01

Wednesday
Snap POLL
May
2019 Q. Do you believe the YESTERDAY’S POLL RESULT:
Yeti exists? Is it time to shift Lok Sabha
elections to winters to
Yes No Can’t say increase turnout?
`3.00 Ÿ Pages 14
AHMEDABAD Go to our Twitter handle
www.dnaindia.com @dna, look for #DNAPoll Yes  80%
epaper.dnaindia.com and vote. No 20%
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Nationality comes under a cloud again; SC too slams him for failure to apologise
Azhar’s listing
a day of blues for raga may soon yield
positive results
Prove you’re Indian: Whatever is your political
stand, keep it to yourself. We
Rahul’s defence
India gave Beijing fresh evidence
Centre to Cong chief
are not concerned with it. We are Abhishek Manu Singhvi, on behalf of Rahul
only concerned with your statement Gandhi, accepted three errors: Stating what was
Sidhant Sibal
being attributed to the Court never said by Court, mixing what was said by
the court with his political slogan, and New Delhi: Two months after it blocked attempts
DNA Correspondent knowing fully well that the words to get Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief
correspondent@dnaindia.net
You are making a statement & attributed to the court could never Masood Azhar listed as an international
justifying it. In the entire be used or spoken by any court terrorist, China has now said it supports
New Delhi: In a curious affidavit, there is no word that or judicial forum. He assured the move.
move, the Central govern- (indicates) you have complete regret that a fresh affidavit will be filed Replying to a question at a daily brief-
ment has asked Congress before May 10 ing on Tuesday, a spokesperson for Chi-
president Rahul Gandhi to Three-judge SC Bench na’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Geng Shuang,
prove his nationality. In re- said, “We have stated our position many times. I
sponse to a complaint filed by

‘When you make a

won’t go into detail
BJP MP Subramanian Swa- They are liars who here. I just want to
my, the Ministry of Home Af- say Rahulji is not emphasise that
fairs shot off a notice to Ra- China supports the
hul, giving him 14 days to Hindustani.

mistake, admit it’

prove his nationality.
The development came as
a surprise, especially since
the issue of Rahul’s national-
ity had died down since 2015,
when the SC trashed a PIL on
the issue. Later in the same
year, Parliament’s ethics com-
mittee also didn’t pursue it.
However, in the middle of
a furiously fought election
battle, where no inch is con-
ceded, the BJP has again
trained its guns on Rahul,
though Home Minister Ra-
jnath Singh downplayed the
issue, calling it “normal pro-
cess” undertaken in response
to a question raised by an MP.
Later in the day, Priyanka
Gandhi Vadra rushed to the aid
of her brother, rubbishing the
allegations that Rahul isn’t of
Indian nationality. “Everyone
knows Rahul Gandhi is Indian
and was born and raised here.
What rubbish,” she said.
In a letter dated April 29,
the MHA had said Rahul de-
clared his nationality as Brit-
ish in an annual return filed
Congress president Rahul Gandhi
by a British company named
Backops Ltd. He has now been
asked to give a “factual” reply
over his citizenship, especial-
ly since India does not allow
dual nationality and only In-
dian citizens can contest elec-
tions. The notice comes after
four rounds of voting for the
seven-phase Lok Sabha elec-
tions, in which Rahul is con-
testing from two constituen-
cies: Amethi in Uttar Pradesh
and Wayanad in Kerala.
BJP spokesperson Sambit
Patra also came out with doc-
uments he claimed were au-
thentic, and said it’s time Ra-
hul declared if he “belongs to
London or Lutyen’s (Delhi)”.
“Rahul Gandhi chooses to be-
People are our proof.
Rahul was born before
them...he grew up
before them
Priyanka Gandhi,
Gen Secy, AICC
come a UK citizen by choice,
but probably wants to remain
Indian by compulsion be-
cause he is a Lok Sabha MP
and does politics in his fami-
ly’s name. So he is Indian by
compulsion and British by
choice,” Patra said.
“We have registration pa-
pers, dissolution and annual
returns of Backops Limited.
Rahul Gandhi is director, pro-
moter and secretary. In an-
nual returns of the company
filed on October 10, 2005, Ra-
hul was a 65 per cent share-
holder. He has presented him-
self as a British national in
registration papers, dissolu-
tion papers and annual re-
turns,” he added.
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: No amount of jus-
tification could get Congress
President Rahul Gandhi off
the hook and he ultimately
had to agreed to tender an un-
conditional apology for attrib-
uting the remark ‘Chowkidar
chor hai’ to the Supreme
Court.
“When you make a mis-
take, admit that you made a
mistake,” said the Bench by
way of greeting Rahul’s coun-
sel, senior advocate Abhishek
Manu Singhvi, as he warmed
up to argue for his client. “You
are making a statement and
justifying it. In the entire af-
fidavit, there is no word that
(indicates) you have complete
regret. On the other hand, you
are contradicting your own
statement. If you start your
arguments on this affidavit,
don’t turn around and say I
want to file a fresh affidavit.”
Offering this clarification
orally, Singhvi assured that it
was never the intention of his
client to drag the court into
the political arena. “I shall file
a new affidavit. I will express
regret and apologize for attrib-
uting these words to the
Court,” he said, assuring that
a fresh affidavit will be filed
before the next date of hear-
ing. i.e. May 10.
Rahul had filed two identi-
cal affidavits in response to
the contempt plea filed by
BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi, in
which he maintained that his
comments of April 10 were
made without seeing the or-
der which concerned admis-
sibility of documents in the
review petitions on the Ra-
fale Jet deal. The Bench
found the affidavit wholly
unsatisfactory.  Turn to P4
issue of listing,
which should be re-
solved through po-
litical consultation
within the frame-
work of the 1267 the masood mess
Committee. It’s also
the consensus of „„The JeM is responsible
the overwhelming for the Pulwama attacks in
majority of mem- February, where 40 CRPF
bers of the council. jawans were killed
At present, relevant
consultations are „„The US, UK and
underway at the France had tried to get
1267 Committee. Masood Azhar listed
And positive pro- after the attacks
gress has since „„But China blocked the
been made.” move, which resulted in a
DNA had report- diplomatic war between
ed on Monday that New Delhi and Beijing
China is willing to
soften its stand re-
garding listing of Masood Azhar, and could an-
nounce it soon. Beijing’s comments come just days
after Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit
to the country.
The UK had last week expressed optimism that
Azhar will soon be listed, after India provided evi-
dence of his involvement in terrorism-related activi-
ties. In March this year, the US, along with UK and
France, had proposed listing Azhar as an interna-
tional terrorist. But China had blocked the listing.

PM gets clean chit in poll code violation case
New Delhi: The Election
Commission gave a clean chit
to Prime Minister Narendra
Modi for his speech in Ward-
ha, in which he slammed
Congress chief Rahul Gan-
dhi for contesting from Way-
anad and had “indicated”
that the Kerala constituency
had more voters from the mi-
breaking news nority community.
“The matter has been ex-
Cyclone Fani amined in detail in accord-
ance to the extant guidelines/
intensifies provisions of the Model Code
of Conduct, the Representa-
delayed reaction
Congress MP filed a petition
saying the EC hasn’t acted
on complaints of poll code
violations against PM
Modi and BJP president
Amit Shah since April 5.
In this time, four phases of
elections have passed.
PM Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah
report of the Chief Electoral
Officer, Maharashtra. Ac-
tion has been noticed,” an EC
spokesperson said.
cordingly, the commission is
of the considered view that
The Congress had ap-
proached the EC and sought
viive” speech. The PM had re-
portedly said the Opposition
was “scared” to field its lead-
ers from constituencies where
the majority dominates.
“The Congress insulted
Hindus and the people of the
country have decided to pun-
ish the party in the election.
Leaders of that party are now
scared of contesting from con-
stituencies dominated by the
majority (Hindu) population.
That is why they are forced to
take refuge in places where
the majority is a minority,”
Complainant leaves ‘scary’ proceedings
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: The former Su-
preme Court employee, who
has accused the Chief Justice
of India of sexual harassment,
walked out of the in-house in-
quiry proceeding saying she
felt intimidated to appear be- Indira Banerjee, she said she
fore the three-judge panel was apprehensive of get-
after being denied per- ting justice as the envi-
mission for her lawyer ronment is “scary” and
to appear alongside.
Via a press note issued
#metoo that despite insistence,
the committee has not
at sc
on the third day of the allowed tracking of call
proceeding before Justices detail records of two per-
SA Bobde, Indu Malhotra and sons crucial to the probe.

C
yclone Fani has inten- tion of the People Act and the in this matter no such viola- action against PM Modi’s “di- Modi had said. — PTI
sified into an “ex-
tremely severe cy-
clonic storm”, and the
IMD has said it’s likely
to cross the Odisha coast
Court sentences Narayan Sai Dhoni’s woes
over Amrapali
to life imprisonment for rape
near Puri on May 3. To

guard against this, the
Centre has put the NDRF
and Coast Guard on high
alert, officials said. DNA Correspondent
 Report, P14 correspondent@dnaindia.net
Ahmedabad: Narayan Sai,
son of self-styled godman
Asaram Bapu, was sentenced
to life imprisonment in a
rape case filed against him by
Ladakh home to a woman devotee in 2013. Ad-
highest booth ditional sessions judge PS
At an altitude of 5,000 metres, An- Gadhvi handed down the life
lay Dho polling booth is located in sentence to Sai, and also di-
Nyoma block of Leh district, where rected him to pay Rs 5 lakh
the temperature plummets to mi- compensation to the victim.
nus 20 degrees in the winter. With Sai has been in jail since his
an electorate of 81, the polling arrest in December 2013.
booth is situated just 50 metres On Friday, the court had
from LAC.  P3
Bigfoot twitter explodes over pictures from expedition
convicted Sai under sections
376, 377, 323, 506-2 and 120-B.
Sai’s driver Rajkumar alias
Ramesh Malhotra was also
convicted under Section 212
(sheltering an offender), and
was sentenced to six months
in prison.
In all, five persons were con-
victed, while six other accused
in the case were acquitted.
Among those convicted are
three aides, including two
women, who were charged
with various offences, and
were sentenced to 10 years in
jail. They are identified as
Dharmishtha alias Ganga,
Bhavna alias Jamuna, and Pa-
van alias Hanuman.
The case dates back to 2013,
when two Surat-based sisters
had accused Asaram and Sai
of sexually exploiting them.
dues is noticed
Abraham Thomas
abraham.thomas@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: The Supreme
Court has asked the Amra-
pali group to explain details
of payments it made towards
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, giv-
ing it until Wednesday to re-
spond how the cricketer has
an outstanding bill of Rs 115
crore against the company.
What caught the court’s at-
tention was a report by foren-
sic auditors probing into the
group’s accounts, which men-
tioned 24 contracts signed by
Amrapali and Rhiti Sports
Management Private Limited
between 2009 and 2015. Rhiti
Sports, which manages the
endorsement, publicity and

Army claims to walk in Yeti’s steps

Chhavi Bhatia
chhavi.bhatia@gmail.com
New Delhi: On Monday
night, as social media was
lulling itself to sleep after a
day of arguments and coun-
ter arguments, the Army
slipped in an enigmatic tweet:
Three photographs of a fresh
snow drift, with a row of
large foot stamps set so deep
as to reveal the greying old
snow level underneath. The
foot, a single right one, bifur-
cated into a toe and a clump
of other (assumed) toes.
The Army believed it had
presented proof of the exist-
The Army tweeted a picture of footprints sighted at Makalu-Barun National ence of the abominable snow-
Park in Nepal —Twitter/ @adgpi man, the mystical yeti to its
six million followers: An ape-
like being believed to live
high among the Himalayas
and rarely spotted.
“For the first time, an In-
dian Army mountaineering
expedition team has sited
mysterious footprints of
mythical beast ‘Yeti’ measur-
ing 32x15 inches close to
Makalu base camp on 09
April 2019. This elusive
snowman has only been
sighted at Makalu-Barun Na-
tional Park in the past,” the
tweet said. Along with it was
a picture of the expedition
team flanked by senior offic-
ers. The tweet did not go qui-
etly into the night. 
 Turn to P4
advertisement contracts of
all major cricketers, had en-
tered into an agreement with
Amrapali on behalf of Dhoni
in November 2009 in lieu of
approximately Rs 16 crore.
Dhoni too signed separate
agreements to endorse Amra-
pali during this period.
 Full report in www.dnaindia.com
details sought
n The Supreme Court
has asked Amrapali
Group for all contracts it
signed with Dhoni.
n It includes how much
money exchanged
hands, agreements
signed, type of con-
tract, etc.
 02
daily news & analysis I Ahmedabad I Wednesday, May 1, 2019
in brief
EC bars state BJP
president Vaghani
from campaigning
Election Commission of
India has barred state
BJP president Jitu Va-
ghani from campaigning
for 72 hours for use of
foul language while
campaigning at Amroli
in Surat. Vaghani had
used the word ‘Haramza-
da’ against Congress
party leaders. The office
of election watchdog in
Gujarat had taken a suo
motu cognizance of the
act, following which Va-
ghani was served a no-
tice.
Resort manager
deposes in HC
Following fresh sum-
mons issued by the Gu-
jarat High Court, Ben-
galuru-based Eagleton
Resort’s manager,
Mathew, on Tuesday de-
posed before the court
with all the required
documents. Notably,
Congress leader Ahmed
Patel had kept the Guja-
rat Congress MLAs in
the resort before the Ra-
jya Sabha election to
avoid any horse trading
by the ruling BJP. BJP
leader Balvantsinh Ra-
jput has approached the
high court against the
Rajya Sabha poll victory
of Patel which is being
heard by a single-judge
bench of the court.
No shortage of drinking water
till July 31, says CM Rupani
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani
reiterated on Tuesday that
there was no water shortage
in the state, but admitted
that some challenges re-
mained because local sourc-
es of water had dried up at
many places due to inade-
quate rain last year.
“Adequate quantity of
water is available in Nar-
mada dam, and I want to as-
sure people of Gujarat that
there will not be any short-
age of drinking water till
July 31,” Rupani told report-
ers. The CM’s assurance
came a day after his deputy
Nitin Patel said that there
was no shortage of water.
Rupani said that Kutch,
Banaskantha, Patan, Morbi,
Surendranagar, Porbandar
and Dwarka districts were
among the places hit by wa-
ter scarcity, but said that sup-
ply of Narmada water to
these places had been in-
creased to meet the demand.
“These places had re-
ceived very less rainfall, and
because of this, local sources
of water have dried up. We
are supplying significantly
more Narmada water to
these places than last year.
My government had also de-
RaGa defamation ICSE & ISC results to be declared on May 7
plaint decision today
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
A metropolitan court on
Wednesday is going to decide
on whether to take cognizance
of a defamation complaint filed
against Congress president Ra-
hul Gandhi for allegedly mak-
ing wrong and defamatory
statement against BJP presi-
dent Amit Shah during a recent
election rally in Jabalpur, Mad-
hya Pradesh, or not.
The court was supposed to
take the decision on Tuesday.
However, due to a strike by the
Ahmedabad Criminal Bar As-
sociation in support of the
strike called by the Vadodara
Bar Association, the com-
plainant, Khadia councillor
Krishnavadan Brahmbhatt,
requested the court to adjourn
the hearing for a day, which
was accepted by the court.
Meanwhile, Brahmbhatt’s
lawyer Prakash Patel also sub-
mitted some judgments and
contended that Gandhi can be
tried for the alleged crime in
Gujarat. Notably, metropoli-
tan magistrate DS Dabhi had
already ordered a preliminary
inquiry in the case under Sec-
tion 202 of the Criminal Proce-
dure Code and recorded the
deposition of Brahmbhatt and
two of his witnesses—Jigesh
Dani and Umang Naik—on
April 26. The court had then

Sabarmati river’s east
bank cooler than west
Three-year study shows more open spaces leads to temperature drop
Gargi Raval
gargi.raval@dnaindia.net
The right bank of the Sabar-
mati River witnesses a greater
drop in temperature than the
left one during summer. This
was revealed by a recently con-
ducted study titled ‘Ánalysis
of cooling effect of water bod-
ies on land surface tempera-
ture in the nearby region: A
case study of Ahmedabad and
Chandigarh cities in India’.
The study was undertaken
by three scholars – Neha Gup-
ta, Aneesh Mathew and Sumit
Khandelwal, for three years
from 2009 to 2011. They ob-
served that there is an average
dip of about 1.57 degree C and
1.71 degree C during summer
and winter, respectively, on the
right bank (eastern part of the
city) of the Sabarmati River
up to an influence distance of
about 200-300 metres. The aver-
age drop in temperature on the
left bank is about 0.69 degree C
and 0.65 degree C during sum-
mer and winter, respectively.
The temperature fell by
about 1.61 degree C from the
bank up to 200 metres and
1.82 degree C from the bank up
to 300 metres during winter,
over the entire study duration.
The temperature is low within
Residents collect drinking water from a tanker, at Danilimda colony in
Ahmedabad on Tuesday —PTI
Adequate quantity of water is available in
Narmada dam, and I want to assure people
of Gujarat that there will not be any
shortage of drinking water till July 31
Vijay Rupani, Chief Minister
clared scarcity much earlier,
which is why water woes are
restricted to a few places,” he
claimed.
On Tuesday, water stored
in Narmada dam was 1.9 mil-
lion acre feet, as against 0.62
MAF on the same day last
year. Rupani, who reviewed
the state’s water situation
earlier in the day, said, “Ad-
equate water is there... the
challenge is in transporting
it 500 km away.”
Rahul Gandhi
adjourned the hearing till
Tuesday.
Brahmbhatt has alleged
that the Congress president
has addressed several election
rallies as part of the Lok Sab-
ha poll campaign and made
defamatory statements. He al-
leged that Gandhi, while ad-
dressing an election rally in
Jabalpur, had said, “Murder
accused BJP chief Amit Shah.
Waah, kya shaan hai!” The
corporator claimed that the
said speech was broadcasted
by news channels and pub-
lished in newspapers causing
damage to the reputation of
the BJP president.
The complainant has al-
leged that the statement of
Gandhi was defamatory and
false as Shah has been dis-
charged by the CBI court on
January 2, 2015, in the
Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake en-
counter case.
The temperature is low within 200 metres of the river bank
Wind factor
„„The study was
undertaken by 3 scholars
– Neha Gupta, Aneesh
Mathew and Sumit
Khandelwal, for three
years from 2009 to 2011.
„„The average drop in
temperature on the left
bank is about 0.69 degree
C and 0.65 degree C
during summer and winter,
respectively.
200 metres of the river bank
and shows a sharp ascent
there onwards. When moving
towards the river, the drop in
He also attributed water
shortage at some places to
limitation of infrastructure
capacity at municipality lev-
els. In response to a question
about high dependence on
Narmada for meeting water
requirements, he said that
desalination plants were be-
ing set up at many places to
create alternate water sourc-
es. He also said that the poli-
cy to recycle sewage water
had already been declared.
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
The Council for the Indian
School Certificate Examina-
tions will declare the results
of Class 10 and12 examination
on May 7. The students who
had appeared in the examina-
tion can check the results
through the official websites-
cisce.org.
Interestingly, students who
wish to apply for recheck will
poor response of the 100 applications received only six students had enrolled themselves
Cyber Shikshaa programme fails to take off in Gujarat
Tanushree Bhatia
tanushree.bhatai@dnaindia.net
The Union Government initi-
ated ‘Cyber Shikshaa’, a free
programme providing train-
ing of cyber security to wom-
en engineers has failed to take-
off at Gujarat. The pro-
gramme that aims at provid-
ing skill training to women
engineers coming from finan-
cially weaker backgrounds
was launched by the Ministry
of Electronics and Informa-
tion Technology recently and
eight centres across the coun-
try were announced to pro-
vide such training, of which
two are from Gujarat.
While Gujarat received re-
sponses from over 100 appli-
„„The rising temperature
beyond the influenced
distance on the eastern
side of the city (right bank)
may be due to the presence
of the old walled city
comprising of congested
network of roads.
„„The highly dense built-
up areas and the pattern
of roads and buildings
obstruct the cool wind
blowing from the river.
temperature starts from
500 metres to the bank and is
significant within 100–300 me-
tres of it. Hence, effective cool-
Centre questions ‘maintainability’ of IPS Rai’s retirement plea
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
The Union government on
Tuesday questioned the ‘main-
tainability’ of the petition filed
by IPS officer Rajnish Rai be-
fore the Gujarat High Court
against the rejection of his ap-
plication for early retirement
and initiation of a departmen-
tal probe.
In an affidavit submitted to
the High Court, the govern-
ment claimed that Rai was
posted at Chittoor, Andhra
An employee monitors ice cream candy sticks going through the production line at a dairy factory, on the outskirts
of Ahmedabad — AFP
Pic for representation
be able to do the same through
the council’s website or
through there school. Howev-
Picture for representation
cants, nearly 45 were short-
listed however only 6 came
ahead to join the programme.
The centres to provide train-
ing from Gujarat include Gu-
ing is prominent within
300 metres, extending up to
500 metres from the bank ap-
proximately. Beyond this, no
cooling is observed due to the
river.
The rising temperature be-
yond the influenced distance
on the eastern side of the city
(right bank) may be due to the
presence of the old walled city
comprising a congested net-
work of roads, commercial
and residential areas. The
highly dense built-up areas
cause an increase in the im-
perviousness and alterations
in the urban morphology, i.e.,
the structure and the pattern
of roads and buildings ob-
struct the cool wind blowing
from the river.
On the left bank, the tem-
perature is influenced with-
in a range of 100–400 metres.
The average drop in tem-
perature near the left bank
is about 0.78  degree C
(waithin 300  metres) and
0.59 degree C (within
200 metres) during the sum-
mer. The temperature fell
about 0.55 degree C from the
bank up to 200 metres and
0.75 degree C from the bank
up to 300 metres during win-
ter, across the duration of
the entire study.
Pradesh, and the communica-
tion rejecting his application
for early retirement originated
from New Delhi and sent to
Chittoor. Therefore, the
being cool
er, the online module for sub-
mitting the request of the re-
sults will remain open for only
seven days from the date of
the result, till May 13. The
Council shall also make the
digitally signed copies of the
statement of marks and pass
certificate available for the
candidate. In addition, digi-
tally signed copies of migra-
tion certificate will also be
provided to the students.
The candidates can avail
jarat Forensic Sciences Uni-
versity (GFSU) and Gujarat
Technological University
(GTU)
As per batch requisite, the
ah
www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia
Prez gives assent to Bill,
redevelopment to get easy
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Redevelopment of old housing
schemes is set to pick up pace
with President Ram Nath Ko-
vind giving his assent to the
bill to allow dilapidated build-
ings older than 25 years to be
redeveloped with the consent
of 75% of the occupants.
So far, redevelopment of such
housing societies requires
consent of 100% of the occu-
pants.
The Gujarat Ownership
Flats (Amendment) Bill was
passed unanimously by the
state Assembly on September
19. The Governor had forward-
ed it to the President on Octo-
ber 9 after giving his assent.
The state government said
that President Ram Nath Ko-
vind gave his assent to the Bill
on April 25.
“The Bill has received
Hon’ble President’s assent.
The state government will is-
sue a notification soon,” min-
ister of state for law and par-
liamentary affairs Pradipsinh
Jadeja, told reporters.
The Bill will allow redevel-
opment with consent of 75%
of the owners provided it is 25
years old, and if the authority
concerned has declared it to be
in ruinous condition, or likely
to fall or in any way dangerous
to persons occupying such
structures. Earlier, redevelop-
ment was not possible even if
Ahmedabad bench of the Cen-
tral Administrative Tribunal
(CAT) does not have the territo-
rial jurisdiction to decide his
case and hence, the petition
filed by Rai challenging the or-
der of CAT, Ahmedabad, be-
fore the Gujarat High Court is
also not maintainable.
The Centre has also con-
tended in its affidavit that al-
though the application filed by
Rai was to be adjudicated by a
division bench, the single
judge of CAT, Ahmedabad,
passed orders which were ‘be-
the results through SMS also.
They have to type ICSE or ISC
followed by their seven-digit
unique ID code and send the
message to 09248082883. The
ICSE Class 10 examinations
was conducted from February
22 while the ISC Class 12 ex-
aminations held from Febru-
ary 4. From 2019 onwards, the
students who are unable to
crack the CISCE will get a sec-
ond chance to pass the exami-
nation.
Eligibility
„„The eligibility criteria
includes women from age
21-26 with family income
less than 7 lakhs per
annum
„„It is a four month
programme and a total
of 500 women will be
imparted training.
centre can only start the batch
if more than 10 participants
join the programme. “Unfor-
tunately, only 6 girls came to
join the programme here. We
had received registrations
from 106 applicants. GTU re-
ferred their 54 registrations to
edabad
change in clause
„„The Bill will allow
redevelopment with
consent of 75% of the
owners provided it is 25
years old. Earlier, it was
not possible even if a
single owner refused to
give his consent.
„„The Gujarat Ownership
Flats (Amendment) Bill
was passed by state on
September 19, 2018
a single owner refused to give
his consent.
A senior government offi-
cial said that the amended law
will give a boost to redevelop-
ment.
“Availability of new hous-
ing schemes, and that too in
the middle of the city, will go
up because redevelopment
will become easier,” Lochan
Sehra, secretary, urban devel-
opment department, said.
yond jurisdiction’. It has been
also submitted that the early
retirement application of Rai
was examined by the Ministry
of Home Affairs. It was reject-
ed by the ministry on the
ground that Rai has been is-
sued a memorandum of arti-
cles of charge on August 25,
2017, which can culminate into
a major penalty of removal or
dismissal from service. Also,
three preliminary inquiries in
different cases are pending
against Rai.
Following the arguments
HC orders state govt to
setup CCTVs in schools
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
The Gujarat High Court on
Tuesday directed the state
government to work out a
mechanism for installation of
CCTV cameras in schools
across the state to ensure bet-
ter quality education and pre-
vent crime against children.
The direction came from the
division bench of Acting
Chief Justice AS Dave and
Justice Biren Vaishnav dur-
ing the hearing of a public
interest litigation (PIL) seek-
ing installation of CCTV cam-
eras in all educational institu-
tions across the state.
Notably, the petitioners—
Deepak Dhakana and Ma-
heshumar Patel—have con-
tended before the court that
crime against children is on
the rise and they are not even
safe in schools, especially after
several incidents of violence
and sexual abuse of children
in schools were reported from
across the country. Therefore,
the petitioners have appealed
that the state government
must ensure installation of
CCTV cameras in schools
through which these crimes
can be curbed and it will also
help in enhancing the quality
of education in government-
run schools.
The division bench, while
us as they did not have enough
resources then”, said CD Jade-
ja, Registrar, GFSU.
When Dna contacted pro-
fessor Deepak Upadyaya of
GTU, he said, “Our process is
in pipeline and hence we will
take some time to commence
the batch.”
As part of this program, C-
Dac, ministry’s R&D institu-
tion for the design, develop-
ment and deployment of elec-
tronic and ICT technologies,
would be conducting training
programs exclusively for
women and also making them
industry ready by imparting
the requisite technical skills
in the domain of cyber secu-
rity. The program shall also
entail placement assistance
Ashish Patel, president of
real estate developers body GI-
HED CREDAI, said the amend-
ed law will benefit occupants
of those schemes where rede-
velopment is not getting nod
for want of consent of 100% of
the owners.
Tougher punishment for
chain snatching okayed
The Criminal Law (Gujarat
Amendment) Bill, 2018, which
provides for stricter punish-
ment for chain snatching, also
received the President’s as-
sent, Jadeja said.
So far, snatching is an of-
fence under Section 379 of In-
dian Penal Code, i.e. theft,
which has provision for maxi-
mum punishment of three
years, or a fine, or both. The
amended law provides for jail
sentence of 5-10 years, and fine
of up to Rs25,000. It provides
for jail term of 7-10 years and
fine of Rs25,000 for chain
snatching.
and submission of the affida-
vit, the division bench of Jus-
tice SR Brahmbhatt and Jus-
tice VB Mayani adjourned the
matter for further hearing till
May 2.
Rai, who probed the
Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter
case and arrested a dozen ac-
cused including three IPS offic-
ers, had submitted before the
court that he had already com-
pleted 50 years of age and was,
therefore, entitled to put in his
papers on November 30, 2018,
for premature retirement .
raising doubts
According to the
petitioners’ advocate
Nishith Joshi, the state
government has admitted
before the court that
there is a need to install
CCTVs in all schools
across the state, but at
the same time it is raising
the question of budgetary
provisions for the same
hearing the matter on Tues-
day, ordered the state to chalk
out a mechanism for installa-
tion of CCTVs in all schools,
including government
schools, grant-in-aid schools
and private unaided schools,
at all levels. The court also di-
rected the government to file
an affidavit in this regard
clarifying the mechanism as
well as the information on
how many schools have al-
ready installed CCTV camer-
as and how many schools are
still devoid of the security
measure.
for the deserving candidates
with the potential recruiters
looking to hire for various job
roles in cyber security.
The eligibility criteria in-
cludes women from age 21-26
with family income less than
7 lakhs per annum. It is a four
month programme and a total
of 500 women will be imparted
training.
A professor of cyber secu-
rity requesting anonymity
said, “I do not think that prob-
lem is with awareness or else
registration numbers would
not have been that high. Per-
haps the reason could be the
duration of the programme
which many would find quite
less to get trained in a complex
area.”
 Phase-4 haul Rangoli colours
to woo voters
`3,274 cr `785.26 cr `249.038 cr People create a giant rangoli with a
message ‘Vote For Nation’ to raise

