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Actor Rhea Chakraborty, in a social mediapost, says she is proud of what shehas become

SELF-APPRECIATIONIndia batters fail to impress as visitors post 202 in the1st innings of the 2nd Test against SA, whoreach 35/1 at stumps on Day 1

INDIA BATTERS FALTER

SPORTS | P12LEISURE | P2

The man who crossed the eastern inter-Koreanborder into North over the weekend is a NorthKorean defector

INTERNATIONAL | P10

S KOREA’S REVELATION

IRREGULAR by MANJUL

The tip was wrong, sir. He is not posting anything against govt. He is just auctioning

women who ask too many questions!

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12 PAGES | `5.00BHUBANESWAR | TUESDAY, JANUARY 4 | 2022VOLUME 11, ISSUE 274 | www.orissapost.com

Fake notes in RBI chest, FIR lodgedLucknow: Fake Indian currency, with a face value of `47,710, has beenfound in the Reserve Bank of India chest during an audit in Lucknow. RBIAssistant Manager Satyavir Singh has lodged a case with Mahanagarpolice about the recovery of 454 counterfeit currency notes during thechecking of notes. "These fake notes comprised a `10 rupee note, 18 notesof `50, 443 notes of `100, one note each of `500 and `2,000," he stated inthe FIR. Singh wrote to the officials to conduct a checking and also takelegal action before returning the notes to the RBI. He said circulation/printing of fake currencies was a serious crime. He added that police maysend the fake currencies to the currency printing press or forensic labduring the investigation of the case.

Imran’s ex-wife escapes gunshotNew Delhi: Reham Khan, the ex-wife of Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan, narrowly escaped a gun attack in Islamabad lateSunday night, Samaa TV reported. In a tweet, she revealed thaton the way back home from her nephew's wedding, her car wasshot at and two men on a motorcycle held the vehicle atgunpoint. "I had just changed vehicles. My personal secretaryand driver were in the car," the former television presenter saidand demanded that the "so-called government should be heldaccountable for it (the attack)". Reham, in multiple updates onher Twitter handle, complained that she and her staff had towait for hours to get an FIR registered, the report said.

nOver 80,000 adolescentstake jabs including 4,107 inthe capital city on first day

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Jan 3: Amid a risein Covid-19 cases in the state , 80,129adolescents in the age group of 15-18 took their first dose of vaccineagainst Covid-19 on the first day ofthe drive, Monday.

The teenagers took the jab at 939dedicated vaccination centres set upacross the state. The BhubaneswarMunicipal Corporation (BMC) vac-cinated 4,107 adolescents out of a tar-geted 4,350 on the first day of the vac-cination. Over 40 lakh children inthe country received their first jabon the first day of vaccination drive.said Union Health MinisterMansukh Mandaviya. The 15-18 agegroup who have registered them-selves on the CoWIN portal sinceJanuary 1 can get their jab at theirvaccination centre. Children whohave not registered themselves on-line on the CoWIN portal for the

vaccination can receive the vac-cine by doing on-spot registrationat the centres, said health and fam-ily welfare director, Bijay Panigrahi.Only Covaxin is given to the childrenof 15-18 years. Adequate arrange-ments have been made to deal withany adverse event following im-munization (AEFI), he said.

“As there are possibilities thatsome children may have fever likeminor AEFI, we have decided not

to vaccinate children who have ex-aminations now. They will be vac-cinated after completion of thetests,” said Panigrahi. The healthofficial further informed that allteachers have been requested tocreate awareness among studentsand parents to ensure 100 per centvaccination of the eligible studentsin their schools.

A large number of beneficiarieswere seen at the vaccination cen-

tres in many parts of the state in-cluding in capital city Bhubaneswar.Director of Capital HospitalLaxmidhar Sahoo said vaccina-tion for 15-18 years age group isessential as they are more sus-ceptible to the infection. A targethas been set to complete the processin a month, Sahoo said. A total of23.65 lakh children in Odisha areeligible for vaccination. Meanwhile,the Centre suspended marking ofbiometric attendance for all itsemployees till January 31.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Sambalpur, Jan 3: The WorldHealth Organisation (WHO) hasgiven its approval to a researchundertaken by a medical team ofthe VSS Institute of MedicalSciences and Research (VIMSAR)at Burla over susceptibility of bloodgroups O+ and B+ to Covid-19 evenafter two doses of vaccination.

The research report has founda place in WHO’s database on Covid-19. The news has brought cheers tothe members of the research teamand the VIMSAR authorities. DrSanjeeb Mishra, principal authorof the study, said he is happy aboutthe development. The team alsofound a big drop in antibody levelsix months after the jab, thereby in-creasing the risk of re-infection,and suggested a booster dose.

“This is a moment of pride forus as it will encourage us to un-dertake further research. The studywas jointly conducted by four re-searchers from the VIMSAR at

Burla and another researcher fromthe Regional Medical ResearchCentre at Bhubaneswar.

The five researchers who stud-ied the antibody kinetics ofCovishield vaccination six monthsafter the second dose and the fac-tors affecting the kinetics are DrSanjeeb Kumar Mishra, Dr SubratKumar Pradhan, Dr Rajiv KumarNanda and Dr Sumanta Sahu fromVIMSAR and Dr Sanghamitra Patifrom RMRC, Bhubaneswar.

The team found that the rate ofinfection is more in O+ and B+blood groups compared to othergroups. Moreover, they found a dipin antibody after the second doseand advised a booster dose. Thestudy covered 122 participants com-prising doctors, nurses and otherstaff. Their blood samples weretaken after they were administeredthe second dose. The blood sam-ples were collected in three rounds– one month after first dose, onemonth after second dose and sixmonths after the second dose.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Jan 3: The stategovernment Monday enhancedthe salary of junior teachers en-gaged in the primary schools of thestate by nearly 50 per cent.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaikhas taken a decision to hike thesalary of both 19,714 junior teach-ers and 13,324 contractual teach-ers by 50 per cent from January1, 2022. In total, 33,038 teacherswill benefit from this decision

As per the decision, junior teach-ers receiving a salary of `9,200per month would now be paid`13,800 while the contractual teach-ers receiving salary of `7,400would now get ̀ 11,000 per month,officials said.

The government would bearan additional ̀ 168 crore from thestate exchequer every year dueto the hike in the salary of thejunior teachers.

A day before the New Yearday, the government had ap-proved the proposal to providegrant-in-aid to teaching andnon-teaching staff of all aidednon-government schools, col-leges and Madrasas in the stateon the basis of the 7th PayCommission recommendations.

PNN & AGENCIES

Cuttack, Jan 3: Orissa High CourtChief Justice S Muralidhar hasrequested lawyers to avoid usingter ms like ‘My Lord’, ‘YourLordship’ ‘Your Honour’ while ad-dressing judges of the High Court.

“All counsel and parties-in-per-son are requested to try and avoidaddressing the judges of this benchas ‘My Lord’, ‘Your Lordship’, ‘YourHonour’ or with the prefix ‘Hon’ble’.Any other form of address, con-sistent with the decorum of thecourt, including ‘Sir’, should suf-fice,” read a note attached to thecause list of cases issued for hear-

ing by the bench of the ChiefJustice, Monday.

Orissa High Cour t Bar

Association secretary JitendraKumar Lenka said other judgesshould follow it. “It’s a welcome

move. Others – judges, advocatesand litigants— should follow it.‘Sir’ is equally respectful,” addedLenka.

Sources said the Orissa HighCourt had initiated a move to ad-dress judges as ‘Sir’ during thetenure of then Chief Justice GatiKrushna Misra (1969-75). However,the practice of using terms like‘Your Lordship’ to address thejudges, relics of the colonial past,has continued till date.

The Bar Council of India(BCI) had adopted a resolutionto do away with addressing thejudges as ‘My Lord’…...‘YourLordship’ in 2006.

Back in 2009, Justice SMuralidhar had requested thelawyers in Delhi High Court not toaddress him as ‘Your Lordship’.Later in 2020, he requested thelawyers of the Punjab and HaryanaHigh Court to discontinue the prac-tice of using terms like ‘My Lord’or ‘Your Lordship’ while address-ing him.

Notably, Justice S Muralidharwas a judge in Delhi High Courtfrom May 29, 2006 to March 5, 2020.He was a judge in the Punjab andHaryana High Court from March6, 2020 to January 3, 2021. He wassworn in as Chief Justice of theOrissa High Court January 4, 2021.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Jan 3: Ahead ofpolls in urban areas, the state gov-ernment has decided to divert for-est land to create infrastructurefor dwellers residing in 253 slumsspread across 45 urban local bod-ies (ULBs) in 22 districts.

This was known from a work-shop organised on creation of basicinfrastructure for slum habitatsin urban forest areas at LoksevaBhawan Monday. Addressing theworkshop, Housing and UrbanDevelopment Secretary GMathivhathanan said the govern-ment has launched the special cam-paign for transforming the urbanhabitats to Biju Adarsha Colonies.

Around 3,000 slum habitats con-taining 168,141 households wereidentified through a special sur-vey named Urban Slum HouseholdAreas (USHA) undertaken withgeo-spatial technology in NACsand municipalities, he said.Out ofthis, 70,000 households were grantedin-situ land rights and 1,03,328households given land entitlementcertificates. Meanwhile, 550 slumswere upgraded and mainstreamedwith urban life, the secretary said.

During the USHA survey, 253slums spread across 45 ULBs in 22districts were found to be in urbanforest land. Because of the forestarea, problems cropped up withregard to settlement of land rightsand laying of infrastructure forbasic amenities, pointed outDirector of MunicipalAdministration SangramjeetNayak. To overcome the situation,the forest, environment and cli-mate change and H&UD depart-ments have prepared a standard op-erating procedure. The SOP wouldresolve the problems relating toland rights and infrastructure inslum habitats of urban forest areas.

The SOP was successfully pilotedin Dhenkanal municipality. Thegovernment will implement theSOP in all 253 slums in urban forestareas. The Chief Secretary directedthe concerned departments to com-plete the task in a time-bound man-ner. Both the administrative de-partments would nominate seniorofficers as the nodal officers forsmooth implementation of the SOP.

AGENCIES

Lakhimpur Kheri, Jan 3: TheSpecial Investigation Team (SIT)probing the Lakhimpur Kheri vi-olence, which claimed eight lives,has filed a chargesheet against 14accused, including Union ministerAjay Mishra's son Ashish Mishra.The chargesheet was filed in thecourt of chief judicial magistrate(CJM) Chinta Ram Monday.

In FIR number 219/2021 lodgedwith Tikunia Police Station, theSIT had identified and arrested 13accused, including Ashish Mishra'Monu', Ankit Das, Nandan SinghBisht, Satyam Tripathi alias Satyam,Latif alias Kale, Shekhar Bharti,Sumit Jaiswal, Ashish Pandey,Lavkush Rana, Shishu Pal, UllasKumar alias Mohit Trivedi, RinkuRana and Dharmendra Banjara.

On Monday, senior prosecutionofficer (SPO) SP Yadav told re-porters that another accusedVirendra Shukla's name has beenadded in the chargesheet underSection 201 (causing disappear-

ance of evidence of offence) of theIndian Penal Code. However, Shuklais yet to be arrested. Yadav saidthe chargesheet against all 14 ac-cused was filed in the court and theproceedings are on.

Violence had erupted inLakhimpur Kheri October 3 lastyear when farmers were protestingthe visit of Uttar Pradesh DeputyChief Minister Keshav PrasadMaurya to Mishra's native place.

Four agitating farmers were runover by a vehicle while four others,including a journalist, two BJP work-ers were killed in the violence thatensued. Ajay Mishra is currentlythe MP from Kheri Lok Sabha seat.

Vaccination for 15-18 begins WHO pat onVIMSAR back

Forest land inurban areas to goto slum dwellersMoS’ SON WAS

PRESENT AT SITE

No more My Lord, Your Lordship,only Sir will suffice: Orissa CJ

In 2009, Chief Justice S Muralidharhad requested the lawyers in DelhiHigh Court not to address him as

‘Your Lordship’

CARNIVAL AT MANALI

Women perform Kulvi Naati dance during the Winter Carnival 2022 in Manali, Monday PTI PHOTO

KHERI CHARGESHEET Junior teachers’pay up by 50pc

GOVT READY TO MEET ALL CHALLENGES: DAS Bhubaneswar: State Health MinisterNaba Kishore Das Monday said thestate government is ready to copewith the rising number of Covid casesand the spread of Omicron in thestate. The health department hasdirected the Odisha State MedicalCorporation to arrange the requirednumber of vaccines and necessarymedicines and equipment at hospitalswith all kinds of auxiliary arrange-ments, Das said, adding there will beno shortage of oxygen in the state.

A girl receiving jab at a govt healthcare centre in Rasulgarh, Monday OP PHOTO

MUMBAI: Odisha-born TV andfilm actress Sulagna Panigrahias Radhamani in historicaldrama Vidrohi is grabbing eye-balls.

Radhamani is BuxiJagabandhu’s wife. Sulagna’s lookfrom the show is also getting muchattention. The actress says she lovesher look in the show and prefers todo her makeup on her own.

“I do my own makeup so I enjoythe process. It does get me in themood or gets me in the mindset ofRadhamani once I get the hairmakeup and costume. It doesn’ttake me more than an hour to getready,” says the actor.

Shooting for this kind of ashow takes longer and involvesa lot of hard work, sharesSulagna. With this show, theactor made a comeback toTV after a decade.

“I've worked in all themediums, theatre, films,web, ads, but TV is whereyou’ve to work the hard-est. The hours are neverending, the days arenever ending. In fact, Igot a day off only after 50days. That’s what scaresme about television,” she says.

IANS

P2 BRITNEY UNFOLLOWS SISTER ON INSTAGRAM

leisurePop star Britney Spears, who was recentlyhanded back control of her assets afterher father Jamie was removed as herconservator after 13 years, no longer hasher 30-year-old sibling Jamie-Lynn on thesocial media platform.

R&B singer Omarion has responded to the Covidjokes that have been circulating online. the B2Kmember playfully reminded his fans that he’s“an artiste, not a variant.” Making use of TikTok,he shared a video of him wishing his followers aHappy New Year, reports aceshowbiz.com.

TUESDAY | JANUARY 4 | 2022 | BHUBANESWAR

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AQUARIUSYour communication skillswill work wonders today.Your eloquence will win youprecious brownie points, and may provehighly beneficial in meetings. In fact, allyour arguments will sound very persuasive.The trick is not to get ruffled, says Ganesha,when people don't agree with you.

PISCESYou are unlikely to be yourcalm and lucid self today.You will likely catch yourselfworrying unnecessarily and putting inmore efforts than required at work.However, some leisure time will come yourway in the evening wherein you will regainyour usual perspective, says Ganesha.

SAGITTARIUSDark and gloomy shall beyour temperament for mostpart of the day today. Butthe afternoon may just see the skiesclearing. The apparent mood change,says Ganesha; will mainly be because ofgood news from abroad and businessprofits from your partner.

LIBRALove is in the air, and pas-sion lurks right around thecorner. So keep your eyesand ears open, because you may soonfind yourself entrapped in a passionatelove episode. But the price of new love isalways steep, and your beloved mayburn a hole in your pocket. Still, withsomeone like that, you are alwaysassured of getting good value for yourmoney! So bring on the champagne andthe caviar! Ganesha wishes you a splen-did time ahead.

SCORPIOYou shall groom yourself allprim and proper today. Thethought of how you lookdominates your mind today. You are likely to capture the imagination of people – both at work and at social gathering. Cash will exit left, right andcentre from your pockets on account offun and entertainment.

LEOMaybe it is the weather, orjust one of those days, buttoday, you are extremelyprone to wild mood swings, saysGanesha. You must remember that noth-ing is permanent, except change. So gowith the flow and do not get caught in theundercurrent of the changes that are tak-ing place all around you. Take it as awarning that works to your advantage,says Ganesha. All the worrying and sort-ing out done, do not forget to sit back andrelax— you deserve it more than anybody.

VIRGOToday, your ingenuity willbreed ideas like rabbits. Youhave the healer's hands, andso shall you make right many a wrong,predicts Ganesha. You shall be mostunderstanding, and reading people's mindwill do wonders for you and your beloved.

GEMINIToday will prove to be anemotional and engaging dayfor you, predicts Ganesha.Fortune will favour you, though your emo-tions may cloud your reasoning and slowdown your progress. Your spare time willbe spent on devising methods to makethe best use of your knowledge.

CANCERToday, you will use moneyto fulfil your needs. If thereis anything that accordingto you needs changing, you will throwsome money to get it changed. Your lovedones will celebrate your financial gainsand spend some more of it in the process.If there has been any limit to the amountof money flowing in, there is certainly nolimit to the money leaving your coffers.

ARIESSometimes, pressure is agood thing, as it brings outthe best in you. You will out-shine your colleagues in whatever youchoose to do. But your expectations mayfar exceed the outcome. Ganesha asksthat you have patience. Results take time.

FORTUNE FORECAST

TAURUSPlanning your own mile-stones and celebrating thesuccess of friends is theagenda for the day. Your thoughts will beprogressive in business or at work, andany plans you make will make a rock-solid foundation for your future. Socialgatherings and parties will beckon withbubbly and bruschetta.

CAPRICORNCertain revelations about arelationship will draw yourattention; you will find itintriguing and will spend a good amountof time trying to solve the mystery, saysGanesha. Besides, your impressive com-munication power will help dissolve con-flicts that may have risen because of mis-interpretation. There is nothing really toworry about, but keeping abreast of theactivities of your rivals will help you stayahead in competition.

BREVITY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

SOLUTIONS

CRO

SSW

ORD

SUD

OKU

CHECK FOR SOLUTIONS OF THE PUZZLES TOMORROW

post To solve the Sudoku puzzle, fill in the boxes in such amanner that every row, column and 3x3 box containsthe digits 1 to 9, without repeating any.

‘I’M AN ARTISTE, NOT A COVID VARIANT’

MUMBAI: Actress Rhea Chakrabortyhas shared a self appreciation poston social media and said that once“you find yourself, you are winning.”

Rhea posted a beautiful video onInstagram, where in the clip she isseen writing a note to ‘myself ’.

In the backdrop she is heard say-ing the lines: “Dear me, thank you forbeing with me. Thank you for beingkind, strong, patient and resilient. IAM SO proud of the woman you havebecome and I am here with you always.So, chin up baby girl you’ve got this..Happy new year.. Your’s truly, yourinner self.”

Rhea captioned the clip, whichcurrently has 14,4000 likes : “You areyour own best support, once you findyourself , you are #winning #rhe-new #loveyourself #happynewyear.”

It was in 2020, when Rhea madeheadlines after she was ac-cused by Sushant SinghRajput’s family for abet-ment to suicide and alsosiphoning off fundsfrom the late actor. Shewas also named in aNarcotics ControlBureau (NCB) chargesheet along with herbrother Showik in a drug-related probe intoSushant’s death case.

AGENCIES

MUMBAI: In just 18 days since itstheatrical release, Spider-Man: NoWay Home, with Tom Holland andZendaya playing the lead roles, hasbecome the third highest grosseramong Hollywood films in India,after Avengers: Endgame (2019) andAvengers: Infinity War (2018).

Till date, the film, which hasglobally surpassed the $1-billion-mark, has grossed Rs 259.67 crorein India. That makes it No. 3 amongall films released in India in 2021,after Allu Arjun’s Pushpa: TheRise and the Akshay Kumar-ledSooryavanshi.

Among Hollywood films in India,Spider-Man is within leaping dis-

tance from the pickings of Avengers:Infinity War (Rs 227.43 crore), butis still quite far from Avengers:Endgame (Rs 373.22 crore).

Analysts expect the global earn-ings of Spider-Man to see a sharpspike after its release in China,the world’s largest cinema-goingmarket.

The film’s unexpected successwould have been a cause for cele-bration, but for the shadow of theOmicron surge, which has made theDelhi government shut down cin-ema theatres and several state gov-ernments reverting to the 50 percent occupancy rule.

Talking about the success of

Spider-Man, independent film tradeanalyst Sumit Kadel said: “It wasbound to do well because it is aMarvel Studios film. Films comingout of the Marvel universe arehugely popular in India. The com-ing together of all the actors whohad previously essayed the titlerole, namely, Tobey Maguire andAndrew Garfield, also did the trick.”

Media and internet research an-alyst Karan Taurani added: “Thefilm offers a large-scale cinema ex-perience. That is why people havegone out to watch the film in largenumbers as this experience cannotbe replicated on a smart screen oron TV.” IANS

HOLLYWOOD FILMS IN INDIA

Spider-Man turns third highest grosser THE TOM HOLLAND-STARRER HAS GRABBED THE NO.3 SPOT AMONG HOLLYWOOD FILMS IN INDIA,

AFTER AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (2018) AND AVENGERS: ENDGAME (2019)

NEW DELHI: AyushmannKhurrana has delivered back-to-back hits in his journey in Hindicinema. The actor has revealedhow he picks up his projects andwhat makes him say ‘no’ to ascript.

Ayushmann, who iscalled as the poster boyof content-driven cin-ema, said: “Anything thatis mundane, generic ordone-to-death or anythingwhich is regressive is acomplete ‘no’.”

