T T 8FFTE'8 8I6IE hyderabad: A 82yearold man allegedly commilled suicide over Telangana issue in Moinabad. his suicide nole said he had seen Thursday's LS roceedings and was deressed over lhe move o Seemandhra MFs. 86 I IEIIhE8 T FTE6T hE FEFIE heW eIhi: The SC on Friday issued nolice lo lhe Cenlre and all Slales on a FL seeking ils direclion lo lhem lo rame guideline lo rolecl lhe eole rom hE Slales in various arls o lhe counlry againsl alleged racial discriminalion. F6 IM E1E6T8 kkF IIE T 6hTE8T FII8 koIkaIa: Maniur's 'ron Lady' rom Chanu Sharmila has rejecled an oer rom lhe AAF lo join olilics and conlesl lhis year's Lok Sabha eleclions. 1kIFkI EY'8 MThE Fk88E8 kWkY hyderabad: union Minisler S Jaial Reddy's molher, Sudini Yashodamma, died on Friday. She was OO. her lasl riles is execled lo be erormed on Salurday evening, amily sources said. 'M8IIM8 hT 86kE I MI 8E6MIh FM' uWahaIi: The Jamial ulama ehind on Friday said il was nol worried aboul lhe saely and securily o Muslims i 0ujaral Chie Minisler harendra Modi became lhe Frime Minisler. kF18I 0I8 I0 0w8 808IFI, FIII8 F8I k1E8h kMk l kkE8h kh1kh Q hEw 0ELh T he ambitious Jan Lokpal Bill that took the nave Aam Aadmi Party to political heights in Delhi nearly two months ago caused the biggest embarrass- ment to the Government and ultimately led to its fall on Friday. With the Bill getting defeated at the stage of intro- duction itself, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced his resignation and recommended to the Lieutenant-Governor to dissolve the Delhi Legislative Assembly. The L-G has accepted Kejriwals resignation but asked him to continue as the caretak- er CM till further arrangement. The tumultuous run of his Government lasted for just 49 days making it the most insta- ble dispensation in the history of Delhi politics. Soon after the Jan Lokpal Bill was defeated in the Legislative Assembly, Kejriwal headed for the Secretariat where he held the last Cabinet meeting before sending his resignation to L-G Najeeb Jung. From there he reached his party office at Hanuman Road where he pub- licly announced his resignation to an anxiously waiting crowd; mostly comprising his party volunteers. The BJP and the Congress connived to topple our Government under pressure of Mukesh Ambani, who funds both political parties. The two parties are not allowing us to function ever since the Govern- ment lodged an FIR against Ambani. Hence, I have sent my resignation to the L-G and also recommended him to dis- solve the Legislative Assembly, said Kejriwal after putting in his papers. The Jan Lokpal Bill was defeated at the introduction stage itself with 42 members voting against it and only 27 in favour. It was on expected lines as Kejriwal had vowed to relin- quish his office if his pet project Jan Lokpal Bill 2014 was not passed by the Delhi Assembly on Friday. I am now directly going to the L-Gs office to hand over my resignation. I wish I get a chance to serve the nation and the State soon. Continued on Page 4 Related reports on P2, 3 kMk 6hEIIkFFkh Q ChEhhA T he top leaders of the rationalist DMK have turned to astrology and divine intervention to revive the fortunes of the party in the upcom- ing Lok Sabha elections. The State Conference of the DMK which begins on Saturday at Tiruchirappalli has been planned and scheduled immaculately as per astrological advice and after propi- tiating Lord Vighneswaran. On Saturday, M Karunanidhi, the 91-year-old party chief, will reach the venue of the conference only after 10.30 am, according to KN Nehru, former Minister and the Tiruchirappalli strongman of the party. We will bring Kalaignar (as Karunanidhi is addressed by his fol- lowers) to the stage only after 10.30 am on Saturday. It is because of the inauspicious Rahu Kaalam which begins at 9.00 am and lasts up to 10.30 am, Nehru, the DMK district secretary, told reporters. Karunanidhi left for Tiruchirappalli late Thursday evening and he had a look around the venue on Friday morning. His trip to Tiruchirappalli too was planned after consulting family astrologers, according to party insid- ers. Karunanidhi left for Tiruchirappalli from Gopalapuram in Chennai after bowing to the Lord Venugopala Temple adjacent to his residence. A leading astrologer told The Pioneer that the dates for the DMK State Conference too could have been selected based on astrological calculations. Though it is a Saturday, February 15 is an auspicious day, said the astrologer who does not want his name to be quoted. Meanwhile, the DMK leaders who were entrusted with the setting up of the stage and shamiana at the venue began work only after seeking divine blessings. Nehru is an ardent believer and this was in full display during the inauguration of the State Conference Office at Tiruchirappalli. MK Stalin, the heir apparent to Karunanidhi, who came to inaugu- rate the office on January 6, was allowed by Nehru to cut the ribbon only after the inauspicious Yamakandaka Kaalam was over. Till then Nehru made Stalin wait in the sidelines of the venue. Nehru turned an ardent believ- er after the gruesome murder of his younger brother KN Ramajayam in 2012. Though police is yet to make any breakthrough in the Ramajayam murder case, the DMK has main- tained a studied silence over the incident. As a mark of respect to Ramajayam, the venue has been named after him. With this edition of the DMK State Conference, Karunanidhi will go into record books as the longest serving president of a political party in the country. He became the party chief in 1969 and has been occupying that post continuously since then. Though there are rumours that he may hand over the reins to Stalin, his chosen successor, one has to wait till Karunanidhi himself makes the announcement. But it is certain that Stalin would be the star campaigner for the party in the Lok Sabha election while Karunanidhi, confined to a wheel- chair would travel to only three or four venues. kkE8h kh1kh Q hEw 0ELh T he AAP Governments fail- ure to introduce the Jan Lokpal Bill in the Delhi Assembly was the ultimate blow to the Government that forced Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to announce his res- ignation on Friday evening. Kejriwals resignation was pre- ceded by a high voltage drama during in the Assembly that lasted for over four hours. The BJP and the Congress combined to attack the AAP Government for introducing the Bill and termed the move unconstitutional. As soon as the Assembly convened on Friday, the BJP and Congress leaders demanded the Speaker to read out the Lieutenant- Governors message regarding the Jan Lokpal Bill. Jung had advised the Assembly against tabling the Bill since it was not in accordance with procedures laid down under the law. After an adjournment with Opposition leader BJP leader Harsh Vardhan and Congress leader Arvinder Singh Lovely demanding voting on the Lt Governors advice and the Government opposing it, Kejriwal dramatically rose to table the Jan Lokpal Bill. However, Opposition MLAs rushed into the Well of the House and prevented the Speaker from admitting the Bill. While the treasury bench- es wanted the matter to be debated, the Opposition lead- ers demanded voting for seek- ing leave of the House to intro- duce the Bill. The Government has to seek permission from the House before introducing the Bill. The Speaker has no right to permit the same but only the members of the House can do that, said Congress leader Arvinder Singh Lovely. This forced another adjournment for 30 minutes. However, uproar continued and Speaker MS Dhir was forced to conduct voting on the issue which the Government lost by 15 votes. While 27 MLAs of the AAP voted for introducing the Bill, 42 MLAs of the BJP, the Congress and other parties voted against it. Continued on Page 4 FkM kMk 8Ihh Q hEw 0ELh W ith Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tender- ing his resignation, Delhi faces another Assembly polls. The ball is in the court of Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung. Addressing his support- ers from AAPs headquarters at Hanuman Road, Kejriwal announced that he had recom- mended the dissolution of the Assembly. Technically, Kejriwal cannot recommend the disso- lution of the Assembly as his Government failed to pass the muster in tabling the Bill. His Government was reduced to minority as 42 members voted in the House of 70. Now Jung has limited options. The foremost will be to explore the possibility of the formation of a new Government as was practiced by then President Shankar Dayal Sharma, who invited HD Deve Gowda to form a Government after the BJP Government led by Atal Bihar Vajpayee fell in 1996. He may either invite Harsh Vardhan, the leader of Opposition BJP in the Assembly, to form a govern- ment, or can recommend the dissolution of the Assembly. Another option is to send a report to the Centre for keep- ing the Assembly in suspend- ed animation till a viable option comes before him. Political watchers say keep- ing the Assembly under sus- pended animation will suit the Congress as it would not like to go for Assembly polls along with the Lok Sabha ele- cions. It would like to watch the result of the LS elections and then decide its future course of action vis--vis Delhi Assembly election. The Congress fears that it may face further erosion of its support base if it yields to Kejriwals rec- ommendation to dissolve the Assembly. Opinion is divided whether the L-G will accept the recom- mendation as the Kejriwal Government. It was a cardinal error committed by the Chief Minister and his colleagues with no legislative experience. The very mention that I seek the leave of the House meant that it needed the approval of the house for tabling of the Bill. Kejriwal faced a major embar- rassment as 42 members, 32 of BJP and Akali Dal (Badal), 8 members of Congress, Matia Mahal MLA Shoaib Iqbal and Independent member Rambir Shokeen opposed the very tabling of the Bill. The AAP Government lost on the floor of the House after the majority rejected the tabling of the Bill. Former Secretary of Delhi Assembly SK Sharma said that the Government was reduced to a minority. Since the Kejriwal Government failed to get the permission of the House to table the Bill, it was reduced to a minority Government and in such a scenario, the L-G was not bound to accede to the demand of the Leader of the House to dissolve the Assembly. Sources said that the deci- sion to dissolve the Delhi Assembly is a political one hence the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) will weigh the pros and cons once the L-G sends his report to the Centre. Secondly, the sentiments of the Delhi Congress leaders such as former CM Sheila Dikshit, State Congress presi- dent Arvinder Singh Lovely and Haroon Yusuf too will be sought before a political deci- sion to dissolve the Assembly and go for fresh polls. Fh8 Q hEw 0ELh T he Government may have suspended 16 MPs from Seemandhra region, but the Telangana Bill could now face trouble from Union Ministers from the region. Unfazed by the suspension of his colleagues from Lok Sabha for creating ruckus, Union Minister KS Rao on Friday said Ministers from Seemandhra region would block the Telangana Bill if the Government did not accept at least four of their demands. Claiming that their demand for Union Territory Status for Hyderabad was non- negotiable, Rao said, We will continue to protest. We will continue to raise the same issues... I will be in Parliament to block the Bill. The Textiles Minister said all Union Ministers from the Seemandhra region will join him to block the Bill in the Lower House. Rao presented four demands for arriving at a peaceful solution to the burn- ing problem. He said that Hyderabad should be made a Union Territory at least for 10 years till the people of Seemandhra built their own capital. The Bill should have a provision to add Anantapur and Karnool dis- tricts as part of Telangana, Rao said. Rao asked Government to keep the Bhadrachalam divi- sion, which has been made part of Khammam district in Telangana, with Seemandhra. Continued on Page 4 AAProoe on ]an Lolal to ower, orowns witl it Now Ministers to raise storm in J cu New Delhi: The BJP on Friday suggested that the UPA Government could still work towards a larger consensus on issues like creation of a capital for Seemandhra and compen- sating the region for loss of rev- enue caused by the division. Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said it was not too late to resolve the issue. Creation of a capital for Seemandhra, even- tual creation of a separate High Court, compensating the region with regard to the loss of revenue caused by a bifur- cation, comfort level with regard to water and power in the regions are amongst other issues which are capable of being resolved, Jaitley said. Detailed report on P6 0F stIII has tIme f0r c0aseas0s 0a IeIaaaaa: 1aItIey Puli J|+i| + |u|||E+| |uJ|| p|u||| +| Vi|+] C|uW| i| |W l|i u| ||iJ+]. l| p|u|| W+ u1| || |+|+l ++ul| u| |iJu l+|i+ Piu|| p|u|u l|i C|i| |i|i|| A|1i|J |||iW+l +||uu| |i |i|+|iu| ||u| + |uWJ u| AAP uppu||| +| || p+||] u||i i| |W l|i u| ||iJ+] |ulluWi| |i u1||||| |+ilu| |u |+|l || 1+| |u|p+l Bill i| A||l]. |+|i| SiuJi+ i +lu | Pll h6 Io hear pIea on I poWer Io sIaII 8iIIs The Delhi High Court agreed to hear a plea challenging the constitutionality of the law which gives the L-G power to refer certain Bills to the Centre before it is tabled in the Assembly. The court will hear the petition on Tuesday. Detailed report on P2 Plans State Conference after stars align we will bring Kalaignar lo lhe slage only aler 1O.8O am on Salurday. l is because o lhe inausicious Rahu Kaalam which begins al O.OO am and lasls u lo 1O.8O am kh hEh, Mk I8TI6T 8E6ETkY Nastik Karuna turns believer to save sinking DMK ll+|+|+ Cu|| uppu||| |u|| +| ||i] u| up|JJ Cu|| |P ||u| Vi|+]W+J+, | R+|+up+l, u| ||iJ+] Pll Beore scooling, shools barbs al Cong, BJF, L0, Mukesh Ambani, Moily, Cenlre una/ed by MFs' susension, KS Rao claims Minislers will block Telangana Bill BJF, Congress oose labling o 'unconslilulional' Bill |i|||+| L-G options: nvite Harsh or dissolve Assembly Bul il's in Cong's inleresl lo kee house in susended animalion lill Lok Sabha eleclions EsIabIished 1B64 `Lale Cily VoI. 24 Issue 45 `Air Surcharge Exlra i Alicable 8F08I Z0 ShAhT G/51 FuTS h0A AhEA0 h 2h0 TEST w08l0 1Z wLL w0RK CL0SELY wTh hEw 00vT: uS 0FI8I08 8 ZER0L0SS ThE0RSTS hAvE BEEh SLEhCE0
Published From DELH LUCKNOW BHOPAL BHUBANESWAR RANCH RAPUR CHANDGARH DEHRADUN @ThoDailyPionoor aoobook.oom/dailypionoor F0II0W 0s 0a: www.dailypioneer.com hEW EIhI, 8kTkY IE8kY 16, Z014; FkE8 Z0 C3 Rhl ho. 53400/91, RE00. ho. 0L C}05/1219/20122014 MARKETS 8F88FI 20,300.82 0.80 8IFII 0,048.35 0.79 WEATHER |AX !4.c J C (9) |l| !!.J J C (-!) ||+ll] luuJ] |] AM SCAPED TO WOPK WTH APSHAD WAPS: AMT SADH 13 vvACTY NEW DELH SATURDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2014 capital 02 A|lhough eve|y poss|b|e ca|e aud caul|ou has beeu la|eu lo avo|d e||o|s o| om|ss|ous, lh|s pub||cal|ou |s be|ug so|d ou lhe coud|l|ou aud uude|slaud|ug lhal |ulo|mal|ou g|veu |u lh|s pub||cal|ou |s me|e|y lo| |ele|euce aud musl uol be la|eu as hav|ug aulho||ly ol o| b|ud|ug |u auy way ou lhe w||le|s, ed|lo|s, pub||she|s, aud p||ule|s aud se||e|s who do uol owe auy |espous|b|||ly lo| auy damage o| |oss lo auy pe|sou, a pu|chase| ol lh|s pub||cal|ou o| uol lo| lhe |esu|l ol auy acl|ou la|eu ou lhe bas|s ol lh|s wo||. A|| d|spules a|e subjecl lo lhe e/c|us|ve ju||sd|cl|ou ol compeleul cou|l aud lo|ums |u e|h|/hew e|h| ou|y. Printed and pubIished by Chandan Mitra for and on behaIf of CMYK Printech Ltd., 2nd FIoor, Link House, 3 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New DeIhi-110 002, and printed at Jagran Prakashan Ltd, D 210,211 Sector-63, Noida (U.P.). Editor: Chandan Mitra. AIR SURCHARGE of C 2.00 East: CaIcutta, North: Leh West: Mumbai & Ahmedabad South: BangaIore & Chennai. CentraI : Khajuraho, DeIhi TeIephones: EPABX-40754100, 23755271-74, 9871234271. Lucknow Office: 4th FIoor, Sahara Shopping Centre, Faizabad Road, Lucknow-226 016. TeIephones: 0522-2346443, 2346444, 2346445. 8TkII EFTE Q hEw 0ELh T he Delhi High Court on Friday agreed to hear a plea challenging the constitutionality of the law which gives the Lt Governor power to refer certain Bills to the Centre before it is tabled in the Assembly. The court will hear the petition on Tuesday. The PIL assumes signif- icance as the Delhi Governments move to table the Jan Lokpal Bill before the Assembly has not received the L-Gs assent. A bench of justices BD Ahmed and Siddharth Mridul renotified the PIL for hearing on February 18 saying it was not clear at the moment whether the Bill has been introduced and under which statutory provision the L-G had refused to give assent to its tabling. We cant go by news reports and hearsay (on tabling of the Bill). We dont know what the Delhi Government is doing. We dont know under what provision the L-G has acted. Renotify on Tuesday (February 18), the bench said. FkYk 8Ihh Q hEw 0ELh M assive crowds donning white caps and waving brooms in their hands flooded the Aam Aadmi Partys (AAP) Hanuman Road office on Friday evening where he made public his resignation. Thick crowd of supporters kept pouring in till Kejriwal reached the office along with his Cabinet of Ministers from Delhi Secretariat after last Cabinet meeting. Moments later it was declared that the Bill could not be tabled in the Assembly, the party started sending messages in bulk asking the volunteers to gather at the party office. It is learnt that the party started sending messages around 4 pm and within an hour the office was inundated with the partys supporters. The environment was pepped up by the large screen which played the live telecast of the Kejriwals address to the Assembly session saying, This seems to be our last session. The sea of humanity in unison cheered his decision and jeered for the other two parties by shouting slogans, who Kejriwal alleged had joined hands to fall his Government. Laying a piercing attack at Congress and BJP, Kejriwal addressing his party workers from the window of the first floor of the premises, said, The public will teach you a lesson. I am going to the Lieutenant Governor to submit my resignation and I will pray to the God that he blesses the minute people like us and offers us opportunity to sacrifice our lives for the benefit of the people. Thick congregation of his supporters cheered in his support saying, Kejriwal tum sangharsh karo, hum tumhare saath hain. Some supporters even expressed j oy over his resignation and said that he should now contest Lok Sabha elections due in May. He will win the Lok Sabha election and come back as Prime Minister, said a supporter. The CM accused industrialist Mukesh Ambani against who his Government lodged an FIR, that he rules both the parties as since last one decade t he Congress Government did not take any action and also BJP, who he accused of getting funds from him. He further said that he was disheartened with what happened in the Parliament, where pepper spray was used in the Assembly on Thursday. They wanted us to work as per their wishes. We have been repeatedly accused of not following the constitution for not seeking the Centres permission for tabling the Lokpal Bill in the Assembly. I have read the Constitution and it does not say so. We followed the Constitution and I am ready to sacrifice my life for the Constitution, said Kejriwal. 8TkII EFTE Q hEw 0ELh B oth the Congress and the BJP have accused Arvind Kejriwal, who resigned as Delhi Chief Minister, of being a negative person and an anarchist not fit to run the Government. Charging that Kejriwal tried to subvert the Constitution, leader of the opposition in the Delhi Assembly, Dr Harsh Vardhan said that Kejriwal was behaving like anarchist and showed utter disrespect to constitutional systems and institutions. Kejriwal has displayed anarchy on several occasions and utter di srespect to Constitutional system and institutions, Vardhan said adding that finally when he realised that he was unable to fulfil his commitments made to people, he decided to resi gn to cover up his failures. Crit i ci si ng hi m for recommending dissolution of the Assembly while resigning, Vardhan said that he did not enjoy the confidence of the House and thus he cannot recommend so. After his government vi rtual l y l ost t he vote of conf i dence, t hey recommended that the House be dissolved, which only that Government can recommend which enjoys the confidence of the House, he said. Echoed with BJP, Delhi Congress leader Arvinder Si ngh Lovel y sai d that Kejriwal was subverting the Constitution and was adamant to introduce the Bi l l whi ch had al ready vetoed by the Lieutenant- Governor. When we pointed out the legal procedures of the Bill, Kejriwal accused us the Bill was stalled in the wake of FIR against RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani, said Lovely, adding Kejriwal was not i nterested i n runni ng the Government. He (Kej ri wal ) was looking at an excuse to run away. He lied through his teeth while attacking the Congress, he alleged. 