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Saudi Arabia braces for $39bn deficit, to cut wages due to low oil prices

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saudi-arabia-oil

by RT

The number one crude oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, has projected a $39 billion deficit in 2015. The impact of lower oil prices, along with the decision not to cut production, is putting pressure on the country’s finances.

The figure was part of the endorsed 2015 budget, which was made public in a statement read out on state-run television on Thursday.

The estimated trade deficit will be Saudi Arabia’s largest on record.

The Finance Ministry said the government will try to save some money by cutting salaries, wages, and allowances that represent around “50 percent of total budgeted expenditures.” But the move could anger Saudi youth, who are already struggling to cover the costs of living in the country.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), about two-thirds of the population works for the government.

The 2015 budget includes 860 billion riyals (US$229.3 billion) in spending and 715 billion riyals ($190.7 billion) in revenue. Saudi Arabia promised to cover the difference by digging into its reserves.

At the latest OPEC meeting in Vienna, Austria, the Gulf country opted not to cut the production ceiling of 30 million barrels per day, despite oil prices plunging nearly 50 percent since summer.

Saudi Arabia has also made clear that it is unwilling to cut down production, even if oil prices continue to fall further. Last week, the country’s oil minister, Ali Al-Naimi, said that output would not be reduced, even if prices fall to $20 a barrel.

The decision has been interpreted by some experts as trying to weed out new players from North America, who can competitively produce shale oil only at higher crude prices. However, lower oil prices also directly hurt the economies of countries like Russia, Iran, and Venezuela.

Some economists fear that the deficit in 2015 might be even larger than projected, since Saudi Arabians have underestimated the figure in the past.

“I believe we are headed for a difficult year in 2015. I think the actual deficit will be around 200 billion riyals [$53 billion] because actual revenues are expected to be lower than estimates,” Saudi economist Abdulwahab Abu-Dahesh told AFP. “Spending in the budget is not in line with the sharp decline in oil prices,” he said.

According to the country’s Finance Ministry, the 2014 fiscal year budget is set to post a deficit of 54 billion riyals ($14.4 billion) – the first budget shortfall since 2009.

Ghalib's Agra forgets him on birthday

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Despite repeated demands to name a road or an auditorium after the famed poet, the municipal corporation has not responded and Agra University has turned down a demand to set up a Ghalib chair to promote research and work in Urdu literature

Mirza Ghalib

Agra: Mirza Ghalib, whose contribution to Urdu literature was perhaps as significant as that of Shakespeare to English, was born here on this day over 200 years ago. The Taj city Saturday not only forgot to celebrate his birthday but also does not have a decent memorial to the poet, activists said.

Despite repeated demands to name a road or an auditorium after the famed poet, the municipal corporation has not responded and Agra University has turned down a demand to set up a Ghalib chair to promote research and work in Urdu literature.

Syed Jaffrey, director of the Mirza Ghalib Academy, wants better facilities and support from the government to promote research in Urdu literature.

“Agra, which has given so much to the Urdu culture, should have a decent memorial for the poet. The municipal corporation has proposals pending to name a street after the poet but there has been no follow-up,” he said Saturday.

The haveli in Kala Mahal area where Mirza Asad Ullah Khan ‘Ghalib’ was born in 1796 is now a girls’ inter-college. The mansion has no memorial to the poet.

The Uttar Pradesh tourism department had at one time planned to take over the haveli and convert it into a memorial, but the plan was shelved for some reason.

Ghalib moved to Delhi where his poetic talent blossomed and found new expression at a time when Bahadur Shah Zafar was the Mughal emperor.

Sandeep Arora, a member of the city’s hotel and restaurant association, said when foreign tourists ask to be taken to Ghalib’s birthplace, Agra citizens feel “very embarrassed”.

“The central and state governments should jointly build a fitting memorial and a library in Agra for Urdu poetry lovers,” he said.

Surendra Sharma of the Braj Mandal Heritage Conservation Society said Ghalib’s house “should be converted into a national memorial” for the poet “whose contribution to Urdu literature has been as significant as that of Shakespeare to English literature”.

(IANS)

Ten years after the Boxing Day tsunami, are coasts any safer?

