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12 PAGES | `5.00BHUBANESWAR | MONDAY, OCTOBER 18 | 2021

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VOLUME 11, ISSUE 197 | www.orissapost.com

Hyderabad:Megastar Chiranjeevihas been busy with a few upcom-ing interesting projects in thepipeline. His upcoming action-drama Acharya, also stars his sonRam Charan in one of the leadroles, has grabbed all the attentionand is gearing up for a releasesoon.

Apar t from Acharya ,Chiranjeevi is to appear in hisupcoming movies Godfather andBhola Shankar. Well, there arereports that Chiranjeevi is beingapproached to host a huge OTT talkshow. With other actors likeBalakrishna and Nagarjunahosting shows, it was ex-pected that Chiruwould grab similaropportunities.

But, it seemslikeChiranjeevihas re-jected theoffer toappearonOTTplat-forms fornow. Thereare also talksgoing on, thathe was offered ahuge remunerationto appear in an up-coming web series that

would be streamed on a streamingplatform. But the producers hadto back off with these trials, as the

actor wasuninter-

ested totake upOTTproj-ects.

IANS

New Delhi: As someone who hasbeen a prominent face of Indian tel-evision for decades now, she feelsthat the industry has witnessed mul-tiple changes at both technical and the-matic levels.

Actor Rupali Ganguly, who playedthe character of Dr. Simran Choprain the Star Plus serial Sanjivani andlater, the role of Monisha Sarabhai inSarabhai vs Sarabhai, feels Indian tel-evision has constantly evolved overtime. “Look at powerful content andthe way it is being shot in high-defi-nition. Television has not only man-aged to introduce every generationwith the ethos of Indian culture but

also reflected the aspirations of youngIndians,” says the actress who didher debut in Hindi film opposite sen-ior actor Mithun Chakraborty inAngaara.

Stressing that in contemporarytimes, content sits on the highestthrone, the actor feels that peopleare constantly hunting for good sto-ries. “And Indian TV has alwaysstood the test of time and deliv-ered cutting edge stories. It hasalso made sure that newer gener-ations find the content relatable,”says the actor who is currentlyplaying the main role in TV seriesAnupamaa on Star Plus. IANS

Mumbai: Ex-Bigg Boss contestant and actress Sofia Hayat has filmed ashort film during her visit to France titled Portals of Truth. Interestinglyit has been selected for the Cult Movies International Film Festival.

Sofia says: “The movie is about how I travel through time using por-tals to go back to the past to correct the past from evil entities called theAnnunaki that landed on the earth at the beginning of time from planetNibiru. The movie wasn't really planned. I was in France and I was in abeautiful hotel, and I started to daydream about what this place could havebeen. The hotel is called Negresco in Nice, France, and it is very artistic.I was inspired by its surroundings and took my phone and bought a ringlight to make the movie! Hopefully I will get to show it in India.”

Talking in detail about her character she adds: “My character is a Goddessand Queen of the heavenly realm, who becomes a human to find out whothe evil ones are. I live like a human and trick the evil ones to give backwhat they stole from the children of earth.”

The actress enjoys producing along with acting. “I am beyond ex-cited to say that the short movie I made on my regular phone has beenselected for the official Cult Movies Film Festival. I love acting andproducing so I starred in the movie and filmed it. So the scenes Iam in I filmed with my ring light,” she wraps up. IANS

Hyderabad: Bangalore-basedactress Rashmika Mandana,who has been busy with back-to-back movies in multiple lan-guages, is one of the most hap-pening heroines in the South.

With her upcoming entry,Rashmika becomes quite fa-mous in the North too. Toppingthe most influential actors’ listby Forbes India, Rashmika hasbeaten Samantha, VijayDeverakonda and Yash.

Recording ahigh growthrate in thenumberof fol-lowerson hersocialmediapages,

Rashmika Mandanna, who starsin Telugu and Kannada moviesoccupies the top spot on the listof the ‘most influential actors’.

Vijay Deverakonda, who shotto fame with his movies PelliChoopulu and Arjun Reddy, issecond on the list, followed byKannada’s most happening hand-some hunk Yash. SamanthaRuth Prabhu occupies a fourthplace on this list, followed byAllu Arjun.

The metrics considered are theaverage likes, average com-

ments, engagement rate, av-erage video views, and thefollower count on the so-

cial media profiles ofthe celebrities. This in-fluence is calculatedand re presentedthrough 'Qoruz Score',which is out of 10.Rashmika scores 9.88,while Vijay

Deverakonda earned 9.67.Yash’s score is 9.54,

while Samantha’sscore is 9.49, followedby 9.46 scored by AlluArjun.

IANS

MEGAN FOX, AUSTIN GREEN REACH DIVORCE SETTLEMENT

leisureHollywood couple Megan Fox and BrianAustin Green have reached a divorcesettlement, with the pair agreeing to sharejoint legal and physical custody of theirthree children - Noah Shannon, 9, BodhiRansom, 7, and Journey River, 5.

After being a super-success on television and OTTplatforms, ‘The Flash’ from the ‘Extended Universe’of DC Comics, creators of Batman and Superman,will return to movie theatres November 4, 2022, as afull-length feature film. DC Films unveiled the movietrailer featuring Ezra Miller playing ‘The Flash’.

MONDAY | OCTOBER 18 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR

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AQUARIUSGanesha says it's okay tocry on somebody's shoul-ders. In fact, sharing prob-lems lightens the load, and if nothingelse, your friends will think you're ashuman as them. You will feel much betterby evening and will even smile a little,says Ganesha.

PISCESYou are likely to be grindingyourself under at the work-place today. A turning pointwill arise in romantic liaisons, though ifthe evening awaiting you is anything togo by, it is something you should wel-come wholeheartedly, says Ganesha.

SAGITTARIUSToday will be a day for intro-spection, says Ganesha, asyou try and find the rootcauses of your problems. But the job isonly half-done: the rest will depend onthe initiatives you may take to implementpossible solutions to your problems.Overall, a day spent pondering. But actfast, advises Ganesha.

LIBRAToday, you will be in a mish-mash of emotions and feel-ings. Also, there are chancesof accumulated feelings finding an outlet.Your capacity for emotional display maytake people by surprise. However, you willalso enjoy the higher responsibilitiesreposed on you, predicts Ganesha.

SCORPIOIt is very likely that themoment of victory is oftenpreceded by a moment ofperil; but that is not where the danger ends.In the heat of victory, arrogance and over-confidence can push you away from whatyou aimed for. So, it is important for you tolearn when to stop in victory. Set a goal andstop when you reach there, says Ganesha.

LEOWorking hard, or hardlyworking — there is a vastdifference between the two.You would be wiser to be working hardtoday, especially if it is success that youdesire, says Ganesha. Remember thatthere is no substitute for hard work, andthe sooner you realise this, the better.

VIRGOToday, your soul mate willboth give and demandpleasant surprises, saysGanesha. Your business partners maybring in some good news. Take responsi-bility of your past mistakes and makeplans for the days to come. Do not be shyof the advice of loved ones, as it will helpyou more than hinder.

GEMINIToday, you are likely to rackyour brains to get thingsdone. But your modesty willnot do you any good. You will have toshow that you are the boss, even if youare not. Your extraordinary brilliance willtranslate into exceptional performanceand will save the day.

CANCERToday, you may focus yourentire attention on yourrelationships – your tieswith your parents, spouse, children, sib-lings and even neighbours. However, allthat effort and energy may not get itsdue, and you may get a cold responsefrom one or more of your relatives. Stillthere is no reason to lose heart.

ARIESYou have your hands fulltoday. There will be plan-ning, meetings and a lot ofwork to do. You may feel tired anddejected due to insufficient inputs fromothers. However, Ganesha says thingswill become clear slowly as matterscome to a conclusion.

FORTUNE FORECAST

TAURUSGanesha is happy to saythat you will acquit yourselfwell in whatever you do orundertake today. You will show outstand-ing caliber in handling the responsibilitiesgiven to you. If you are participating in acompetition, you are likely to be wayahead of others.

CAPRICORNYou will find the day to betaxing, mostly because of theamount of work delegated toyou, says Ganesha. But it will take troublequite an effort to dampen your spirit. Youwill be in the fray in the latter part of theday, but will leave your rivals trailingbehind in terms of business strategies.Success will be yours if you ensure to bemindful of your moves.

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.

EZRA TO PLAY ‘THE FLASH’ IN MOVIE SLATED FOR NOV 2022 RELEASE

tops Forbes India’s most influential actors’ list

Rashmika

Sofia Hayat’s self-shot filmselected for Cult Movies Fest

‘Indian TV has always stood the test of time’

Chiranjeevi dislikesappearing on

OTT platforms

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P1BHUBANESWAR | MONDAY, OCTOBER 18 | 2021

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Actor Rashmika Mandana has toppedthe most influential actors’ listby Forbes India

ENVIABLE FEAT

INTERNATIONAL | P8LEISURE |

The JMFC court has allowed the police to takeManish Anurag murder accused on a four-day remand DOWNTOWN | P2

MURDER ACCUSED IN POLICE REMAND

www.orissapost.com

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Colorado, Oct 17: If the latest del-uge of Facebook controversies hasyou ready to kick the app to thedigital curb, you are not alone.There are plenty of good guidesout there on how to do it right.Even Facebook makes it prettyeasy to understand the nuances ofsaying “see ya later” (deactivat-

ing) or “never speak to me again”(deleting).

But before you go, you mightwant to consider this: What happensto your life stories?

For many people, a decade ormore of updates, comments, pho-tos, messages, tags, pokes, groupsand reactions reside inside thatparticular digital sphere. AndFacebook wants you to rememberthat. As one writer put it, “Facebookis obsessed with memories. It likesto make you nostalgic, and remindyou of just how long you've used so-cial media.”

This strategy drove Facebookto build a powerful and unique lifenarrative tool. Millions of peoplehave invested billions of collec-

tive hours building what scholarscall a networked life narrative, inwhich people “co-construct” theirsocial identities through their in-teractions with one another.

Perhaps you’ve never thoughtabout how archiving the small mo-ments of your life would eventuallyamass into a large narrative ofyourself or how interactions fromyour family, friends, colleaguesand strangers would create mean-ingful dimensions of that story.Deactivating vs deleting

What happens if you decide to bedone with all of that? If you deac-tivate Facebook, it is like putting thatstory into suspended animation.Much of what you did and saidwill either be removed or grayed out.

