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Pujara is worthy of many privileges in Kohli’s kingdom: Chappell

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Normally not known to be generous with superlatives, the great Ian Chappell found Cheteshwar Pujara “worthy of many privileges” in Virat Kohli’s “kingdom” for his tenacity and tons of runs.

Pujara grafted his way to three centuries in the ongoing Test series against Australia, playing a key role in India’s dominance.

“Not only did Pujara single-handedly bring the Australian bowlers to their knees, he also paved the way for his team-mates to deliver the killer blows,” Chappell wrote in a column for ‘ESPNcricinfo’.

While India are on the verge of completing a maiden Test series win in Australia, the former captain was not with praising Pujara.

“Kohli may be the king of Indian cricket but Pujara has proven to be his loyal ally and worthy of many privileges in the kingdom. Many good things have happened for India in this series, not the least of them being victory, and most have emanated from the stubborn defiance of Pujara.”

The eldest of the famous Chappell brothers, he added, “In scoring three centuries in a series in Australia, he joined an illustrious compatriot, the equally defiant Sunil Gavaskar, who achieved a similar feat in 1977-78.

“In accumulating 521 runs in seven innings, Pujara was at the crease for a mammoth 1867 minutes and was not tempted by a high percentage of the 1258 balls he faced.”

That the home team was entirely focussed on how to tackle Kohli prior to the series may have helped Pujara to play at ease.

“While the Australian cricket team was keeping a wary eye on Virat Kohli, Pujara snuck up from behind and executed the perfect mugging. In addition to helping India win a series for the first time in Australia, he frustrated a top-class opposition attack to the point of submission.

“The fast bowlers were worn to a frazzle by the end of the Indian first innings at the SCG, and India’s lower order, who for much of the series were the ducks in the shooting gallery, scored frequently and freely.”

Karolina Pliskova beats Lesia Tsurenko to win Brisbane International

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Karolina Pliskova used all her big – match experience as she came from a set down to overhaul Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko and win the Brisbane International on Sunday.

The unseeded Tsurenko looked headed for the biggest win of her career when serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set, only for Pliskova to come storming back to win 4-6,7-5, 6-2 and claim her second Brisbane title.

Pliskova, the tournament’s fifth seed, started slowly and paid the penalty against Tsurenko, who was serving superbly and winning the battle from the baseline.

Tsurenko took the first set in 38 minutes, firing 10 winners and making 81 percent of her first serves.

She took that form into the second set and broke Pliskova early.

However, serving for the match at 5-4, she tightened up and Pliskova won 13 of the next 14 points to level the match.

The third set was all Pliskova as she broke Tsurenko twice to wrap up the final in two hours, 12 minutes.

Cops baton charge protesters at Bhide’s lecture in Jalna

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copsActivists of the Sambhaji Brigade and other organisations protesting against a lecture of controversial right-wing leader Sambhaji Bhide in Maharashtra’s Jalna district were Sunday baton-charged, police said.

Bhide was in Jalna, over 400 kilometres from here, for a lecture organised at around 10:30am by his organisation Shiv Pratishthan Hindustan in the Teen Murti temple in Sambhaji Nagar area, police said.

Activists of the Sambhaji Brigade, Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh and other organisations protested and tried to disrupt the event, following which police had to resort to a baton charge, an official said.

At least 56 protesters from these groups were detained under the Maharashtra Police Act at Sadar Bazar police station and later released, the official added.

After his lecture in Jalna, Bhide left for Aurangabad Sunday afternoon, the official informed.

Bhide and his supporters have been accused of involvement in the caste violence in Bhima Koregaon in Pune district on January 1 last year which left one person dead and property worth several crore rupees damaged.

He has, however, refuted these allegations.

Man held with charas in Thane

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A 58-year-old man was arrested after 11 kg of charas (cannabis resin) was seized from him here in Maharashtra, police said on Sunday.

Acting on a tip-off, the anti-extortion cell of Thane police laid a trap and apprehended Azimuddin Ahmed Ansari at Kalyan town here on Saturday evening, police spokesperson Sukhada Narkar said in a release.

A search of his bag led to the recovery of nearly 11 kg of charas, worth around Rs 22 lakh, she said.

Ansari, a resident of Siwan district in Bihar, had apparently got the contraband from Nepal, Narkar said.

A probe was underway to ascertain as to whom he was planning to sell the contraband, she said, adding that the accused was booked under relevant provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

Woman’s decomposed found in Thane; cops suspect murder

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thane 3A highly decomposed body of a 42-year-old woman was found dumped on a roadside near the Mumbai-Agra highway here in Maharashtra, police said on Sunday.

A group of devotees proceeding on foot to Shirdi temple town spotted the body, bearing injury marks on head, at a forest in Asangaon area of Sahapur taluka on Friday, an official at Sahapur police station said.