8WETk 8WkMI Q hEw 0ELh O n a day the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government made frantic efforts to introduce the Jan Lokpal Bill, the conduct of Assembly Speaker MS Dhir also came under scanner. The Opposition BJP, AAPs ally Congress and other legislators criticised his conduct in the House when the Bill was being introduced. The BJP leaders went on to say the Speaker had no knowledge of the rules and regulations and accused him of acting in a partisan manner to benefit the Government. The Speaker received flak from several legislators who accused him of overruling Delhi Lieutenant-Governors direction of not allowing the Jan Lokpal Bill to be tabled in the Legislative Assembly proceedings. Strong resentment broke in the Assembly House right at the beginning when Dhir did not read out the letter sent by L-G Najeeb Jung. Reminding the Speaker to act in accordance with the Constitution, Leader of Opposition, Harsh Vardhan said, You (MS Dhir) being on the chair should respect and work in accordance with the Constitution. By not reading out the letter sent by the L- G, you are demeaning the Constitution. It was only after the demands of the legislators in the Opposition that Dhir read out the L- Gs letter. He further went on to accuse the Speaker of acting like an AAP member. It is only because of the Constitution that Arvind Kejriwal has become the Chief Minister. If you (MS Dhir) continue being biased toward the AAP Government then there are enough provisions for this House to remove you from the chair and appoint a new person to preside over the House proceedings, added Vardhan. Similarly, Congress was miffed with the Speaker as he allegedly ignored party leader Arvinder Singh Lovelys resolution on voting for the introduction of the Jan Lokpal Bill. Lovely sternly said that the consent of the House does not mean the consent of only the Speaker. kkF'8 49 kY8 erember 4, Z013 Eleclions were held in lhe Cailal erember B, Z013 Foll rediclions o a hung Assembly came lrue. The AAF surrised everyone wilh 28 seals. BJF gol 82 seals, 4 shorl o lhe required majorily. The Congress scored only eighl seals. erember 13, Z013 The BJF's chie minislerial candidale 0r harsh vardhan inormed Lieulenanl0overnor hajeeb Jung lhal his arly does nol have lhe numbers lo orm 0overnmenl in lhe nalional Cailal erember 14, Z013 Jung inviled lhe Aam Aadmi Farly or lalks on Salurday. The AAF convener Arvind Kejriwal soughl 1O days' lime rom lhe L0 lo lake a decision. Also senl 18 condilions lo Congress and BJF or lheir 'unsoliciled' suorl and cooeralion erember 17, Z013 The AAF decides lo seek lhe oinion o lhe eole o 0elhi on orming a 0overnmenl erember Z3, Z013 The AAF announced il would orm lhe 0overnmenl in 0elhi wilh oulside suorl o lhe Congress erember ZB, Z013 Kejriwal was sworn in as lhe secondyoungesl Chie Minisler o 0elhi erember 30, Z013 0n lhird day in oice, 0elhi CM announced lhe suly o 2O kilolilres a monlh (almosl 7OO lilres a day) o ree waler lo 0elhi households erember 31, Z013 Kejriwal requesls CA0 lo order an audil inlo lhe inances o lhe lhree rivale ower dislribulion comanies. The 0overnmenl also announced a 5O er cenl subsidy on ower consumlion u lo 4OO unils 1anuary 11, Z014 Arvind Kejriwal's exerimenl wilh direcl democracy ailed wilhin 15 minules as lhousands crowded his irsl Janla 0arbar 1anuary 13, Z014 Aler lhe ailed venlure, Kejriwal said no more ublic inleraclions o lhe sorl will be held any more 1anuary 16, Z014 Sarking irsl sign o dissenl wilhin lhe AAF, legislalor vinod Kumar Binny lhrealened lo go on hunger slrike i Kejriwal did nol ulil lhe romises made in lhe eleclion manieslo. Binny called Kejriwal an 'aulocral' 1anuary Z1, Z014 Kejriwal and his Minislers slaged daylong rolesl oulside lhe high securily Rail Bhavan demanding susension o lhree olice oicials 1anuary ZZ, Z014 Kejriwal ends his SWPa]P aler L0's assurance lo arlially meel demands. Law Minisler Somnalh Bharli carried oul lale nighl raids in Soulh 0elhi's Khirki Exlension 1anuary Z6, Z014 The AAF exelled Laxmi hagar MLA vinod Kumar Binny Iebruary 6, Z014 Exelled AAF MLA vinod Kumar Binny on wednesday wilhdrew suorl lo lhe 0elhi 0overnmenl Iebruary 6, Z014 The 0overnmenl ordered yel anolher robe inlo alleged irregularilies in lhe conslruclion o roads and lyovers during Cw0 Iebruary 13, Z014 Firsl day o secial session, Jan Lokal Bill was nol lisled Iebruary 14, Z014 The 0overnmenl ailed lo inlroduce Jan Lokal Bill in Assembly. he addressed his arly workers al arly oice al hanuman Road and senl his resignalion lo 0elhi L0 Kejri mops up spill with stoicism I n his resignation letter to Delhi L-G to accept his resignation the Arvind Kejriwal stated, The Council of Ministers met this evening and decided to tender its resignation. The Council also recommends the dissolution of Delhi Assembly and immediate conduct of elections to the Delhi Legislative Assembly. A|1i|J |||iW+l (|||) +JJ| lu]+li| +| AAP |+J(u+||| i| |W l|i u| ||iJ+] Pll 6h6II E6MMEhE I88ITIh I k88EM8IY '|||i + |i|i| +|+||i| Ouit to cover up his failures, says BJP A|1i|J| Si|| |u1l], Cu|| l+J| We were not against the Jan Lokpal Bill. We support it 100 times more than the AAP Government. The L-G who is constitutional head of the Government, has categorically said that this Bill should not be introduced in the House as it's a money Bill and no prior permission has been taken from him. Despite L-G missive, Kejriwal was adamant to introduce the Bill in the House | |+|| V+|J|+|, |+J| u| ppui|iu| S|u+i| l(|+l, 1(u) ||A 8TkII EFTE Q hEw 0ELh I n a bid avert constitutional cri si s i n t he nati onal Capital, Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung on Friday sent a letter to the Delhi Assembly Speaker MS Dhir saying that the Delhi Jan Lokpal Bill cannot be tabled before the Assembly as it does not have hi s approval . The communiqu ultimately led to the fall Arvind Kejriwal-led Government in the Capital. In a message to Speaker, Delhi Legislative Assembly, Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung said, As the Jan Lokpal Bill 2014 is being introduced in the Legislative Assembly wit hout fol l owi ng t he procedure, I hereby send the message under section 9 (2) of the Government of NCT of Del hi Act 1991 to t he Legislative Assembly, not to consider the Bill unless it is i nt roduced wit h t he recommendations of the Lieutenant-Governor. Jung also stated in his letter that the message may kindly be informed to the Assembly before the Jan Lokpal Bill is introduced during the sitting of the current session. However, def yi ng Li eutenant- Governors advi ce, t he Kejriwal government sought permission to table to Bill in the House but its introduction was defeated by BJP and Congress members as 42 votes went against the Bill. The AAP Government has only 27 members in the House. Apart from 32 BJP and 8 Congress legislators, an independent MLA Rambeer Shokeen and JD(U) lone MLA Shoaib Iqbal also voted against the Bill. As per Section 22 (3) of the Government of NCT of Delhi Act 1991, the said Bill being a financial bi l l is to be sent to t he Lieutenant-Governor for recommendation and as per Rule 55 (1) of the Transaction of Business of Government of National Capital Territory Rule 1993, the Lieutenant- Governor is required to make a prior reference to the Central Government before being introduced in the Legislative Assembly. The said Bill has not yet been duly placed before me (Jung) by the Government of NCT of Delhi, the letter also said. The L-G further stated in the letter that the Cabinet of the Government of the NCT of Delhi in its decision no 2111 dated 03.02.2014 has approved the proposal of setting up a Jan Lokpal in the Government of NCT of Delhi. The Cabi net f urt her approved that the Bill will be taken up in the Assembly. It has been brought to my notice that the above referred Jan Lokpal Bi l l i s bei ng introduced during the current session for consideration in the Legislative Assembly commencing on February 13, 2014, it said. Tured oul aler a roller coasler ride lo ower The rise & fall of Kejriwal |C |u |+| pl+ ++i|| | puW| |u ||| Bill |u C||| Partisan vitriol in Assombly against Spoakor we always said lhal we are in avour o lhe Jan Lokal Bill. Today we did nol vole againsl lhe Bill bul voled in avour o lhe message senl by lhe L0 lo lhe Assembly. we wanled lhe Bill lo be broughl in accordance lo lhe laid down rocedures o lhe Conslilulion. we were nol againsl Arvind Kejriwal and lhis 0overnmenl hAvE BEEh SuFF0RTh0 ThE BLL, BuT SEEh0 ThE C0h0T0h 00h'T SuFF0RT ThE BLL AS T wAS h0T BR0u0hT ThR0u0h FR0FER C0hSTTuT0hAL FR0CE0uRE. ThS wAS ThE M0ST ShAMEFuL 0AY h hST0RY. ThS S A BLACK 0AY F0R 0ELh. ThE AAF 00ESh'T Kh0w h0w T0 w0RK 0h ThE FL00R || u1||u| |+|| 1u| NEW DELH SATURDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2014 capital 0S kITI FTk Q hEw 0ELh W ithin 49 days, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government in Delhi, led by Arvind Kejriwal, seemed to have lost the plot and stuck in its own quagmire. Excitement and expectation for better cor- ruption-free governance, which were palpable in the beginning, soon vaporised. The Government apparently was trounced with its own style of governance. A glance through Kejriwals blink-and-miss tenure leaves no doubt that the AAP Government failed to impress with its 49-day report card. After ruling the Capital for nearly two months with unfulfilled or half-fulfilled promises, Kejriwal resigned from his position after his prized Jan Lokpal Bill was defeated at the introductory stage by 27 votes to 42. After taking over 10 days to form the Government, AAP played around a list of issues and promises on which agree- ment of the Congress party was sought before accepting their support. From free water to every household to 50 per cent reduction in power tariff, the 18-point agenda of the party managed to blindside the aam aadmi. However, the resigna- tion of Kejriwal and the basis of his decision-defeated Jan Lokpal Bill appears more like a slap in the face of voters who elevated him to the throne on the basis of not just the Jan Lokpal Bill but a whole list of other promises. The much-touted pledge of providing free water up to 700 litres to every household every day was the first issue addressed by Kejriwal within three days of coming to power. It was a half-kept promise which had a flipside to it as it caused a spike in water tariff by 10 per cent for consumption above 667 litres. For about half the city population that lives in unauthorised and resettlement col onies l i ke Okhl a and Sangam Vihar, the freebie held no importance as they dont even have water pipelines to their homes. Earl i er, the Del hi Assembly passed an Appropriation Bill of C372 crore to give subsidy to dis- coms. Opposing the Arvind Kejriwal Government move to give subsidy to discoms, leader of the Opposition Harsh Vardhan alleged that the Bill was brought by the Kejriwal Government to give subsidy to Reliance and it has been estab- lished that he (Kejriwal) is act- ing at the behest of the Ambani group. There were heated arguments between BJP members and AAP MLAs on this issue. Similarly the reduction in power tariff did not benefit people much as it reduced not 50 per cent but 35 per cent tar- iff for people who consumed electricity up to 400 units. Riding on the anti- corruption wave, Kejriwal had promised a corruption-free governance and action against corrupt officials through helpline and sting ops. The helpline was launched but not much happened to the complaints of people. The few decisions that garnered public support were the Governments decisions to start the helpline for nursery admissions, the abolition of VIP culture with Arvind Kejriwal using his own car and refusing security cover. kejrI exIt sIa Ia the face 0f aam aa4mI 8TkII EFTE Q hEw 0ELh T he AAP-led Government on Friday moved the Delhi High Court to withdraw the appeal of previous Congress dis- pensation against a lower court order to register an FIR against former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit in a corruption case. Highlighting its stand against corruption, the Government, in its plea, said the Cabinets decision to take back the appeal, filed by the previous Congress Government, has been approved by the Lt Governor and Dikshit will have to defend herself as she is no more the Chief Minister and conse- quently, it lacked the locus standi to fight for her. The appeal was filed by the petitioner, i.e., the State on the premise that it had the locus (standi) to defend the alleged accused person who was the then sitting Chief Minister of Delhi. In view of changed cir- cumstances and formation of the new Government, the then Chief Minister ceases to hold the post and therefore, the State no longer has the locus to continue the prosecution of the present petition on her behalf, it said. hoisl wilh his own elard FMI8E8 IIIIIIE The vF cullure should be sloed in 0elhi. ho MLA, Minisler or 0elhi oicial h0 will use a red beacon on lheir cars. heilher will lhey live in big bungalows nor lake any secial securily Fassing o lhe Jan Lokal Bill, lhe same version or which Anna ha/are held asls h0 Feole will lake decision direclly in \^WP[[P bPQWPs, which will be held in h0 every localily and colony Comlele Slalehood slalus or 0elhi. Cenlral 0overnmenl's hold on 00A h0 and Folice should end 5O er cenl reduclion in ower lari. A secial audil o all eleclricily comanies YES. Bul in lhe Cailal rom lhe lime lhese were rivalised. The comanies lhal reuse beneil nol lo arliciale will have lheir licences cancelled. relecled in ower bills 7OO lilres o ree waler suly lo every household everyday YES. Bul beneil nol relecled in waler bills Regularisalion o unaulhorised colonies which accommodales 8O er cenl oulalion in 0elhi h0 The arly demanded lo know i lhe Congress and lhe BJF will suorl ils decision lo give clean and aordable ucca houses (buillu houses) lo lhose living in slums h0 Regular jobs lo lhose working on conlraclual basis h0 ho F0 in relail YES Facililies and subsidies lo armers in lhe villages in lhe nalional Cailal h0 Secial securily unils or women. All harassmenl cases lo be lackled wilhin lhree monlhs h0. Commillee has been ormed 0en new 0overnmenl hosilals wilh beller acililies h0 0en over 5OO new 0overnmenl schools and eliminale cailalion ee in rivale schools h0 Enough courls and aoinlmenl o judges lo deal wilh all cases wilhin six monlhs h0 0ive inraslruclural acililies like roads, eleclricily, waler and basic acililies h0. Slill on lo lhe ordinary lrader aer 0ver 1OO shellers or lhe homeless h0 Licences and ermanenl saces lo slreel vendors h0. Slill on aer || S|il+ J||J ||l| i| |+|| +. AAP |u |C New Delhi: A Congress MP has filed a defamation case in Delhi High Court accusing Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of tarnishing his reputation by branding him as corrupt and sought C1 crore in damages. Avtar Singh Bhadana, a sitting Congress MP from Haryana, has contended in his petition that Kejriwal on January 31 this year in a public statement termed him as one of the most corrupt persons of India. The defendant (Kejriwal) who himself is an elected representative of Delhi has chosen to name him (Bhadana) on January 31, 2014 as one of most corrupt persons of India in his public statement causing serious damage to plaintiff s (Bhadana) reputation among his electorates, peers and supporters throughout India with a view to take electoral advantage in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2014, the petition, filed through advocate Surat Singh, said. Staff Reporter C0h0 MF FLES 0EFAMAT0h FLEA A0AhST KEJRwAL nation 04 NEW DELH SATURDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2014 8TkII EFTE Q hEw 0ELh S enior officers of Delhi Police and other intelligence agen- cies went into a tizzy after three calls of minor blasts were received on Friday afternoon in the span of ten minutes from three different areas of the Capital. Initially, a rumour spread about a blast, but later the cops ruled out any foul play. Investigations later revealed that it was fire incident due to cylinder leakage. Four mem- bers of a family including two children suffered severe burn injuries when a LPG cylinder at their residence suddenly burst. A similar incident was also reported from Harsh Vihar and Uttam Nagar area where three people were injured. The first incident took place at 1.04 pm in South-East Delhis Sarai Kale Khan when an LPG cylinder accidentally blasted inside a house. Four members of a family including two children sustained burn injuries. In the second incident, which took place in Engineers Enclave in Harsh Vihar area at 1.11 pm, a gas pipeline leaked into a nearby sewer and caught fire following which fire tenders were rushed to the spot and doused the fire. Three people were injured in this incident. In the third incident, the compres- sor of a fridge burst, causing a minor fire at Aggarwal sweet shop in Uttam Nagar area at 1.14 pm, no one was injured. 8TkII EFTE Q hEw 0ELh W ith rainfall and thun- dershowers lashing the National Capital on Friday, Delhi witnessed the second coldest day in February in the past 44 years. Day tempera- tures plummeted by nine degrees settling at 14.6 degrees Celsius. The Met department has predicted light rains till noon on Saturday after which the sky is expected to be clear. Rains have been occurring since last night because a west- ern disturbance was passing through the city from Jammu and Kashmir region. Because of this, the maximum temperature dropped drastically from Thursdays 22.6 degree Celsius. It is now the second coldest month in 44 years. The coldest ever was recorded on February 2, 2002 at 14.3 degree Celsius, said Rajendra Jenamani, direc- tor, Met department, IGI Airport. Delhiiites witnessed a chilly day on Friday as the max- imum temperature settled for as low 14.6 degree Celsius. The minimum, on the other hand, was recorded at 11 degree Celsius which was one notch above normal for this time of the year. On Friday, the city record- ed a rainfall of 23.2 milimetres till 8:30 am. The rest of the day wit- nessed drizzles across the city with the rain gauge measuring a rainfall of 3.8 mm. Owing to the morning showers, traffic snarl s were witnessed in Lajpat Nagar, Moolchand, Raj Ghat and on Vikas Marg and NH-24. New Delhi: A Valentines Day date turned out to be a night- mare for a girl who was alleged- ly raped by a youth in South Delhis Malviya Nagar area. A 17-year-old girl, student of Class XII of a Government school was raped by her neighbour in South Delhis Malviya area. The accused, Irshad, a res- ident of Hauz Rani, has been arrested. The victim was taken to AIIMS Trauma Centre where her condition is stated to be critical. Police said that the victim, who would turn 18 on Saturday, knew the accused for the last six months. The incident occurred on Friday afternoon when the vic- tim set out from home for school but instead went out with the accused to celebrate Valentines Day. They purport- edly had intercourse during their meeting following which her condition deteriorated. Irshad then took the girl to Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya Hospital following which hos- pital authorities informed the police at around 3.00 pm, the officer added. The accused, who worked at a shopping mall, was arrest- ed on the charges of rape (376) of the Indian Penal Code and several other sec- t i ons of Prevent i on of Chi l dren f rom Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), the officer added. SR 8TkII EFTE Q hEw 0ELh S cores of North-Eastern stu- dents and as well as students from Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University tried to march towards the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday evening demanding a stringent anti-racial law to be passed in Parliament. The protesters managed to reach Vijay Chowk but were then pushed back by the Delhi Police. The protesters demand- ed an equal treatment to the North-East people and also con- demned the fatal attack on Nido Tania. As the protesters persist- ed on marching towards the Rashtrapati Bhavan, they broke the first barricade erected by the security agencies and then police resorted to force to disperse them off the area. The police and security agencies were already on an alert as a VVIP route was declared in the area. Policemen chased the protesters till Central Secretariat Metro Station from where around 50 to 60 demonstrators were detained and taken to Parliament Street Police Station in two buses. Accidentally, two MPs also sat in the bus, after reaching the police station they identified themselves and were let-off immediately. Some of the pro- testers were also injured amid the chaos and mild lathi-charge. Later, a group of protest- ers also staged a protest out- si de the pol i ce stati on demanding their friends to be let off. Those detained were let off by the night. We have to physically evict them. During the ruckus those injured were provided first aid treatment. They have violated Section 144 (which remains imposed in the area), we will see what legal action can be taken in this regard, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) SBS Tyagi. The protesters had in the afternoon also tried to march towards the Parliament but were stopped near Parliament street police station as barri- cades were already installed there. They were then moved towards Jantar Mantar. Meanwhile, the parents of deceased Nido Tania met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who said he associated himself with their grief and that severest punishment should be given to those guilty of the most shameful act. From Page 1 We are not here to comply with the Centres orders. We will only abide by the Constitution. The BJP and the Congress has shamed the Vidhan Sabha and Parliament, he said. The Government lost to the Opposition BJP and its ally Congress in obtaining the mandatory permission from the House to introduce the Jan Lokpal Bill. The Government made all possible bids to table the Bill before the House but the Speaker had to succumb to vociferous protests by 42 MLAs in the 70-member Assembly preventing the Bill from being tabled. The dropping on the Bill came as a moral defeat for the Government and as announced earlier, Kejriwal tendered his resignation. Earlier, on a day of dramat- ic developments in the Assembly lasting over four hours, the 45- year-old Chief Minister, who has had a rollercoaster ride ever since he took over reins of power on December 28, last year, accused the Congress and BJP of colluding with each other against the Bill after his Government ordered filing an FIR against RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani. After the L-Gs advice read out by the Speaker, both the BJP and the Congress leaders demanded that since the Delhis constitutional head, Lieutenant- Governor Najeeb Jung, has vetoed the Bill, it should not be taken up for consideration because it does not have his assent. But Kejriwal was insistent on a discussion saying if the L- G address can be discussed in the House, why not his letter sent to the Speaker as a missive? When the Opposition was demanding on the voting on the letter, Kejriwal dramatically rose to table the Jan Lokpal Bill and sought the permission of the House to table the Bill. This provoked both the Congress and the BJP leaders who contended that the Government had no right to introduce a Bill against Lt Governors advice and such a step would