Afghan qualifies ~ Stuie Broad takes 400; Morne Morkel 300 ..

At Auckland – England had the ignominy of being bowled out for paltry 58 – yet there was something to succor .. Stuart Broad becoming the youngest fast  bowler to take 400 test wickets.  Broad achieved it at 31 years, 271 days on day one in Auckland. The previous youngest was Dale Steyn at 32 years, 33 days, when he got to the milestone against Bangladesh in 2015. Among all bowlers, only Muttiah Muralitharan and Harbhajan Singh have reached 400 at a younger age than Broad. Muralitharan, at 29 years, 270 days, is the youngest to 400 Test wickets overall. Broad is the second England bowler, after James Anderson, and the 15^th  overall to take 400 wickets.

The group that he has joined is elite indeed ~ it has Muthiah Muralitharan (800 from 133 tests); Shane Warne (708/145); Anil Kumble (619/132); Glenn Mcgrath (563/124); Jimmy Anderson (526/135); Courtney Walsh (519/132); Kapil Dev Nikhanj (434/131); Richard Hadlee (431/86); Shaun Pollock (421/108); Dale Steyn (419/86); Harbajan Singh (417/103); Wasim Akram (414/104); Curtly Ambrose (405/98) and SCJ Broad (400/115).

At Auckland on day 2 - only 23.1 overs were possible as steady rain prevented no more than 90 minutes of play. New Zealand's best Test batsman Kane Williamson,  brightened up a gloomy afternoon with his 18^th  Test hundred, passing Martin Crowe and Ross Taylor to become the country's leading century-maker. He eventually fell for 102 shortly after the tea break, lbw to James Anderson, England's only wicket of the day.

At South Africa – more record with Dean Elgar becoming the first man in Test history to carry his bat through an innings twice in the same year, and also joining Desmond Haynes as the only men to have carried their bat three times in a Test career. It continued with Kagiso Rabada winning a breathless mini-battle with David Warner, and progressed further with Morne Morkel becoming the fifth South African to take 300 Test wickets. And the day was capped off by a counter-attack from Lyon and Tim Paine, whose 66-run ninth-wicket stand put Australia back in the contest.

Morne Morkel became  the fifth South African bowler to 300 Test wickets, after taking three wickets on the second day of the Newlands Test against Australia. Morkel's milestone came up in his 85^th Test; at tea, his tally stood at 300 at an average of 28.07, in his final series as an international cricketer.  Sadly, Morkel will retire at the end of the ongoing series, and there is no guarantee he will feature in the fourth Test which has only made reaching the landmark all the more important. He was dropped for the second Test at St George's Park after a poor start in Durban, where he took three wickets but bowled better as the match went on, and is competing with Lungi Ngidi for a place in the starting XI.

Morkel may not even have played at Newlands, but Ngidi suffered a toe injury, which allowed the lanky quick the opportunity for a farewell in the city he has called home for the last three years. Morkel moved from Pretoria to Cape Town in 2015, and though he does not play for the Cobras domestic franchise, with no fixture at SuperSport Park, Newlands is the closest he will get to a home goodbye.

Strange are the ways of people and of selectors !!!   ~ away in the WC qualifiers, Afghanistan completed a miraculous revival to secure their passage to the World Cup in England next year with a five-wicket win over Ireland in the final Super Six match of the qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe. Afghanistan lost their group games to Scotland, Zimbabwe and Hong Kong and entered the Super Six with no points, but victories over West Indies, UAE and Ireland - as well as helpful results in other games - meant that their World Cup dreams came to rest on their final match against Ireland. Chasing 210 on a slow track, Mohammad Shahzad led the way with a rapid fifty before Asghar Stanikzai, who missed the group stage due to an emergency appendectomy, secured the result with an unbeaten 39.

As recently as 2010, Nepal were playing in the sixth tier of world cricket. In less than a decade, they have risen to become one of 16 teams with official ODI status. They made the final step in the World Cup Qualifier, beating Hong Kong to finish fourth in their group and then Papua New Guinea in a playoff match to guarantee an eighth-place finish and with it ODI status. They will now be an ODI team until at least 2022, and while this does not guarantee fixtures against Full Members, it is a remarkable achievement.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

23^rd Mar 2018.