ball t
Unaccounted money, illicit liquor, Total cash seizure during this Worth of seized liquor; seized
awareness about voting, on the

drugs and other inducements
seized during fourth phase of the
ongoing Lok Sabha elections
phase; gold and precious materials
accounted to Rs 972.253 crore and
other freebies Rs 53.167 crore
03
narcotics accounted to another Rs
banks of River Ganga. With three
1214.46 crore, says the figures re-
more phases to go, the Election
leased by the Election Commission
Commission as well as the official

ballet
Twitter handle of Doordarshan
I am assured of my victory...the present and previous too have been doing their bit to
(Delhi) govts failed to deliver and fulfill the promises increase voter awareness. Doord-
arshan has been posting photos of
they made to the public. The opposition Congress and the characters from Hindi films with
AAP are competing with each other and not with me. hashtag #MakeYourMark and urg-
Meenakshi Lekhi, BJP candidate from New Delhi constituency ing general public to get inked.

lok sabha election 2019 kejriwal-led AAP govt in delhi didn’t fulfil 96 per cent promises made in 2015: BJP-affiliated think tank

www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia Ahmedabad I Wednesday, May 1, 2019 I daily news & analysis

PM Modi invokes Balakot again...

in brief
I’ve only one voter
ID, says Gambhir
New Delhi: Former cricketer
and BJP’s East Delhi Lok Sabha
candidate, Gautam Gambhir, on
Tuesday refuted AAP leader Ati-
shi’s allegations of him holding
two voter identity cards while
asserting that he possesses
only one identity document.
“I have only one voter-ID that
is from Rajendra Nagar. I do
not have any other voter-ID,”
Gambhir told ANI during a road-
show in south Delhi’s Jangpura
area. Downplaying the AAP’s
allegations, Gambhir had earlier
termed it as “negative politics”.
Rajnath Singh
meets Muslim
clerics in Lucknow
Lucknow: Stepping up the
campaign for BJP in the state,
Union Home Minister Rajnath
Singh met prominent Muslim
clerics here on Tuesday. Rajnath
Singh met Lucknow Eidgah
Imam Maulana Khalid Rasheed
Firangi Mahali and Shia clerics
Maulana Agha Roohi and
Maulana Yasoob Abbas. Rajnath
Singh is pitted against Sama-
jwadi Party candidate Poonam
Sinha and Congress candidate
Pramod Krishnam from the
Lucknow Lok Sabha constitu-
ency. Polling in Lucknow will be
held on May 6.
Puts expiry date
for Opposition
leaders: May 23
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: There seems to
be no slackness in the feroci-
ty of loaded attacks even as
the Lok Sabha elections have
moved to the last leg with
only 169 seats left to be con-
tested in three phases.
While in Uttar Pradesh’s
Barabanki, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi on Tuesday
predicted doom for the Maha-
gathbandhan (Grand Alli-
ance) and condemned Con-
gress for failing to provide a
secure terror free environ-
ment to the country, Rahul
Gandhi in Madhya Pradesh
stepped up attack on Modi
government by pitching his
NYAY scheme as an answer to
end the misery of poor who
owe their poverty to PM
Modi’s loan waiver to “capi-
talist friends”.
Speaking at a huge rally,
PM Modi said, “After four
phases of polling, the situa-
tion is: those who are not in a
position to become leader of
opposition by getting 50 to 55
seats are getting clothes
stitched for becoming PM.”
Their expiry date is May
23 when leaders of the group-
ing will be at each others’
throats, he added.
“People are ready to vote
for Modi one-sidedly...the sit-
uation is whether they will
get an opportunity to give
... RaGa retorts with
Chowkidar Chor jibe
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: Despite being un-
der the scrutiny of the Su-
preme Court, Congress presi-
dent Rahul Gandhi on Tues-
day used the ‘Chowkidar Chor
Hai’ slogan yet again at a rally
in Patharia, Madhya Pradesh.
Reiterating his allegations
Prime Minister Narendra Modi at election rally in Bihar on Tuesday —PTI over the Rafale jet purchase
deal, Gandhi said, “I can say Rahul Gandhi at a poll meeting at
with guarantee...if you go in Jatara in MP on Tuesday —PTI
Rahul ‘sulked’ after Balakot strike: Shah
Dausa/Alwar/Bharatpur: BJP chief Amit Shah Tues-
front of the Race Course
Road (residence of the PM)
where personnel of CRPF,
Later, addressing a poll
rally at Jatara in Madhya
Mamata wants PM’s
nomination annulled
day attacked Congress president Rahul Gandhi, alleging BSF stand with guns...and ut- Pradesh, Gandhi also said the
that he and his party “sulked” after the Balakot airstrike ter the word ‘chowkidar’ in prime minister was speaking
as his dreams of becoming prime minister got shattered. front of them, they will re- with “fear and hesitation”.
PM Modi has worked for the security of the country and spond by saying ‘chor hai’. “Understand one thing.
has given befitting replies to terrorists, he said. “Such reply because the Look at Modi’s face. Half the Arshad Ali district and added, “You will
“Rahul baba and his company sulked after the airstrike entire country knows that election is over. Modi is going correspondent@dnaindia.net fall under the anti-defection
in Balakot in Pakistan. His dream of becoming the coun- Modi has waived Rs 5.55 lakh to be defeated, his face is Act for such illegal state-
try’s prime minister got shattered. Now, they are seeking crore of 15 persons in the withered. Watch his inter- Kolkata: A day after Prime ments. How can you violate
proof of the airstrike for vote bank,” Shah said in Dausa. country in the last five views (on TV). He is speaking Minister Narendra Modi the Constitution, remaining
years,” said Gandhi. with hesitation and fear. The claimed that as many as 40 in a constitutional post of the
Gandhi asked Madhya Congress is coming, our par- TMC MLAs are in touch with country? You have no right to
leader of opposition in Par- for total drop in terror at- Pradesh Chief Minister Ka- ty is forming the next govern- him and would switch sides as remain the Prime Minister.”
liament...,” PM Modi said. tacks, saying “This has been mal Nath to probe the “Bun- ment),” Gandhi said. soon as the Lok Sabha results She also said if some ‘traitors’
Despite Election Commis- stopped because of the fear delkhand package scam” “And remember one thing, are out on May 23, West Bengal went to his party it would not
sion’s instructions not to in- of Modi”, but at the same claiming that the UPA gov- the money he stole from our Chief Minister Mamata Ba- make any difference.
voke armed forces, the Prime time warned, “The nurseries ernment had given Rs 3,800 Air Force in Rafale scam...ac- nerjee lashed out at Modi say- On Monday, Modi had said
Minister, referring to the sur- of terror are still operating crore for development of the tion will be taken and you will ing he was indulging in horse- at Serampore that after May
gical strikes after the 2016 Uri around us. Can the SP-BSP Bundelkhand region, but see two names come out Anil trading and that his candida- 23, when the results are out
terror attack and the Balakot finish these?” nothing happened. Ambani and Modi,” he said. ture should be cancelled. and there would be Lotus
airstrike, said, “Kahin bhi The Prime Minister also “He is saying 40 of my blooms everywhere, many of
ghus kar ke maar sakte hai... attacked the Congress party Go in front of Race Course Road (residence of MLAs are in touch with him. Mamata’s MLAs would switch
Is Modi doing the right over its promise to review the Being a Prime Minister you to BJP. “Even as of today, as
thing...will it improve secu- Armed Forces (Special Pow- the PM) where personnel of CRPF, BSF stand are doing horse-trading. many as 40 of your MLAs are
rity, finish terrorists...for do- ers) Acts claiming that dur- with guns...and utter the word ‘chowkidar’ in Aren’t you ashamed? Only on in touch with me. People of
ing this we will not ask any- ing Congress government front of them, they will respond by saying ‘chor hai’... this ground, his candidature Bengal can forgive everyone
one…” terror sleeper cells grew in should be cancelled,” Mama- but not a traitor... Didi, you
PM Modi credited himself the country. Rahul Gandhi, Congress president (at a rally in MP) ta hit out addressing a public have betrayed the people of
meeting at Salkia in Howrah Bengal,” he had said.

Missing this polls: JD(U) manifesto 10 Bengal BJP

three’s company

Vithika Salomi
vithika.salomi@dnaindia.net
Patna: Four of the seven
phases of the Lok Sabha elec-
tion is complete, but Bihar
Chief Minister Nitish Ku-
mar’s Janata Dal (United) is
yet to come out with a mani-
festo outlining its electoral
agenda this poll season.
While this gives the Oppo-
sition fresh ammo to target
the ruling party, a section of
the JD(U) leaders too feel that
the poll document will do no
good even if released now.
Initially, JD(U) leaders had
said that the party manifesto
was ready and will be re-
leased around mid-April.
Later the date was postponed
PM Modi and CM Nitish Kumar at a rally in Muzaffarpur on Tuesday —PTI
to month-end, but with that
deadline gone too, most of
the party leaders are refrain-
ing from commenting on the
matter. The JD(U) is contest-
ing 17 of the 40 Lok Sabha
constituencies in Bihar.
“The JD(U) is perhaps the
first (mainstream) political
party in the country that has
not released its manifesto till
the fourth phase,” said Lead-
er of the Opposition in Bihar
Assembly Tejashwi Yadav.
Senior JD(U) leaders in-
cluding KC Tyagi said the
party leaders were already
raising relevant issues men-
tioned in the manifesto in
public forums. “Yes, we do dif-
fer with the BJP over one or
two issues and this is known
to them as well as our opposi-
tion. Yet, our work continues
and we never compromise on
crime, corruption and com-
munalism,” Tyagi said.
A source in the JD(U) said
the manifesto was ready but
due to the party’s stand on is-
sues such as Article 370 and
Uniform Civil Code, being
different from ally BJP, they
were “forced” to withhold it.
candidates get
VIP security
New Delhi: Shaurya Doval,
son of National Security Ad-
visor Ajit Doval, has been ac-
corded a top ‘Z’ category level
security in view of potential
threats to him, officials said.
Similarly, 10 BJP candi-
dates, who are contesting elec-
tions from West Bengal, have
been accorded security by the
Centre for a “limited period”.
The officials said junior Doval
has been “brought under the
mobile security cover” of a
central paramilitary force af-
WHEN LEFT, RIGHT AND CENTRE MEET: Central Minister and BJP candidate Alphons Kannanthanam (centre) ter a security perception re-
shares a light moment with his opponents Congress candidate Hibi Eden (l) and Left Front candidate P Rajeev, port prepared by central agen-
during the re-polling at booth number 83 under Ernakulam Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala, on Tuesday —PTI cies claimed he faced “threats
from people inimical to his
father and others”. Shaurya

Maya fumes as BSP silence

Doval heads the think-tank
Priyanka breaks Fresh campaign ‘Sidelined’, JD(U) MLA CBI searches YSRC ‘India Foundation’.
In a similar move, the gov-
on Varanasi ban on Azam Khan sends resignation candidate’s premises ernment has accorded a “lim-

candidate joins Cong B

ited period” VIP security

T B
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: A day after Ma-
hagathbandhan candidate
for Guna Lok Sabha constitu-
ency in Madhya Pradesh Lo-
kendra Singh Rajput joined
the Congress in support of
sitting MP Jyotiraditya Scin-
dia, a furious BSP supremo
Mayawati warned of with-
drawing support to Kamal
Nath government.
Taking to Twitter to show
T
reaking her silence over rea-
sons for not contesting from
Varanasi against PM Modi,
Congress General Secretary Pri-
yanka Gandhi Tuesday said she
had the “responsibility of looking
after 41 seats and could not focus
on just one”. “I didn’t pull out...I
took the advice of all senior lead-
ers and my colleagues in UP and
they firmly felt that I have a re-
sponsibility of looking after 41
seats,” she told newspersons.
Cong intimidated
BSP candidate hues of democracy With 81 voters, Anlay Dho is cut off in winter due to snow
from Guna to
he Election Commission Tues-
day imposed a fresh ban on Sa-
majwadi Party leader Azam
Khan from campaigning for 48
hours for his provocative speech-
es against the local poll machin-
ery and also making inflammato-
ry communal remarks. This is the
second time this month the EC
has imposed a ban on him. The
ban will come into force at 6AM
Wednesday. Earlier he was barred
from campaigning for 72 hours.
ihar JD(U) MLA Amarnath The CBI on Tuesday searched cover to a number of BJP can-
Gami on Tuesday resigned from the residences and offices of didates contesting the general
the membership of the legisla- YSR Congress candidate from elections in West Bengal.
tive assembly for being sidelined Narsapuram, K Raghurama BJP candidates Aupam
during campaigning in Darb- Krishnam Raju, for alleged loan Hazra, MoS in Union cabinet
hanga and Samastipur constitu- default of over Rs 947 crore. Raju, SS Ahluwalia, Nishit Pra-
encies. He said he has sent his who returned to YSRC in March, manik, Bharti Ghosh have
resignation to JD(U) president Ni- has contested Narsapuram seat in been accorded ‘Y+’ cover that
tish Kumar. Gami asserted that he Andhra Pradesh.The agency said entails about 5-6 armed com-
will not quit the party or join any Raju’s company had taken loans mandos. BJP leader Sid-
other but continue to work in it as worth over Rs 2,655 crore from dharth Shekhar Das has also
he has full faith in party chief three non-banking financial been given the security.
and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. firms, but defaulted in payments. BJP candidate hantanu
Thakur has been accorded a
‘Y’ category while the lowest
‘X’ category cover has been
given to Dulal Chandra Bar,
Khagen Murmu and Kabir

At 5K metres, Ladakh home to India’s highest booth

her angst, Mayawati alleged,
the BSP candidate was in-
timidated and forced to drop
out but the BSP will give a
reply by contesting under its
own symbol and shall also
consider whether to continue
its support to the state Con-
gress government.
Het tweet came in reply to
the social media visuals by
Congress in which Rajput,
wearing a garland, was with
Scindia who tweeted, “Young
candidate Lokendra Singh,
by joining the Congress, has
given us his support. We wel-
come him to the Congress
family.” Guna is going to vote
in the sixth phase on May 12.
“The Congress is not be-
hind of BJP in misusing the
government machinery. It
has intimidated the BSP can-
didate from Guna in MP to
withdraw. But, the BSP would
reply by contesting the elec-
tions on its own symbol and
withdraw. But BSP will
reply by fighting on own
symbol and also taking
back support to govt.
Mayawati
BSP president
also reconsider continuation
of support to the Congress
government,” she tweeted.
In case, Mayawati chooses
to convert her threat into re-
ality, the Congress govern-
ment in state could find itself
on a sticky wicket. In the re-
cent assembly polls, the party
emerged the single largest
with 114 seats in 230-member
House while the BJP, despite
having better polling percent-
age had won 109 seats. To fill
up the shortfall, Kamal Nath
had got support of two BSP
MLAs and one from SP, be-
sides four Independents.
Ishfaq-ul-Hassan
h_ishfaq@dnaindia.net
Srinagar: The cold desert of
Ladakh is home to the highest
polling booth in the country,
and that too with one of the
smallest of the electorate list.
Situated at an altitude of
5,000 metres, Anlay Dho poll-
ing booth is located in Nyoma
block of Leh district, where the
temperature plummets to mi-
nus 20 degrees in the winter.
With an electorate of 81, the
polling booth is situated just 50
metres from the Indo-China
Line of Actual Control (LAC).
Anlay Dho is part of
Ladakh parliamentary con-
stituency which is going to
polls in fifth phase on May 6.
Spread over two districts of
Canvassing in progress in Ladakh constituency — for representation
Leh and Kargil, Ladakh par-
liamentary constituency
with an electorate of 1,74,618
voters, comprises of four as-
sembly segments. Of total
voters, 86,752 are men, 85,064
women, and three third gen-
der voters. The constituency
has 2,799 service voters.
“It (Anlay Dho) is located
at the altitude of 14,800 feet
and is 300 kilometres for Leh.
single-digit lists
„„Some of the polling
booths in Ladakh LS
seat have single digit
electorate
„„Two polling stations
at Gaik and Washi in
Leh district have seven
voters each.
„„Polling station with the
highest number of voters
in Ladakh is Shynam in
Leh -- 1,301 voters.
We will be deputing full poll-
ing party as per the stand-
ards of the Election Commis-
sion to this booth. The num-
ber of voters in Anlay Dho is
81, who are nomads,” Avni
Shankar Bose.—PTI
Lavasa, district development
commissioner, Leh told DNA.
Currently the booth is ac-
cessible by road though it
remains cut off in peak win-
ters given the heavy snow.
“There was a heavy period of
snow on February 22 and it
remained cut off for some ‘Chowkidar’ Shaurya Doval
time,” said Lavasa.
Election authorities have Shaurya Doval has
finalised all preparations for
setting up the country’s high- been brought
est polling booth. According under security
to officials, the election mate- cover after a security
rial and staff will be dis-
patched to the area a few days perception report on
in advance. threats from people
Four candidates are in inimical to his father
fray for Ladakh seat includ-
ing Rigzin Spalbar of Con- (Ajit Doval) and others.
gress) and Jamyang Tsering A govt official
Namgyal of BJP.
  04 indi
daily news & analysis I Ahmedabad I Wednesday, May 1, 2019 www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia

Must prove Kolkata ex-top J&K Guv claims account

Teen kills self
with dad’s gun
hacked after Pak PM find after failing JEE

cop’s complicity, says SC DNA Correspondent

Court tells CBI it can permit custodial interrogation only in light of evidence
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: The Supreme
Court on Tuesday told the
CBI that it will order the cus-
todial interrogation of for-
mer Kolkata Police Commis-
sioner Rajeev Kumar in the
Saradha chit fund scam only
if there is ‘proof ’ to show
that the evidence in the case
was suppressed or destroyed
at his instance.
Giving the agency 24
hours, the bench told Solici-
tor General Tushar Mehta
that unless the agency pro-
duced clinching evi-
dence against Kumar,
it would be difficult for saradha
the court to alter its
earlier order that
granted him protection.
This has set the stage for an
interesting clash between the
24-hr deadline
„„To prove this, the
bench asked the agency
to bring statements of any
officers linked to SIT.
„„They have to verify the
claim that the decision to
return laptops, mobiles
or not to collect financial
documents were taken at
the instance of Kumar or
with his knowledge.
CBI and the West Bengal part with crucial evidence
government in the apex linked to the main accused
court on Wednesday. Sudipto Sen.
The agency It was at the instance of
claimed that Kumar, the apex court that the CBI
scam while he headed the got to interrogate Kumar at
SIT interrogating the Shillong for a limited period
Saradha and Rose Valley in February this year. How-
chit fund scams, refused to ever, the agency recently
moved a fresh application to
take him into custody for in-
terrogation, citing several
gaps in the SIT investigation.
Mehta pointed out that the
SIT collected cellphones and
laptops containing crucial
data linked to the scam, but
later returned them to the ac-
cused, thus destroying cru-
cial evidence. Next, the SIT
failed to collect financial
documents and diaries main-
tained by the accused that
detailed names of high pro-
file persons. In all this, CBI
alleged Kumar’s hand.
The bench of CJI Ranjan
Gogoi, Justices Deepak Gup-
ta and Sanjiv Khanna said,
“We want you (CBI) to satisfy
us that this man whose custo-
dial interrogation is sought
for has a role to play in disap-
pearance or suppression of
evidence.”
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Srinagar: A major contro-
versy erupted on Tuesday
after PDP leader Firdous Tak
posted an alleged screenshot
of the official Twitter handle
of Jammu and Kashmir gov-
ernor Satya Pal Malik, which
showed that he was following
just one person — Pakistan
Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Sensing the gravity of the
situation, Raj Bhavan was
quick to claim that the gover-
nor’s account has been
hacked and asked the police
to investigate the matter.
The issue came to light
when Tak posted the screen-
shot of the governor’s Twit-
ter handle and claimed, “@
jandkgovernor follows only
@ImranKhanPTI . Even
apna banda is not apna.”
Hours later, Raj Bhavan
issued the clarification. “It
was noticed today that the
Governor J&K’s Twitter han-
dle was hacked by some mis-
Screenshot (right) of Governor Satya Pal Malik’s (left) Twitter handle
chievous elements and he er, failed to impress former
was shown as a follower of chief minister and National
Imran Khan, Prime Minister Conference vice president
of Pakistan Twitter Handle”, Omar Abdullah, who also
said a Raj Bhavan spokes- then took to Twitter to punch
man. holes into the explanation
The moment it was no- given.
ticed, the spokesman noted, “Very kind ‘hacker’. He/
necessary corrections were she only used his/her access
made to the account and the to follow Imran Khan and
Imran Khan account was un- then quietly left the account
followed. “The matter has access untouched. Raj
been reported to the J&K Po- Bhavan was able to immedi-
lice to take necessary follow ately undo this one change.
up action as per law and find If I ever get hacked, God
out who the miscreants are,” please give me such a kind-
he said. hearted hacker,” Omar
The clarification, howev- tweeted.
Hyderabad: A 19-year-old
student allegedly committed
suicide on Tuesday by shoot-
ing himself at his home here
after he failed to clear the
Joint Entrance Examination
(JEE) Mains Test, police said.
The teenager shot himself
dead with a double-barrel
gun, belonging to his father, a
retired army jawan, who is
now working as a security
guard with a private bank, a
police official said.
The boy had backlog in
Class 12 and was preparing
for the JEE also and attend-
ing coaching classes, the of-
ficial said, adding for the past
few days, he was apprehen-
sive whether he would pass
or fail in the exams.
The student was depressed
and resorted to the extreme
step after he came to know
that he had failed in the JEE,
the official added.
Police said his father had
also scolded him for spending
too much time on mobile
phone.
JEE is a national level
competitive test. —PTI

tenders & Notices

Bedi ‘cannot interfere’ in elected
govt’s day-to-day affairs: Court
Chennai: The Madras High
Court on Tuesday held that
Puducherry Lt Governor
Kiran Bedi “cannot inter-
fere” in the day-to-day affairs
of the elected government of
the Union Territory, a deci-
sion hailed by Chief Minister
V Narayanasamy who
termed it as “victory” of de-
mocracy.
Allowing a petition by K
Laksminarayanan, a Con-
gress MLA, Justice R Ma-
hadevan set aside the two
communications issued in
January and June 2017 by the
Union Ministry of Home Af-
fairs “elevating” the power of
the administrator.
Referring to the Supreme
Kiran Bedi
Court judgement on the tus-
sle between Delhi Chief Min-
ister Arvind Kejriwal and Lt
Governor Anil Baijal, the
judge said restrictions im-
posed on the Government of
Delhi are not applicable to the
Government of Puducherry.
“The apex court has clear-
ly held that there is a distinc-
tion between the National
Capital Territory of Delhi
and Puducherry,” the judge
said. Though Puducherry
was not a state, the Legisla-
tive Assembly would have the
same powers as that of a
state, he said.
Hailing the judgement,
Congress leader and Chief
Minister Narayanasamy, who
has been at loggerheads with
Bedi over various issues, said
the court order was “historic
and demonstrates the victory
of democracy.”
In her reaction, Bedi said,
“We are examining the judge-
ment.” —PTI

‘When you make

mistake, admit it’
From P1
Chief Justice Ranjan
Gogoi, Justices SK Kaul
and KM Joseph failed
to see any intent on
part of Rahul to ex-
press regret. Instead,
the court was incensed
to note the justification
that this statement
formed part of his po-
litical belief. “Whatev-
er is your political
stand, keep it to your-
self,” the Bench said.
“We are not concerned
with it. We are only con-
cerned with your state-
ment being attributed
to the Court.”
Singhvi accepted that
his client had made
three errors: Stating
what was never said by
Court, mixing what
was said by the court
with his political slo-
gan, and knowing fully
well that the words at-
tributed to the court
could never be used or
spoken by any court or
judicial forum.
Lekhi’s lawyer, senior
advocate Mukul Rohat-
gi, read out portions
from the affidavit to
show that in the garb of
contrition, Rahul was
adding insult to injury
by justifying his re-
marks. Rohatgi re-
ferred to statements
quoted in the affidavit
of other political lead-
ers have commented
similarly on the SC ver-
dict. Singhvi argued
the Court that Rahul
has expressed regret
and this essentially
means an apology.
Referring to the word
‘Regret’ in parenthesis,
the Bench asked, “What
is the meaning of ex-
pression of ‘regret’
within brackets. We
have great difficulty in
understanding your af-
fidavit.” The Bench un-
equivocally said that
this matter ought to
have ended with an
apology but is being un-
necessarily dragged on.

Army claims to walk

in Yeti’s footsteps
From P1
Instead, it snowballed
into a virtual blizzard
— it has since been
liked more than 18,000
times with 8,500
retweets and 2,100 com-
ments.
The reactions range
from disbelief to deri-
sion to humour: Criti-
cism for the Army for
“propagating” myths,
disappointment over
the post coming from a
“respected institu-
tions”. It has also in-
spired humour, not to
mention vehement sup-
port from ‘Indian Army
fans’ who saw “no rea-
son” why the institution
should “lie”. When the
Sun rose on Tuesday
morning, the seemingly
‘credible’ tweet had be-
come a source of embar-
rassment even as senior
officials tried to play it
down.
Sources in the Army
backed the claims, as-
serting that the discov-
ery was based on physi-
cal evidence found on
April 9, and they made
it public only after as-
certaining that it
matched the previous
theories about the Him-
alayan Man.
Full report on dnaindia.com
 w rld
www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia
Sun sets on Japan’s Heisei era...
At midnight, Emperor Akihito’s abdication, first in 200 years, came into effect; Crown Prince Naruhito takes over
Tokyo: Japanese Emperor
Akihito, in his final remarks
as his three-decade reign
drew to a close on Tuesday,
thanked the people for their
support and expressed hope
for a peaceful future.
Akihito, 85, the first mon-
arch to abdicate in two centu-
ries, had sought to ease the
painful memories of World
War Two and bring the mon-
archy closer to the people,
including those marginalised
in society.
The popular Akihito was
the first monarch to take the
Chrysanthemum Throne un-
der a post-war constitution
that defines the emperor as a
symbol of the people without
political power. His father,
Hirohito, in whose name
Japanese troops fought World
War Two, was considered a
living deity until after Ja-
pan’s defeat in 1945, when he
renounced his divinity.
“To the people who accept-
ed and supported me as a
symbol, I express my heart-
felt thanks,” Akihito, wear-
ing a Western-style morning
coat, said at a brief abdica-
tion ceremony in the Impe-
rial Palace’s Matsu no ma, or
Hall of Pine. “Together with
the empress, I hope from my
heart that the new Reiwa era
that begins tomorrow will be
peaceful and fruitful, and
pray for the peace and happi-
ness of our country and the
people of the world,” said a
solemn Akihito, referring to
the new imperial era.
Standing on a white dais
flanked by Empress Michiko,
who wore a long white and
grey dress, Akihito bowed
after he spoke.
About 300 people attended
the ceremony broadcast live
on television. They included
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe,
Crown Prince Naruhito and
Crown Princess Masako, as
well as the heads of both
houses of parliament and Su-
preme Court justices.
Akihito, together with Mi-
chiko, his wife of 60 years and
the first commoner to marry
an imperial heir, carved out
DNA CONNECT
Sydney gears up for
winter
Australia's Sydney's reputa�on is
popular as a Summer hot-spot,
but winter gives you the chance
to experience another side of the
city. Sydney has many events and
ac�vi�es that make it a
des�na�on for travellers during
the cooler months. Stuart Ayres,
Australian Minister for Jobs,
I n v e s t m e n t , To u r i s m a n d
Western Sydney said, “Sydney
has so much to offer year round
courtesy of an extensive events
calendar, well-known driving
routes into region and all-
weather ac�vi�es for all ages.
CCIS celebrates Health
and Hygiene Week
The Kindergarten sec�on at
Cosmos Castle Interna�onal
School Green Campus
celebrated “Health and Hygiene
Week” from April 22 – 26, 2019.
During the week-long
celebra�on, children learnt the
importance of healthy habits
Each day of the week was
dedicated to a specific healthy
habit and healthy menu like idli,
upma, dhoklas, sprouted
moong, corn salad, vegetable
pulao, vegetable sandwich etc.
Allen student tops in
Gujarat in IIT-JEE (Mains)
A h m e d a b a d ' s P rav i k D ave
bagged the All India 60th rank in
the IIT JEE (Mains) exams
conducted for admissions into
undergraduate engineering
programmes offered at NITs,
...rises on reiwa or ‘beautiful harmony’
crown prince naruhito inherits the Chrysanthemum Throne in ceremonies today
akihito’s rise to the Chrysanthemum Throne
Dec 23, 1933 Childhood years
Born the fifth child Evacuates to Nikko in
and eldest son of the countryside during
Emperor Hirohito the Second World War
and Empress Nagako
1959
Marries
Michiko
Shoda,
becoming the
first imperial
heir to wed a
commoner
an active role as a symbol of
reconciliation, peace and de-
mocracy. Akihito, who has
had treatment for prostate
WEEKLY UPDATE ON THE BEACONS IN INDIA’S PROGRESS
IIITs, SFTIs and CFTIs. He has also
topped in Gujarat state in this
exam and is among those
students across the country who
will be qualifying for the JEE-
Advanced examina�ons. Apart
from that 11 students from Allen
qualified in top 1000, 22 in top
2000 and 31 in top 3000 in the
entrance test.
Science City celebrates
World IP Day
World Intellectual Property (IP)
Day was celebrated at Gujarat
Science City, Ahmedabad. The
theme of this year's World IP Day
was “Sports and IP: Reach for
Gold” to take a closer look inside
the world of sports. About 500
school children from different
schools in Ahmedabad and
Gandhinagar and Atal Tinkering
Labs par�cipated in the
programme. Gujarat Council on
Science & Technology (GUJCOST)
a n d G u j a ra t S c i e n c e C i t y,
working under the aegis of the
Department of Science &
Technology, government of
Gujarat, organized the special
scien�fic programmes and
outreach ac�vi�es on
Intellectual Property Rights to
mark the celebra�on.
SASHFR releases study
Dr. Ajay Naik – Director and
Electrophysiologist, Care
Ins�tute of Medical Sciences,
Ahmedabad, India.
Dr. Ajay Naik – primary author of
the manuscript and principal
inves�gator of the study stated,
“ H e a r t Fa i l u r e i s a m a j o r
component of the non-
communicable disease burden in
the Indian popula�on. The low
rate of CRT acceptance, in
p a � e n t s i n d i c a te d to t h i s
therapy, highlights the need for
new health-care policies to
improve awareness about HF
disease and its therapies and
possibly to enhance financial
coverage of indicated therapies.”
(anti-clock wise) Emperor Akihito and Empress
Michiko at a ritual called Taiirei-Seiden-no-gi for the
abdication at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Tuesday;
Supporters gather with the three signs of the eras of
— Hirohito, Akihito and Naruhito (insets) — REUTERS
Nov 1952
Coming of age cer-
emony and investiture
as Crown Prince
cancer and heart surgery,
said in a televised address in
2016 that he feared his age
would make it hard for him to
Life Coach Sneh Desai
organises seminar
“Change your life”, a free
seminar in Hindi, is going to held
at Townhall and Thakorbhai
Desai Hall on May 1 and 2, in
Ahmedabad. Since over two
decades, Sneh Desai has served
as a Mo�va�onal Guru to lakhs
of people in every walks of life.
He is the Founder and Director of
Sneh World which has been
conduc�ng Seminars /
Workshops on self-development
to support people, and help
them to unleash the power
within. Through his SnehDham
Trust he conducts more than 100
days of free training programs in
a year. Addi�onally, Green
Revolu�on and providing food to
the needy are part of his
contribu�on ac�vi�es.
Na onal Rubik's Cube
Compe on organised
Indian Cube Associa�on and
Krishna Academy organised the
Na�onal Rubik's Cube
Championship 2019 in
Ahmedabad. More than 200
par�cipants had taken part in the
compe��on. The organizer of
the event, Darshan Parikh, said,
“Rubik's Cube increases the
child's mind power. So children
should be allowed to play with a
cube at the age of four years. It
improves concentra�on,
memory, eye-hand-
coordina�on, logic applica�on
and mental reflexes. In this
compe��on 3x3, 2x2, Pyraminx,
Mirror Rubik's were solved by
Cube Par�cipants. To solve the
cube, you need 30% knowledge
and 70% of the technique
required.”
Microso� shares
survey findings
Cloud compu�ng is helping
create opportuni�es for
organiza�ons to grow their
business, by enabling cost
Jan 1989
Inherits the Chrysanthemum
Throne on the death of his
father, Emperor Hirohito,
ushering in Heisei
(“Achieving Peace”) Era
2011
Makes an unprecedented
television address in the
aftermath of the March 11
earthquake and tsunami
2016
Makes a televised plea to
essentially ask the public
to let him abdicate and
end the Heisei Era
carry out his duties fully.
At the start of the ceremo-
ny, chamberlains carried two
of Japan’s “Three Sacred
savings, higher produc�vity and
greater opera�onal flexibility.
Microso�'s cloud services, such
as produc�vity tool Office 365
and cloud pla�orm Azure, are
helping lower opera�onal cost,
enhancing collabora�on among
employees leading to higher
produc�vity and enabling easy
connect with exis�ng and new
customers near or far, thereby
driving growth in business
opera�ons.
Ahmedabad's Pragnya
Mohan wins gold medal
Pragnya Mohan, 24 won Gold
Medal at the recently held
S o u t h A s i a n Tr i a t h l o n
Championship in Pokhara,
Nepal. She also ranked fourth in
the Asian Cup event. With this
endeavour she is now qualified
to represent India at the World
Cup event to be held on May 5 at
Madrid, Spain making her the
first Indian triathlete to do so.
Pragnya Mohan won the
Na�onal Championship in 2014,
a Gold Medal at the Na�onal
Games held at Kerala in 2015
and was also awarded the top
sports award Eklavya Award
(Senior) in 2015 by the Gujarat
Government.
Duca India launches
new models
Duca� announced the launch of
the new Duca� Scrambler range
in India. The MY19 range for
India includes the Icon, Full
Thro le, Café Racer and Desert
Sled, and are priced at Rs. 7.89
lakh, Rs. 8.92 lakh, Rs. 9.78 lakh
and Rs. 9.93 lakh (Ex-Showroom
India) respec�vely. The latest
versions incorporate the new
aesthe�cs and are loaded with
technical features including a L-
Twin, Desmodromic distribu�on,
two valves per cylinder, air
cooled – 803 cc engine, which
delivers torque of 49 lb-� (67
Nm) at 5,750 rpm right from the
bo om of the rev range and an
agile Scrambler chassis.
past abdications
Pope Benedict XVI
Vatican (2005 to 2013)
after nearly 8 years at 85
King Albert II
Belgium (1993 to 2013)
After nearly 20 years at age 79
King Juan Carlos I
Spain (1975 to 2014)
Served for 38.5 years, at 76
King Edward VIII
United Kingdom
Jan-Dec 1936
Less than a year; he was 42
Steeped in mythology
Akihito also performed a
ritual announcement in
three palace sanctuaries,
one for sun goddess
Amaterasu Omikami, from
whom mythology says
imperial line is descended;
two others for departed
emperors and Shinto gods.
Treasures” — a sword and a
jewel — which together with
a mirror are symbols of the
throne. —Reuters
N Korea slams Pompeo’s nuke remarks
Seoul: A senior North Kore-
an diplomat on Tuesday ac-
cused US Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo of making
“foolish and dangerous” com-
ments, after Pompeo said
Washington will have to
“change paths” if nuclear ne-
gotiations with Pyongyang
break down. North Korean
First Vice Foreign Minister
Choe Son Hui has said that
Pompeo’s comments implied
a potential use of military
measures to break up the
North’s political system.
A February summit be-
tween North Korean leader
Kim Jong Un and President
Donald Trump collapsed over
After 8 days, Sri Lanka Trump sues banks
lifts social media ban to block subpoenas
Colombo: Sri Lanka’s presi-
dent lifted a nationwide ban
on social media sites Tues-
day, a day after he used emer-
gency powers to ban veils
worn by conservative Mus-
lim women as part of a secu-
rity clampdown following
Easter suicide bomb attacks.
President Maithripala
Sirisena ended the blocking
of Facebook, WhatsApp, You-
Tube and other popular sites,
but asked the public to “act in
a responsible manner” on so-
cial media, according to a
government statement.
The government had said it
was seeking to curb the spread
of misinformation when it
blocked social media in the
wake of the April 21 bombings
at churches and luxury hotels
that killed 253 people.
Sri Lankan officials have
warned that suspects linked
to the attacks are still at
large. On Monday, the Islamic
State group’s shadowy leader
claimed to appear for the first
time in five years in video re-
leased by the extremist
group’s propaganda arm.
A soldier keeps guard at St. Sebastian Church in Negombo —REUTERS
ahmedabad I Wednesday, May 1, 2019 I daily news & analysis
PM Shinzo
thanks Akihito
on behalf of
his people
Tokyo: Japanese Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe, repre-
senting the people at Emper-
or Akihito’s abdication cer-
emony, thanked the outgoing
emperor for seeking peace
and happiness for his people
and for reaching out to them
in times of difficulty.
Abe said the emperor al-
ways shared the people’s
happiness and hardship.
Akihito’s reign runs
through midnight Tuesday,
when his son, Crown Prince
Naruhito, becomes the new
emperor.
Abe and his ultra-con-
servative supporters, who
seek to expand Japan’s mili-
tary role, have sometimes
seemed irked by Akihito’s
repeated reminders of Ja-
pan’s wartime past.
Japan’s Emperor Akihito
has expressed his wishes
that the new era of his son,
Emperor-to-be Naruhito,
brings “peace and happi-
ness” to people in Japan and
around the world.
Akihito announced on
Tuesday that he is abdicat-
ing, handing the Chrysanthe-
mum throne to Crown Prince
Naruhito. Naruhito’s new
era of Reiwa, which means
beautiful harmony, begins at
midnight Tuesday. —AP
PM Abe at the ceremony —reuters
North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui
mismatched demands in
sanctions relief and nuclear
disarmament.
Choe said the North also
Church services
to resume May 5
Colombo: Public mass
in the terror-hit Sri Lan-
ka would resume in cer-
tain Catholic churches
from May 5 and no bags
will be allowed inside as
part of the tight security
measures, according to
Cardinal Malcolm Ran-
jith. All public church
services were cancelled
after the Easter Sunday
bomb blasts.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, to
whom the suicide bombers in
the Easter attacks apparently
pledged their loyalty, claimed
the bombings in Sri Lanka
were “part of the revenge”
that awaits the West.
Authorities initially blamed
the attacks on a local militant
named Mohammed Zahran
and his followers, who later
turned out to have pledged sup-
port to Baghdadi. —AP
05
Juan Guaido seen in a video with military member in Caracas —REUTERS
Guaido gets Army
‘support’ to wrest
power in Caracas
Caracas: Venezuelan opposi-
tion leader Juan Guaido on
Tuesday went to a military
base in the nation’s capital to
proclaim the end of socialist
President Nicolas Maduro’s
regime and called for a mili-
tary uprising.
The outcome of the high-
stakes gambit remained un-
clear as protesters gathered
despite billowing tear gas
and the regime promised
punishment for any who
joined a rebellion. No high-
ranking officers had an-
nounced their support for
Guaido, but hundreds of
residents took to the streets
to support him, with whistles
and shouts of “coup.”
Leopoldo Lopez, Guaido’s
ally and mentor long held un-
der house arrest, was freed
and accompanied him to La
Carlota military base in Cara-
cas, where they spoke on a
highway outside as hundreds
gathered. They were flanked
by dozens of national guard
members who concealed their
faces with masks and wore
blue bracelets and armbands
to signal their allegiance.
“The definitive cessation
of the usurpation began to-
day,” Guaido said in a video
posted to social media. “To-
day, brave soldiers, brave pa-
triots, brave men attached to
the constitution have come to
our call.” It was unclear how
many members of Venezue-
has the option of changing
directions and that Washing-
ton may face an “outcome it
truly did not want” if it fails
Washington: US President
Donald Trump, along with his
family and businesses, on Mon-
day sued Deutsche Bank
and Capital One in an at-
tempt to stop them from
complying with Congres-
sional subpoenas issued
as part of a probe into
foreign political influ-
ence. The subpoenas —
which the Trumps described
in their suit as “intrusive and
maduro in trouble
„„The US threw its
weight behind self-
proclaimed acting
president Juan Guaido
„„Brazil also said that
the country supports
a democratic transition
in Venezuela
la’s armed forces had rallied
to their side, but the uprising,
which prompted residents to
erupt and security forces to
deploy riot forces, was the
strongest bid yet to topple
Maduro.
Meanwhile, the regime
promised the rebellion would
be quelled. Venezuela is “con-
fronting and deactivating a
small group of military trai-
tors” who positioned them-
selves “to promote a coup
d’etat against the constitu-
tion and the peace of the Re-
public,” Information Minis-
ter Jorge Rodriguez said on
Twitter. He called on citizens
to resist them.
Guaido, the head of the
National Assembly, has said
the constitution makes him
the nation’s rightful leader
because Maduro stole his
election last year.
The US and dozens of oth-
er nations recognise him as
the president and also gave
their support to the current
development. —Bloomberg
to offer mutually acceptable
terms for an agreement by
the year’s end, a deadline set
by Kim earlier this month
during a speech to Pyong-
yang’s rubber-stamp parlia-
ment. The North also de-
manded the Trump adminis-
tration to remove Pompeo
from the nuclear negotia-
tions, accusing him of down-
playing the significance of
Kim’s comments.
Pompeo made his com-
ments last week in an inter-
view, where he said ongoing
nuclear talks with North Ko-
rea would be “bumpy” and
“challenging”. —AP
overbroad” — were issued to
several banks by the Demo-
cratic-majority House’s intel-
ligence and financial
services committees,
which are looking into
the President’s finances
as part of a larger probe
into election meddling
by Russia.
The lawsuit is the lat-
est step in Trump’s fightback
against the Democrats. —AFP
 06
Ahmedabad I Wednesday, May 1, 2019
 opini n
www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia

daily news & analysis

Untenable interpretation
The infringement suit filed by PepsiCo against Gujarat’s potato farmers is based on legally flawed premises