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The day after: a Sri Lankan man begins the slow process of rebuilding. EPA/Mike Nelson

The day after: a Sri Lankan man begins the slow process of rebuilding. EPA/Mike Nelson

by Emily Heath, The Conversation

Ten years ago we witnessed one of the worst natural disasters in history, when a huge earthquake off the coast of Sumatra triggered a devastating tsunami which swept across the Indian Ocean.

An estimated 230,000 people lost their lives, and 1.6 million people lost their homes or livelihoods.

The impact was greatest in northern Sumatra because of its proximity to the earthquake. Catastrophic shaking was followed within minutes by the full force of the tsunami.

Avoidable deaths

Thousands of people were also killed in distant countries, where the earthquake could not be felt. If they had received a warning of the approaching tsunami, they could have moved inland, uphill or out to sea, and survived. Tsunami take several hours to cross an ocean, becoming much larger and slower as they reach the coast.

Back in 2004 there were long-established tsunami warning systems in the Pacific Ocean, which has many subduction zones – places where two tectonic plates collide – capable of generating huge earthquakes or volcanic eruptions.

Other regions, including the Indian Ocean, did not have a warning system. The probability of a major tsunami was judged to be too low to justify the cost, especially for poorer countries.

The Boxing Day 2004 disaster changed all that.

Progress in the past decade

In early 2005, the UN agreed to develop an international warning system including regional systems in the Indian Ocean, North East Atlantic & Mediterranean, and Caribbean. The Indian Ocean tsunami warning system was developed between 2006 and 2013, at a total cost of at least $19 million.

Japan has installed more buoys in the wake of its own 2011 disaster. NOAA

In the three years prior to October 2014, bulletins were issued about 23 Indian Ocean earthquakes, resulting in a small number of potentially life-saving coastal evacuations. Most of these 23 earthquakes did not actually generate a threatening tsunami because they did not cause significant uplift or subsidence of the seafloor. But false alarms can provide reassurance that communications work well, or highlight weaknesses.

Communications and evacuation procedures are also regularly tested by international mock drills, often based on worst case scenarios.

How do tsunami warning systems work?

All warning systems work in the same general way. First, a network of broadband seismometers detects the seismic waves generated by an earthquake, which travel at speeds of several kilometres per second. When several seismometers have detected the seismic waves, the location and approximate magnitude of the earthquake can be computed. If the epicentre is under water and the magnitude large (greater than 6.5 on the Richter, or moment magnitude, scale) a tsunami bulletin, watch or warning is issued to local communication centres, ideally within three minutes of the earthquake. If the epicentre is nearby and the probability of a tsunami is high, evacuation procedures will be initiated immediately.

If all else fails, follow the signs. Kallerna, CC BY-SA

Otherwise, local centres will standby for confirmation of whether a tsunami has actually been generated. Confirmation comes within about 30-60 minutes, using a network of tsunami buoys and seafloor pressure recorders. These detect the series of waves (usually less than a couple of metres high and travelling at about 800 km/h) in the open ocean, and transmit the data by satellite to a regional control centre.

Tsunami warnings reach the public via TV, radio, email, text messages, sirens and loudspeakers. You can sign up to receive tsunami alerts anywhere in the world by SMS on your mobile phone, thanks to a not-for-profit humanitarian service called CWarn.org.

Many high-risk areas also have signage to alert people to “natural” warnings (such as strong shaking or a sudden withdrawal of the sea), and direct them to higher ground.

Limitations of warning systems

The Pacific and Japanese warning systems helped to ensure the major tsunami generated off the coast of Japan on 11 March 2011 caused far fewer deaths (15,000) than the 2004 disaster. However, it showed that even a wealthy and well-prepared nation such as Japan cannot fully protect people from extreme hazards, and that warning systems can sometimes lead to a false sense of security.

Japan, 2011: fewer lives were lost but the damage was immense Chief Hira, CC BY-SA

Japan, 2011: fewer lives were lost but the damage was immense Chief Hira, CC BY-SA

The slow rupture of the subduction zone near Japan meant the initial warnings underestimated the magnitude of the earthquake and resulting tsunami. Many people did not move to higher ground in the vital few minutes after receiving the warning, because they wrongly assumed the tsunami would be stopped by 5-10 m high sea walls.

Japan has learned from this tragedy and, among other things, made changes to tsunami warning messages, improved coastal defences, and installed more seismometers and tsunami buoys.

Will more tsunami disasters occur?