be unconstitu- tional. Chaotic scenes pre- vailed and Speaker MS Dhir was forced to adjourn the House. He called an all-party meeting to resolve the issue. When the House resumed, the treasury benches demanded a discussion which was also resisted by the Opposition, which insisted on voting. After a melee, the Speaker placed the resolution seeking leave for introduction of the Bill to vote. The Bill was defeated in the introduction stage itself with 42 members voting against it and only 27 in favour. From Page 1 Leader of Opposition Dr Harsh Vardhan too criticised the tabling of Jan Lokpal Bill against the advice of the Lieutenant Governor. The advice of the Lieutenant Governor to the House is not just a message but an order. No member of the House is against the Jan Lokpal Bill but that has to be in accor- dance with the Constitutional norms. The Government has no right to introduce the Bill in its present form, Vardhan said. Earlier, the L-Gs letter was read out in the House by the Speaker which said the Jan Lokpal Bill being a Financial Bill was to be sent to the L-G for recommendation. As per the Transaction of Business Rules, the L-G is required to make a prior reference to the Central Government before a Bill is introduced in the Assembly The said Jan Lokpal Bill has not yet been duly placed before me by the Government of NCT of Delhi, the letter said. As the Jan Lokpal Bill is being introduced in the Legislative Assembly without following the procedure... I hereby send the message to the Legislative Assembly, not to consider the Bill unless it is introduced with the recom- mendations of the Lt Governor, LG Najeeb Jung said adding the message may be conveyed to the Assembly before the Bill is introduced during the current Session. AAP rooe on ]an Lolal to ower... From Page 1 Amendments should be brought in the Bill for the trans- fer of villages in Bhadrachalam division to Andhra State so that it would benefit Seemandhra region, Rao said. The Minister said the Government incorporate in the Bill that from the consolidated fund of India, it would provide enough money to Seemandhra State for constructing a new cap- ital and other infrastructure. Asking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take steps to resolve the impasse, Rao said if the Government agreed to meet their conditions before Monday, all MPs from Seemandhra would support the Bill. Rao said that the Congress was doing wrong on the issue of Telangana and the Government could not do the floor management properly to prevent incidents that had occurred in Parliament on Thursday. When asked about the pepper spraying incident, Rao said, I have been there in Parliament for the last five terms. I never went into the Well. I will never support the incidents that had happened on Thursday. Pointing out that it was not one party that created ruckus in the House, Rao said Congress party employed its party MPs as marshals to protect somebody. The methods adopted by the leadership were wrong. Spraying of something... It is also wrong... He says spraying of pepper pow- der was to protect himself, Rao said. Noting that the complicity of the problem of dividing Andhra Pradesh was huge, Rao said Thursdays incidents throw in sharp relief how divid- ed both sides are. Now Ministers to raise storm in J cu Throo oylindor blasts sond Dolhi Polioo into tizzy 17-year-olo raeo ly neigllour in Malviya Nagar, accuseo lelo l|i |u|J u|J ulJ| J+] u| || i| p+| 44 ]+| kF18I 0I8... 8F st04eats 4emaa4 strIct aatIracIaI IaW Dehradun: The wildlife crime scenario in Uttarakhand is getting out of control, with poach- ers targeting tigers and other wildlife, but the prin- cipal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) and chief wildlife warden SS Sharma, who is also the offici- ating PCCF of the State, is not taking required mea- sures even on the basis of information about tiger poaching. The additional principal chief conservator of forests (Wildlife) Administration and Intelligence, SK Dutt, who is also the anti-poaching cell direc- tor has made this allegation in a confidential letter written to Sharma, a copy of which is also with The Pioneer. Dutt has also stated that Sharma told a reporter of a prominent Hindi daily to inform Dutt that making such allegations would negatively affect his professional future. However, Dutt has cited inci- dents to indicate that lack of action by Sharma abet- ted tiger deaths in Uttarakhand. Recently, Dutt had complained that Sharma had taken no action inspite of more than 100 letters being written to him with information about serious wildlife crimes. PNS lup u||+|+||+|J WilJli| u||ii+l +uJ u| i|+|iu| 8khT8h hkkYkh QRAhCh T he Jharkhand Government is all set to bat- tle out the snub coming from Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal dismissing States C25,000 crore claim from Coal India Limited (CIL). The matter is under consideration at the Chief Ministers level and senior officials are in the process of holding consultations before putting the demand afresh with the Centre. We will pursue the case and take the money from the coal company. Our demand is correct and we stand by it, CM Hemant Soren said. When asked about delay in seek- ing surface rent against the coal bearing land being used by coal companies, especially CCL in Jharkhand, and why the similar demand not coming from other coal rich States, the CM replied, If any State has not demanded does it mean that you (Centre) would not give it? It is the right of the State. Coal comensalion slalemale: J'khand lo oose Cenlre's snub nation 05 NEW DELH SATURDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2014 NSHORT E 8Ek6h8: 6EhTE, 8TkTE8 ET hTI6E heW eIhi: The Sureme Courl on Friday issued nolice lo lhe Cenlre and lhe Slales on a lea or scraing a rule lhal allows use o red beacons on lhe vehicles o high dignilaries. A Bench headed by Juslice RM Lodha asked lhe aulhorilies lo ile resonse wilhin our weeks and osled lhe case or hearing on March 14. aa 8k6k8 EMkh I 'hEkhk, hEFEh8Ih' heW eIhi: Rahul 0andhi on Friday backed lhe longending demand o "0neRank, 0ne Fension" or ex servicemen assuring lhem lhal he will make all eorls lo ensure il is mel al lhe earliesl. " am on your side. undersland your concerns. You give your lie or lhe counlry, will do all lhal can lo see lhal your demands are mel," 0andhi said. 6MMTE 8hIIk'8 EkTh: EIhI VT heW eIhi: 0elhi 0overnmenl has leaded wilh lhe Sureme Courl lo commule dealh senlence o Khalislani lerrorisl 0evinderal Singh Bhullar lo lie imrisonmenl on lhe ground o his menlal illness. C60,000 IIhE I CZ66 8I8E heW eIhi: The Sureme Courl on Friday imosed a ine o Rs 5O,OOO on a 0overnmenl oicial or acceling a bribe o Rs 2G5 rom a conlraclor 2O years ago. hI8TY8hEETE E86kFE8 h8E Ih kFEX 6T heW eIhi: A hislorysheeler who was awarded dealh senlence or killing a oneyear old child escaed lhe noose wilh lhe Sureme Courl on Friday reducing his unishmenl lo 2O years in jail saying il is nol lhe raresl o rare case. Fk FkhEI E6MMEh8 hkIT h 8IkhTE heW eIhi: A Farliamenlary anel has come down heavily on 0overnmenl agencies or allowing slaughler o milch bualoes or meal exorl and has recommended lhal rules should be amended lo make il clear lhal only bulls can be bulchered or meal. k8khkM ThMk8 Q hEw 0ELh T he controversy surrounding the selection of 12 lawyers for appointment as Madras High Court judges took a cru- cial turn on Friday with the Supreme Court collegium returning the entire list to the High Court for reconsideration. This is the first time that the apex court collegium has struck down recommendations in such large numbers. A few among the list of 12 names rec- ommended by the HC col- legium had attracted contro- versy after a section of the Madras High Court bar accused of caste bias in the selection process. According to sources, the SC collegium which met on Thursday evening decided that in the light of the prevailing controversy over the names, it was in the fitness of things to request the HC to reconsider the list. Accordingly, a note was forwarded by the CJIs office to the Madras HC Chief Justice conveying the decision. There are 15 vacancies in the HC, for which a fresh consultation would now be held. The controversy over the names had raised an ugly head in the Madras High Court with a PIL filed by a senior lawyer R Gandhi claiming pref- erence being given to Brahmins in the selection process. He demanded a recall of the names and a transparent selection process. A sitting judge too joined issue with the appoint- ments as he barged into the court hearing the PIL and reg- istered his protest to the names being recommended. Lawyer bodies in the State alleged that the list of 12 names was conspicuous by the pres- ence of four persons from the same community of which one was a lawyer who did not fit within the criteria of having adequate practice. Apparently, the lawyers alleged that unqual- ified persons had made it to the list while meritorious persons were overlooked. A memorandum drafted by the Forum for Integrity in Governance, a lawyer body based in Chennai wrote to the President alleging unhealthy lobbying in finalising the names. The forum, comprising of senior lawyers from the Madras Bar, said, We under- stand that allegations abound about candidates being chosen based on criteria far removed from demonstrated or proven calibre, knowledge, expertise and integrity. Instead they are being chosen based on divisive considerations and intense unhealthy lobbying. The apex court on January 13 this year directed the Central Government to go ahead with the process of appointment of the 12 names, after the Centre had approached it against order passed by Madras HC on Gandhis PIL. Although the court was silent on the criteria for selection, it argued that the process of selection cannot be subject to judicial review in this manner. It ordered the matters before the HC to be transferred to the apex court. Fh8 Q hEw 0ELh T he Government seems keen on increasing the retirement age of High Court judges from 62 to 65 years. The Law Ministry on Friday asked the Lok Sabha Secretariat to bring up the Bill in this regard for passage in the ongoing Parliament Session that ends on February 21. The Bill is pending consideration since 2011. The Law Ministry had on February 5 sent a notice to the Lok Sabha Secretary General to present the Constitution (114 th Amendment) Bill, 2010 for discussion in Lok Sabha. On December 28, 2011 amid pandemonium on Telangana issue, the Bill was taken up for discussion but remained inconclusive. By increasing the age of retirement of HC judges to 65, it will attain parity with the super- annuation age fixed for SC judges. Besides, it will extend the services of 639 judges of the 24 High Courts in the country by another three years, thus helping in curbing huge arrears of cases. Over 40 lakh cases are pending in the High Courts which are facing a shortfall of 267 judges, as per the latest official data. But, the Law Ministry would need the sup- port of other political parties as the bill seeking to amend the Constitution would require sup- port of two-third members present and voting in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The main Opposition BJP has said that if HC judges were to retire at 65, they should not get any post- retirement assignments. The last time the retirement age of HC judges was tinkered was in 1963 when it was increased from 60 to 62 years. Law Minister Kapil Sibal had recently told the Lok Sabha in a written reply that the bill will facilitate utili- sation of knowledge, experience and wisdom of the judges for a longer period. Fh8 Q hEw 0ELh T he Supreme Court on Friday set out to examine the policy of the Centre to res- cue Indian sailors held captive by pirates on high seas. The occasion for the Court to consider the issue came on two PILs, one filed by a lawyer in public interest and another by the wife of an officer held hostage by Somalian pirates. The bench of Justices TS Thakur and C Nagappan asked the Centre to inform in six weeks as to what protocol or procedure was followed once information is received about any Indian gone missing on high seas. Where an Indian nation- al is lost on high seas, how does the Government of India react to the situation, the bench asked, adding, Do you (Centre) have a protocol or a procedure by which you take up the matter with the Embassy concerned, the various chan- nels of communication, and bilateral arrangements. The remarks came on a petition by one Rajni Singh, whose husband was on the ship MV Asphalt Venture when it was hijacked by Somalian pirates on September 28, 2010 and another by lawyer Gaurav Kumar Bansal, who sought guidelines in this regard. The bench said, In this country when somebody goes missing there is a procedure to be followed. But in this case, if an Indian national is taken away, there may be a procedure by which we may judge your actions. Ministry of External Affairs informed the Court that the Centre had indicated steps taken by it in an affidavit. But the bench said, It may not be sufficient. Any time such thing happens any action taken must be predictable for people of this country and not a knee- jerk reaction. The Court even added that If the procedure is not sufficient, we may even add to that. Fh8 Q hEw 0ELh O n a day when parents of Arunachal Pradesh boy Nido Tania met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to demand capital punishment for their sons killers, the Supreme Court issued notice on a PIL to frame guidelines against racial dis- crimination following disturbing incidents of violence targeting North-East residents in Delhi. After an initial hesitation to entertain the PIL filed by seven lawyers of the Supreme Court, the bench of Chief Justice P Sathasivam and Justice Ranjan Gogoi on Friday decided to seek responses from States and Centre on the issue of framing guidelines to curb racial dis- crimination. The matter is expected to be taken up after four weeks. Meanwhile, the parents of Arunachal Pradesh youth Nido Tania, who died following an alleged racist attack in Delhi, met the Prime Minister to demand capital punishment for the perpetrators of the crime. Tania had arrived in south Delhis Lajpat Nagar on January 29 to visit a friend when a shop owner passed remarks on his hair style. This led to a brawl and due to the impact of the blows he succumbed to his injuries the next day. The victims father Nido Pavitra urged PM to declare January 30 as national anti- racism day in the country and urged the Centre to install a statue in memory of their son in the national capital. The meeting lasted for 30 minutes, which ended with presentation of a memoran- dum of 10 demands. The parents were accom- panied by Arunachal Pradesh MP Takam Sanjoy. Prime Minister assured to provide safety to people from North East. Nidos death catalyzed the North East community to protest the ongoing atrocity and harassment suffered by them. The incident was fol- lowed by stabbing of a Manipuri youth and molesta- tion of two North East girls in the Capital. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who argued the PIL, sought urgent curbs against racial discrimination but the Court pointed out that identi- cal matter was pending in Delhi HC. The way Delhi HC has proceeded is apprecia- ble. They will be restricted if we issue notice, it said. Rohatgi pointed out that Delhi HC cannot pass orders for the entire country. A connected PIL referred to discrimination against Biharis in Maharashtra. The court was convinced to issue notice even as it clarified that the decision to entertain the PIL will not inhibit the Delhi HC to proceed on this issue. Fh8 QhEw 0ELh T he Supreme Court on Friday restrained the Centre from collecting service tax from the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam after the man- aging body of the religious shrine questioned how religious practices including offering of aarti, could be brought under the service tax regime. A bench of Justices AK Patnaik and FM Ibrahim Kalifulla sought response of Finance Ministrys Department of Revenue within two weeks. In the meantime, it directed, no coercive steps should be taken to levy service tax. Senior advocate K Parasaran and advocate Sridhar Potaraju, who appeared for the temple trust challenged the constitutional validity of the Finance Act which violated fundamental rights of religious trusts to be run independently since right to practice faith was a fundamental right. The religious body questioned the jurisdiction of the Finance Ministry and its agencies to apply and levy service tax under the Act as amended from May 1, 2011 on the accommodation provided by the body to pilgrims visiting the holy shrine. Further, the question now to be considered will be whether reli- gious practices could be taxed. The amount in tax could be anywhere beyond Rs 2 crore. RACALDSCPMNATON Notice to States, Centre on PL seeling norms Don't levy tax on Tirupati shrine for now, Centre told Fh8 Q hEw 0ELh T he National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has served a notice for revo- cation of contract to the Delhi- Jaipur highway developer for poor upkeep of the 277-km stretch of road. The Governments move comes after the developer, Pink City Expressway, did not pay heed to its several reminders for speeding up the work for maintenance of the stretch. The NHAI is also upset with it as the developer has also failed to meet the December 2011 deadline set for highway expansion. The expansion work start- ed in 2009 and we were expect- ing a completion by December 2011. It is more than two years since the deadline and the developer is still unwilling to commit on a completion date, said an official. This is the final warning. We have sent them a notice asking them to perform or quit. There is no scope for further negotiation, he said. Vijay Chibber, secretary at Ministry of Roads, Highways and Transport also supported NHAIs decision for sending a termination notice to the developer. The private developer is expected to submit their response to the government within a fortnight. Now it is will be up to the developer to appease the NHAI by setting themselves a definite deadline for project completion and assurance of quality up keep at the stretch in their response, said the official. Failing to which, the bankers (in this case the IDBI Bank) will get a window peri- od of about six months to find a new developer for the project or else they will have to sur- render the project to the NHAI, he said. According to the officials the developer has been given several reminders before being sent the notice. This step should not only push this developer to perform but should also serve as a wake up call to all other private devel- opers who are repeated miss- ing deadlines, said the official. This decision of handling over contract to a new devel- oper in the situation of failure of the present developer to perform is fair for all com- muters who have had to pay the mandatory toll charges despite poor travel and road facilities, he said. ||Al |1 |u|i |u| |1u+|iu| u| u|||+| DELH-JAPURHGHWAY The Government's move comes after the developer, Pink City Expressway, did not pay heed to its several reminders for speeding up the work for maintenance of the stretch. The NHA is also upset with it as the developer has also failed to meet the December 2011 deadline set for highway expansion Govt leen to increase HC juoges` retirement age The Law Ministry will need the support of other political parties as the Bill seeking to amend the Constitution would require support of two-third members present and voting in both the Houses The last time the retirement age of HC judges was tinkered was in 196S when it was increased from 60 to 62 years. Law Minister Kapil Sibal had recently told the Lok Sabha in a written reply that the Bill will facilitate utilisation of knowledge, experience and wisdom of the judges for a longer period SC |u /+|i| |u puli] u| +p|i1 +ilu| Top court was convinced to issue notice even as it clarified that the decision to entertain the PL will not inhibit the Delhi HC to proceed on this issue 80 asks 0 t0 rec0asI4er aames SELECTONOFMADRASHCJUDGES CONTROVERSY Y This is lhe irsl lime lhal lhe aex courl collegium has slruck down recommendalions in such large numbers Y A ew among lhe lisl o 12 had allracled conlroversy aler a seclion o lhe Madras hC bar accused o casle bias in lhe seleclion rocess Y The conlroversy had raised an ugly head in lhe Madras hC wilh a FL claiming reerence being given lo Brahmins in lhe seleclion rocess Y The lawyers alleged lhal unqualiied ersons had made il lo lhe lisl while merilorious ersons were overlooked F00R uFKEEF NEW DELH SATURDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2014 nation 06 Fh8 Q hEw 0ELh T he main Opposition BJP on Friday suggested that the UPA Government could still work towards "a larger con- sensus" on issues like creation of a Capital for 'Seemandhra' and compensating the region for loss of revenue caused by the division of Andhra Pradesh. Stating that though the Prime Minister's Office and Home Ministry "are complete- ly paralysed" on account of the opposition "from within" , Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said it was not too late to resolve the issue by addressing the key issues at hand. "Creation of a capital for Seemandhra, eventual cre- ation of a separate High Court in Seemandhra, compensating the region with regard to the loss of revenue caused by a bifurcation, comfort level with regard to water and power in the regions are amongst other issues which are capable of being resolved," the senior BJP leader said. He recalled how the BJP- led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had "amicably" resolved these issues while cre- ating the three States of Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh. Jaitley said the causes of the parliamentary stalemate and the ugly scenes on Thursday "are essentially UPA-provoked." He alleged that no effort has been made by the Government to reconcile the differences between represen- tatives of Telangana and Seemandhra. "The Government has not provided a forum for conciliation. Parliament is unable to discuss the aspirations of the two regions. In the process Indian democracy continues to get a bad