An Aadhaar card found stuck in her clothes revealed her identity as Vandana Khermode, hailing from Solapur district in Maharashtra, he said.

The police subsequently sent the body for postmortem to J J Hospital in neighbouring Mumbai.

Based on the autopsy report, a case was registered by the police on Saturday under IPC section 302 (murder) against unidentified persons, he said.

The body was later handed over to the woman’s relatives, he said, adding that a probe was on to ascertain why and where she was killed.

Media professional dies after falling from building in Goregaon

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A 49-year-old media professional died after falling from the terrace of a building in suburban Goregaon on Sunday, police said.

Adarsh Mishra, who resided on seventh floor of the Trimurti Society at Siddharth Nagar, went to the building’s terrace for a morning walk when he fell from there, Goregaon police station’s senior police inspector Sanjay Bhole said.

It was not yet clear whether it was an accident or a case of suicide, he said, adding that Mishra everyday used to go for morning walk on the building’s terrace.

“The CCTV installed on the building’s seventh floor showed Mishra, clad in track pants and T-shirt, going upstairs to the terrace with a handkerchief in his hand,” Bhole said.

In another CCTV put up in the building’s lobby, he was seen falling down around 10.30 am, but it was not clear what led to his fall, he said.

Mishra was rushed to the nearby Siddharth Hospital where doctors declared him dead, the official said.

The police were examining more CCTV footages of the building and adjoining housing societies to ascertain the exact cause of his death, he said.

Mishra resided in the building with his wife and son. His family members were shocked at his sudden death, he said.

The body will be handed over to the family after post- mortem, the police official said, that a probe was underway into the incident.

Mishra earlier worked as vice president with the DNA newspaper and had left his job a few months back, he said.

He had also worked at the Wockhardt Foundation, the official said, adding that the deceased had about 18 years of experience in the media and entertainment industry.

Mishra had earlier also worked with the Indian Express, Anand Bazar Patrika and the Lokmat Group.

Crippled with financial distress, cane growers committing suicide: Pawar writes to Modi

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snSugarcane growers in the country are committing suicide due to “financial desperation”, NCP supremo and former agriculture minister Sharad Pawar has pointed out in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying immediate steps must be taken to prevent any “mass-scale revolt” by farmers.

Highlighting in his letter a tremendous “unrest and depression” in his letter among small and marginal cane growers, the senior leader also suggested a slew of measures to provide relief to such farmers.

This letter comes in the backdrop of the Narendra Modi-led government at the centre facing heat from various opposition parties over growing farm distress across the country. The agrarian crisis issue assumes even more significance after the BJP’s recent defeat in assembly polls in three Hindi heartland states, and it is believed that the saffron party will make all efforts to claw back the support of millions of farmers ahead of the general elections.

“I am constrained to once again write to you on the plight of millions of sugarcane farmers across the country,” Pawar said in the letter seen by agencies.

In view of record sugar output and rock bottom prices, he said: “Sugar mills are unable to release cane amount in time and in full. This has put tremendous amount of unrest and depression with the cane growing small and marginal farmers throughout the country. This financial desperation is leading them to commit suicide.”

“Therefore, this imbroglio needs to be resolved on very urgent basis to avoid mass-scale revolt of sugarcane farmers,” Pawar said.

Seeking immediate intervention, Pawar has suggested that there is a “dire need” to hike the minimum selling price (MSP) of sugar to Rs 34 per kg from the current Rs 29 per kg so that the production cost could be covered atleast.

“Improved cash liquidity would enable releasing cane payments to farmers which would reduce their stress,” he added.

On mandatory sugar exports fixed by the Centre, the NCP chief pointed out mills are not able to make shipments despite subsidy provided by the government.

Out of 7 million tonne of export quota approved for last and the current 2018-19 marketing year (October-September), only 1.5 million tonne has been contracted. Out of that, only half of it has been shipped physically.

Pawar attributed “abysmal performance” on the export front to “total inaction by the Department of Financial Services under the Finance Ministry in timely intervention to instruct banks to release pledged sugar stocks for exports”.

On production-linked subsidy of Rs 13.88 per quintal of sugar, the NCP leader said that mills are not getting this much amount on time due to procedural delay in submission of post-export documents.

To help mills clear cane arrears that had touched around Rs 25,000 crore in mid-2018, the Centre had announced the production-linked subsidy of Rs 5.5 per quintal for 2017-18 and later enhanced it to Rs 13.88 per quintal for the current year.

These apart from, Pawar also suggested that “claims of export undertaken in the past and claims of buffer stock need, to be cleared on priority. This will improve the cash liquidity and help clearing cane arrears.”

The NCP chief, also a Rajya Sabha member, hoped that these issues will be dealt with due “urgency” without waiting for the situation “going out of control”.

Sugarcane mills and cane growers are facing liquidity crunch due to record production of 32.5 million tonne in 2017-18 as against annual domestic demand of 26 million tonne.

