SUNDAY www.thestatesman.com 14 JANUARY 2018 FIND US ONLINE Scan this with your smartphone twitter.com/TheStatesmanLtd facebook.com/thestatesman1875 Pages 16+4 | `5 |LC KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR BEING PREDESTINED TO CONCRETISE HIS MASTER’S MISSION, SWAMI VIVEKANANDA WAS FIRM IN ACTUALISING HIS ASPIRATIONS OF AN ITINERANT MONK'S LIFE P 10 APARNA KUMAR — THE FIRST INDIAN WOMAN TO CONQUER THE WORLD’S 8TH HIGHEST PEAK MANASLU IN NEPAL SHARES P1 HER EXCITING JOURNEY WEATHER Mainly clear sky. Shallow/moderate fog in the morning. The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be around 24 and 09 degrees Celsius respectively RAINFALL: Nil RELATIVE HUMIDITY Team to meet all judges of the Supreme Court barring top 5, PM's secy not allowed to enter CJI's residence Max.92% Min. 42% Max: 23.7°C (+4) SUN RISES 07:15 hrs MOON RISES 04:49 hrs Min: 8.0°C (+1) SUN SETS 17:45 hrs MOON SETS 14:58 hrs TEMPERATURE BCI forms 7-member team to m discuss crisis in apex court J&K minister hits back at Army Chief for remark THUMBNAILS Ravichandran Ashwin celebrates the dismissal of South African batsman Dean Elgar (not in picture) during the first day of the second Test match between South Africa and India at the Supersport cricket ground in Centurion AFP on Saturday. SNS & AGENCIES NEW DELHI, 13 JANUARY T he Bar Council of India (BCI) on Saturday formed a seven-member team to meet all judges of the Supreme Court, barring the five seniormost judges, to discuss the present crisis in the apex court. It passed a resolution saying no political party or leaders should take undue advantage of the situation arising out of the press conference by four senior Supreme Court judges. BCI chairperson Manan Kumar Misra said that the apex bar body has formed the seven-member team to meet all judges of the Supreme Court barring the five seniormost judges to discuss the present crisis. The top lawyers' body also resolved that it will take the opinion of other judges and expressed the view that such issues of judges should not be made public. On Friday, Justices Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, MB Lokur and Kurian Joseph had mounted a virtual revolt against the chief justice, listing a litany of problems including the assigning of cases. The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on Saturdayexpressed “grave concern” over the differences of four seniormost judges with Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra and said the issue should be immediately considered by the full court of the apex court. The SCBA executive committee, which held an emergency meeting, resolved that all public interest litigation (PIL) matters, including the pending PILs, should be either taken up by the CJI or be assigned for adjudication to four senior judges who were part of the apex court collegium. Besides CJI Misra, others in the collegium in accordance with seniority are Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, M B Lokur and Kurian Joseph. SCBA president and senior advocate Vikas Singh said that a resolution for the full court con- sideration was passed as it is a mechanism in which deliberations by all the judges of the top court take place in-house and not in the open. The SCBA resolution said that matters listed for hearing in the apex court on January 15 “should also be transferred” from other judges to the five seniormost judges who were part of the collegium. “The differences that have been reported in the press conference by the four senior judges of the Supreme Court and the other differences which are reflected in the newspa- pers are of grave concern and should be immediately considered by the full court of the Supreme Court,” Singh said while reading out the resolution. “It is further unanimously resolved by the executive committee of the Supreme Court Bar Association that all PIL matters including the pending PIL matters should be either taken up by the Chief Justice of India, or if he has to assign to any other bench, it should be assigned to the judges in the collegium. Even the matters listed on Monday i.e. January 15, 2018, should also be transferred as per our request,” it said. The SCBA president, who addressed the media after coming out of an over hour-long closeddoor meeting of the executive committee, however, did not comment on whether the senior judges should have gone public with their grievances. Singh said that if required, the SCBA would seek an appointment with the CJI and other judges to talk about the developments which were a matter of grave concern. The four judges yesterday said there were certain issues afflicting the country's highest court and warned that they could destroy Indian democracy. The Attorney General, meanwhile, expressed the hope that the problems in the top judiciary would be "settled" by Monday. "Unity among Supreme Court judges will return by Monday. We hope the entire issue will be settled in the larger interest of the institution. Judges are persons of wisdom and states- manship and experience. We hope they won't allow the issue to escalate," Venugopal said here. Justice Ranjan Gogoi, who was in Kolkata for a meeting of legal services authorities, ruled out any crisis