He made his actingdebut in 2012 withVicky Donor.Since then, hehas been apar t of astring of hitssuch as

Shubh Mangal Saavdhan, BareillyKi Barfi, Andhadhun, Badhai Ho,Article 15 and several others.

He says while picking up a film,it’s the story he looks at and not the

character.“More than the character

I look for the story. The storyhas to have a novel idea, aconcept that is unexploredin Hindi cinema and it

should hold the au-diences for twohours and it shouldhave something to say. It should

have somevalue in the

end andstory,” he con-cluded.

IANS

What makes Ayushmanndecline a project

‘You’ve to work the hardest intelevision’

You are your own best support: RheaYou are your own best support: RheaYou are your own best support: RheaYou are your own best support: RheaYou are your own best support: RheaYou are your own best support: RheaYou are your own best support: RheaYou are your own best support: RheaYou are your own best support: Rhea

BHUBANESWAR: Possibly the most de-

manded and also ubiquitous, vegetarian

and non-vegetarian rolls rule the roost

in street-side snacks. Scrumptious, af-

fordable and spicy, the snack comes with

a wide range of variations and is a de-

light for foodies. However, with a quick

preparation time and easily available in-

gredients, the snack seems to have lost

its authenticity. Aiming to bring back its originality,

the Kolkata Express situated between

Rajmahal and Master Canteen Square

has come up with its unique spices and

flavours offering a wide variety of rolls

along with a vibe that resonates with

Bengali culture. Run by Kashif from West Bengal and

Sinu Prusti from Bhubaneswar, the

place aims to make rolls that do not

have typical masala, cabbage, and

chicken fillings. It rather includes as-

sorted veggies, cheese,

meat, paneer, soya and

a mélange of spices.

Having a growing con-

sumer base comprising

mostly youths between 18-

35 years of age, the duo has

also introduced multigrain

rolls for health conscious in-

dividuals. Among others, the stall also

offers Haryanvi Kebabs, Chinese

cuisines and Lachcha Paratha.

“I was attracted by the unique

name and the ambience a street side

stall had. I was even impressed by the

lip smacking and distinct taste of the

rolls here. Since my mother’s nativity

is West Bengal, I was able to distin-

guish the unique tastes and flavours

their snacks and dishes had,” said

Abhijeet Bhattacharya, a student here.

ROLL IS NOT JUSTANY OTHER STREET FOOD,BUT A BACK-UP PLAN FOREVERY HUNGRY STOMACHAND LIMITED WALLET TOFALL BACK ON. ONE NEED

NOT ALWAYS SPEND A FORTUNE TO SATIATE HIMSELF/HERSELF, AS

LONG AS THERE IS A STALL NEARBY, WHICH ALWAYS

IS. HOWEVER, SUCH ABUNDANCE HAS TAKEN

A TOLL ON THE AUTHENTICITY OF THEDELICACY, ESPECIALLY

WHEN A CRAVING TONGUEIS ALSO IN LINE. FOR

THOSE FEELING ‘THEY’REALL THE SAME’, KOLKATA

EXPRESS PLAYS A SPATULAAND GRIDDLE WIELDING

KNIGHT IN SHININGARMOUR, AIMING TO

REINFORCE THE ACTUALTASTE OF THE

UNFORTUNATE CLICHÉ.

T he story begins with a young graduate, the son of anauto-rickshaw driver, who did nothave enough money to invest in a big venture buthad a vision to gofor somethingwhich would notonly be appreciated bymany but alsofetch him goodreturns. Orissa POST speaks toPravat Kumar Barik, the‘Graduated Panipuri Wala’ atSaheed Nagar…

What prompted you to open a panipuri stall and why not a restaurant or café?

To begin with, we didn’t have much cap-ital to start a big business. My father is anauto-rickshaw driver and my brother is stillstudying. I work in a private bank to arrangemoney for my business. I utilised my Rs 3lakh in savings to start the business. Panipuriis my favourite street food but I observed thatmost of the stalls in Capital city were not hy-gienic. I even fell sick twice or thrice aftereating at the roadside stalls. So, I decided to

open a stall of my own to provide people withhygienic food.

What is the story behind the name ‘GraduatedPanipuri Wala’?

I prepared a lot for competitive examsand burnt midnight oil to secure a govern-ment job. However, I couldn’t get one be-cause of the intense competition. I eventu-ally got a job in a private bank but then Idiscovered that a few of my seniors, who hadgot plum posts, were less qualified than I am.And hence the name.

Your future plans?I wish to expand my business so that I can

fund the studies of my younger brother. I also

wish to bring a spiritual change in the so-ciety. Earlier, I had launched a few startupsbased on morality. I also wish to bring acleaner and consumer-friendly environ-ment to street foods.

What are the challenges you face?Since our shop is on an e-rickshaw and

we do not have enough money to obtain aproper trade licence, we get threats from theauthorities of our rickshaw being confis-cated. With fear from the officials, wehave to shift our stall from one place toanother which affects our customerbase as well as business. There arechallenges like finding a proper place

while cus -tomers fromfellow ven-dors makeus feel anoutsider.

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P3TUESDAY | JANUARY 4 | 2022 | BHUBANESWAR OP SPECIAL

EXPLORING CAPITAL FOODS

Among its different specialties, chocolate,kala khatta, khatta meetha,

chilly garlic and bahubalipanipuri remain

foodies’favourite.

BHUBANESWAR: If your idea ofevening snacks includes having

spicy and tangy gupchup ina cor ner of the

Capital city,then

perhaps ‘Graduated Panipuri Wala’is the place to be.

Located across the main road infront of Rama Devi Women’sUniversity, Saheed Nagar, this par-ticular stall delivers a wide range ofgupchups prepared in a super hy-

gienic environment. With a unique satiri-

cal name coupled

with a mix of flavours, the stall at-tracts customers from neighbouringdistricts of Puri and Cuttack too.“They not only offer a large varietyof panipuris, but also follow allCovid norms such as wearing mask,gloves and others which is very im-portant during these times,” saidDebasis Barik, who comes from Puriin weekends to savor the delicacies.

The ‘Graduated Panipuri Wala’

THE SPECIALTIES

THE ROOST

Rolls that rule

They not only offer a largevariety of panipuris, but also follow all Covid

norms such as wearing mask, gloves and others which is veryimportant during these timesDEBASIS BARIK I CUSTOMER

UNIQUE FEATURE

T he specialty at this partic-ular eatery is dining onvintage scooters. “We

wanted to rekindle the love forscooters among the current gen-eration. So, we brought in a few oldPriya scooters and modified themto fit in the dine-in place. Nowadays,they draw more attention thanour dishes and sometimes youngboys and girls tell us how excitingit is to see such vintage vehicle, onlystories of which they had heardfrom their parents,” Sinu said.

Run by Kashif from WestBengal and Sinu Prusti from

Bhubaneswar, the place aims tomake rolls that do not have typical

masala, cabbage, and chickenfillings. It rather includes assorted

veggies, cheese, meat, paneer, soyaand a mélange of spices

Having a growing consumer basecomprising mostly youth between

18-35 years of age, the duo has alsointroduced multigrain rolls for healthconscious individuals

The stall also offers Haryanvi Kebabs,Chinese cuisines and Lachcha Paratha

STORIES: AVIRAL MISHRA

PHOTOS: BIKASH NAYAK

Pravat and Subrat at the stall

Hygiene my top priority: Pravat

downtownTUESDAY | JANUARY 4 | 2022 | BHUBANESWARP4

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M ix-match of differentCovid vaccines is safe andproduces higher antibody

response, according to a study re-leased by AIG Hospitals inHyderabad, Monday.

The study, led by AIG Hospitalsand researchers from the AsianHealthcare Foundation, soughtto determine the safety profile ofmixing Covishield and Covaxin,as well as explore the antibodyresponse.

While the study “conclusivelyshowed that mixing of vaccinesis absolutely safe”, the spike-pro-tein neutralising antibodies in themixed vaccine groups were foundto be significantly higher than thesame-vaccine groups.

The team included 330 healthyvolunteers who were not vacci-nated and had no history of Covid

infection. Of these, 44 (approxi-mately 13 per cent) participantswere found to be seronegative,that is, they didn’t have Covid-re-lated antibodies, while the rest 87per cent were found to have Covid-related antibodies.

“One of the incidental findingsof the study is the seropositivityamong our population. About 87per cent participants who didn’tget vaccinated and never testedposi t ive for Covid had the Covid-related antibodies. Thismeans our population might have developed significant antibodies against the Covid because of the huge Delta wavet h at we en du red,” s a i d DNageshwar Reddy, Chairman, AIGHospitals, in a statement.

The team divided the 44 par-ticipants into four groups: people

who took first and second dose ofCovishield, people who took firstand second dose of Covaxin, peo-ple who took f irst dose ofCovishield and second dose ofCovaxin, and lastly, people whotook first dose of Covaxin andsecond dose of Covishield.

The team followed all the par-ticipants for 60 days and foundnone of the participants develop-

ing any adverse effect.The Omicron variant is consid-

ered to have more than 30 mutationsin the spike protein, which enablesit to evade vaccines as well asspread faster.

According to the study, mixingdifferent vaccines can help tacklethe new variant much more effec-tively than two-doses that haveshown to be ineffective.

“Spike-protein neutralising an-tibodies are the ones which killthe virus and reduce the overall in-fectivity. We found that when thefirst and second doses are of dif-ferent vaccines, the spike-proteinantibody response is four timeshigher compared to two doses of thesame vaccine,” Reddy said.

“This is particularly importantwhen considering the third booster

dose. The concept of a booster is toelicit robust antibody responseand help in killing the virus. Mixeddoses can certainly boost thesespike-protein neutralising anti-bodies and will enhance the vac-cines’ effectiveness even againstthe Omicron variant,” he said.

The researchers have sharedthe data from the study with theIndian Council for Medical Researchto be considered as a referencestudy while deciding on the“Prevention” doses startingJanuary 10.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi,last week, had announced thathealthcare/frontline workers, aswell as elderly population (agedmore than 60) with comorbidi-ties, will be prioritised for a pre-cautionary dose from January 10onwards. IANS

Mix-match of different Covid vax safe, more effective: StudySpike-protein neutralising antibodiesare the ones which kill the virus andreduce the overall infectivity. Wefound that when the first and seconddoses are of different vaccines, thespike-protein antibody response isfour times higher compared to twodoses of the same vaccineD NAGESHWAR REDDY | CHAIRMAN, AIG HOSPITALS,HYDERABAD

POST NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi, Jan 3: The SupremeCourt Monday adjourned the hear-ing of a special leave petition (SLP)filed by Odisha Lokayukta chal-lenging the order of the OrissaHigh Court in Pradeep Panigrahicorruption case.

A two-judge bench of the apexcourt comprising justices AjayRastogi and Abhay S Oka said thatit would hear the case January 12.

During the hearing, the coun-sel appearing for Panigrahipleaded the court to vacate itsstay on the Orissa High Courtorder. However, the bench didn’tpass any order Monday and adjourned the matter.

Significantly, Odisha Lokayuktahad filed the SLP in the SupremeCourt challenging the orders ofthe Orissa High Court which ruledthat the Lokayukta cannot orderpreliminary enquiry againstPanigrahi from Vigilance depart-ment of the state as the latter is thecomplainant in the matter.

The SC had April 23 last yearstayed the Orissa HC order re-straining the Vigilance depart-ment from conducting enquiryagainst Panigrahi in a corruptioncase and had issued notice in April.

It is to be mentioned here thatLokayukta in December last year

had directed the state Vigilance toprobe the corruption charges madeagainst the Gopalpur MLA.

The Lokayukta had also askedthe Vigilance Directorate to conducta preliminary inquiry againstPanigrahi and submit a reportwithin two months.

SC adjourns Panigrahi’s corruption case till Jan 12

Odisha Lokayukta had filedthe SLP in the Supreme

Court challenging the ordersof the Orissa High Court whichruled that the Lokayuktacannot order preliminaryenquiry against Panigrahifrom Vigilance department ofthe state as the latter is thecomplainant in the matter

The SC had April 23 last yearstayed the Orissa HC order

restraining the Vigilancedepartment from conductingenquiry against Panigrahi in acorruption case and hadissued notice in April

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Bhubaneswar, Jan 3: Odisha’sCovid-19 tally rose to 10,55,980Monday as 424 more people, sameas Sunday, tested positive for the infection, a Health department bulletin said.

The state’s coronavirus death tollremained unchanged at 8,463 as nofresh fatality was registered, it said.

Khurda district registered thehighest number of 151 new cases,followed by 66 in Cuttack. The ad-ministration tested 54,793 samplesfor Covid-19 Sunday, it said, addingthat the daily test positivity rate(TPR) rose to 0.77 per cent.

Fifty-three other patients havedied due to comorbidities so far, thebulletin said. More than 2.93 crorepeople have received the first doseof the Covid-19 vaccine, while 2.1

crore have been fully vaccinated.Meanwhile, the vaccination drive

for the 15-18 years age group beganat 939 special sessions sites acrossthe state, a senior health official said.

Teenagers, who have already

registered their names on the Cowinportal, can get the jabs between 8AM to 1 PM, he said, adding thatthe state government has set the tar-get to complete the inoculationdrive by the end of this month.

Students of class 10, who are ap-pearing for assessment tests be-tween January 5 and 8, can take thevaccine after the examination.Similarly, class 12 students will getvaccinated after January 12, he said.

Bijay Panigrahi, state Health andFamily Welfare (H&FW) Directorand nodal officer for vaccination, saidthat adolescents born on or beforeJanuary 1, 2007 are eligible for vac-cination, and the second dose ofCovaxin will be given 28-42 daysafter the first jab. Teenagers whohave tested positive for Covid-19can get vaccinated three monthsafter recovery, he said.

State logs 424 fresh nCoV cases

District Collectors, municipalCommissioners and CDMOs

have been directed to coordinatewith the School and Mass Educationdepartment to achieve the target

Teenagers, who have alreadyregistered their names on the

Cowin portal, can get the jabsbetween 8am to 1pm

Students of Class X, who areappearing for assessment tests

between January 5 and 8, can takethe vaccine after the examination.Similarly, class 12 students will getvaccinated after January 12

The government has set a target to vaccinate 25.53 lakh beneficiaries by January end

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Jan 3: UnionEducation and Skill DevelopmentMinister Dharmendra PradhanMonday launched the NationalEducational Alliance for Technology(NEAT) 3.0, a single platform toprovide the best-developed ed-techsolutions and courses to studentsof the country.

The Minister also launchedAICTE prescribed technical booksin regional languages.

On the occasion, 12 Lakh NEATed-tech free course coupons worth`253.72 crore were distributed to so-cially disadvantaged groups. Odishareceived `10.70 crore for 33,585 so-cially and economically disad-vantaged students of the state.

Pradhan said that NEAT will bea game-changer in bridging thedigital divide, especially amongthe economically disadvantagedstudents. It will also fulfill the

knowledge-based requirement ofIndia and the world. The Ministerinformed that 58 global and Indianstart-up ed-tech companies are on-board NEAT and are offering 100courses & e-resources for betteringlearning outcomes, developing em-ployable skills and overcominglearning loss. He hoped that thee-content, resources and digitalframeworks like NEAT are steps inthe right direction of minimisinglearning loss.

The Minister encouraged AICTEto integrate courses in NEAT with‘Skill India’ to boost employabilityand prepare the youth for future.He urged AICTE and ed-tech com-panies to offer e-resources in theleast possible cost. Pradhan com-plimented the global ed-tech com-panies and Indian start-ups who area part of NEAT 3.0.

On technical books in regionallanguages, Pradhan said, “Our di-verse languages are our strength

and harnessing them is the keyto building an innovative society.Learning in regional languageswill further develop critical think-ing capacity & enable our youth tobecome global citizens”.

He also said he will succeedwhen the literary work of Odiawriters and poets such as BhimaBhoi and Sarala Das will be readby students in Tamil, Marathi andother languages.

Pradhan launches NEAT 3.0, books in regional languagesOur diverse

languages are ourstrength and

harnessing them is the key tobuilding an innovativesociety. Learning in regionallanguages will furtherdevelop critical thinkingcapacity & enable our youthto become global citizensDHARMENDRA PRADHAN | UNION EDUCATIONAND SKILL DEVELOPMENT MINISTER

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Jan 3: Unknownfraudsters including a New Delhi-based foreigner have duped awoman from the Capital city hereof more than `15 lakh on the pre-text of doubling her investmentsand by threatening her to makeviral her ‘objectionable’ videos.

The Commissionerate Policehas started investigations into thematter after registering a casebased on the complaint lodged bythe victim lady at Khandagiri po-lice station.

As per sources, the victim had re-cently received a friend request onsocial media site Facebook whichshe accepted. The friendship wascemented as both the sides sharedtheir mobile numbers.

To trap the lady by winning hertrust, the fraudsters later depositedsome money in her account with-out her permission. One of thefraudsters allegedly told the victimthat he wanted to start real estatebusiness in Odisha with her help.

Subsequently, the accused alongwith four of his aides includingthe foreigner reached Bhubaneswar.The accused introduced the for-eigner as James Alia Brigton, anative of UK, who owns TrimurtiCourier Services in South Delhi.

The person who was in talkswith the victim told the latter thatBrigton was engaged in con-struction work in India and thathe has four hotel projects inprogress in Puri.

The victim was told that if she

was ready to invest `5 lakh, shewould get double the amount ofher investments.

Lured by the offer, the victimfailed to make out their motiveand gave `15.40 lakh to the accusedby taking loan and selling her or-naments. They even cleverly tookher signature in a blank paper andtook away the pin code of debitand credit cards.

A few days later, an unknown per-son informed the lady over phonethat the accused person had links

with human traffickers in Pakistanand Bangladesh and used to sup-ply girls from various parts of thecountry to the above countries forsex trade.

Accused Brigton even threat-ened to make viral her objectionablevideos or kill her if she does not paythem the money and inform thepolice about the fraud. The victimalso switched off her cellphone fear-ing criminal acts by the accused.

City woman loses `15.40L to fraudstersTo trap the lady by winning

her trust, the fraudsterslater deposited some money inher account without herpermission

The victim was told that ifshe was ready to invest `5

lakh, she would get double theamount of her investments.

Lured by the offer, the victimfailed to make out their

motive and gave `15.40 lakh tothe accused by taking loan andselling her ornaments

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Jan 3: In a bid torevive the traditional industrieswith cutting edge solutions, StartupOdisha under the state MSME de-partment conducted a ‘StartupConnect’ program with the Schemeof Fund for Regeneration ofTraditional Industries (SFURTI)clusters of the state at O-Hub inPatia here Monday.

The startups in the field of hyperdelivery/e-Commerce, organicfoods and super foods, agriculturalproducts and tribal products, hand-loom and handicrafts demonstratedtheir innovations and solutions tothe traditional enterprises and ex-pressed their interest in explor-ing opportunities with them.

The MSME Ministry haslaunched SFURTI in 2005 with aview to promoting cluster devel-opment. Khadi and Village IndustriesCommission (KVIC) is the nodalagency for promotion of cluster de-velopment for Khadi as well as forvillage industries products.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Puri, Jan 3: After remainingclosed for three days sinceDecember 31, the iconic Srimandirhere reopened for devotees Monday,an official said.

The 12th-century shrine wasclosed to avoid crowds around NewYear amid rising Covid-19 casesin state, the Shree JagannathTemple Administration (SJTA) of-ficial said.

All rituals by priests and servi-tors continued in the temple dur-ing the three-day period, he said,adding that sanitisation exercisewas also carried out in the shrine.

Elaborate arrangements havebeen made to ensure ease for devo-tees, while adhering to all Covid-19 protocols, the official added.

Srimandir reopens after three days

Newly-appointed Director General of Police (DGP) Sunil Kumar Bansal, along with his wife, returns after offering prayers at Srimandir in Puri, Monday OP PHOTO

Startup Connect progheld to transform traditional industries

AT LORD’S ABODE

1971 war veteran Vice Admiral SH Sarma diesNEW DELHI: The Indian Navy's 1971 Indo-Pak war veteran Vice Admiral S H Sarmapassed away in Bhubaneswar Monday, officials said. Sarma, who turned 99 lastDecember, was the Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet during the 1971 war, theymentioned. India had defeated Pakistan in the 1971 war leading to the creation ofBangladesh. Officials said Sarma also served as Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief ofthe Eastern Naval Command.

Airfield PS gheraoedBHUBANESWAR: Residents ofSundarpada Monday evening gheraoedAirfield police station alleging delay inarrest of the accused involved in theghastly killing of a fellow villager,Deepak Kumar Routray, Friday night.The agitators called off the protestafter senior cops assured to arrest theaccused as soon as possible.

Botanical Gardenclosed for picnicBHUBANESWAR: Keeping in view therecent order by state government toprevent spread of Omicron, theBotanical Garden was closed for picnictill January 31. However, visitors will beallowed to enter after getting offline oronline tickets.

TODAYWASSUP

Programmes/announcements forwassup today may be sent to

opwassup@gmail.com for record, it must also carry the sender’s

mobile number for our verification,but not for publication.