It is impossible to predict exactly when or where the next major tsunami will occur. They are very rare events in our limited historical record. But by dating prehistoric tsunami deposits, we can see that major tsunamis happen on average every few hundred years in many coastal regions.

Future tsunami disasters are inevitable, but with better technology, education and governance we can realistically hope that a loss of life on the scale of the 2004 tsunami disaster will not happen again.

Emily Heath is a Senior Teaching Associate, Lancaster Environment Centre at Lancaster University.

The Conversation

Modi government slashes Centre's allocation to Karnataka under MGNREGA

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MGNREGA

Bengaluru: Karnataka Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister H K Patil today slammed the Narendra Modi-government for “slashing the state’s allocation under the MGNREGA”, saying it would hit developmental work and poor people.

“The slashing of state’s allocation under MNREGA will hit not only the developmental work in rural areas but also poor villagers,” he said after a meeting of Chief Executive officers of Zilla Panchayats here.

Patil flayed the central government for meting out “step-motherly” treatment to the state.
He said the Centre released full amount of Rs 4,210 crore at one go under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act to Andhra Pradesh but slashed Karnataka’s allocation by Rs 1,200 crore.

Patil said he would be meeting Union Rural Development Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh between January 3 and 4 in New Delhi and request him to increase the allocations for the state under the scheme.

He also said he would attend the RDPR Ministers’ national conclave in Thiruvananthpuram on January 6 where he would once again press for increase in MNREGA allocations for the state.

Patil said “in a federal set up the government at the Centre cannot discriminate between the states or slash the release of funds to the state governments.”

The Minister said the RDPR department has constructed 5.10 lakh toilets as against the target of six lakh set for this year.

“I am confident we shall achieve the target by March end of the financial year,” he said. For next year, the department has set a target of constructing 10 lakh toilets, Patil added.

By 2018, the government is determined to build toilets in all the houses in the state. “By 2018 state will be freed of open defecation menace,” he said.

Patil said there is no proposal before government to postpone the panchayat elections to be held in May.

“Elections to GPs will be held as per schedule – there’s lot of time left to prepare. Six months are left,” he said.

(PTI)

PUCL statement on the mass killings of Adivasis in Assam

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A vehicle burnt by protesters at Gossaigaon in Sonitpur district of Assam on Wednesday. Photo: PTI

A vehicle burnt by protesters at Gossaigaon in Sonitpur district of Assam on Wednesday. Photo: PTI

New Delhi: The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) has condemned Tuesday’s violence against tribal people in Assam and called for strong action to avoid a repeat of such incidents.

In a statement, it said unarmed tribal people in Sonitpur and Kokrajhar districts of Assam were shot dead by gangs of the National Democratic Front of Boroland (Songbijit).

“PUCL demands that the police and para-military authorities immediately ensure the safety, security and protection of lakhs of people in the districts of Kokrajhar, Sonitpur and other districts of the Bodoland Territorial Areas Districts adjoining the border areas of Assam – Bhutan. At the same time, it should be stressed that unless the roots of the conflict are addressed and resolved, such violent attacks are bound to recur.”

“We learn that the NDFB (Songbijit) faction itself is led by a non-Bodo and does not enjoy the support of wider sections of the Bodo people themselves. We also learn that there is great popular resentment, even amongst the Bodos, against the NDFB(S) faction due to their extortionist activities and illegal and forcible collection of taxes from all communities, including the Bodo. Despite public knowledge of such illegal activities, the state government has done nothing to curb the unlawful activities of this group which is using arms to terrorise local population. In such a situation, to cloak what is clearly criminal activities using the term `terrorist’ is to lend legitimacy to the group and give an impression as though they are pursuing a political demand.”

“At the heart of the Bodo conflict is the long simmering sense of frustration, anger, alienation and disaffection caused by decades of neglect and mistreatment by successive regimes, both at the state and centre, which has kept large sections of the Bodo people in a state of deprivation, impoverishment and backwardness.”

“There is also a perceived sense of historical injustice to the Bodos in their own homeland. The substantial influx of outsiders coming in as migrant labourers who eventually settle in the area has changed the Bodo – non Bodo population demographics. In turn this has created communal resentment and tensions which is cynically used by political forces to foster violence. This will need to be firmly put down.”