If you reactivate it someday, mostof it will be restored and on you go.

Delete the account, on the otherhand, and “Your profile, photos,posts, videos, and everything elseyou've added will be permanentlydeleted. You won't be able to re-

trieve anything you've added,” ac-cording to Facebook.

If all those memories you havestored mean anything to you, yourlast chance to keep it before delet-ing is to download your informa-tion. I suggest you do this once in

a while anyway, because it revealsa lot about how you are tracked, howyou consume media on the appand how you have acted on the siteover the years.Losing connections

But to a surprisingly large degree,your downloaded narrative gets“de-networked.” What does onemean by that?

Your posts are listed by date andtime, but have none of the reac-tions and comments that followed.This is also true of photos andvideos you have posted.

The same happens to the com-ments you made on other people'sposts. There is no reference to whatyou were commenting on becausetechnically that is not your data.

What happens to your life stories if you delete your FB account?

UNSEASONAL SHOWERS: A motorcyclist rides through heavy rain in New Delhi, Sunday PTI PHOTO

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Oct 17: Petrol anddiesel prices Sunday were hikedagain by 35 paise a litre and the autofuels now cost a third more than therate at which ATF is sold to airlines.

The fourth straight day of 35paise per litre hike sent petrol anddiesel rates to record highs acrossthe country.

The price of petrol in Delhi roseto its highest-ever level of `105.84a litre and `111.77 per litre inMumbai, according to a price no-tification of state-owned fuel re-tailers. In Mumbai, diesel nowcomes for `102.52 a litre; while inDelhi, it costs `94.57.

With this rise, petrol is now at`100-a-litre mark or more in allstate capitals while diesel hastouched the 100-mark in over adozen states. Diesel crossed the`100-a-litre mark in Bangalore,Daman and Silvassa.

Petrol used in two-wheelers andcars now costs 33 per cent morethan the price at which aviation tur-bine fuel (ATF) is sold to airlines.ATF in Delhi costs `79,020.16 perkilolitre or `79 per litre.

The costliest fuel is in the bor-der town of Ganganagar inRajasthan where petrol comes for`117.86 a litre and diesel for`105.95.

Since ending of a three-weeklong hiatus in rate revision in thelast week of September, this is the16th increase in petrol price and the19th time that diesel rates havegone up. While petrol price in mostof the country is already above`100-a-litre mark, diesel rates havecrossed that level in over a dozenstates/UT including MadhyaPradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha, AndhraPradesh, Telangana, Gujarat,Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Bihar,Kerala, Karnataka and Ladakh.OIL ALARM

Meanwhile, the sharp economicrecovery and rising demand postthe second wave of Covid coupledwith a spike in global oil pricesmay pose a challenge for the gov-ernment in FY22 to maintain fis-

cal discipline amid good growthin tax revenue.

Country’s crude oil import billthat fell drastically last year in theabsence of demand and soft oilprices, has risen by over 138 per centin April-August of FY22 to $42 bil-lion, up from close to $18 billion thesame period of last year.

During the period, crude hasjumped by about 40 per cent from$60 a barrel to more than $85 a bar-rel now. This price pressure hascome when demand for petroleumproducts is on a rise in the coun-try already reaching pre-Covid lev-els and rising.

All this has meant that India isnot only importing more to meetadditional demand, but is doing itat premium prices ballooning itsimport bill.

Fuel shocker: Flying nowcheaper than driving

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Oct 17: Followingthe directions of Odisha Lokayukta,separate teams of the state VigilanceDirectorate Sunday carried out si-multaneous raids at 15 differentplaces across the state to unearththe assets disproportionate toGopalpur MLA Pradeep KumarPanigrahy’s known sources of in-come. The teams led by SP VigilanceCell in Cuttack carried out the raidsat places associated with Panigrahy,his relatives and associates.

Vigilance sources revealed that

they have recovered incriminatingdocuments relating to purchase ofland, vehicles, jewellery and otherarticles, including bank passbooks,credit and debit cards, laptops, mo-bile phones etc during searches tillthe last news came in. Thet alsoseized `20 lakh in cash from thepossession of one of his associates.

According to the anti-corrup-tion wing, during an enquiry fewmonths back, it found Panigrahyhad amassed disproportionate as-sets worth over `5.05 crore. Theenquiry report was submitted to theLokayukta May 28, 2021.

“An inquiry was conducted whichrevealed that Dr Panigrahy had in-tentionally enriched himself illic-itly during his incumbency as apublic servant from 24.5.2009 to30.11.2020 and was in possession of

disproportionate assets to the tuneof`5,05,04,656,” informed Vigilancein a statement here Sunday.

Earlier, the Lokayukta, after goingthrough the enquiry report, haddirected the Vigilance to conduct athorough probe into this matter.The Vigilance registered a case(6/21) in this connection October 4.

Notably, the Lokayukta had fileda special leave petition in theSupreme Court challenging theorders of the Orissa High Courtwhich had ruled that the Lokayuktacannot order preliminary inquiryagainst Panigrahy by the Vigilancedepartment as the latter is the com-plainant in the matter.

The Supreme Court had April 23stayed the Orissa HC order re-straining the Vigilance depart-ment from conducting any enquiryagainst Panigrahy and had issueda notice in April. Panigrahi, oncean influential leader of the BijuJanta Dal, was arrested by theVigilance in a case of cheatingpeople with fake job promises.

The 56-year-old legislator was injail for seven months and was re-leased on bail in June this year.Panigrahy was expelled from theBJD on charges of "anti-people"activities in November last year.

Vig again raids Pradeep Panigrahy

n The fourth straight dayof 35 paise per litre hikesent petrol and diesel rates to record highsacross the country

nFacebook is obsessedwith memories. It likes tomake you nostalgic, andremind you of just how longyou've used social media

WEATHERBHUB

28.6° 28.5°CTK

24.0°MAX

MINTEM

P

Humidity 98% 100%Rainfall 20.7mm 32.2mm

Forecast

Light rainvery likely

23.7°

BERHAMPUR: A student from a slum in this southern Odisha townhas cleared Joint Entrance Examination (Advance) this year and hassecured the 367th rank in the Economical Weaker Section (EWS)category making the 18-year-old eligible for a seat in one of the IITsin the country. In the general category the student, P Manoj Kumar’sposition is 3,899, according to the JEE(A) result declared October 15.Though Manoj, who is a resident of a slum at Prem Nagar here,belongs to the other backward class (OBC) category but he does nothave a certificate as his family has no land patta. (More P5)

NEW DELHI: The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) Sunday said ‘railroko’ protests will be held across the country October 18 todemand the dismissal and arrest Union Minister Ajay Mishra inconnection with the Lakhimpur Kheri incident. In a statement, theumbrella body of farmer unions spearheading the farmers’agitation against the Centre's three agri laws, said “protests willonly be intensified until justice is secured” in the Lakhimpur Khericase. The SKM said during the 'rail roko' protest, all train trafficwill be stopped for six hours from 10 am till 4 pm Monday.

SKM TO HOLD ‘RAIL ROKO’ TODAY BERHAMPUR SLUM BOY CRACKS JEE(A)

IRREGULAR by MANJUL

Just imagine, if a tea seller canbecome PM, where can you

reach selling pakodas!

Petrol: `106.77 (+0.35)Diesel: `103.17 (+0.39)

CITY PRICES

Nabarangpurminor abducted,raped for 3 daysPOST NEWS NETWORK

Papdahandi, Oct 17: Coming closeon the heels of the gangrape of twoladies in Mayurbhanj district lastweek, a minor girl was allegedly ab-ducted and raped under this po-lice limits in Nabarangpur district.

The accused have been identi-fied as Santosh Takri and UmeshHarijan, both natives of Semla vil-lage. Police detained them andlaunched an investigation after thegirl’s mother lodged a complaint atMaidalpur police outpost, Saturday.

When the 13-year-old girl went toa nearby field to relive herself boththe accused, Santosh Takri andUmesh Harijan allegedly kidnappedher in a car to Sunabeda in Koraput,October 10. There they kept her ashostage in a house for three dayswhile Santosh raped her. Familymembers rescued the girl afterSantosh and Umesh returned withher to Semla village, October 14.

On her return, the survivor nar-rated her ordeal before her mother.On being apprised, the girl’s motherlodged a complaint at the Maidalpurpolice outpost. The family membersof the victim have demanded strin-gent action against the accused.

Police have launched an inves-tigation into the incident and as-sured that both the accused will bearrested soon.

At least 26 die in Keralarain-related incidents

AGENCIES

Kottayam/Idukki, Oct 17: TheNational Disaster Rescue Force(NDRF) and Army have been pressedinto rescue and relief operations inKerala, where heavy rains sinceFriday triggered landslides andfloods, killing at least 26 people. Ofthe 26 deaths, 13 were reported fromKottayam, nine from Idukki andfour from Alappuzha district.

The Army, NDRF, police and theFire Force along with the localsbegan rescue operations Sundaymorning at Koottickal in Kottayamdistrict and Kokkayar in Idukkidistrict, where over a dozen peoplehave been reported missing dueto landslides accompanied by heavydownpour. Search operations areunderway for the missing personsin the debris.

Among the bodies recoveredwere those of three children, agedeight, seven and four, who werefound holding on to each other, of-

ficials said.Officials said rescue operators

on Sunday morning recovered fivemore bodies from Koottickal. Thebodies have not been identifiedyet. The Madras Regiment fromPangode military station com-menced the rescue operation atKavali village, 4 km away fromKoottickal. The rescue team con-sisted of about 40 personnel.