name," said the BJP leader. Terming the incident as "disgraceful" and "sad" for Parliament, BJP veteran LK Advani attacked the Government, saying it was hell-bent on getting the Bill passed anyhow even if it means suspension or expulsion of members. He said the Congress party is solely responsible for it. On Thursday Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj blamed the Government for the impasse on the Telangana issue adding the BJP would now not initiate any dialogue with the Government on the issue. Meanwhile, YSR Congress Party chief Jaganmohan Reddy, suspended on Thursday along with 15 other Lok Sabha MPs by Speaker Meira Kumar, on Friday met BJP president Rajnath Singh and sought his support against the move to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh. "We (Singh and himself) had a very detailed discussion on the topic. He assured us that he would be discussing the matter with his party col- leagues and a decision (on the Telangana Bill issue) would be taken very soon," Reddy said. "I am hopeful that wisdom would dawn upon all Opposition parties and all of them would stand up against this injustice," Reddy said. Fh8 Q hY0ERABA0 N ormal life remained paral- ysed in Seemandhra region on second consecutive day as the strike called by anti- Telangana organisations and political parties was total and peaceful. With State-owned buses remaining confined to the depots, the transport system had come to a grinding halt and thousands of passengers were stranded across the 13 dis- tricts of coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema. Security was tightened and additional police and Central security forces were deployed to prevent any untoward incidents. Opponents of Telangana State took out protest rallies and held demonstrations in all the major cities and towns in the two regions. Processions were taken out in Vijaywada, Visakhapatanam, Tirupati, Anantapur, Guntur, Kadapa and Kurnool. Even as the political squab- bling over the Telangana Bill was continuing in the nation- al capital, the strike called by Samaikya Rashtra Parirakshana Vedika was sup- ported by the YSR Congress Party and Telugu Desam Party demanding that the State should not be divided. While the Central Government and Congress leadership maintained that Telangana Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on Thursday, the opponents including the Seemandhra MPs of Congress party claimed that the Bill was not introduced. All eyes were focused on the main Opposition BJP as it also stressed that technically the Bill was yet to be intro- duced in Parliament. But State BJP president G Kishan Reddy said that there was no need for any fear or anx- iety among the supporter of Telangana. Top leaders of our party have reassured me that there was no change in the posi- tion of the party on Telangana. They only want the Central Government to solve the prob- lems of Seemandhra region. Lashing out at the State MPs who created a ruckus in Parliament on Thursday, Kishan Reddy demanded that they should be disqualified from contesting the elections in future. They have spoiled the good name of Andhra Pradesh, he said. Meanwhile doctors were shifting Telugu Desam Party MP from Andhra K Narayana to Mumbai. He had suffered heart attack during the trouble in the Lok Sabha when the Congress MP from Andhra L Rajagopal used a pepper spray on other members as a mark of protest against the introduction of Telangana Bill. Talking to reporters on Friday L Rajagopal admitted that what he did was wrong but he did it under unavoidable cir- cumstances. I did in self defence, he said. He demand- ed that the reasons and the cir- cumstances in which he did it should be investigated. 100 MPs attacked me at the behest of Congress high command, he alleged. To save myself I had to use the spray but it should not have happened. I regret it, he said. L Rajagopal was among the 16 members suspended by Lok Sabha speaker after yesterdays pandemonium in the House. Central Minister from Seemandhra Kavuri Sambasiva Rao said that if the UPA Government accepts the three amendments to the Telangana Bill, the Seeandhra MPs will support it. The amendments include making Hyderabad Union Territory for at least 10 years, merging two Rayalaseema districts with Telangana to make it Rayala Telangana State and also merg- ing Bhadrachalam division with Andhra. Divi di ng Andhra Pradesh without any scientif- ic basis is not good for the State as well as the entire country, he said after a meet- ing of Seemandhra MPs. kMkhkTh TEWkY Q FAThA W hile reacting over the pepper spray incident in Lok Sabha, the Bihar Chief Minister on Friday strongly condemned it. He said that every political party and mem- bers should sit together to ensure such incidents would not be repeated in future. He also advocated for self-regula- tion by the members of House. I donot find words to condemn such an incident but whatever has happened is unprecedented and should not have happenedit cant be pardoned, said Nitish Kumar on the sidelines of the Bihar Legislative Assembly. Kumar, who had been member of Lok Sabha four times and Union Cabinet Minister thrice during NDA Government also said that there was a need for self-regu- lation by the peoples repre- sentatives so that such a situa- tion was not repeated in future. When asked was there any need of frisking the Parliamentarians too, Nitish Kumar said, "Intensification of frisking of the House mem- bers will not solve the problem as the solution lies in the self- regulation of behaviors. The need of the hour for everyone is to sit and ponder over the incident to avoid its recurrence in future, he added further. Every member has a constitutional right to express ones views in Parliament or any other Legislative body but it should be within the laid down decorum and tradition, he said. The nine-day Budget ses- sion of the Bihar legislature began on Friday with the Governors short speech. The Opposition parties have decided to raise issue uncomfortable to the State Government. 81F Waats Iarer I c0aseas0s u||+ Su|||J| RJJ] +|J Pu||+| P|+||+|+| +lu| Wi|| u||| ll+|+|+ Cu|| |P, Ju|i| + p| u||||, i| |W l|i u| ||iJ+] Pll Meira Kumar calls emergency anel meel on house securily Soomandhara stir a hit on Day 2 too Ensure house eer sray doesn'l reeal, says CM hilish TELANGANACAULDPON ntensification of frisking of the House members will not solve the problem as the solution lies in the self- regulation of behaviours Fh8 QhEw 0ELh S trongly condemning the pep- per spray attack and the unruly incidents, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has con- vened an emergency meeting of the Committee on Security in Parliament Complex on Monday. The main agenda of the meeting is expected to be the consideration of frisking of MPs before entering the Hall and to discuss further actions including referring such acts to the police, said sources. The Speaker decided to con- vene the meeting after several MPs filed complaints on the unruly incidents of Thursday. The MPs demanded for referring the matter to the police against the errant colleagues including the pepper sprayer L Rajagopal. The Committee on Security is headed by Deputy Speaker Karia Munda. "In order to consider the events in the House on Thursday, the Speaker has directed that an emergency meeting of the Committee on Security in Parliament Complex should be called on Monday," a Lok Sabha Secretariat release said. The Committee will be examining all security-related matters including the means to prevent bringing of dangerous and life-threatening material into the Chamber of the House by the MPs, it said. "The pros and cons about the various security measures that should be adopt- ed will be considered in detail by the Committee", the release said without elaborating on the mechanism to be adopted. nation 07 NEW DELH SATURDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2014 kMkhkTh TEWkI Q FAThA B ihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar got another jolt on Friday when his close associate and MLC Devesh Chandra Thakur decided to part ways with the JD(U). Thakur told mediapersons that he had decided to contest the upcoming State Council poll as an Independent candi- date. Now I want to come out of the cage and do not want myself to confine with one polit- ical party as Ive friends from all stream of social and political life, Thakur said. He has been the English face of the JD(U) on national news channels. Though he denied that he would join any other political party now, but said that such issues could be addressed later on. For the time now Im say- ing that Ill contest the State Council poll independently, he said. The buzz in political cor- ridor of the JD(U) is that Thakur first wanted nomina- tion for the Rajya Sabha seat but when that was denied he wished to contest the upcom- ing Lok Sabha poll from Sheohar. After the JD(U) did not agree with that, he decid- ed to part ways with Nitish. Even in cages the birds survive but they wish to come out of itso now I too want to come out of the cage, he told mediapersons while par- ticipating in the State legisla- tive Council which started from Friday. Thakur had a tete-e-tete with Nitish Kumar in the CMs chamber inside the State Assembly before coming out to declare his decision. But, he refused to make any comment on Kumar. Are you not happy with the way CM runs the party or functions? Its not my habit to criti- cise a person with whom I have spent my time...My per- sonal and social relations with Nitish will remain as it has been, he said. Meanwhile in another tremor of sort, JD(U) leader and MLC Maha Chander Singh, who recently deserted t he Congress part y and joined the JD(U), declared he would contest the upcoming Lok Sabha poll from Munger constituency. Yes, Ive conveyed my wish to Nitish Kumar. Now, I wish to serve my own people at the place where I was born, he told the mediamen outside the State Legislative Assembly. Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lallan Singh, a close aide and party colleague of Nitish Kumar currently rep- resent the upper caste domi- nated Munger constituency. Now if Nitish Kumar will field Maha Chander Singh from Munger he would have to deny party ticket to Lal l an Si ngh el se Maha Chander Singh, like others, too will come out of his flock, said a JD(U) leader. But, the JD(U) leaders are putting brave faces on such uncalled for developments taking place in the party. The party has not decided tickets on Lok Sabha yetso, Maha Chander Singh has just pre- sented his wish to contest from Mungernothing else, said JD(U) leader party MLC Neeraj Singh. The Opposition is gloating over the development. All these developments taking place in JD(U) are clear signals that all is not well with the party and everyone wants to jump out of the sinking ship, said BJP leader Giriraj Singh. Earlier, JD(U) MLA and Minister Praveen Amanullah had quit the party to join the AAP and party MLA Ramai Ram had announced to contest the Lok Sabha poll from Hajipur reserved constituency at all cost. 8kk 8EhFTk Q K0LKATA T here is euphoria in Trinamool Congress after Gandhian activist Anna Hazares decision to campaign for Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in her race to prime ministership. The insiders say, the ecsta- sy springs not only from the belief that Annas support would win the party some cru- cial seats outside Bengal but also from the fact that the vet- eran Gandhians endorsement of Banerjee simplicity could put a coating on the corruption blot on her Government in her own State. Being an old Gandhian, Annaji has a fare idea of who is corrupt and who is not. So he has rightly decided to back Mamata di. And one is sure she woul d scal e f urther heights and serve the coun- try and Bengal in far better manner than she has been now, said Firhad Hakim a Bengal Minister. Banerjee would meet the countrys tallest social activist on February 18 in Delhi, a day after the Bengal Government placed its Budget in the State Assembly. The duo would decide in the meeting about the modal- ities of the joint-campaign, insiders said wondering whether it would be possible for Anna to campaign for the Trinamool in Bengal. "It seems that Hazareji may not be able to campaign in Bengal. He will rather cam- paign in the six States from where we may contest" a senior leader said. Experts however felt the Trinamool was reluctant to bring the Gandhian activist to Bengal "lest he is flooded with complaints of corrup- tions and mal-governance in the State." Earlier Hazare was impressed by the way "she lives in a 10x12 room, wears slip- pers." He said "I back her can- didate for Prime Minister." He was also peeved with the fact that none of the other outfits save Banerjee wrote him back about what they thought about his 18-point agenda post elec- tions. Startled by the remarkable attendance in the recently con- cluded rallies of BJP and the Left Front in Kolkata, Trinamool workers feel that Anna's backing would provide a huge shot in the Chief Minister's arm and help the party salvage its sullied image on issues like corruption and dipping law and order. "The Left, Congress and the BJP have teamed up to defeat Mamataji who is the choice of the Maa Maati Manush and are applying all sorts of tricks to destabilise her Government in Bengal. But Annaji's support for Mamata Banerjee will definitely help her cause in a big way. We feel elat- ed," said another Minister insisting again "Banerjee is the cleanest politician in the coun- try." Hazare had earlier extend- ed her support for Banerjee and offered to campaign for her in the coming general elections. This after former railway Minister Mukul Roy and MP KD Singh met him at his resi- dence a couple of days ago. hkYkh kVE Q 0Ah0hh0AR I n politics it is said that there is no permanent foe or friend. The case of Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP) and its leaders is only backing the age-old saying. Amid all the speculations, finally GPP is set to merge with the Bhartiya Janata Party, most probably on February 20 in the presence of BJPs Prime Ministerial can- didate Narendra Modi. Confirming the develop- ment, current president of GPP, Gordhan Zadaphia said that the party workers have passed a resolution and given him authority to take decision on the merger with the most suit- able political party. Talking to The Pioneer, Zadaphia indicated that the GPP leadership including him are from RSS background and they would like to join the party having 'Similar Ideology'. According to Zadaphia, though he parted from BJP and estab- lished his own Maha Gujarat Janata Party (MJP), its ideolo- gy was based on the thoughts of Dindayal Upadhyay and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee. "When Keshubhai decided to form new political outfit, I supported him and allowed MJP to merge with GPP in 2012 ahead of the assembly polls based on ideological sim- ilarity," said Zadaphia. kE8T Vk8kI Q BAh0AL0RE A s anticipated Karnataka Chi ef Mi ni ster Siddaramaiah on Friday pre- sented an election Budget, a please all, ahead of 2014 gen- eral elections. Siddaramaiah, a Congress CM who believes in politics of appeasement and vote-bank politics has chiseled his Budget 2014-15 to the tune of party ideology as Karnataka is a crucial State in the south for the party. Presenting his Budget 2014-15 in the Assembly, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah tried to play usual rhetoric in his Budget but gave some sops to farmers and minorities. This is his record ninth Budget and second as Chief Minister who holds the Finance portfolio. Karnatakas Budget esti- mates for 2014-15 indicated that the total receipts will be C1,36,249 crores comprising revenue receipts of C1,11,039 crores and capital receipts of C25,210 crores which includes borrowings of C25,042 crores. The revenue surplus is esti- mated at C281 crore. Siddaramaiah as expected concentrated more towards rural poor and farming sector. Siddaramaiah raised the ceil- ing of the interest free agricul- tural loans to C3 lakhs from the earlier C2 lakhs and farm loans between C3 lakhs and C 10 lakhs will be provided at an interest rate of 3 per cent. The CM who has been the champion of backward classes has introduced several schemes and incentives for the nomadic tribes, the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes apart from the backward classes. Gourava Bhagya for women, Krishi Bhagya for farmers, revision of Bhagya Lakshmi scheme, interest-free loan of up to C3 lakh for farm- ers, health cards and provision of 102 ambulance service for children on the lines of 108 ambulances are among the var- ious features of C1.38 lakh crore Budget for the year 2014-15 as against C1.21 lakh crore Budget presented last year. khF 8hkMk Q 0uwAhAT W ith the Assam Government mulling a proposal to dehorn some of the famous one-horned rhinos, sev- eral civil society organisations as well as conservation groups in the State has opposed the move. Failed to check the poach- ing of one-horned rhinos in Assam, the Government is at present mulling a proposal to dehorn the rhinos like some of the African nations, which claimed to have succeeded in controlling the rhino poaching after dehorning those. We have received some proposals to dehorn the rhinos, which we are planning to translocate to Laokhowa and Burhachapori Wildlife Sanctuary this year, Assam Forest Minister Rockybul Hussain recently informed the State Assembly. He informed the House that the Government has constituted an expert com- mittee to look into the feasibil- ity of dehorning the rhinos to save them from poaching. However, Natures Beckon, an Assam based wildlife con- servation group, has questioned the legality of the move and said that it would have severe impact on the animal and on the con- servationists and society as well. The horn has natural sig- nificance for the rhinos. So after dehorning, the rhinos would definitely have biological impact on them. Again, if the Government dehorns the rhino only because of the fact that they cannot stop poaching, it would affect the conservationist and people of the society-as it would simply mean bowing down to the poachers, said Soumyadeep Datta, secretary of the Nature's Beckon. He said that the dehorning had not been accept- ed as successful model any- where in the world. Datta also slammed the whole process of rhino translo- cation and said that the whole project of rhino translocation is aimed at making money by a section of people and organisa- tion. The rhinos from the pro- tected areas of Assam choose their habitats themselves natu- rally. The rhinos from Kaziranga go to Panidehing and even to Majuli-it is their natural selec- tion of habitat. The Governmenrt had failed to give protection to the animal and forcefully bring them back to the parks, he said. He said that dehorning is not justified as the animal has a threat to its life owing to its horn this only suggests the Governments helplessness to stop a crime. It may be men- tioned here that Assam has 2,552 rhinos at present. While Kaziranga National Park in Assam has the highest rhino population with 2,329 rhinos, the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary and Orang National Park have 100 rhinos each. The Manas National Park has about 23 rhinos at present. The Governments move came after close to 100 rhinos had already been killed by poachers inside the protected areas of the State within last five years from 2008 to 2013. Although the Government had taken up several steps to stop poaching, yet poaching contin- ues unabated in Assam. |uW+|J Blu +|i1i| +||] '|+|||+l+ (|| |+|+|+) i| + |+ll] i| |ul|+|+ u| ||iJ+] Ju|i| + p|u|| ++i|| || w| B|+l u1||||| Pll a0ther 10[0) Iea4er rev0Its 0FF likely lo merge wilh BJF on Feb 2O Assam lan to save rlinos ly oelorning stirs oelate %LJ MROW WR %LKDU &0 U hilish Kumar's close associale and MLC 0evesh Chandra Thakur has decided lo conlesl lhe ucoming Slale Council oll as an ndeendenl candidale U J0(u) leader and MLC Maha Chander Singh declared he would conlesl lhe ucoming LS oll rom Munger h0w wAhT T0 C0ME 0uT 0F ThE CA0E Ah0 00 h0T wAhT MYSELF T0 C0hFhE wTh 0hE FARTY - 0EvESh ChAh0RA ThAKuR Mamata men elateo at Anna suort, ouo to meet on !el 1S WBanerjee would meel lhe counlry's lallesl social aclivisl on February 18 in 0elhi WExerls however ell lhe Trinamool was reluclanl lo bring lhe 0andhian aclivisl lo Bengal Wha/are was imressed by lhe way 'she lives in a 1Ox12 room, wears sliers Wha/are had earlier exlended suorl or Banerjee and oered lo camaign or her in lhe coming general eleclions WTrinamool workers eel lhal Anna's backing would rove a shol in lhe Chie Minisler's arm t seems that Hazareji may not be able to campaign in Bengal. He will rather campaign in the six States from where we may contest $7 $ */$1&( CM resenls 'oll Budgel' in Karnalaka O n May 27, India will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of Jawaharlal Nehru. It is difficult for todays Indians, used to fast-paced events and fre- netic news cycles, running from one blockbuster happening to another, to imagine what the passing of the great man meant for Indians of the time. For all his faults and despite the then-recent humiliation at the hands of China, Nehru was much cher- ished and seen as a pan-Indian patriarch. His death ended an era, began a period of volatility and triggered a genuine national mourning. Why is this relevant today, in a hard and bitter election season as India prepares to vote for the 16th Lok Sabha? It is being men- tioned for a strange, piquant coincidence that will mark not just a conjunction of dates but a larger closure in Indian political history. In May this year, a few days before Nehrus death anniversary perhaps, India will see a new Prime Minister come into office. Opinion polls suggest this new Prime Minister will not be from the Congress, or at least that incarnation of the Congress that was taken over and run by the fami ly of Nehru after his departure. The most recent opinion poll conducted by Times Now and C Voter and telecast on Thursday, February 13 predicts only 89 seats for the Congress and 202 for the BJP. These numbers may or may not be absolutely accurate. Other opinion polls there are one or two every week it would seem make for slight varia- tions. However the