hitting the top court. "There is no crisis," he said. Justice Kurian Joseph said in Kochi there was no constitutional crisis. Seizing on TV visuals showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Principal Secretary, Nripendra Misra appearing outside the residence of CJI Dipak Misra here on Saturday morning, the principal Opposition Congress sought to turn the heat on the Modi dispensation, asking what was the top bureaucrat doing there. While the BJP central leadership continued to keep mum on the issues flagged by the judges, party leader and former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha after backing the four judges on Saturday exhorted party leaders and Union Cabinet ministers to take a call on the issues raised by the judges. SRINAGAR, 13 JANUARY The Jammu and Kashmir government on Saturday hit back at Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat over his remark that government schools in the state are spreading a “disinformation campaign” which is radicalising the youth, saying the Army's “meddling” in the state's affairs was unacceptable. Addressing a press conference yesterday, Rawat said each classroom in government schools in Jammu and Kashmir has a separate map of the state besides that of India which sowed the seeds of thought of some kind of “separate identity” among the children. “I do not know what the Army chief has said or how he said it, but what I know is that our children are not going towards radicalisation,” Minister for Education Syed Altaf Bukhari told reporters here. “Those who have no link to education are SNS talking about it.’’ (MATCH REPORT ON PAGE 16) Africans outraged over Trump remarks: Africans have reacted angrily after US President Donald Trump reportedly referred to their nations as “shithole countries”, with many accusing the US president of racism and ignorance. The 55-nation African Union condemned the remarks, while a statement from ambassadors of all countries from the continent at the UN demanded a retraction and apology. The African Group of UN ambassadors said it was “extremely appalled at, and strongly condemns the outrageous, racist and xenophobic remarks by the US presiP7 dent”. ED raids Karti; Chidambaram, Cong cry political vendetta FESTIVE BONFIRE STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 13 JANUARY North Korea offers to send art troupe to Winter Olympics: North Korea has proposed talks next week to discuss its plan to send a performing art troupe to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, Seoul's unification ministry said. The North confirmed it would attend next month's Olympics in the South at an inter-Korean meeting last week, following months of tensions over its nuclear weapons programme. The ministry said the state is keen to discuss logistics of the performers' trip to the South before planning its athletes and supporters' attendance at the Games. P7 Two arrested for dumping potatoes outside UP CM's residence: Two Samajwadi Party activists have been arrested for allegedly dumping potatoes in high-security areas, including outside Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's residence and the Vidhan Sabha building in Lucknow, police said on Saturday. Lucknow's Senior Superintendent of Police Deepak Kumar said the arrested persons -- Ankit Singh Chauhan and Sushil Pasi -- were linked to the Samajwadi Party's youth wing. People celebrating Lohri festival at Rajendra Place in the Capital on Saturday. SNS The Congress and its senior leader P Chidambaram on Saturday accused the Narendra Modi government of allegedly unleashing "vicious political vendetta" against Opposition parties and their leaders after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) earlier in the day reportedly carried out raids at ten premises linked to Chidambaram's son Karti, including the ex-Union Minister's Delhi residence, in connection with its money laundering probe in the AircelMaxis case. These raids were carried out in nine premises in Chennai, including Karti's residence, and at Chidambaram's Jorbagh residence in the national capital, with the ED sources saying that certain "incriminating" documents were seized during the raids. Chidambaram however maintained that "nothing was found" during these raids, attacking the Modi government for allegedly misusing the ED to target his family. "Yesterday, the Supreme Court issued notices to the ED in cases where the submission is that the ED has no jurisdiction to conduct any investigation in the so-called AircelMaxis case. The ED was asked to file its reply and the cases were adjourned to 30 January," Chidambaram said. "There is no FIR against me or my son in the Aircel-Maxis case. There is no predicate scheduled offence. Hence the ED has no jurisdiction. Yet the ED, at the instance of the government, continues to misuse its powers," he charged. "I belong to the Opposition party. Let the government misuse the ED. I shall neither bend nor break and I shall continue to speak and write," Chidambaram said. Slamming the Modi government, the Congress alleged that it was using agencies like the ED and the CBI as "captive puppets to settle political scores and intimidate political opponents" and that "raid