Kottayam District Collector PKJayasree said at around 4 pmSunday, “Presently, the situation isunder control. If it rains heavily atnight, it’ll create problems... (Apartfrom the 13 deaths) No other miss-ing persons reported.”

nThe toll in Kerala floods mounted Sunday asthe state witnessed incessant rainfall fromFriday onwards

nThe Supreme Court hadApril 23 stayed the OrissaHC order restraining theVigilance from conductingany enquiry againstPanigrahy. Earlier, the HChad ruled that Lokayuktacannot order an inquiryagainst Panigrahy by theVigilance as the latter is thecomplainant in the case

REPRESENTATIVE PIC

Two more migrantsshot dead in J&KSRINAGAR: Terrorists shot dead twonon-local labourers and injuredanother Sunday in Kulgam district ofJammu and Kashmir, the latest in theseries of attacks targeting civilians.“Terrorists fired indiscriminatelyupon #NonLocal labourers atWanpoh area of #Kulgam. In this#terror incident, two non-locals werekilled and one injured,” Kashmir zonePolice said on its Twitter handle. Itsaid police and security forces havecordoned off the area. According toofficials, the militants barged intothe rented accommodation of thelabourers and fired on themindiscriminately. This is the thirdattack on non-local labourers in lessthan 24 hours. A street vendor fromBihar and a carpenter from UttarPradesh were shot dead by the ultrasSaturday evening.

Property worthlakhs guttedCUTTACK: A major fire broke out atan incense sticks factory at theNew Industrial Estate in Jagatpurarea here Sunday evening. Althoughno casualty was reported, valuablesworth lakhs of rupees were reducedto cinders in the fire that raged onfor more than three hours at SSEnterprises, the ill-fated factory atPhase-I of Jagatpur New IndustrialEstate here, sources said. Sourcessaid that it was around 5.30pmwhen thick smoke was seenemanating out of the factory whichwas shut for Sunday. Assistant Fireofficer Abani Kumar Swain said thatnine fire tenders have been pressedinto service. Till the last reportcame in, firemen were unable todouse the inferno despite overthree hours of efforts.

Pakistan’s National Transmission and DespatchCompany has blacklisted a Chinese firm for submittingfake documents

HURDLE FOR CHINA

downtownMONDAY | OCTOBER 18 | 2021 | BHUBANESWARP2

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PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Bhubaneswar, Oct 17: OdishaSunday registered 443 new Covid-19 cases, 85 more than the previousday, which took the state’s tally to10,35,077, a Health department of-ficial said.

Three fresh fatalities -- one eachin Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur andSundargarh -- pushed the toll to8,285, the official added.

Of the 443new patients,75 are childrenand adoles-cents in theage group of 0to 18 years.The rate of in-fection amongchildren andadolescentsstands at 16.93per cent.

Khurda dis-trict, of whichstate CapitalBhubaneswaris a part, reported the highest num-ber of new cases at 243, accountingfor 54.85 per cent of the total in-fections logged during the day.

Khurda was followed by Cuttack,which recorded 27 new cases. Elevendistricts, including Boudh, Deogarh,Dhenkanal, Gajapati, Kandhamaland Keonjhar, did not register anyfresh case, the official said.

Odisha currently has 4,997 activecases, while as many as 10,21,742 peo-ple, including 562 Saturday, have re-covered from the highly infectiousdisease. The state’s cumulativepositivity rate stands at 4.91 percent. Over 2.10 crore sample testshave been conducted thus far, in-cluding 55,115 of them Saturday. Asmany as 99,15,546 people have beeninoculated with two doses of Covid-19 vaccine, the Health departmentofficial added.

UNITED NEWS OF INDIA

Bhubaneswar, Oct 17: UnionMinister of Education and SkillDevelopment Dhar mendraPradhan Sunday urged the UnionMinistry of Culture to includeOdisha in the Buddhist Circuitdeclared under the SwadeshDarshan scheme (SDS).

Pradhan, in a letter to UnionMinister of Culture G KrishnaReddy, said under SDS, theTourism Ministry has sanctionedfive projects of `325.53 crore forBuddhist Circuit developmenti n M a d hya P r a d e s h , U t t a rPradesh, Bihar, Gujarat andAndhra Pradesh.

It is unfortunate that thoughOdisha has a rich Buddhist tradi-tion, the state has neither been in-cluded in the Buddhist Circuit norany projects under the scheme hadbeen allocated to Buddhist shrinesin Odisha, Pradhan said.

He said during 8th-10th cen-tury AD under Bhaumakara dy-nasty rule, Buddhism was con-sidered as a state religion ofOdisha. It is believed that the firstdisciples of Lord Buddha such asTapasu and Bhalika were fromthe modern-day Jajpur.

Though Buddhism enteredOdisha long before the Kalingawar, it took wings in the regionunder the patronage of emperorAshoka. Jaydev, a renowned Odiapoet, described Lord Buddha asone of the incarnations of LordVishnu in 12th century AD.

The Chinese traveller HieunTsang reinforces the glory ofBuddhism in Odisha.

The influence of Buddhismcould be found in the socio-cul-tural life of people of the stateand the rich depository of his-tory is reflected in Buddhistm o n u m e n t s o f t h e s t a t e ,Pradhan said.

Various Buddhist shrines andmonuments in Odisha l ikeDhauligiri, Lalitgiri, Udaygiri,Ratnagiri and Jirang drew hugeinternational tourists especiallyfrom East and South-East Asiaand national tourists from theNorth East, Himachal Pradeshand Ladakh.

Pradhan said, however, theseBuddhist holy places lack essentialtourist facilities such as connectivity,accommodation and utilities.

He said Buddhist tourism inIndia has a tremendous potential.

Pradhan sought the personalintervention of Reddy for in-clusion of Odisha in the pro-posed Buddhist Circuit underthe SDS keeping in mind themassive potential for increas-ing development of tourism inthe holy Buddhist places, in-creasing tourist footfalls to thestate and boosting the livelihoodof Odia people.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Oct 17: The number reg-istrations on e-Shram portal hascrossed the 4-crore mark in lessthan two months of its launch withstates like Odisha, West Bengal,Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and MadhyaPradesh being at the forefront ofthe initiative by contributing thehighest number of registrations,the Ministry of Labour andEmployment said Sunday.

According to a Labour Ministrystatement, workers in diverse oc-cupations such as construction,apparel manufacturing, fishing,gig and platform work, street vend-ing, domestic work, transport, andagriculture and allied sectors haveregistered on the portal. In some ofthese sectors, an overwhelmingproportion of migrant workersare also engaged, it stated.

All workers in the unorganisedsector, including migrant ones,can now avail the benefits of var-ious social security and employ-ment-based schemes through reg-istration on the e-Shram portal.

As per latest data, 4.09 croreworkers have registered on theportal. Of these, around 50.02 percent beneficiaries are female and49.98 per cent are male. It is en-couraging that an equivalent pro-portion of men and women havebeen part of this drive, it stated.

There has been weekly im-provement in registrations by gen-der, with men and women workersregistering at comparable pro-portions. However, putting thisnumber into perspective must bewith caution. Smaller states andunion territories (UTs) under-standably have lesser number ofregistered workforce, it explained.

This registration would facili-tate delivery and accessibility tocrucial welfare programmes and

various entitlements meant forthe workers in the unorganised sec-tor and employment. For onlineregistrations, individual workerscan use e-Shram's mobile appli-cation or the website.They canalso visit the Common ServiceCentres (CSCs), State Seva Kendra,Labour Facilitation Centres, selectpost offices of the Department ofPosts, Digital Seva Kendras, toregister themselves.

After registration at e-SHRAMportal, the unorganised workersshall receive a digital e-SHRAMcard and they can update theirprofiles/ particulars through por-tal or mobile app. They will havea Universal Account Number (oneSHRAM card) that will be ac-ceptable across the country andnow they will not be required to reg-ister at different places for ob-taining social security benefits.

If a worker is registered at the e-Shram portal and meets with anaccident, he/she will be eligible for`2 lakh on death or permanent dis-ability and ̀ one lakh on partial dis-ability. The largest number of work-ers registered is from agricultureand construction, given the sheervolume of these two sectors in em-ployment generation in India.

Besides, workers from diverseand different occupations like do-mestic and household workers, ap-parel sector workers, automobile

and transport sector workers, elec-tronics and hard wareworkers,capital goods workers, education,healthcare, retail, tourism and hos-pitality, food industry and manymore have registered at this portal.

Around 65.68 per cent of theseregistered workers are in the agegroup of 16-40 years and 34.32 per centare in the age group of 40 years andabove. The social compositions ofthese workers include OtherBackward Castes (OBCs) andGeneral Castes with almost 43 percent and 27 per cent, respectively fromthese categories and 23 per cent and27 per cent being from ScheduledCastes and Scheduled Tribes.

A substantial proportion of reg-istration has been facilitated bythe CSC as depicted in the graphabove. Interestingly, in certainstates like Kerala and Goa and inNorth-East India, Meghalaya andManipur a greater proportion of in-dividuals have self-registered inthe portal. Similar is the case withmost Union Territories like Dadra& Nagar Haveli, Andaman &Nicobar and Ladakh, it added.

This could be attributed to higherlevels of literacy and technologyusage in these states. However, ac-cording to the latest updates anoverwhelming proportion of work-ers (77 per cent) have registeredthemselves through CSCs, theMinistry said.

Pradhan for inclusion of Odisha in Buddhist Circuit

Khurda accountsfor 54.85 per centof fresh cases

It is unfortunate that though Odishahas a rich Buddhist tradition, the statehas neither been included in the

Buddhist Circuit nor any projects underthe scheme had been allocated to

Buddhist shrines in Odisha, he added

e-Shram portal witnesses highest registrations from Odisha, WB

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Oct 17: The Schooland Mass Education (S&ME) de-partment Sunday wrote to the prin-cipals of all Higher SecondarySchools (HSS) to strictly followstandard operating procedures andguidelines laid down for reopeningof Class XI for the academic year2021-22.

In the letter, S&ME SecretarySatyabrata Sahu wrote that stu-dents coming to HSS from far offplaces for the first time after ad-mission need to be welcomed andcounselled regarding the aca-demic, curricular and co-curric-ular activities. Also, every HSShas to arrange an induction ses-sion for orientation of the fresh-ers on the opening day by follow-

ing the instructions.The stream wise separate in-

duction classes should be con-ducted October 21 for freshers. Oneguardian/parent shall be allowedto accompany the fresher to theinduction hall. Induction classmust be conducted by the con-cerned principal/senior teacher.

The fresher shall be informedabout the brief history of the in-stitution, its rules and regulations,and the importance of higher sec-ondary classes in a student’s career.