broad trends are the same. The Congress is in serious danger of falling below 100 seats, which would be its worst performance ever. The BJP is predicted to win 200 seats or thereabouts, which would be its best performance ever. Fifty years after Nehru, the political dynasty that still rules the Congress in his name faces its most compelling existential cri- sis. India has seen two dramatic rejections of the dynasty, in 1977 and 1989. The Congresss defeats of the 1990s dont quite count because the party wasnt led by a Nehru-Gandhi at that point (except in 1999) and there had not been a Nehru-Gandhi in power or wielding executive authority since Rajiv Gandhi demitted office. If the opinion polls are right, then 2014 will turn out to be as much of a watershed as 1977 or 1989, maybe greater. Why? The UPA Government has been around for a decade. Ms Sonia Gandhi and Mr Rahul Gandhi have been the faces of the establishment though they have not formally served in Government and are indelibly associated with the UPA. As such, an anti-incumbency vote against the UPA and a harsh sen- timent against a system of privi- lege and Nehru-Gandhi author- ity cannot be divorced. It is no longer easy to pretend people are angry with Mr Manmohan Singh, but are neutral or even sympa- thetic towards the Congress pres- ident and vice-president. The impending defeat will call into question the viability of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty as a political and electoral brand. Dissidents did leave the Congress in both 1977 and 1989. Indira Gandhi in fact had to split the party after that post-Emergency defeat. However, a vast number of loyalists and an all-India political network stayed true to her. Her son, Sanjay Gandhi, built on this with a new street-fighter energy from the admittedly thuggish Youth Congress of the 1970s. In 1989, the coalition era hadnt quite dawned and many in the Congress thought Rajiv Gandhi would be back in office sooner or later. In any case, the Congress remained the largest party by a mile. In all this, 2014 threatens to be different. There is little faith in Mr Rahul Gandhi emerging as a deci- sive, clear-headed political show- stopper who will electrify the public. His political acumen and electoral strategies are politely described as idealistic and long- term. Privately they have Congress functionaries tearing their hair. If the Congress indeed drops down to 89 seats (as the recent poll says), then recovery in the next election would mean a target of 125-135 seats, far from the 206 the party won in 2009 and even further from the single-party majority its old-timers still dream of. Quick fixes, like replacing Mr Rahul Gandhi with his sister on the basis of the specious belief that she is more of a peoples person, will hardly solve the larger problem. What is more likely is a fun- damental restructuring of power equations within the Congress. Any State-level stalwart who emerges in a post-2014 situation will either do so outside the Congress umbrel la or will demand a heavy price for iden- tifying with the Congress. He or she will dictate terms to Delhi. To give a real-life example, if YS Rajasekhara Reddy were to have died after the coming 2014 elec- tion rather than after the 2009 election the Nehru-Gandhis would have found it much more difficult to deny his son, YS Jaganmohan Reddy, an immedi- ate shot at the Chief Ministry of Andhra Pradesh. Apart from internal collapse, the Congress is also encountering a singularly determined opponent. The party has faced challenges before from the Swatantra Party to the old Jan Sangh, from the socialists to the Janata Party to, of course, regional parties. These parties have had a limited geo- graphical or demographic foot- print. Alternatively, they have just been short-lived. Also many (but not all) of them were led by those who had been influenced by the political culture of Delhi, con- structed substantially by the Congress and its family leadership. The BJP under Mr Narendra Modi differs from this old model on two counts. One, having run Gujarat for 12 years, Mr Modi rep- resents not just an alternative tra- dition in politics but also an alter- native tradition in governance. He would be keener than previous non-Congress politicians to distin- guish and product-differentiate himself from the prevailing Delhi framework. Mr Modi and his con- temporaries in the BJP includ- ing strong Chief Ministers who have made the Congress less com- petitive in several big States are part of a second generation in the BJP. This is the first all-India, non- Congress party that has effected a renewal and built on rather than frittered away the achieve- ments of its foundational leader- ship. Unlike many other Congress adversaries, it has not disappeared after the retirement or passing of one or two charismatic leaders. All of these are harsh realities for the Congress to deal with. On May 27, 1964, millions of Indians wept for Nehru. In May 2014, children and grandchildren of many of those very Indians will be glad to be rid of the Congress and its dynasts. History would have turned a page; India would have moved on. malikashok@gmail.com T he indings o recenl oinion olls lhal lhe hilish Kumarled Janala 0al (uniled) is rojecled lo are miserably in lhe coming Lok Sabha eleclion will surrise only lhose who had overeslimaled his hold over lhe eleclorale aler his arly snaed ils alliance wilh lhe Bharaliya Janala Farly. The Chie Minisler o Bihar and his colleagues in lhe arly had believed lhal lhey would emerge slronger aler breaking o on lhe issue o Mr harendra Modi, and did nol read - or did nol wish lo read - lhe growing surge o suorl or Mr Modi as lhe counlry's nexl Frime Minisler. Conlrary lo whal Mr hilish Kumar may say, lhere was never any ideology or rincile involved in his draslic decision lo end an alliance lhal was irmly in lhe driver's seal and oised lo wie oul lhe oosilion in lhe gen eral eleclion. The Bihar Chie Minisler allowed his ego and dislike or Mr Modi lo lake cenlreslage al lhe cosl o ragmalism. how, his arly slands isolaled in lhe ballle, having lo conlend wilh a nearcerlain CongressRashlriya Janala 0alLok Janshakli Farly alliance, besides a resurgenl BJF in lhe Slale. From all accounls, his arly is going lo be ushed lo lhe lhird lace. lhal haens, lhere is no excuse lhal Mr hilish Kumar can give. he will nol be able lo hide behind exlanalions o rin ciled olilics laking recedence over elecloral olilics, because he is no longer seen as a rinciled olilician. he used lhe 2OO2 violence in 0ujaral under Mr Modi's chie minislershi lo sna lies wilh lhe BJFled halional 0emocralic Alliance some monlhs ago, bul had no roblems in remain ing wilhin lhe h0A or more lhan a decade aler lhe incidenl haened. hol only had he sluck lo lhe alliance bul he was also a union Minisler dur ing lhe h0A rule. Feole are asking how Mr hilish Kumar's conscience suddenly woke u in 2O18. To rub sall inlo his wounds, lhe BJF seems lo have gained hel in lhe Slale aler he walked away rom lhe alliance. Thal lhe J0(u) has comlelely misread lhe silualion is clear rom lhe acl lhal even ils commilled suorlers would love lo see Mr Modi as lhe counlry's nexl Frime Minisler. This is nol good news or Mr hilish Kumar who is busy osilioning himsel as a rime minislerial choice - nol oenly bul lhrough sleallh - in case lhe socalled Third Fronl comes wilhin slriking dislance o orming lhe 0overnmenl in some miraculous manner. Bul even lhal dream o his will nol malerialise since lhere are as many claimanls lo lhe osl as lhere are lead ers in lhe yelloormed ronl, nol lo menlion lhe realily lhal no such ronl is going lo gel lhe eole's mandale. worse, we don'l really know i lhere is going lo be only lhe Third Fronl - or a ourlh as well. worried leaders o lhe J0(u), slaring al lhe wriling on lhe wall, musl be rivalely wondering whal can be done now lo salvage lhe silualion, even as lhe Modi juggernaul rolls on across Bihar, as il is doing in mosl o lhe counlry. T he lremendous success o lhe 20 Seclrum auclion is a resounding sla in lhe ace o /eroloss lheorisls such as union Minisler Kail Sibal and olher senior Congress leaders who had claimed lhal lhe 0overnmenl had incurred no losses when il dislribuled lhe seclrum on a dubiously imlemenled irsl comeirslserve basis in 2OO8. 0n Thursday, lhe ublic exchequer earned a who ing CG1,G12 crore uon lhe conclusion o a 1Odaylong auclion rocess lhal saw G8 rounds o bidding. This is aboul 5O er cenl more lhan lhe C4O,OOO crore lhe 0overnmenl had hoed lo earn lhis iscal rom lhe lelecom seclor, includ ing licence ees and seclrum charges among olher aymenls, according lo union Budgel eslimales. 0 course, lhe 0overnmenl will nol receive lhe enlire amounl in one shol - lhe money will low in over a eriod o 2O years - bul slill, lhe uronl aymenls rom lhe lelecom comanies will hel bridge lhe iscal deicil signiicanlly. n acl, lhe earnings rom lhe auclion should hel lhe Congress led uFA regime lo meel ils largel o keeing lhe iscal deicil lo 4.8 er cenl o lhe 0ross 0omeslic Froducl. This, no doubl, gives union Minisler or Finance F Chidambaram a reason lo smile, allhough il is ironical how Mr Sibal has been gloaling aboul il all. Lel us nol orgel lhal when lhe Comlroller and Audilor 0eneral had egged lhe losses rom lhe 20 scam al C1.7G lakh crore, lhe seni or Mi ni sler and olher Congressmen had scoed al lhe ig ures. They look lhe high moral ground, rocl ai med lhal lhe 0overnmenl's aim was nol merely lo increase ils revenues bul ensure ub lic welare, and soughl lo jusliy lhal somehow lhe larger good was besl served by lhrowing away recious nalional resource al dirl chea rices. The /eroloss lheorisls, in acl, er sisled wilh lheir inancial chicanery even aler lhe Sureme Courl in 2O12 cancelled all lhe 122 lelecom licences lhal had been raudulenlly dis lribuled by lhen Telecommunicalions Minisler A Raja and ordered lhal lhe licences be resold lo lhe highesl bid ders. Subsequenlly, lwo auclions were held - in hovember 2O12 and lhen in March 2O18. Togelher, lhey elched jusl aboul C1O,OOO crore. Each lime lhe /ero loss lheorisls louled lhe allry earnings as a vindicalion o lheir halscience argumenls. Bul il was clear lo even lhe layman lhal auclions ailed because lhe 0overnmenl had sel lhe base rice loo high. Some say lhal lhe uFA regime had wilully done il lo scullle lhe auclions and cul lhe CA0 down lo si/e This is a classic case o culling lhe nose lo sile lhe ace. Some have crilicised lhe high rices al which seclrum has been sold on lhe ground lhal lhe lelecom comanies will now ass on lhe cosls lo lhe con sumers. This argumenl holds no waler or lwo reasons. Firsl, lhe lelecom com anies will be aying lhe 0overnmenl over a long eriod o lime, so lhey will nol suer any sudden inancial shock. Second, as hislory slands roo, lhe con sumer's inleresl is besl rolecled by ree markel comelilion. Addilionally, when comared lo lhe rales al which 20 Seclrum has been sold in olher counlries, lhe rices here are nol exorbilanl, esecially when considering lhal ndia has one o lhe aslesl growing lelecom markels in lhe world. Ihe ter0I0ss the0rIsts 2G auction a success, Silal ano grou silenceo opinion 08 NEW DELH SATURDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2014 Jimes lave clangeo for tle Congress | |+] 2, !9c4, |illiu| u| l|Ji+| Wp| |u| |||u. l| |+] 2J!4, |ilJ|| +|J |+|J|ilJ|| u| |+|] u| ||u 1|] l|Ji+| Will | l+J |u | |iJ u| || Cu|| +|J i| J]|+|. |i|u|] WuulJ |+1 |u||J + p+ Is0Iate4, starIa at 4efeat Nitisl Kumar seems set to ay for lis arrogance 8_\\_g S\QY]c Sir This refers to the report, CAG vindicated, Congs zero loss claim busted (February 14). The Congress and Union Minister for Law and Justice Kapil Sibal may still claim that all this is only a myth, with the auc- tion held merely to assess the notional worth of the spectrum but with no real cash inflow. It could even be condemned as a diabolical Opposition plan to show up the 2G loss. Seriously however, the media should demand that Mr Sibal and his party explain the zero loss the- ory in the light of the success of the latest round of auctions. NS Rajan Bangalore 9^ce\dY^W 8Y^Tec Sir This refers to the contro- versy over Wendy Donigers book, The Hindus: An Alternative History. It is sad to see Indians carrying Hindu names bashing Hinduism because they want to sound secular. Does Lord Ganeshas trunk symbolise a limp phallus to Hindu believers? Of course it does not. The symbol- ism and iconography related to Lord Ganesha is captured well in the Wikipedia entry on Ganesha. But influenced by Paul Courtrights (from his Ganesa: Lord of Obstacles, Lord of Beginnings) far-fetched claims, even the Baltimore Museum seemed to buy into Courtrights interpretation that Ganeshas trunk represents a limp phallus so that Ganesha would not have sex with his mother Parvati. Do the secularists enjoy such lurid sen- tences in so-called great books? JS Acharya Hyderabad BYTYSe\Y^W bU\YWY_^ Sir This refers to the controver- sy over Wendy Donigers book, The Hindus: An Alternative History. Of late, the Western writ- ers aim is to diminish various manifestations of god, as wor- shipped by the Hindus, into laugh- able mythical caricatures. They assail the sanctity of the Bhagvad Gita as a book that is nothing more than a violent call to arms; they assault the morality of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Swami Vivekananda, two of the countrys greatest spiritual saints. Such profanities are apparent- ly part of their hidden agenda to systematically debase the very foundations of Sanatan dharma. Their goal appears to be for the academia, and eventually the mainstream society, to project Hindus as a people worshiping cartoon-like gods, adhering to an irrational scripture, and paying homage to despicable saints. Padmini Raghavendra Secunderabad 9^UVVUSdYfU =Y^YcdUb Sir This refers to the article, He saw nothing, he did nothing (February 13) by Pravin Sawhney. Mr AK Antony has been one of the most ineffective Defence Ministers the country has had. Even Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, who held the portfolio in the past, did a much better job just by virtue of his commitment to the defence of the country. Mr Antony has shown a complete lack of commitment and leadership. He has been interested in only trying to cul- tivate a clean image for himself even if it amounted to taking no decisions or postponing them. Rakesh Choudhary Via web www.dailypionoor.oom a e r W I t h a s s I 0 a k8hk MkIIk LETTERS T0 ThE E0T0R Wo must bring down tho digital divido. Wo oan't havo two ndias, ono raoing ahoad and anothor moving on a rovorso goar Gu|arat Chio Ministor Narondra Modi oan't danoo or sing; oan baroly aot. Thoy askod mo to danoo in <PVXR <XZT. was liko, 'Alright, 'm going to waddlo'. Aotor Alox Pottyor South Arioa is a muoh bottor plaoo to livo in now than it was booro 1994. Lio will oontinuo to ohango or bottor. South Arioa Prosidont Jaoob Zuma ThERE S LTTLE FATh h RAhuL 0Ah0h EMER0h0 AS A CLEARhEA0E0 F0LTCAL Sh0w ST0FFER. hS F0LTCAL ACuMEh Ah0 ELECT0RAL STRATE0ES ARE F0LTELY 0ESCRBE0 AS '0EALSTC' Ah0 'L0h0TERM' SOUNDBTE whea MFs I0se c0atr0I, 4em0cracy Is at erII T his reers lo lhe reorl, "The darkesl day" (February 18). haenings in lhe Lok Sabha on Thursday relecl lhe Congress's calaslrohic ail ure lo rolecl lhe dignily, lradilion and values o Farliamenl and democ racy. The arly's lo leadershi has losl conlrol over ils MFs. MFs behaves like criminals, lhen eole are ruled by laws criminals make. we ell roud as cili/ens o lhe world's largesl democracy, bul loday we eel ashamed. Farliamenl is becoming a ballleield where MFs are adorned wilh weaons nol o logical debale bul lhose like eer srays. our demo cralic desliny is lo be conlrolled by uncivilised reresenlalives who can nol be unished, lhen il's besl nol lo have such a syslem o democracy. The Congress musl learn lessons rom Ms Mamala Banerjee who has han dled lhe 0orkhaland issue adroilly. l cannol bulldo/e ils will over a large majorily o lhe eole o a Slale. l musl irsl win lhem over. IIam k 8hoWmik CP\[dZ S|J ]uu| |J|+| |u. IeIIersIopioneer@gmaiI.rom NEW DELH SATURDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2014 Offers of peace by the weaker party always mean confession of weakness, and an invitation to aggression Jinnah I n the last decade, starting with 2004, the Government of Pakistan has made about 10 peace overtures to various militant groups operating in the tribal bor- derlands of north-western Pakistan. Earlier known as Pakistani Taliban, these amor- phous groups came together in December 2007 to form what is now known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, popularly known in its acronymic form as the TTP. The latest round of negotiations underway at the moment is being touted as the last-ditch attempt by the Nawaz Sharif Government to reconcile the TTP with the Pakistani State. Media reports from Pakistan suggest that Nawaz changed his mind at the last minute on January 29, 2014, and invited the TTP yet another time for a dialogue, despite the fact that the same day the TTP had attacked paramil- itary forces in Karachi, and only two days earlier, parliamentarians of his party had okayed the decision to launch an opera- tion against the TTP! The unhappy background A brief overview of the events and cir- cumstances which led to the present state is in order here. Earlier in September 2013, closely following the endorsement by All Party Conference to hold dialogue with the TTP, the latter carried out an IED attack on Major General Sanaullah Khans vehi- cle in Upper Dir, vitiating the atmosphere for talks. The armys retaliation in the sub- sequent days to avenge Sanaullahs death, along with the killing of TTP chief Hakeemullah Mehsud in a drone attack on November 1, 2013, further worsened the situation. When the TTP chose the hardliner Fazlullah or Mullah Radio, as its leader, to succeed Hakeemullah, and there was a sudden upswing in militant attacks on the security forces, the talks looked almost impossible. With former Army chief Kayani in office till late November 2013, the Nawaz Government found it difficult to push for dialogue. Only after a change in the leadership in the army, with his own pick as the chief, Nawaz possibly found some legroom to try out yet another time if he could defuse the TTP through dialogue. As a sympathiser of the right-wing politics himself, perhaps, he wanted to exhaust all chances before giving the green signal to the army to go ahead. How the gamble is playing out In response to the Nawaz Governments formation of a four-mem- ber committee to carry the process for- ward, the TTP was quick to announce the formation of two different groups to mediate on its behalf. It formed a nine- member TTP shura, consisting of its underground leaders, to monitor the talks, and a three-member team of nego- tiators (originally five, including Imran Khan and Mufti Kifayatullah) to conduct dialogue with the Government-appoint- ed committee. Comprising Prof Mohammad Ibrahim of Jamaat-e-Islami, Maulana Samiul Haq, leader of his own faction of Jamiat Ulema- e-Islam (JUI), and Maulana Abdul Aziz, prayer leader of Lal Masjid, the TTP team has, after talks with the nine-member TTP shura, come out with its 15-point demands, which basically rephrase TTPs earlier demands rule of Sharia in Pakistan, release of TTP militants, stoppage of drone attacks, pull-out of government troops and handover security to local forces, initiation of Islamic jurisprudence and Islamic education, snapping of rela- tionship with the US, etc. The threat and the bargain Maulana Abdul Aziz, more than the other two of his colleagues, has proved the TTP right for having chosen himself as its representative. He has indicated that the government must remove its precondition of talks within the confines of the Pakistani Constitution, and has indirectly threatened the government with more suicide attacks if the demands are not met. After his return from North Waziristan, he told the media that if talks were to fail, the TTP would ready 500 female suicide bombers to unleash on security forces. Shahidullah Shahid, spokesperson of the TTP, has even gone further in a recent interview, and stated that the TTP would be happy with Fazlullah as the head of Pakistan State and Mullah Umar as the head of the Islamic Ummah or the Amir- ul-Momineen. He has also clearly stated that the Army of Pakistan is the principal enemy of the TTP and unless the gov- ernment declared ceasefire first, the TTP would continue with its attacks which are perfectly justified because they were in a state of war. His spirited defence of TTP ideology, enthusiastic presentation of facts, and continuation of attacks by the TTP suggest that the TTP considers Nawazs offer of dialogue as a confession of his governments weakness. The TTP, by seizing the opportunity thrown at them by Nawaz, has put the gov- ernment in a tight spot. For fear of upset- ting the TTP, the government has of late been rather muted on its precondition of holding talks within the limits of the Pakistani Constitution. The TTP is clear- ly leading the show and dictating the terms of discourse while the State appears dumb and undone. In a way, the TTP is seeking logical culmination of the process of Islamisation, which has gained legitima- cy in Pakistan over the years. Predilection of the State: Victim of its own strategy What explains the lack of timber in the States approach? It is the progressive con- cessions the State has made to the radical elements, especially since the 1980s, when conscious decision was taken by the mil- itary establishment to promote this con- stituency as a deterrent vis--vis India and as an enabler vis--vis Afghanistan. When the Frankenstein turned against its masters, the initial reaction was a sense of disbelief followed by unwillingness to acknowledge its presence. The very agen- cies that had quietly raised these forces over the years, grossly underestimated the ability of such groups to pose a challenge to the State. In the aftermath of 9/11 and attack on Afghanistan, when these ele- ments came home to roost, the army was confident it could strike a bargain with them and win them over to its side by alternate use of stick and carrot. But through a series of negotiations starting from Shakai Peace Agreement of