“The Governments, both State and Centre, should seriously initiate a major programme aimed at reassuring the Bodos of their historical identity and ensuring their inclusive development. At the same time, the governments should work to bring about greater community integration and harmony amongst different social sections in the area. Solutions cannot be found through enforcing police or military actions but only through genuine efforts at reconciliation and development which are actually seen to be implemented in the field. Equitable and inclusive development must be seen and felt to be occurring and benefiting all the communities, especially the Bodos. This can be the only sound basis for engendering communal harmony.”

“PUCL also calls upon all the political parties, especially the ruling Congress (I) party in Assam and the NDA at the Centre, not to indulge in games of finger pointing or apportioning blame but to work together to bring about communal harmony, reconciliation, amity and peace,” the statement said.

Mumbai court drops MCOCA charges in IM terror email case against 23 Muslims

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email_case

Mumbai: In a major setback to the Mumbai police, a court here dropped the charges under stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act against the 23 persons arrested for having links with terrorist group Indian Mujahideen reported PTI.

The Mumbai crime branch had arrested a set of 23 people in August 2008 and alleged that they were behind the terror emails that warned bomb blasts and later claimed the responsibility of the bombings. The accused, said the police, had hacked into the unsecured wi-fi network of a private firm Chembur, Khalsa college’s wi-fi and the wi-fi network of an American national, Ken Heywood (who stayed in Navi Mumbai).

Furious at the latest development, crime branch officials have declared it will appeal against the order of special court before the Bombay High Court.

It should be noted that the court has already granted bail to seven accused in the case due to insufficient evidence to support prosecution case against them. Mumbai crime branch had investigated the case in the aftermath of the August 23, 2008 Ahmedabad blast. The prosecution charge sheet claimed the accused had sent out email – especially to the media – claiming responsibility of the blasts.

A similar order had been passed earlier in the 2012 Pune serial blasts case. The crime branch of the police had arrested these men in connection with email sent to media houses and government offices minutes before blasts in Surat, Delhi and Hyderabad, allegedly carried out by the IM.

The Mumbai police’s spokesperson Dhananjay Kulkarni said the police will challenge the order. As the special MCOCA judge A L Pansare dropped the charges under the Act, the case is likely to be assigned to a regular court now.

In February this year, the court had dropped MCOCA charges from the Pune blasts case, observing that sections of MCOCA and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act cannot be applied together.

A series of 21 blasts had rocked Ahmedabad on July 26, 2008 in a span of 70 minutes, killing 56 and wounding over 200. Twenty-six unexploded bombs were found at different locations in Surat between July 28 and 30.

Two cars filled with material required for making explosives and detonators were found parked on the roadside near a hospital and other on the outskirts of Surat.

It was claimed that IM, had sent e-mails to TV channels claiming responsibility for the blasts.

‘Kissing Baba’ arrested in Andhra Pradesh

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Kissing Baba

Hyderabad: The “kissing baba”, a fake godman who was hugging and kissing women devotees to treat their illness and solve other problems, has been arrested in Andhra Pradesh, police said Friday.

He was Thursday arrested in Proddatur town of Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh.

Police produced him before a court, which sent him to judicial custody for two weeks. The court also referred him to a mental hospital as he appears to have unsound mind.

Police said they also arrested Subba Reddy who was popularizing the fake saint among the people in the district. He used to tell people that the baba can remove their affliction and solve financial and domestic problems.

The bogus godman was operating for last two months from a room behind Ayyappa temple in the town. Many issueless couples were also approaching him.

Police swung into action after some television channels beamed shocking visuals of the man kissing and hugging women devotees. He used to give only a lemon to men but misbehave with women.

Police have appealed to people not fall into the trap of such fake godmen.

(IANS)

Saudi Arabia sends women drivers to 'terrorism' court

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Saudi activist Manal Al Sharif, who now lives in Dubai, drives her car in the Gulf Emirate city on October 22, 2013, as she campaigns in solidarity with Saudi women preparing to take to the wheel on October 26, defying the Saudi authorities, fight for women's right to drive in Saudi Arabia. AFP / Marwan Naamani

Saudi activist Manal Al Sharif, who now lives in Dubai, drives her car in the Gulf Emirate city on October 22, 2013, as she campaigns in solidarity with Saudi women preparing to take to the wheel on October 26, defying the Saudi authorities, fight for women’s right to drive in Saudi Arabia. AFP / Marwan Naamani

by Al-Akhbar

Two women’s rights campaigners detained in Saudi Arabia for driving have been transferred to a special tribunal for “terrorism,” activists said on Thursday after the women appeared in court.