This apart, students will be in-formed about the state career por-tal http://odishacareerportal.comwhich contains details regardingmore than 550 career options fromthe first day. The students will alsobe informed about the CHSE,Odisha syllabus available in

www.chseodisha.nic.in.Students should also be intro-

duced to proctor. A proctor is ateacher who will be in liaison be-tween the student and the institu-tion. The proctor will let the stu-dents know about their subjectcombination, section, group andtime table.

All textbooks as per the CHSE syl-labus for Plus II Arts, Science andCommerce are available in thewebsite of Textbook Bureau, Odishahttps://www.textbookbu-reauodisha.in in PDF form.

The YouTube live streamingclasses in Arts, Science andCommerce will be conducted for stu-dents of Class-XI from Friday as perthe time table provided by CHSE.

The teachers should also planto cover the link concepts of Class-X for easy understanding of thecontents to be taught in Class-XIas normal schooling could nottake place due to pandemic. Also,the parent/guardian shall be in-timated to attend the parent-teachermeetings to know the progress oftheir ward.

The cleaning activity will startfrom 17 October 2021. Report oncleaning will be submitted to re-spective District Education Officersbefore reopening of schools.

Schools asked to follow SOPahead of Class XI reopeningSTUDENTS, ON THE FIRST DAY, WILL BE INFORMED ABOUT THE STATE CAREER

PORTAL HTTP://ODISHACAREERPORTAL.COM WHICH CONTAINS DETAILSREGARDING MORE THAN 550 CAREER OPTIONS

Pradhan,in a letter to Union

Minister of Culture GKrishna Reddy, said the

Tourism Ministry hassanctioned five projects of`325.53 crore for Buddhist

Circuit development in MadhyaPradesh, Uttar Pradesh,

Bihar, Gujarat andAndhra Pradesh

The district,of whichstate CapitalBhubaneswaris a part,reported the highestnumber ofnew cases at 243

POST NEWS NETWORK

Puri, Oct 17: If things go well,residents of the Pilgrim City herewill soon enjoy uninterruptedpower supply with the authoritieslaying underground cables for theambitious initiative.

According to sources, around 10kilometre long network of under-ground cables will be laid in the HolyCity in phases at an expenditure of`45 crore. The project is expected tobe completed by March 2023.

“In the first phase, undergroundcables have been laid betweenGrand Road and beach. In the sec-ond phase, underground cableswill be laid between Grand Road andlanes connecting to it,” said ShivaSwain, a senior electricity official.

Sources said that the under-ground cabling will not only ensurethat there is no power outage, but

will go a long way helping roadexpansion and facilitate hassle-free transportation of vehicles.

Senior servitor Binayak DasMahapatra, a resident of Puri aswell, welcomed the initiative. “It’sdefinitely a welcome move. However,the authorities must also look intoother issues related to electricityin the Pilgrim City,” he added.

Notably, a few residents of the cityhad recently approached the districtCollector against the private elec-tricity distributing company. Acore committee was formed and afew reforms were introduced.

Underground cables to ensure uninterrupted power supply

People buying bambooware from roadside vendors at Purighat in Cuttack, Sunday OP PHOTO

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Oct 17: The JMFCcour t here has allowed theCommissionerate Police to takethe accused in the murder case ofManish Anurag, son of senior jour-nalist Navin Das, on remand for fourdays for further probe.

The police will take accusedAmrit Pritam Biswal, DineshKumar Mohapatra andMrutyunjaya Mishra on remandMonday morning. “Our officialswill interrogate the accused and tryto collect information regarding theinvolvement of any other personin the case. They will also try toknow the details regardingManish’s death during a scuffleon the wee hours of October 10,”said a police officer.

The police had claimed that theaccused trio and Manish were re-portedly engaged in a tussle over thepayment of bill at hotel in Patrapadaarea. Manish became senseless inthe tussle and died later, they said.

The trio was arrested as theywere present at the hotel withManish and also engaged in an al-tercation with the latter beforehis death. Later, they threw Manishinto the water to conceal the bodyand destroy the evidence.

4-day police remandfor accused inManish murder case

HOME MATTERS

Around 10 kilometre longnetwork of undergroundcables will be laid in theHoly City in phases at anexpenditure of `45cr

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Oct 17: Youngwriter and critic ChandrasekharHota was felicitated with theSahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskarfor the year 2020 at BharatiyaVidya Bhawan auditorium inBangalore Sunday.

Sahitya Akademi presidentChandrashekhara Kambara andHindi poet Arun Kamal felicitatedHota for his essay compilation‘Chetanara Anwesana’. Altogether24 writers and poets of 24 languageswere also felicitated at the event. Therecipients of the award were pro-vided with a citation and ̀ 50,000 cashprize each.

Hota was selected for the pres-tigious award March 12 this year.

Born at Gurujibhatta village underLoisingha block in Bolangir district,he is presently working as a DSPin Nabarangpur district.

Besides writing thought-pro-voking columns in several ver-nacular dailies for the last 12 years,he has taught students of Universityof Delhi and has been felicitated byseveral literary and cultural or-ganisations with honours likeGokarnika Samman, SaraswataSamman, Mahuri Samman, AkhilaJagannath Das Samman andKrushendu Smruti Samman.

Speaking to Orissa POST overtelephone from Bangalore, an elatedHota said, “I am overwhelmed withthe honour and I hope that the com-pilation will continue to get the re-quired patronage of the readers.”

Chandrasekhar Hota receivesSahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Oct 17: Unknownburglars decamped with gold orna-ments worth around `25 lakh and`50,000 in cash from the residence ofa person at Bairaginagar area underLaxmisagar police limits here dur-ing the wee hours Monday.

Sources revealed that the thievestook advantage of the absence ofthe house owner Jitendra Jena,an LIC agent, who is out of thestate along with family for vacation.His elder brother’s family has beenstaying on the ground floor.

The burglars allegedly enteredthe house through balcony andran way with gold weighing around500 gram worth ̀ 25 lakh. They alsostole ̀ 50,000 cash from Jena’s house.The neighbours rushed to the vic-tim’s house upon hearing noises butby then the thieves had left thespot. Police Sunday collected CCTVfootage of the place and carriedout raids at different places to nabthe accused. Police has launched aprobe after registering a case(329/21) in this regard.

Burglars steal goldworth `25L in City

cmyk

cmyk

stateMONDAY | OCTOBER 18 | 2021 | BHUBANESWARP3

POST NEWS NETWORK

Malkangiri, Oct 17: The districtvoluntary force (DVF), special op-erations group (SOG) and BorderSecurity Force (BSF) were engagedin a fierce area domination exercisein Malkangiri’s Tulasi Pahad areaover the past four days.

Superintendent of Police PrahladSahai Meena ordered the comb-ing following a tip-off on presenceof armed cadres of CPI (Maoist) in the region under Mathili police limits.

During the wee hours of October

15, when operational parties werecombing the jungle near Daldalivillage, unprovoked firing wasstarted by the Maoists. The forcesretaliated with counter fire in selfdefence, the police said.

The SP said that the Maoistsmanaged to flee into the jungletaking advantage of the moun-tainous terrain. A thoroughsearch operation began after thecombing ended. The police spot-ted and seized a huge cache ofdetonators, explosives, Maoistkits, uniform and other incrim-inating articles, he added.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Paralakhemundi, Oct 17: Asmany as five police personnelwere rendered hurt after a pilotvehicle escorting the state STand SC Development, Minoritiesand Backward Classes WelfareMinister Jagannath Saraka lostbalance and overturned nearUliapadar under Adava policelimits in Gajapati district, Sunday.The injured police personnel in-

cluded an ASI, one havildar andfour constables.

The incident occurred when theminister was retur ning toBhubaneswar after visitingRayagada Sunday.

Source said that a police vehiclewas escorting the minister’s ve-hicle from Taptapani to Raipanga.It overturned at Uliapadar underAdava police station area after thedriver lost control over the vehiclewhen a biker suddenly came in

front of the vehicle midway. Fivepolice personnel were injured inthe incident.

On being informed, Adava policerushed to the spot and rescued theinjured police personnel withthe help of the locals. They wererushed to the local health cen-tre for treatment. The injuredpolicemen are recovering aftertreatment. Another vehicle wasprovided to escort the minister’svehicle to Rayagada.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Kendrapara, Oct 17: To motivatestudents and youths to join Defenceforces and promote patriotic spiritamong them, a battle tank used bythe Indian Army in the 1971Bangladesh Liberation War wasshifted to Kendrapara AutonomousCollege here Saturday for displayas ‘War Trophy’ memorabilia.

The T-55 Russian made battletank bearing the legacy of theBangla liberation war was obtainedfrom the Directorate of OrdnanceServices, Master General Branch,Army Headquarters in New Delhiwith approval and recommenda-tion of the then Chief of ArmyStaff and present Chief of DefenceStaff General Bipin Rawat.

The war trophy has been issued for display purposes at thecollege campus to motivate the students and NCC cadets to joindefence forces to serve the coun-try and promote patriotic spiritamong the students.

“The War Trophy T- 55 RussianTank fought the India Pakistanwar of 1971 and gave victory to thecountry as a symbol of pride andprestige of the nation. The collegepaid only `1.14 lakh to procurethe tank. A concrete pedestal willbe constructed at the college cam-

pus to display the tank. Our twoyear long efforts have finally paidd iv i d e n d s, ” s a i d R a j e n d r aTripathy, the principal of the col-lege.The tank would motivatestudents and youths to join theIndian Army. The tank of theIndian Army will become a majorattraction point in the college,added the principal.

The ex-servicemen from theseparts expressed their delightafter the college authorities obtained the tank.

T- 5 5 t a n k s d e s t roye d 5 8Pakistani tanks in the 1971 war.Between 1960 and 1980, these tankshad caused a great deal of panicin the Pakistani army on the border. The battle tank was usedin the Battle of Basantar duringthe 1971 Bangladesh LiberationWar. It was reportedly inductedinto the Indian Army in 1968 andwas in service until 2011, said retired army personnel.

Seventy-three-year-old war vet-eran Duryodhana Mohanty of theriverside Barunadiha village isamong the few lucky soldiers to bestill alive who participated in theBangladesh Liberation war.Mohanty was delighted after the arrival of the tank in the college.

The Indian army and MuktiBahini fought with Pakistanisand destroyed many tanks andkilled many Pakistanis with thehelp of T-55 tanks. It is a greatday for me as a tank reached thecollege, said Mohanty.