April 2004, Sararogha Pact of February 2005, North Waziristan Agreement of September 2006 and Swat Peace negotia- tions of May 2008 the Army of Pakistan has realised that these elements are no longer under its control. They have acquired an autonomy of their own and intend to replace the army and take over the State of Pakistan. All their efforts to turn these elements against India and Afghanistan have also not helped. Their allegations that TTP is being funded and supported by the US, Afghan and Indian agencies smack of self- delusion. This is perfectly understandable. How else could the agencies in Pakistan explain this act of somersault by elements they so indulgently nurtured over the years? When the army finally decided to train its guns on these elements in Red Mosque or in Swat, it found how difficult it was to roll the process back. Even then, to this day, they continue to play favourites among these radical groups, not realising that they are enabling an environment where they are fast becoming insignificant actors. If Pakistan is to be raised as a fortress of Islam then, as Adnan Rashid of the TTP keeps arguing, what are these western-trained cops for, who even recruit non-believers to defend Pakistan? The armys tactic of using Lashkar-e- Tayyeba against the TTP or playing one TTP constituent against another may precipitate some short-term gains, but without a drastic change in its outlook and approach, it will not be able to deal with the challenge it has invented for itself. It has already reached a stage when it is unable to rally the jehadis around its anti- India policies. As Hakeemullah Mehsud, one-time recruit by the Pakistan Army to fight jehad in Kashmir reportedly stated, the Pakistani claim of organising jehad in Kashmir was a contradiction in terms because Pakistan was not an Islamic State. Therefore, he held firmly that the TTP had to work towards turning Pakistan into an Islamic State first, as per the recent reve- lations in the TTP monthly, Nawai Afghan Jihad. Dialogue, or turning point? Pakistan stands at an unwelcome turn- ing point of history. While the talks are unlikely to succeed, unless the government tamely surrenders, paradoxically quite, the liberal and pro-military conservative opin- ion makers in Pakistan today find them- selves on the same side of the fence advo- cating cancellation of dialogue and all out military action against the TTP. For example, the conservative Nawaiwaqt, usually pro-army but soft on Nawaz, came out with an editorial on February 13, titled, Kya hukumat muzakraat ki kamyabi ki khatir apna khatma bhi kabul karlegi? (Will the government accept its dis- solution to make the dialogue a success?) Similarly, the liberal commentators in the English media are abuzz with myriad arguments against the ongoing dialogue. Some of them even exhort the army to play its due role to save Pakistan. Will they come together to convince the army to step in, in case the dialogue fails, resulting in sharp decline in the security situation? Or will the apologists of dialogue retrace their steps and push for army operation? Both ways, the army stands to gain. One only hopes that the apparent (Nawaz) Sharif and Sharif (Raheel) harmony does not degenerate into Sharif vs Sharif show in the days to come. (Dr Ashok Behuria is Coordinator, South Asia Centre and Fellow at IDSA, New Delhi. The views expressed here are his own) I n the midst of widespread terrorist violence, the Nawaz Sharif Government in Pakistan has been trying to reconcile with the perpetrators of such violence through dia- logue. Ever since his victory in the Pakistani national election, Prime Minister Sharif has not hidden his attempt to make peace with the Tehreek-e- Taliban Pakistan (TTP) a coalition of diverse groups of militants in the country. The TTP, also known as Pakistani Taliban, is a distinct entity from the Afghan Taliban, which are the creation of the Pakistani ruling establishment; but the Pakistani Taliban are the declared enemy of the Pakistani Government. The Afghan Taliban ruled Afghanistan with the full sup- port of Islamabad for about five years and sought to establish an extreme form of Islamic rule over that country. Taking cue from its Afghan counterpart, the Pakistani Taliban have vowed to establish a similar form of Islamic rule in Pakistan and naturally the call has given migraine to the Pakistani estab- lishment. Although, the Pakistan Army, the ISI, various Islamic groups and Pakistani political parties have never been averse to the creation of an Islamic State with a Constitution and a judicial system based on Sharia Law in Afghanistan, but the same is not acceptable at home. Paradoxically, the TTP demands the implementation of Sharia Law and regards the current Pakistani Constitution as un-Islamic, but the Government has sought to negotiate peace with the TTP only under the terms and con- ditions of the countrys Constitution. The irony is successive Pakistani Governments have been rewarded as well as coerced by the United States to cooperate in the war against the Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, but the Pakistan Army and the ISI have half- heartedly sided with the US and have kept their lines of communication and assistance open with sections of Taliban fighters, particul arly the Haqqani Group. Pakistans clandestine sup- port to selected groups of the Afghan Taliban and open war against the TTP is a double- edged sword that threatens Pakistans continued existence as a unified political entity. Other groups of the Afghan Taliban and the TTP seem to have combined their efforts to uphold their ideology giving nightmares to Islamabad. The sanctuaries TTP allegedly enjoys on the Afghan side of the Pak-Afghan border are obviously under the protection of the Afghan Taliban and not the Karzai Government. As the United States pre- pares for the exit of its military from Afghanistan, Islamabad has no option but to fight a lone battle against elements of the Afghan Taliban and the TTP. The danger that Pakistan military perhaps perceives comes from the well demon- strated capability of the Afghan Taliban to withstand the might of the American and NATO forces. American departure from Afghanistan will surely inspire the TTP as well to pur- sue its own goals of Talibanisation of the entire Pakistani society. While the Afghan Taliban is fighting the occupant Americans on their soil, the TTP has waged a war against both the Pakistani Government and the Americans. Three US- related demands of the TTP as conditions to sign peace deal with the Pakistani Government happen to be: putting a full stop to US drone attacks, Pakistans withdrawal from US-led war on terrorism, and breaking of all relations with the United States. For all practical purposes, it appears to be an ultimatum to the Nawaz Sharif Government to choose sides between TTP and the United States. However, the first two demands are not difficult to achieve. Americans may ter- minate drone attacks after their military depart from Afghanistan. After 2014, there will be no US war on terrorism, at least in this part of Asia, and therefore Washington will not need Pakistani cooperation. But by demanding to end all relations with the US, the TTP is asking for the moon! Yet another duplicity that has landed Islamabad in trou- ble is clandestine permission to the CIA to launch drone attacks against selected targets and then publicly complain against the US highhandedness. Pakistans helplessness in tack- ling the TTP-inspired violence in the country is clearly dis- cernible. The TTP is clearly more fearful of the US drone attacks then the Pakistani secu- rity forces. Can Pakistan stem the spread of the TTP influence and its control to large parts of Pakistan after the US ceases its drone operations? This is a Herculean task. Yet another puzzle in coming years will be Pakistans ability to draw for- eign assistance after the US withdraws from Afghanistan. Billions of dollars of US money that flowed into the country is simply going to dry up. Rampant instability in the country and the lack of resources may immerse Pakistan in a whirlpool that could further embolden the TTP. All these possibilities have made it imperative for the Nawaz Sahrif Government to reach out to militant groups in general and the TTP in partic- ular for reconciliation. The United States started the war against terrorism in Afghanistan and subsequently extended it to Pakistan under the Obama Administration. But the Obama Administration first ended its military intervention in Iraq, and is now planning to exit from Afghanistan. With the Af- Pak strategy gone, Americas tactical alliance with Islamabad will most likely finish off. The world has witnessed the fate of Iraq after the ter- mination of US military oper- ations. The situation will most likely replicate in the Af-Pak region. The fallout of instabil- ity in this region will be enor- mous on India. Rubbing salt into its wounds, India can do little to promote peace within Pakistan. Moreover, Indias soft power will be endangered in Afghanistan post 2014. If the militancy prevails, Pakistani State may just implode. However, even if the Nawaz Sharif Government manages a peace accord, the danger to India will be no less. Islamabad may just try to divert the ire of these militant groups towards India. The time has actually come for Islamabad and New Delhi to cooperate in tackling terrorism together, especially because the US will most likely wash its hands off regional terrorist activities. Pakistans peace and prosperity partly hinges on its peaceful ties and constructive cooperation with India. But the psychological baggage and negative historical legacy needs to be cleaned before one can think of such a scenario. Both India and Pakistan gained from the US military intervention in Afghanistan, albeit in different ways. Both will face problems, though in diverse forms, after the US mil- itarys exit. Self-help in the region and abiding faith in bilateralism perhaps holds the answer. (The writer is the Chairperson of US Studies Programme, JNU) For ear o uselling lhe TTF, lhe hawa/ 0overnmenl has muled ils recondilion o holding lalks wilhin lhe limils o lhe Fakislani Conslilulion. Consequenlly, lhe TTF is seeking logical culminalion o lhe rocess o slamisalion, which has gained legilimacy in Fakislan over lhe years Jalls witl Jalilan: Confession of Pal wealness? 6hIhTkMkhI MkhkFkTk Srdeye {saturday special} 09 8aas 08, FakIIF eace may 4Ist0rh Ia4Ia's sereaIty k8hk 8EhIk Bolh ndia and Fakislan gained rom lhe uS mililary inlervenlion in Aghanislan, albeil in dierenl ways. Bolh will ace roblems, lhough in diverse orms, aler lhe uS mililary exils Aghanislan THEOTHEPVOCE l||+| S+Ji(ui, l||, |+J u| || P+|i|+| u1||||| |+|, p+| |u p|ul+li|+| l|i |+ul+|+ S+|iul |+( p|iu| |u ||i| |W u|||| i| ll+|+|+J AP NEW DELH SATURDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2014 money 10 Fh8 Q hEw 0ELh C ommon man got a much needed relief on Friday when inflation eased to an eight-month low of 5.05 per cent in January prompting India Inc to press the Reserve Bank to ease interest rates to perk up investment sentiment and kick start growth. The declining trajectory of inflation should spur the RBI to revisit its monetary pol- icy stance and cut policy rates to rejuvenate growth in the industry which has been hit by high interest costs and flagging investment, CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said. The second straight month of deceleration in inflation as measured by the wholesale price index has given a breather to the Reserve Bank, which has been trying to tame rising prices. WPI inflation was at 6.16 per cent in December com- pared with 7.52 per cent in November. Januarys inflation rate is the slowest since May 2013, when whol esal e prices increased 4.58 per cent. Inflation in food articles in January came down to 8.8 per cent as against 13.68 per cent in the preceding month, according to data released on Friday. Food inflation remains elevated in spite of the overall favourable Monsoon and agri- cultural production scenario, highlighting the demand-sup- ply gaps and issues related to the supply chain, ICRA Senior Economist Aditi Nayar said. As per the WPI data, prices of vegetables rose 16.6 per cent in January compared with a 57.33 per cent increase in December. Onion prices climbed 6.59 per cent compared with a 39.56 per cent increase in December. Potato prices climbed 21.73 per cent in January. Fruits were cheaper, as were protein-rich items such as eggs, meat and fish. However, inflation in milk inched up slightly to 7.22 per cent in January. Data released this week showed retai l inf l ation declined to a two-year low of 8.79 per cent in January, while industrial output in December shrank 0.6 per cent, prompting calls by industry for an inter- est rate cut to boost growth. We must and very urgent- ly concentrate on reviving growth for the manufacturing sector and lay special empha- sis on resolving problems of the MSME sector also, Ficci President Sidharth Birla said. According to the WPI data, inflation in primary articlesand in the fuel and power segment was at 6.84 per cent and 10.03 per cent, respectively. Inflation in manufactured products such as sugar and edi- ble oils was up marginally at 2.76 per cent on a monthly basis. The Reserve Bank had increased a key interest rate by 0.25 per cent to 8 per cent in its Third Quarter Review of Monetary Policy on January 28. The central bank factors both retail and wholesale price based inflation data in its monetary policy. In the absence of an upside surprise in the inflation trajectory or in inflation expec- tations, it is likely to hold pol- icy rates steady in the coming months, Barclays said in a research note. There have been demands from various quarters that the RBI should look at relaxing interest rates as inflation has showed signs of easing while the slowdown in industrial output has persisted. A Finance Ministry docu- ment said high inflation poses a big threat to growth as it would impair the ability of the Reserve Bank to cut interest rates to boost economic activ- ities. The outlook on growth is...Threatened by certain downside risks; the biggest of them being the high rate of inflation, which further dents the ability of the RBI to extend monetary policy support to growth revival, it said. Economic growth fell to a decade-low of 4.5 per cent in 2012-13 fiscal and is estimat- ed at 4.9 per cent in current financial year. IafIatI0a eases t0 8mth I0W 0f 5.05% hEW EIhI: Customers may lose freebies or have to pay a lit- tle more for mobile services in the days ahead as operators try to make up for C61,100 crore they have committed to Government in the latest spec- trum auction. Analysts are of the view that in order to maintain their profitability, the telecom oper- ators are expected to cut down the freebies and discounted minutes immediately, and may also increase the tariffs gradu- ally. In the spectrum auction, the Government has won, and industry lost. There will be additional debt of C61,000 crore on the operators which already have highly leveraged balance sheets, Deloitte Haskins & Sells Partner Hemant Joshi told the news agency. He said the overall outcome of the higher input costs should have been increase in tariffs, but due to the intense competition not all the increase in costs is likely to be passed on to the consumer. The operators are expect- ed to cut down discounts and freebies immediately and may also increase the tariffs gradu- ally, Joshi added. GSM industry body COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews said that its too early to comment on the tariff hike but certainly there would be an upward pressure on data tariffs, and discounted minutes would be reduced. There may also be 1-3 paisa hike in voice minutes in over nine months, he added. KPMG Partner Jaideep Ghosh also said that discounts will go away, although operators are not expected to raise head- line tariffs. The operators are not expected to increase the headline tariffs but they will cut down the discounted minutes and SMS packs, he added. The Government yesterday concluded the spectrum auction for 900 Mhz and 1800 Mhz bands for which it would get over C61,162 crore, far exceeding its own target. Vodafone, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Idea Cellular were the key bidders at the auc- tion, which saw participation of eight telecom companies. FTI IeIc0s may c0t 4Isc00ats,hIke tarIffs t0 ay C61k cr t0 60vt Fh8 QhEw 0ELh F resh buying institutions from lower levels and con- siderable stop in selling from domestic institutional investors (DII) helped the benchmark Sensex rebound from it four- month low and ended Fridays session 173.47 points up at 20,366.82. Nifty also surged by 47.25 points to 6,048.35 as buying emerged towards the end of the session in information tech- nology, oil & gas and technol- ogy shares. Rupee also rebounded and appreciated by 49 paise before finally closing at its three- week high of Rs 61.93 per dollar. Analysts said that the mar- ket situation also improved after wholesale price index (WPI) in January fell to a seven month low of 5.05 per cent. With WPI showing signs of eas- ing, hopes of rate cut by Reserve Bank of India increased, ana- lysts added. Sensex registered its biggest gain since the 256.61- point jump on January 15. Sensex surges 173 t Fh8 QhEw 0ELh R eliance Jio Infocomm Ltd on Friday said it has emerged as the biggest hold- er of liberalised spectrum after acquiring radiowaves in 14 out of 22 service areas for around C11,054 crore in the latest round of auction that ended on Thursday. With this acquisition, Reliance Jio will be the hold- er of the largest quantum of liberalised spectrum and with the longest residual spectrum life, Reliance Industries Ltd Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh D Ambani said in a state- ment. A liberalised spectrum regime allows companies the flexibility to provide services of their choice - voice, data, and video - in the alloted bands. The company also high- lighted that it has acquired spectrum at lower price com- pared to high rates paid by leading telecom companies in the premium 900 Mhz band. Biggest lileral sectrum loloer for molile liz, says Reliance ]io Fh8 QhEw 0ELh/MuMBA C ountrys largest bank SBI on Friday reported a steep 34 per cent fall in net profit to C2,234 crore for the October-December peri- od of 2013-14 due to rising asset quality stress, investment losses and hefty provisioning for pensions, and warned of more pain com- ing in. Painting a grim picture of an elongated period of stress, State Bank of India (SBI) Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya said bulk of the stress on assets came from mid-corporate and SME segment. We need at least a couple of quarters of uptick in GDP for the asset quality to be better. I see more pain coming in, she said The bank has decided to move the stress assets recovery branch- es that were reporting in the National Banking Group so as to have better focus and outcomes, she said. With that in mind we have now changed the structure and created four general managers- north, south, east, west, who will be reporting into the stress management group and will actually be owning these stress asset recovery branch- es in the circles, Bhattacharya said. The banks gross NPA ratio dete- riorated to 5.73 per cent as against 5.30 per cent in the year-ago peri- od, while provisions towards loan losses rose to C3,428.59 crore from C2,766 crore a year ago. 8F, easI0a r0vIsI0a, IIt I0sses 0II 88I r0fIt 40Wa 34% NEW DELH SATURDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2014 money 11 {ca^} C+|+|+ B+|| |+ l+u||J ||AVuR A |Ew SC|E|E |R |l|A|Cl| C||EE PRCESSl| l|uSlRlES. l| S|| W+ l+u||J |] R| u|] C|+i||+| & |+|+i| i||u| u| || B+||Ju|i| || V+lJi|u|] |u||iu| u| l||||+|iu|+l Cu|| ||i1+l, u|luJJ |||l] +| B+|+lu|. A|uP P1ARl, lREClR, |l, 1AVE A||lAR,C|AlR|A| C||EE BAR A| A|l| |u|AR B|A|ARY, PRESlE|l, l|lA C||EE lRuSl, +| +lu | |. C+|+|+ B+|| |||J i||u + ||+|i p+|||||ip Wi|| S|+| A|i W+||uui| +|J Cull+||+l |+|+||| ||J, |u +i| |+||| i| |i|+|i| ||i| |(ui|||| +| +ll |+ u| || uppl] |+i|, |+|i| ||u| p||+|1|i| |u || |+|||i| +|J /pu|| |+. A|i|| A|+W+l, i||u| SlARARl, i|J || +|||| Wi|| SS B|+| , ||+l |+|+|, PC & |l wi| , |+J ||i , C+|+|+ B+||, i| || p|| u| R+|| up|+ ,||+l |+|+| ,|i|+|, SlARARl, A| + , pu|] ||+l |+|+|, PC & |l wi|, |+J ||i, C+|+|+ B+||.l| /|+| u| |uu ||W| C+|+|+ B+|| +|J SlARARl W+ Ju| i| || p|| u| E/u|i1 i||u| VS |RlS||A |u|AR |u|+| +|J PS RAwAl || VS ||J, i||u| (Pipli|), l|Ji+|il i|+uu|+|J || |+||i+l |+|+| Cu|||| u| Pipli| i1iiu| +| |uiJ+ u| ||iJ+] i| || p|| u| V| up|+, E/u|i1 i||u| (|i|+|), Su|l S||i, E/u|i1 i||u| (|R), 1P ||+, E/u|i1 i||u| (p|+|iu|), V| ||u|+|+, E/u|i1 i||u| l/C (P|u||), A| l]+i, E/u|i1 i||u| (|&C), |iu| u||ii+l +|J |+||i+l |+|+| +|J u||i| u| Pipli| i1iiu|. || SuJ| up|+, E/u|i1 i||u|, l|Ji+|uil Pu||+| S|+| ||i i |+|Ji| u1| || |||| u| l|J+|| |u S|| Su||p|| |+u| +|J | Puu|+|, Wi| +|J J+u||| u| |+| S| S+|+||i| Si|| |p|i1l] i| || p|| u| || S | S|+||+, | (|P), PS +|J u||| u||ii+l |SlC u|+|iJ + i| |uu l|||+|i1 Siu| +| || |lSC u|||| |+ll, |W l|i |u| |SlC B|+|| |+J +|J u||| |plu] i| || uu|||] |u S|+| ||i| E/p|i| & 1lup S||+|i |u| || ]+| 2J!4!5 |u| || |uW|| u| |S|E |u| +|J |||i1 Ji|i|+|iu| u| || |||i| u| |SlC S||. l|+uu|+|i| ||i 4|| |+|+||| 1lup||| P|u|+| (|P),S||i .R+1i|J|+ |+||, i||u|(|i|+|),|SlC |uu|+J || p+||iip+|| |u |u| p|u +|i1 Wi|| || |S|E |u| +|J |+| uu| +| || Juu| |p u| p|up|i1 u|u|| |u| ||+|i| || p||u||+| u| |SlC. || SuJ|i| | C|+|u|1Ji, E/ C|+i||+| +|J |+|+i| i||u|, PuW| |iJ Cu|pu|+|iu| +|J |||| 1|. El||ii|] Rul+|u|] Cu||iiu| |+ +u|J |+| u| C|+i|p|u| 1|. El||ii|] Rul+|u|] Cu||iiu| |u| u+ +|J u|iu| l||i|u|i. S||i C|+|u|1Ji W+ +J|i|i||J u+|| u| S|], +|J +|| +|J +lli+| |u Cu||i|u|iu| |] |u||l u|iu| |i|i|| u| S|+| |u| PuW| (l/C) S||i 1]u|i|+Ji|]+ |. Si|Ji+ i| p|| u| S||+|] PuW|, u1|. u| l|Ji+ u| !2|| ||. 