BHUBANESWARn Meet by Akhil Bharat Hindu

Mahasabha, Buddha Mandir, Unit-IX, 4pm

n Odissi Sangeet Mahotsav-2022,Soochana Bhawan, 6:30pm

JOB STIR

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stateTUESDAY | JANUARY 4 | 2022 | BHUBANESWARP5

Sambalpur getsnew CollectorBhubaneswar: In a minorreshuffle in IAS cadre, thestate government Mondayappointed Dibya Jyoti Paridaas the Collector of Sambalpurin place of Shubham Saxena.At present, Parida, a 2016-batch IAS officer, is servingas the Commissioner ofRourkela MunicipalCorporation with additionalcharge of CEO, RourkelaSmart City Ltd, and Secretaryof Rourkela DevelopmentAuthority. Saxena, a 2013-IASofficer, has been transferredand posted as the JointSecretary to Agriculture andFarmers’ Empowermentdepartment. He has beendirected to get himselfrelieved immediately byhanding over charge to theADM, Sambalpur and join hisnew place of posting.Similarly, 2018-batch IASofficer ShubhankarMohapatra is the newCommissioner of the RourkelaMunicipal Corporation. Hehas been allowed to remain inadditional charge of CEO,Rourkela Smart City Ltd,ADM, Rourkela and Secretary,Rourkela DevelopmentAuthority in addition to hisown duties.

Neighbours killman over dispute Rayagada: In a shockingincident, a resident of HarijanSahi in Kumbhikota villageunder Sadar Police limits ofRayagada district diedfollowing a tussle with hisneighbours over release ofdrain water. As per reports, afight broke out between thefamilies of Ajay Khosla andGorekha Khora of the village,who were at loggerheadsover the release of drainwater. During the clash, Ajayfainted on the spot and wasrushed to the local PrimaryHealth Centre (PHC) wherethe doctor declared him‘brought dead’. Wheninformed, police reached thelocation and started a probeinto the matter. Ajay’s bodywas sent to the districtheadquarters hospital (DHH)for autopsy. Ajay’s familymembers have registered anFIR with the Rayagada policeagainst four persons,sources said.

Covid: Nabarangpur SBI shut for 2 days Nabarangpur: The mainbranch of State Bank of Indiahere will remain closed fortwo days after two of itsemployees tested positive forCovid-19, reports said. Thedistrict administration andthe bank authorities took adecision in this regard,Monday. A deputy manager ofthe bank tested positive forthe virus Sunday evening,while another staff testedpositive Monday. Later, thebank authorities informed theCollector Kamal LochanMishra about thedevelopment. The bank willremain closed Monday andTuesday. The closure of thebank for two days has beennotified to the customers. Atleast five persons in thedistrict have tested positivefor the virus. Meanwhile, 18persons are under homeisolation in Nabarangpur.

SHORT TAKES

POST NEWS NETWORK

Sambalpur, Jan 3: History is re-plete with instances of freedoms fight-ers and their struggles against theBritisher rulers for the Independenceof the country.

However, students of SambalpurZilla School boycotting classes to jointhe non-cooperation movement ofGandhiji January 3, 1921 was the firstsuch incident in the history of our free-dom movement. The non-cooperationmovement by the students of thisschool completed 100 years, January3, 2022. A memorial committee wasformed to observe the day.

Possibly none of the students ofthe Zilla School who had participatedin the non-cooperation movement arealive today. However, the path shownby them still inspires many to thinkand do something for the country.

Historian Deepak Panda has men-tioned about the students’ movementin his book ‘Sambalpur Itihas’. Manypeople of undivided Sambalpur dis-trict were drawn towards Gandhiji’scall for Independence of the coun-try through non-violence and par-ticipated in the non-cooperation move-ment. The non-cooperation movement

drew widespread support from peo-ple of all walks of life.

Reports said that the students firstassembled under the foothill ofBudharaja January 2, 1921 and de-cided to boycott classes when theschool reopened after their vacation,January 3, 1921. As the school re-opened, the students staged a demon-stration outside the main gate of theschool. Over 200 students partici-pated in this demonstration.

Later, the students boycotted theirclasses and took out a rally whichpassed through themain thoroughfaresof Sambalpur town.Eminent freedomfighters LakshmiNarayanMishra,

Benimadhav Supkar, Nrusingh Guru,Gouri Shankar Sahani, KrutarthaAcharya, Arun Das, Md Hussain,Abdul Mazid, Chandra SekharPanigrahi, and Jagannath Mishraled the students’ rally.

The rally reached Balibandha wherethe students participated in a meet-ing. Chandrasekhar Behera,Dasharathi Mishra, Lodhabhai Tharia,Ratan Singhbhai, Seth Ram Pratap,Janardan Pujari, Anandiram Shukla,Ramakrushna Behera, andMahendranath Verma addressed thestudents there.

The move by the students spreadlike wildfire and became the top storyin the English daily ‘The Servant’,

which was then published fromKolkata.Themovecaughtthe ad-

ministration off guard. The admin-istration rusticated all the studentswho boycotted classes and partici-pated in the freedom movement.

The non-cooperation movementsoon drew widespread support fromacross the country. The students evenopposed the visit of a British Princeto Sambalpur. The locals also ob-served Sambalpur bandh in supportof the students and meetings were or-ganised at various places.

Later, a school named NationalSchool was opened at Frazer Schoolwhere the rusticated students were al-lowed to study. Teachers includingShankar Prasad Padhi, Sayeed Abdula,and Baladev Bahidar taught the stu-dents there.

On being apprised about the stu-dents’ movement, eminent freedomfighter Pandit Nilakantha Das, whowas then working as a lecturer in aKolkata college, resigned from serv-ice and returned to Sambalpur toteach the students. Another teacherBhagirathi Mishra, after completinghis studies in Kolkata, also returnedto Sambalpur to teach the students.The school was later renamed asChandra Sekhar Behera Zilla Schoolto honour the great freedom fighter.

Centenary of Sambalpur students’ school boycott

POST NEWS NETWORK

Berhampur, Jan 3: ITI Berhampur,which has earned a name in the so-ciety for its innovations, has devel-oped a new device called “SandCleaning Tool” to clean the seabeaches. This manual sea beachcleaner is eco-friendly, easy to useand cost effective.

According to the Ganjam CollectorVijay Amrut Kulange, thousands ofsuch devices can be used throughoutthe beaches of the state. The studentsof this ITI have helped a lot in themovement of district administration

to get the Blue Flag Beach tag forGopalpur beach.

This cleaner is light-weight, easy tohandle and cleans up to 1,000 sq ft ofthe beach in an hour. The manufac-turing cost of each device is just

around `4,000.“It is a new innovation by the in-

stitute in the new year. It will make theongoing cleanliness drive at the fa-mous Gopalpur beach easier,” saidinstitute principal Dr Rajat KumarPanigrahy.

Kulange launched the unique sandcleaning device Monday in the pres-ence of Berhampur Sub-Collector,Keerthi Vasan V and Panigrahy.Kulange highly appreciated the ef-forts of the students in developingthe new concept. The cleanliness willattract tourists and increase tourismin the area, he said.

Members of Paschima Odisha Anganwadi Karmi ‘O’ Sahayika Sangha taking out a rally demanding government employee status, salary hike and others inSambalpur, Monday OP PHOTO

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bargarh, Jan 3: A nine-year-oldboy, who was allegedly kidnappedby two bike-borne miscreantsSunday evening from near hishouse at Cement Nagar in ACCColony of Bargarh town, was res-cued by some locals nearly fivehours after the incident.

According to sources, the vic-tim, identified as MohammadMuazzam, is a Class III studentand son of Jamil Akhtar Khan,chief manager (CSR Head) of ACCcement factory in Bargarh.

According to an FIR lodged withBargarh Town police, the boy waskidnapped by the two unidentifiedpersons when he was playing infront of his house at around 6.45 pmSunday.

The kidnappers had dropped ahand-written note in English nearthe garage of his house, in whichthey had demanded `10 lakh ran-som to release his son, Muazzam’sfather mentioned in the report.Acting on the FIR, Bargarh Townpolice constituted a special squadand initiated a search operationto trace the minor, the source added.

On the other hand, Muazzam

was spotted by some locals nearBargarh High School a few hoursafter the alleged kidnapping. Later,they contacted the minor’s par-ents and also informed local po-lice about it.

“After receiving the FIR, weblocked all exit and entry roadsto Bargarh town. Besides, we con-ducted raids at several suspectedlocations. We believe that kid-

nappers left the minor boy near alocal high school to escape the eyesof the police. We will nab the ab-ductors soon,” Additional SP ofBargarh PK Mishra said whilebriefing the media.

“My friends and I were strollingin front of Bargarh High Schoolat around 11.30 pm, when we spot-ted the minor walking alone nearthe boundary wall. As we wereaware of the kidnapping news,without wasting any time, we rushedto the boy to verify if he was thesame minor,” a local youth namedSanjit Kumar Chhatria, who is saidto have rescued Muazzam fromnear the school, said.

After ascertaining that the minorwas Muazzam, the locals contactedthe police and handed over the kid-napped boy to his parents.

NON-COOPERATION MOVEMENT

POST NEWS NETWORK

Kendrapara, Jan 3: A woman al-legedly killed her two-month-oldson over a fight with her husbandat Kanpur village under Marshaghaipolice limits in Kendrapara dis-trict late Sunday night. Later, shedumped the body into a well.

The incident has spread shock-waves across the area. T hewoman has been identified asLaxmipriya.

According to sources, Laxmipriyaallegedly had a love affair with aman named Satyaranjan Parida ofKanpur village. The couple gotmarried two years ago, but fre-quently indulged in altercationsover penury. As arguments between

the couple continued, it disturbedtheir marital life.

Two months back, Laxmipriyahad gone to her father’s house, aftergiving birth to a baby boy. Herbrother-in-law brought her back toher husband’s house a couple ofdays back. The couple again hadan altercation on the interveningnight before going to bed.

At midnight, Laxmipriya sud-denly started screaming that her sonhad gone missing. Unable to tracethe baby, Satyaranjan called thepolice.

Suspecting foul play, police de-tained the couple. During inter-rogation, Laxmipriya admittedto her crime and confessed that shehad strangled her son and put the

body in a sack. Later, she dumpedit in a well, she said.

“She was mentally upset andwas complaining of chest painfor not being able to breast-feed thebaby. Due to her pain, Laxmipriyawanted to abandon her child andmove to her father’s house. The in-cident took place between 12.30 amand 2.30 am on the fateful day.Initially, she alleged that someother people had killed the baby.But later admitted to her crime,”Satyaranjan said.

After Fire services personnel re-covered the body from a nearby well,police sent it to Kendrapara DistrictHeadquarters Hospital (DHH) forpost-mortem, an of ficial atMarshaghai police station said.

Minor boy returns 5 hrs after ‘kidnapping’

Mom kills infant, dumps body in well

Muazzam wasspotted by somelocals nearBargarh HighSchool a few hoursafter the allegedkidnapping

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Jan 3: Followingthe amendment of the municipallaws removing reservation for OBCpeople, the state government has ini-tiated a fresh move for delimita-tion of wards and reservation ofseats in the Urban Local Bodies(ULBs) for the upcoming rural polls.

Director of MunicipalAdministration (DMA) SangramjitNayak has written to all Collectorsand Commissioners ofBhubaneswar, Cuttack andBerhampur in this regard.

Nayak said that consequent to thejudgement of the Supreme Courtregarding reservation of seats forbackward class of citizens (BCC),the state government has amendedthe relevant provisions of theOdisha Municipal Act, 1950 andOdisha Municipal CorporationAct, 2003 by way of ordinances.

The government has decidedthat the delimitation of wards andreservation of seats for the gen-eral election to the 107 municipal-ities and NACs (except those lo-cated in Scheduled Areas) andthree corporation towns of thestate will be made afresh, he said.

Officials have been asked to con-duct the delimitation and reser-vation of seats as per the 2011Census report and in accordancewith the provisions of the two Acts.

Further, reservation of seats willbe made in favour of SC, ST andwomen as per the provisions underSection 11 of the OdishaMunicipality Act, 1950.

As per the Act, the district mag-istrates are empowered for delim-itation of the wards and reserva-tion of seats for SC, ST and womenin the municipalities/ NACs. Theprocess followed so far related to themunicipalities and NACs locatedin the Scheduled areas will remainvalid, pointed out Nayak.

Appeal petitions from the personsaggrieved with the notification ofthe DMs regarding division of mu-nicipal area into wards or assign-ment of wards will be received inthe office of the DM concerned be-fore the stipulated date and time.

Collectors were asked to completethe delimitation process by January3, while people having any issuewith the process can submit his/herplea by January 12. The DistrictMagistrates will publish the list ofthe reserved seats, January 13.

People who would be aggrievedeven after this can submit theirgrievances to the Housing andUrban Development departmentbetween January 13 and 27. Hearingof the grievances will start fromJanuary 28, Nayak said in his let-ter. However, no final date has beenset for completion of the entireprocedure.

District magistrates areempowered for delimitation

of the wards and reservation of seats for SC,

ST and women in themunicipalities/NACs

Fresh move for seatreservation in ULBs

Initially, the womanalleged that someother people had killedthe baby, but lateradmitted to havingcommitted the crime

ITI students make beach-cleaning tool

power post P6

W hen Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on the ascendant inGujarat, there was a lot of talk about the so-called ‘Gujarat modelthat could be applied to the entire country. This of course was

talking about the economic model. But not all Indians had learned about thefull package that Modi had promised the people of Gujarat. Samruddhi, inthe sense of economic prosperity, was only one half of the promised story.The other half was salamati, a Hindustani word that has become a part ofthe Gujarati language and a way of speaking to denote safety and security.

But now, we appear to dislike anything but a Sanskirtised version. So, thereare many telling us how saal-mubarak is not Indian and we must instead usenootanvarsh-abhinandan or any other Sanskritised words to wish eachother – be it for Diwali or even the turn of the calendar December 31.

After almost seven years of Modi at the national helm of affairs, Bharathas arrived and has taken hold. Every person, or almost every person it mayseem, is now consciously religious and the first lesson that has been inter-nalised is that you cannot afford to be tolerant. The call and consensus areto respond violently to any provocation and go to the extent of extinguish-ing life by taking the law in your hands.

The story of Guru Nanak has receded from folklore and also our collec-tive memory. He travelled with his disciple andfollower Mardaana to Mecca. He retired one sum-mer evening in a sarai, or should it be called adharmashala in keeping with the version of‘Indianness’ that is in vogue. A moulvi sawGuru Nanak stretching his legs towards theKaaba. He reprimanded the Guru. The Guru re-quested him to lift his legs and put them in thedirection that may be the right one. But whicheverdirection the feet of the Guru turned, the Kaabaappeared to move in that direction. The priestthen sought forgiveness from Guru Nanak, themessage being that the house of the Lord is every-where and in all directions.

From those roots, we have arrived today,when we are ready to lynch and kill the per-son who has defiled or misbehaved in aGurudwara. Zero tolerance for hurt, real or imag-ined, to religious sentiments. Punishment isswift. Exterminate. This is how we have learnedto keep ourselves salamat, or safe, secure,sound, protected!

Welcome to the Gujarat Model, Part II, as itplays out in the Akhand Bharat of today. Let usnot blame Gandhi. He practiced non-violenceand sarvadharama samabhava- equal respectfor all religions. But we have ingrained vio-lence into the Indian fabric. Further, the versionof secularism practiced in the country gavespace to intolerance and fanatic elements amongcertain sections, the disease eventually spread-ing to most sects and religions. We must cometo terms with the picture of a distorted idea ofnon-violence and secularism that has been pro-moted and supported for decades.

Against this national background, Gujarat came in handy for the Hindufundamentalists. One can trace how and why Gujarat became a Hindutvalaboratory. After the formation of Gujarat State in May 1960, the Patel com-munity that lived largely in rural areas and was engaged in agriculture ben-efited from the land reforms, especially in Saurashtra. The Patel communityis very industrious. With the ownership of land, they could work hard to reapbenefits. They did. Agriculture improved significantly and the Patels pros-pered. They became educated and also entered the world of business thatwas hitherto in the hands of Banias and Brahmins. The profits from non-farm enterprises were invested in agriculture and agriculture surplus wasagain invested in expanding non-farm businesses. Patels now wanted socialand religious recognition, and space in regional politics. This was difficultas Brahmins and Banias had full control.

Patels then turned to the Swaminarayan sect and carved out their socio-religious space. They were yet to get political space. Whatever chance theymight have had, the KHAM (Kshatriya, Harijan, Adivasi, and Muslim) al-liance and joint strategy in the early 1980s took away. Congress and secularparties were not open to them either for sharing power. They turned quiteeasily to the RSS-BJP fold.

The Patels are not meek or mild-mannered. The RSS-BJP combine waslooking for precisely this kind of force to kickstart its run. The Patels wereoffered space. That is how the Hindutva laboratory was set up in Gujarat.Patels and others who were left out in power-sharing arrangements till thattime found welcoming space in the BJP. From 1960 to 1990, the Congress ruledGujarat. Except for Chimanbhai Patel and Babubhai Patel, Patels did not getmuch space. It was in 1990 when the KHAM strategy threatened to remainstrong and upset the entry of the Patels into power structures, ChimanbhaiPatel and Keshubhai Patel forged unity and a non-Congress government wasformed. Congress returned but only for a brief period, in 1994-95. Sincethen, the BJP has been ruling Gujarat. With political patronage, RSS and ex-treme Hindutva forces led by select anti-Gandhi upper caste groups becameactive and culminated in the Gujarat of 2002.

In 2002, Narendra Modi fought the assembly elections with the promiseof providing salamati and samruddhi. In 2014, he fought the national gen-eral elections with the promise of samruddhi. It was supposed to be one ofa development agenda at work. In the first five years, samruddhi with slo-gans such as sabka saath, sabka vikaas were made popular. However, theforces that were let loose in the country, especially the cow-belt (now extendedto Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka), played out in the open by perpe-trating violent suppression of minorities. And the leader maintained hismystical silence.

Come the 2019 general elections, and the theme returned. Akhand Hindu-rashtra is now the dream and the leader brought in his infamous lieutenantto command the inner policing and law and order of the country and the teambecame formidable. Gujarat cooled down after 2002 because the followershipwas out of fear, and people in Gujarat generally don’t indulge in violenceas they focus more on running businesses. The communal violence that wasunleashed under the alleged state support by the Gujarat Hindutva labora-tory was bad, but its mutation in other states, especially the cow belt, tookon even more virulent forms and continues to play havoc. The Ganga-Jamuni tehazeeb stands severely damaged and the imagined Akhand Bharat-varsh that is supposed to have existed 1,200 years back under the Hindu san-skruti is now blown to smithereens. If the people of Hindustan do not actnow, Sardar Patel’s Akhand Bharat will move toward Balkanisation. The mer-chant of dreams cannot continue to call the tunes forever. A modern secu-lar state with freedom, justice, equity, and fraternity is under threat and soare its citizens.

The writer is a noted Gandhian economist and a former ViceChancellor of Gujarat Vidyapith.

©THE BILLION PRESS

A ll is not well with another pri-vate bank, RBL Bank. TheCEO has left the bank

abruptly and RBI has decided to ap-point an additional director on theboard. Last month, the RBI su-perseded the board of Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Capital Ltd inview of payment defaults and se-rious governance issues. A similarstory played out in March 2020,when the banking regulator placedYes Bank under moratorium.

Undoubtedly, these concernswould have weighed heavily on theRBI’s decision as to not accept therecommendation of its InternalWorking Group (IWG) relating toproposed ownership of banks bylarge corporate or industrial houses.RBI had set up this working groupin June 2020 and the IWG submit-ted its report in November 2020.

While the recommendation re-lating to ownership is still underconsideration, the larger questionis whether India is ready to allowcorporate houses enter mainstreambanking and handle the associatedrisks. In the last three decades, pri-vate banks have grown substan-tially, and they now occupy nearly40% of the banking space as against10% in 1991, at the time of liberal-isation. Private banks have made

significant contribution towards au-tomation, personalised banking andcustomised new products but at thesame time they have been foundwanting when it comes to financialinclusion, infrastructure lendingand customer inclusiveness.

Take for example the recent reportby credit bureau TransUnion CIBILLimited which states that of thetotal loan applications receivedunder the Emergency Credit LineGuarantee Scheme, public sectorbanks (PSBs) have led from the front.They reached out more to tiny andsmall borrowers. PSBs with their ex-tensive network operationalised thescheme as soon as it was launched.The story was no different for open-ing of Jan-Dhan accounts in 2014, de-monetisation management in 2016or offering of essential bankingservices during the pandemic.

Will corporate houses with focuson profitably show the same tenac-ity and determination towards fur-thering such schemes or whetherarmed with new banking licensethey will also compete for the hous-ing and car loan segment? If the lat-ter is the case, why should theyhave access to low cost deposit ofindividuals and institutions?

The concerns over corporate gov-ernance issues are also not un-

founded. In the recent past, manyprivate banks have been under theradar for various issues and somebigger ones have shown signs ofinherent weakness. Banks basicallyare intermediaries between de-positors and loanees, and there areadmittedly two lines of defence – theinternal bank board and the regu-lator. The recent failures of some pri-vate banks can be termed as gov-ernance failure and attributed to lackof independence of their boards.