Electoral football
The infringement
suit filed by Pepsi-
Co India Holdings
Pvt Ltd (PIH), Indi-
The Election Commission has not done its homework well an subsidiary of
the US multination-

T
he Election Commission has increasingly become a reactive al corporation,
against potato
body. In the last few weeks, political parties and members farmers in Gujarat
of the civil society have been shuttling between the Com- is premised on an
Shalini Bhutani
mission and the Supreme Court, trying to fix poll-related pro- untenable interpre-
cedure that should have been settled earlier. Yet, another pro- tation of law on plant breeders in the coun-
cedural irritant has come to light only after the third round of try. Yet, on the basis of a claim of an in-
polling was over last week. This is a provision in the Election fringement of its potato variety by the
accused farmers, the company makes an
Conduct Rules that penalises a voter for falsely reporting in- offer for a ‘settlement’, but with condi-
formation about the malfunctioning of an electronic voting tions.
machine (EVM) or a voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT). Both houses of the Indian Parliament
If the complainant’s plea for a malfunctioning EVM is proved passed the Protection of Plant Varieties
incorrect, he is liable to be imprisoned for six months. This and Farmers’ Rights (PPV&FR) Act in
procedural flaw came to light when a former director general 2001. As explained by M S Swaminathan,
this would be the first Act in the world to
of police (DGP) of Assam complained of a mismatch when he simultaneously consider farmers’ and
went to cast his vote in Guwahati last week; his VVPAT slip breeders’ rights. That makes the law
showed a candidate different from the one he had voted for, a unique.
charge levelled constantly on the working of EVM machines The opening lines of the legislation ex-
by leading members of opposition parties. The former Assam plain that it is meant to establish protec-
police chief was shocked further when he was told that if he tion for both farmers and plant breeders.
Our legislators in all their wisdom guar-
lodged a complaint and if it turned out to be false, he could face anteed rights to farmers as conservers,
criminal liability. Now, the Supreme Court wants to know cultivators and breeders.
whether such a penal provision could deter bonafide voters In the case at hand, the rights of the
from reporting anomalies, fearing prosecution. It is a reason- defendant-farmers as cultivators of an Intellectual Property Rights are neither meant to be absolute nor unlimited. Both rules and governments have to ensure that they also meet public policy ends
able question to ask. Since then, a petitioner has challenged IPR-protected variety are under question.
Rule 49MA of the Conduct of Election Rules on the ground that To contain the rights of the breeder can be said to be subject to Section 39 as the negative publicity in the days leading
who holds a valid plant variety certificate well. The three provisions have to be read up to the hearing on April 26, 2019, PepsiCo
when a citizen suspects an error or ‘deviant’ behaviour in any vis-à-vis the farmers’ seed freedoms, the harmoniously. India was forced to take a more concilia-
EVM/VVPAT, he can report it to the presiding officer at the breeder is limited inter alia by a time pe- Potatoes don’t grow from a seed, but tory stance.
booth. On a payment of Rs 2, he can challenge his earlier vote riod (15 years for crops) and in that time what is called a potato seed, a small tuber Before the learned commercial court in
by giving a written declaration and going for a test vote, which duration by a claim vis-à-vis the cultivator that has sprouts. Ahmedabad, Gujarat, PIH submitted that
must be given in the presence of the candidate or his polling farmers only over any seed sold in a com- Post-harvest if and when potatoes are it wants to ‘settle’ the dispute with the
agent. By overlooking or seeing through to the end the conse- mercial manner in a package or container too small for processing, they are unable farmers. It suggested that either the farm-
labeled with the breeder’s brand name. to be sold. This leaves the farmer a lefto- ers give an undertaking that they shall not
quences of such an act, the Commission has managed to evoke Section 28 of the PPV&FR Act lays ver/rejected part from the harvest. use the registered variety or they should
a basic question of rights. The court rightly felt that the matter down that a certificate of registration for The law allows farmers to freely use enter into an agreement with PepsiCo In-
required debate; by placing the onus of proving the voter a variety confers exclusive right on the this vegetative propagating material and dia to purchase seeds from it with a buy-
wrong, the citizen’s right to freedom of speech gets infringed. breeder to produce, sell, market, distrib- even sell both the potato produce and po- back on terms and conditions that PepsiCo
The Election Commission, in an obvious hurry to close the ute, import or export the said variety. tato seed sans branding. India has been offering to farmers of Gu-
EVM question, given the pressure of opposition political par- In the present case, PIH has been grant- According to the company, its potato pany. There does not seem to be any con- jarat. But given that the law is settled,
ed these breeder rights over its potato va- variety was being marketed in India since tractual arrangement between the defend- there should be no scope for such an out of
ties, has not considered the final consequences of such an ac- riety, namely FL 2027, which it imported 2009. That was the year when India’s ant-farmers and the company. court settlement.
tion. While the overall efficiency of the EVM has been vouch- from USA. The rights are for a term of 15 PPV&FR Authority began issuing the very If allegedly PIH’s potato seed reached IPR are neither meant to be absolute
safed for by all former and serving chief election commission- years: February 2016 to January 2031. first plant variety certificates under the the farmers through any other means, nor unlimited. Both legislatures and gov-
ers, it is important that in a democracy, whatever question Section 39(1)(iv) of the PPV&FR Act law. The same year, the company chose to whether as FC5 or any other name, it rais- ernments have to ensure that they also
comes up, needs to be answered; however petty it may appear recognises that farmers are entitled to introduce its potato variety in the country es the question of gaps in the seed trace- meet public policy ends.
at face value. It is good that the apex court has touched upon a save, use, sow, resow, exchange, share or under a commercial name FC5. Thereafter ability mechanism of both the company Binding international rules such as the
sell their farm produce, including seed of on February 16, 2012, PIH filed an applica- and the government seed functionaries. WTO’s TRIPS Agreement imposes high
subject, whose operational clarity will go a long way in clearing an IPR-protected variety. tion before the PPV&FR Authority for In such a situation too, a farmer is safe- standards for IP protection in all fields of
even lingering doubts about the EVMs. There is another point The proviso to the section only puts an plant breeder rights for its FL 2027, which guarded by the legal provision (Section 42) technology including seeds.
that the overworked poll panel seems to have overlooked. The embargo on farmers with respect to the were granted to the company with effect on innocent infringement if at the time of Nonetheless, India made legitimate use
apex court has raised the issue of the test vote in the presence sale of branded seed of an IPR-protected from February 1, 2016. such infringement, he was not aware of of an option in TRIPS to go for a lighter
of polling agents, which defeats the very purpose of keeping variety. The company undertakes potato multi- the existence of the breeder’s right, and a version of IPR on plant varieties, rather
the ballot a secret. Clearly, the Election Commission has not Section 39(1)(iv) makes it clear that the plication and production under contract relief to the plaintiff in an infringement than patents, keeping its farmer popula-
farmers’ seed freedoms as provided for farming with farmers through vendors. suit cannot be granted by court against a tion and seed practices in mind. This can-
done its homework. therein are notwithstanding the breeder’s Under these arrangements, the company farmer who proves that. not now be interpreted down and imple-
rights over the variety. sells and supplies its potato variety, FL This year in April, PIH initiated legal mented to go against India’s farmers.

Rhetorical jam
The infringement provision – Section 2027/FC5. actions against four farmers and got an Author is an independent legal researcher
64 invoked by the company is ‘subject to The defendant-farmers apparently did ex-parte temporary injunction against and policy analyst working on agro
the provisions of this Act’ and therefore not have any direct contact with the com- their use of its potato variety. But due to biodiversity issues

Rahul Gandhi is caught in a Catch 22 position

QUOTE HANGER slowburn

R
ahul Gandhi seems to have tied himself up in knots. In a
fresh affidavit filed before the Supreme Court this week,
in response to the court’s contempt notice against him for Candice Bergen Jennifer Romolini Egypt’s rebounding tourism threatens corals
@CandiceBergenMP @jennromolini
I
the “chowkidar chor hai”comment, the Congress president n serene turquoise waters off Egypt’s Hurghada, bazaars, and resorts offer
failed to offer an apology even in this new affidavit. The BJP, Christians around the My auto-reply any time I’m Red Sea coast, scuba divers ease unbeatable prices to attract budget-con-
naturally in an aggressive frame of mind on this rather del- among delicate pink jellyfish and ad- scious European visitors to a country
icate subject, demanded the court punish him, alleging that
world need leaders in the West to asked to speak on panels: “I don’t mire coral — yet a rebounding tourism whose vital tourism sector was battered
Rahul was using the present proceedings as a “platform for protect them, not mock & ridicule attend panels unless there are women sector threatens the fragile marine eco- by a 2011 uprising and multiple jihadist
system. The Red Sea is a top scuba div- attacks.
political campaigning”. Rahul’s affidavit on Monday denied them. of colour joining me on stage.” ing destination, but Egypt’s tourism
that his “utterances misrepresenting the order of the Court” sector was buffeted by a wave of secu-
were deliberate or willfully scandalous or meant to drag the
court into a political debate or to even remotely suggest that Swarna Rajagopalan
rity shocks through much of this dec-
ade, before a partial recovery since 2017.
Memory centre marks 4
the court would be declaring constitutional functionaries as @swarraj A diving instructor in the town of decades of Afghan war
“thieves”. He maintained that his response was based upon Congratulations Hurghada, a top resort, warned that the

A
Started watching ‘Fauji’ a rebound brought dangers for the corals. teary-eyed Hameed Rafi said he’ll
an immediate general perception, made in the heat of move-
couple of days ago. I had everybody! Continuing your Before the decline in visitors “there was never forget the day he joined a pan-
ment as a “rhetorical flourish”. The trouble for Rahul now
– at the height of the election season – is his inability to ex- completely forgotten ‘I say, chaps’.... education is the best investment way too much activity because it was so
cheap” he said, asking to remain anony-
el of civilian war victims and family
members and spoke about the suicide
press ‘regret’ for the words used. If the word ‘regret’crops up Now, I am chuckling nostalgically. you can make in your future. mous. “In some areas, they’ve disap- bombing in Kabul that killed his sister
in his affidavit, it would give the BJP a big handle. There is peared—although in others we see last August. Sharing his story with them
little doubt that the BJP led by the Prime Minister himself
#BetterMakeRoom they’re coming back.” The United Na- in March at the Afghanistan Center for
will go to town with the ‘regret’ letter as proof of the govern- Insia Dariwala #ReachHigher. tions Environment Programme (UNEP)
says coral reefs are among “the most
Memory and Dialogue, Rafi recalled
how all of the wounded in the attack had
ment’s innocence in the Rafale case and add more to Congress — Michelle
@insia_dariwala beautiful, biologically diverse, and deli- been taken to hospitals. Rafi’s chance to
troubles, something that the main opposition party can do Obama, cate ecosystems in the world.” It de- share his story is at the heart of the
well without. There is a lesson in it for Rahul, who will need If a child is not scribes these resources as vital to main- memory centre’s mission. Launched in
American lawyer
to choose his words more carefully in the future. For the BJP, comfortable kissing an adult or and writer taining food supply and protecting the February by the Afghanistan Human
shorelines of low-lying island nations. Rights and Democracy Organization, it
it means additional brownie points in election season. It is sitting on someone’s lap or being Along the seafront in the town of seeks to salvage and share such stories.
likely that the issue would be forgotten once the elections are hugged, adults should not force.
over, but there is still some time to go.
send your feedback to editor@dnaindia.net

Putin-Kim summit could change equations, promote new axis

At a time when North Korea in recent times. tin and Kim, as North Korea intensi- iour. There are apprehensions about
US-North Korea It was in this context that Russia de- fied its effort to garner the support of President Trump aiming to change the
relations have hit cided to write off a major part of the other countries to its approach of de- political regime in North Korea.
the lowest ebb, the debt that North Korea had taken from nuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. At the same time, Putin has tried to
first-ever summit the Soviet Union. The meeting proved to be highly en- send a signal about Russia’s influence
between Russian Russia was also a member of the Six- couraging for Kim because Russia fully over North Korea, which could be cru-
President Party Talks to pursue North Korea to dis- backed North Korea vis-à-vis the US cial in addressing the nuclear issue.
Vladimir Putin mantle its nuclear programme. But, and Moscow reiterated that the Six- The summit between Putin and Kim
and North Korean North Korea’s decision to launch a long- Party Talks is the best way to resolve has also boosted Russia’s stature in
Sumit Kumar leader, Kim Jong- range rocket in April 2009 and later its the Korean crisis. China, Japan and South Korea. In fact,
Un, in the Pacific withdrawal from the Six-Party Talks, put Russia wants to build a gas pipeline it is now possible that South Korea
port city of Vladivostok on April 25, as- ties with Russia on the sidelines. with North Korea to reduce its revenue could promote engagement with Rus-
sumed huge significance in shaping The engagement between Moscow losses. It also wants to ensure access to sia to address several issues, including
the regional political-security environ- and Pyongyang continued to flag, as North Korea’s mineral resources. the conflict with North Korea.
ment. Kim, following the Trump administra- For Kim, Russia can help improve While the doors of negations be-
While actual details of the summit tion’s aggressive policy towards North North Korea’s basic infrastructure, in- tween the US and North Korea is now
are not available, President Putin said Korea, decided to hold direct talks with cluding the railways, electricity and closed, Kim’s continued efforts to ad-
that North Korea needs international the US to resolve the nuclear issue. modernise its industry. vance its nuclear programme, along
security guarantees, if it is to end its Trump too accepted Kim’s invita- Improved ties with Russia is also with a new bonhomie between Russia
nuclear programme. tion for talks. In fact, this changed Russian shipping companies for trans- accept North Korea’s demand for com- important for North Korea to ensure and North Korea, has added a new di-
Such guarantees, he said, would equation was quite disturbing for Rus- ferring petroleum products to North plete removal of economic sanctions that the Putin government does not mension in the Korean issue.
need to be offered within a multina- sia because the success of Trump-Kim Korea in violation of UN Security for its denuclearisation programme. send back its labourers working in It needs be seen how the Korean
tional framework. talks could have halted Russia’s ambi- Council resolutions. Consequently, while reports suggest- Russia, since they are a major source peninsula is denuclearised, promoting
True, the erstwhile Soviet Union tion of playing an effective in resolving Meanwhile, efforts to resolve the nu- ed that President Putin wanted to hold of income for North Korea. peace, security and development in the
and North Korea had warm bilateral the crisis in the Korean Peninsula. clear issue between the US and North a meeting with Kim, the collapse of The Putin-Kim first ever meeting region and beyond.
ties and President Putin has been try- The Trump administration has al- Korea through direct talks did not suc- talks between the US and North Korea, underscores their shared concerns Author is with the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad
ing to boost Russia’s engagement with ready imposed a sanction over two ceed with President Trump refusing to finally led to the summit between Pu- about Trump’s unpredictable behav- Institute of Asian Studies, Kolkata

Vol 12 n Issue No. 176 RNI: GUJENG/2007/22424. Printed and Published by Rajendra Bathula 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.
 sciTe h 07
www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia Ahmedabad I Wednesday, May 1, 2019 I daily news & analysis

films can conduct heat Apple removed screen time promising for ‘smart’
These new polymer 3D-print microscope

apps over privacy concerns medical diagnostics

Polymers are known for their
thermal insulation- a process
of insulating against trans-
mission of heat. However,
engineers have recently fab-
ricated thin polymer films
that conduct heat, an ability
associated with metals.
The study was published
in Nature Communications.
In experiments, engineers
found the films, which are
thinner than plastic wrap,
which conduct heat better
than many metals, including
steel and ceramic.
The study may spur the
development of polymer in-
sulators as lightweight, flex-
ible, and corrosion-resistant
alternatives to traditional
metal heat conductors, for ap-
plications ranging from heat
dissipating materials in lap-
tops and cellphones, to cool-
ing elements in cars and re-
frigerators.
“We think this result is a
step to stimulate the field. Our
bigger vision is, these proper-
ties of polymers can create
new applications and perhaps
new industries, and may re-
place metals as heat exchang-
ers,” said Gang Chen, senior
By mixing polymer powder in
solution to generate a film that they
then stretched, MIT researchers
have changed polyethylene’s
microstructure, from spaghetti-like
clumps of molecular chains, to
straighter strands, allowing heat to
conduct through the polymer, better
than most metals. —MIT News
co-author of the study. Going
forward, the researchers are
looking for ways to make
even better polymer heat con-
ductors, by both adjusting
the fabrication process and
experimenting with different
types of polymers.  —ANI
The apps could have leaked users’ location, email accounts to third parties
A
pple announced Screen
Time, a tool to monitor us-
age and amount of time
spent on the device, in June
last year. The feature was in-
troduced as part of iOS 12 after
two prominent Wall Street in-
vestors raised concerns about
the addictive nature of smart-
phones. However, a new report
highlights how the iPhone
maker began purging apps
that offer similar services soon
after introducing its own tools.
The move raises the issue
about Apple’s anti-competitive
behavior since it controls App
Store, the primary means of
distributing apps on iOS, Ap-
ple’s mobile operating system.
The Cupertino-based iPhone
maker is already criticized by
Spotify, the Swedish music
streaming giant, which recently
filed a complaint with Europe-
an regulators. In its complaint,
Spotify said that Apple used the
App Store to give its Apple Mu-
Over the last year,
we became aware
that these apps
were using a highly
invasive technology that
gives a third party control
and access to user location,
app use, email accounts,
and browsing history
Apple
sic an unfair advantage over
rival services. Now, developers
whose screen time apps have
been removed, have also filed a
similar complaint. One devel-
oper said that the move came
“out of the blue with no warn-
ing”. A pair of developers have
filed a complaint with the Euro-
pean Union’s Competition Com-
mission and Kaspersky Lab has
filed a complaint against Apple
in Russia.
“Over the past year, Apple
has removed or restricted at
least 11 of the 17 most down-
loaded screen-time and paren-
tal-control apps, according to
an analysis by The New York
Times and Sensor Tower, an
app-data firm. Apple has also
clamped down on a number of
lesser-known apps. In some
cases, Apple forced companies
to remove features that allowed
parents to control their chil-
dren’s devices or that blocked
children’s access to certain
apps and adult content. In other
cases, it simply pulled the apps
from its App Store,” the New
York Times said in its report.
Apple has responded to the
criticism by claiming that it did
because these apps “put users’
privacy and security at risk. It’s
important to understand why Scientists have 3D-printed an
and how this happened.” “Over inexpensive and portable tech-savvy
the last year, we became aware high-resolution microscope
The inexpensive and
that several of these parental that could potentially be used
portable high-resolution
control apps were using a high- to detect diabetes, malaria
microscope could be
ly invasive technology that and other diseases in devel-
potentially used to
gives a third party control and oping countries.
detect diabetes, malaria
access over a device and its The portable instrument
and other diseases in
most sensitive information in- produces 3D images with
developing countries
cluding user location, app use, twice the resolution of tradi-
email accounts, and browsing tional digital holographic
history,” the company said in microscopy, which is typi- commonly found optical com-
its statement.  —brg.in cally performed on an optical ponents, making it inexpen-
table in a laboratory. sive and easy to replicate,”
It is small enough to be said Javidi.

Scientists develop micro-robots bird’s-eye view used in the field or at the bed-
side and has potential for bio-
medical applications such as
“Alternative laser sources
and image sensors would fur-
ther reduce the cost, and we

that can wipe out dental plaque

Scientists have developed mi-
croscopic robots that can
non-invasively clean up den-
tal plaques.
With two
types of robot-
ic systems --
one designed
to work on
surfaces and
the other to oper-
ate inside confined
spaces -- the scientists
showed that robots
with catalytic activity
could ably destroy bio-
films, sticky amalgamations
of bacteria enmeshed in a
protective scaffolding.
Such robotic biofilm-re-
moval systems could be valu-
able in a wide range of poten-
tial applications, from
keeping water pipes and
catheters clean to reducing
the risk of tooth
decay, dental
infections, and
implant con-
tamination.
“We’re lever-
aging the exper-
tise of microbiologists
and clinician-scien-
tists as well as engi-
neers to design the best
microbial eradication
system possible,” said Hyun
Koo, from University of
Pennsylvania in the US.
“This is important to oth-
er biomedical fields facing
cell identification and dis- estimate a single unit could
ease diagnosis, according to be reproduced for several
the study published in the hundred dollars. Mass pro-
journal Optics Letters. duction of the unit would
drug-resistant biofilms as we In addition to biomedical also substantially reduce the
approach a post-antibiotic applications, it could also be cost,” he said.
era,” said Koo, who led the This view, useful for research, manufac- In traditional digital holo-
study published in the jour- composed of two turing, defense and educa- graphic microscopy, a digital
nal Science Robotics. images taken by tion. “This new microscope camera records a hologram
“Treating biofilms that oc- twin satellites doesn’t require any special produced from interference
cur on teeth requires a great Sentinel3-A and staining or labels and could between a reference light
deal of manual labor, both on Sentinel3-B of the help increase access to low- wave and light coming from
the part of the consumer and European Union’s cost medical diagnostic test- the sample.
the professional,” said Ed- Earth observation ing,” said Bahram Javidi A computer then converts
ward Steager, from Universi- programme from the University of Con- this hologram into a 3D im-
ty of Pennsylvania. Copernicus, necticut in the US. age of the sample.
“We hope to improve treat- 40 minutes “This would be especially Although this microscopy
ment options as well as re- apart, shows beneficial in developing approach is useful for study-
duce the difficulty of care,” Cyclone Kenneth parts of the world where ing cells without any labels or
Steager said in a statement. heading towards there is limited access to dyes, it typically requires a
Biofilms can arise on bio- Mozambique health care and few high-tech complex optical setup and sta-
logical surfaces, such as on a —ESA Centre diagnostic facilities,” Javidi ble environment free of vibra-
tooth or in a joint or on ob- for Earth said in a statement. tions and temperature fluctua-
jects, like water pipes, im- Observation “The entire system con- tions that can introduce noise
plants, or catheters.  —PTI sists of 3D printed parts and in the measurements.  —PTI

he lth
Simple urine test could help detect women Novel drug
may treat
who must be screened for cervical cancer kids’ diabetes
Houston: Scientists have suc-
London: Urine testing may be Of the 100 or so types of cessfully completed clinical
as effective as the smear test at HPV, some are linked to cervi- trials of a novel drug to treat
preventing cervical cancer cal cancer, and some are Type 2 diabetes in children
and could significantly in- linked to other conditions, Currently only two drugs,
crease participation rates for like genital warts. metformin and insulin, are
screening, a study has found. Most cervical cancers are approved by the US Food and
The research, published caused by high-risk types Drug Administration for the
in the journal BMJ Open, HPV-16 and HPV-18. treatment of Type 2 diabetes
found that urine testing was As many as 104 women at- in children.
just as good as the cervical tending the colposcopy clinic By comparison, more than
smear at picking up high-risk at St Mary’s Hospital in the 30 drugs are approved to treat

Zinc oxide supplements

human papillomavirus UK participated in the study this form of diabetes in
(HPV), the virus that causes and were screened using two adults. “We’ve not been able
cervical cancer. brands of HPV testing kits. to get drugs approved for chil-
Researchers from the Uni- Around two-thirds of the dren beyond metformin and

may prevent fatty liver

Study Mandi: Scientists at IIT Mandi
have found that zinc oxide nano-
findings particles can help prevent fat ac-
cumulation in the liver, a finding
could help in that may pave the way for new
formulating therapies against non-alcoholic
fatty liver disease (NAFLD).
strategies to Liver, the largest internal hu-
man organ, secretes bile, stores
improve glucose in the form of glycogen,
and converts vitamins, minerals
insulin and amino acids into their biologi-
process called lipogenesis.
A complex array of cellular fac-
tors and enzymes regulate lipogen-
esis. When this signalling becomes
faulty, due to bad lifestyle and/or
genetic predisposition, insulin
function is impaired and there is
excess lipogenesis, resulting in in-
creased fat accumulation in the
liver.
The research team has shown
using cell and mice models that
versity of Manchester in the
UK said a urine test could
help increase the numbers of
women who are screened for
cervical cancer.
Urine testing could have a
role in the developing world,
where cervical cancer is up to
15 times more common and
smear testing largely non-ex-
istent.
Around one in 20 women
show abnormal changes
which might go on to become
cancer and are referred for
colposcopy, where the cervix
is examined under magnifica-
tion, allowing abnormal areas
Many younger women avoid the National
Health Service (NHS) cervical cancer
screening programme because they find it
embarrassing or uncomfortable.
Emma Crosbie, leader of study
at picking up high risk HPV
infection.
Cervical cancer is most
common in women aged 30 to
35 years. However, the precan-
cerous stage is detectable in
the 5-10 years before this,
rates for cervical cancer
screening in a key demo-
graphic group,” said Emma
Crosbie, who led the study.
“Many younger women
avoid the National Health Ser-
vice (NHS) cervical cancer
women tested positive for any
high-risk HPV type, and a
third for HPV-16 or HPV-18.
From the total, eighteen
women had pre-cancerous
changes to the cervix that
needed treatment.
With the Roche HPV test-
ing kit, urine, vaginal self
samples and cervical smears
picked up 15 of these.
With the Abbott HPV test-
ing kit, urine picked up 15 of
these and vaginal self sam-
ples and cervical smears
picked up 16. “These results
provide exciting proof of
principle that urine HPV test-
insulin,” said Jane Lynch,
from the University of Texas
in the US. “This adult diabe-
tes medication was very effec-
tive in our trial of youth with
Type 2 diabetes and was well
tolerated. We urgently need
other options for medical
treatment of Type 2 diabetes
in our youth under age 18,”
Lynch said in a statement.
“If approved, this drug
would be a fantastic new op-
tion to complement oral met-
formin therapy as an alterna-
tive to insulin for our youth
and adolescents with Type 2
diabetes,” she said.

sensitivity in cally absorbable forms.