2J!4 +|J u||| |i| u||ii+l u| || |i|i||] u| PuW|, u1|. u| l|Ji+ || V| up|+, ||+l |+|+|, |u||||| R+ilW+], i|+uu|+|J || 25|wp Sul+| PuW| Pl+||, |i|| u| i| |i|J, +| || u|+u| R+ilW+] S|+|iu| u| ||iJ+]. l| p|u|| |+ || i||+llJ +|J |u|JJ |] RllES, + u1||||| u| l|Ji+ PSu |+J i| u|+u|, + + CSR & Su|+i|+|ili|] P|u||. App|i+|i| || ||u|| u| RllES, ||. up|+ |||iu|J ||+| u| p|u|| +| |lp |u |+p || 1+| |uu| u| ||W+|l ||]. A| || +| |i|, p+|| |l|| +|J +|||i u| || |+ilW+] |+|iu| Will +lu i|p|u1. Fh8 QhEw 0ELh R iding on higher sales owing to greater demand from housing and automobile sectors, Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) recorded a 10 per cent increase in its net profit for the period end- ing December 30, 2013 (or third quarter of the current fiscal) at C533 crore. The company had registered a net profit of C484 crore during the corresponding period. SAIL Chairman CS Verma while addressing mediapersons said that despite an overall slug- gish crude scenario globally, the companys sales during the third quarter grew by 7 per cent (they stood at 2.94 million tonnes over 2.76 million tonnes from the cor- responding period), owing to increasing demands from the housing and automobile sectors. Sales of flat steel used in auto- mobiles and white goods sectors rose by 8.6 per cent, long prod- ucts, which find application in construction space, rose by 4.5 per cent. The company had also hiked prices by up to C1,500 per tonne in the last three months in phases for its products. The increase in sales turnover achieved by SAIL, despite a flat steel market, is an indication that the company is well-placed to meet any market situation, Verma said. SAIL achieved its highest ever production of value added steel at 1.35 million tonnes in the last quarter, he informed, adding that all the integrated plants of the company are running at over 100 per cent rated capacity. Going forward, we are con- fident that the product and process improvement currently under way in SAIL as a result of modernisation will bring in greater returns on our invest- ment, he said. Meanwhile, SAIL board also approved a 20.2 per cent interim dividend as against 16 per cent last year. It also cleared a 17 per cent rise in basic and dearness allowances for around 85,000 of its non-executives leading to around C1,100 crore additional annual outgo. 8Il 03 r0fIt 0 10% t0 C533 cr 0a hIher saIes 8 k1kFkIkh Q wAShh0T0h A s the US International Trade Commission began its hearings on Indias trade, investment and industrial policies, a leading bilateral business group has urged Washington to avoid unnec- essary steps that would imperil US-India economic relations. The US India Business Council, in its submission, has simultaneously called upon New Delhi to take steps to give the US better access to Indias economy by improving infrastructure and creating a regulatory environment that rewards and protects intellec- tual property. These and other issues can and must be resolved through ongoing cooperation and di al ogue, sai d Ron Somers, president of the USIBC, a body that has more than 350 top US and Indian companies as its members. Noted economist Arvind Subramanian of the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington also pointed out that the trade frictions obscure how rapid and robust integration has been occurring between the two countries in recent years not just in goods, but in ser- vices and foreign direct invest- ment as well. This integration has not come at the expense of US employment, he said, in response to a major American concern. American industrys com- plaints of Indias weak intel- lectual property protection regime and its domestic con- tent requirements for foreign investors in certain sectors are at the core of the trade com- mission hearings, launched last year at the bidding of the US Congress. The commissions hear- ings come close on the heels of t he US Trade Representatives decision to move t he Worl d Trade Organisation against Indias local content requirements in the solar energy sector a course that has irked New Delhi. After this weeks hearings in Washington on the impact of the Indian policies on the US economy, the trade com- missions members plan to make two visits to New Delhi over the next coupl e of months to hold consultations with Indian officials. The commission is due to submit its report by November. In a written submission ahead of his formal testimo- ny on Friday, Somers called upon the two countries to overcome challenges and strengthen their partnership. This will pave the way for the worlds two largest free-mar- ket democracies to shape the destiny of the 21st Century for the better, he said. To the numerous detrac- tors on the American side, Somers has sought to make the case that Indias size, eco- nomic prominence, geopolit- ical influence and shared val- ues with America make it an indispensable ally, so all pol- icy discussions about India should operate from that understanding. Despite the complaints of American policymakers, law- makers and companies, it has been pointed out that since President George W. Bushs India visit in 2006, the US- India two-way trade has grown from just $25 billion to more than $100 billion now. The growth of Indias civil aviation industry has been a major boon for US manufac- turers. Entire fleets of Indias new private aviation industry rely wholly on US exports and content, creating literally hun- dreds of thousands of jobs here in the United States, Somers said, noting that this is just one of many success stories related to the engage- ment with India, another being its thriving telecom sec- tor. Subramanian, in his testi- mony on Wednesday, took the stand that Indias overall integration was proceeding rapidly. The concern that Indi a has systemati cal l y turned protectionist in the last few years is belied by the inventory of actual policy changes, he said, but at the same time felt that the Indian regulatory regime has become more uncertain and arbitrary in a manner affecting both forei gn and domesti c investors. 08 t0I4 t0 av0I4 aatIIa4Ia tra4e meas0res Jraoe commission legins learings on noia Fh8QhEw0ELh J apanese firm Toshiba Corporation has said that it is expecting 7-fold increase in sales to C18,000 crore from India by 2017, pushed by the power and infrastructure segments. The company will also invest over C3,000 crore in India over the next five years, and double employee strength by 2017 to 8,000, Toshiba Corporation President Hisao Tanaka said. Of the total sales, 70 per cent is like- ly to come from the infrastructure and power business. Joslila to invest C3K crore in noia world 12 NEW DELH SATURDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2014 ITkIIkh FM E8Ih8, FEh8 WkY I EhZI ome: lalian Frime Minisler Enrico Lella announced his resignalion aler his own arly voled or a change o 0overnmenl, wilh 8O yearold lelisl Malleo Ren/i now execled lo relace him. ThkI FII6E E6IkIM8 8khkk FTE8T 8ITE 8angkok: Thousands o Thai riol olice on Friday reclaimed a key rolesl sile around 0overnmenl headquarlers here besieged or monlhs by lhe anli0overnmenl demonslralors benl on loling beleaguered remier Yingluck Shinawalra. IhhE8Ik VI6kh EFT8; 3 kIIIE 8ugihWaras: An exlosive volcanic erulion on ndonesia's mosl oulou s island blasled ash and debris 18 kilomelers inlo lhe air loday, killing lhree eole while orcing aulhorilies lo evacuale more lhan 1OO,OOO and close seven airorls. Mk1 kTTk6k Ih 6hIhk, 16 MIIITkhT8 kIIIE 8eijing: Fileen "lerrorisls" were shol dead by olice during a suicide allack by slamic mililanls in China's volalile Xinjiang rovince lhal coincided wilh a visil here by uS Secrelary o Slale John Kerry. h: VE 70 6IVIIIkh8 EXE6TE Ih 6h kinshasa: More lhan 7O men and women have been summarily execuled in lhe reslive easlern 0emocralic Reublic o Congo, lhe uh mission in lhe counlry said. h8Th kEk kEE h IkMIIY EhIh8 8eouI: highlevel lalks belween lhe rival Koreas ended on Friday wilh a rare agreemenl lo go ahead as lanned wilh a reunion or divided amilies, desile lhe horlh's objeclions lo overlaing Soulh KoreauS mililary drills. 'MI88Ih' Fkk khTIhE 6kMFkIhE Ih hT IsIamabad: A Fakislani anlidrone camaigner, missing since he was icked u rom his home by men in olice uniorm over a week ago, was lhrown oul o a moving vehicle on lhe oulskirls o Rawalindi. '6k 8M8 8Ik8T T8IE 8YIk M8E' 8eiruI: A car bomb allack oulside a mosque in soulhern Syria killed do/ens loday and rebels delonaled mines under a holel used by lhe army in lhe norlh killing ive, a monilor said. TROTTNG TROTTNG GLOBE 8 k1kFkIkh Q wAShh0T0h A day after its envoys meet- ing with BJPs prime min- isterial candidate Narendra Modi, the United States has let it be known that it is ready to do with the business with whichever government that assumes office in India after the ensuing general elections. Taking the stand that Ambassador Nancy Powells meeting with Modi is a part of Washingtons comprehensive outreach to Indias political class, State Department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf said: We look forward to working closely with whatever govern- ment the Indian people choose in the upcoming elections. Asked if that included a government headed by Modi, Harf said: Whatever govern- ment is chosen. I know that theres a lot of attention being paid to this one (the Powell-Modi meeting), but it really is part of our broad- er outreach, she maintained. In contrast to the US gov- ernments bid to downplay the call on Modi as part of the envoys engagement across the Indian political spectrum ahead of the elections, the countrys most influential newspaper, The New York Times, found the meeting suf- ficiently important to merit an editorial comment. Calling the US move a reversal of its long estrange- ment, The Times commented that the envoys meeting rep- resented a pragmatic step in engaging with India and the controversial and troubling politician who could well become the next prime minis- ter after elections in May. Regardless of who suc- ceeds Prime Minister Man- mohan Singh this year, the United States and India have a lot of work to do to strength- en their partnership, it said, noting: Opening a door to a relationship with Mr. Modi is a necessary step. While taking note of the official contention that Powells meeting was part of a renewed American effort to reach out to politicians across Indias polit- ical spectrum, The Times com- mented: Such moves are long overdue. President Obama has not paid as much attention to India as President George W Bush, an oversight given Indias central role as a democratic an- chor in South Asia and its dev- eloping relationship with Japan. Turning to the recent strains involving the treatment of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade and the trade dis- pute over solar panels, the pa- per noted: It is in no ones inte- rest to let these tensions fester. India and the United States ha- ve much to cooperate on, inc- luding Obamas efforts to stren- gthen Americas role in Asia and work with partners to bal- ance Chinas rise and more assertive stance in the region without provoking conflict. Writing in the Foreign Policy magazine, former White House official Anish Goel fault- ed the US government for hav- ing let its relationship with the party (BJP) atrophy almost to the point of non-existence over the past decade (since the depar- ture of the Vajpayee-led NDA government). The United States should remedy this situation as soon as possible to avoid any unwelcome surprises, said Goel said, currently a senior South Asia fellow at the Washington- based New America Foundation. He went on to call upon the US government to reform its untenable visa posi- tion on Modi. 08 t0 W0rk cI0seIy WIth 'Whatever' 60vt Ia4Ia ch00ses NYJ calls Powell`s meet witl Mooi a ragmatic ste NEW DELH SATURDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2014 vivacity {48 hours} 1S kI88 80 have walched lhis docu menlary (6d[PQX 6P]V). l insired me. So wanl lo suorl il. l ollows lhe real lie evenls. Samal Fal hersel is lhere in lhe ilm, she has dubbed or lhe ilm. She is suorling il and has lravelled lhe world over wilh 6d[PQX 6P]V. MII 80 Mosl o my scenes in 6dSSd AP]VTT[P will be wilh Arshad warsi and he is one o lhe inesl aclors. am scared lo work wilh him because he is so cool, comorlable and normal wilh whalever he does. So am a lillle nervous bul am also exciled lo work wilh an aclor like him. Friyanka is very slrong and eel she is one o lhe slrongesl erson have ever come across. have very high regards or her. She resumed work in 1O days aler her alher's dealh and shol or lhe cabarel dance sequence or lhe ilm. She is loo roessional. lI 888 LF8 S H O R T C R C U T S 880FFF 000 lhink il would be omous lo say am an underraled aclor. don'l lhink il is or me lo lhink and decide. am glad am underraled lhan being overral ed. would like lo be known as one o lhe besl aclors in lhe world. And being sexiesl would come rom my genes... il is somelhing was born wilh and nol earned il or mysel. kI8 8FE6IkI S5 MNUTES T o reach out to the kids, you should know their language. The forthcom- ing festival in the Capital for children will talk about serious issues like global warming, women emancipation, genera- tion gaps and others, but the presentations are prepared in a way that kids enjoy the most. Professionals will don the role of characters from interesting stories. For instance, Swang Vale, a group from Mumbai, will raise the issue of dwindling temperature of planet but through an intriguing story of a chameleon. Its a story of a chameleon who finds it hard to change the colour since nature is depleted from its natural course. Due to global warming, neither the sky is blue nor is there any green cover left on the earth. Now the colours dont exist, explains Imran Khan, the director of the festi- val. The performers, including the international ones, are adult professionals but will play kids characters since it is a serious initiative. We didnt want to take chances with chil- dren artistes, he adds. The week-long festival, TIFLI, will take place during February 17-23 at Bal Bhawan. There are groups from Sri Lanka, Iran, Denmark and Germany besides Indian cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Imphal, Kolkata and Bengaluru. Apart from that, there will be an international youth residency programme where artists from 16 countries will participate. They will stay together for a week to exchange their ideas, growth, possibilities and poten- tial of theatre for children. There is a focus on South East Asian countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Germany, Iceland, US, Austria, Japan and others, says Khan. The Danish group of two artistes will cook spaghetti on stage. While one would adhere to traditional method of cook- ing, the younger cook will experiment with the recipe. There will be conflict of ideas and it would suggest how there is gap in thoughts between gen- erations. The young folks want to experiment, which is often not accepted by elders, says the director. There is another story by Mahasweta Devi called Kyun Kyun Ladki. Its about tribal girls challenging the orthodox setup as they step into a real world and create something for themselves, he adds. Khan says there is huge potential for children theatre but theres a dearth of quality work. Theatre for children, by children is fine but there is a lack of good work. We are not competing with the interna- tional festivals at a pace we should have been doing. In the Capital, the scene is gradually picking up but I hope we get an adrenaline push, he says, adding, UN Charter says that having a good entertainment is every childs right. Entertainment should be infor- mative. Theres a lot of talk already on art intervention in academics. And theatre devel- ops your personality when you watch it or practice it. The festival seeks protg from eminent names like Anupama Roy, Manav Kaul, Niranjan Goswami and Ramashankara. With an esti- mate budget of over C1 crore, the organisers have got support from PSUs. R+lp| w+i|, W|u pl+]J || |+||| i| lV |i| |i CWT FP[c^]b, JiJ. | W+ 85 |uW up ||i W+]! TFL, an inlernalional lhealre show or children, will highlighl issues like global warming and women emancialion. The eslival direclor soke lo KARAh BhAR0wAJ I f the only thing you do till late night is to surf English movie channels hoping you will find your favourite film, you will know how disap- pointing it is to realise that most movies are being repeat- ed on channels. In such a sce- nario and keeping in mind the requirement of the audience today, channels are devising interesting ways. Sony Pix recently announced the pre- miere of four movies on February 16. We constantly strive to interact and engage with our viewers, by not just offering exceptional titles but also presenting them a com- pletely memorable viewing experience. Premiere Pixathon is one such initiative that will break the clutter and help dif- ferentiate us in the genre. Its for the first time ever that any Hollywood movie channel in the genre has come up with such an initiative, shared Saurabh Yagnik, EVP and business head, Sony Pix. The four movi es are The Expendables 2, After Earth, Dark Tide and The Girl With A Dragon Tattoo. Yagnik added that it is extremely i mportant for Hollywood channels today to think out-of-the-box as the audience has become channel blind and only content can help the channel to stand out in such a scenario. We have been the front-runner in inno- vative promotion and market- ing of premieres. We have been striving hard to offer the viewers an amazing experi- ence. The challenge is to raise the bar and offer options to the audience to stay glued. Quality and innovation are the two things we have always aimed at, he added. Talking about what can be the next step to keep the view- ers glued, Yagnik said, We will move forward to Pixathon of the famous franchise, like Rocky Pixathon and Shrek Pixathon. TE FI6TE S0 MNUTES A mark abovo tho rost SAuRABh YA0hK, EvF and business head o Sony FX, shares how lhe channel lans lo be a clullerbreaker 3PaZ CXST NEW DELH SATURDAY FEBRUARY15, 2014 14 NEW DELH SATURDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2014 sport 15 088I0FF8lF 08I8lI kF Q CEhTuR0h D avid Warner blazed Australia's third centu- ry in three days after fast bowler Mitchell Johnson took 7-68, giving the tourists complete control over South Africa in the first test on Friday. Warner's 115 off 151 balls with 13 fours and two sixes was almost as blisteringly quick as Johnson's bowling as Australia raced to 288-3 in its second innings at stumps on the third day for a huge lead of 479. After Johnson ripped out the remains of South Africa to reduce the top-ranked team to 206 in its first innings, Warner and Alex Doolan (89) domi- nated with the bat in a 205-run partnership in the afternoon - Australia's second double-cen- tury stand of the game. Doolan just missed out on a hundred on debut in the clos- est thing to disappointment for Australia in a dominating start to the series. Warner was dropped three times and twice in the 20s to compound South Africa's problems as its fielding unrav- eled along with its bowling and batting. After South Africa was 140- 6 overnight, Johnson continued the carnage with three wickets in the morning to go with his four on the second day, with the home team rolled out for 206. As he was on Thursday, Johnson was hostile as he removed Robin Peterson, AB de Villiers and last-man Morne Morkel. England' s main destroyer in the Ashes with 37 wickets in five tests, Johnson lived up to that fierce reputa- tion with seven wickets overall at Centurion from 17.1 brutal and at times unplayable overs. De Villiers made 91 for South Africa's only major con- tribution as it added 66 on the day for the last four wickets. Australia lost opener Chris Rogers to speedster Dale Steyn in the second over of its second innings to be 1-1 and 18-1 at lunch, but the tourists surged way ahead after that minor blip through Warner's and Doolan's punishing partnership. Australia was in position to inflict on South Africa a second defeat at the Centurion ground in 18 tests, and the first since 2000. Australia scored 397 bat- ting first after being put in by South Africa captain Graeme Smith, with a career-best 148 from Shaun Marsh and 100 from Steve Smith. In his second over on Friday, left-arm quick Johnson began with a lifting delivery to remove Robin Peterson, caught in the slips, for 10. He had De Villiers caught at mid-off by a jumping Warner, and was way too fast for tailender Morkel, who edged his first ball, a typically fierce short- pitched delivery, to wicketkeep- er Brad Haddin. Offspinner Nathan Lyon returned 2-38 and Peter Siddle had 1-33 but the innings was all about Johnson. Johnson's value was under- lined as Warner and Doolan had little problem with South Africa's pace attack, smashing 25 fours and three sixes between them to lead by near- ly 500 with seven wickets in hand and two days still to play. Brief Scores Aus: 397 and 288/3 (Warner 115, Doolan 89; Duminy 1/12) lead SA: 206 (de Villiers 91; Johnson 7/68) by 479 runs at stumps on Day 3. Kalinga thrash Panohi New Delhi: Out of contention for a semifinal berth, debutants Kalinga Lancers produced an impressive show to stun defending champions Ranchi Rhinos 4-1 in their penultimate game of the Hero Hockey India League (HHIL) 2014 in front of home crowd at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Friday. Kalinga were in control of the match for major part of 70 minutes to avenge upon their 2-3 loss at the hands of same opponents in their previous meeting this year. The first quarters saw both the teams adopting a cautious approach and were content to play the Kalinga and Ranchi were able to create quite a few impressive attacks but their forays fizzled out once inside the opposition circle as the backline of both the teams stood tall. Kalinga were under no pressure and it resembled in their performance as they went all out. The hosts stunned Ranchi Rhinos in the 23rd minute when Aron Zelewski scored a field goal. Kalinga doubled their lead five minutes later through Devinder Walmiki (28th minute), who scored from a rebound after Ranchi Rhinos goalie Sushant Tirkey denied Gozalo Peillat from the hosts first penalty corner. Ranchi were surprised when Peillat converted his side's second penalty corner in the 33rd minute to give Kalinga a comfortable 3-0 lead at the half-way mark. As has been the story in the opening 35 minutes, Kalinga Lancers continued to enjoy the lions' share of possession after the breather but failed to extend their lead despite making some Ranchi did manage to pull one back in the 45th minute through Pradhan Somanna's field goal from close range to keep his team's hopes alive. It was a treat for the home as Peillat scored from a field effort in the final minute of the match to make the scoreline 4- 1 and help the Lancers regis- ter their second win in the tournament. Kalinga, coached by Indian head coach Terry Walsh, pock- eted five points from the match and took their tally to 16 points from nine while Ranchi, coached by South African Gregg Clarke, had to return empty-handed from the game and remained static on the fourth position in the standings with 24 points from eight matches. Todays Matches Jaypee Punjab Warriors vs Uttar Pradesh Wizards at 6.00 PM in Mohali. Dabur Mumbai Magicians vs Del hi Waveriders at 8.00 PM in Mumbai. PNS After Johnson ripped out the remains of South Africa to reduce the top-ranked team to 206 in its first innings, Warner and Alex Doolan {89] dominated with the bat in a 205- run partnership Ride on warner0oolan arlnershi and Johnson's ury lo lead by 47O runs wilh seven wickels in hand againsl Soulh Arica on lhird day o irsl Tesl Au||+li+ |+||+| +1iJ w+||| |+i |i |+| +||| |+|i| + ||u|] u| ||i|J J+] u| ||i| l| ++i|| Suu|| A||i+ +| C||u|iu| P+|| i| P||u|i+ u| ||iJ+] AP world 16 kF Q BERuT T he United Nations temporarily sus- pended the evacuation of civilians from the embattled Syrian city of Homs on Friday, a senior UN official said, while the government screened military age males who left the area. Meanwhile, near Lebanon, Syrian forces and rebels clashed over the strate- gic town of Yabroud, causing hundreds of people to flee over the border. The halt in evacuations came just a day after a cease-fire was extended for three more days. Hundreds more civil- ians are believed to still be trapped in a rebel-held medieval quarter known as Old Homs. Senior Syria UN official Matthew Hollingworth told The Associated Press by telephone from Damascus that dozens of men and boys aged 15 to 55, who left Old Homs during earlier evac- uations, are still being held and ques- tioned by Syrian authorities. "The agreement has been we will now concentrate on the process of completing the regularisation of status of the men from 15 to 55," Hollingworth said. "Only when that's done, will we look at another evacuation." Later in the day however he said the U.N was not linking the next evacuation to the release of the men being processed by Syrian authorities. The Syrian govern- ment considers males of military age to be potential combatants who must obtain security clearance before being released. Those authorities suspect of being rebels will likely be detained. Hollingworth said several dozen men were being held in a school in Homs and that UN officials are also pre- sent there. They were part of 1,400 peo- ple evacuated by the UN. And the Syrian Red Crescent from opposition-held areas of Homs over the past week as a fragile truce between took hold between forces loyal to President Bashar Assad and armed rebels seeking his overthrow. 