In the current year also, the output is estimated to decline to at 30-31 million tonne but it will still be higher than demand. Mills are also holding huge carrying over stock as well.

Student alleges Education Minister Tawde ordered his ‘arrest’; Minister denies

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An undergraduate student in Maharashtra’s Amravati district has alleged that state Education Minister Vinod Tawde ordered his arrest when he was recording a conversation between him and a fellow student where as the charge was denied by the minister.

The student, Yuvraj Dabad, also claimed that following the alleged order, the local police detained him for a couple of hours, seized his smartphone and returned it after the video-recording was deleted from it.

Tawde, however, refuted the allegation, saying that he did not order the student’s arrest and the”lies” were being spread against him.

A top police official in Amravati said that the student was neither arrested nor detained, and nothing was deleted from his mobile phone.

The alleged incident took place on Friday after Tawde inaugurated an elocution competition at a college in Amravati, located around 680 km from Mumbai.

The minister was leaving after his speech at the event when some students from journalism course reached out to him near his vehicle, seeking his response on a free-education policy.

Prashant Rathod, a student of the college, said, “I was told by Education Minister Vinod Tawde to start working somewhere if I could not afford the educational expenses. My question to him was whether the state could have a free-education policy.”

Dabad was video-recording the interaction, when the minister “first asked him to stop the recording and later ordered the police to arrest him”, Rathod claimed while talking to reporters in Amravati on Saturday.

Dabad said he declined the minister’s order to stop the recording because “he (Tawde) was not answering our queries”.

“We were simply asking questions to him and seeking his views,” he told reporters.

“As Tawde ordered the police to arrest me, I was taken out of the college premises and detained for some time in the police vehicle. My handset was returned later in the evening. All the videos and recordings into my phone were deleted by the police without my permission,” Dabad said.

Tawde later termed the allegations “false”.

“It is some sort of a lie that as saying: is being spread against me. I did not order the arrest of any student in Amravati,” he told PTI on Sunday.

The minister said he had a “good interaction” with students at the college for almost two-and-a-half hours.

“The students, who have levelled charges against me, met me outside the hall and tried to ask some questions to me. They are the ones who are spreading lies about me.

“Some of those students also came with pamphlets with ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ written on those and distributed them among the other students. They were the ones who alleged that I ordered the arrest. It is completely false,” he said.

When contacted, Amravati Police Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Baviskar said neither any student was arrested or detained nor anything was deleted from anyone’s mobile phone.

“In the midst of chaos in the college, the concerned student was taken outside the college, that’s it,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dabad said that he has submitted a letter to the police commissionerate in Amravati and the district collectorate on Saturday against Tawde and police officials concerned for allegedly detaining him without the permission of his college authorities and deleting data from his mobile phone.

Cinema should be democratic: Aahana Kumra

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aahanaAahana Kumra, who will be seen in “The Accidental Prime Minister”, says that cinema should be democratic and the film deserves a fair chance to be shown to people.

The film is based on the book of the same name written by Sanjaya Baru, who served as a media advisor for former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. In the film, Anupam Kher plays the title role and Akshaye Khanna is seen as Baru.

While the trailer of the film irked many Congress leaders who called it a “propaganda”, Aahana, says that the film is not taking any sides.

“It is a powerfully cut trailer. I am a non-political person. I don’t support anyone. Every film has its own point of view. Cinema should be democratic and I have maintained that in my work.

“Anything that you watch is up to you, the power is in your hands whether to watch a film or not. While shooting I did not feel the film was taking any sides.”

The Congress party has slammed the BJP for portraying the Gandhi family in poor light and the actor says that it is incorrect to jump to any conclusion before watching the entire film.

“Everyone will have a different perspective. The film is not trying to show anyone in bad light. It is about a relationship between Manmohan Singh and Sanjaya Baru. It is not right for people to think anything or make a judgement without watching the film.”

“One should watch the film then have an opinion. It is a good film and people should give it a chance. It is not right to show the makers and the actors down,” she added.

In “The Accidental Prime Minister”, Aahana plays the role of Priyanka Gandhi and she was thrilled when the offer came to her from Hansal Mehta, who is creatively involved with the political-drama.

“I would have never imagined people thinking of me casting as Priyanka Gandhi. I was anxious to play her. This was my first big film. I wanted to get everything right. I am looking forward to see my work.”

As part of her research, Aahana saw videos that were available in public domain, including some of Priyanka’s interviews.

“She comes across as a self assured person, is calm. Being a public figure, she is not there in the public eye even in this age of social media and I get fascinated with such personality. She is still a mystery.”

“I remember while I was shooting, the director said, I am too high on energy and I had to work on it. For this role I had to be completely opposite of myself.”

“I have tried to play to the best of my knowledge in tandem with the director.”

The film releases on January 11.

 

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