Bhubaneswar-based veteran jour-nalist Dulal Misra (73), who coveredthe Bangladesh War for an Odiadaily published from Cuttack saidI was a young reporter then. For thefirst time, we saw the battle tank andits ferocity. One T-55 tank is ap-parently equivalent to 100 soldiers.Then in 70s, there was no missileor rocket, tanks were the main am-munition against the enemies.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Kendrapara, Oct 17: TheBhitarkanika National Park hasbeen declared a prohibited zone for protection of the wildlife and biological diversity in the wetland.However, this has created plentyof opportunity for the miscreantsto smuggle coal through thewildlife sanctuary.

Defying the patrolling by forestofficials and district police, the mis-creants are smuggling coal broughtfrom Dhamra port outside of thedistrict. The miscreants are not theonly ones involved in coal smug-gling. They are also engaging thepoor villagers in loading and un-loading works in exchange of a fewbucks. Observers pointed out thatthe illegal business of coal trans-portation has given rise to criminalactivities in the area.

Speaking on coal smuggling, aresident Srikant Kumar Mahalikof Rajnagar said that the coal liftedfrom Dhamra port is smuggledthrough the Bhitarkanika wetlandtill Cuttack.

The members of the racket havebeen carrying out this illegal busi-ness since a long period. Everydaycoal loaded in two to five trucks leavefor their destination. The businessis mostly carried out at night to

avoid getting caught by the policeand other law enforcement agen-cies, he said.

The Brahmani river bank nearParamanandapur village underKhamar panchayat is the hub ofthis illegal trade.

He said that coal reaches inships to Dhamra port. Later, themiscreants and their workers stealthe coal from the ships, load themin boats and bring i t toBhitarkanika ferrying across thewater bodies.

The coal is then unloaded atNalitapatia and Khola under the

prohibited zone of the wetlandand is packed in sacks to smugglethem outside, he said.

T h e l o c a l r e s i d e n t s a r e increasingly getting involved inthis business due to their poverty.It has been observed that this illegal business has led to spurtin crimes at a later stage, he said.H e a p p r e h e n d e d t h a t t h eBhitarkanika wildlife sanctuarywill turn into a paradise for thecoal smugglers if this illegalbusiness is left unchecked.

A villager requesting anonymitysaid that everybody is aware of

this illegal business. He wonderedhow coal smuggling could takeplace inside the wildlife sanctu-ary when the Talachua MarinePolice Station is at just 1.5 kilo-metre distance from this place.Moreover, forest and district policeofficials are conducting round theclock patrolling and various tollgates also fall on the route.

Coal smuggling has given rise todrug smuggling and illegal mi-grations in the area. The illegal mi-grants are encroaching upon largetracts of forest lands and settingup prawn gheries without requi-

site permission. The effluents dis-charged from these gheries aredestroying the crops grown by thefarmers and the flora and fauna of the area.

When contacted, JagnyadattPati, divisional forest officer (DFO),Rajnagar said that he is not awareof the development.

Tapan Kumar Nayak, IIC ofRajnagar police station said thataction is being taken against illegal coal business as in past twodrivers were arrested and coalfrom two trucks seized while beingsmuggled to Cuttack.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Kesinga, Oct 17: Constructionof farm ponds in farmlandsunder the Mahatma GandhiNational Rural EmploymentGuarantee Scheme (MGNREGS)has helped farmers under thisblock in Kalahandi district ina ch i ev i n g s e l f - s u f f i c i e n cythrough better output from theircultivation, a report said.

The success achieved by MuraliSahu, a native of Balsi villageunder this block, through con-struction of farm ponds under therural job scheme, is a case in point.Sahu, a small farmer of Balsi vil-lage, has dug a small farm pond inthe size of 15X12X3 cubic meters onhis 20 decimals of land.

During kharif season of 2021, theblock witnessed erratic rainfalldue to abnormal climatic condi-tions. Most of the crop area in theblock suffered loss as there wasno rain at the time of beushening.

However, Sahu did not suffermuch as he had dug a farm pondin his farmlands with the help ofSC and WD Department. The farmpond rendered great help to Sahuin irrigating his paddy field.

Sahu saved his crop by irrigat-ing with water available in hisfarm pond. He used a 1.5 HP motorpump to supply water to his farm-land. Not only Sahu, more than200 farmers have been able to savetheir crops by utilising the waterof the farm ponds.

This year the agriculture de-partment has launched a plan called‘Farm Pond Plus’, Satya NarayanAchary, ASCO of Kesinga said.

He said ‘Farm Pond Plus’ is not

a scheme but an approach whichhelps farmers in doubling theirincome from farm ponds by con-verging activities of agriculture,horticulture, fisheries and ani-mal husbandry departments.

Reports said over 55 projects arecovered with integrated farmingsystem under this block. Thehorticulture department helpswith vegetable mini kits, papaya,drumsticks and lime seeds toplant on the bunds of the farmponds while the fishery depart-ment supplies fingerlings at sub-

sidised rates. Similarly, the agriculture de-

partment supplies pulses seeds,agriculture kits, mustard kitsand pump sets to beneficiariesat subsidised rates while the an-imal husbandry department sup-plies training and assistance forestablishment of duck farmingunits as well as poultry units andother permissible activities. As aresult, farm pond and ‘Farm PondPlus’ have proved to be a boonfor the farmers who have dou-bled their income.

Farm ponds under MGNREGSmake farmers self-sufficient

However, Sahu did notsuffer much as he haddug a farm pond in his

farmlands with the helpof SC and WD

Department. The farmpond rendered great

help to Sahu in irrigatinghis paddy field

Sahu saved his crops by irrigating with wateravailable in his farm pond. He used a 1.5 HPmotor pump to supply water to his farmland.Not only Sahu, more than 200 farmers havebeen able to save their crops by utilising thewater of the farm ponds

This year the agriculture department haslaunched a plan called ‘Farm Pond Plus’, Satya Narayan Achary, ASCO of Kesinga said

During kharif season of 2021, the block witnessed erratic rainfall due toabnormal climatic conditions. Most of the crop area in the block suffered

loss as there was no rain at the time of beushening

Stray cattle lay siege to the main road in Ganjam. Cattle menace has led to rise in road mishaps and frequent disruptions in vehicular movement

Coal smuggling rampant in Bhitarkanikan Defying the patrolling by forestofficials and district police, themiscreants are smuggling coalbrought from Dhamra outside of the district

n The Brahmani river bank nearParamanandapur village underKhamar panchayat is the hub of thisillegal trade. A villager requestinganonymity said that everybody isaware of this illegal business

n Coal smuggling has given rise todrug smuggling and illegalmigrations in the area. The illegalmigrants are encroaching uponlarge tracts of forest lands andsetting up prawn gheries withoutrequisite permission

1971 war tank shifted toKendrapara Auto CollegeWAR TROPHY

The War Trophy T- 55 Russian Tank fought theIndia Pakistan war of 1971 and gave victory to thecountry as a symbol of pride and prestige of the

nation. The college paid only `1.14 lakh to procure the tank.A concrete pedestal will be constructed at the collegecampus to display the tank. Our two year long efforts havefinally paid dividends

RAJENDRA TRIPATHY I PRINCIPAL, KENDRAPARA AUTONOMOUS COLLEGE

Explosives, Maoistarticles seized during combing ops

5 cops hurt as piloting vehicle overturns

POLITICKLE by MANJUL

STRAY CATTLE MENACE

ANOTHER SPILLWAYON THE CARDSPRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Sambalpur, Oct 17: Odisha gov-ernment has decided to float afresh tender for the constructionof an additional spillway to enhance the flood water discharge capacity of Hirakud Dam, a senior official said Sunday.

The bid document for floating thefresh tender with revised estimatefor the World Bank funded addi-tional spillway project has alreadygot the administrative approval.

The documents have been sent tothe government and a fresh tenderfor the construction of the addi-tional spillway will be floated aftergetting the nod from the govern-ment, he said. Currently, there are98 gates, including 64 sluice and 34crest gates, to release the flood waterfrom Hirakud dam. Around 15 lakhcusec water is released through the98 gates at a time now.

With the construction of the ad-ditional spillway the water dis-charge capacity of the HirakudDam will increase to 18 lakh cusec,the official said. The length of theproposed additional spillway damwill be 91 metre and there will befive sluice gates, the officials said.

“The estimate of the project wasrevised for floating fresh tender.The revised estimate of the projectis `634.21 crore and the work hasalso been divided into four partsnow,” he said.

The Central Water Commissionhas already recommended en-hancing the flood water dischargecapacity of the dam. The addi-tional spillway for the HirakudDam was proposed thereafter.

The meteorological and climatechanges and probable maximumflood were considered while takingthe decision to enhance the floodwater discharge capacity.

HIRAKUD DAM

OP PHOTO

Currently, there are 98gates, including 64 sluiceand 34 crest gates, torelease the flood waterfrom Hirakud dam

WORDSWORTH

power post P4

R eports emerging from China suggest a fierce power struggle is beingwaged at the top of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Trouble isbrewing as the wily President Xi Jinping plays his cards to get a con-

troversial and unprecedented third term as General Secretary of the CCPin 2022. But, attempts are believed to be afoot to challenge his leadership. Therecannot be any official version of the ongoing tussle in the top echelons ofthe CCP. But, there are tell-tale signs and developments that call for connectingthe dots to get a clear picture of what is happening inside. Analysts and China-watchers across the world point to the fact that Xi has not stepped out of thecountry for the past one year and nine months and will skip even the RomeG-20 summit. Biden sought an in-person bilateral summit with Xi, but thelatter has agreed to just an online meeting. This has triggered speculationabout his paranoia that his absence from the domestic scene may give han-dle to his detractors to mobilise opposition to him and even stage a coup. Hislast overseas trip was to Myanmar January 17-18, 2020, just days before hisregime broke the news of a COVID outbreak and lockdown of Hubei province.

In fact, resentment against Xi is rising for his actions to get entrenchedin power for life and purge and silence top leaders, academics and entrepreneurswho have openly questioned his policies and resolve to keep in virtual sus-pended animation the practice of nominating or grooming his successor. Already,he has thwarted the ambition of many top party leaders to step into his shoesas per the rule being followed since Deng Xiaoping allowing a President amaximum of two terms. Xi has piloted the structural change that he can re-main at the top position for life.