08 a0ses evac0atI0as fr0m 8yrIa's 0ms h FE88 Ih FEk6E TkIk8: 8YIkh MIhI8TE eneva: A resh round o uhbrokered eace lalks belween Syria's governmenl and oosilion has made no rogress, lhe lwo sides said on Friday. 'we deely regrel lhal lhis round did nol make any rogress,' Syria's deuly oreign minisler, Faisal Muqdad lold reorlers as bolh sides lraded blame over lhe deadlock in lhe 0eneva lalks, lhe second round o which began Monday. 05? Washington: Former Republican congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul has started a petition drive to pressure the Obama administration to grant clemency to former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, who is charged with espionage over leaks about the government's surveillance programmes. Paul's push for clemency would have to be granted by President Barack Obama. Earlier this week, Paul's son, Republican Sen. Rand Paul, a potential presidential can- didate in 2016, filed a lawsuit against Obama and other top administration officials to stop the surveillance pro- grammes, which Sen. Paul contends are violations of 4th amendment constitutional protections against unrea- sonable searches. Ron Paul said in a video post that he wants Snowden to return to the US without facing prosecution before his amnesty in Russia expires at the end of July. AP Formor US lawmakor starts Snowdon olomonoy potition FTI Q BEJh0 U S Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday warned China against "unilateral" actions in its maritime territorial disputes with Japan and the Philippines during candid talks with President Xi Jinping saying any such provocation could threaten regional stability. "We've made it very clear that a unilateral, unannounced, unprocessed initiative like that can be very challenging to certain people in the region, and therefore to regional stability," Kerry said after separate meetings with Xi and Premier Li Keqiang. The US along with its ally Japan had object- ed to China establishing an Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) over the disputed islands in the East China Sea and refused to recog- nise it. There were reports that China also plans to establish an ADIZ over islands in the South China Sea disputed with the Philippines but Beijing denied any such move. "We made clear our feelings on any unilateral announcement," Kerry told reporters. Any such moves should be done "in an open, transparent, accountable way," he said, adding China should meet "the highest standards" of openness "to reduce any possibilities of misin- terpretation". On the South China Sea dispute, Kerry said that he hopes China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) make "rapid strides in negotiating the code of conduct that would reduce tensions". "We encourage steps by everybody, not just China, to avoid all kinds of provocation and work through the legal tools available," he said. No unilateral action in maritime oisutes: Kerry kF Q wAShh0T0h T he Obama administration has quietly stopped demanding that Afghan President Hamid Karzai finalise a stalled security pact within weeks, opening up the possibility that a decision on keep- ing US and international forces in Afghanistan after this year might not be made until after Karzai's successor is elected this spring. While US officials say they still strongly pre- fer that the agreement be signed quickly, they did not rule out the possibility of waiting to see if a new Afghan leader might be easier to work with. Pushing off the decision on keeping troops in Afghanistan comes with increased risks and com- plications for the US military, though the Pentagon is making adjustments to give President Barack Obama that option. Karzai's refusal to sign the security pact has strained relations with Washington. He further exacerbated tensions on Friday by releasing 65 mil- itants from a former US prison near Kabul. The American military angrily denounced the move, saying the men are Taliban fighters who will like- ly return to the battlefield to kill coalition and Afghan forces. American-l ed combat operations in Afghanistan are set to end on December 31, but the US is seeking to keep up to 10,000 troops on the ground for counterterrorism and train- ing missions. 08 sees m0re 4eIay Ia fhaa sec0rIty act NEW DELH SATURDAY FEBRUARY 15 2014 NEW DELH SATURDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2014 17 NEW DELH SATURDAY FEBRUARY15, 2014 world 18 S|iu| B1P l+J| || AJ1+|i |l+ 8]SXP D]X]R + |uu|, |] P|u| R V+iJ]+|+||+|, i| |W l|i u| ||iJ+]. l| |u||iu| W+ +lu +|||JJ |] B1P l+J| Su||+|+|i+| SW+|] +|J i||u| u| Vi1|+|+|J+ l||||+|iu|+l |uu|J+|iu| A|i| u1+l Piu|| p|u|u Th khhkThk Q MuMBA S ocial activist Medha Patkar announced that she would contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha poll from Maharashtra. While announcing her deci- sion, Patkar said that she, her supporters and groups sup- porting her were yet to zero in on the constituency from which she would contest the poll. Sources close to her said that though the AAP had requested her to contest the poll on its ticket, Patkar was instead seriously contemplating contesting as an Independent. We will decide on the constituency and the banner, if any, under which I will contest the polls in the next few days, Patkar said, while not ruling out the possibility of her con- testing the pol ls as an Independent. Talking to the media, Patkar said that her decision to contest the LS poll stemmed from the requests she has been receiving from various social groups with which she is asso- ciated and also political groups that were supporting her. At a meeting held here on Wednesday, senior social work- ers and leaders representing socialist and leftist movements insisted that I contest the forth- coming Lok Sabha polls. AAP has also been asking me to con- test the Lok Sabha polls on its ticket. The AAP has told me that it would support me even if I contest as an Independent. I will take a call on this (whether to contest as an AAP nominee or as an Independent) in the next few days, she said. Medha Falkar will conlesl LS olls rom Maharashlra Fh8 Q LuCKh0w A sking officers to be fear- less in improving the law & order in the State, Chief Minister Akhil esh Yadav said that the onus was on the State bureaucracy to implement Government policies in letter and spirit so that the people were bene- fited by various schemes launched for them. You are the implement- ing agencies. You are the courier and are expected to deliver. If you fail, the gov- ernment also fails in extend- Bottor UP law & ordor sans oar, Akhilosh tolls babus ing relief to the people. So be sensitive in extending help to t hose who need t he Governments helping hand the most, Yadav told the IAS officers at the administrative conference held on the second day of the Uttar Pradesh IAS Week here on Friday. The Chief Minister said the need of the hour was to improve law and order in the state because the country could progress only if there was peace and tranquillity in Uttar Pradesh. He said that bad law and order presented a bad i mage of t he Government. 00I0aa WIas 15k cIassIcaI race kF Q KRAShAYA F0LYAhA D ario Cologna, skiing in short sleeves on anoth- er warm and sunny day, won his second gold medal at the Sochi Olympics on Friday with a dominant performance in the 15-kilometer classical- style cross-country race. The Swiss led by just 0.7 seconds at the 8-kilometer mark of the interval-start race, but his advantage grew steadi- ly and he finished 28.5 seconds ahead of Sweden' s Johan Olsson. Another Swede, Daniel Richardsson, took bronze after his strong finish put him 0.2 seconds ahead of Finland's Iivo Niskanen. Cologna started 30 seconds behind Olsson but caught the Swede before coming into the stadium, and the two were side-by-side on the final straight. The two may have bene- fitted from early start numbers. Both went out ahead of the seeded group, and the warm weather softened the course for the later starters. Czech veter- an Lukas Bauer, second in the seeded group, was the only other skier within a minute of Cologna, finishing 58.9 sec- onds back in fifth place. Overall World Cup leader Martin Johnsrud Sundby of Norway had a disappointing race, finishing 1:37.7 behind the winner. Chris Andre Jespersen was the top Norwegian in sixth place. He skied in a modified suit with shorts and cutoff sleeves in the bright sunshine. Cologna and Olsson would both normally have been in the seeded group, but they haven't competed much on the World Cup because of injuries. Cologna had ankle surgery in November and returned to competition only last month, but still won the opening 30K skiathlon in Sochi. Olsson, the 50K classical world champion, had not competed in about two months because of an illness and rib injury. I8kI IIhI8hE8 B6Th India's cross country skier Nadeem Iqbal had a disap- pointing outing as he finished 85th in the men's 15km classic run event. The 30-year-old Armyman, in his first Winter Olympics, clocked 55 minute 12.5 seconds to cover the 15km distance and secure a lowly 85th position out of 87 athletes who finished the race at the Laura Cross-country Ski and Biathlon Center. Iqbal was 16 minute 42.8 seconds behind gold medal winner Dario Cologna of Switzerland, who clocked 38 minute 29.7 seconds. Swedish skiers Johan Olsson (38:58.2s) and Dani el Ri chardsson (39:08.5s) grabbed the silver and bronze medals respec- tively. Alpine skier Himanshu Thakur is the only Indian left in the fray now and his Giant Slalom event begins on February 19. Kolkata: The Indian challenge at the USD 50,000 ATP Challenger Tour ended today after Russian third seed Evgeny Donskoy outplayed Somdev Devvarman to set up a final clash against a spirited Ilija Bozoljac of Serbia. Barring the first set which the second seed Somdev won after breaking his opponent in the second game, it was the Russian all the way as he clinched the match 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. The day, however, belonged to unseeded Bozoljac as the world-ranked 270 showed an astounding comeback after los- ing nine straight games to stun the top seed and world-ranked 93 Aleksandr Nedovyesov 0-6, 7-5, 6-3. India found some solace in the doubles which was won by the wild card duo of Saketh Myneni and Sanam Singh who downed Vishnu Vardhan and Divij Sharan 6-3, 3-6, 10-4. Having beaten the Russian in ATP world Tour Masters in Miami last year, Somdev start- ed as the favourite in front of a boisterous crowd as he won the first set 6-3 with just a break of serve in the second game. The second set witnessed a lot of service breaks by both the players. Somdev, at 5-6 on serve fal- tered as he could not convert the crucial points in his favour to concede the second set 5-7 and take the match into the decider. Slipping from bad to worse, Somdev committed a lot of unforced errors as the Russian broke in the fourth game before wrapping up the issue with another break in the eighth game. "I really could hit well in the third set with good forehand and backhand... I felt really confident. "I got breaks and then bro- ken, I got two or three winners that gave me confidence into the third set," Donskoy who is recovering from a back injury after making a third round exit against Lleyton Hewitt in the US Open, said. "After the US Open, I played in Russia where I had a back injury. But now I've start- ed to play again," Donskoy said ahead of his final against Bozoljac. The Serbian enthralled the crowd in the first match of the day as his grand recovery after losing the first set 0-6 and trail- ing 0-3 in the second. "I was telling myself, this was 'unbe- lievable, imagine losing a match 0-6, 0-6' and the next thing I would see that my wife, my family and my coach had left, he said. PTI Somoev outlayeo SWi||l+|J +|iu Culu|+ |il +||| Wi||i| |i u|J ulJ AP sport 19 NEW DELH SATURDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2014 NEW DELH SATURDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2014 sport 20 86hMk6hE VE6ME8 Ih IhIE6TIh: EFT Berlin: Formula 0ne legend Michael Schumacher, lying in a coma in a French hosilal since a 0ecember skiing accidenl, has overcome a lung ineclion, 0erman daily Bild reorled on Friday. The newsaer had reorled lwo days earlier lhal Schumacher had conlracled neumonia lasl week, bul il said Friday lhal lhe ineclion in acl had haened earlier and 'lhis week no longer sells an acule danger'. 'Thereore Schumi has already won lhe ighl againsl neumonia,' said lhe loselling daily, using lhe oular nickname or lhe 45yearold 0erman racing driver. Schumacher has been in inlensive care in 0renoble universily hosilal since his 0ecember 2O accidenl in lhe Aline resorl o Meribel in which he hil his head againsl a rock in an imacl slrong enough lo crack his helmel. Aler surgery lo reduce bleeding and bruising he was laced in a medically induced coma and his body lemeralure lowered lo reduce lhe risk o urlher damage. Schumacher's sokesman said on January 8O lhal lhe drugs used lo kee him in a coma were being reduced wilh a view lo bringing him back lo consciousness. FEW6 ThkMEhT I8 k M8T: 8ET 8kkh New Delhi: AFF lechnical direclor Roberl Bann has slressed on lhe need lo organise a re world Cu lournamenl in 2O1G involving counlries rom Asia, Arica, Euroe and Soulh America as arl o rearalion or hosling lhe u17 FFA world Cu in 2O17. This is arl o Baan's resenlalion on how ndia should besl reare or ils maiden slinl in lhe u17 FFA world Cu. Similarly, lhe world Cu leam should also lravel lo dierenl arls o lhe world or exosure lris.'Flayers need lo adal lo dierenl cullures, dierenl laying slyles. Also you need nlernalional Tournamenls every year leading u lo a Fre world Cu lournamenl in lhe counlry involving all lhe lo nalions,' Baan said. The views were exressed in lhe lwoday FCC 00AL 2O14 ndian Foolball Summil which ended here. Baan also laid slress on having more and more comelilions or lhe u17 world Cu leam. '0ood Coach Educalion and lraining is nol suicienl. You need lo have regular Comelilions al lhal agegrou which is rearing or lhe world Cu. Thal is very imorlanl.' 8I Ikhkk 8WEEF TZ0 8EIE8 Ih 8khIkE8h Chittagong: Sri Lanka beal Bangladesh or a second slraighl lhrilling win on lhe lasl ball lo swee lheir Twenly2O series 2O al Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Sladium here. Thisara Ferera was in lhe middle al lhe end o bolh viclories which relained or Sri Lanka lhe ho. 1 ranking in T2Os. Ferera and Sachilra Senanayeke held lheir nerve in lhe lasl over lo score lhe required nine runs or Sri Lanka lo win by lhree wickels, 1287 aler bowling oul Bangladesh or 12O wilh a ball lo sare. 0n wednesday, Ferera caughl and bowled Anamul haque o lhe lasl ball when Bangladesh needed lwo runs lo win. when Sri Lanka needed lwo win loday, Senanayake hil lhe winning boundary behind square leg o lhe lasl ball by asl bowler Farhad Re/a. Senanayake inished on 12 nol oul, and Ferera, who scored lwo runs in lhe over, was unbealen on 85 o 28 balls, wilh lhree boundaries. Fh8lkgenries 8I86lF8 I88I I00 0I F08 8L Takes careerbesl G/51 wilh Shami's 4/7O lo bowl hosls oul or 1O2; ndia 1OO/2 on 0ay 1 FTI Q wELLh0T0h I shant Sharma exploited the seam- ing conditions brilliantly to return with a career-best six for 51 as India took early control of the second and final Test by skittling out New Zealand for a paltry 192 in the first innings, here on Friday. Sharma (6/51) justified captain MS Dhoni's decision to bowl first on a greentop as the lanky pacer kept the host batsmen on their toes with his testing line and length. Rising pacer Mohammad Shami (4/70) also contributed in India's dominating performance on day one as he picked up key wickets of Kane Williamson (47) and debutant James Neesham (33) at crucial junctures. Opener Shikhar Dhawan then hit an attacking unbeaten half-cen- tury as India reached 100 for two at close, still trailing by 92 runs at the Basin Reserve. Dhawan (71) and night-watch- man Sharma (3) were at the crease after the visitors lost the wickets of opener Murali Vijay (2) and Cheteshwar Pujara (19). Sharma continued with his splen- did show from the first Test as he claimed his second five-wicket haul of the series and fifth overall in his 55th Test. Sharma took three wickets in the first four overs of his morning spell and that laid the foundation for India's hugely successful day when they are hoping to level the series. While experienced speedster Zaheer Khan hit probing lengths immediately, Shami was still in the same mode as at Eden Park, bowl- ing a tad short and looking for bounce from the wicket than move- ment in the air. However, he was negotiated easily by the batsmen as the Kiwi openers took 14 runs off his first three overs. It meant that Sharma was intro- duced into the attack as early as the eighth over and thereon, went on to bowl unchanged for nine overs, turn- ing the morning session India's way. Hamish Rutherford (12) was unable to keep down a well-aimed short ball and was caught by Vijay at first slip. Two overs later, Sharma bowled an inswinger that hit Peter Fulton (13) on his pads and was trapped LBW, resulting in another poor start for the Kiwis. In his third over of the morning then, the bowler continued his good work and made debutant Tom Latham's day a bad one, dismissing him for a duck in his first Test innings. Latham's fall brought Auckland's double-centurion Brendon McCullum to the crease and togeth- er with the in-form Kane Williamson, he avoided further damage for nine overs but only put on 19 runs for the fourth wicket, when Shami returned and bowled a much improved fuller length in his second spell. It earned him just reward, as McCullum (8) played a loose shot and was caught by Jadeja at mid-off. As the morning turned out to be an uncomfortable one for their hosts, India could have had another wicket in the last over before lunch, when Williamson was caught by Dhoni off Zaheer in the 26th over. But it was a no-ball and the batsman, who had sur- vived a close LBW shout off Sharma in the 24th over, was again lucky. In the post-lunch session, Williamson and Corey Anderson started at 51/4 with the two batsmen looking to control the damage done in the first session. The latter looked to hit out and counter attack the bowling, in a bid to drive back the Indian bowlers who were looking very menacing. He hit three fours and one six in this bid, but couldn't last long enough to sus- tain the innings. He was snapped up by Sharma, the hero of the day, in the 34th over of the innings. Anderson made 24 runs before an inside edge ballooned off his pad and went straight to Virat Kohli at gully, adding 39 valuable runs with Williamson, who was again lucky having survived twice before lunch. Brief Scores NZ: 192 in 52. 5 overs (Kane Williamson 47, Jimmy Neesham 33; Ishant Sharma 6/51, Mohammed Shami 4/70) lead India: 100/2 in 28 overs (Shikhar Dhawan batting 71; Trent Boult 1/18) by 92 runs at stumps on Day 1. The wicket had a spongy bounce and it was a juicy wicket in the morning. We were disciplined in our bowling today. n the first innings at Auckland, we got a bit carried away looking at the fresh pitch. But we learnt from the second innings there that if we bowl with discipline, we will get more rewards SHANT SHARMA l|+|| S|+||+ l||+| u| u| |i i/ Wi|| Ju|i| || |i|| J+] u| pl+] u| u|J l| ++i|| |W /+l+|J u| ||iJ+] AP