Remembering martyrs : Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar & Shivaram Rajguru

A  bomb was thrown "to make the deaf hear and to give the headless a timely warning" ~ the perpetrators did not run away – but like our own Veera Vanchinathan, offered themselves to Police arrest, as was planned by the Central Committee of Hindustan Socialistic Republic Association being headed by Chander Shekhar.. .. .. today is the day to remember them .. .. .. and a web search led me to another Bengal activist who was arrested and hanged in Mar 1924 (sad even the date is not recorded and not much of history we ever studied about this hero – more on him in a separate post)

Today 23^rd March  marks the 87^th  year of martyrdom of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru. They symbolise the best example of sacrifice to free India from the imperial clutches of British rule. Indian history books perhaps have provided lesser  exposure to their visionary battle against British rule. These revolutionaries envisioned India’s future were not in the same stream of Congress and did not garner that attention that the party gotten.

They are the very  definition of martyr and would eternally motivate the youngsters for the Nation Cause.   Before that have you heard of Kartar Singh Sarabha.  In the leaflet he threw in the Central Assembly on 9 April 1929, he stated: "It is easy to kill individuals but you cannot kill the ideas. Great empires crumbled, while the ideas survived.   While in prison,  he and his 2 friends wrote to Lord Irwin,  asking to be treated as prisoners of war and consequently to be executed by firing squad and not by hanging.  He declined to sign letter for clemency…….  -        that is Shaheed Bhagat Singh

From his early days, he had been attracted by revolutionary activities against oppressive British Raj.  Seeking revenge for the death of Lala Lajpat Rai at the hands of the police, Singh was involved in the assassination of British police officer John Saunders. He eluded efforts by the police to capture him. Together with Batukeshwar Dutt, he undertook a successful effort to throw two bombs and leaflets inside the Central Legislative Assembly while shouting slogans of Inquilab Zindabad. Subsequently they volunteered to surrender and be arrested. Held on this charge, he gained widespread national support when he underwent a 116 day fast in jail, demanding equal rights for British and Indian political prisoners. He was convicted and subsequently hanged for his participation in the murder, aged 23. His legacy prompted youth in India to begin fighting for Indian independence and he continues to be a youth idol in modern India.

Bhagat Singh and B.K.Dutt were sentenced to transportation for life on June 12, 1929 and both were sent to Multan jail and Lahore jail on l31h June 1929 by train. According to different files of Home Department of India related with J.P.Saundres Murder Case of Lahore, the Punjab Police and C.I.D. of Punjab Govt. was unable to trace the killer up to May 1929. Even the Police could not name the culprits. The Police was haunting in the dark but successfully made a strong case linking Browning Pistol No.l68096. 

 

We often attach great importance to the soil or the place and that way Khatkar Kalan is a historic village for it has given many famous patriots and freedom fighters like Sardar Kishan Singh, Sardar Ajit Singh, Sardar Swaran Singh, Shaheed-e-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh.   Nawanshahr  situtated on the banks of river Sutlej is a city in Punjab which was upgraded as a district in 1995, now it is a municipal council in the district named after the revolutionary and is called Shahid Bhagat Singh Nagar district in Punjab.  It reportedly was built during the reign of  Khilji (1295-1316).  In Sept 2008, in commemoration of Shahid’s 101st birth anniversary, Punjab CM Prakashsingh Badal announced the formation of a district after him.  

                     Bhagat  & Dutt were sentenced to 'Transportation for Life' for the bombing on 12 June 1929. Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev were charged with the murder.   On 1^st   May 1930, by declaring an emergency, an ordinance was passed by Lord Irwin, that shifted the Lahore Conspiracy Case Trial from the court of Rai Sahib Pandit Sri Kishan to a Special Tribunal of three judges. On 7 October 1930, this tribunal convicted Singh among others and sentenced him to be hanged till death.  On 23 March 1931, Bhagat Singh was hanged in Lahore with his fellow comrades Rajguru and Sukhdev.  Bhagat Singh was cremated at Hussainiwala on banks of Sutlej river.

