MIRPUR/NEW DELHI:Under attack for India’s shock defeat in the ODI series against Bangladesh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has offered to step down from captaincy but several former players expressed their opposition against such a move.
Hours after India’s series defeat, Dhoni had said at the post match press conference that he was willing to step down as captain and contribute as a player if it guaranteed success for Indian cricket.
“I am really enjoying my cricket… If it is justifiable if you remove me (as captain) and the Indian cricket will start doing well, and if I am the reason for all the bad that’s happening to Indian cricket, definitely I would love to step away and play as a player,” Dhoni said at the press conference in Mirpur.
“I am always the one who is responsible for anything bad that happens in Indian cricket. Everything that happens is because of me. Even the Bangladesh media is smiling,” he said.
But, several former Indian cricketers put their weight behind the beleaguered Dhoni and said that he should continue as captain of the ODI team.
Former Indian captains like Bishan Singh Bedi, Dilip Vengsarkar and Ajit Wadekar and players like Chetan Chauhan, Chandu Borde, Syed Kirmani and Kiran More strongly backed Dhoni, saying that there was no need to press the panic button and he is the best bet till the 2016 World T20.
“I don’t think Dhoni should be replaced. He recently led India to the WC semi-finals and this series is the first series after that. He should continue as captain,” Vengsarkar told PTI.
Bedi, known for his forthright views on Indian cricket, did not want to single out Dhoni for the team’s debacle in Bangladesh.
“I am not blaming an individual, rather it was a team lethargy that cost India the series. Regarding Dhoni’s captaincy issue, I can’t say much. Nothing is coming out clear at the moment. See what he spoke to the media was just out of sheer frustration. He was just being sarcastic,” he said.
“That’s part and parcel of being a leader. You are lauded when victorious and criticised in defeat. He has already left the Test captaincy. About ODIs, I don’t know. But it’s the first time I have seen him ruffled and that’s not a good sign anymore,” Bedi added.
Wadekar said that Dhoni was still the best person to lead India in the ODIs and T20s.
“I think he’s still the best bet for captaincy in ODIs and T20s. I suppose he should be retained as captain. It was amazing (the loss). They perhaps did not take Bangladesh seriously. They probably did not get enough time to prepare for ODI series,” said Wadekar. (AGENCIES)

NEW DELHI:Prime Minister Narendra Modi today condemned the attack on Afghan Parliament, terming it as a “despicable and cowardly act” and asserted that India stands shoulder to shoulder with people of that country in this hour.
“The attack on the Afghanistan Parliament is a despicable & cowardly act. There is no place for such attacks in a democracy,” Modi tweeted.
“My prayers are with those injured. We stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Afghanistan in this hour,” he said in another tweet.
Taliban militants attacked the Afghan Parliament this morning, with gunfire and explosions rocking the building, sending lawmakers running for cover in chaotic scenes relayed live on television.
The insurgents tried to storm the complex after triggering a car bomb but were repelled and have taken position in a partially-constructed building nearby, officials said of the ongoing attack.
All Members of Parliament were safely evacuated after the attack, which came as the Afghan president’s nominee for the crucial post of defence minister was to be introduced in Parliament.
A group of suicide attackers last tried to storm the Parliament in 2012 as they launched coordinated attacks in several parts of the capital, including several diplomatic enclaves.
“Several mujahideen have entered the parliament building, heavy fighting is on-going,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid posted on Twitter. “The attack happened at a time when the defence minister was being introduced.”
Police denied that Taliban fighters had breached the high-security complex. (PTI)