The fintech companies have al-ready taken the payment spacefrom the banks. The big technologycompanies are also trying to enterthe financial intermediation space.In this backdrop, it needs to be as-certained what kind of new bankswe want in India and are corporatehouses the right candidates to bepicked up for this new journey.

During the last three years, notwithstanding an accommodativemonetary policy the credit offtakehas not happened on expected lines.This is not on account of absenceof corporate/industrial houses-owned banks but due to a varietyof factors which include skill short-age, absence of a system of in-centivisation for performers, the ac-countability policy, andHR/leadership issues especially

in the PSBs. For now, it will bemore prudent to focus on the ex-isting players and bring about thetransformation that is requiredfor sound, transparent and robustbanking practices. For a nationunder transition like ours profitmaximisation and social objectivesboth should always be part of thestrategies for all banks. It is a factthat although Indian banking isover 250 years old, things startedhappening in the banking spacein the country post nationalisa-tion and post liberalisation. WhilePSBs have been associated withnation-building for the last morethan five decades the private banksstarted making their presence feltafter 1991. There are issues with re-gard to asset quality and gover-nance in PSBs. But most of theprivate banks; both the old onesand the new generation ones too arehaving the same issues at the mo-ment. It is also a fact that we needstrong PSBs and equally strongprivate banks to embark on a pathof inclusive and rapid progress.The RBI will do well if it comes outwith more a stringent frameworkif it considers letting corporatesenter the fray.

The writer is a senior adviser,Indian Banks’ Association.

A PROBLEMATIC LINKINGI

ndia takes great pride in herElection Commission, an in-dependent authority entrustedwith the conduct of free and

fair elections for the Parliament andState Assemblies. It has the rep-utation of being independent andimpartial, and it ensures peoplevote without fear, and that thereis a level playing field among con-testants. The EC was born oneday before the Republic of India-- January 25, 1950. The EC is boundto act within the legal frameworkenshrined in the Representationof People Act 1951 (RPA). OnlyParliament has the power to amendthe RPA which has been done fromtime to time. It has been amendeda few times in the past 70 years. Onenotable amendment was the trans-fer of election petitions from tri-bunals to high courts, which waswhy Prime Minister IndiraGandhi’s election petition washeard in the Allahabad High Courtwhere her election in 1975 was de-clared null and void. But majoramendments to RPA have beenpending for too long.

There are, for instance, the var-ious recommendations of LawCommissions over many yearsthat have not been implemented.The EC itself has written to thePrime Minister and the govern-ment to ensure that some impor-tant electoral reform laws arepassed by Parliament. But thishas fallen on deaf ears. One ofthe most important suggestions hasbeen to disqualify criminal can-didates from standing for election.As of now the disqualification cri-teria in the RPA is too weak, andhas failed to check the rising num-ber of elected lawmakers who faceserious criminal charges.

In the absence of any actionfrom Parliament the SupremeCourt has often stepped in to rem-edy certain anomalies. This is howthe NOTA (none of the above) but-ton came on the ballot. This is howwe have instant unseating of con-victed lawmakers, even if the crim-inal case goes for appeal in a highercourt. This is how, thanks to a 2003judgement, the voters get to knowcriminal antecedents of their can-didates through self-sworn affi-davits. None of these reforms werebrought in by Parliament but are

in force thanks to the SupremeCourt in response to public inter-est litigations. The desire of the pub-lic to bring political parties underthe ambit of Right to Informationis still languishing in the courts.This reform is also a reform too far.

When Parliament has chosento act, it has often done so with du-bious intention. One example isthat of introducing electoral bonds,to increase the transparency ofpolitical funding. That law makesit impossible to know the identityof the donor or the recipient negat-ing transparency completely. Theword ‘transparency’ is used forthis legislation almost in anOrwellian sense! One more recentexample of Parliamentary actionon the RPA is the amendmentpassed last month. This is the link-age of Aadhaar with the voteridentity card issued by the EC. Itwas passed in the Lok SabhaDecember 20 without any discus-sion. It was passed in the RajyaSabha the next day with a voicevote, even when there was strongdemand for recording the vote.The video of the voice vote clearlyshows the resounding vocal op-position to the bill, but it was stillpassed. Be that as it may, theAadhaar linkage is very prob-lematic, for several reasons.

Firstly, this amendment directlycontradicts, at least prima facie, theSupreme Court judgement of 2018which clearly said that Aadhaar is

not mandatory for all citizens.Only for those receiving welfarebenefits, and for a limited pur-pose only, can Aadhaar be made arequirement. That was a land-mark judgement delivered in whatwas the second longest case everheard by the Supreme Court.

Secondly, Aadhaar is meant to bea proof of identity not of citizen-ship. It was never meant to be aproof of being a citizen and of theeligibility to vote. In fact, the con-struction of the voter roll is a crit-ical responsibility of the EC and can-not be outsourced to another agencyoutside its ambit. The Aadhaar au-thority is not under the control ofthe EC. The power to add, delete andmodify a voter record is with theelectoral registration officer, and iscircumscribed by the stringent re-quirement of physical verifica-tion. This can’t be outsourced to anauthority like the Unique IdentityAuthority i.e. Aadhaar. When theEC undertook a pilot project, a ‘pu-rification’ exercise in 2015 to linkthe Aadhaar to voter id, it wasstruck down by the Supreme Court.But some damage had been donein that pilot project in Telanganaand Andhra Pradesh. With theElectoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC)and Aadhaar linkage exercise un-dertaken by the EC as part of its‘National Electoral Roll Purificationand Authentication Programme’,lakhs of voters were affected. Nearly30 lakh voters in Telangana and

21 lakh voters in AP had beenstruck off the rolls due to a ‘de-du-plication’ exercise which created abig furore. None of these voterswere given a chance for a hearingand neither was the deletion sub-jected to a rigorous verificationexercise, as would have been doneunder normal EC procedures.

Thirdly, even if the currentamendment says linking Aadhaaris voluntary, it is not clear whatthat means. Will the linking bedone at enrolment or at voting time?How is the Aadhaar number goingto be verified, if not by the bio-metric method? But that has beenexplicitly ruled out. Will the electoralofficer just put a tick mark againstthe voter record or will the Aadhaarnumber be entered? In which caseit would be in the public domain vi-olating a very basic requirement ofprivacy of the Aadhaar number.The current wording of the legis-lation says that denial to furnish theAadhaar number to the electoral of-ficer can only be due to a ‘suffi-cient cause’. This implies that blan-ket denial is not to be allowed.

The government itself via an af-fidavit before the Supreme Court hassaid that the Aadhaar biometricidentification fails on average 12per cent of the time. That is a hugeerror margin, especially when elec-tions are keenly fought and winningmargins can be as thin as single dig-its. In Jharkhand, it was found that88 per cent of the ration cardsdeleted because of Aadhaar veri-fication failure were genuine cases.So Aadhaar failure invariably is aburden that largely falls on thepoor, the vulnerable, the indigentwho often live in backward areaslacking in the infrastructure ofelectricity or connectivity.

Finally, the real fear is thatAadhaar linkage can become apowerful tool for voter profiling,wholesale disenfranchisement,gerrymandering and all kinds ofelectoral mischief, in the handsof those who have the database. Thelinking of the Aadhaar with thevoter identity card is a path bestnot taken, or one that should betrodden on very, very carefully.

The writer is an economistand Senior Fellow,

Takshashila Institution. ©THE BILLION PRESS

FOCUS

The real fear is that Aadhaar linkage can becomea powerful tool for voter profiling, wholesale

disenfranchisement, gerrymandering and all kinds of electoral mischief, in the hands of

those who have the database

Gujarat to India

TUESDAY | JANUARY 4 | 2022 | BHUBANESWAR

Love is the keynote, Joy is themusic, Knowledge is theperformer, the Infinite All is thecomposer and audience.

SRI AUROBINDO

THE LINKING OFTHE AADHAAR

WITH THEVOTER IDENTITYCARD IS A PATH

BEST NOTTAKEN, OR ONE

THAT SHOULDBE TRODDEN ON

VERY, VERYCAREFULLY

Ajit Ranade

AADHAAR & VOTER ID

Readers of Orissa POSTare most welcome to contribute letters(200 words), articles andcolumns (between 750-1250words). Contributors arerequested to send theircontact numbers and fullpostal address/email ID. They may alsosend in their valuable comments, opinionand suggestions, preferably by email, to: edit@orissapost.com

B-15, Rasulgarh Industrial Estate,Bhubaneswar-751010

LettersTO THE EDITOR

THE LARGER QUESTION IS

WHETHER INDIA ISREADY TO ALLOW

CORPORATE HOUSES ENTER

MAINSTREAMBANKING AND

HANDLE THE ASSOCIATED RISKS

Bikash NarayanMishra

Out of COVID loop

Sir, On the one hand, the spirit of the people has been justamazing and the example is the way people have been ven-turing out in large numbers to celebrate many recentlyheld festivals and functions. On the other hand, most peo-ple have been turning a blind eye to the current COVID sta-tus especially in the wake of the Omicron variant by not wear-ing masks in open places. These people have been posing agreat threat to the current state of affairs. Even thoughvaccination has been a big hit across the board worldwide,people should come out wearing masks. Plus, the govern-ments and all the media houses should come forward to churnout daily local feeds about important COVID protocolsthrough proper means/channels like an ad with a strong mes-sage and celebrity voice/word of advice. After all, countrieshave to look into their economic needs like agriculture ac-tivities and industrial operations. For this, the interna-tional community must come out of the COVID loop soon.

P. Senthil Saravana Durai, MUMBAI

cmyk

cmyk

Sudarshan Iyengar

The merchant ofdreams cannotcontinue to call

the tunes forever.A modern secular

state with freedom, justice,

equity, and fraternity is under

threat and so areits citizens

Corporates can wait; focus on existing set-upSPECTRUM BANKING

Same old tactics

Sir, China’s revelation that it has standardised official names for 15 placesin Arunachal Pradesh has worsened the already strained relations betweenIndia and China. However, the Indian government rejected the renaming ofplaces and declared that the state has always been and will always be an in-tegral part of India. This move comes along with China’s new border law.Eight of the 15 places in ‘Zangnan’ (Chinese name for Arunachal Pradesh)are for inhabited areas, four are for mountains, two for rivers and one for amountain pass. According to India, assigning invented names to places doesnot alter reality. It must be noted that this is not the first time China attemptedto rename places in Arunachal. After the Dalai Lama’s visit to the state in2017, China had assigned Chinese names in Arunachal. With the imple-mentation of China’s new border law, India is likely to face more challengesat the northern border. China is likely to come up with more border modelvillages to be used both for military and civilian purposes. The latest moveby China comes against the backdrop of the ongoing standoff between Indiaand China at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh. Althoughthe two troops de-escalated from a few friction points, they continue to faceeach other in other stand-off points in eastern Ladakh.

Venu GS, KOLLAM (KERALA)

WISDOM CORNERThe world is indeed a mixture of truth and make-believe. Discard themake-believe and take the truth. RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHANSA

The degree of freedom from unwanted thoughts and the degree ofconcentration on a single thought are the measures to gaugespiritual progress. RAMANA MAHARSHI

The water in a vessel is sparkling; the water in the sea is dark. Thesmall truth has words which are clear; the great truth has greatsilence. RABINDRANATH TAGORE

P7

nationalTUESDAY | JANUARY 4 | 2022 | BHUBANESWAR India is undertaking

such reforms inspace sector whichwere not thoughtabout earlierRAJNATH SINGH | DEFENCE MINISTER

The decennial census, supposed to be held in 2020-21 but postponed due to the Covid pandemic, willnot be held anytime soon. The Centre has directedthe states not to alter the boundaries of thedistricts and other civil and police units till June2022 -- a mandatory requirement three monthsprior to the country's biggest enumeration exercise

CENSUS UNLIKELY ANYTIME SOON

yy

cmyk

cmyk

The risk ofOmicroninfection is

increasing in thecountry. This virus isthe biggest threat tothose who have notyet taken the vaccination. It is myhumble request to all those peopleto get their vaccination done at thenearest health centre immediately

OM BIRLA | LOK SABHA SPEAKER

of theday uote

Charteredaccountantshave an

onerousresponsibility inguiding the businesscommunity to followthe rules and regulations

M. VENKAIAH NAIDU | VICE PRESIDENT

There is afeeling thatvery little

happened in ISROduring 2021. Thatfeeling is primarilydue to less number oflaunches

K SIVAN | CHAIRMAN OF ISRO

Boy hit by strayCISF bullet, diesChennai: An 11-year-old boy,who was shot accidentally bya bullet from the shootingrange of the CISF in TamilNadu's Pudukottai district,succumbed to his injuries in ahospital Monday.Pugazhendhi, after being hitin the head by the stray bulletat a distance of 2km from theshooting range while he wasat his grandparents'residence on Thursday, wasrushed to the Pudukottaimedical college hospital andafter his condition turnedcritical, to the Thanjavurmedical college.

T’gana BJP chief heldKarimnagar (Telangana):Telangana BJP President andLok Sabha member BandiSanjay Kumar was Mondaysent to 14-day judicialremand following his arrestafter a foiled protest plan,with the party's nationalleadership dubbing thepolice action as "murder ofdemocracy." BJP President JP Nadda said Chief MinisterK Chandrashekhar Rao, alsothe chief of the rulingTelangana Rashtra Samiti(TRS) acted out of frustrationdue to the party's win in arecent bypoll (Huzurabad)and the popular support ithas been receiving in thesouthern state.

Six Naxals surrender Raipur: Six Naxals, two ofthem carrying a total bountyof Rs 2 lakh on their heads,surrendered before police inChhattisgarh's Dantewadadistrict Monday, an officersaid. These ultras, includinga woman, were active in theMalangir Area Committee ofMaoists, DantewadaSuperintendent of PoliceAbhishek Pallava said. Theyturned themselves in beforepolice officials at theAranpur police station asthey were impressed by the'Lon Varratu' rehabilitationdrive and disappointed withthe "hollow" Maoistideology, he said.

Two arrested forkilling mother-son Amethi: Two persons havebeen arrested for the murderof their friend and his motherin this district of UttarPradesh. The bodies of SushilaTripathi, 62, and her son Raju,27, were found inside theirhouse in Gauriganj areaDecember 23. The arrestedhave been identified as Ramanand Vinod. According to policereports, Raman was a friendof Raju and the latter hadslapped Raman's wife duringa heated exchange over atrivial issue.

SHORT TAKES

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Jan 3: The CongressMonday asked Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to come clean onMeghalaya Governor Satya PalMalik's allegation that he was “arrogant” on the farmers’ issueand demanded an unconditionallyapology if it was true.

Congress general secretaryRandeep Surjewala said the PrimeMinister should come forward andtell the truth to the nation, andsack the governor, if he is nottelling the truth.

The entire nation is shockedwith the text of conversation be-tween BJP-appointed GovernorMalik and the prime minister onthe farmers’ agitation. The Congressleader said the “anti-farmer” and“insensitive’ face of Prime Minister

Modi, his government and the BJPstands exposed.

“If Governor Malik is lying, heshould be sacked and an FIR shouldbe registered against him. But ifhe is not lying, Prime MinisterModi and Home Minister AmitShah must come forward and apol-ogise to India’s toiling farmersand farm labourers. Otherwise,they will never pardon them,” theCongress chief spokesperson toldreporters. "We demand that primeminister and home minister apolo-gise unconditionally to farmers andtell them by when will families offarmers who died (during the farmlaws protest) will be compensated,"he said. Targeting Modi, he said, "Mr.Prime Minister, is this the lan-guage of the person holding thehighest public office and elected byfarmers." Senior Congress leader

Mallikarjun Kharge asked Modiwhether Malik's remarks weretrue. Kharge also shared a video clipon Twitter of Malik from a func-tion at Haryana's Charkhi Dadri,where he is saying that the primeminister was "arrogant" when hewent to meet him on the issue offarmers and had a fight with himwithin five minutes.

Malik claimed in the video thatModi was not ready to accept thatfarmers who were protestingagainst three agriculture laws ofthe Centre last year died due tohim and instead, asked him tomeet Shah.

“Meghalaya's Governor Sri. SatyaPal Malik is on record saying PMwas 'arrogant' on the issue of farm-ers and Home Minister Amit Shahcalled the PM as ‘mad’.Constitutional authorities speakingabout each other with such con-tempt!” Kharge tweeted. “NarendraModi ji is this true?” the Leader ofOpposition in the Rajya Sabhaasked. Malik is also heard sayingin the video clip that when he metShah, the latter told him that “people have clouded his (Modi's)vision” and he should keep meet-ing the Prime Minister.

The Congress also sharedMalik's comments on its Twitterhandle and alleged that it wasdue to Modi's arrogance that somany farmers had died.

Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge shared a video clip on Twitter of Malik, where he is saying that the Prime Minister was ‘arrogant’ when he went

to meet him on the issue of farmers and had a fight with him within five minutes

Meghalaya Governor Satya Pal Malik

Cong targets Modi after Malik’s ‘arrogant’ remark

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi, Jan 3: Bhartiya KisanUnion (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait,who was one of the main faces ofthe farmers movement, said that theissue of Minimum Support Price(MSP) is pending for a long time,and it is time that the governmenttakes early decision on it.

In an exclusive chat with IANS,Tikait said that a meeting of theSamyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM)will be held January 15 in whichfurther strategy on MSP will bedecided. He said all political par-ties are hungry for votes andthey don't care about the wel-fare of farmers.

Questioning the overnment'sintention, he said that it has nottaken any steps to resolve theissue of MSP, nor has there beenany discussion with farm leaderson the issue. Also, cases regis-tered against the farmers havenot yet been withdrawn, whilethe farmers who died during theagitation have also not been com-

pensated. Stressing that farmers'agitation has been unprecedentedand is being discussed every-where, he said farmers will takeout tractor rallies in their own vil-lages and will hoist the flag on thetractor. “No decision has beentaken on taking out a tractor rallyin Delhi yet. Everything will be dis-cussed in the January 15 meet-ing. Farmers are ready to fightfor their rights,” Tikait said. He alsoruled out contesting in the up-coming UP polls. Asked whichparty farmers will support, Tikaitsaid this will also be discussed inthe meeting January 15. “Our aimis not to take on the government,but to convey our message to themin the interest of farmers.”

SKM to meet Jan 15

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Jan 3: Women MPs Monday sought greater participation in the scrutiny of abill that seeks to increase the legalage of marriage for females from18 to 21 years, expressing dismayover their inadequate representa-tion in the parliamentary panelexamining the proposed law.

Trinamool Congress leaderSushmita Dev, a Rajya Sabha member from West Bengal, is thelone woman member in theParliamentary Standing Committeeon Education, Women, Children,Youth and Sports that is scrutinisingthe Prohibition of Child Marriage(Amendment) Bill.

“This is disheartening to notethat a bill so pertinent to women andthe Indian society will be deliber-ated upon in a committee where

the representation is highly skewed,”Shiv Sena leader PriyankaChaturvedi, a member of the UpperHouse of Parliament fromMaharashtra, said in a letter toRajya Sabha Chairman M VenkaiahNaidu. Chaturvedi urged Naidu toensure more participation of womenin the discussion around the Bill.

“Therefore, I request you to en-sure that there should be morerepresentation and participation ofwomen in the discussion around thebill that concerns the issues facedby women in India,” she said inher letter to Naidu. Dev wrote a let-ter to Committee chairman VinaySahasrabuddhe requesting him toinvoke a rule that will allow allthe women parliamentarians totestify before the panel

“Under Rules 84(3) and 275 ofthe Rules of Procedure and Conductof Business in the Council of States

(Rajya Sabha), I wish to proposethat any woman member of bothLok Sabha and Rajya Sabha be em-powered to testify either in writingor in person before the Committeeon this issue,” she said in the letter.She pointed out that Rajya Sabha

has 29 women members, and the LokSabha has 81 women members.

“I am sure all my female col-leagues will have much to con-tribute to the discussion on thisissue.” “I request you to use thepowers of your office to open the

meetings of the Committee on thisissue to testimonials from any ofthe Honourable women members,and request you to allot time accordingly,” she said.

DMK leader and Lok Sabham e m b e r K a n i m o z h i a l s o expressed her displeasure overthe inadequate representation ofwomen in the panel.

“There are a total of 110 femaleMPs but the govt. Chooses to assigna bill that affects every youngwoman in the country to a panelthat has 30 men and only onewoman. Men will continue to decidethe rights of women. And womenwill be made mute spectators,” shewrote on Twitter. “The much-lauded change in the legal age ofmarriage for women glides throughthe rocks of underrepresentation,inadequate stakeholder consulta-tion and ignoring expert opinion,”

Rajya Sabha member from NCPFauzia Khan said “We can keepmaking committees to ensure gran-ularity in focus but if the demo-cratic values are compromised,it's never really welfare,” Khansaid. Chaturvedi said it was of ut-most importance that the inter-ests of all stakeholders were takeninto account and that the voices ofall, especially women, are heard andunderstood by the committee.