Xi, regarded as the most powerful President China has had since Mao Zedong,got the National People’s Congress, the country’s parliament, in March 2018to vote to remove the two-term limit for the post of President. The move meantthat Xi could remain in power for life, instead of retiring after his secondterm ending in 2022.

Reports indicate Xi’s rivals, including Premier Li Keqiang and influen-tial Politburo Standing Committee member Wang Yang, could take the leadin opposing Xi’s policies and force him to retire next year. Since becomingchairman of the CCP, Xi has effected changes in the Politburo StandingCommittee consisting of the senior-most Communist Party leaders and re-duced its strength from nine to seven people. He made sure majority ofthese members are his camp followers. Li and Wang Yang are held to be theonly opposition to Xi. Sensing there would be opposition to his plan to cap-ture power perpetually, he began a crackdown since 2017 when seven high-ranking officials of the Communist Party were arrested for allegedly plot-ting to “usurp the party’s leadership and seize state power.”

The power struggle within the CCP began after Xi made it clear that hewas not going to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor, Hu Jintao, andprepare to step down as head of the CCP, the military and as President atthe Party Congress - held every five years - in late 2022. With the hazy pic-ture at the moment, it can be surmised that the further he delays the processof finding a successor, the greater is the risk of him eliminating all dissentand continue staying in power or the power struggle breaking out in the open.This would be neither good for China nor the world at large since an unstableChina that is fast shaping into the world’s number one economic power, wouldaffect world economy and geopolitics.

Undoubtedly, Xi has made enemies at home with the ruthless persecutionthrough his anti-corruption campaign, attack on legal and media reform-ers and his disdain for economic liberals. What has angered his critics mostis overturning the power sharing arrangement evolved over four decadesthat ensured peaceful transfer of power at the end of maximum twoPresidential terms. That he has manipulated the constitutional change togive himself life-long tenure as President becomes clear from the complaintmade by a former professor at the Central Party School in Beijing, Cai Xia,who revealed last May that Xi had forced everyone at the meeting of the CentralCommittee to swallow the revision. Cai’s speech on this issue was widely cir-culated. It is Cai who has coined the term “exquisite totalitarianism” to char-acterise Xi’s style of functioning. She was stripped of her powers immedi-ately thereafter and had to flee China. Now she lives in exile overseas.

The latest instance of Xi’s intolerance of criticism of his rule is the 18-year prison term served on 69-year-old real estate mogul and social mediacommentator Ren Zhiqiang. The harshness of the punishment has sentshockwaves both inside and outside China. Ren Zhiqiang is an influentialtycoon and veteran CCP member. He first spoke against Xi in 2016 for tight-ening party control over the media. Within days his microblogging accountwas blocked. After the outbreak of the COVID pandemic, he criticised themedia curb which in his opinion exacerbated the crisis. In July, he wasstripped of his CCP membership and his assets were seized.

All these point to the fact that all’s not well in Xi’s China. He may have asmooth sailing for a third term in office next year. But, a bitter internal strifein CCP seems to be on the cards.

S everal countries in the worldare experiencing an acute en-ergy crunch. After the sec-

ond wave of COVID-19, life is re-turning to normal and factorieshave started work. This has re-sulted in a sudden increase in de-mand for energy. Amid this globalcrisis, a shortage of coal and elec-tricity is brewing in India. The sit-uation was critical, but the quickresponse of the Coal Ministry hasmade things better. The coal short-age last week impacted power gen-eration in many states includingPunjab, Rajasthan, Delhi, Gujaratand Tamil Nadu.

Coal-fired power plants are grap-pling with a surge in demand fromindustries as India’s economicactivities are picking up. Powerconsumption in August-Septemberincreased by 17 per cent comparedto the same period last year. Thecoal shortage emerged at a timewhen India has been trying to cutshort coal consumption in a bid tosustain the climate. In 2016, Indiacommitted to reduce emissionsby 33 per cent before 2030 and toensure that 40 per cent of its powergeneration depends on renewableenergy. This is the time when

India must increase investment ing reen energ y resources. At present, coal is the fuel that meets70 per cent of the country’s energy needs.

The coal stock in 110 thermalpower stations of the countryreached a critical level last week.India’s 135 power stations are stillunder pressure to fulfill the do-mestic power demand. The powerproduction needs to be increased,but from where to get the coal, thatwas the puzzle. Domestic coal pro-duction cannot be increasedovernight, while the prices of theblack gold have gone up four timesin the global markets.

The state-run Coal India Limited(CIL) has a monopoly on Indiancoal mines, which meet about 75per cent of the coal demand ofthermal power plants. In the lastsix months, power demand grewby 16 per cent, but CIL’s produc-tion remained the same as in 2020,when the country was under lock-down and power consumptionwas at the lowest in the past threedecades. Meanwhile, worldwidecoal prices have skyrocketed. Thegovernment considers the increasein electricity demand as a positive

sign, “indicating that the econ-omy is growing.”

In the first week of October, theprice of high-quality Australiancoal rose to $203, four times higherthan in August, 2020. Like India,China’s demand for power has alsoincreased. But China’s coal pro-duction has decreased due to strictregulations to reduce air pollution,forcing power producers to importcoal. China used to import coalfrom Australia. When Australiainsisted on the coronavirus originprobe, China backed down.Therefore, coal imports fromAustralia stopped. This led to ajump in global coal prices. Chinaand India are the two largest con-sumers of thermal coal globally.

India has been importing around300-400 million tonnes of coal everyyear from Indonesia, Australia andSouth Africa. CIL produces over 600million tonnes of coal for domes-tic consumption. Now, with thelow domestic availability, India’s de-pendence on Indonesia for coal im-ports has increased.

The CIL instructs power sta-tions to stock up required coalbefore the start of the monsoon sea-son, as both production and freight

movement face problems duringthe rainy season. This time, therainy season lasted longer, lead-ing to a reduction in coal pro-duction. On the other hand, im-porting coal became expensive,due to which the power compa-nies could not keep enough stock.Now everyone needs coal fromCIL. Obviously, the magic cannothappen overnight. Even importstoo require a lot of paperwork be-fore a deal is finalised. All thecoal mines have been working ona war footing now to fill the gapbetween demand and supply.

It is expected that coal will con-tinue to be a major source of en-ergy in the years to come. It is aneasily combustible, black or brownrock, composed mainly of carbon.Coal is formed by geological pres-sure on plants buried under the soilmillions of years ago. Burningcoal produces CO2, which adds toclimate change. Now, scientistsare busy developing methods bywhich CO2 from the smoke frompower plants can be separated andburied deep in the ground.

The writer is a senior journalist.

Switch to green energy for power generation

CONSERVATIVE SANS QUALITIEST

he satirist Karl Kraus ob-served about his nativeAustria in 1899: “Whenthe constitution is vio-

lated, the people just yawn.” Howupset Austrians really were lastweek when Chancellor SebastianKurz was accused of corruption isunclear. But the charges – and thepublic leaks of vulgar chats in-volving Kurz and his colleagues –were serious enough to prompthis always somewhat unlikelycoalition partner, the Greens, tobring him down.

Kurz’s fall is widely seen as hav-ing consequences beyond Austria:his approach had been touted as amodel for center-right parties acrossEurope, especially in Germany,where the Christian Democratsare currently in disarray after theirdramatic election loss last month.But ‘Kurzism’ has been all aboutstyle and tactics, not new politicalideas or, for that matter, a sus-tainable alliance of social forces.Worse, Kurz’s model is downrightdangerous for democracy.

Just 35 years old, Kurz has thedistinction of having been ex-chancellor twice already. He wasalways the youngest and fastest: for-eign minister at 27, chancellor at31. He was also fast when it cameto switching political positions:initially liberal, he turned hardlineron matters of immigration andrefugee policy, in effect copyingand mainstreaming the far-rightFreedom Party (FPÖ). In 2017, heentered a coalition with the FPÖ.When a similar government hadbeen formed in Austria in 2000, itset off alarm bells across Europe.This time, with Hungary andPoland having since pioneeredthe autocratisation of EU memberstates, the creation of the Kurzcoalition elicited only yawns.

Mainstreaming the far righthas been a general trend acrossEurope, owing partly to the fact thatcenter-right parties are bereft ofideas. For many years, the con-ventional wisdom has been that so-cial democracy is in a terminalcrisis. But the fact is that theproverbial man (or woman) onthe street will be able to indicateroughly what it is about. The samehas not been true of center-rightforces: Christian Democrats, inparticular, no longer push forEuropean integration or offer a dis-

tinctive model, in line with Catholicsocial doctrine, for mediating con-flicts between capital and labour.

Even after the fall of the BerlinWall, they relied on a Cold Warstrategy of being the moderatecenter that served as a bulwarkag ainst communism. AsGermany’s Christian DemocraticUnion (CDU) discovered a fewweeks ago, because warnings abouta red menace are so implausible,reliance on them is widely per-ceived as a sign of desperationand intellectual bankruptcy.

Kurz did not solve the problemof a conservatism without quali-ties. But he was a master of pub-lic relations: rebranding the staidAustrian People’s Party (ÖVP) asa ‘movement’ suggested youthfuldynamism. A ‘movement’ con-notes grassroots enthusiasm andparticipation. But the reality wasthe opposite: what Kurz sold as a‘new style’ consisted of the ÖVPhaving to accept his total domi-nance. Party elders agreed thatKurz alone would decide on can-

didates and set the programmaticdirection of what was rebrandedas the ‘Sebastian Kurz List.’ Thelatter was not a people’s partyreinvented for a new age; it was andis a single person’s party.

Plenty of people both insideand outside the ÖVP probablyliked Kurz’s post-2017 leadership.After all, it contrasted with thesquabbling in the grand coalitionsbetween Social and ChristianDemocrats that had dominatedpostwar Austrian politics. And,whereas the ÖVP had long been di-vided by rivalries between oldmale barons in control of indi-vidual federal states, Kurz’s teamwas disciplined, remained on mes-sage, and was excellent at domi-nating coalition partners, be it onthe far right or the left. If the anti-corruption authorities’ accusa-tions are true, they were also goodat manipulating the press and fan-ning the flames of political conflict,as long as it served the ambitionsof their man.