The court framed charges under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 3 of the Explosive Substances Act. Bhagat Singh and Dutt were accused of throwing bombs ‘to kill or cause injuries to the King Majesty’s subjects’. The magistrate committed both of the revolutionaries’ to the sessions court, which was presided over by Judge Leonard Middleton. The trial started in the first week of June, 1929. Here also, Bhagat Singh and Dutt were irked by the allegation that they had fired shots from a gun. It was apparent that the government was not limiting the case to the bombs thrown in the Assembly. The two were persuaded to file an appeal which was rejected and they were sent for fourteen years. The judge was in a hurry to close the case and claimed that the police had gathered ‘substantial evidence’ against Bhagat Singh and that he was charged with involvement in the killings of Saunders. The case proceeded at a snails pace and hence the government got so exasperated that it approached the Lahore High Court for directions to the magistrate. When the case opened on 5 May 1930, Rajguru challenged the very constitution of the tribunal and said that it was illegal ultra vires. He argued that  the Viceroy did not have the power to cut short the normal legal procedure.

Sadly, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were sentenced to death in the Lahore conspiracy case and ordered to be hanged on 24 March 1931; but Singh was informed that his execution had been advanced by 11 hours on 23 March 1931, just a few hours before his execution.  Singh was hanged on 23 March 1931 at 7:30 pm in Lahore jail with his fellow comrades Rajguru and Sukhdev. It is reported that no magistrate of the time was willing to supervise his hanging. The jail authorities then broke the rear wall of the jail and secretly cremated the three martyrs under cover of darkness outside Ganda Singh Wala village, and then threw the ashes into the Sutlej river.  An ex-parte trial was against the principles of natural justice that no man shall be held guilty unless given an opportunity to defend in a hearing.  It was probably for the first time, that executions were carried out in the evening, by advancing the date of execution. The families of the accused were not allowed to meet them before the execution nor were they informed about it, even the bodies of the three were not given to their relatives after the execution to perform last rites.

Even lesser is known about the other two daring colleagues of Bhagat Singh.  Shivaram Hari Rajguru (24 August 1908 – 23 March 1931) was  born at Khed, near Pune.  Years later, his  birthplace of Khed has since been renamed as Rajgurunagar in his honour. Rajguru Market, a shopping complex at Hisar, Haryana, was named in his honour in 1953.

Almost a century ago, there were different ideologies - the paths Gandhi and Bhagat Singh.  Were they complementary could not be commented now ..   in some ways, the Gandhian path was focussed on the transfer of political power but Bhagat Singh's vision was to transform independent India into better society.  There has been criticism that Gandhi and other national leaders of that time, did not do much to prevent or reduce the sentence of 3 martyrs.  Lord Irwin, in a report to the Secretary of State, penned his position on the issue of commutation: He (Mahatma Gandhi) did not plead for commutation, although he would, being opposed to all taking of life, take that course himself. He also thought it would have an influence for peace. But he did ask for postponement in present circumstances. I contented myself with saying that, whatever might be the decision as to exact dates, I could not think there was any case for commutation which might not be made with equal force in the case of any other violent crime.

Sad ~ politicians and rulers of those years and those who followed failed to honour such great sacrifices of martyrs but for whom, we will not be celebrating our freedom.

Salutes to Them all ~ with regards – S. Sampathkumar

Parliament passes Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill 2018

‘Gratuity’ ~ the dictionary meaning is :  a tip given to a waiter, taxi driver, etc. It also means :  sum of money paid to an employee at the end of a period of employment.  Every employee looks forward to peaceful retirement as they near the homebend !!

For topic of the day – it is about Employee benefit (social security !) .. ..  Gratuity is a benefit received by an employee for services rendered to an organisation. For companies covered under the Gratuity Act, this benefit is paid when an employee completes five or more years of service with the employer. The Gratuity Act applies to establishments employing 10 or more persons.  The primary objective of providing a gratuity scheme is to provide a retiring benefit to the workman who have rendered long and unblemished service to the employer and thereby contributed to the prosperity of the employer.

In Western Nations the concept of Social security is "any government system that provides monetary assistance to people with an inadequate or no income." Social security is enshrined in Article 22 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states: Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

In economic parlance, Gratuity is a defined benefit plan given by the employer to the employee parting for the services rendered.  In India, we have a statue - Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 - an Act to provide for a scheme for the payment of gratuity to employees engaged in factories, mines, oilfields, plantations, ports, railway companies, shops or other establishments and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. It was  enacted by Parliament in the Twenty-third Year of Republic of India and called  Payment of Grataity Act, 1972.