The Bill will apply to all thecommunities and once enacted,supersede the existing marriageand personal laws. The intro-duction of the bill in Parliamentwas opposed by some members,who had contended that the moveinfringed upon several personallaws in violation of the funda-mental rights and demanded thatit be referred to a parliamentarypanel for greater scrutiny.

Women MPs seek greater say in Parl panel scrutiny MARRIAGE AGE BILL

AGENCIES

New Delhi, Jan 3: The Centrehas allowed 50 per cent of its em-ployees below the level of UnderSecretary to work from home amidrising coronavirus cases, accord-ing to a Personnel Ministry orderissued Monday.

Persons with disabilities andpregnant women employees havebeen exempted from attending theoffices, it said.

Central government officers/staffwill have to follow staggered tim-ing to avoid overcrowding in the of-fices, the order said.

All the officers/staff residingin Covid containment zones havealso been exempted from comingto office till containment zones arede-notified, it said in the order is-sued to all central government de-partments.

"Physical attendance of gov-ernment servants below the levelof Under Secretary shall be re-stricted to 50 per cent of the actual

strength and the remaining 50per cent shall work from home,”the order said.

Govt allows WFH for50% of its staff belowunder secretary-level

Reports that expiredCovid shots being given false: CentreNew Delhi: Dismissing reportsalleging expired Covid vaccinesare being administered in Indiaas "false and misleading", theCentre on Monday clarified thatthe national regulator hadapproved the shelf life extension of Covishield andCovaxin in February andOctober, 2021 respectively."There have been some mediareports alleging that expiredvaccines are being administeredin India under its national Covid-19 vaccination programme. Thisis false and misleading andbased on incompleteinformation," the healthministry said in a statement.

AGENCIES

Srinagar, Jan 3: A foreign ter-rorist has been killed in an en-counter between militants andsecurity forces in Srinagar. Theslain terrorist was involved inthe killing of two policemen, of-ficials said Monday.

"Second terrorist killed inSrinagar encounter identified asHafiz alias Hamza of Pakistan. Hewas involved in the killing of twopolicemen in Bandipora after whichhe shifted to the Harwan area ofSrinagar," Jammu and Kashmirpolice tweeted quoting IGP, Kashmirzone, Vijay Kumar.

The police said that the terror-ist was killed in an encounter be-tween near the Shalimar area inSrinagar district Monday.

This was the second encounterin Srinagar in quick successionon Monday. Earlier, the police hadsaid that one dreaded terrorist ofproscribed terror outfit LeT SalimParray has been neutralised.ARMY FOILS INFILTRATIONBID: An infiltration attempt byterrorists was scuttled along theLine of Control (LoC) in Poonch dis-trict of Jammu and Kashmir inthe early hours of Monday, offi-cials said here. Troops guarding theHamirpur area of Bimber Galisector picked up movement of agroup of suspected terrorists whowere trying to infiltrate into thisside from across the border underthe cover of darkness, they said.

Terrorist killed inencounter identified

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Jan 3: A lawyer whohas been pursuing the politicallysensitive Rs 64 crore Bofors pay-off case has filed a complaintwith Delhi Police claiming thathe received life threats in ananonymous letter.

Advocate Ajay Agrawal claimedthat the letter, received December31, was sent by an ordinary post andthere was no address of the senderon it “The letter said that he

(Agrawal) and his family wouldface serious consequences if hedid not withdraw the case he ispursuing in the Supreme Court,”the lawyer said.

Agrawal December 25 had filedan application in the SupremeCourt seeking an early hearing ona petition challenging the DelhiHigh Court's 2005 verdict whichquashed all charges, includingagainst the Hinduja brothers, inthe case. He said the apex courthad November 2, 2018, dismissed

the CBI's plea against the highcourt verdict and had said theprobe agency can raise all groundsin the appeal filed by him againstthe same judgement.

Agrawal said he had filed the pe-tition in the top court against thehigh court verdict in 2005 itself andover three decades have gone bysince the matter came to light.

The high court in its 2005 judge-ment had quashed all charges againstthe three Hinduja brothers -- S PHinduja, G P Hinduja and P P

Hinduja -- and the Bofors company.Before the 2005 verdict, the highcourt had February 4, 2004, exon-erated former Prime Minister RajivGandhi in the case and directed theframing of charge of forgery undersection 465 of the Indian Penal Codeagainst Bofors company.

The Rs 1,437-crore deal betweenIndia and Swedish arms manu-facturer AB Bofors for the supplyof 400 units of 155 mm Howitzerguns for the Indian Army was en-tered into March 24, 1986.

Lawyer pursuing Bofors case claims threat to lifeTraffic congestion due to ‘chakka jam’ (road blockade) called by Delhi BJP as part of a protest against Kejriwal government’s new excise policy, in New Delhi

OUT OF GEAR

PTI PHOTO

“All political parties arehungry for votes andthey don't care about

the welfare of farmers,”Rakesh Tikait said in an

interview

Representational image

Rakesh Tikait

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EAST

TUESDAY | JANUARY 4 | 2022 | BHUBANESWAR

P8GOAPRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Dibrugarh (Assam), Jan 3: Thepro-talks faction of ULFA has ex-pressed doubts over the Centre’s‘sincerity’ in taking forward thedecade-long peace parleys withit, claiming that no dialogue hasbeen held in the last two yearsand there was no government in-terlocutor at present to take theprocess forward.

The faction alleged that therehas been ‘not much progress’ in thepeace talks with it since theNarendra Modi government cameto power, though the negotiationshad reached the final stages duringformer Prime Minister ManmohanSingh’s tenure.

It also maintained that the hard-liner ULFA(I) chief Paresh Baruais unlikely to come forward for ne-gotiations until the parleys with thepro-talks faction are completed.

The allegations come at a timewhen Assam Chief MinisterHimanta Biswa Sarma is tryingto bring Barua to the negotiatingtable for a settlement with all fac-tions of the group.

Talking to PTI, former self-styledgeneral secretary of ULFA and

pro-talks faction leader Anup Chetiasaid, “The last round of talks withthe government was held inJanuary 2020. The term of the gov-ernment interlocutor had endedin March that year.”

“After that, there has been nocontact with us. Still, we are wait-ing with hope that our issues willbe addressed and resolved by thegovernment,” he said.

Maintaining that the govern-ment is ‘more responsible’ for tak-ing forward the peace talks than the

militant group, Chetia added,“There are reasons for us to doubt

the sincerity of the government.”Another senior pro-talks ULFA

leader Mrinal Hazarika said,“Sincerity of the government seemsto be lacking. Discussions were al-most over and in the final stages dur-ing Manmohan Singh’s tenure. Butthere has not been much progressafter Narendra Modi’s governmentcame to power.”

He also maintained that the gov-ernment was indulging in ‘delay-ing tactics’ in resolving the ULFApro-talks faction’s demands, whichwere broadly based on ensuringeconomic, cultural, political and lin-guistic safeguards for the indige-nous people of Assam.

“The BJP supports 'Ek Bharat,Shrestha Bharat' (one India, great-est India) policy, through whichthey want to paint everyone withthe same brush. That's why they aretrying to delay granting our safe-guards,” Hazarika said.

On the government’s overturesto Paresh Barua to come for talks,Chetia said, “I have heard Barua tellmedia that he wants the govern-ment to complete the negotiationswith us first.”

“He also perhaps fears that hiscondition will be like ours and no

progress will be made towardsan actual resolution of all is-sues,” he added.

A top Assam Police officerprivy to the ULFA-governmenttalks, speaking to PTI on condi-tion of anonymity, accepted thatthere has been some ‘stagnancy’in the process.

“The interlocutor is yet to beappointed. Yes, there has been somestagnancy, but various factors con-tribute to it,” he said.

The officer added that change ingovernment and top positions alsolead to delay in such peace talks.

Chief Minister Himanta BiswaSarma had January 1 said thatbringing ULFA(I) to the negotiationtable is the ‘last hurdle’ in bring-ing peace to the state.

Sarma said he has learnt fromhis personal interactions with thepeople who are directly or indi-rectly in touch with ULFA(I) chiefBarua that the militant wants anegotiated settlement with the gov-ernment.

“The stumbling block is 'sover-eignty'. The ULFA(I) will want a dis-cussion over it, which we cannothold. We are working on breakingthe deadlock,” Sarma said.

Pro-talks ULFA doubtful over Centre’s ‘sincerity’ THE ULFA FACTION CLAIMS THAT NO DIALOGUE HAS BEEN HELD IN THE LAST TWO YEARS AND THERE WAS NO

GOVERNMENT INTERLOCUTOR AT PRESENT TO TAKE THE PROCESS FORWARD

Sincerity of thegovernment seems to

be lacking.Discussions were almostover and in the final stagesduring Manmohan Singh’stenure. But there has notbeen much progress afterNarendra Modi’sgovernment came to power

MRINAL HAZARIKA I PRO-TALKS ULFA LEADER

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Panaji, Jan 3: Massive mountainsof low grade iron ore, many ofthem several hundred feet high,have now emerged as the latestflash point between the establish-ment and activists in Goa.

Referred to colloquially as dumps-- on account of the fact that the un-economical, low grade ore isdumped alongside mining leases -- the mammoth mountains of whatwas once rejected iron ore are nowin the crosshairs of the BJP-ledcoalition government, which isunder pressure to make efforts torestart the beleaguered mining in-dustry in Goa ahead of the 2022Assembly polls.

Last Wednesday, Chief MinisterPramod Sawant said that his gov-ernment had formulated a policyfor regularisation of mining dumpson government and private land.

Sawant said that in fiscal 2013-14, the state government had col-lected nearly Rs 200 crore in finesfrom mining leaseholders who haddumped reject ore outside the min-ing lease areas. He added that validlessees who had paid the fineswould be allowed to harvest theore and export it after taking per-mission from the Indian Bureau ofMines, on paying royalty. Unclaimedore, the Chief Minister said, wouldbe auctioned by the government,adding that the dump mining pol-icy was in sync with the SupremeCourt directives on the subject.

Sawant added that fresh envi-ronment clearances were notmandatory for harvesting thedumps, a point which has enragedgreen activists in the state.

According to Claude Alvares,director of green NGO GoaFoundation, the Chief Minister’s

claim is an eyewash.“The policy for dump mining is

an eyewash to hoodwink the peo-ple of Goa before the elections andwill remain a non-starter since nosuch permits can be issued until theSupreme Court hears the issuesrelated to dump mining pending be-fore it,” Alvares said.

“In the absence of an approvalfrom the Supreme Court and inthe absence of any valid lease-holders in Goa, such permits toexport dump material are illegal un-less the dumps themselves are auc-tioned instead of being handedout in exchange for royalty,” headded, calling the state govern-ment policy ‘completely illegal’.

“The new policy is completely il-legal since the issue of the dispo-sition of the dumps is still pendingbefore the Supreme Court. TheAdvocate General of the state hadalso advised the Goa governmentagainst any removal or workingon dumps,” he said.

Sawant had said that the har-vesting of dumps for iron ore alonewould restart mining in the statefor five years. “This is why I havebeen saying there is scope to see theresumption of activity for the nextfive years. Today we have finalisedthe ore rates for auction dependingon various grades,” Sawant said.

Interestingly, while Sawant hasclaimed that there is around 10 to20 million metric tonnes of iron orein Goa’s mining dumps, the stategovernment’s Goa Mineral Policy2013, states that according to un-dertakings submitted to the au-thorities at the time, the total orestock in the dumps was in excessof 700 million tonnes.

The Opposition has howeverraised red flags over Sawant's newinitiative, which former DeputyChief Minister andMaharashtrawadi Gomantak Partyleader Sudin Dhavalikar has saidis more oriented towards elec-tions rather than restarting themining industry in Goa, wherefresh iron ore extraction has beenbanned since 2018.

“Chief Minister took a cabinetdecision to allow extraction of 10to 20 million tonnes of ore fromdumps. I challenge the govern-ment that these are not 10 to 20million tonnes, it is more than 100million tonnes. These dumps couldbe a source of a new scam,”Dhavalikar said.

Iron ore dumpsnew battlegroundin poll-bound Goa

The mammoth mountains of what was

once rejected iron oreare now in crosshairs of

BJP-led coalition government, which is

under pressure to makeefforts to restart the beleaguered mining

industry ahead of the 2022 Assembly polls

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Sela (Arunachal Pradesh), Jan3:The snow-covered epitaph put upby India’s Border RoadsOrganisation at the top of the 13,700feet-high Sela Pass reads: “Whenyou come to the end of the road, ohmy old friend there is always a hillto be climbed just ahead…”

The black granite marker, whichmust have been hauled from manyhundred kilometres away, was putup December 14, 1972, some 10years after the 1962 war in memoryof the men of the ‘Fikar (Worry)Not’ 14 Border Roads Task Forcewho died while constructing theroad from Sela to Tawang.

The pass was last Friday ‘re-named’ as Se La (not very differentfrom the Indian map spelling) bythe Chinese Ministry of CivilAffairs in accordance with a newlaw ‘on the protection and ex-ploitation of land border areas’which came into effect fromJanuary 1, 2022.

The ‘renaming exercise’ also in-volved eight villages and towns,four mountains and two rivers in‘Zagnan’ or South Tibet, the nameBeijing uses for Arunachal Pradesh,as part of a cartological war Chinahas been waging to lay claim on por-tions of Himalayan India.

“The Chinese name change doesnot change the fact that these placesare part of India. But it does un-derline their focus on psychologi-cal warfare and Sela Pass being ofstrategic importance as the gatewayto the Brahmaputra Valley. In away, it's like playing a sort of shadowchess, without moving any piece onthe board…in the 1962 border wartoo, they had targeted Sela pass,”Maj Gen (Retd) BiswajitChakravarty, a military analystwith long experience in the EasternCommand, told PTI.

In November 1962, the men ofthe Indian Army's 62 Brigade, partof the 4th Corps, were tasked to holdthe pass against Chinese invaders

who laid siege to it.Unfortunately for the defend-

ers, November 18, 1962, ChinesePeople's Liberation Army (PLA)troops discovered a yak trail usedby local herdsmen and simply by-passed fortress Sela to take thenext important towns – Dirangand Bomdila. The road to Tezpurand mainland India was wide open.

Two days later as deepeningsnows threatened to shut off theHimalayan passes connecting Tibet

with India, the Chinese announceda dramatic withdrawal.

Today, though the road to andfrom Sela remains heavily mili-tarised with troops camped at everyturn, the top of the pass has a hum-ble tea shop run by a lady in aTibetan 'Chuba' (wrap-around dress)with a 'pangden' or an apron.

Road workers and the occasionaltourist walk past the BRO's epi-taph to stop by for a 'chai' or coffeewhich many lace with liquor from

their hip flasks to beat the coldwhich can go up from minus 5 de-grees Celsius at midday to minus16 degrees Celsius late at night.

Lt Gen (Retd) UtpalBhattacharyya, a defence analystspecialising in the India-Chinaconflict, told PTI, “We have comea long way since then and our de-fences are far stronger. Overcomingeither the first line of defence atBumla-Thagla ridge or the secondstrategic line at Sela would be very,very difficult.”

India has bolstered forces in theregion and built border infra-structure over the decades. Thespeed of work quickened ever sincethe threat from China resurfaced

in 2013 when a PLA unit crossedover and camped at Raki Nala nearDaulat Beg Oldi (in Ladakh), whereIndia has an airfield.

Known as the Depsang incident,it became the first of a series of face-offs and clashes along the 3,488km-long border between the twocountries over the last eight years.

The 1.5-km all-weather tunnelbeing built by the BRO throughthe rockface of the mountain rangeat Sela is a key component of thoseinfrastructure plans.

Tsewang Dhondup, a formerlegislator of Tawang, said, “Workon the Sela tunnel started whenI was an MLA and should be com-pleted by June 2022. It will avoidthe road stretches which used toget snowed in.”

“The tunnel will render theroad from Tezpur to Tawang to anall-weather status reducing traveltime by almost 80 minutes. Italso, to an extent, precludes ob-servation of our movementsacross the Sela Pass,” Maj GenChakravarty said.

“Regardless of who rules China,their national security goals havebeen consistent. The Chinese alwaysplay their game with an eye ontheir past – regardless of whetherit was real or imagined,” Maj GenChakravarty added.

SELA: DECODING CHINA’S SHADOW CHESSThe pass was last Friday

‘renamed’ as Se La (notvery different from the

Indian map spelling) bythe Chinese Ministry of

Civil Affairs in accordancewith a new law ‘on the

protection and exploitationof land border areas’

which came into effectfrom January 1, 2022

The Chinesename change does notchange the fact that theseplaces are part of India... Ina way, it’s like playing asort of shadow chess,without moving any pieceon the board…in the 1962border war too, they hadtargeted Sela passMAJ GEN (RETD) BISWAJIT CHAKRAVARTY,MILITARY ANALYST

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Guwahati, Jan 3: Gauhati HighCourt Monday asked the Assamgovernment to furnish all case de-tails of encounters that have beentaking place since BJP returned topower in the state in May 2021.

Hearing a public interest litigation filed by advocate ArifMd Yeasin Jwadder, a High Courtbench comprising Chief JusticeSudhanshu Dhulia and SoumitraSaikia asked Assam AdvocateGeneral, Devajit Lon Saikia to submit all details related to the encounters.

The Court asked if there wasany FIR registered on each en-counter as mandated by law or ifany internal enquiry had been con-ducted about the encounters. Saikiadid not have any information andthe court asked him to submit thedetails in the next hearing.

The HC has fixed January 11 forthe next hearing of the case.

Noted rights advocate IndiraJaising argued in the case on behalfof the petitioner.

Jwadder claimed in the PIL thatmore than 80 ‘fake’ encounters be-tween Assam Police and the al-leged accused had taken place sinceMay this year when Chief MinisterHimanta Biswa Sarma took charge.It had resulted in 28 deaths andmore than 48 injuries. The people

killed or injured were not dreadedcriminals and the modus operandiof the police has been the same inall the encounters, the PIL claimedand sought enquiry by an inde-pendent agency like the CBI, SITor police teams from other statesunder the supervision of the Court.

It also sought a judicial enquiryinto the encounters by a sittingjudge of Gauhati High Court andmonetary compensation to the vic-tims' family after due verification.

The petition doubted the policestatement published in newspa-pers which said that the force hadto retaliate and kill or injure the ac-cused in self defence as they hadtried to snatch service revolvers of

the police personnel.The injured or dead persons

were not militants and were nottrained to use pistols and it cannotbe the case that all the accusedcould snatch a service revolverfrom a trained police officer. Thepistols of the police officers arenormally tied to a rope to the waistbelt of the officer.

Jwadder had filed a complainton the alleged fake encounterswith the National Human RightsCommission July 10. The AssamHuman Rights Commission hadtaken suo motu cognisance of thealleged fake encounters and askedfor report from the Assam gov-ernment.

AGENCIES

Panaji, Jan 3: As many as 66 of the over 2,000 people on board the Cordelia cruise ship, whichcame to Goa from Mumbai, havetested positive for COVID-19, stateHealth Minister Vishwajit Ranesaid Monday.

The cruise liner, where the NCBbusted a high-profile rave party inOctober last year, was carryinghordes of New Year revellers. Amedical team in PPE kits came onboard to conduct RT-PCR tests ofthe passengers and crew mem-bers, and the sample testingprocess continued till Monday af-ternoon. The testing of those onboard the vessel was necessitatedafter a crew member was found in-fected with the coronavirus

Sunday, an official said. Officials had instructed that no

one should disembark from theship till the result of the RT-PCRtests was declared. The liner is an-chored close to Mormugao PortTrust (MPT) cruise terminal. Inthe afternoon, Rane tweeted, “Outof 2000 samples tested from Cordeliacruise ship, 66 passengers tested pos-itive for #COVID19. Respective col-lectors and MPT staff have been in-formed. The authorities will decidewhether to allow disembarking ofpassengers from the ship.”

The ship, operated by a privatefirm, had arrived at MormugaoPort Trust in Goa Sunday. A day ago,Goa had reported 388 new COVID-19 cases, taking the infection tallyto 1,81,570, while one death raisedthe toll to 3,523, as per official data.

AGENCIES

Panaji, Jan 3: The Shiv Senawill try to replicate Maharashtra’s‘successful’ Maha Vikas Aghadialliance formula for the upcom-ing Goa polls, Shiv Sena RajyaSabha MP Sanjay Raut saidMonday.

Raut, who arrived in Goa for afour-day visit to the poll-boundstate, also said that he would bespeaking to the Congress andNationalist Congress Party leadersin the state Tuesday to discuss theformation of the alliance.

“Definitely Shiv Sena will fightsome seats in Goa and we aretrying to make an alliance.Tomorrow we will be speaking toCongress leaders, NCP leadersand we will try to make a new al-liance,” Raut told reporters afterhis arrival at Goa’s Dabolim in-ternational airport.

“It is a successful formula inMaharashtra, we will use it inGoa,” Raut also said, adding thatthe seat sharing modules wouldbe discussed in his meetings withstate Congress and NCP leadersbeginning Tuesday.