While hepatitis viral infections
zinc supplementations either in
the form of nanoparticles or salts
to be seen, sampled and treat-
ed, before they ever cause can-
when up to a third of women
fail to attend for their smear
screening programme be-
cause they find it embarrass-
ing can pick up cervical pre-
cancer cells, but we need to
The study compared out-
comes of 66 children who re-
type 2 and alcohol-induced liver malfunc-
tions used to be the main cause of
are effective in reducing fat accu-
mulation in the liver and inducing
cer, researchers said.
According to the team, cer-
test.
“We’re really very excited
ing or uncomfortable, particu-
larly if they have gynaeco-
trial it on a greater number of
women before it can be used
ceived liraglutide shots plus
metformin pills for 26 weeks
diabetes liver diseases in the past, the dra-
matic shift towards sedentary life-
peripheral insulin sensitivity.
The researchers first treated
vical smear samples, self-col-
lected vaginal samples and
by this study, which we think
has the potential to signifi-
logical conditions like endo-
metriosis,” Crosbie said in a
in the NHS. We hope that is
going to happen soon,” Cros-
with the outcomes of 68 other
children who received met-
styles and unhealthy food habits human hepatocellular carcinoma urine samples are all effective cantly increase participation statement. bie said. —PTI formin and a placebo. — PTI
has caused them to be outpaced by cells with zinc oxide nanoparticles
NAFLD. and tested the lipid accumulation
Function
of liver
Liver, the largest
“NAFLD is a condition in which
the body creates too much fat that
gets stored in the liver cells, called
steatosis, which could lead to scar-
in the cells in comparison to un-
treated cells.
They also injected the nanopar-
ticles into the bodies of mice fed
Stressed during exams? Junk food may be to blame
internal human ring or cirrhosis, and eventual with fatty diet and monitored cell London: Eating a poor qual- gium. riod in January 2017, re-
organ, secretes
To fight against stress-
liver failure,” said Prosenjit Mon- signaling, gene expression and also ity diet, including less fruits “Our findings looking at spondents were asked to dis-
bile, stores dal, Assistant Professor at Indian assessed the cellular energy levels. and vegetables and more fast the eating habits of students
induced eating, close their perceived stress
glucose in the Institute of Technology (IIT) Man- The mice were also subjected to food, is associated with during exam periods confirm prevention strategies should and complete questionnaires
form of glycogen, di. glucose tolerance tests to assess increased stress during this stress-induced dietary integrate psychological and that assessed changes to their
and converts WHO reports that the number insulin function and compared university examina- deterioration hypothesis,” lifestyle aspects including dietary patterns and various
vitamins, of deaths due to liver diseases in with mice fed with normal diet and tions, according to a said Michels, who led the psychosocial factors.
minerals and India was 259,749 in 2017. Nearly study unveiled study being presented at the
stress management The researchers investi-
fat-fed mice not treated with the
amino acids into 120 million Indians are estimated nanoparticles. on Monday. annual European Congress Nathalie Michels gated the relationship be-
their biologically to suffer from NAFLD, with a high- In the cell tests, the researchers “Stress has long on Obesity (ECO) in Glasgow, Ghent University, Belgium tween exam stress and
absorbable forms. er incidence rate amongst obese found that the presence of zinc ox- been implicated UK. change in dietary quality, and
Non-alcoholic and diabetic people. ide nanoparticles prevented accu- in poor diet. People “Our findings suggest that said in a statement. whether these associations
fatty liver disease Insulin resistance is one of the mulation of fat in them. tend to report students have difficulties eat- The results are based on were modified by psychoso-
is a condition in hallmarks of NAFLD, researchers In the mice models, they found overeating and ing healthily and find them- an anonymous online survey cial factors such as eating
which the body said. that the zinc supplements prevent- comfort eating selves adopting bad eating of 232 students (aged 19-22 behaviour, food choice mo-
creates too much In addition to converting blood ed the cellular factors that enhance foods high in fat, sugar, and habits, which over a few years) recruited from several tive, taste preference, impul-
fat that gets glucose into storable forms such as fat storage in the livers of fat-fed calories in times of stress,” weeks can considerably af- universities in Belgium. sivity, coping strategies, sed-
stored in the liver glycogen, insulin also induces lipid mice. said Nathalie Michels from fect your overall health and Before and after the entary behaviour, and social
cells generation from non-fat sources, a —PTI Ghent University in Bel- be difficult to change,” she month-long examination pe- support.—PTI
01
Wednesday
May
2019
ahmedabad
www.dnaindia.com
Sensex
39031.55 35.78 q
Gold 10 gram 31739.00
US $ 69.57 0.45 q
news in numbers
moneyedit
AI gloomy
as airlines
make merry
M
ost airlines in India
hope to post record
profits in 2019-20 as a
result of the suspension of
Jet Airways’s operations.
However, Air India is left
with no option but to see
the opportunity pass by. At
least 19 of the national car-
rier’s planes are grounded
due to lack of funds to re-
pair its engines. Its top
management pegs the re-
quirement to be over Rs
1,500 crore of immediate
fund infusion to get them
back to flying. As the gen-
eral elections are currently
underway, the situation is
unlikely to improve any-
time soon. Any hope of
fund infusion may happen
only after the formation of
a new government.
The airline management
has already communicated
to the finance ministry
about its inability to service
over Rs 9,000 crore of debt
due this financial year. If
the funding does not come
in, then the airline will have
to prune its operations,
thereby further straining
the capacity requirement in
the market which is already
reeling under the shortage
of about 180 aircraft. The
shortage in capacity has
already led to a flare-up in
fares, inconveniencing the
fliers in the ongoing peak
season.
Critics are meanwhile
raising concerns over the
viability of the continuous
funding of a long-bleeding
airline after a failed at-
tempt by the government
to divest 76% stake in the
airline last year. The next
government at the Centre
will definitely have to take
a serious look at it.
ST smart
SC sets aside
decision on NSEL
The Supreme Court on
Tuesday set aside the
Centre’s decision to
merge National Spot Ex-
change Ltd (NSEL) with
Financial Technologies
India Ltd (FTIL), which
is now known as 63
Moon Technologies Ltd.
A two-judge bench head-
ed by Justice Rohinton
Nariman scrapped a di-
rective that led to 63
Moons Technologies Ltd
absorbing a defunct
commodities bourse Na-
tional Spot Exchange
Ltd, or NSEL. The order
potentially absolves 63
Moons from paying
the liabilities of contro-
versy-ridden NSEL to-
ward investors and au-
thorities.
Infra sector
growth improves
The growth of eight
core sectors improved
marginally to 4.7% in
March 2019 against
4.5% in the same month
last year. For the full
2018-19 fiscal, the expan-
sion rate of eight infra-
structure sectors -- coal,
crude oil, natural gas,
refinery products, ferti-
lisers, steel, cement and
electricity -- remained
flat at 4.3%, official data
showed. Coal genera-
tion growth was flat at
9.1% in March 2019.
Natural gas, refinery
products, fertiliser, steel
and cement sectors re-
corded positive.
Nifty
11748.15 6.50 q
44.00 q
EURO 78.02 0.06 q
9.412 million tonne - India’s crude steel output in March, down 1%, as per World Steel Association
Sebi slaps `625 cr fine on NSE
Market regulator also acts against former bourse CEOs
Ravi Narain and Chitra Ramkrishna in co-location case
DNA Money Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Mumbai: The Securities
and Exchange Board of In-
dia (Sebi), which probed al-
leged lapses in the high-
frequency trading offered
through National Stock
Exchange’s (NSE) co-loca-
tion facility, has directed
the bourse to pay Rs 625
crore along with the inter-
est. Sebi estimated that
NSE had earned a profit of
Rs 624.89 crore during 2010-
11 to 2013-14 from its co-lo-
cation operation.
In a ruling that will have
a far-reaching impact on In-
dia’s largest stock exchange,
the market regulator has
prohibited NSE from access-
ing the securities market di-
rectly or indirectly for six
months. This will delay the
bourse’s initial public offer
(IPO).
As per the order, NSE can-
not introduce any new de-
rivative product for next six
months from the date of this
order.
In a 104-page order, Sebi
has also asked to disgorge
25% of the salaries drawn by
two former chief executive
officers -- Ravi Narain and
Chitra Ramkrishna. They
have also been prohibited
from “associating with a
listed company or a Market
Infrastructure Institution or
SBI slashes rates on
savings of over `1L
New Delhi: Savings bank ac-
count holders in State Bank
of India (SBI) having more
than Rs 1 lakh balance will
earn a quarter percentage
point less interest from
Wednesday with the coun-
try’s largest lender linking
the interest rate to the Re-
serve Bank of India’s
(RBI) repo or short-term lend-
ing rate.
However, SBI savings
bank account holders with
less than Rs 1 lakh balance
will continue to get 3.5% in-
terest on deposits.
According to the informa-
tion provided on the website
of SBI, the interest rate on
savings bank accounts with
balances above Rs 1 lakh will
be 2.75% below the RBI’s
repo rate, which currently
stands at 6%.
Hence, SBI will give 3.25%
interest on savings bank de-
posits with a balance exceed-
ing Rs 1 lakh. At present, the
interest rate is 3.5%. The in-
terest is paid quarterly.
The interest rate on such
balances will go up in case
the Reserve Bank hikes repo
rate (the rate at which it
lends to banks) and may fall
further if the repo rate con-
tinues its downward journey.
SBI, which controls near-
ly a quarter of the banking
system, was giving interest
at a rate of 3.5 per cent for
under lens Taxman to provide data on parameters such as ITR, turnover and income of businesses
I-T dept to share data with GSTN to nab evaders
New Delhi: The income tax
department will share data
with GST Network (GSTN)
on important financial pa-
rameters such as status of I-T
returns filing, turnover and
income of businesses, as the
authorities seek to plug loop-
holes and nab tax evaders.
Income tax officers and
GSTN, the company that
handles the information
technology backbone of the
new indirect tax regime, will
also decide on the modalities
for “automatic” and “sponta-
neous” exchange of data be-
sides the “request-based”
data exchange.
The principal director
general of I-T (systems) or
Silver kg 37275.00 235.00 q
British pound 90.54 0.10 p
NSE has committed a
fraudulent and unfair
trade practice as
contemplated under the Sebi
(PFUTP) Regulations. It is
established beyond doubt that
NSE has not exercised the
requisite due diligence while
putting in place the Tick-by-
Tick (TBT) architecture,” -
G Mahalingam, whole-time
member, Sebi
Chitra Ravi Narain
Ramkrishna
any other market intermedi-
ary for a period of five
years,” said the market regu-
lator.
The bourse “shall dis-
gorge an amount of Rs 624.89
crore, along with interest
calculated at the rate of 12%
per annum from April 1,
2014, onwards to the Investor
Protection and Education
Fund (IPEF) created by
Sebi,” the order said.
“NSE has committed a
fraudulent and unfair trade
practice as contemplated un-
on a
slide
3.25%
Revised interest rate on savings
bank accounts with balances
above Rs 1 lakh
3.5%
A/c holders with less than Rs 1
lakh balance will continue to get
savings bank deposits up to
Rs 1 crore and 4 per cent for
deposits above Rs 1 crore till
Tuesday (April 30).
Earlier in March, SBI had
announced that it will be
linking its savings deposits
rates and short-term loans to
RBI’s repo rate from May 1
with an aim to ensure faster
monetary transmission.
SBI said all cash credit ac-
counts and overdrafts with
limits above Rs 1 lakh will
also be linked to the bench-
mark policy rate. —PTI
director general of I-T (sys-
tems) would enter into a
memorandum of under-
standing (MoU) with GSTN
to facilitate the process of
furnishing information, ac-
cording to an order by the
Central Board of Direct
Taxes (CBDT).
The MoU would include
modalities of exchange of
data, maintenance of confi-
dentiality, and mechanism
for safe preservation of data.
The timeline for furnish-
ing information shall also be
decided by the principal di-
rector general of I-T (sys-
tems) or director general of
I-T (systems) in consultation
with GSTN and would be in-
FTSE 100
7440.66 12.47 p
Brent Crude
der the Sebi (PFUTP) Regula-
tions. It is established be-
yond doubt that NSE has not
exercised the requisite due
diligence while putting in
place the Tick-by-Tick (TBT)
architecture,” G Mahal-
ingam, whole-time member
of Sebi, said in the order.
TBT is a data feed that
provides information re-
garding every change in the
order book on the NSE.
Sebi has also directed
NSE to audit its systems at
frequent intervals.
NSE spokesperson in a
statement said, “NSE is in
the process of examining
Sebi Order passed today and
will take appropriate steps
as may be legally advised.”
Experts, however, feel the
Sebi order is a fair judge-
ment.
Amit Tandon, founder
and MD, Institutional Inves-
tor Advisory Services (IIAS),
said: “My understanding is
that the order points to a
whole new world where mis-
governance or wrongdoings
by corporate will now attract
severe punishment and
heavy penalty.”
The co-location case dates
back to 2015 when a whistle-
blower wrote a letter to Sebi
alleging that the NSE gave
preferential access to few
high-frequency traders and
brokers to NSE’s trading
platform.
NRIs, foreign
investors can
now invest in
GIFT bourses
DNA Money Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Ahmedabad: Reserve Bank
of India (RBI) has given nod
to foreign retail investors and
Non-Resident Indians (NRIs)
to invest in stock exchanges
of GIFT City, in Gandhinagar,
GIFT City officials said on
Tuesday. The move will give a
boost to investment in GIFT
City exchanges.
“Till now only institution-
al investors were allowed to
invest in GIFT City exchang-
es. Now foreign retail inves-
tors and NRIs will also be
able to invest. Local resi-
dents can invest through Lib-
eralized Remittance Scheme
(LRS),” said Dipesh Shah,
head of International Finan-
cial Services Centre (IFSC)
at GIFT City.
BSE and NSE have set up
India International Ex-
change and NSE – IFSC,
their international exchang-
es at Gujarat International
Finance Tec City – GIFT City
to provide liberalised regula-
tory environment for trading
in stock, commodity and cur-
rency derivatives.
GIFT IFSC on Friday
clocked a turnover of $3 bil-
lion. Its average daily turno-
ver is in the tune of $2 bil-
lion.
cluded in the MoU.
“While furnishing the in-
formation, the specified in-
come tax authority shall
form an opinion that shar-
ing of such information is
necessary for the purposes
of enabling the specified au-
Nikkei 225
22258.73 Closed
$/barrel 71.60 0.25 p
UAE dirham 18.94 0.08 q
The 104-page order
 Sebi has also asked to disgorge 25% of the salaries
drawn by two former CEOs -- Ravi Narain and Chitra
Ramkrishna
 Narain and Ramkrishna have also been prohibited
from “associating with a listed company or a Market
Infrastructure Institution or any other market
intermediary for a period of five years”
 NSE directed to audit its systems at frequent intervals
The impact
 NSE prohibited from accessing the securities market
directly or indirectly for six months; this will delay the
bourse’s IPO
 The bourse cannot introduce any new derivative product
for next six months from the date of this order
YES Bank falls 30% post downgrades
DNA Money Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Mumbai: After a series of
downgrades by the domestic
and foreign brokerages a day
before, investors went ham-
mer and tongs on the YES
Bank stock on Tuesday.
Shares of the lender
crashed over 30% intra-day
as investors fleed the counter
after brokerages flagged con-
cerns over the bank’s record
losses during the January-
March 2019 quarter and ris-
ing non-performing assets.
After sliding to the day’s
low of Rs 165.30, YES Bank
shares finally ended at Rs 168
Patanjali laps up Ruchi Soya
New Delhi: In its first major
acquisition, Yoga guru Baba
Ramdev-led Patanjali
Ayurved walked away with
debt-ridden edible oil firm
Ruchi Soya with a bid of Rs
4,325 crore, sources said.
Patanjali acquired Ruchi
Soya Industries in an insol-
vency auction started by
lenders to recover over Rs
9,300 crore loans.
Homegrown fast-moving
consumer goods (FMCG) ma-
jor almost got a walkover af-
ter rival Adani Wilmar de-
cided to pull out from the
race despite being selected
the highest bidder a few
months back.
plugging gaps
„„I-T officers and GSTN
will also decide on the
modalities for “automatic”
and “spontaneous”
exchange of data
„„The timeline for
furnishing information
shall also be decided
thority in GSTN to perform
its functions under the
goods and services tax
(GST),” CBDT said.
Exchange of data between
I-T and GST (Goods and Ser-
vices Tax) authorities would
mean that the tax authorities
YES BANK
Share price on BSE in `
275.70
q107.7 pts
q39.06 % chg
168.00
Apr 1, 19 Apr 30
on BSE, down 29.23% from
the previous close. The bank’s
market valuation plunged by
Rs 16,048.56 crore in a single
day to Rs 38,909.44 crore.
According to sources,
lenders on Tuesday approved
the Patanjali’s revised bid of
Rs 4,325 crore with around 96
per cent vote in favour.
With the acquisition of
Ruchi Soya, Patanjali will
become a major player in the
will now reconcile the data
sets reported by businesses
in income tax returns (ITRs)
vis-a-vis annual GST returns.
According to the CBDT,
the important financial
fields on which request-
based data exchange will
take place include the status
of filing of ITR, turnover,
gross total income, turnover
ratio, GTI (gross total in-
come) range, turnover range
and any other field which
will be decided by the au-
thorities concerned.
Rolled out from July 1,
2017, GST has ensured cen-
tralised return filing system
where businesses have to
report their sales along with
RCom heads
for insolvency
DNA Money Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: The National
Company Law Appellate
Tribunal (NCLAT) on
Tuesday allowed insolven-
cy proceedings against Re-
liance Communication
(RCom) after the debt-laden
firm withdrew its petition
challenging a decision of
National Company Law
Tribunal (NCLT) to initiate
such proceedings.
The Anil Ambani-pro-
moted firm had moved the
application to withdraw its
challenge to the insolvency
order after the Board of the
company on February 1 de-
cided that it would file for
insolvency as the attempts
to revive the company failed.
The Board had said the
lenders had received zero
proceeds from the proposed
asset monetisation plans
and the overall debt resolu-
tion process was yet to
make any headway.
An NCLAT bench head-
ed by Chairman Justice S J
Mukhopadhaya ruled that
moratorium on liabilities
would start. Moratorium
over “sale, transfer or alien-
ate any moveable or immov-
able property” or “invoke
any guarantee or mortgage
or any other instrument” of
RCom would continue as
per the norms of the Insol-
vency & Bankruptcy Code
(IBC) 2016, it said.
In insolvency proceed-
street says no
285
„„The bank’s market
valuation plunged by
260 Rs 16,048.56 crore
in a single day to Rs
235
38,909.44 crore
210 „„In April, YES Bank
shares had come
185 under intense selling
160
pressure and crashed
nearly 40%
In terms of traded vol-
ume, 2.06 crore shares were
traded on the BSE and over
21 crore shares on NSE.
In April, YES Bank shares
soyabean oils and other
products.
In December 2017, the Na-
tional Company Law Tribu-
nal (NCLT) had referred
Ruchi Soya for insolvency
proceedings on the applica-
tion of financial creditors
Standard Chartered Bank
and DBS Bank. Shailendra
Ajmera was appointed as
resolution professional (RP)
to manage the company’s af-
fairs and conduct insolvency
proceedings.
Patanjali, the lone player
left in contention after the
exit of Adani Wilmar, had last
month increased its bid value
by around Rs 200 crore. —PTI
input tax credit details.
Nangia Advisors (An-
dersen Global) managing
partner Rakesh Nangia said
facilitation of exchange of
data between authorities
under income tax (I-T) and
GST is indicative of the gov-
ernment’s intention not to
spare taxpayers from escap-
ing tax payable under any of
the laws.
“With more information
in hand, the government
would be able to validate the
amount of income disclosed
both under the income tax
and GST which would enable
the authorities to identify
any under-reporting,” Nan-
gia said. —PTI
RELIANCE COMM
Share price on BSE in ` 25
22.55
20
15
10
5
Apr 2, 18
1.71
Apr 30, 19
0
ings, Ericsson will be treat-
ed as only an operational
creditor and may end up
losing the Rs 550 crore it
received from RCom after
much legal tussle.
In September 2017, Eric-
sson India had filed insol-
vency petition against
RCom and its subsidiaries
Reliance Infratel and Reli-
ance Telecom before the
Mumbai bench of NCLT
after it failed to recover
about Rs 1,500 crore dues
from the company.
The petition was admit-
ted on May 15, 2018. How-
ever, NCLAT on May 30,
2018, stayed insolvency pro-
ceedings after RCom chal-
lenged it.
had come under intense sell-
ing pressure and crashed
nearly 40%.
“We are bullish on the
counter in the medium term
as the new management is ag-
gressively cleaning up the
books which may lead to
short-term pain in the stock.
We have set a target of Rs 200
for the next one year. However,
the ongoing correction may
persist in the near term, as the
rise in NPAs and other issues
would weigh on investors’
mind. The stock may see an-
other 10-15% correction over
the next few sessions,” said A
K Prabhakar, head of re-
search at IDBI Capital Market.
Amazon India
unit sees 56%
rise in export
merchants
Chandini Monappa
Bengaluru: Amazon.com
Inc’s India unit saw a 56%
rise in the number of local
merchants selling to interna-
tional markets, hitting ex-
port sales of over $1 billion,
the company said.
Indian merchants were
exporting more than 140 mil-
lion products on Amazon’s
app and website, with cumu-
lative sales expected to top $5
billion in the next four years,
country head Amit Agarwal
said in Bengaluru.
Amazon launched its
Global Selling Program in
2015, as part of its efforts to
get more small-and-medium
sized vendors on board. Ven-
dor consolidation is key in
India, which is among the
Seattle-based company’s top
growth markets.
More than 80% of the
company’s current export
vendors were from small
towns and cities, vice presi-
dent of seller services Gopal
Pillai said.
Amazon is fighting with
Walmart Inc’s Flipkart for
market share in the country,
while dealing with constantly
changing government rules.
In February, a new set of
e-commerce regulations
caused widespread disrup-
tion on Amazon’s India web-
site, when products started
disappearing from its virtual
shelves for some time. -Reuters
 c mpanies
www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia
Ambuja Cement
Jan-Mar net up
Report
card 35.2% at `695 cr
Ambuja Cement Ltd Tuesday reported 35.18 per cent
increase in its consolidated net profit at Rs 695.30
crore for the first quarter ended March, 2019 led by
volume growth. The company, which follows
January-December fiscal, had posted a consolidated
net profit of Rs 514.34 crore in the January-March
period a year ago, Ambuja Cement said in a
regulatory filing. The company’s total income
during the March quarter was at Rs 7,093.27 crore,
up 8.36% from Rs 6,545.91 crore reported in the
corresponding quarter a year ago. Total expenses in
the quarter under review rose 6.23% to Rs 6,151.66
crore from Rs 5,790.43 crore a year ago. Cement
sales volume was1% to 6.37 million tonne as against
6.22 million tonne last year.
TVS Motor reports
19% drop in PAT
TVS Motor Company
reported a 19.2%
decline in its
standalone profit after
tax (PAT) to Rs 133.8
crore for the fourth
quarter of 2018-19. The
company had posted a
PAT of Rs 165.6 crore
for the corresponding
period of the previous
financial year. Revenue
from operations rose to
4,384.02 crore,
compared with Rs
4,007.24 crore a year
ago, TVS Motor
Company said in a
regulatory filing. The
company’s overall two-
wheeler and three-
wheeler sales,
including exports, grew
to 9.07 lakh units
during the January-
March quarter, against
8.89 lakh units in the
year-ago period.
Raymond Q4 net
profit up 24.26%
Diversified group
Raymond Tuesday
reported a 24.26 percent
increase in its
consolidated net profit
at Rs 67.70 crore for the
fourth quarter ended
March 31, 2019. It had
In brief
NTPC to raise
`3k cr via bonds
State-owned power giant
NTPC said it will raise
Rs 3,056.50 crore on
Friday through issuance
of bonds on a private
placement basis. “NTPC
has decided to raise Rs
3,056.50 crore on May 3,
2019, (Friday) through
private placement of
secured non-convertible
bonds in the nature of
debentures at a coupon
of 7.93% per annum
with a door-to-door
maturity of three
years,” the company
said in a statement.
Lupin-Natco get
USFDA nod
Drug firm Lupin, in
alliance with Natco
Pharma, has received
approval from the US
health regulator to
market generic
Bosentan tablets used
for treatment of
pulmonary arterial
hypertension, the
Mumbai-based company
said Tuesday. The
approval by the United
States Food and Drug
Administration
(USFDA) is for
marketing Bosentan
tablets in the strengths
of 62.5 mg and 125 mg.
Siemens bags
solar energy order
Siemens Gamesa said it
has secured its largest
solar energy project
order of 250 mw from
Sprng Energy. The
project will be developed
in Anantapuram in
Andhra Pradesh.
Siemens Gamesa will
provide a EPC solution
that includes
engineering and design
of the solar farm,
procurement of the
balance of plants at
Anantapuram, Andhra
Pradesh.
posted a net profit of Rs
54.48 crore in the
corresponding quarter
a year ago, Raymond
said in a statement.
Total income during
the quarter under
review stood at Rs
1,837.11 crore as against
Rs 1,655.12 crore in the
same quarter of the
previous fiscal. For the
financial year ended
March 31, 2019
Raymond’s net profit
was up 23.47% at Rs
174.77 crore as against
Rs 141.55 crore in 2017-
18. Total income during
the fiscal was at Rs
6,707.65 crore,
compared to Rs 6,024.91
crore in the previous
fiscal.
Gammon India
posts `124 cr loss
Infrastructure firm
Gammon India said