Section: 4 of the Act states :  Payment of gratuity. (1) Gratuity shall be payable to an employee on the termination of his employment after he has rendered continuous service for not less than five years, - (a) on his superannuation, or (b) on his retirement or resignation, or (c) on his death or disablement due to accident or disease: Provided that the completion of continuous service of five years shall not be necessary where the termination of the employment of any employee is due to death or disablement: Provided further that in the case of death of the employee, gratuity payable to him shall be paid to his nominee or, if no nomination has been made, to his heirs, and where any such nominees or heirs is a minor, the share of such minor, shall be deposited with the controlling authority who shall invest the same for the benefit of such minor in such bank or other financial institution, as may be prescribed, until such minor attains majority.

As per Section 4(1), the completion of continuous service of 5 years is not required where termination of employment is due to death or disablement. In such case mandatory gratuity is payable. Gratuity is paid at a rate of 15 days wages for every completed year of service or part thereof in excess of Six months. The wages here means wages last drawn by the employee. The "15 Days Wages" will be calculated by dividing the last drawn wages by 26 and multiplying the result with 15.

The good news for employees is that  Parliament has passed the Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill which will increase the ceiling of tax-free gratuity amount to Rs 20 lakh from Rs 10 lakh. Further, this will allow the government to increase the gratuity ceiling from time to time without amending the law.

The amendment bill is seen as a  long awaited change, much expected to bring private sector employees at par with their public sector counterparts as far as gratuity ceiling is concerned. The gratuity amendment act, once it comes into force after receiving Presidential assent and publication in the Official Gazette, would provide greater defined benefit advantage for employees as it is likely that income tax limits are increased as it has been the case in the past. The amendment also gives flexibility to the Government to extend the ceiling in the future by mere notification as opposed to the requirement of an amendment.

The amendment further  allows the government to fix the period of maternity leave for female employees as deemed to be in continuous service in place of the existing 12 weeks  enhancing the maximum maternity leave period to 26 weeks.

The enhancement in ceiling could mean  that  tax liability will be nil in respect of  any amount upto Rs.20 lakh as gratuity. After the Amendment bill comes to force, the government may raise the limit of Rs. 20 lakh further to increase the cap in gratuity amount as and when the need arises without having to change the law. Amount of gratuity is directly proportional to the tenure of service, and also to the last drawn salary.  According to the  formula, the time period of over six months or more is considered as one year.

Section: 13 of the Act categorically states that :  No gratuity payable under this Act and no gratuity payable to an employee employed in any establishment, factory, mine, oilfield, plantation, port, railway company or shop exempted under section shall be liable to attachment in execution of any decree or order of any civil, revenue or criminal court.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

23^rd Mar 2018.

Boult and Southee skittle out England for 58 - Auckland Test

In 8 balls Dinesh Karthik’s career has changed ~ now perhaps he has more fans than ever before ! ~ Test Cricket is no slambang – no T20 this, yet .. today a pink ball proved to be not so pink as England was skittled out for a paltry 58 inside 21 overs. 

The fall of wickets would give you a different story :  1-6 (AN Cook, 4.2 ov), 2-6 (JE Root, 6.2 ov), 3-16 (DJ Malan, 8.1 ov), 4-18 (MD Stoneman, 9.4 ov), 5-18 (BA Stokes, 10.3 ov), 6-18 (JM Bairstow, 11.2 ov), 7-23 (CR Woakes, 12.6 ov), 8-23 (MM Ali, 13.4 ov), 9-27 (SCJ Broad, 15.4 ov), 10-58 (JM Anderson, 20.4 ov)

~ ignominy was shining on the face when England were 27/9 ~ but Craig Overton, one of two Somerset fast-bowling twins,  playing his 3^rd Test scored an unbeaten 33  - and that made the England coach Trevor Bayliss berate England batting.  I have read about smaller totals, this one was embarrassing !