Legal and democratic theorists

are right to say that an internallyautocratic party is likely to ex-hibit autocratic tendencies in gov-ernment. Kurz in effect took apage from Hungarian PrimeMinister Viktor Orbán’s playbook,with frequent attacks on inde-pendent news organisations andthe judiciary (and, like SilvioBerlusconi, portraying himself asthe innocent victim of a vast con-spiracy by a nefarious left-wing es-tablishment).

Kurz has not succeeded the wayOrbán has, but it would be pre-mature to conclude that, west of theformer Iron Curtain, the center willalways hold. Kurz himself, prom-ising to step aside (but not down),has just been elected as leader ofhis party’s parliamentary group,receiving 98.7 per cent support ina secret vote – just what one wouldexpect when anything resemblingintra-party democracy has beenkilled (even former US PresidentDonald Trump, who has reshapedthe Republican Party into a per-sonality cult, has not managedsuch a feat).

In Germany, Markus Söder, theleader of the CDU’s Bavarian sis-ter party, the Christian SocialUnion, is likely to dominate the cen-ter-right in the coming years; heis at least as ruthless as Kurz andjust as opportunistic. The vener-able Christian Democrat WolfgangSchäuble did his utmost to pre-vent Söder from becoming theparty’s candidate for GermanChancellor this past spring, fear-ing that Söder, following Kurz’stemplate, would hollow out andin effect destroy his party.

Christian Democrats and cen-ter-right forces more broadly needto rethink what they stand for, be-yond a claim to technocratic com-petence. They also must decidewhere to draw the line vis-à-visthe far right. The alternative, asKurz’s example demonstrates alltoo clearly, is a quasi-authoritar-ian politics that regards demo-cratic institutions like the judici-ary and the free press as peskyobstacles for a charismatic andpopular leader.

The writer, Professor ofPolitics at Princeton

University, is a fellow at TheNew Institute, Hamburg.

©PROJECT SYNDICATE

LOL

FOCUS

SPECTRUM

Following the downfall of Austrian ChancellorSebastian Kurz, Europe’s center-right parties need to rethink what they stand for, beyond a claim to technocratic competence. The alternative, as Kurz’s example shows, is a quasi-authoritarian politics that regards democratic institutions as pesky obstacles for a charismatic leader

Xi in ‘Trouble’

Policeman joke

Aman was recently flying to NewYork. He decided to strike up a

conversation with his seat mate.“I’ve got a great policeman joke.

Would youlike to hear it?”

“I should let youknow first that I am a

policeman.”“That’s OK. I’ll tell it really slow!”

MONDAY | OCTOBER 18 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR

To smile at an enemy is todisarm him.

THE MOTHER

SUSTAINABILITY

MAINSTREAMINGTHE FAR RIGHT

HAS BEEN A GENERAL

TREND ACROSSEUROPE, OWING

PARTLY TO THE FACT THATCENTER-RIGHT

PARTIES ARE BEREFT

OF IDEAS

Jan-WernerMueller

WISDOM CORNERThere are basically two types of people. People who accomplishthings, and people who claim to have accomplished things. The firstgroup is less crowded.

MARK TWAIN

Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s goingto know whether you did it or not.

OPRAH WINFREY

Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you asby the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens toyou as by the way your mind looks at what happens.

KAHLIL GIBRAN

IDEOLOGY

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

AT PRESENT, COAL IS THE

FUEL THAT MEETS70 PER CENT OFTHE COUNTRY’SENERGY NEEDS

Narvijay Yadav

Congress saga

Sir, The Gandhis would continue tolord over the Congress with RahulGandhi indicating he would be readyto lead again. Besides, several seniorleaders, including Chief Ministersof three Congress-ruled states, urgedRahul to become the president. Rahulsaid the party was ready to give voiceto women, SCs, minorities and the poorand he was ready to work for them.Congress interim president SoniaGandhi also ticked off G23 netas fortalking to the media rather than to herdirectly. It appears that the Gandhisare in no mood to cede ground toanybody outside the family just yet.

NJ Ravi Chander,BANGALORE

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Piepowder

This ancient word was originally the Anglo-French pied-poudreux,meaning someone with dusty feet. In Scotland the term was

sometimes translated into the delightfully Tolkienesque dustyfoot.This was a graphic description of the state of someone travellingabout on the unmade roads of medieval England. Piepowder wasmost often applied to itinerant merchants who toured the country tobuy and sell at fairs. Many of these fairs had been established byroyal charters that gave rights to lords of the manor or religioushouses to charge taxes and tolls and to enforce them. Theenforcement was carried out in a rough-and-ready way throughcourts of piepowder (in Scotland they were sometimes known ascourts of dusty feet). These courts usually had jurisdiction over suchmatters as contracts, trespass and debts, and they sorted out tradingdisputes, punished theft and violence and did their best to keeporder. Because few such fairs lasted more than three days, justicehad to be swift and summary. The piepowder courts died out duringthe course of the nineteenth century along with the fairs that hadbrought them into being; the last is said to have been that in HemelHempstead in Hertfordshire, which last met in 1898.

Truly deserving

Sir, Late Huriyat chairman Syed AliGeelani’s grandson Anees-ul-Islam whowas working as Research Officer in Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre,Srinagar, has been dismissed from the gov-ernment job for his anti-national activities.The service conditions in government donot permit any employee to work for oth-ers even outside the office hours. Doing part-time work without the consent of the headof the department has been strictly pro-hibited. When such is the case, dismissalof a person from job for indulging in anti-national activities is just a prick.Punishment for employees indulging inanti-national activities is a must besides dis-missal from service.

KV Seetharamaiah, BANGALORE

Age is just a number

Sir, They were called ‘the senior citizens’. Someridiculed them as ‘daddy’s team’ and some called them‘the fathers’ club’ and all this due to their age butChennai Super Kings have shown the world that ageis just a number and it is finally the mindset and richexperience that steer anybody - individual or team -to victory and make the impossible possible! An analy-sis of the triumphant victory of the team lead by MSDhoni in the IPL tells us this and more. The captainand his team members have beautifully shown that thosewho are fearless, never grow old. Their consistency, ma-turity, perseverance, unity and that wonderful mind-set of rising to the occasion with a smile are beauti-ful lessons for those in sports or in any other field.Definitely this ‘fathers’ club’ has become a model ofa team that truly shows us that age is an issue of mindover matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.

M Pradyu, KANNUR

stateMONDAY | OCTOBER 18 | 2021 | BHUBANESWARP5

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POST NEWS NETWORK

Chhatrapur, Oct 17: Rice worth`1.58 crore has been misappropri-ated by millers in Ganjam district.This was revealed by a specialaudit report of the Odisha StateCivil Supplies Corporation (OSCSC).Some millers have allegedly beenfavoured in this matter while ithas been alleged that the CivilSupplies department has not takenany action ag ainst eight errant officials.

According to reports, somemillers had taken paddy from theCivil Supplies department in 2012-13 for milling and providing rice inreturn.

However, 10 millers had not de-posited the rice obtained aftermilling the paddy. They had notdone so in spite of repeated re-minders from the OSCSC from 2014to 2018. The defaulting rice millershave not also provided money in re-

turn. It has been alleged that someofficials had not taken steps to collect rice or recover the moneyfrom them.

Upset over inaction against thedefaulting millers, the OSCSC haddecided to frame draft charge againsteight officials including then districtCivil Supplies Officer (CSO) andmarketing inspector in 2018.

Sources said charges shouldhave been framed against a CSO,

three marketing inspectors andfour authorised officers for show-ing favouritism to the millers.However, as things stand, nowmany of these officers have re-tired.

It should be stated here that re-cently the MD of OSCSC, BiswajitKeshari Das has sent another let-ter (14344) to the district CSO toframe draft charges against theerrant officials.

In 2012-13, the errant millershad been asked to pay `1.58 croreagainst the pending rice. However,the department has not specifiedthe total amount of paddy themillers had taken.

PADDY MILLING SCAM IN GANJAM DISTRICT

No action against errant millers, officials Some millers had taken paddy from

the Civil Supplies department in2012-13 for milling and providing

rice in return

However, 10 millers had notprovided the rice obtained aftermilling the paddy. They had not

done so in spite of repeatedreminders from the Civil Supplies

Corporation from 2014 to 2018

The errant millers had been askedto pay `1.58 crore against the

pending rice that was yet to berecovered from them. However, thedepartment has not specified the

total amount of paddy themillers had taken

TOTAL PROHIBITION CAMPAIGN

Residents observing Total Prohibition Fortnight at Yuvarani Sitapur village under Birmaharajpur block in Subarnapur district. Guests attending theprogramme urged the residents to shun consumption of intoxicants in social functions like marriages and festivals OP PHOTO

Closed schools turn den for miscreants

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Bhubaneswar, Oct 17: Until the70s, Bainshi Chandra Behera (65)had lived well off fishing inBodhapur in Cuttack district. Hewould ply his trade on Sukapaika,a distributary of Mahanadi. AsSukapaika began to die an unnat-ural death, Behera’s sole sourceof livelihood also dried up. He nowworks as a labourer for a Paradip-based fish trader.

Once at the centre of the pros-perity and rich cultural heritage ofaround 10 lakh people living alongits 27-km stretch, the river has turnedinto a curse for its riparian villages,thanks to the imprudent human ac-tions, said Nrusingha Prasad Das (63),a resident of the same village.

The river passes through 425 vil-lages under 26 panchayats in threeblocks – Cuttack Sadar,Nischintakoili and Raghunathpur,said Dr PC Rath (67), a renowned car-diologist and a native of Bodhapur.He talks about the decline of the for-tunes of the people living there asif it were the “death of a civilisation”.

“When a river dies, a civilisa-tion dies with it, and these 400-oddvillages meet the same fate. The en-croachers took the opportunity of

the dry river bed where they begantheir illegal constructions leadingto its siltation and complete deathin the next couple of decades,” DrRath lamented.

Sukapaika originates and ter-minates within Cuttack district,running from Ayatapur village toTarapur, said Smita Nayak, whohas done extensive research on nat-ural resources of the region. In1952, the government constructed,as a flood control measure, an em-bankment at Ayatapur. Five years

later, around 290 km upstream of it,the Hirakud dam in Sambalpur dis-trict and then, around 25 km up-stream of it a barrage at Naraj inCuttack district came up, said Nayak.