Tuesday its standalone
loss narrowed to Rs
124.34 crore for the
quarter ended
December 2018 from Rs
146.51 crore in the year-
ago period. The
standalone revenue
from operations in the
October-December
period increased to Rs
27.33 crore from Rs 5.68
crore in the year-ago
period, Gammon India
said in a filing to BSE.
The company’s
operations, it said, have
been affected in the last
few years by various
factors, including
liquidity crunch,
unavailability of
resources on timely
basis, delays in
execution of projects,
and operational issues.
NCLAT prepones
Essar Steel hearing
New Delhi: The National
Company Law Appellate Tri-
bunal (NCLAT) on Tuesday
preponed its scheduled hear-
ing over the resolution pro-
cess of debt-ridden firm Es-
sar Steel to May 7.
The Committee of Credi-
tors (CoC) of the company
had moved an urgent plea to
seek an early hearing in this
matter.
An NCLAT bench headed
by Chairman Justice S J
Mukhopadhaya Tuesday di-
rected the matter to be listed
on May 7.
The NCLAT was sched-
uled to hear the Essar Steel
matter on May 13, where op-
erational creditors and oth-
er stake holders of Essar
Steel have moved over dis-
tribution of Rs 42,000 crore
coming in from ArcelorMit-
tal.
The promoters of the
company had also ap-
proached the NCLAT, chal-
lenging the order of the
darkness ahead Combined losses by state distributors in the first nine months of the fiscal year rose to about Rs 24,000 crore
India’s power goals further out of reach as discom losses mount
Rajesh Kumar Singh
Losses by India’s power re-
tailers are set to rise, revers-
ing two years of declines
they enjoyed since Prime
Minister Narendra Modi’s
government unveiled a plan
to make the ailing utilities
profitable.
Combined losses by state
distributors that signed up
for the federal government’s
reform plan in the first nine
months of the fiscal year
rose to about Rs 24,000 crore
($3.4 billion), a 62% jump
from a year earlier, amid an
increase in coal and power
costs, according to Ajay Ku-
mar Bhalla, India’s power
secretary.
Godrej Properties plans 18 Kotak Bank net up 14%
on lower provisions
new projects in 2019-20
Realty firm likely to launch one new project in each of its focus markets
DNA Money Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
Mumbai: Godrej Properties,
the real estate arm of Godrej
Industries, is looking for-
ward at launching around 18
projects in the current fiscal,
higher than the number of
projects it launched in 2018-
19. In the previous fiscal, the
realtor had recorded its
highest ever sales in a finan-
cial year.
“Booking value of Rs
5,316 crore is likely to be the
highest booking value
achieved by any publicly
listed real estate developer in
India in FY2019,” the Mum-
bai-based realtor announced
during its earnings result.
In each of the four key
markets of Mumbai, Nation-
al Capital Region, Pune and
Bengaluru, the total number
Data consumption lifts
Airtel Africa net at $83 m
DNA Money Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: Bharti Airtel’s
Africa business has reported
a net profit of $83 million for
the quarter ended March
this year, owing to increased
data consumption and rise in
transaction volume on Airtel
Money platform.
It had posted a loss of $49
million in the same quarter
previous year.
Revenues grew 6% to $781
million during January-
March this year from $736
million in the corresponding
period last year.
Net profit was $123 mil-
lion in the preceding Octo-
ber-December quarter but
was impacted by an excep-
tional loss of $7 million on
account network modernisa-
tion across various OPCOs
(operating companies).
Airtel Africa is planning
an initial public offering, but
the final date is yet to be fi-
nalised. It has already raised
Ahmedabad bench of the
National Company Law Tri-
bunal (NCLT), which had
on March 9 approved Arce-
lorMittal’s bid for the com-
pany.
On April 12, in this matter,
the Supreme Court had
stayed the disbursement of
funds to creditors while di-
recting parties to maintain
status quo.
It had also asked the tribu-
nal to expeditiously decide
the appeals before it. —PTI
“We may not have
achieved targets, but we feel
we have done well,” Bhalla
said, pointing to success in-
stalling new meters and im-
proving billing and payment
collections. “Structural is-
sues have been addressed,
and we expect them to yield
positive results.”
Full-year earnings by the
companies, known as dis-
coms, could improve as most
states are scheduled to make
subsidy payments during the
last quarter of the fiscal
year, which ended in March,
he said.
As part of Modi’s power
industry revival plan, called
UDAY, states took over 75%
of the debt of their distribu-
5,316cr 295
building up
` surge in fourth quarter
Booking value registered by
value
company in FY19
of bookings “was also well
distributed with launches
contributing to over Rs 3,000
crore and around Rs 2,000
crore in the existing invento-
ries. We are happy with the
progress during the quarter
as well as in the financial
year on the bookings front,”
said Pirojsha Godrej, execu-
tive chairman, Godrej Prop-
erties Ltd.
In order to maintain the
momentum, the company
said it will be adding more
new projects into its portfo-
lio. During FY2019, 16 new
projects were launched of
ringing in
gains
$412 mn
Profit for the year ended March
2019 versus a loss of $138 million
a year ago
$49 mn
Loss it posted in March quarter of
the previous year
$1.45 billion as pre-IPO pri-
vate placement from firms
including Qatar Investment
Authority, Warburg Pincus,
Temasek, Singtel and Soft-
Bank Group International to
Kalpataru arm
buys 85% in
Swedish co
New Delhi: Engineering
firm KPTL Tuesday said its
arm Kalpataru Power Trans-
mission Sweden AB has com-
pleted acquisition of 85%
stake in Linjemontage i
Grastorp AB for $24 million
(around Rs 167 crore).
“Kalpataru Power Trans-
mission Sweden AB, wholly-
owned subsidiary of the
company, has completed the
acquisition of LMG along
with its two wholly-owned
subsidiaries on April 29,
2019,” a company statement
said.
Kalpataru Power Trans-
mission Ltd (KPTL) an-
nounced the acquisition last
month. The acquisition is
in lh KPTL’s stated objective
of growth and greater geo-
graphical presence in stable
and growing markets with
focus on core power trans-
mission segment.
The transaction was ex-
pected to close in the first
quarter of 2019-20.
tion utilities to help ease
their debt burdens. The dis-
coms were then given opera-
tional targets to reduce loss-
es, while the federal
government contributed
09
Ahmedabad I Wednesday, May 1, 2019 I daily news & analysis
Mumbai: The fourth largest
private sector lender Kotak
Mahindra Bank reported a
13.91% jump in March quar-
ter net income at Rs 2,038.27
crore at the consolidated
level on a surge in non-inter-
est income and lower provi-
sioning which nearly halved.
159.50%
% The city-headquartered
lender booked a higher 25%
increase in standalone net at Uday Kotak
net profit to Rs 156.70 jump in total income in Rs 1,407.80 crore as provi-
crore Q4 to Rs 533.09 crore sions for sour loans declined. Rs 1,270 crore.
For the full fiscal 2019, it At a consolidated level, the
launches planned, some of posted a net income of Rs bank reported an other in-
which are currently under- 4,865.33 crore, up from Rs come of Rs 5,847 crore, up
way. In each of our focus 4084 crore on a standalone from Rs 4,141 crore a year ago,
markets, we would like to basis, and Rs 7,204 crore as largely on the back of booking
have at least one new project against Rs 6,200 crore at the a Rs 580 crore profit on a sale
launched in each of the consolidated level. or revaluation of investment
quarter. We expect to fur- Overall provisions almost as against a Rs 462 crore loss
ther scale up business de- halved to Rs 171.26 crore in the year-ago period.
velopment and sales mo- from Rs 306.91 crore, while Executive vice-chairman
mentum in FY2020,” added gross non performing assets Uday Kotak said the bank is
Godrej. improved to 2.14 percent targeting a loan growth of
On the financial parame- from 2.22% a year ago. over 20 percent in FY20, de-
which five were during the ter, the total income of the The core net interest in- spite expecting credit mar-
fourth quarter, which includ- company grew 159.50% year- come grew 18% to Rs 3,048 ket difficulties due to liquid-
ed a mix of new projects as on-year from Rs 533.09 crore crore on a 21% loan growth ity issues.
well as new phases in the in Q4 FY2018 to Rs 1,203.21 and a margin expansion to He is hopeful of maintain-
existing projects. crore for the quarter ending 4.48%, while the other in- ing net interest margin in
“We have a series of March 31, 2019. come grew marginally to the 4.2- 4.5% range. —PTI
luxury goods cos post Airtel launches
Wynk Tube,
robust revenue growth
To focus on specific audience segments, luxury brands are
redesigning customer engagement techniques by using data
targets
analytics tools, a Deloitte India report said
100 mn users
reduce its net debt to $4 bil-
lion at March-end from $7.76 DNA Money Correspondent
billion a year back. correspondent@dnaindia.net
The company in its quar-
terly report said it has an- New Delhi: With an eye on
nounced an intended IPO at entry-level smartphone us-
London Stock Exchange dur- ers, Bharti Airtel on Tues-
ing the year 2019-20 and ac- day launched Wynk Tube - a
tivities relating to the IPO music and video streaming
have been initiated. app.
Airtel Africa has about 99 The company aims to tar-
million users with opera- get 200 million smartphone
tions in 14 countries. users in tier II and III cities
For the year ended March
2019, Airtel Africa posted a
and rural areas.
The app will be available
$247 bn
profit of $412 million against in 12 Indian regional lan-
a loss of $138 million a year guages including Kannada,
ago. Revenue grew 5.73% to - revenues 10.8% 1.0% Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Bho-
$3,077 million in 2018-19 from generated by jpuri. To start with, English,
$2,910 million in 2017-18, the
company said. Data usage
per customer during the
luxury goods
companies in
2016-17
annual growth on a
currency-adjusted com-
posite basis in FY17
growth on
composite basis
in FY16
Hindi, Punjabi and Bhojpuri
has been made available and
going forward it will be ex-
March quarter stood at 1,375 panded to other regional lan-
$217 bn
MB as compared to 963 MB in guages.
the corresponding quarter With Wynk Tube, users
last year, up 42.7%. The data - revenues 76% 38% will have option to switch to
customers increased by 5.1 clocked by videos/audios of any song
million to 30.0 million, which luxury goods while playing and will focus
companies reported firms clocked
is 30.4% of the total custom- firms in growth in luxury double-digit growth on vernacular content to
er base, against 27.9% in the 2015-16 sales in FY17 in luxury sales reach out to users in small
year-ago quarter. towns and cities, Bharti Air-
tel chief executive officer
(content and apps) Sameer
Tata Elxsi sees 15% growth Batra said.
Going forward, the com-
pany has eyes on education
despite a bumpy auto sector
and healthcare segment to
create more content offer-
ings. However, Batra refused
to divulge any specific de-
tails.
Ashish K Tiwari times we have been very cost The non Airtel users will
t_ashish@dnaindia.net pinning hopes conscious for most of the have to pay Rs 99/month, af-
year. I would say an ebidta ter 30 days of free trial while
„„Fiscal 2019 was a
Mumbai: Tata Elxsi, a part margin of between 22% and for Airtel users, the app
difficult year on many
of the Tata Group, is opti- 25% is what we should be would be free. However, in
counts and the company
mistic about delivering ready to deliver,” said Dev both cases, data charges will
did manage to grow by 15%
growth in excess of 15% in during an ear nings call be applicable separate as per
the current fiscal i.e. „„Co looking to deliver on Tuesday. usage.
FY2020. According to top Ebidta margin of 22% While there are big chal- Airtel already has a mu-
company executives, the and 25% lenges in the automotive sic app Wynk, which claims
growth target will be market, Dev also sees big op- to have 100 million users.
achieved despite challenges portunities. According to Wynk Tube, which is an
in the automotive sector. him, the credibility of the extension of Wynk Music,
Tata Elxsi provides de- (automotive) business is go- is currently available for
sign and technology servic- ing to be affected not the Android smartphones.
es for product engineering overall possibilities in that Wynk Tube has been built
and solutions across indus- market. as an extremely light app
tries including broadcast, According to analysts (only 5MB) that will oper-
communications and auto- tracking the company’s busi- ate seamlessly on even ba-
motive. ness, there has been a consid- sic smartphones, including
Madhukar Dev, manag- erable deceleration in Android Go variants. It will
ing director and chief ex- growth, quarter-on-quarter also allow deep voice ena-
ecutive officer, Tata Elxsi should be able to grow the in fiscal 2019 in the compa- bled search to help users
Ltd, said fiscal 2019 has business in excess of 15% if ny’s automotive vertical. discover their favourite
been a difficult year on not 20%. In terms of earn- This has been mainly ow- music.
many counts and the com- ings before interest, depre- ing to challenges in the pas- Wynk Tube is launch-
pany did manage to grow its ciation, taxes and amortisa- senger car segment in gen- ing with a collection of
business by 15%. tion (ebitda) margin, we eral and the JLR business in over 40 lakh songs and re-
“Given the scenario, we have been very lucky. At particular. lated videos.
signed up. prices during the nine month UDAY reform plan aimed to
Backtracking The stalled recovery will period rose 11.6%. Power eliminate these losses by
Losses by India’s discoms are on the rise sustain discoms as the weak- costs also increased as some closing the gap between the
est link in India’s electricity generators had to import cost of power supplied and
600 bn
Note: Figures are in rupees;
supply chain. Many are sad- coal to bridge a domestic realised revenues. In the first
2018-2019 figures are only for
April-December dled with large debts from supply shortfall. Average nine months of the last fiscal
400 selling power below cost or spot electricity prices rose year, the difference was 0.34
Sourec: India’s Ministry of Power
from poor billing and collec- 28% from a year earlier to rupees per kilowatt hour, ac-
tions. The financial mess 4.08 rupees per kilowatt hour cording to Bhalla. That’s a
impedes their efforts to serve during the nine-month peri- 21% rebound from the same
200
low-paying consumers, such od, data from Indian Energy period a year ago.
as rural homes and farmers, Exchange show.
9M while also stifling their pow- The discoms’ inability to Power losses
0 er purchases and ability to pass on such cost increases The industry has shown
2015-16 2018-19
make timely payments to remains a key hurdle for re- some improvement on the
electricity generators. vival of the electricity distri- amount of power that’s lost
with energy efficiency bution sector, according to Deba- through theft or poor me-
schemes, such as expanding Coal costs sish Mishra, a partner at Deloitte tering. That share, known
the use of energy-saving of State-run Coal India Ltd, the Touche Tohmatsu in Mumbai. officially as aggregate
LED lights and deploying so- country’s biggest supplier of Distributors also contin- technical and commercial
lar irrigation pumps. All but the fuel used for power gen- ue to lose money on every losses, has narrowed to
two of India’s 29 states have eration, said average coal unit of electricity sales. The 19.7%.—Bloomberg
 01
Wednesday
May
2019
Ahmedabad
www.dnaindia.com
FOOTBALL
Pena extends his stay with FC Goa for
another season. The Spaniard put pen
to paper on a new deal that will see
him spend 2019-20 with FC Goa
CRICKET The second edition of Global T20 Canada will be played in Toronto from July 25 to August 11 with world’s leading shorter format players in it
BALL GAME
Duckett, Malan in
England squad
England have added Ben
Duckett and Dawid Ma-
lan to the squad for the
one-off ODI against Ire-
land and T20I versus Pa-
kistan. James Vince, al-
ready in both the squads,
has been named in the
squad for five-match ODI
series against Pakistan
and is strong favourite to
replace axed Alex Hales
in the World Cup squad.
England have been forced
to make changes in the
squads due to a number
of matters outside of
their control, with Alex
Hales dropped after cop-
ping a 21-day ban for fail-
ing a second drugs test.
Cricketer gets
5-year jail for rape
An Australian-born
cricketer who raped a
woman he found “doz-
ing” in his teammate’s
bedroom was jailed for
five years by an English
court on Tuesday. Alex
Hepburn, 23, was con-
victed following an at-
tack that took place dur-
ing the first night of a
sexual conquest “game”
he helped set up on a
WhatsApp group. Prose-
cutors said the former
Worcestershire all-
rounder had been “fired
up” by a contest to sleep
with the most women,
before carrying out the
rape at his flat in
Worcester, central Eng-
land, in April 2017.
Rahul defends
slow batting
KXIP opener K Rahul de-
fended his strategy of
playing slow initially
while chasing 213 against
SRH, saying one between
him and Chris Gayle was
supposed to go all out up-
front while the other
tried to take the game
deep. Rahul took 36 balls
for his first 39 runs before
finishing with 79. “That’s
been the team plan. One
of me or Chris Gayle look
to bat 15-16 overs as deep
as possible so the others
can play around,” Rahul
said. “That doesn’t mean
that you don’t play your
shots. I tried my shots a
few times, it didn’t come
off, a few went for bound-
aries, a few hit the field-
ers.”
on the tube
(All Live)
CRICKET Sony Six 17:30
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Star Sports 1, 2, 1 Hindi
20:00 IPL, CSK vs DC
FOOTBALL Sony Ten 2
8
00:30 (Thu) UEFA Champi-
ons League SFs (1st leg),
Barcelona vs Liverpool
‘MI not thinking
about play-offs’
Mumbai: Mumbai Indians all-
rounder Krunal Pandya said
though they have done well in
the season so far, the three-
time IPL champions are not yet
thinking about the playoffs.
MI are lying third with 14
points from 12 games and
they take on SRH here on
Thursday.
“It (the season) has been
very good for us (the team).
After playing 12 games, we
are almost there with 14
points and still there are two
games to go. So, it has been a
Krunal Pandya says that MI has set its eye on next two games —BCCI
Defender Carlos
Shankar’s bowling will be
handy in England: Ganguly
Former India captain says World Cup will be very competitve given the new format
Chennai: Former India cap-
tain Sourav Ganguly on Tues-
day backed Tamil Nadu all-
rounder Vijay Shankar to do
well in the upcoming World
Cup, saying his bowling would
come in handy in the English
conditions.
There has been debate over
Shankar being picked in the
England-bound India team
ahead of Ambati Rayudu,
with the selectors saying they
went for the “three-dimen-
sional skills” offered by the
Tamil Nadu player.
“Vijay Shankar will do
well. He is a good young crick-
eter. His bowling will come
handy. Let’s not be too nega-
tive about him. He has got a
place because he has played in
Australia and New Zealand
and done well,” Ganguly, who
is advisor to IPL team Delhi
Capitals said.
The former skipper also
said that talented Rishabh
Pant, who has been ignored
for this edition, should not feel
depressed about his non-selec-
tion.
“Yes, Pant also could have
been part of this side but he
need not worry. He has many
more years. He is just 20, he
will play a few World Cups.”
Asked if India could go all
the way with three front-line
pacemen, Ganguly said that’s
the way the team wants to
play with an all-rounder at
number 7.
“Pandya is the first choice.
CSK
Match No. 50, Venue: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
Live on Star Sports Network, 8pm
CSK look to regain top position
CSK: Their net run-rate is
in negative. They slipped Team
to 2nd in points table.
CSK will be keen to re-
gain No. 1 spot. They hope
captain MS Dhoni is back
to full fitness. Without him,
CSK lost 2 games
Shane
Watson
The Aussie has been inconsistent, failing last innings after scoring
a match-winning 96. He should start being consistent in the last 12
days of IPL but won’t be easy against the Purple Cap holder, Rabada
Head to head: Played: 19, CSK: 13, DC: 6
Pitch report: Has been
slow this sesaon.
Spin will be key
Punter point:
CSK: 8/11
DC: 11/10
good season for us,” said Pan-
dya at a promotional event
here on Tuesday.
Pandya, who has picked up
8 wickets from 12 matches so
far, said the team was focus-
sing on the next two games. “I
guess we (the team) are not
thinking of (about) playoffs
or anything. We are just fo-
cussing on next two league
games. We just want to do
well in those two games and
then (we will) see how it goes
into the playoffs,” Pandya
said. —PTI
TENNIS
announces on Twitter her engagement with USA soccer
international Jozy Altidore. Altidore tweeted a picture and
a message that read, “Forever starts now”. Stephens wrote
“Forever yes” next to a red heart
Sourav Ganguly says Vijay Shankar (above) will do well in World Cup
If he gets injured, then (Ravin-
dra) Jadeja. That allows them
to play three fast bowlers. If
anybody gets injured it is just
a 10-hour flight,” he added.
On the 50-overs World Cup,
Ganguly said this edition
VS DC
DC: They are on a high,
winning six of their last
News seven matches. Captain
Shreyas Iyer has been
leading his troops well and
also contributing with bat. His
captaincy will be tested on
CSK’s home turf
Key Kagiso
contest Rabada
Weather report: Very warm,
like always. Real feel 6 deg
C more than actual reading
Watchability quotient: (1-3: Forget it;
4-7: If there is nothing else to watch;
8 and above: try not to miss it)
CSK to decide
on Dhoni
during toss
Chennai: Chennai Super
Kings head coach Stephen
Fleming on Tuesday said cap-
tain Mahendra Singh Dhoni
had been “pretty sick” last
week and a call on his par-
ticipation in the game against
Delhi Capitals on Wednesday
will be taken before the toss.
“Dhoni is progressing and
he’s been pretty sick during
this week. We will make a call
on him tomorrow. He is pro-
gressing which is good,”
Fleming told reporters on eve
of the game against Delhi
Capitals.
Dhoni didn’t take part in
Tuesday’s training session
and also missed the practice
on Monday.
He also said the perfor-
mance in the game against
Mumbai Indians (which CSK
lost) was not due to the cou-
ple of changes forced on the
team with Dhoni being ruled
out for the second time this
season. “We had a couple of
changes forced upon us in the
last game, but the perfor-
mance was not due to the fact
that we had made those
changes.” —PTI
America’s star Sloane Stephens (in pic)
could be very competitive due
to the format, where all teams
play each other in the league
stage. “This format was last
tried in 1992 when everyone
played everyone. In the past
we felt there were one or two
IPL stepping stone for WC: Warner
Hyderabad: Signing off his
IPL campaign with another
match-winning half-century
to help Sunrisers Hyderabad
take a step closer towards
qualifying for the playoffs on
Monday, David Warner said
the cash-rich tournament is
a stepping stone for the World
Cup. “I am looking forward to
the World Cup and this (IPL)
was a stepping stone to that,”
the SRH opener said at the
post-match presentation cer-
emony.
Warner predicted high
scores in the upcoming ODI
World Cup in England, start-
ing May 30. “This World Cup,
you’ll see some high scores.
Hopefully the ball doesn’t
swing as much. Obviously
England are the home team
and they’re great. We are the
reigning champions and for
us it is going out there back-
ing our abilities and being
our best selves,” he said.
Warner along with Steve
Faulkner clears air, says he is not gay
Melbourne: Australian crick-
eter James Faulkner caused
confusion about his sexuality
on social media on Tuesday
after posting a picture of him-
self having dinner with “the
boyfriend” before later clarify-
ing he was “not gay”.
All-rounder Faulkner, who
turned 29 on Monday, shared a
picture of himself at a restau-
rant with his mother and a
male friend with his 339,000
followers on Instagram and
wrote: “Birthday dinner with
the boyfriend”.
He added the hashtag “#to-
getherfor5years”.
The post drew over 20,000
“likes” and supportive com-
ments from fellow interna-
tional cricketers.
Australia all-rounder
Glenn Maxwell wrote: “Happy
birthday mate! Great cour-
age.”
Former Australia fast bowl-
er Shaun Tait echoed the senti-
ment, posting: “Great courage
mate, bet you feel better happy
birthday.”
Global media, including
Britain’s Daily Mail and The
Guardian, reported that
Faulkner had become the first
Australian cricketer to “come
out”.
Pandya is the first
choice. If he gets
injured, then
(Ravindra) Jadeja. That
allows them to play three
fast bowlers. If anybody
gets injured it is just a
10-hour flight
Sourav Ganguly
weak ones. This time it is not
so. West Indies is strong, Aus-
tralia is back to where they
were, New Zealand is strong,
India is strong. And Pakistan
played very well in England,”
he added.
To a question if Kuldeep
Yadav’s loss of form during
the IPL was a cause for con-
cern, Ganguly said the Eden
Gardens strip didn’t have
much in it for the spinners
and backed the Chinaman
bowler to come back well.
—PTI
SRH’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar (R) and David Warner —BCCI
Smith were handed 12-month
bans by Cricket Australia for
their role in ball-tampering in
South Africa last year, a pun-
ishment which both the play-
ers have already served.
Post the ban, Warner was
in imperious form in the IPL
and is the current ‘Orange
Cap’ holder. “I have had time
off to work harder at my
Cricket Australia (CA)
poured cold water on the re-
ports, however, with a spokes-
person saying Faulkner had
made a “joke” that was “taken
out of context”.
Both CA and Faulkner later
issued statements clarifying
that the “boyfriend” was actu-
ally a long-time house mate
and good friend of the crick-
eter.
“There seems to be a misun-
derstanding about my post
from last night, I am not gay,
however it has been fantastic
to see the support from and for
the LBGT community,”
Faulkner wrote in a follow-
up post on Instagram.
“Let’s never forget
love is love, however
@robjubbsta is just a
great friend. Last night
marked five years of being
house mates! Good on every-
one for being so supportive.”
CA apologised on Faulkner’s
behalf for any “unintended of-
There seems to be a misunderstanding
about my post from last night, I am not
gay, however it has been fantastic to see the
support from and for the LBGT community.
James Faulkner, Australian cricketer
‘No added
pressure on