raj has become its DNA". The Congress party's chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala said, "We again reiterate that Congress leaders will not be cowed down or bow in face of such malicious and wilful attempts to browbeat, bulldoze or overawe." He charged that the BJPled government was allegedly indulging in such moves against the Opposition in a bid to deflect the public attention from its "abject failures" on all fronts. The ED sources, however, said their action was based on the FIR registered by the agency and the CBI in the case that has not been quashed by the court. This case is related to a Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval granted in 2006 by the then Union Finance Minister Chidambaram. The ED has maintained it has been investigating the circumstances of this FIPB approval. Gujarat Governor embarrasses Chopper crash, boat capsize kill 8 in Maha Pawan Hans copter crashes Three students drown, 32 BJP govt on jobless growth rescued after boat capsizes STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Delivering his address at the convocation of the Gujarat Technological University in Gandhinagar, the Governor OP Kohli said there is a growing discomfort among the state’s youth owing to the grim unemployment scenario at present GANDHINAGAR, 13 JANUARY In a major embarrassment for the ruling BJP in Gujarat, state Governor O P Kohli has said that there is a growing discomfort among the state’s educated youth due to the grim employment scenario. The Governor’s observation is at variance with the BJP government’s claims that the job situation in Gujarat has improved during its 22-year tenure. Delivering his address at the convocation of the Gujarat Technological University (GTU) here, Mr Kohli said that growing unemployment raises the question on the relevance of higher education in the country. Chief MinisterVijay Rupani and Education Minister Bhu- pendrasinh Chudasama were present at the convocation where the Governor spoke his mind. Belonging as he does to the same ideological camp that is currently at the helm of affairs in the country, Mr Kohli shouldn’t have embarrassed the BJP government but the university professor in himprobably couldn’t have resisted the temptation to tell the truth. The Governor said that the feeling of discontent among youths is natural when they do not get jobs despite getting higher education. “Such discontent among youths is a warning bell for any society," said Mr Kohli. The Governor also had a dig at the ‘development’narrative of the BJP government by saying that development of some cities doesn’t mean the development of the country, a phenomenon activists and Opposition parties had been pointing out before and during the just concluded election campaign. This is not the first time in recent days that a dignitary in Gujarat has spoken about the reality that the government wants to keep under the wraps. Only last week, even before the newly swornin ministry had started its formal functioning, state Chief Secretary Dr J N Singh had said that the distress among the farmers was the cause of the ruling BJP’s tally going down in the Assembly elections. Asked to comment on the Governor’s remarks,Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama said that these were his ‘personal opinion’. off Mumbai, 5 bodies found AGENCIES PTI MUMBAI, 13 JANUARY MUMBAI, 13 JANUARY A Pawan Hans helicopter (photo representational image) with seven persons on-board, including five ONGC officers and two pilots, crashed off the Mumbai coast minutes after it took off for the state-owned company's oil installation in the Arabian Sea. So far, five bodies have been recovered. Search operation is on for other missing persons. The Pawan Hans helicopter with five ONGC officers, including three of the level of Deputy General Managers, went missing around 10.40 hours today. ONGC, Coast Guard and Navy pressed helicopters and Three girls drowned and five were missing after a private boat with 40 students, who were on a school picnic, capsized this morning off the coast of Dahanu in Palghar district of Maharashtra. Police said that 32 students had been rescued and a search for the missing ones was continuing with Coast Guard personnel and local fishermen out at sea. The bodies of the three girls ~ Sonal Bhagwan Surati, Janhavi Harish Surati and Sanskruti Mayavanshi ~ all aged 17, were recovered, Superintendent of Police, Palghar, Manjunath Singe told PTI. All three were residents of Masauli in Dahanu's Ambed- speed boats as soon as the information of the chopper going missing was received at the Juhu helibase. ONGC has key oil and gas fields off the Mumbai coast and Pawan Hans helicopters routinely ferry company employees and officers to the oil installations that are situated as far as 160 kilometres from the coastline. The field in the offshore includes Mumbai High. kar Nagar area. The private boat was carrying 40 students of Ponda School and Junior College in Parnaka in Dahanu and capsized around 11.30 am, Singe said. The students were on a picnic. President Ram Nath Kovind, who arrived in Mumbai on Saturdayon a two-day visit to Maharashtra, has offered his condolences to the families of the deceased.