66 on board cruise ship test Covid +ve

HC seeks details of police encounters from Assam govt

According to the PIL, more than 80 ‘fake’ encounters between Assam Police and thealleged accused had taken place since May this year when CM Himanta Biswa Sarma

took charge, resulting in 28 deaths and over 48 injuries

Shiv Sena to replicate MVA formula in Goa

P9

nationalTUESDAY | JANUARY 4 | 2022 | BHUBANESWAR

The BJP has donenothing to improvegeneration andtransmission of power inthe state (Uttar Pradesh)AKHILESH YADAV | SP CHIEF

Commuters were seen travelling in West Bengal’scrowded local trains Monday, thumbing theirnoses to the restrictions imposed by the stategovernment a day ago to curb the spread ofCovid. Metro Railway coaches also ran almostjam-packed in the peak hours, with peoplebarely maintaining distance from one another

MOCKERY OF COVID NORMS

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We aremonitoringboth Covid and

Omicron situation, itis spreading at a veryfast pace in thecountry, in the stateand in neighbouring states, so we need to have a discussion with experts. In this regard I willhave a discussion with expertstomorrow evening

BASAVARAJ BOMMAI |K’TAKA CHIEF MINISTER

of theday uote

This is not aromanticismformula. We

are doing itconsideringeducation as themost fundamentalrequirement. The credit for the education revolution goesmostly to the teachers

MANISH SISODIA |DELHI DEPUTY CHIEF MINISTER

A lockdown|will be the lastoption.

As of now, efforts are being made toincrease testing atairports, railwaystations and bus stands as well asadherence to quarantine andisolation practices. If the cases continue to rise even aftersuch efforts, then in the last stagewe will head for a lockdown

BHUPESH BAGHEL | CHHATTISGARH CM

Man files fake theftcomplaint; arrestedNew Delhi: A debt-ridden manwas arrested in the nationalcapital for lodging a fake cartheft complaint to claiminsurance money, an official said here Monday.The accused, identified asRajesh, a resident of village Kheda Dabar, Delhi, was arrested under sections 406(Punishment for criminalbreach of trust) and 182(false information, withintent to cause public servantto use his lawful power to theinjury of another person) ofthe Indian Penal Code.

Farmers lock straycattle in school Aurraiya (Uttar Pradesh): Agroup of farmers in theTurkipur village in Aurraiyadistrict staged a protestagainst the menace of straycattle after driving them intoa government school andlocking them there. Theincident took place Sundayand farmers alleged thattheir crops were damaged bystray cattle.

PM Modi to visit Punjab Jan 5New Delhi: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi will visitPunjab January 5 and lay the foundation stone ofmultiple developmentprojects worth more than `42,750 crore. In astatement Monday, the PrimeMinister's Office (PMO) said:“Prime Minister Modi will visit Ferozepur, PunjabJanuary 5 and will lay thefoundation stone of multipledevelopment projects worthmore than `42,750 crore.”

Dalit familyattackedBelagavi (K’taka): A Dalitfamily was allegedlyattacked By a group ofpeople accusing them ofconverting neighbours toChristianity, police saidMonday. According toofficials, seven peopleallegedly involved in theattack, have been bookedunder SC/ST (Prevention ofatrocities) Act and varioussections of the Indian PenalCode (IPC). The incidentreportedly took placeDecember 29 at Tukkanattivillage near the Talukheadquarters town of Gokakin the district.

SHORT TAKES

Existing vax not effective, boosters may help: ExpertsAGENCIES

New Delhi, Jan 3: Existing vac-cines are not as effective againstOmicron as they were against theoriginal virus, and thus boostersmay help enhance immunity, healthexperts said here.

Data from various countries likeSouth Africa and the UK has shownthat it causes only mild illness.But as Omicron can surge infectioncases, it can overwhelm an alreadyburdened medical system.

"Vaccines bypass natural im-munity. The efficacy of existingvaccines is not as effective as itwas against the virus that originatedfrom Wuhan," Dr Sanjay KumarRai, Professor, Department ofCommunity Medicine, AIIMS, NewDelhi, said at a weekly health showby the New-Delhi-based HEALFoundation on Sunday.

"However, there might not beany severity if an Omicron infec-tion happens," he said.

The Indian Council of Medical

Research also said recently thatall Covid vaccines do not preventinfection and are primarily dis-ease-modifying. "All Covid vac-cines, whether they are from India,Israel, the US, Europe, the UK orChina, are primarily disease-mod-ifying. They do not prevent infec-tion. The precautionary dose isprimarily to mitigate the severityof infection, hospitalisation anddeath," said ICMR Director GeneralDr Balram Bhargava, at a recentpress conference. At the same time,natural infection from Covid hascan provide "long-term protectionagainst the virus", Rai said. Thishas been consistent with severalstudies from across countries whichshowed that the durability of im-munity post the Covid infectionpersists for about 9 months.

Boosters may also help as they"enhance the quality of immunity,"said Dr Nimesh Gupta, Chief,Vaccine Immunology Laboratory,National Institute of Immunology,under the Centre's Department of

Biotechnology at the health show."Persons vulnerable might fight

Omicron with the current vac-cines, but the elderly with com-promised immunity won't be able

to combat the infection," he added.With Omicron threatening vac-

cine efficacy, many countriespressed for booster doses. In India,Prime Minister Narendra Modi,

last week, announced that health-care/frontline workers, as well aselderly population (aged more than

60) with comorbidities, will get a pre-cautionary dose from January 10onwards next year.

OMICRON DRIVING COVID CASES, THIRD WAVE IN INDIA: EXPERTSNew Delhi: The sudden spike in the number of Covid cases in India isdriven by an increased spread of Omicron variant in the country,which may have already started the third wave, experts saidMonday. Most states and large cities in India have observed a sharpincrease in Covid cases, which was not noticed even during festivalseasons. On December 31, India recorded 16,764 new Covid cases,up 27 per cent from the previous day. The average number of casesincreased in the last week of December after dropping steadilysince mid-May. On December 29, 13,187 cases were reported,representing a 76.6 per cent rise over the previous week'sinfections. "As per the emerging scientific evidence, experts believethat the Omicron variant, first detected in Botswana, is the mainreason for the recent rise in infections in India," Dr Dipu T.S.,Associate Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, AmritaHospital, Kochi, told IANS. "According to statistics from GlobalInitiative on sharing all Influenza Data (GISAID) - an open-accessresource for viral genomic data - Omicron has surpassed all othervariants as the most common in India. The Omicron variant wasdiscovered in almost 60 per cent of the samples sequenced in Indiaduring the last few days of December," he added.

AGENCIES

New Delhi, Jan 3: Over 41 lakhchildren in the age group of 15 to18 years received Covid vaccinedoses till 8 pm on the first day ofthe inoculation drive for this groupof beneficiaries.

The cumulative Covid vaccinedoses administered in the coun-try crossed 146.61 crore with morethan 98 lakh shots being adminis-tered Monday till 10.15 pm.

According to the Health Ministry,the daily vaccination tally is ex-pected to increase with the com-pilation of the final reports for theday by late in the night.

"Well done Young India! Over40 lakh between 15-18 age groupreceived their first dose of Covid-19 vaccine on the first day of vac-cination drive for children, till 8 pm.This is another feather in the capof India's vaccination drive," UnionHealth Minister MansukhMandaviya tweeted.

Over 53 lakh youngsters haveregistered on the CoWIN portaltill 10.15 pm after the process beganJanuary 1 for this category.

During the day, Mandaviya vis-ited the Covid vaccination site forchildren at the Ram Manohar LohiaHospital and interacted with someof the beneficiaries. "Visited RMLHospital and took stock of the vac-cination campaign for children in

the age group of 15-18 years.Interacted with the children andasked them to motivate their friendsfor the vaccine," he said in a tweet.

Co-WIN Chief and CEO ofNational Health Authority Dr R SSharma said, "We have received agood response. Children are com-ing forward to get vaccinated andthe numbers today itself are verysignificant."

Sharma said necessary provi-sions and changes have been madeon the digital platform to includethe new category of beneficiaries.

The health ministry in a tweetsaid, "Only Covaxin approved forless than 18 yrs. Eighteen plus (ieborn in 2004 or before) are eligiblefor al l vaccines, includingCovishield. For 15-17 years (born in2005, 2006, 2007) eligible only forCovaxin. Validations in place in

Co-WIN." The vaccine option for thisage group is only Covaxin, ac-cording to guidelines issued by theUnion Health Ministry December27. The Drugs Controller Generalof India granted emergency useauthorisation to indigenously-de-

veloped Bharat Biotech's Covaxinfor children above 12 years with cer-tain conditions on December 24.

The registration for this cate-gory of beneficiaries openedSaturday. According to the guide-lines, they can self-register onlinethrough an existing account onCoWIN or can also register by cre-ating a new account through aunique mobile number as is thecase with all other categories ofbeneficiaries.They can also get themselves reg-

istered onsite. The countrywidevaccination drive was rolled outJanuary 16 last year with health-care workers getting inoculated inthe first phase. The vaccination offrontline workers started fromFebruary 2.

84% of Delhi’s Covid casesof Omicron variant: JainNew Delhi: As many as 84 per cent cases of Covid seen in the last twodays of December 2021 are of the Omicron variant, Delhi Health MinisterSatyendra Jain said Monday, but stressed that there was no need to panic.Of total genome sequencing reports from Delhi's three labs - ILBS, LNJPand NCDC, 84 per cent have reported the Omicron variant, he said at apress conference. He said that Delhi had reported 3,194 Covid casesSunday and the Covid positivity rate has gone to 4.59 per cent. “Today,around 4,000 Covid cases are expected by the evening, taking thepositivity rate rising to 6.5 per cent,” he said, adding that according to theexperts, Delhi can see a Covid peak within the week.

Vaccination for 15 to 18 age group starts

AGENCIES

New Delhi, Jan 3: The SupremeCourt Monday sought responsefrom the Centre and the Manipurgovernment on a plea question-ing validity of Inner Line Permit(ILP), which restricts entry of non-indigenous people into the state.

The petition, filed by organi-sation Amra Bangalee, arguedthat system was draconian, andfundamentally opposes policiesof social integration, develop-ment, and technological ad-vancement in the area outside theInner Line. It further argued thatILP hampers tourism within thestate, which is a major source ofrevenue generation for these areas.After hearing the plea, a bench ofJustices Abdul Nazeer and KrishnaMurari sought a response fromthe Union and Manipur govern-ment. The petition said: “The ef-fect of ILP system in the state ofManipur is that no person who isnot a resident of the said state ispermitted to enter the state or en-gage in business there withoutapplying for a special permit

known as Inner Line Permit.”It contended that the system vi-

olated fundamental rights of cit-izens guaranteed under theConstitution, while granting un-qualified power to the state gov-ernment to restrict the entry andexit of non-indigenous persons.

The plea contended that per-mit system was introduced by wayof the Adaptation of Laws(Amendment) Order, 2019 (2019order) which extends 140-year-old"colonial legislation" BengalEastern Frontier Regulations, 1873(BEFR), which was enacted by theBritish to create monopoly over thetea plantations in Assam.

Manipur is the fourth state afterArunachal Pradesh, Nagalandand Mizoram where the ILP regimeis applicable. To visit ILP-regimestates, outsiders, including peo-ple from other states of the coun-try, need permission. The plea fur-ther added that by virtue of the 2019order, the ILP system has effec-tively been made applicable toArunachal Pradesh, Manipur,Mizoram, and districts ofNagaland, which are notified fromtime to time.

Delhi Police asksTwitter to removeoffensive contentPRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Jan 3:The Delhi Policehas sought details from the GitHubplatform about the developer ofthe controversial ‘Bulli Bai’ mo-bile application and has writtento Twitter for information about theaccount handler who first postedabout the app, officials said Monday.

The city police also askedTwitter to block and remove onthe microblogging platform any“offensive content” shared fromthe ‘Bulli Bai’ app’, which had putup pictures of hundreds of Muslimwomen including prominent per-sonalities for “auction”, they said.

After widespread outrage anddemands for action against thosebehind the app, IT ministerAshwini Vaishnaw had said onSunday that the government isworking with police in Delhi andMumbai, where cases have been reg-istered in the matter.

He also said that GitHub hasblocked the user who had up-loaded the app and that theComputer Emergency ResponseTeam (CERT), the country's nodalagency on cyber security, and po-lice are coordinating further ac-tion in the matter.

The National Commission forWomen had also written to theDelhi Police to expedite its actionin the case related to the app.

Earlier in July, a case was reg-istered by the Cyber Cell of theDelhi Police after it received asimilar complaint about anunidentified group uploadingphotos of Muslim women on'Sulli Deals' mobile application.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Jan 3: Days after as-sessing the Covid-19 situation inthe five poll-bound states, theElection Commission (EC) hasasked them to step up the inocula-tion drive against the viral diseaseand ensure that the personnel to bedeployed on election duty are “dou-ble vaccinated”.

In a recent letter to the chief sec-retaries of Uttar Pradesh,Uttarakhand, Goa, Manipur andPunjab, the EC has also remindedthe five states that polling person-nel come under the category of

frontline workers and are eligiblefor the “precaution dose” of theCovid vaccines, sources said.

The commission has said thepolling personnel to be deployedin these states should be fullyvaccinated and those eligible forthe second dose of the vaccines

should be administered the jabson a priority basis, the sourcessaid citing the letter.

While the tenure of the UttarPradesh legislative assembly ends inMay, the terms of the legislative as-semblies of Goa, Manipur and Punjabend on different dates in March.

BULLI BAI APP ROW

Nihang Sikh warriors display their martial art skills during a religious procession on the occasion of the 355thbirth anniversary (Pakash Parv) of Guru Gobind Singh in Jammu, Monday PTI PHOTO

FEARLESS ACT

EC asks poll-bound states to rev up vaccinationThe EC is likely toannounce the polldates for the fivestates in the firsthalf of this month

Plea against ILP, top courtnotice to Centre, Manipur

Manipur is the fourth state after Arunachal

Pradesh, Nagaland andMizoram where the

ILP regime is applicable. To visit ILP-regime

states, outsiders, including people from

other states of the country, need permission

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Jan 3: The tenure ofcontroversial NCB Mumbai zonaldirector Sameer Wankhede with thefederal anti-narcotics agency hasended and his services have beenput at the disposal of his parent or-ganisation DRI, officials said.

The charge of the NCB Mumbaizonal unit will be handled in an ad-ditional capacity by its Indore zonaldirector Brijendra Chowdhary, a2009-batch IRS officer of theCustoms and Indirect Taxes cadre.

Wankhede, an Indian RevenueService (IRS) officer of the 2008batch, was deputed to the NarcoticsControl Bureau (NCB) Mumbaizone in August, 2020 "on loan" fromthe Directorate of RevenueIntelligence (DRI) in the wake of thedrugs probe being conducted bythe agency linked to the death of 34-year-old actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

The 42-year-old officer servedas the head or the zonal director ofthe NCB Mumbai unit beginningAugust 31, 2020 with an initialtenure of one year. He was given afour months extension in the post

beyond August, 2021. Wankhede'stenure with the NCB finally endedDecember 31, 2021 and as there hasbeen no government order for hisextension, he has been sent back tohis parent organisation DRI, offi-cials said. Officials said the NCB didnot seek the officer's extension.

Wankhede has been in the lime-light following the high-profileOctober, 2021 raids by the NCB ona Mumbai cruise after which theagency arrested Aryan Khan, theson of actor Shah Rukh Khan, andaround 19 others and claimed tohave seized some narcotics too.

Soon after this action,Maharashtra minister and NCPleader Nawab Malik levelled multiplecharges of alleged misconduct andcorruption against the officer.

Wankhede’s tenurewith Mumbai NCBends; sent back to DRI

IANS

P10TUESDAY | JANUARY 4 | 2022 | BHUBANESWAR

Pakistan isready to host

the 19th SAARC Summitand India can join itvirtually if the leadershipin New Delhi is notwilling to visit IslamabadSHAH MAHMOOD QURESHI | PAKISTAN FOREIGN MINISTER

Brazilian President JairBolsonaro was taken to aSao Paulo hospitalMonday with a suspectedintestinal obstruction, thecountry’s media reported

BOLSONARO HOSPITALISED

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internationalSingapore mustbe prepared foran imminent

wave of Omicroninfections that havecrept up recently andcurrently make uparound 17 per cent of the localcoronavirus cases

ONG YE KUNG | SINGAPORE HEALTH MINISTER

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I will not stopefforts toinstitutionalise

sustainable peace

MOON JAE-IN |SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT

Rising casenumbers is partof the Omicron

period, it's part of thenew phase of thepandemic we're in.That doesn't mean tosay it can't put pressure on thehospital system. It can and that'swhy we're working very closely withthe (state) premiers and chiefministers to make sure thoseresources are there

SCOTT MORRISON | AUSTRALIAN PM

2 armed dronesshot down Baghdad: Two armed droneswere shot down at theBaghdad airport on Monday, aUS-led coalition official said,an attack that coincides withthe anniversary of the 2020 USkilling of a top Iranian general.There were no reports ofdamage or injuries from theincident, which was alsoconfirmed by an Iraqi securityofficial. The official with theUS-led international coalitionfighting the Islamic Stategroup in Iraq said that the C-RAM defense system at theBaghdad Diplomatic SupportCenter engaged two fixedwing so-called “suicidedrones." The C-RAM systemprotects Americaninstallations in Iraq.

21 abducted children rescued Abuja: At least 21schoolchildren in Nigeria havebeen rescued hours after theywere abducted by armedgroups in the West Africancountry's troublednorthwestern region, policesaid. The schoolchildren wereabducted on Friday while theywere travelling with theirteacher from the Bakura areato an Islamic school inneighboring Katsina state,police spokesman MohammedShehu said in a statementover the weekend. Securityforces responded and rescuedthe 21 students and are“currently working to rescuethe remaining victims andapprehend the perpetrators,”Shehu said.

10 terrorists heldLahore: Ten terroristsbelonging to the bannedTehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan(TTP), Al-Qaeda and IslamicState, have been arrestedfrom various parts ofPakistan's Punjab province,police said Monday. In astatement, the CounterTerrorism Department (CTD)said that a huge cache ofweapons to be used forterrorism in Punjab has alsobeen recovered from them.

Two missing Louisville: Search teamslooked for two missing peoplein the smoldering debris froma massive Colorado wildfirewhile people who escaped theflames sorted through thecharred remnants of theirhomes to see what was left.Investigators were still tryingto determine what causedflames to tear through at least9.4 square miles (24 squarekilometers), leaving nearly1,000 houses and otherbuildings destroyed insuburbs between Denver andBoulder. The inferno broke outThursday, unusually late in theyear following an extremelydry fall and amid a winternearly devoid of snow.

SHORT TAKES

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Dubai, Jan 3: Yemen's Houthirebels seized an Emirati-flaggedship in the Red Sea, officials saidMonday, the latest sign of Mideasttensions as hackers targeted amajor Israeli newspaper's websiteto mark America's 2020 killing ofa top Iranian general.

The seizure of the Rwabee marksthe latest assault in the Red Sea, acrucial route for internationaltrade and energy shipments. TheIranian-backed Houthis acknowl-edged the incident off the coast ofHodeida, a long-contested prize ofthe grinding war in Yemen.

No group immediately claimedresponsibility for the hacking of theJerusalem Post. The hackers re-placed the Post's homepage with animage depicting a missile comingdown from a fist bearing a ringlong associated with QassemSoleimani, the Iranian generalkilled by a US drone strike in Iraqtwo years ago.

First word of the Rwabee'sseizure came from the British mil-itary's United Kingdom MaritimeTrade Operations, which only saidan attack targeted an unnamedvessel around midnight. The co-ordinates it offered correspondedto the Emirati-flagged landing craftRwabee, which hadn't given its lo-cation via satellite-tracking data forhours, according to the websiteMarineTraffic.Com.

A statement from the Saudi-led

coalition, carried by state media inthe kingdom, acknowledged theattack hours later, saying theHouthis had committed an act of“armed piracy” involving the ves-sel. The coalition asserted the shipcarried medical equipment from adismantled Saudi field hospital inthe distant island of Socotra, with-out offering evidence.

"The Houthi militia must im-mediately release the ship, other-wise the coalition forces shall takeall necessary measures and pro-cedures to deal with this violation,including the use of force,” Brig.Gen. Turki al-Malki said in a state-ment.

A Houthi military spokesman,Yahia Sarei, announced that rebelforces had seized what he describedas an Emirati “military cargo ship”

carrying equipment into Yemen'sterritorial waters “without any li-cense” to engage in “hostile acts”against Yemen's stability. He saidthe rebels would offer more detailson the seizure later.

An employee at the vessel's own-ers, Abu Dhabi-based Liwa MarineServices, told The Associated Pressthat the Rwabee appeared to havebeen the target but said they hadno other information and declinedto comment further. The employeedid not give her name and hung up.

A similar incident happenedin 2016 involving the Emirati ves-sel SWIFT-1, which had been sail-ing back and forth in the Red Seabetween an Emirati troop basein Eritrea and Yemen. The vesselcame under attack by Houthiforces in 2016.