India’s top-3’
Chennai: Flamboyant open-
er Shikhar Dhawan on Tues-
day said that the top three of
Indian batting line-up, in-
cluding himself, do not feel
the added pressure going into
the World Cup despite high
expectations.
He said the famed top-3
know how to go about their
job in the World Cup starting
on May 30.
“I understand that every-
one’s emotions are high, but
high emotions are not going
to win you matches. The con-
fidence and calmness will. It
is alright even if it is World
Cup. We are not going to over
think it. We back ourselves
and we are confident and
calm at the same time,” Dha-
wan said when asked if there
was pressure on Kohli, Rohit
and himself to do the maxi-
mum run-scoring in the
World Cup.
“We have been doing well
for five years now, so nothing
is going to change. We have
scored so many centuries,
broken so many records, so
we know how to do it,” said
Dhawan ahead of his side
Delhi Capitals’ IPL match
against Chennai Super Kings
here on Wednesday. —PTI
game. Put the bat down for 16-
18 weeks and just worked
hard on being the best father
and best husband, that has
worked for me. Yeah, I try to
be the funny man in the team,
the prankster.
“It’s obviously great to get
out there and do your job
properly. We’ve got a great
deck to bat on,” he said. —PTI
fence” while taking a shot at
the media that reported he had
come out.
“His comment was made as
a genuine reflection of his re-
lationship with his business
partner, best friend and house
mate of five years,” CA spokes-
woman Karina Keisler said.
“He was not contacted for
clarification before some out-
lets reported his Instagram
post as an announcement of a
homosexual relationship.
“James and CA are sup-
portive of the LGBQTI com-
munity and recognises com-
ing out can be an incredibly
emotional time.
Officials and grounds men get busy as it starts to rain ahead of the start of
RCB-RR’s IPL match in Bengaluru on Tuesday —AP
Rain delays start of
RCB, RR match
Match No. 49
Bengaluru: Following delay
due to rain, the IPL match
between Royal Challengers
Bangalore and Rajasthan
Royals was shortened to five-
overs-a-side game at the
M Chinnaswamy Stadium
here on Tuesday.
The match began at 11.26
pm after umpires decided to
play with two-over Powerplay
and one over per bowler.
Soon after the toss rain re-
turned to the ground, prompt-
ing the groundsmen bring
the covers on to the pitch
much to the fans’ disappoint-
ment. The shortened game
became a possibility thanks to
the drainage system at the Ch-
innaswamy Stadium being
one of the best in India.
The SubAir technology
does not take more than 20
minutes to get the ground
ready once the rain stops.
Rajasthan Captain Steve
Smith won the toss and opted
to bowl. —PTI
We will miss
you, SRH tell
Aussie opener
Mumbai: SRH players
and support staff said
the team will miss pro-
lific David Warner, who
has left Indian shores to
join Australia’s World
Cup camp.
“I can not express my
gratitude enough to the
@SunRisers family for
your support, not just
this season but also for
the last year. It’s been a
long time waiting but it
was great to be back,” the
swashbuckling opener
posted on his official
Twitter handle.
Rashid Khan tweeted
that he would miss Warn-
er in the team.
“The post was not in any
way meant to make light of
this and, though the support
from the community was over-
whelming and positive.”
Faulkner was named man
of the match at the World Cup
final in Melbourne four years
ago but has not played an in-
ternational since a one-day
game away to India
in Oct. 2017.
–Reuters
10
Orange cap
David Warner
(SRH)
692 runs
KL Rahul (KXIP)  520
Andre Russell (KKR)  486
Purple cap
Kagiso Rabada
(DC)
25 wickets
Imran Tahir (CSK) 17
Yuzvendra Chahal (RCB) 16
HOW THEY STAND
TEAM M W L T P NRR
DC(Q) 12 8 4 0 16 0.233
CSK(Q)12 8 4 0 16 -0.113
MI 12 7 5 0 14 0.347
SRH 12 6 6 0 12 0.709
KKR 12 5 7 0 10 0.100
KXIP 12 5 7 0 10 -0.296
RR 12 5 7 0 10 -0.321
RCB 12 4 8 0 8 -0.694
Updated before RCB-RR match
Six meter
16 3 5
BCCI CEO may
attend hearing
if Tendulkar,
Laxman called
Sachin Tendulkar during Mumbai
Indians’ IPL match —BCCI
New Delhi: The BCCI CEO
Rahul Johri and the legal
team will be present in case
Ombudsman Justice (Retd)
DK Jain summons Sachin
Tendulkar and VVS Laxman
for an in-person hearing in
the alleged Conflict of Inter-
est case.
Tendulkar and Laxman
have already filed their re-
spective responses, categori-
cally denying any conflict in
their dual roles as Cricket
Advisory Committee mem-
bers and mentors of their
respective franchises —
Mumbai Indians and Sunris-
ers Hyderabad.
The BCCI expects Justice
Jain to call both Tendulkar
and Laxman for a hearing as
per principles of natural jus-
tice and the institution will
be represented by CEO Johri.
“Contrary to some media
reports, there is no change in
BCCI policy. Just like in case
of Sourav Ganguly, if Ten-
dulkar and Laxman depose
before Ethics Officer, Rahul
and the legal team will be
there. The BCCI is certainly
party to the matter,” a senior
BCCI official privy to Com-
mittee of Administrators’
(CoA) decision said on Tues-
day.
“Just for your informa-
tion, there was a hearing in
the S Sreesanth case and
BCCI was represented by
CEO. In this case, the Om-
budsman had written to
BCCI, so there is no question
of BCCI going unrepresent-
ed,” he added. —PTI
 sP rt
www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia
HOT ON HEELS
Rupinder makes
comeback to
hockey team
Experienced drag-flicker
Rupinder Pal Singh on
Tuesday returned to the
Indian men’s hockey
team, which also features
debutant Jaskaran Singh
for the tour of Australia,
starting May 10.
Squad: Goalkeepers: Krishan B
Pathak, P R Sreejesh Defenders:
Rupinder Pal Singh, Surender
Kumar (Vice-Captain), Harman-
preet Singh, Birendra Lakra,
Gurinder Singh, Kothajit Singh
Midfielders: Hardik Singh, Man-
preet Singh (Captain), Jaskaran
Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad,
Nilakanta Sharma Forwards:
Mandeep Singh, Gursahibjit
Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Sumit
Kumar Jr, Armaan Qureshi.
Decision on
Semenya’s
case today
The world’s
sports court
will decide on
Wednesday on
South African
runner Caster
Semenya’s chal-
lenge against rules
regulating testoster-
one in female ath-
letes, a verdict ex-
pected to have a
profound impact
on the future of
women’s sport.
Semenya, a dou-
ble Olympic
champion, is
fighting regula-
tions imposed by
the International
Association of
Athletics Federa-
tions hat compel
“hyperandrogen-
ic” athletes — to
lower their tes-
tosterone levels
if they wish to
compete as women.
1 Liverpool. Coutinho
2 the finals of the UEFA
3 2015/16
Send in your answers to
sportsdna@gmail.com. Names
of the first 10 winners will be
published tomorrow
Brazil mourns their ‘superhero’
Senna 25 years after his death
Sao Paulo: A master on the
Formula One racing track,
triple world champion Ayrton
Senna was the pride of Brazil.
Twenty-five years after his
death in the San Marino
Grand Prix, he remains one of
the country’s biggest sporting
legends.
The anniversary of Senna’s
death on Wednesday — dubbed
“Senna Day” — will revive the
sense of loss and bewilder-
ment that followed the shock-
ing crash on the Imola circuit
in Italy on May 1, 1994, that
took the 34-year-old’s life.
It will also serve as a bitter
reminder that since Senna’s
last title in 1991, there has
never been a Brazilian world
champion.
“There were some success-
es after Ayrton Senna ... but
the lack of an internal struc-
ture in Brazilian motorsport
did not allow its develop-
ment,” said Alexander Grun-
wald, a Brazilian motorsports
journalist. Senna’s death
sparked an outpouring of
grief around the world.
But his loss was felt acutely
in Brazil where the sight of
Senna, easily identifiable by
his distinctive yellow crash
helmet, taking the chequered
flag, had been a rare source of
joy for ordinary people strug-
gling to make ends meet.
“In the 1980s we were living
with hyperinflation, the end of
the military dictatorship — it
didn’t make sense to be proud
of Brazil,” said Grunwald.
“But Senna was carrying
n Luis Suarez (2014)
and Philippe Coutinho
(2018) both signed
for Barcelona from
was a Liverpool player
between 2013 and
2018, scoring 41 goals
in 152 Premier League
appearances. He was in
the team that reached
Europa League – losing
to Sevilla – and the
English League Cup in
did you know?
n Barcelona and Liverpool each have five European
Cups to their name, and are bidding to take a signifi-
cant step towards a sixth as they meet for the first
time in more than a decade – the teams’ third semifinal
contest in UEFA club competition
n Barcelona’s overall home record against English
clubs is W21 D11 L2, the two defeats both inflicted by
Liverpool. They have been victorious in eight of the last
ten at the Camp Nou (D2)
n While Barcelona have won their last two games at
Anfield, Liverpool are unbeaten in away games against
Barcelona, recording two wins and two draws on their
four previous visits
Brazilian F1 legend Aryton Senna died following a crash during the San
Marino GP in 1994 —Action Images/Mark Wohlwender/File Photo
the Brazilian flag around the
world like a symbol that made
so many Brazilians proud.”
Senna’s legacy was to “trans-
form” F1 racing, said Grun-
wald.
Such was his popularity
among Brazilians that 25
years after his death Senna’s
image continues to be used in
advertising and social cam-
paigns.
A survey in 2014 showed 47
per cent of people in Senna’s
home city of Sao Paulo ranked
him as the biggest sporting
name in the country. Football
great Pele was a distant sec-
ond.
Pele, a three-time World
Cup winner, played at “a time
when people listened to foot-
ball on the radio or read it in
the newspaper — it wasn’t the
same intensity or emotion,”
explained Grunwald. “With
Once they were Reds
Senna, it was Sundays with the
family” in front of the TV.
Cultural and sporting
events are planned for “Senna
Day” at Sao Paulo’s Interlagos
track.
Rivalry
Charismatic and controver-
sial, Senna was crowned the
F1 world champion in 1988,
1990 and 1991 when he drove
for McLaren. He had already
switched to the Williams team
when he was killed.
It was at McLaren that
Senna’s notorious rivalry
with French driver Alain
Prost began — a relationship
that has been scrutinised over
and over by F1 observers for
years. “Determination” and
“dedication” are the words
often used to explain Senna’s
success on the track.
They are also the values
As Barcelona take on Liverpool in semifinal, focus will be on former Merseysiders
Suarez, Coutinho who have had contrasting fortunes after leaving Anfield
Luis
Suarez has
emerged
as one of
the biggest
strikers for
Barcelona
extolled by the Ayrton Senna
Institute, which his sister
Viviane founded in 1994 to of-
fer opportunities for disad-
vantaged children.
Books and documentaries
about Senna’s life show a man
focussed on his career almost
to a mystical level.
In several interviews, Sen-
na discussed his deep Catholic
faith and praised the virtues
of mental discipline — so
strict that it sometimes al-
lowed him, he claimed, to en-
ter another dimension while
driving.
‘Superhero’
Before Senna, two-time world
champion Emerson Fittipaldi
(1972 and 1974) and three-time
world champion Nelson Pi-
quet (1981, 1983 and 1987) put
Brazil on the F1 map.
In the past 25 years, Rubens
Barrichello and Felipe Massa
-- eleven podiums each but
without a world title -- were
the best Brazilian F1 drivers.
This year, there is not a sin-
gle Brazilian on the grid.
“Senna was the third driver
in a line of champions ... but
in motorsport there is that cy-
clical thing,” said Sabino.
“The names that came later
ended up suffering a bit with
the complaints of fanatics
used to victories.” Senna, he
said, embodied the “Brazil
that worked, the great idol, a
superhero.” “He ended up dy-
ing on the track, which also
helped in the consolidation of
the myth.” —AFP
Barcelona: Luis Suarez and
Philippe Coutinho traded plac-
es as Liverpool’s talismanic
figure before earning dream
moves to Barcelona, but while
the Uruguayan has become
one of the Catalan side’s
greatest strikers ever,
the Brazilian is
seen as an ex-
pensive flop.
The South American duo
will be ready to face Liverpool
together for the first time in
Wednesday’s Champions
League semi-final first leg at
the Nou Camp, aiming to help
Barca reach the final for the
first time in four years.
Suarez was named PFA
player of the year in the
2013/14 season for leading
Liverpool’s charge to the
brink of the Premier League
title, before they were pipped
at the post by Man-
chester City.
Liver pool
took years to re-
cover from him
leaving for Bar-
ca in 2014 for a
club record 75 million
pounds, finishing sixth
and eighth respectively
in their next two seasons
until Juergen Klopp
transformed their for-
1 5
Barcelona need one more goal to score 500
in the UEFA Champions League – a milestone
reached by just one other club, Real Madrid.
9 19
No. of consecutive away matches that Liver-
pool have been unbeaten in all competitions
(W6 D3), winning the last five.
21
No. of goals scored by Liverpool’s Mo-
hamed Salah making him the top scorer
in this season’s Premier League.
15
No. of two-legged ties that Barcelona
have won out of 25 against English
clubs, including the last five.
Sen makes it
to main draw
of NZ Open
Auckland: Young Indian
shuttler Lakshya Sen made it
to the main draw of New Zea-
land Open after getting the
better of compatriot Ajay
Jayaram and Malaysia’s Teck
Zhi Soo in his qualifying
round matches.
Up against a senior and
more experienced compatri-
ot, Lakshya showed a lot of
determination as he handed
Jayaram a 21-18 21-13 defeat in
his first qualifying match
that lasted 31 minutes.
He then took 32 minutes to
beat Zhi Soo 21-11 21-12 in his
second qualifier and storm
into the main draw of the
men’s singles. In the main
draw, the 17-year-old will be up
against Wang Tzu Wei of Tai-
pei in his opening round. —PTI
Chennaiyin beat Abahani Dhaka 1-0
Ahmedabad: A late own goal
conceded by Abahani Limited
Dhaka was enough for Chen-
naiyin FC to notch up a 1-0 win
and pwull clear at the top of
Group E in the AFC Cup here
on Tuesday.
Abahani’s Wellington Prio-
ri deflected into his own net in
the 79th minute to the glee of
the Chennaiyin supporters at
the TransStadia Arena here.
The 2017-18 Indian Super
League champions now have
seven points from two wins
and a draw to move on top of
the group while Abahani re-
mained at second spot with
four points (one win, one draw
Ahmedabad I Wednesday, may 01, 2019 I daily news & analysis
Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (R) trains in Liverpool on Tuesday —AFP
Head-to-head
2 Barcelona
8
Played
3
Liverpool
3 Draw
tunes. “When I was there, it
was very different,” Suarez
said in a recent interview
with The Guardian.
“We were on the verge of
the Premier League with a
squad nowhere near as
good. They didn’t
spend as much as
they’re doing now.
Any player would like
to go to Liverpool now.
It was different then.”
Coutinho eventually took
up the baton from Suarez as
Liverpool’s most influential
player and helped spark the
revival, but they have had no
such struggles since
the Brazilian de-
parted in Janu-
ary 2018 for an
eye-watering 142
million pounds.
They invested
that money on
Virgil Van Dijk,
Alisson Becker and
Naby Keita, creating a
more complete squad that
has earned a staggering 91
points in another race to the
wire with City.
Sindhu, Saina to lead Indian
shuttlers in Sudirman Cup
DNA Correspondent
sports@dnaindia.net
Mumbai: India will field
their strongest contingent for
2019 Sudirman Cup mixed
team championship to be
played in Nanning, China,
from May 19-26.
Leading the Indians’ chal-
lenge will be world champion-
ship silver medallist PV Sind-
hu, 2012 London Olympics
bronze medallist Saina Ne-
hwal and men’s singles world
No. 8 Kidambi Srikanth.
India reached the quar-
terfinals in the last edition
in Gold Coast, Australia, and
have been seeded eighth this
time. They have been drawn
with China and Malaysia in
Group D and will need to fin-
Chennaiyin FC and Abahani Limited
Dhaka players in action during
their AFC Football Cup match in
Ahmedabad on Tuesday —PTI
11
The 32-year-old is the sec-
ond top goalscorer in La Liga
this season with 21 strikes,
only trailing his inseparable
friend Lionel Messi, who has
34. Last week, Suarez became
Barca’s all-time third top scor-
er in the league with 131 goals,
while on Saturday he collected
a fourth league title out of five,
his 13th medal with Barca.
Things seemed much easi-
er for Coutinho when he
joined a fully formed, all-con-
quering side and had a role
waiting for him in the team as
Andres Iniesta prepared to
depart. Yet he has frequently
looked out of place, strug-
Form Guide gling when played in midfield
or on the left wing.
Barcelona With Frenchmen Ousmane
Dembele fit again, Coutinho is
WWWW D
unlikely to start on Wednes-
Liverpool
day against Liverpool, and he
may be an onlooker in a game
he would have been expected
WWWWW
to star in a year ago.
Suarez, meanwhile, will
take centre stage in the block-
buster duel, as invaluable to
Coutinho and Suarez have Barca as he was to his former
also had contrasting careers club. —Reuters
in Catalonia: The Brazilian
has become accustomed to be-
ing booed by supporters in
recent months for failing to
live up to his price tag, while
Suarez has etched his name
into the club’s history.
It is easy to forget that Su-
arez was a maligned figure
when he joined Barca after
biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiel-
lini at the 2014 World Cup,
and that the club he had just
joined were in transition,
showing signs of decline.
Insatiable goalscorer
Suarez, however, proved to
be the link the Catalans
were missing, an insatiable
goalscorer who could also
free space for his team
mates with his physical
presence and work
rate.
Philippe
Coutinho
NZone
24
The no. of matches that Reds have lost of their
last 12 European matches, all those defeats
coming outside England
No. of goals
No. of matches Liverpool have been un- Lionel Messi
beaten in all competitions (W14 D5), since has scored in
2-1 FA Cup defeat at Wolves on 7 January 32 matches
11
against English
No. of CL semifinals Barcelona have
clubs – more
played so far. It is next only to 13 last four
than he has
matches played by Real Madrid
managed
31
No. of consecutive CL home matches Bar- against teams
celona have remained unbeaten — a run from any other
that started in September 2013 (W28, D3) country
Saina Nehwal  —PTI PV Sindhu  —AFP
ish in top the two to reach
Squad: Men: Kidambi Srikanth,
the knock out stage.
Sameer Verma, Satwiksairaj
The 13-member Indian
Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty, Manu
contingent also comprises
Atri, B Sumeeth Reddy, Pranaav
in-form Sameer Verma and
Jerry Chopra
will also see the return of
doubles star Satwiksairaj
Women: PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal,
Rankireddy, who was out of
Ashwini Ponnappa, N Sikki Reddy,
action due to an injury, along
Poorvisha S Ram, J Meghana
with Chirag Shetty. —PTI
and one loss). Only the group striker Jeje Lalpekhlua
winners will qualify for the turned smartly on the edge of
Inter-Zone Play-off semifinals. the Abahani penalty box but
The visiting Bangladeshi he pulled his shot wide as
side made a bright start and Chennaiyin struggled to trou-
Kervens Belfort flashed a ble the away side’s defence.
header wide from Rubel Mi- Dhanpal Ganesh came closer
ya’s corner in the second min- on the stroke of half-time
ute. when he headed Jerry Lalrin-
It took 21 minutes for the zuala’s corner narrowly wide.
home side to pose a real threat Abahani created the first
to Abahani as Mailson Alves’ chance of the second half
powerful header brought a when Belfort headed Sohel
fine save from Shahidul Alam. Rana’s cross past the post. Na-
Abahani came close again bib Newaz Jibon then man-
as Sunday Chizoba’s shot had aged to get a free-kick on tar-
to be deflected behind by Mail- get in the 64th minute but the
son in the 27th minute. effort was comfortably saved
After a few minutes, India by Singh. —PTI
01
Wednesday
May
2019
Ahmedabad
www.dnaindia.com
Ryan Reynolds plays Detective Pikachu in the first live-action Pokemon franchise film.
Ryan’s kids don’t he says that his girls James and Inez, are psyched for one of his movies for the first time,
is because they haven’t worked out it’s him in the role. He said, “My daughter James
get he’s Pikachu did say, ‘Daddy, you sound like Detective Pikachu!’” Though, his wife, Blake Lively, isn’t
impressed. He said, “I don’t think she was anything beyond mildly amused.”
KJo and his Dharma team devastated
The filmmaker reportedly lost
a treasure trove of props, books
and other valuables in the fire
that engulfed his godown
in the wee hours yesterday
The fire at Cama Industrial Estate
Meena Iyer
I
t was a black
Tuesday for
one of Hindi
cinema’s
most prolific
and biggest
banners — Karan Johar’s
Dharma Productions. The
company, which was
started by the superhit
filmmaker’s father,
Yash Johar, in 1976, suffered
an irreparable loss
yesterday due to a massive
fire that broke out at their
18,000-odd square feet
godown at Cama Industrial
Estate, Goregaon East.
Early news reports that
came in said the blaze
began at around 2.30 am on
April 30. It broke out on the
first floor and, eventually,
engulfed all the three floors
of the building. As many as
12 fire engines were de-
ployed to bring the inferno
under control. There were
images of smoke bellowing
Karan Johar
from the area and it was
impossible to tell how bad
the fire was even until late
afternoon. However, no
One hears everything from costumes to props was stored
here. It is also being said that there were film memorabilia,
books and valuable artifacts. Most of it are related to the
movies made by this banner from the ’80s until the present
Disclaimer: Note to reader: Some of the content/coverage that appear in our special ‘feature’ page/s may be paid for by the concerned brands. Such page/s will be appropriately declared as ‘features pages’ (e.g. reader engagement feature, etc.)
casualties were reported.
While the cause was still
being ascertained till the
time we went to press, we
learnt that the estimated
loss is huge.
According to sources,
the godown was home to
several Dharma treasures
from down the years. One
hears, everything from
costumes to props was
stored here. It is also being
said that there were film
memorabilia, books and
valuable artifacts. Most of
it are related to the various
movies made by this banner
from the ’80s until the
present.
The fear is that props
and other shooting material
for some of their upcoming
productions were also kept
here. While there was no
ballpark figure arrived on
how big the financial loss
was due to this tragedy, one
hears the filmmaker and
his core team were more
upset because of the loss of
their guarded film property,
some of which would be
needed for shooting in their
under-production movies.
RK FIRE ALSO BEGAN AT
THE SAME time IN 2017
It is uncanny. But on
September 16, 2017, at
around the same hour —
2.22 am to be precise —
fire engulfed another
institution, the iconic
Kriti Sanon
After
Some films few movies produced by the banner
backed by
dharma
Productions
Dostana
1980
Agneepath
1990
Kuch Kuch
Hota Hai
1998
RK Studios, Chembur.
Kabhi Khushi
Even back then, apart Kabhie Gham
2001
from the financial losses Brahmastra Kesari
that the Kapoor brothers
incurred, they also suffered Wake Up Sid
an immensely emotional
blow. Rishi Kapoor had 2009
wept as he recounted, how
everything was gone! He My Name Is
had said, “We lost costumes Khan
from Awaara (1951) to Aa
Ab Laut Chalen (1999).”
2010
The actor had recounted Student Of
details of how these includ- The Year
2012
ed outfits worn by every RK
heroine from Nargis to
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.
To add to this, there was Kapoor & Dhadak
jewellery, artifacts, Sons
spears, sabres, furniture
2016
and Raj Kapoor’s mask
from Mera Naam Joker Badrinath Ki Upcoming
(1970), all of which was
destroyed.
Dulhania films
A Blaze destroyed 2017
Student Of
Sridevi’s home, too Raazi The Year 2
On December 21, 2013,
Indian cinema legend
2018 2019 Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
Sridevi’s bungalow in
Andheri also was partially
Dhadak Drive
devoured by a huge fire. 2018 2019
At that point, the actress,
her producer husband, Simmba Good News
Boney Kapoor, their two
daughters, Janhvi and
2018 2019
Khushi, and Boney’s
mother Nirmala Kapoor,
Kesari Brahmastra
had to relocate. Besides 2019 2020
damage to the house, which
Sri never returned to, the Kalank Takht
actress and her daughters
had lost their extensive
2019 2020 Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham
wardrobe.
Spunky yet
believable
Whether it’s designer wear or high-street brands,
Kriti Sanon always adds a personal touch to her looks
Deepali Singh
T
all and lissome, Kriti Sanon can
be the girl-next-door or she can
sass it up to transform into a
glamorous, red carpet diva. Check
out her public appearances and you will
notice that the Luka Chuppi actress
carries off any look — traditional or
western — with equal aplomb. Whether
it’s an animal-print mini teamed with a
sheer lace jacket or a lehenga-inspired
gown, the leggy lass turns heads
wherever she goes. Stylist Sukriti
Grover, who has been styling Kriti
for close to three years, says that the ac-
tress has a dream body. “She’s tall and
extremely fit, so it’s easy to style her,”
she says.
Calling her the perfect example of
somebody who embodies gen-now,
Sukriti reveals that whether it’s
traditional Indian wear, or western
casuals, Kriti does complete justice to
the attire by adding her own spunk to
it. “She is elegant in desi clothes, and
looks cool in western wear. Since she is
so tall, she rarely ever needs to wear
heels, which is a plus point as she lays
emphasis on comfort,” she adds.
Talking about the evolution of
Kriti’s style over the years, Sukriti says
that her style has got more direction
now. “From being a young girl-next-
door, she has come into her own as a
super-sexy star, who is high on aesthet-
ics. There are a lot of gowns she wears,
The actress pulls off various looks with élan which many others can’t, as she has the
height to carry them off so well. Having
been a model in past, carrying off such
Kriti is elegant in desi clothes, and looks cool in sexy gowns comes naturally to her,” she
states. But it isn’t all about flaunting
western wear. Since she is so tall, she rarely ever her curves in designer wear. “What also
needs to wear heels, which is a plus point as she lays works for Kriti is that she is believable.
Even if it’s a high-street brand, it’s
emphasis on comfort about putting together a great look. So,
Sukriti Grover, Stylist a lot of young people today relate to her
style,” Sukriti concludes.