If put into bat on a cloudless afternoon,  and  tormented by some exemplary bowling by the left-arm paceman Trent Boult, who finished with six for 32 & his partner Tim Southee taking  four wickets in a variety of ways,  was not enough, NZ scored runs briskly.  There was some movement for Boult, in particular, but it was as if the batsmen were playing blind man’s buff after someone had mischievously plastered glue on the soles of their boots.  Most of the humiliating records were averted thanks to a cameo from Overton, who seemed to be able to pick up the pink ball rather better than his colleagues. There was one superb flat-batted six off Boult as well as a few, crisp drives in his unbeaten 33 but Anderson could not keep him company for long. Despite that last-wicket partnership, England could not reach their previous lowest score against the Kiwis, which was 64 at Wellington in 1978 when Geoffrey Boycott was the captain.

Trent Boult, who could barely keep the smile off his face in the post-day press conference, claimed career-best figures of 6 for 32 while Tim Southee bagged four - they were the only two bowlers needed to clean up a feeble England. Then Kane Williamson, their best Test batsman, ensured they capitalised with a delectable, unbeaten 91 that stretched New Zealand's lead to 117.

Away,   South Africa fast bowler Kagiso Rabada has been cleared to play in this week’s third Test against Australia by the International Cricket Council. The 22-year-old’s two-match ban has been overturned after his charge of “making inappropriate and deliberate physical contact” with the Australia captain, Steve Smith, during the second Test in Port Elizabeth was downgraded following an appeal. The South African barrister Dali Mpofu successfully argued at Monday’s six-hour hearing that the paceman did not deliberately make contact with Smith’s shoulder during a fiery send-off. Rabada has instead been found guilty of “conduct that is contrary to the spirit of the game” and has been fined 25% of his match fee and received one demerit point – reduced from his initial punishment of three. That leaves Rabada on a total of seven demerit points, one short of triggering an automatic two-match suspension, and he is available for the third and penultimate Test, which starts in Cape Town on Thursday. The series is currently level at 1-1.

In Test Cricket – the lowest total is New Zealand’s 26 in Mar 1955 made at Auckland against England in Test 402; India’s hour of shame  is ‘42’ –at Lords in June 1974 when they were bowled out in 17 overs.  

At Eden Park in 1955, Len Hutton's team finished their triumphant tour by setting up a world record – dismissing  New Zealand in the second innings for 26, the lowest total in the history of Test cricket.  In that 2nd innings only B Sutcliffe the opener made 11; there were 5 zeroes.  Tyson took 2; Statham took 3 – Appleyard took 4 for 7 in 6 overs. 

Long before Dhoni, Ajit Wadekar had taken India to newer heights with Series win over West Indies and England (on tours) – but sadly that tour of 1974 was a disaster…. It is reported that India reached there in a bitterly cold England in April as the leading side in the world. In the previous three years they had won series in the Caribbean and England, and then defeated England at home. Their superb quartet of spinners (Bishan Bedi, Chandrasekhar, Prasanna and Venkat) backed by some top batsmen (Sunil Gavaskar, Ajit Wadekar, Gundappa Viswanath) made them a formidable team, albeit one lacking any real seam prowess. Ten of India's 12 three-day warm-up matches were drawn, largely because of what Wisden described as "outrageously unkind" cold, wet weather, which was a hallmark of the summer. Against Essex and Surrey, the tourists won with Abid ali taking wickets.  

In the first Test, at a damp and chilly Old Trafford, India lost by 113 runs.  The ignominy was complete in that Test no. 740 played at Lords in June 1974.  England piled up  629  - with Dennis Amiss scoring 188; John Edrich 96; Mike Denness 118 and Antony William Greig scoring 106.  The bowling card would put Indian bowlers to shame :  Abid ali 22-2-79-2; Madanlal 30-6-93-0; Chandra 9.3-1-33-0; Prasanna 51-6-166-2 and Bishan Singh Bedi 64.2-8-226-6

Indians started soundly with a century partnership between Sunil Gavaskar (46) and Farokh Engineer (86) – the first wicket falling at 131 was no indicator of the things to come; Gundappa Vishwanath made 52; Eknath Solkar, the brilliant fielder made 43 and Indians were all out for 302.   Indians following on suffered their worst being all out for ‘42’ (technically for 9 as Chandra was absent hurt) – Only Solkar reached double figures with 18 and remained unbeaten.   Arnold had figures of 8-1-19-4; while Chris Old had 8-3-21-5.

It all happens in a game !

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

22^nd Mar 2018