NO GROUP IMMEDIATELY CLAIMED RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEHACKING OF THE JERUSALEM POST

Yemen rebels seize UAE ship;hackers hit Israeli newspaper

REUTERS

Nairobi, Jan 3: Richard Leakey, aKenyan conservationist and pale-oanthropologist who spearheadedcampaigns against the ivory tradeto save the dwindling African ele-phant population, has died, theKenyan presidency said Sunday.He was 77.

For years Leakey served in var-ious roles in the government in-cluding as director of the state-run National Museums of Kenyaand twice as board chairman atthe Kenya Wildlife Service.President Uhuru Kenyatta saidLeakey had "served our countrywith distinction".

"Besides his distinguished ca-reer in the public service, Dr. Leakeyis celebrated for his prominent rolein Kenya's vibrant civil societywhere he founded and successfullyran a number of institutions."

Leakey was the son of palaeon-tologists Louis and Mary Leakey,whose work helped demonstratethat human evolution began inAfrica. He was celebrated for hiswork to save wildlife from poach-ers and for leading campaignsagainst the ivory trade.

Paula Kahumbu, a wildlife con-servationist who headsWildlifeDirect, said she had beenmentored by Leakey, as had manyother young Kenyans.

Kenyan conservationistRichard Leakey dies

A view of the Jerusalem Post website after it was hacked is shown in thisscreen grab obtained January 3, 2022 (JERUSALEM POST VIA REUTERS)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Hong Kong, Jan 3: Hong Kongwelcomed a new batch of pro-Beijing lawmakers in its LegislativeCouncil Monday who were cho-sen in an election without oppo-sition candidates, as the editorsof one of the city's last remain-ing pro-democracy news outletsannounced its closure.

They are the latest in a seriesof events in the past year in whichthe local government has beenreshaping Hong Kong, withBeijing's backing, in an effort tostamp out dissent in a city oncerenowned for its freedoms of ex-pression.

The founders of news outletCitizen News said Monday that al-though they have not been con-tacted by the Hong Kong nationalsecurity police, the deterioratingmedia freedoms in the financialhub make it unclear whethertheir reporting violates the law.They said the news site will stoppublishing on Tuesday.

“We all love this place, deeply.

Regrettably, what was ahead ofus is not just pouring rains orblowing winds, but hurricanesand tsunamis,” Citizen News saidin a statement on Sunday, when itoriginally announced the closure.Citizen News is the third newsoutlet to close in recent months,following pro-democracy news-paper Apple Daily and online siteStand News.

The outlet was founded in 2017by a group of veteran journal-ists. While small, it focused onpolitical news and analysis pieces,as well as investigations.

The space for doing those typesof stories has shrunk since China'scentral legislature imposed asweeping National Security Lawin Hong Kong in 2019 followingmassive anti-government protests.As authorities stepped up arrestsof political activists, civil rightsgroups and unions disbanded,and some activists fled.

Independent media have beenone of the more prominent ca-s u a l t i e s o f t h e o n g o i n g crackdown.

Hong Kong welcomespro-Beijing lawmakers

Lawmakers have their group photos taken after their oath-taking ceremonyof the legislative council in Hong Kong, Monday AP/PTI PHOTO

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Jan 3: A new satel-lite image showing China build-ing a bridge on its side of thePangong lake in eastern Ladakhemerged Monday amid the pro-

longed Sino-India military stand-off in the border area.

People familiar with the devel-opment said the satellite imageryis of an area on the Chinese sideof the Line of Actual Control (LAC)near the Galwan valley region.The armies of India and Chinahad created a buffer zone in Galwanvalley following their deadly clasheson June 15, 2020.

January 1, Indian and Chinesetroops exchanged sweets and greet-ings at 10 border posts along the LACincluding in eastern Ladakh tomark the New Year. The sources saidthe bridge is at a distance of around40 km from the alignment of theLAC in the region and that India hasalso been developing infrastruc-ture in the region at a rapid pace.

Geo-intelligence expert DamienSymon posted a satellite image onTwitter suggesting that the new

bridge was being constructed byChina to link the North and Southbanks of Pangong lake. Military ex-perts said the aim of constructingthe bridge in the Khurnak areacould be to ensure that the ChinesePeople’s Liberation Army(PLA) is

able to quickly mobilise its troopsin the region.

The Indian military sources saidIndia has been developing infra-structure in all key areas alongthe LAC and that India is aware ofChinese activities in the region.

Last week, Defence MinisterRajnath Singh inaugurated theChisumle-Demchok road at UmlingLa Pass at over 19,000 feet in Ladakhthat is considered as a key stretchfor military purpose.

China has been focusing onstrengthening its military infra-structure after Indian troops tookcontrol of several strategic peakson the southern bank of Pangonglake in August 2020 after the ChinesePLA attempted to intimidate themin the area.

The eastern Ladakh borderstandoff between the armies ofIndia and China erupted on May 5,2020, following a violent clash in thePangong lake area. Both sides grad-ually enhanced their deploymentby rushing in tens of thousands ofsoldiers as well as heavy weaponry.

As a result of a series of militaryand diplomatic talks, the two sides

completed the disengagementprocess last year in the north andsouth banks of the Pangong lakeand in the Gogra area. Each sidecurrently has around 50,000 to60,000 troops along the LAC in thesensitive sector.

The 13th round of Cor psCommander-level military talksin October ended in a stalematewith the Indian Army saying thatthe “constructive suggestions”made by it were not agreeable to theChinese side. The defence min-istry last Friday said it held severalrounds of military talks with theChinese side to deescalate the sit-uation in eastern Ladakh withoutcompromising on its stand of “com-plete disengagement and imme-diate restoration of status quoante”. India has been insisting onreturning to the status quo thatexisted before the face-off erupted.

JANUARY 1, INDIANAND CHINESE

TROOPS EXCHANGEDSWEETS AND

GREETINGS AT 10BORDER POSTS

ALONG THE LACINCLUDING IN

EASTERN LADAKH TOMARK THE NEW YEAR

China building bridge on its side of Pangong lake in Ladakh: Sources

Visitors pray for good luck during hatsumode, or their first visit of the year to a shrine or temple, at Kawasaki DaishiBuddhist temple in Kawasaki, near Tokyo AP/PTI PHOTO

PRAYERS FOR THE NEW YEAR

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Seoul, Jan 3:The man who crossedthe eastern inter-Korean borderinto North Korea over the weekendwas found to be a North Korean de-fector, an official at South Korea'sDefence Ministry said Monday.

Citing surveillance footage, theofficial said the man is the 30-some-thing defector who had also usedan eastern front-line route to reachthe South in November 2020 butstressed no evidence of espionagehas been found, reports YonhapNews Agency.

The incident on January 1brought the South Korean Army's22nd Division in charge of the east-ern front-line area under renewedcriticism for the latest borderbreach. "In the footage, the manwas recognized to be the same asthe defector so we can call him thesame person," the official told re-

porters on condition of anonymity.The man crossed the barbed

wire fence to enter the DemilitarizedZone separating the two Koreasand then raced across the MilitaryDemarcation Line despite effortsto stop him.

After the defection to the South,the man is known to have workedas a cleaner here, an indicationthat he might have had economicdifficulties here.

Other details about him werenot immediately known.

The defector had been out of con-tact since December 30, while a sur-veillance camera installed in theCivilian Control Line near the landborder captured him hours beforehis border crossing, the official said.

Sunday, South Korea's militarysent a message to the North twiceregarding the border crossingthrough a western cross-bordercommunication line.

The man crossed thebarbed wire fence toenter theDemilitarized Zoneseparating the twoKoreas and thenraced across theMilitary DemarcationLine despite effortsto stop him

‘Border crosser isN Korean defector’

The incident on January 1 brought the South Korean Army's 22nd Division in chargeof the eastern front-line area under renewed criticism for the latest border breach

AP PHOTO

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Cairo, Jan 3: Sudan's PrimeMinister Abdalla Hamdok an-nounced his resignation Sundayamid a political deadlock andwidespread pro-democracyprotests following a military coupthat derailed the country's frag-ile transition to democratic rule.

Hamdok, a former UN officialseen as the civilian face of Sudan'stransitional government, hadbeen reinstated as prime minis-ter in November as part of an

agreement with the military fol-lowing the October coup. In thattime he had failed to name aCabinet and his resignationthrows Sudan into political un-certainty amid uphill securityand economic challenges.

In a televised national addressSunday, Hamdok called for a dia-logue to agree on a “national char-ter” and to “draw a roadmap” tocomplete the transition to democ-racy in accordance with the 2019constitutional document gov-erning the transitional period.

Sudan PM resigns amid political deadlock

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Cape Town, Jan 3: A man hasbeen arrested after a large fire se-verely damaged the Houses ofParliament in the South African cityof Cape Town.

A police spokesperson said theman was facing charges of arson,housebreaking and theft, and wouldappear in court on Tuesday, theBBC reported. Firefighters havebeen working for hours to extin-guish the blaze.

President Cyril Ramaphosacalled it a "terrible and devastatingevent", as he vowed parliament'swork would continue. Footage fromthe scene on Sunday showed aplume of black smoke filling the sky,with huge flames coming out fromthe roof of the building.

Officials said the fire started onthe third floor offices and quicklyspread to the National Assembly(the parliament's lower house)chamber. The parliament is notcurrently in session because ofthe holidays, and no injuries werereported.

Brig adier NomthandazoMbambo said the suspect is also ex-pected to be charged under theNational Key Points Act, whichprotects sites of strategic impor-tance. Further details were not im-mediately available.

In a statement on Sunday, SouthAfrica's parliament confirmedthat there had been "significantdamage" to the New AssemblyWing of the building.

Man held over fire atS Africa Parliament

P11

businessTUESDAY | JANUARY 4 | 2022 | BHUBANESWAR

The consistently strongexport performance is the

outcome of Bajaj Auto’s leadershipposition in several global markets,many years of commitment tobuilding the international business,and outstanding work by the teamRAKESH SHARMA | EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, BAJAJ AUTO LTD

India has sought an emergency meeting of the GeneralCouncil of the World Trade Organization (WTO) thismonth in Geneva to deliberate upon the world tradebody's proposed response package, including patentwaiver proposal, to deal with the pandemic amid risingcoronavirus infections globally, an official said

INDIA SEEKS URGENT MEETING OF WTO’S GENERAL COUNCIL

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CEO, GREAVES COTTON LTD

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Reliance becomespromoter in SWRELNew Delhi: Sterling andWilson Renewable Energy Ltd(SWREL) Monday said thatReliance New Energy Solar Ltd(RNESL) has become itspromoter post payment ofbalance Rs 1,583 crore foracquisition of 25.90 per centequity in it. With thistransaction, RNESL and othergroup firms together hold over40 per cent stake in SWREL.Earlier, RNESL (acquirer),Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL)and Reliance Ventures Ltd(RVL) had made initialpayment of Rs 259 crore foracquisition of 4.91 crore sharesor 25.90 per equity stake in theSWREL, showed a BSE filing.

Sugar output rises4.75% in Oct-DecNew Delhi: The country’ssugar production isestimated to have risen by4.75 per cent to 115.70 lakhtonne during the October-December period of the 2021-22 season, sugarcooperatives body NFCSFLsaid Monday. Sugar outputstood at 110.45 lakh tonne inthe same period of 2020-21season. Sugar season runsfrom October to September.About 491 mills had crushed1227.17 lakh tonne ofsugarcane as December 31,2021, higher than the year-ago period, as per the latestdata released by the NationalFederation of CooperativeSugar Factories Ltd(NFCSFL).

ICICI Pru unveilsfirst auto ETFMumbai: ICICI PrudentialMutual Fund has announcedthe launch of the country’sfirst auto ETF (exchange-traded fund) based on theNifty auto index. The new findwill open January 5 and willclose January 10, the AMC saidwithout offering how much itplans to collect during the NFOphase despite claiming that itis an industry-first.

Audi posts 2-foldrise in sales in ’21New Delhi: German luxurycarmaker Audi Mondayreported a two-fold jump inretail sales at 3,293 units inIndia in 2021. The companyhad sold 1,639 units in 2020.The uptick was propelled bythese electric cars – e-tron50, e-tron 55, e-tronSportback 55, e-tron GT, RSe-tron GT and the petrolpowered Q-range along withA-sedans, Audi India said in astatement.

SHORT TAKES

AGENCIES

Bangalore, Jan 3: India’s man-ufacturing sector ended 2021 on asolid footing with growth in neworders and output remaining sharpdespite losing some momentumin December, but elevated pricepressures were still a concern, a pri-vate survey showed.

The Manufacturing Purchasing

Managers’ Index, compiled andcollected by IHS Markit December6-17, fell to 55.5 in December fromNovember’s 57.6 though it stayedabove the 50-mark that separatesgrowth from contraction for asixth month.

The survey results reinforce ev-idence of a continued recovery inAsia’s third-largest economy fromthe coronavirus pandemic-inducedslump. That and rising price pres-sures may add to expectations thatthe Reserve Bank of India (RBI) willtighten monetary policies earlierthan thought, like some other cen-tral banks.

The last PMI results of 2021 forthe Indian manufacturing sectorwere encouraging, with the eco-nomic recovery continuing as firms

were successful in securing newwork from domestic and interna-tional sources, Pollyanna De Lima,economics associate director atIHS Markit, said in a release.

Higher sales underpinned afurther upturn in production andcompanies carried on with theirrestocking efforts. While the lat-

est survey showed the new or-ders sub-index, a proxy for do-mestic demand, slipped to 58.4 inDecember, it remained above thelong-term average since the gaugewas introduced in March 2005.That encouraged firms to main-tain solid output.

Optimism about future output

strengthened last month, but con-cerns about supply-chain disrup-tions, rapid spread of the newOmicron variant and inflationarypressures dampened sentiment.

Employment slipped back intocontractionary territory last monthafter growing in November for thefirst time since July; however, thepace of job shedding was mar-

ginal.Although input costs rose

sharply at an above-trend pace,output price inflation eased to a 14-month low as firms did not pass onthe burden fully to consumers.

There were tentative signs thatinflationary pressures started tosubside, but companies weren'tparticularly confident that suchtrend would continue, De Limaadded.

Despite easing in December,input cost inflation was still run-ning at one of its highest rates inaround seven-and-a-half years.The vast majority of firms nev-ertheless decided to keep theirselling prices unchanged, in orderto boost sales, with overall chargesup only marginally in December.

Manufacturing sector ends ’21 well despite momentum dipDespite easing in

December, input cost inflation was still running

at one of its highest rates in around

seven-and-a-half years

The survey results reinforce evidenceof a continued recovery in Asia’s

third-largest economy from the coron-avirus pandemic-induced slump

That and rising price pressures mayadd to expectations that the

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will tightenmonetary policies earlier than thought,like some other central banks

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi, Jan 3: With a view toempowering knowledge on cryptoand blockchain ecosystem,CryptoWire, a global crypto superapp which is a special businessunit of TickerPlant, Monday an-nounced the launch of India’s firstindex of Cryptocurrencies - IC15,which is a rule-based broad mar-ket index by market capitalisation.

Over the past years, cryptocur-rencies have emerged as an assetclass in themselves, gaining wideracceptance and drawing people's in-

terests. An index that capturesover 80 per cent of market move-ment is, thus, a fundamental mar-ket tracking and assessing tool tobase decisions on and enhancetransparency.

CryptoWire’s Index GovernanceCommittee, comprising domain ex-perts, industry practitioners, andacademicians, will maintain, mon-itor, and administer the indexwhile rebalancing it every quar-ter. The Base Value of the indexis set at 10,000 and the base dateis April 1, 2018.

Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Bitcoin

Cash, Cardano, Litecoin, BinanceCoin, Chainlink, Polkadot, Uniswap,Dogecoin, Solana, Terra, Avalanche,and Shia Inu will be the constituentsof IC15. Launching IC15,

CryptoWire Managing Directorand CEO Jigish Sonagara said,“With the launch of India’s first

index of crypto IC15, we intend tocomplete the knowledge circle forthe entire crypto and blockchaineco-system. This will not only pushthe ‘learn before earn’ initiativebut also serve the industry with yetanother powerful intervention.”

The Mumbai-based companysaid IC15 has been designed toprovide insights into crypto min-ing and the true benchmark anda mirror of the underlying cryptomarket, a barometer of the in-dustry in a sense, with a diversi-fied representation of overall mar-ket sentiments.

The IC15 tracks andmeasures the performance of the top15 widely traded liquidcryptocurrencies listedon leading cryptoexchanges of the world,the company stated

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Jan 3: The country’sexports in December 2021 surged37 per cent on an annual basis to$37.29 billion, the highest-evermonthly figure, on the back ofhealthy performance by sectorslike engineering, textiles and chem-icals, even as the trade deficitwidened to $21.99 billion.

Imports in December too rose by38 per cent to $59.27 billion on ac-count of an increase in oil imports,which soared 65.17 per cent to $15.9billion, government data showedMonday. Gold imports expandedby 4.5 per cent to $4.69 billion.

Exports in December 2020 stoodat $27.22 billion, while imports ag-gregated to $42.93 billion. Tradedeficit was at $15.72 billion.

Cumulatively, during April-December 2021-22 exports rose by48.85 per cent to $299.74 billion.

Imports during the period in-creased by 69.27 per cent to $443.71billion, leaving a trade deficit of$143.97 billion.

In December 2021, exports of en-gineering goods grew by 37.27 percent to $9.7 billion, followed by pe-troleum products (140 per cent to$5.6 billion), gems and jewellery(15.8 per cent to $2.98 billion), chem-icals (26 per cent to $2.64 billion) andready-made garments of all tex-tiles (22 per cent to $1.46 billion).

Addressing a press conference,Commerce Minister Piyush Goyalsaid India’s merchandise exportswill cross $400 billion this fiscal.

“With $300 billion in the firstnine months of 2021-22 we are ontrack to achieve our target. Thisgrowth is satisfying and we mustaspire for more,” Goyal said.

Sebi notifies vault managers’ rules

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Jan 3: Markets regu-lator Sebi has notified rules forvault managers that allow boursesto set up a gold exchange in thecountry.

This comes after the board ofSebi cleared a proposal in Septemberfor setting up a gold exchange,wherein the yellow metal will betraded in the form of electronicgold receipts and the bourse will helpin having a transparent domesticspot price discovery mechanism.

The instruments representinggold will be called electronic gold re-ceipts (EGRs) and will be notified assecurities. These EGRs will havetrading, clearing and settlementfeatures akin to any other securities.

The gold exchange, encompass-ing the entire ecosystem of tradingof EGR and physical delivery ofgold, is expected to create a vibrantgold ecosystem in India.

The obligations of the vaultmanager include accepting de-posits, storage and safekeeping ofgold, creation as well as with-drawal of EGR, grievance redressaland periodic reconciliation ofphysical gold with the records ofdepository.

Any person intending to carry onthe business as a vault manager canmake an application to Sebi for grantof a certificate of registration.

With regard to the creation ofEGR, Sebi said every vault man-

ager will have a common interfacewith the depository for the creationand extinguishment of EGR.

Upon acceptance of the gold fromthe depositor, the vault managerwill create an EGR in the name ofsuch depositor as beneficial ownerby entering details in the commoninterface.

In respect of withdrawal of gold,the regulator said the beneficialowner seeking to withdraw goldfrom the vault will have to place arequest with the depository.

The depository, after satisfyingthe payment of charges due to thevault manager, will intimate its ap-proval for withdrawal of gold tothe concerned vault manager.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Jan 3: IndianMetals Public Charitable Trust(IMPaCT), the charitable wing ofIndian Metals & Ferro Alloys (Imfa)group of industries, Monday or-ganised ‘29th Ekalabya Puraskar2021’, the annual sports award foroutstanding young sportspersonof Odisha at Hotel MayfairConvention in the city Monday.

Badminton player RutaparnaPanda was conferred the presti-gious Ekalabya Puraskar for theyear 2021 and received a cashaward of `5,00,000. Besides themain award, two citation awardswere also given which carry acash prize of ̀ 50,000 each to SwastiSingh for cycling and Pyari Xaxafor football.

The Chief Guest for the event was

Governor of Odisha, Ganeshi Lalwho congratulated the winnersfor their remarkable performancesat international and national lev-els. Chairperson, Baijayant Panda,who is also a trustee of IMPaCT,wished for a great future of thesports personalities.

The members of the EkalabyaPuraskar Committee 2021 also in-cluded Dibbanjan Roy (IRTS),Paramita Panda (Trustee), AparajitaChowdhury (VC, RamadeviWomen’s University), Sanatan Sahu(Under Secretary, Sports & YouthServices), Anuradha Biswal(Olympian & Senior Manager,Nalco), Aditya Kumar Nayak(Director of Postal Services), SambitMohapatra (Senior Spor tsJournalist) and Manoranjan Rath(IRS) and S Maqbool Ali(Management Consultant).

Rutaparna bags 29thEkalabya Puraskar

CryptoWire unveils India’s first crypto index

HIGHEST-EVER MONTHLY FIGURE

In a notification datedDecember 31, the regulator

said the vault managerwill be registered and

regulated as a Sebi intermediary for providing

vaulting services meantfor gold deposited to

create EGRs

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Mumbai, Jan 3: To push digitaltransactions in rural and semi-urban areas, the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) Monday issued a frame-work allowing offline paymentsup to Rs 200 per transaction, sub-ject to an overall limit of Rs 2,000.