14 www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia
snapshot
‘Strong wave
in favour of
BJP in Ladakh’
Kiren Rijiju, Union minister
People of Ladakh
1 have realised that
only a BJP-led
government can do justice to
them as they were ignored
by the successive Congress
governments at the Centre.
There is a strong
2 wave in favour of
BJP in the Ladakh
region. People are looking
to see Narendra Modi again
to be sworn-in as the Prime
Minister of the country
The BJP will win the
3 Ladakh seat with a
huge margin.
The demand for
4 granting a division
status to Ladakh
was conceded by the Modi
government. The demand for
the Union Territory status for
Ladakh would also be fol-
lowed up in the same spirit,
he told the audience.
The Home Ministry
5 with kidnapping, assault and
has taken up the
demand to include the
‘Bothi’ language in the 8th
Schedule of the Constitution.
It will be followed up after
the polls are over
The successive Con-
6 gress governments
at the Centre and the
state deliberately discrimi-
nated against the Ladakh
region because of their
Kashmir-centric priorities
Jet staff loses health cover as
carrier can’t pay for premium
New Delhi: In continuing
woes for staff, Jet Airways
has said there are no funds to
pay premium for the group
mediclaim policy that was to
expire on Tuesday.
The more than 25-year-old
airline temporarily suspend-
ed operations on April 17 as it
ran out of cash after lenders
declined to extend emergen-
cy funds.
Jet Airways Chief People
Officer Rahul Taneja has in-
formed employees that the
airline would not be able to
fund the premium for the
group mediclaim policy.
“In the absence of any
emergency funding from the
lenders or any other source
of funds forthcoming in the
near future, we find our-
selves facing a situation
where we are not able to fund
the premium of our Group
Mediclaim Policy. The policy
was to lapse on the midnight
of April 30.
“These circumstances are
not of our doing and much as
we would wish to do things
differently, we are left with
little choice,” he said in a
communication.
The full service carrier
has more than 20,000 employ-
ees, including pilots and en-
gineers who have been left to
fend for themselves.
Noting that the group
mediclaim policy would
Beyond Java country keen to design a new capital to house nearly 15L people at a cost of $32bn
Indonesia plans to move capital city out of packed Jakarta to save her puppies
Jakarta: Indonesia’s presi-
dent has decided to move the
capital of the world’s fourth
most populous country away
from the crowded main is-
land of Java, but has yet to
finalise a new location, the
planning minister said on
Monday.
President Joko Widodo’s
decision comes less than two
weeks after private pollsters
said he had won an April 17
presidential election, al-
though official results are not
due until May 22. His chal-
lenger, Prabowo Subianto,
has also claimed victory.
“The president chose to
Sometimes, Himalayan brown bears
walk upright on their hind legs and are
known to leave impressions that make
people believe that they have stumbled
on tell-tale signs left behind by Yeti
— Anindya Sinha, a specialist on monkeys
Can’t wait till end of polls
to hear Rafale pleas: SC
Top court rejects Centre’s request to buy more time, grants it 4 days to respond
DNA Correspondent
correspondent@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: The Centre failed
to have its say to get the Rafale
review petitions adjourned
beyond the General Elections
after the Supreme Court on
Tuesday directed the Centre
to file its response by Satur-
day and be prepared to argue
the case next Monday.
Showing firmness in de-
ciding the review petitions
one way or the other, a bench
of Chief Justice Ranjan Go-
goi, Justices SK Kaul and KM
Joseph asked Attorney Gen-
eral KK Venugopal why no
response had been filed to the
review petitions.
It was only on April 10, the
SC decided the preliminary
objection by allowing the pe-
titioners to rely on some clas-
Indian drives away with 2 kids Army, Navy ready to tackle
in US, charged with kidnapping
New York: A 24-year-old In-
dian man has been charged
theft after he drove off in an
elderly woman’s car from out-
side a medical centre in the
US with her grandchildren
inside the vehicle.
Dalvir Singh, a heroin
user, was taken into custody
and charged with two counts
of kidnapping, felonious as-
sault for dragging Nita Co-
burn, 69 and grand theft, Mid-
dletown Division of Police
said in a statement.
Coburn was injured when
as she tried to stop Singh as
The policy was to expire on April 30, said the airline
Vistara job offer
Vistara is hiring nearly
100 pilots and 400 cabin
crew, mostly from the
grounded Jet Airways,
industry sources said.
Earlier, budget carrier
SpiceJet had said it would
hire 500 staffers from Jet,
including 100 pilots.
cease from May 1, Taneja
urged employees to take a
medical insurance cover of
their choice.
The domestic lenders to
Jet Airways have initiated
the bidding process for sale
of up to 75 per cent stake in
the airline and the list of fi-
nal bidders are expected to be
known in the second week of
Model drowns trying
relocate the capital city to
outside of Java, an important
decision,” Planning Minister
Bambang Brodjonegoro told
a news conference after a
cabinet meeting.
Brodjonegoro said the gov-
ernment will design a new
capital to house 900,000 to 1.5
million people, mostly gov-
ernment employees and their
families.
While most government
offices will be relocated, the
central bank as well as finan-
cial and investment authori-
ties will likely stay put, Brod-
jonegoro said.
“Creating a new capital is
sified documents as evidence
to seek review of the SC judg-
ment of December 14, 2018 by
which all petitions seeking
independent probe into the
Rafale deal stood dismissed.
With the top court agreeing
to hear the review, the Centre
Dalvir was driving under influence
the kids jumped out of the car.
The police is also hailing
Coburn’s 8-year old grandson
Chance as a hero for saving
his 10-year old sister’s life by
These
circumstances
are not of our
doing and much as we
would wish to do things
differently, we are left
with little choice
Jet Airways,
in a message to the staff
May.
“I must also state that we
have not yet given up on our
efforts and continue to en-
gage with the lenders and
support them in the bid pro-
cess. We are working with
them proactively to find op-
portunities to revive our be-
loved airline,” the communi-
cation said. —PTI
Jakarta is the capital of the world’s fourth most populous country
not creating a second Jakar-
ta. This new capital is only
wished to be heard and sought
four weeks time to file its re-
sponse. But the bench was in
no mood to delay the matter
any further. It ordered the
Centre to file its response by
end of this week and ad-
journed the case to Monday.
pulling her out of the car as
Singh took off in it.
The Middletown Police
said that on the evening of
April 25, it received a call that
a car with children inside had
been stolen at a medical center
in Middletown, Ohio and that
an elderly lady was injured.
Coburn had taken another
woman to the hospital and
her two grandchildren were
with her in the back seat.
When they got to the emer-
gency room, she pulled up
close to the door and was
helping the other woman into
the emergency room. —PTI
AI pilot, who
failed booze
tests, is back
New Delhi: Air India pilot
Arvind Kathpalia, whose fly-
ing licence was suspended in
November 2018 after he failed
pre-flight alcohol tests, will
take charge of an important
post, said an official docu-
ment on Tuesday.
“Consequent to the retire-
ment of Mr. Pankaj Kumar,
Regional Director (Northern
Region) after the close of the
working hours of 30th April,
2019, Capt. Arvind Kathpalia
will take over the charge of
the post of Regional Director
(Northern Region) with ef-
fect from May 1, 2019,” said an
Air India notification.
On November 11 last year,
Kathpalia had tested positive
for alcohol before he was to
fly a Delhi-London flight.
The next day, aviation reg-
ulator DGCA suspended his
flying licence for three years,
and on November 13, the Min-
istry of Civil Aviation issued
an order to remove him from
the position of director – op-
erations. However, a week
later, he was posted as execu-
tive director by the Airline.
While Air India terme
Kathpalia’s appointment as
per law, the Indian Commer-
cial Pilots Association, which
represents the pilots flying
the narrow body aircraft of
Air India, slammed the move.
It said, “Top officials are
bending backward to elevate
a tainted official.” —PTI
for the centre of govern-
ment,” Brodjonegoro told re-
The Court was open to issue
notice on the review petitions.
The review petitioners in-
clude former Union minis-
ters Yashwant Sinha, Arun
Shourie, and lawyer Prashant
Bhushan among others.
Bhushan has even filed per-
jury application against the
Attorney General accusing
him of supplying false infor-
mation to SC in sealed cover.
This dispute arose after the
SC gave a clean chit to Centre
on the premise that the Comp-
troller and Auditor General
had examined the entire Ra-
fale deal and submitted a re-
port in Parliament. But this
was later denied by the Centre,
which moved an application
seeking amendment in the
judgment. This application too
is listed for hearing along with
the review petitions.
Fani; govt releases `1,086 cr
Sumit Kumar Singh
singh.sumit@dnaindia.net
New Delhi: With the Met
department alerting that cy-
clone Fani will intensify
into an extremely severe
storm in next 24 hours, the
Centre on Tuesday released
Rs 1,086 crore to Tamil
Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odi-
sha and West Bengal for pre-
ventive and relief measures.
The National Crisis
Management Committee
under Cabinet Secretary
PK Sinha met all stakehold-
ers for the second time and
reviewed the preparedness
to deal with the situation
arising out of the weather
phenomenon.
According to the Indian
Meteorological Depart-
ment, Fani will intensify
into an “extremely severe
cyclonic storm” and
move northwestwards till
Wednesday evening. There-
after, it may recurve north-
northeastwards and reach
Odisha by Friday afternoon.
In case of an ‘extremely
severe cyclonic storm’, the
wind speed goes up to 170-
180 kmph and could gain
the speed of 195-200 kmph.
Ganjam, Gajapati, Khur-
da, Puri and Jagatsinghpur
districts of Odisha, East
Reel legend, real tribute
Artist Vinay Wagh gives shape to a sculpture of Dadasaheb Phalke, the pioneer of Indian cinema, on the icon’s
149th birth anniversary, in Mumbai on Tuesday — Salman Ansari/DNA
Why the move
„„Main island of Java, of
which Jakarata is a part,
is densely crowded
„„Jakarta is prone to
flooding and is sinking
due to over-extraction
of ground water
„„President Widodo has
sought suggestions for the
new location online. It has
garnered 1L comments
porters.
The plan could cost 323
second
front
page
Ahmedabad I Wednesday, May 1, 2019 I daily news & analysis
‘Have column for 3rd sex
in name-change form’
Mumbai: The Bombay High
Court on Tuesday observed
that the Maharashtra govern-
ment should take steps to in-
clude a column for transgen-
ders in the online application
form for change of name in
the official gazette.
A division bench of Jus-
tices AS Oka and MS Sankle-
cha was hearing a petition
filed by a 29-year-old transgen-
der seeking directions to the
state government to allow her
name change application.
The petitioner approached
the high court after the Direc-
torate of Government Print-
ing and Stationery rejected
her application to change the
name three times.
The high court said the
government has to take steps
to include a separate column
for transgenders.
The bench directed that
the petition be converted into
a public interest litigation
(PIL) considering the wide is-
sues raised in it, and posted
the matter for further hear-
Fishermen try to control their boat in the rough sea off Puri on Tuesday
deadly wind
In case of an ‘extremely
severe cyclonic storm’,
the wind speed goes up
to 170-180 kmph and
could gain the speed
of 195-200 kmph. It
can also trigger tides
rising up to 1.5 metres,
flooding coastal areas
and West Medinipur, South
and North 24 Parganas,
Howrah, Hoogly and Kolk-
ata districts of West Ben-
gal, and Srikakulam and
Vizianagaram districts of
Andhra Pradesh are likely
to be affected, said the IMD.
Indian Coast Guard and
trillion rupiah to 466 trillion
rupiah ($22.66 billion to $32.7
billion), he said, adding plan-
ning, designing and construc-
tion will take up to 10 years.
The government does not
know the new location but
the president asked online
where people thought the
capital should be, prompting
more than 100,000 comments.
Brodjonegoro put the an-
nual economic loss due to traf-
fic congestion in Jakarta at 100
trillion rupiah ($7.04 billion).
The low-lying capital is
also prone to flooding and is
sinking due to over-extraction
of ground water. —Reuters
Image for representational purpose only
ing on June 14.
The petitioner stated
though she was born a wom-
an but started identifying
herself a transgender from
the year 2014.
Thereafter, the petitioner
adopted a new gender neutral
name and decided to legally
change it, according to the
petition.
The petitioner said she
wanted to pursue further edu-
cation with the new identity.
PTI
the Navy have deployed
ships and helicopters for
relief and rescue opera-
tions. Army and Air Force
units in the three states
have also been put on
standby.
The National Disaster
Response Force has been
asked to deploy a total of 41
teams in areas that will
likely be hit by Fani. In ad-
dition, NDRF is keeping on
standby 13 teams in West
Bengal and 10 in AP.
States have issued advi-
sories and are ensuring
that fishermen do not ven-
ture into the sea. IMD has
been issuing three hourly
bulletins with the latest
forecast to the states.
Rio De Janeiro: A Brazilian
model drowned after jump-
ing into the sea during a
swirling storm to try to save
her puppies.
Caroline Bitten-
court, 37, jumped
into the sea on Sun-
day after her two
canines slipped off
a catamaran due to
gusty winds.
Husband Jorge
Sestini followed her into
the water in a desperate res-
cue attempt, and he was in
the wild waters for three
hours before being saved.
The local fire department
As per the petitioner, her
first application seeking
change of name in November
2018 was rejected on the
ground that relevant docu-
ments were not attached
with.
While the second rejection
occurred in December 2018,
ostensibly for not stating the
reason for name change, the
third rejection in January
2019 didn’t give any reason for
the same. —PTI
Swiss Alps too is affected
‘Iconic glaciers
at risk due to
soaring temp’
Geneva: Nearly half of the
glaciers in World Heritage
sites will disappear by the
end of this century if green-
house gas emissions contin-
ue unchecked, a report said
on Tuesday.
The new study from the
International Union for Con-
servation of Nature (IUCN)
focused on the 46 World Herit-
age sites where glaciers are
found, including Grosser
Aletschgletscher in the Swiss
Alps, Greenland’s Jakob-
shavn Glacier and Khumbu
Glacier in the Himalayas.
Using a variety of data
and advanced modelling, the
authors “predict glacier ex-
tinction by 2100 under a high
emission scenario in 21 of the
46 natural World Heritage
sites where glaciers are cur-
rently found,” IUCN said in a
statement.
That “high emission sce-
nario” refers to the status
quo, where the commitments
made under the 2015 Paris
climate pact are not met.
Sites likely to see the most
severe ice-loss are Los Glaci-
ares National Park in Argen-
tina and Waterton Glacier
International Peace Park,
which straddles the Canada-
US border.
The disappearance of
small glaciers in the Pyre-
nees - Mont Perdu World Her-
itage site could happen be-
fore 2040, according to IUCN
projections.
Losing these
glaciers would be
a tragedy and have
major consequences for
the availability of water
resources, sea level rise
and weather patterns
Peter Shadie, IUCN’s
World Heritage Programme
says Caroline Bittencourt
was found ashore Monday, a
day after she had disap-
peared.
Bittencourt and her hus-
band, Jorge Sestini,
were sailing Sunday
when the wind
picked up and the
model fell in the wa-
ter.
Sestini says he
jumped after her but
did not manage to save
her. He was rescued hours
later by a navy officer.
The couple’s catamaran
found capsized a few miles
away. —Agencies