TORONTO:Children whose parents smoked when they were toddlers are likely to have a wider waist and a higher body mass index (BMI) by the time they reach ten years of age, a new study has found.
Researchers at the University of Montreal and its affiliated CHU Sainte Justine Research Centre have conducted the first ever study looking into the effects of household smoking on children’s later weight gain.
“We suspect the statistics we’ve established linking childhood obesity to exposure to parents’ smoking may underestimate the effect due to parents under reporting the amount they smoked out of shame,” said Professor Linda Pagani, who led the study.
“By the age of ten, the children who had been intermittently or continuously exposed to smoke were likely to have waists that were up to three-fifths of an inch wider than their peers. And their BMI scores were likely to be between .48 and .81 points higher.
“This prospective association is almost as large as the influence of smoking while pregnant,” Pagani said.
Pagani and her team used data collected through the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development, a vast survey of children born across the province in which parents and teachers contributed an array of information about the child’s development, wellbeing, lifestyle, social environment and behaviour.
The findings were ascertained by comparing the behaviour of 2,055 families and the outcomes for their children.
While the increase in BMI may not seem like much, it occurs during a critical period of the child’s development known as the “adiposity rebound period.” The weight gain could therefore have serious long-lasting effects.
Pagani has several explanations as to why there may be a cause and effect relationship in the association she has identified.
“Early childhood exposure to second hand smoke could be influencing endocrine imbalances and altering neurodevelopmental functioning at this critical period in hypothalamic development, thus damaging vital systems which undergo important postnatal growth and development until middle childhood, ie the period that we’ve looked at in this study,” she said.
“The mechanisms by which household smoke negatively influences immune, neurodevelopmental, and cardiovascular processes are multiple and transactional.
“For example, young children have ventilation needs per kilogramme of body weight that are approximately 2 to 3 times higher than adults due to their immature vital systems, resulting in more noxious effects given equal levels of household smoke exposure compared to adults.
“In any event, our findings emphasise the importance public health initiatives and parental sensitisation aimed at domestic exposure reductions during the critical early childhood years,” Pagani said. (AGENCIES)

SRINAGAR:Taking a dig at Jammu and Kashmir government for crackdown to foil ‘Sopore Chalo’ march called by separatists on the first day of holy fasting month of Ramdan, former chief minister Omar Abdullah said situation has now escalated with the death of a civilian in Kulgam.
The Jammu and Kashmir government foiled ‘Sopore Chalo’ march on Friday called by separatist organisations, The including both the factions of the Hurriyat Conference (HC) to express solidarity with the families of four persons killed by unidentified gunmen last week in Sopore.
In a tweet, working president of the Opposition National Conference (NC) Mr Abdullah said, This Ramzan started with the crackdown to thwart the Sopore Chalo call & has now escalated with the civilian killing in Kulgam.
My condolences to the bereaved family & prayers that the person believed to have been injured pulls through and makes a full recovery.
A civilian Asif Rashid was killed when a teargas shell reportedly hit him during demonstration at Redwani Balal in Kulgam district, where two Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) militants were killed and two Army personnel were injured in an encounter which ended today. (AGENCIES)

NEW DELHI:Government is soon expected to notify a “small time” compliance window for those holding undeclared assets or black money abroad to voluntarily declare these to the taxman and come clean.
Sources said the window period could be notified by the end of this month or by early July and the time given could be as short as two months.
“A team of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is working on the draft of the proposed compliance window. After vetting from the Department of Revenue it will be sent to the Finance Minister’s office for final approval,” the sources said.
They added the window could be kept “as short as possible” as a ‘trend analysis’ of the subject has shown that the target audience for this special exercise would not be a very large base.
“The compliance window to declare overseas black money or unreported income is expected to be a short and quick affair. A two-month time period is being thought to be enough for the person wanting to avail the one-time facility and also for the taxman to process it,” they said.
Sources added the Finance Ministry is working to notify the compliance mechanism by the “end of this month or the first half of July.”
It is also understood that the CBDT is in touch with the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money to decide the eligibility of seeking the compliance window help in those cases where the taxman and other enforcement agencies have deployed their scanner and started probe or issued notices based on some evidence.
The CBDT and senior officials of the Income Tax department are also mulling to see if two-four nodal centres could be created for admitting such cases from across the country.
“An opinion has been sought from the investigation and intelligence set up of the I-T department in this regard,” they said.
These procedures are being planned in the run up to the
full operationalisation of the new anti-black money Act– Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Bill, 2015– from April 1, 2016 which was approved by Parliament early this year.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said in the Lok Sabha that there would be a short compliance window for persons having undisclosed income abroad to come clean by paying 30 per cent tax and 30 per cent penalty.
Once the compliance window closes, anyone found having undeclared overseas wealth would be required to pay 30 per cent tax, 90 per cent penalty and face criminal prosecution.
The new law would not cover those having amounts to the tune of Rs 5 lakh in bank accounts abroad as it may belong to students or those working professionals.
Also, the latest law will deal with foreign assets and not domestic tax evasion which was being taken care of by the existing Income Tax Act. (agencies)