An offline digital payment meansa transaction that does not requireinternet or telecom connectivity.

These transactions will not re-quire an additional factor of au-thentication (AFA), the ReserveBank of India said, adding thatsince the transactions are offline,alerts (by way of SMS andor e-mail) will be received by the cus-tomer after a time lag.

“Transactions are subject to alimit of Rs 200 per transaction andan overall limit of Rs 2,000 for all

transactions until the balance in theaccount is replenished. Balancereplenishment can only occur in anonline mode,” said the Frameworkfor Facilitating Small Value DigitalPayments in Offline Mode.

“Offline transactions are ex-pected to give a push to digitaltransactions in areas with poor orweak internet or telecom connec-tivity, particularly in semi-urbanand rural areas. The new frame-work is applicable with immediateeffect,” the RBI said.

The offline mode of payment,it said, can be enabled after ob-taining the specific consent ofthe customer.

The customers, it added, willcontinue to enjoy protection underthe provisions of circulars limit-ing customer liability and will haverecourse to the Reserve Bank –

Integrated Ombudsman Schemefor grievance redress.

The RBI has asked all the au-thorised payment system opera-tors (PSOs) and payment system par-ticipants (PSPs) – acquirers andissuers (banks and non-banks) –to ensure compliance with the in-structions.

RBI allows offline digital paymentsUnder the offline mode, payments can be carried out face-to-face (proximity

mode) using any channel or instrument like cards, wallets, and mobile devices

n Sebi said the applicant shall be a bodycorporate incorporated in India and shallhave the minimum net worth of Rs 50 crore

n Every certificate of registration granted willbe valid unless it is suspended or cancelledby Sebi

n The vault managers are required to have systems for recording all transactions in electronic form pertaining to vaulting services

Future petitionsDelhi HC to abortAmazon arbitrationREUTERS

Mumbai, Jan 3: Future Retailhas asked Delhi High Court to de-clare ongoing arbitration pro-ceedings with Amazon.com ille-gal, saying the country’s antitrustagency had suspended a 2019 dealwhich Amazon used to assert itsrights over Future.

Amazon successfully used theterms of its toehold $200 million in-vestment in debt-laden Future toblock the Indian retailer’s attemptto sell retail assets to a rival, allegingbreach of certain contracts.

But the Indian antitrust body,the Competition Commission ofIndia, in December suspended the2019 deal saying Amazon suppressedinformation while seeking ap-provals.

The long-running dispute isbeing heard by a Singapore arbi-tration panel, but both sides havebeen fighting parallel cases inIndian courts to enforce or overrulecertain decisions taken by the ar-bitrator.

In the latest Future Retail filingin New Delhi, the company arguesthat since the 2019 deal no longerhas antitrust approval, it has nolegal existence in India and Amazoncan no longer assert any of itsrights. The continuation of the en-tire arbitration proceedings is aperpetuation of illegality, Futuresaid in its filing dated December 31.The case will likely be heard byjudges this week.

The filing also showed thatFuture’s appeal to the Delhi HighCourt comes after the Singapore ar-bitration panel did not agree to itsimmediate demands to terminatethe proceedings, saying argumentswould continue this month.

Amazon has long argued thatFuture violated the terms of its2019 deal in deciding to sell retailassets to Reliance, and the US com-pany’s position has so far beenbacked by the Singapore arbitratorand Indian courts. Future deniesany wrongdoing.

RBI nod to Fino’sint’l remittance bizCustomers of Fino Payments

Bank will be able to receiveremittance money sent fromoverseas as it has been grantedapproval by the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) to offer theinternational money transferservice. Fino Bank has receivedthe RBI approval to commence theinternational remittance businessunder the Money Transfer ServiceScheme (MTSS), the bank saidMonday. The lender will undertakeinward cross-border moneytransfer activities in associationwith an overseas principal, thedetails of which are being workedout. The customer segment of FinoBank at the middle of the pyramidis targeted to families of many ofthe people working in foreigncountries, Fino Bank said.

Over 500 employees,ex-staff of OYO buyaround 3cr sharesPRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Jan 3: More than 500employees and ex-employees ofIPO-bound OYO have exercisedtheir stock options grants to pur-chase over three crore shares ofthe company, according to regula-tory filings by the hospitality chain.

These shares have been pur-chased by the employees and alumniby exercising their vestedEmployees’ Stock Option Plan(ESOPs), as per the filings.

OYO had offered deeply dis-counted ESOPs to both currentand former employees when the im-pact of Covid-19 led to pay cutsand furloughs. On the basis of thelast valuation of OYO of $9.6 billionwhen the company raised $5 mil-lion from tech-giant Microsoft inAugust last year, the total value ofthe shares purchased by the currentand former employees of OravelStays Ltd, which runs OYO, wouldbe around Rs 330 crore.

OYO had expanded its ESOPpool by 41 per cent and it is esti-mated that around 80 per cent ofcurrent employees at OYO havebeen granted ESOPs.

As of March 31, 2021, OYO had5,130 employees around the world,and 70.9 per cent of the total em-ployees are based in India.

Exports zoom 37%to $37.29bln in Dec

FURTHER, THEY NEED TO PRESERVE THESE RECORDS AND DOCUMENTS FOR A MINIMUM PERIOD OF FIVE YEARS

Printed and published by Tathagata Satpathy on behalf of Navajat Printers and Media Pvt. Ltd. and printed at Navajat Printers, B-15 Industrial Estate, Rasulgarh, Bhubaneswar -751010, Odisha;Phone:7894447142(Marketing). Editor: Tathagata Satpathy, RNI No. ORIENG/2011/37159

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P12TUESDAY | JANUARY 4 | 2022 | BHUBANESWAR

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Johannesburg, Jan 3: India cap-tain Virat Kohli was Monday ruledout of the second Test againstSouth Africa here just before startof the game because of an upperback spasm, leaving KL Rahul tolead the side in the crucial match.

Rahul said at the toss that Kohliis expected to be available for thethird and final Test from January11. “Unfortunately, Virat is havingan upper back spasm. The physiosare working on him and hopefullyhe will recover in time for the nextTest,” Rahul said at the toss whenasked about Kohli’s absence fromthe match.

All-rounder Hanuma Vihari hascome in the playing XI to replaceKohli, who has been battling a pro-longed lean patch with the willow,

will thus not be able to complete hislandmark 100th Test in the series-finale at Cape Town.

The 33-year-old will be playingin the ODI series against the Proteasstarting January 19. Rahul willcaptain India in that rubber as reg-ular white-ball skipper RohitSharma is out injured.

The BCCI also issued a state-ment later in which it informedthat Jasprit Bumrah would beRahul’s deputy during the matchhere. Bumrah is also due to play thesame role during the ODI series

As per the Indian team’s fix-tures, Kohli, if all goes well, will nowget to play his 100th Test against SriLanka at Bangalore in February.

It is worth noting that head coachRahul Dravid, while addressingthe pre-match press conferenceSunday, gave no indication of anypossible injury concerns over Kohli,who is locked in a war of words withthe BCCI over the way his white-ball captaincy tenure ended.

Back spasm keepsVirat out of 2nd tie

IYER RULED OUT DUETO STOMACH BUG

Johannesburg: Middle-order batterShreyas Iyer was ruled out of thesecond Test, which started hereMonday, against South Africa due toa stomach bug, the BCCI said in astatement. “Team India batsmanShreyas Iyer was ruled out of selec-tion for the 2nd Test owing to astomach bug,” a BCCI statementstated. Iyer made a magnificentstart to his Test career, scoring ahundred and a half century on debutin the home series against NewZealand towards the end of last year.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Johannesburg, Jan 3: CheteshwarPujara and Ajinkya Rahane’s sagaof failures compounded a shoddybatting performance by India evenas stand-in skipper KL Rahul im-pressed with a defiant show amidthe ruins on the opening day ofthe second Test against SouthAfrica here Monday.

Rahul’s patient 50-run knock ona day when India missed ViratKohli due to back spasms andRavichandran Ashwin’s cavalier 46at the rear end ensured that Indiascored 202 in their first innings ona bouncy Wanderers track.

At stumps, Mohammed Shamisent back Aiden Markram even asDean Elgar (11 batting) and KeeganPeterson (14 batting) took SouthAfrica to 35/1. It could have been twodown had Rishabh Pant snappedPeterson off Jasprit Bumrah, whichseemed a regulation catch.

Worse, Mohammed Siraj hob-bled off with what looked like ahamstring strain and if it’s badnews, then India would be left withfour bowlers.

However, a lot of blame shouldgo to India’s batters as some likePujara didn’t show intent to scorewhile others like Rahane seemedcompletely short of confidence. Itprompted the legendary SunilGavaskar to say it as it is on air, “Ithink the next innings will be theirlast chance.”

Having given up hopes to play forEngland, Duanne Olivier (3/67),playing his first game for South

Africa in three years, dismissedPujara (3) and Rahane (0) off suc-cessive deliveries to make it diffi-cult for the Indians.

Marco Jansen (4/31), with hisgiant frame, created awkwardlengths for every Indian batterwhile Kagiso Rabada (3/64), de-spite not being at his best, got wick-ets when it mattered.

In his first game as captain,Rahul concentrated hard as he

played 133 deliveries. He was pep-pered with short balls. He wouldsway to some and duck the otherswhile pulling the ones that he could.

Such is beauty of sport that Rahul,who till five months ago wasn’t sup-posed to start as an opener inEngland, is now being groomed asan all-format India captain. If thefirst day composure is any indica-tion, he won’t do a bad job.

He had a nice little partnership

of 42 runs with Hanuma Vihari(20) before an inspirational close-in catch from Rassie Van der Dussenat short leg sent the latter back.

Pant (17) and an attackingAshwin added 40 in quick time butwhat India needed was a partner-ship of at least 75 if not 100.

At the start, Mayank Agarwal (26)looked fluent in the first hour withfive boundaries before Jansenpitched one in the spot from where

it wasn’t on drivable length as itclimbed on. The opener went for adrive only to edge that to wicket-keeper Kyle Verreynne.

BRIEF SCORESIndia 202 (KL Rahul 50,Ravichandran Ashwin 46; MarcoJansen 4/31, Kagiso Rabada 3/64,Duanne Olivier 3/64); South Africa35/1 (Keegan Petersen 14 batting,Dean Elgar 11 batting; MohamedShami 1/15). Match to continue.

BATTERS FAIL TO IMPRESS

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Sydney, Jan 3: Spain and Polandremained perfect at the ATP Cupwith 3-0 wins in their matchesMonday, their second consecutivevictories in the team event.

Roberto Bautista Agut clinchedthe match for Spain by beatingCasper Ruud of Norway 6-4, 7-6(7-4) after Pablo Carreno Busta de-feated Viktor Durasovic 6-3, 6-3.Bautista Agut improved to 9-2 insingles at the team event.

“Casper is playing unbelievabletennis, (he did) an unbelievableperformance last year, and today Iplayed very good,” Bautista Agutsaid in his on-court interview. “I re-turned very well, I made very fewunforced errors and I played ag-

gressively." Kamil Majchrzak gavePoland the early lead over Georgiawith a 6-1, 6-1 win over AleksandreBakshi before Hubert Hurkaczclinched it with a 6-7(5-7), 6-3, 6-1 winover Aleksandre Metreveli.

“He (Metreveli) played well in thefirst set and things were not goingmy way. But I got better with eachset and am happy to get the win,”Hurkacz said.

Spain and Poland later both wontheir doubles matches to make it3-0 scorelines. Poland can book aplace in the semifinals if it defeatsArgentina Wednesday in its nextgroup game.

Majchrzak needed only 53 min-utes to beat Bakshi. “I was tryingto move (Bakshi) around and Ithink that was the key to the match,”

said Majchrzak, who is coachedby former world seventh-rankedJoakim Nystrom.

“He brings me a lot of confi-dence and a lot of calm in my ten-nis so I can feel that I am improv-ing,” Majchrzak said of Nystromon the ATP Tour’s website.

“We are working on (develop-ing an all-court game) but in a waythat doesn’t interrupt my baselinegame. We will take it from the prac-tice to the matches but it takestime.”

Greece plays Argentina andSerbia takes on Chile in nightmatches Monday. The four groupwinners in the 16-team tourna-ment advance to the semifinalsFriday and Saturday, with the win-ners meeting in the final Sunday.

Spain, Poland win at ATP Cup Blues-Reds draw benefits City ASSOCIATED PRESS

London, Jan 3: The only winnerwas Manchester City. And RomeluLukaku certainly lost out. What apulsating, entertaining encounterfor Lukaku to miss — not out of hisown choosing — as Chelsea re-covered to draw 2-2 with LiverpoolSunday without the temporarily ex-iled striker.

It left City 10 points clear from theBlues at the top of the PremierLeague with Liverpool a furtherpoint back. The sky blue ribbons looklike remaining on the trophy foranother year thanks to the fadingchallenge from the chasing pack.

That’s even before the Reds arethe hardest hit by players headingto the African Cup of Nations.Before leaving for what could bemore than a month away, SadioMane and Mohamed Salah did con-tribute Liverpool’s goals.

Liverpool seemed to be coast-ing but was stung twice at the endof the first half with MateoKovacic’s volley and ChristianPulisic’s strike pulling Chelsealevel.

Only 15 seconds into the game,it looked like Mane might also havehad no further role in the game.Elbowing César Azpilicueta in theface while trying to beat the Chelseacaptain, Mane immediately facedaction from the referee. But he es-caped with only a booking -- the ear-liest recorded in a Premier Leaguematch.

It meant Mane was still on thepitch to score the opener in theninth minute. Trevoh Chalobah’sweak headed clearance created theopening for Mane to round Mendy

and place the ball in the net past thehelpless Azpilicueta.

Chelsea had wilted and lookedrattled, especially when Salah’s bril-liance extended Liverpool’s advan-tage in the 26th minute. The topscorer was involved in the buildupbefore receiving the ball back fromTrent Alexander-Arnold’s pass andcontrolling it past the befuddledMarcos Alonso and squeezing ashot past Mendy at his near post.

Liverpool were cruising. Soon itwas cursing. The game swungaround inside three minutes at theend of the first half.

A free-kick from the right waspunched clear by Kelleher but only

to the edge of the penalty area.Unbalanced but still able to makea clean first-time connection,Kovacic volleyed impressively intothe top corner off the inside of thepost.

Chelsea’s anxiety that the goalcould be ruled out for an offside soonsubsided for fresh celebrations.And Chelsea was celebrating againquickly again in stoppage timewhen Pulisic leveled after beingreleased by N’Golo Kante and lift-ing the shot over Kelleher.

The third goal from Pulisic in 11league appearances this seasonrescued a point for Chelsea thathad seemed to be out of reach.

TER STEGENHELPS BARCABAG 3 POINTSASSOCIATED PRESS

Barcelona, Jan 3: Barcelona’sGerman goalkeeper Marc-Andre terStegen made a stupendous stop-page-time reflex save to help hisstruggling coronavirus-hit sideearn a 1-0 win at Mallorca.

The absence of 10 first-teamplayers gave the rarely used Luukde Jong the chance to finally showhis worth as a striker since hejoined Barcelona on loan at theend of the summer transfer mar-ket as a bargain replacement forAntoine Griezmann.

Barcelona travelled to Mallorcawith 10 players from their ‘B’ teamafter a spate of COVID-19 cases.Coach Xavi Hernández had to aligna front line with De Jong flankedby youth players Ferran Jutglàand Ilias Akhomach.

De Jong, who had failed to earnconsistent playing time, succeededin providing a potent attackingthreat for the visitors.

The Dutch striker tapped theball onto the post moments beforehe produced a superb bicycle kickthat rattled the crossbar. He thenheaded in his goal when he reacheda cross by Óscar Mingueza at thefar post just before halftime.

Barcelona still needed a stop-page-time save by Marc-Andre terStegen to rise to fifth place, onepoint from the Champions Leaguespots.

Ángel Correa scored twice asAtlético Madrid beat Rayo Vallecano2-0 and ended their worst losingrun since Diego Simeone took overthe club a decade ago.

Joshna ranked 10thNEW DELHI: India’s leading squashplayer Joshna Chinappa hasreturned to the top 10 of PSA worldrankings. The 35-year-old hadreached a career-high 10th placefor the first time in 2016. She hasreturned to the elite club of playersin 10th position. Saurav Ghosal hasdropped a spot to be 16th in themen’s rankings. It is an importantyear for Indian squash with AsianGames and Commonwealth Gamesscheduled.

Events postponed NEW DELHI: All India ChessFederation (AICF) Mondayannounced the postponement ofseveral national levelchampionships scheduled for thismonth in view of the rising numberof COVID-19 cases in the countryand the restrictions imposed byvarious states. Among thetournaments put off are thenational junior, sub-junior andnational school championships.The new dates for the events wouldbe announced later, AICF said in apress release.

SHORT TAKES

Disappointing run of Pujara, Rahane with bat continues as India manage to post 202in the first innings of the second Test before South Africa reach 35/1 at stumps on Day 1

KL RAHUL

R ASHWIN

ROBERTO BAUTISTA AGUT

Christian Pulisic (2nd from L) celebrates with teammates after scoring Chelsea’sequaliser against Liverpool, Sunday

POST NEWS NETWORK, ISL

Goa, Jan 3: Odisha FC completeda scintillating second-half come-back, courtesy a brace by JerryMawihmingthanga, recording animpressive 4-2 win over MumbaiCity FC at the Tilak MaidanStadium in their Indian SuperLeague match.

The result leaves DesBuckingham’s men winless in threegames. Victory for Kiko Ramirez’smen means that only three pointsseparate them from the leagueleaders despite being in seventhplace on the table.

Odisha’s Aridai Cabrera (fourthminute) scored an early goal againstthe run of play but Ahmed Jahouh(11th) quickly brought the gameon level terms with a superb finish.

Igor Angulo (38th) then headedhis team into the lead before Jerry(70th & 77th) scored a memorablebrace to hand the lead back to theKalinga Warriors. Jonathas (89th)put the cherry on the cake for theBhubaneswar-based side.

The match began at a rapid paceas Odisha FC scored an early goal.Mumbai City FC’s Mourtada Fallgave the ball away with an un-forced error in his own half whichled to Cabrera cutting inside fromthe left flank and unleashing a

curling shot towards the far post. A few minutes later, Jahouh

found the back of the net with a sen-sational curling shot from almost25-yards out. The midfielder was fedby Cassio Gabriel with a perfectlyweighted pass for the equaliser.

After a few failed attempts,Angulo finally gave the Islandersthe lead with a precise header froma Jahouh free-kick.

The second half also started ona fiery note as OFC began on thefront foot. Moments after the hourmark, Sahil Tanwar missed aneasy header to score the equaliserfrom 12-yards away after findinghimself unmarked inside the box.Ygor Catatau looked to have scoredanother goal from the bench but hewas adjudged to be in an offside po-sition.

Within seconds on the other end,Jerry scored his first goal of the sea-son and equalised with a divingheader at the far post. The wingerthen proceeded to score OFC’s thirdand stunned the league leaderswith a powerful drive that wentstraight into the top corner fromthe right flank.

To inflict more misery, Jerryturned provider by delivering apinpoint cross for Jonathas whocalmly placed his shot in the backof the net to score the fourth.

Jerry show helps Odisha stun MCFC

STAR OF THE NIGHT: Jerry Mawihmingthanga points skyward after scoringagainst Mumbai City FC as his teammates rush to join him for celebration

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Jan 3: Former Indiafast bowler Ashish Nehra will beAhmedabad IPL franchise’s headcoach during the 2022 IndianPremier League season whileEngland opener of yesteryearsVikram Solanki is in line to be-come ‘Director of Cricket’.

World Cup-winning former Indiacoach Gary Kirsten will be the‘Mentor’ of the franchise whichis expecting to get its formal ‘Letterof Intent’ (LOI) during the month.

“As far as I have heard, they havesigned Ashish as their head coachand someone who would be in over-all charge of the franchise. Solankiwill be the ‘Director of Cricket’and also expected to double up asbatting coach and Kirsten will bein a mentorship role,” a senior IPLsource told PTI on conditions ofanonymity.

“The Ahmedabad franchise can’tannounce it formally as it is a BCCIdiktat and they can only make a for-

mal announcement after they getthe LOI. The head honchos ofAhmedabad franchise has alreadyinterviewed the trio and short-listed them for the season,” thesource said.

Nehra has earlier been a coachwith Royal Challengers Bangalorewhere Kirsten was also involved fora couple of seasons. Both of themhave had a long and fruitful work-ing relationship since the timewhen Nehra was a player andKirsten his national coach.

Nehra shares a great rapporteven with Solanki, who has workedpreviously as a coach in IPL. Onceit gets the green light from BCCI,the franchise will go ahead and se-lect a few assistant coaches.

Nehra had been away from coach-ing for two seasons as he had de-cided that he would be taking upsuch an assignment only if he hasthe profile of a head coach wherehe can make a difference both interms of team composition andstrategy.

Nehra to be head coachof Ahmedabad IPL team