The ruling came at a hearing in al-Ahsa, in the kingdom’s Eastern Province, according to the activists who declined to be named.

Loujain Hathloul has been detained since December 1 after she tried to drive into the kingdom from neighboring United Arab Emirates in defiance of a ban. Maysaa Al-Amoudi, a UAE-based Saudi journalist, arrived at the border to support Hathloul and was also arrested.

US-ally Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world which does not allow women to drive.

Activists say women’s driving is not actually against the law, and the ban is linked to tradition and custom ultra-conservative Wahhabi nation, and not backed by Islamic text or judicial ruling.

Some leading members of the kingdom’s powerful Wahhabi clergy have argued against women being allowed to drive, which they say could lead to them mingling with unrelated men, thereby breaching strict gender segregation rules.

Last November the oil-rich kingdom’s top cleric, Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh, said the female driving prohibition protects society from “evil” and should not be a major concern.

“They will transfer her case to the terrorism court,” said an activist familiar with Hathloul’s case, adding that her lawyer plans to appeal.

A second activist confirmed that Amoudi’s case was also being moved to the specialist tribunal.

Human Rights Watch have urged the Saudi authorities to abolish The Specialized Criminal Court, Saudi Arabia’s scandalous “terrorism tribunal,” to which the women’s cases were referred.

The court is the same body that convicted prominent cleric and pro-rights advocate Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and sentenced him to death alongside four other pro-democracy advocates for criticizing the kingdom’s unfair doings and calling for greater rights for Saudi minorities.

HRW said that analysis of trials of a number of human rights workers, peaceful dissidents, activists and critics of the Saudi regime revealed “serious due process concerns” such as “broadly framed charges,” “denial of access to lawyers,” and “quick dismissal of allegations of torture without investigation.”

Activists did not provide full details of the allegations against Hathloul and Amoudi but said investigations appeared to also focus on the women’s social media activities.

Saudi Arabia, which is on media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) group’s “Enemies of the Internet” list, has been particularly aggressive in policing the Internet, including by arresting those who post critical articles or comments.

Hathloul, who has 228,000 followers on Twitter, tweeted before her arrest, sometimes with humor, details of the 24 hours she spent waiting to cross into Saudi Arabia after border officers stopped her.

Amoudi has 131,000 followers and has also hosted a program on YouTube discussing the driving ban.

Some 41 percent of internet users in the oil-rich kingdom use Twitter, a study published by the US-based Business Insider website found.

The micro-blogging site has stirred broad debate on subjects ranging from religion to politics in a country where such public discussion had been considered at best unseemly and sometimes illegal.

Scores of Saudis have been arrested over the years for posting content critical of the Wahhabi regime on Twitter and other social media outlets.

In February, RSF said that Gulf monarchies, in a yet another crackdown on dissent, have stepped up efforts to monitor and control the media, particularly online.

In early December, Saudi authorities blocked the website of a regional human rights group which reported the two women’s arrest.

Moreover, Saudi women have taken to social media in protest of the ban on female driving.

In October, dozens posted images online of themselves behind the wheel as part of an online campaign supporting the right to drive.

They also circulated an online petition asking the Saudi government to “lift the ban on women driving” in a move that attracted more than 2,400 signatures ahead of the campaign’s culmination on October 26.

In response, the Ministry of Interior said it would “strictly implement” measures against anyone undermining “the social cohesion.”

Late October, the UN Human Rights Council urged Saudi Arabia to crack down on discrimination against women among other rights abuses.

The council had already adopted a report listing 225 recommendations for improvements a couple of days earlier in Geneva during a Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the Western-backed kingdom’s rights record.

Many of the UN recommendations called on Riyadh to abolish a system requiring women to seek permission from male relatives to work, marry or leave the country, and one urged it to lift the driving ban.

(AFP, Al-Akhbar)

U.S. to send more private contractors to Iraq

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USA private contractors Iraq

Washington/Kazinform: The U.S. government is preparing to boost the number of private contractors in Iraq as part of President Barack Obama’s growing effort to beat back Islamic State militants threatening the Baghdad government, a senior U.S. official said, AKI Press reports.

