long-haul flight, and poses a
potential risk to safety,” said
Judge Nicholas Wood, as he
sentenced the 50-year-old to six
months in prison for being
drunk on an aircraft and two
months for assault, sentences
to run concurrently.
no man’s land
Ecuador’s foreign ministry
issued a statement late Thurs-
day saying it wouldn’t com-
ment on what it called “ru-
mors, theories or conjec-
tures.” Later, a senior official
told The Associated Press that
no decision had been taken to
expel Assange from the em-
bassy. WikiLeaks argued in a
statement Friday that forcing
Assange out of the embassy
would be illegal and a viola-
tion of international law on
refugees.
Hunt said that “Julian As-
sange is a free man” and “can
leave that embassy whenever
he wants to, so we want the
situation resolved as quickly
second
front
page
Ahmedabad I Saturday, April 6, 2019 I daily news & analysis
People challenging Aadhaar
ordinance can move HC: SC
New Delhi: The Supreme
Court on Friday refused to
hear pleas challenging the
constitutional validity of re-
cent Aadhaar ordinance
brought by the Centre and
asked the petitioners to ap-
proach the high court with
their grievances.
A bench of justices S A
Bobde and S A Nazeer said it
is not expressing anything on
the merits of the case and
would like to have the view of
the high court on the issue.
“We would like to have advan-
tage of view of the high
court,” the bench said.
Senior advocate Abhishek
Manu Singhvi, appearing for
one of the petitioners, told
the bench that it was a matter
of “national importance” as
it will have a pan-India effect
and the apex court should de-
cide the issue. To this, the
bench said, “We are not say-
ing we do not have the power
to entertain this”.
Zee Entertainment brings
multi-platform quiz contest
New Delhi: Zee Entertain-
ment on Friday announced
the launch of one of the wo-
rld’s largest quiz program-
mes, titled Mind Wars, for
participation by one crore
schoolgoers across 200 cit-
ies and towns in the country.
It’s a first-of-its-kind ini-
tiative which will be hosted
on a multi-platform ecosys-
tem, providing a compre-
hensive knowledge acceler-
ation programme for stu-
dents studying in grade 6th
to 10th. The company aims
to leverage the power of its
multimedia prowess to
“You were drunk and ob-
noxious almost from the be-
ginning to the end. You were
abusive, contemptuous and
confrontational and used ap-
as possible.” Asked whether
he thought that was likely, the
British foreign secretary re-
plied: “That’s up to him”
On Friday morning, a van
appeared outside the building
showing a placard that said
“Free Speech” and featured
images of Assange and con-
victed classified document
leaker Chelsea Manning. Po-
lice moved it on. Another
tweet said it had received a
secondary confirmation from
another high-level source.
But an official said that Ec-
uadorian President Lenín
Moreno was angered by the
apparent hacking of his per-
sonal communications.  —AP
“The counsel appearing
for the petitioners pray for
withdrawal of these petitions
with liberty to approach the
high court. Prayer is allowed.
Accordingly, the writ peti-
tions are dismissed as with-
drawn with the liberty afore-
said,” the bench said in its
order. President Ram Nath
Kovind had last month given
his assent to the Aadhaar Or-
dinance that allowed volun-
tary use of Aadhaar as ID
proof for obtaining mobile
build a property that will
span across both, digital and
TV. It aims to enhance the
knowledge quotient of over
one crore students from
40,000 schools across 200-
plus cities of India.
“It is our noble attempt to
gamify knowledge and to
create knowledge-based al-
ternatives for entertain-
ment for kids in their forma-
tive years,” said Punit Mis-
palling language,” he said.