JAMMU:BJP national general secretary and in-charge Jammu and Kashmir affairs Ram Madhav today reviewed the party performance and discussed various issues including AIIMS at a meeting chaired by him here.
Mr Madhav is on a two-day visit of Jammu and Kashmir. “Mr Madhav this morning chaired the Core Group meeting of the BJP at Government guest house,” party sources here told UNI.
They said the BJP leader reviewed the performance of the party after completing its 100 days alliance with ruling partner Peoples Democratic Party.
Sources further added that the agenda of PDP-BJP alliance and its implementation was also discussed in detail during the meeting, adding, “issue of AIIMS remained the highlight of the core group meeting.”
Party sources said Mr Madhav will chair the meeting of BJP ministers and MLAs in the evening.
MoS PMO Dr Jitendra Singh also attended the meeting. Mr Madhav will fly to Kashmir Valley tomorrow morning and is likely to meet Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. PDP-BJP formed coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir in March and completed 100 days of governance in first week of June. (AGENCIES)

NEW DELHI:The row over BJP general secretary Ram Madhav questioning Vice President Hamid Ansari’s absence at the Yoga Day celebrations escalated today, with Congress accusing the ruling party of playing “divisive” politics and the latter clarifying he was not invited because of protocol issues.
Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Naik, whose Ministry organised the International Day of Yoga event at Rajpath yesterday, said when Prime Minister is the chief guest at a programme, the President or Vice President cannot be invited as per protocol as the two are above the PM in order of precedence.
“When the Prime Minister is chief guest, then inviting the Vice President is not proper. That’s why we did not send the invite to him. President and Vice President are above the Prime Minister as per order of precedence and we cannot invite them accordingly,” he said.
Seeking to downplay the controversy, Naik said Madhav has withdrawn his statement and added it may have happened by mistake.
“It may have happened by mistake. It should have been avoided, but we agreed to our mistake,” he said.
In the wake of government’s clarification on the issue, the Vice President’s Office said the matter is closed for them as the Minister’s statement “seems logical”.
“For us that’s the end of the matter,” it said.
However, Congress was unsatisfied by the government’s clarification and accused BJP of playing “divisive politics” on the International Day of Yoga by targeting Ansari and demanded that Madhav tender an apology.
“The Vice President has been targeted on International Yoga Day. While yoga is all inclusive, BJP has showed its divisive politics by such an action. Ram Madhav should apologise,” party spokesperson R P N Singh told reporters.
Suggesting that the Narendra Modi government should not claim undue credit over yoga, Singh also emphasised that the spiritual and physical exercise form has been practised in India from the time immemorial. (AGENCIES)

KABUL:A huge explosion rocked the Afghan parliament in Kabul today, triggering chaos in the smoke-filled building as lawmakers ran for cover, live television footage showed.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack which occurred as the Afghan president’s nominee for the crucial post of defence minister was to be introduced in parliament.
“Several mujahideen have entered the parliament building, heavy fighting is on going,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid posted on Twitter.
“The attack happened at a time when the defence minister was being introduced,” he added.
Officials could not immediately confirm whether Taliban fighters had breached the high-security parliament building and there were no immediate reports on casualties.
“We have heard reports of an explosion. We are heading to the scene,” Kabul police spokesman Ebadullah Karimi told AFP.
The insurgents launched a countrywide offensive in late April, stepping up attacks on government and foreign targets in what is expected to be the bloodiest fighting season in a decade.
The militants recently rebuffed requests from senior Afghan clerics to halt attacks during the fasting month of Ramadan even as a surge in violence has sent civilian casualties soaring. (AGENCIES)