How many contractors will deploy to Iraq – beyond the roughly 1,800 now working there for the U.S. State Department – will depend in part, the official said, on how widely dispersed U.S. troops advising Iraqi security forces are, and how far they are from U.S. diplomatic facilities.

Still, the preparations to increase the number of contractors – who can be responsible for everything from security to vehicle repair and food service – underscores Obama’s growing commitment in Iraq. When U.S. troops and diplomats venture into war zones, contractors tend to follow, doing jobs once handled by the military itself.

“It is certain that there will have to be some number of contractors brought in for additional support,” said the senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

After Islamic State seized large swaths of Iraqi territory and the major city of Mosul in June, Obama ordered U.S. troops back to Iraq. Last month, he authorized roughly doubling the number of troops, who will be in non-combat roles, to 3,100, but is keen not to let the troop commitment grow too much.

There are now about 1,750 U.S. troops in Iraq, and U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel last week ordered deployment of an additional 1,300.

The U.S. military’s reliance on civilians was on display during Hagel’s trip to Baghdad this month, when he and his delegation were flown over the Iraqi capital in helicopters operated by State Department contractors.

The problem, the senior U.S. official said, is that as U.S. troops continue flowing into Iraq, the State Department’s contractor ranks will no longer be able to support the needs of both diplomats and troops.

After declining since late 2011, State Department contractor numbers in Iraq have risen slightly, by less than 5 percent, since June, a State Department spokesman said.

Smith leads Australia to 259/5 on Boxing Day

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Australia are leading the four-match Test series 2-0.

Australia are leading the four-match Test series 2-0.

Melbourne: Australia needed another steadying knock from skipper Steven Smith (batting 72) to help the hosts reach 259 for five against India. Australia ended day one of the third Test’s proceedings nicely poised at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) here Friday.

Pacer Mohammed Shami was the pick of the Indian bowlers with figures of two for 55, followed by fellow quick Umesh Yadav (two for 69).

Australia were in urgent need of another responsible knock from their captain after some fine bowling display reduced the hosts to 216 for five after tea.

But Smith along with senior pro Brad Haddin (batting 23) showed composure in the middle to prevent Australia from falling apart against some quick and hostile pace bowling from the Indians.

Smith, who won the toss in his second Test as skipper, came in to the crease with his team at 115 for two at the dismissal of opener Chris Rogers (57) and soon saw well-set Shane Watson (52) depart on the same score.

He progressed to 23 at tea with Australia at 174 for three and the game nicely in the balance.

Smith, showcasing his fluent strokeplay and decisive footwork, accepted the burden of shaping his team’s innings that threatened to nosedive after the hosts lost two wickets in quick succession twice to be reduced to 115 for three and then 216 for five.

In the form of his life after posting centuries in Adelaide and Brisbane, the 25-year-old completed 1,000 Test runs this calendar year, in just his ninth match, when he reached 60.

Earlier in the morning, India began the proceedings with a bang as Yadav picked up the dangerous David Warner (0) even before Australia managed to open their account.

The early loss, coupled with disciplined bowling from the pacers, forced the Australians to a sedate start, allowing just eight runs from five overs.

After the initial period of caution and circumspect batting, both Rogers and No.3 batsman Watson settled down and unleashed some great shots.

India got a chance to break the partnership just at the stroke of lunch but failed to latch on to it. Watson, under pressure for his poor batting form, edged a Shami delivery but was grassed by a diving Shikhar Dhawan at second slip to help the hosts’ go into lunch at a commanding 92 for one.

The script unfolded similarly after lunch. Australia aimed to push on and extend their dominance through the partnership of two well-set batsmen, Rogers and Watson.

They were scoring briskly but all their plans stalled following the fall of the two batsmen in succession.

First, Rogers departed trying to launch into a booming drive but only managed to edge a Shami delivery to wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Then, Watson attempted an ill-advised sweep shot off Ravichandran Ashwin to be adjudged leg before wicket to reduce the home team to 174 for three at tea.

Australia had to start the rebuilding phase all over again with skipper Smith and Shaun Marsh (32).

They put on 69 runs for the fourth wicket and seemed to have got the measure of the bowling when their momentum got disrupted again with the dismissal of Marsh — caught behind off Shami.

Debutant Joe Burns (13) also didn’t last long, bottom-edging a Yadav shortball to Dhoni.

India held the upper hand at the time but soon ran into Smith who repelled everything that came his way.

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