Burns, born in Northern
Ireland and living in Hove in
England, was also ordered to
pay 300 pounds compensation
to the person she assaulted,
with the judge saying that
“spitting straight into a crew
member’s face at close range is
a particularly insulting and
upsetting act.” The court
heard how the lawyer drank
three bottles of wine on the
long-haul flight before calling
the cabin crew “Indian money-
Apex court junks stay
on electoral bonds
scheme by Modi govt
New Delhi: The Supreme
Court on Friday refused to
grant interim stay on the
electoral bonds scheme of the
central government on fund-
ing to political parties and
asked the petitioner NGO to
file an appropriate applica-
tion for it. The Centre told the
top court that the scheme was
launched to prevent black
money flow into political
funding.
A bench of Chief Justice
Ranjan Gogoi and Justices
Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv
Khanna said the issue re-
quires a detailed hearing
and, therefore, it will take up
the plea on April 10.
“You have not filed an ap-
propriate application for in-
terim stay. You file the appli-
cation, we will take up the
matter on April 10,” the
bench told advocate Prashant
Bhushan appearing for the
NGO, Association of Demo-
cratic Reforms (ADR). Dur-
ing the brief hearing, Bhush-
an alleged that thousands of
crores of rupees were anony-
mously being given to politi-
cal parties through electoral
bonds.
Bhushan said he is seek-
ing an interim stay as a re-
cent survey has suggested
that 95 percent of electoral
bonds were given to the rul-
ing party. He said the Elec-
tion Commission has also
opposed the scheme under-
lining that the changes made
in the law will have serious
repercussions on the trans-
parent funding of political
SIM cards and opening bank
accounts. The ordinance was
necessitated because Rajya
Sabha could not approve a
Bill after its passage by Lok
Sabha. The Cabinet had ap-
proved the promulgation of
an ordinance to give effect to
changes proposed in Aadhaar
and two others legislations.
The amendments provide
for stiff penalties for viola-
tion of norms set for the use
of Aadhaar and violation of
privacy.
It bans storing of core bio-
metric information as well as
Aadhaar number by service
providers in cases of indi-
viduals who have voluntarily
offered the national ID as a
means of authentication.
However, the amendments
make it clear that anyone not
offering Aadhaar cannot be
denied any service, be it open-
ing of a bank account or ob-
taining a mobile phone SIM
card. — PTI
ra, CEO of Domestic Broad-
cast Business at Zee Enter-
tainment Enterprises Ltd.
Mind Wars will host a da-
tabase of more than 10,000
questions across the three
content buckets — curricu-
lum, general knowledge and
current affairs. While the
level of questions is for
grade 6th to 10th, the plat-
form will also be developed
for higher age groups in its
advanced stages. The initia-
tive is in line with Zee’s
macro-level strategic intent
to integrate technology with
content offering. — ANI
grabbing c***s” as she was
denied a fourth bottle of red
wine for being too drunk.
“I’m a f*****g international
lawyer,” she told attendants
during her tirade before re-
treating to the toilets to try and
smoke. She was given a series
of warnings before being ar-
rested on landing in London.
A member of the Air India
cabin crew described her con-
duct as unlike anything he had
seen during his 34-year avia-
tion career.  — PTI
Differing stands
The matter holds
importance as the
Centre and the Election
Commission have taken
contrary stands, with
the former justifying the
decision saying it would
promote transparency
in political funding while
the latter maintaining that
the changes made in the
law would have “serious
repercussions”
parties. Attorney General
KK Venugopal, appearing for
the Centre, opposed the con-
tentions of Bhushan and said
that the scheme was intro-
duced to check the flow of
black money into political
funding.
He said Bhushan was giv-
ing an election speech that 95
percent of the electoral bonds
have gone to the ruling party.
The bench in lighter vein
said: “It’s election time. We
will hear the plea on April
10”. ADR’s application has
sought stay on the Electoral
Bond Scheme, 2018, which
was notified by the Centre in
January last year. It said the
amendments carried out in
the relevant Acts have
“opened the floodgates to un-
limited corporate donations
to political parties and anon-
ymous financing by Indian as
well as foreign companies,
which can have serious re-
percussions on the Indian
democracy”.
 — PTI