These structures together weremeant to control floods but they con-siderably reduced the water flow-ing into Sukapaika. Priya RanjanSahu, a senior journalist and an en-vironmental activist , said,“According to studies, large damstend to alter geography and hy-drological regimes and they in-

volve issues of control, power andpolitical relations, social justiceand equity. While Farakka, Baglihar,Almatti, Narmada are some ex-amples, Hirakud dam is a freshaddition. While it has already al-tered the local environment andbadly impacted the riparian com-munities, it is also instrumental inkilling river Sukapaika around290 km downstream.”

Rivers like Sukapaika, whichoriginate from a river and rejointhe same river, have a natural rhythmthat drains out excessive water.Unfortunately, the river that couldhave evacuated the flood water nat-urally became the victim of theshortsightedness of the govern-ment officials.

Villages languish on shores of dying Sukapaika ONCE AT THE CENTRE OF THE PROSPERITY AND RICH CULTURAL HERITAGE, THE RIVER HAS TURNED INTO

A CURSE FOR ITS RIPARIAN VILLAGES, THANKS TO THE RECKLESS HUMAN ACTIONS

POST NEWS NETWORK

Khaira, Oct 17: The administra-tion has allegedly failed to containillegal stone mining in Sarisuahills under this block of Balasoredistrict. Locals and environmen-talists have expressed concern oversuch illegal mining by the stonemafia despite prohibitory orders inthe area. They have blamed the ad-ministrative apathy for the un-scrupulous looting of minerals.

The brazenness of the stonemafia is at times shocking to say theleast. They use heavy machineryand explosives to achieve their ob-jective. They also employ local peo-ple for illegal mining and use someof them to clamour for stone min-ing on the pretext that it will pro-vide them with job opportunities.

Meanwhile, the TourismDepartment has made provisionof water conservation for wildlifeand is trying to conserve a water-fall in the hills.

Some outfits, social activists,and environmentalists alleged thatstone mafia has formed an unholynexus with officials to carry onrampant loot on Sarisua hills. Theythreatened agitations if the illegalmining is not stopped immediately.

It has been said that blasts ofexplosives have killed a number ofwild animals as well as people in thearea in the last 20 years. Others al-

leged that the whole ecology of thelocality has changed due to theblasts. More and more animals areinvading human habitats.

Earlier, 96 mines lying in ele-phant corridors in the region hadbeen leased out. As a result, it affected the lives of the wild pachyderms.

Taking serious note of the threatto ecology, two voluntary organi-sations had moved the NGT inOctober 2019 over mining in thehills and the resultant environ-ment degradation.

Following an NGT order, the ad-ministration has imposed Sec 144on several mines. Even though pro-hibitory orders under Section 144of IPC have been put in place atSarisua hills, it has not deterred thestone mafia from carrying out theirillegal operations.

A Crime Branch STF team fromCuttack had raided the area lastyear and started an investigationon illegal mining of stones.

The team had then arrested fivemafia members and seized a truckand two tractors.

Sources said that Section 144 hasbeen imposed in 100 mines inKhaira and Kaptipada localities.

However, as police have not beendeployed in proper numbers, themining mafia is continuing itsoperations at mines in Bandhanatamouza under Khaira tehsil and atSukhuapata mouza underKaptipada tehsil in Mayurbhanjdistrict.

Locals alleged that large quan-tities of stone are being trans-ported to various parts of WestBengal. They pointed out the hugestocks of stone have been kepton forestland and alleged that thedistrict administration is not tak-ing any action.

Sarpanch Gajendra Parida in-for med that if the TourismDepartment completes its proposedwaterfall project, it will be benefi-cial for both wild animals and localpeople. He demanded action againstthe stone mafia.

Balasore DFO Bimal PrasannaAcharya said that action will betaken against people involved inillegal mining and using forestland. He said that he would directthe Soro ranger to take proper ac-tion.

Tehsildar Mahendra ParasadBehera said that illegal stone min-ing will be investigated.

Mafia extracts stone,strips Sarisua’s greenery

Taking serious note ofthe threat to ecology

in the region, two voluntary organisations

had moved the NGT in October 2019 over

mining in hills and theresultant environment

degradation

POST NEWS NETWORK

Lanjigarh, Oct 17: For the lastone month, elephants have been ona rampage in various parts ofLanjigarh block of Kalahandi dis-trict. A herd of 25 elephants havedamaged crops, vegetables and de-molished houses of some residentsof Kumakhal, Bandhapari,Biswanathpur and Champadeipurvillages. The rampaging herd hascreated panic among people living in the different localities.

The jumbos have also destroyedmaize crops, tube wells, village toilets and other valuable items.

Locals said, “We have lost oursleep over last few weeks as ele-phants keep on frequenting the vil-lages at night and cause mayhem.The forest deparmant should en-

gage a patrol team to scare awaythe animals.”

Musanali Forester ChintamaniMajhi took stock of the damagessuffered by these villages, Sunday.The block administration hasprovided relief to the affectedpeople who have demanded com-pensation for the losses they havesuffered.

The Forest department also saidthat assistance will be provided tothe affected people soon.

Elephants on rampage in Lanjigarh block

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Berhampur, Oct 17: A studentfrom a slum in the Silk City hascleared Joint Entrance Examination(Advanced) this year and has se-cured the 367th rank in theEconomical Weaker Section (EWS)category making the 18-year-oldeligible for a seat in one of the IITsin the country.

In the general category the stu-dent, P Manoj Kumar’s position is3,899, according to the JEE(A) re-sult declared October 15.

Though Manoj, who is a resi-dent of a slum at Prem Nagar here,belongs to the other backward classcategory he does not have a cer-tificate as his family has no landpatta (land right).

He was helped by a private in-stitute in the town, which providedhim coaching free of cost for the lasttwo years. It has also assured himof the much needed financial helpfor his admission to an IIT.

Manoj’s father Nagaraju saidhis son had been a student of thenearby government-run primary

and high schools and had beengood in academics throughout.

I am an electrician and earn ona daily basis by attending to callsfrom various residences for myservices. Despite severe financialconstraints, I always gave prior-ity to my son’s education” he said.

Nagaraju said he was very wor-ried after his son completed hisClass 10 and had approached the in-stitute’s director Sudhir Rout, re-questing him for free coaching.

“He (Rout) not only agreed toprovide free coaching to Manoj,but also assured to arrange funds

for him for admission after secur-ing a good rank,” he said.

His mother had purchased anandroid phone for him in a monthlyinstallment scheme so that his on-line classes are not affected whenthe coaching center closed due tothe pandemic situation.

“The dues of the phone are yetto be cleared” Nagaraju said.

Asked about his inspiration,Manoj pointed to his father andthanked the teachers of the coach-ing institute for helping him.

Rout said one of his former stu-dents who now works abroad hadassured him of financial help forManoj’s admission to a college.

Besides, some members of thecoaching institute too came for-ward for providing financial helpto the student. “For the past severalyears we are providing free coach-ing and financial support for higherstudies of poor but brilliant stu-dents,” said Rout.

At least 11 students of the in-stitute cleared JEE-Advanced thisyear with highest rank of 1065 ingeneral category, he added.

Slum boy cracks JEE Advanced

POST NEWS NETWORK

Naugan, Oct 17: After closureand merger of schools inJagatsinghpur districts, manybuildings have turned defunct.Some of these structures of closededucational institutions have be-

come a haven for anti-social ele-ments in Naugan locality, a reportsaid.

Earlier the government had de-cided to shut down schools hav-ing less than 25 students. Thirtysuch schools were merged withother educational institutions in

Naugan block. These closed build-ings have allegedly become safehavens for drug addicts, alcoholicsand anti-socials, be it night or day.

Various outfits and social ac-tivists have expressed concern overthe development. They alleged thatbuildings worth lakhs have been leftabandoned without care and main-tenance. They have blamed the dis-trict administration for such a de-velopment.

Among the buildings that havebecome a safe haven for anti-so-cials are the Deopara School inDabara panchyat, ParisikharPrimary School in Sikhar pan-chayat, Angeswarpada School inOsakana panchayat, ChandipuraSchool in Naugan panchayat,Gothada School in Nahangi pan-

chayat, Kanipada Primary Schoolin Jamugan panchayat, Chakulischool in Rohia panchayat and theGangada school in Deriki pan-chayat. Locals have expressed dis-pleasure and alleged that publicproperties developed at huge costsare lying unused with miscreantstaking control of them.

The buildings of closed schoolshave been handed over to thePanchayati Raj department.

Block Education Officer BaidharTripathy informed that schoolsthat have been closed down willnot be reopened again unless thenumber of students increases.“These school buildings have beenofficially handed over to thePanchayati Raj department,” hestated.

A herd of 25 elephantshave damaged houses atKumakhal, Bandhapari,Biswanathpur andChampadeipur villages

REPRESENTATIVE PIC

REPRESENTATIVE PIC

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UTTARPRADESH

MONDAY | OCTOBER 18 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR

P6

PUNJAB

INDI-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Lucknow, Oct 17: Cities in UttarPradesh are experiencing a sharpdrop in the air quality, caused bya spike in activity due to the fes-tive season and drop in averageday temperatures as winter setsin. Ghaziabad continued to berecording the worst air quality.

Asthma and bronchial patientsare experiencing an increaseddiscomfort and hospitals acrossthe state are witnessing a surgeof patients with respiratory problems.

According to the data publishedSaturday evening, the AQI inAgra turned to 274 from 214 within24 hours, in Baghpat district ofWestern Uttar Pradesh the AQIm ove d t o 3 0 7 f ro m 1 7 6 , i nBulandshahr, it went from 202 to299. Ghaziabad in the NCRrecorded AQI of 349 from 235within 24 hours.

The higher the AQI value, themore polluted the air. An AQIabove 200 is considered poor whilethat above 300 is categorised asvery poor by the CPCB.

Very poor air can have a verysevere adverse impact on healthif exposed to it for long.

Particulate matter 2.5 and 10formed the major air pollutantsin most Uttar Pradesh cities thatcan be caused by increase inhuman activity that occurs dur-ing festivities. Burning of effi-gies also impacts the air qualitybut the impact is local, accord-ing to experts.

The depleting air quality signalstowards setting winters wherethe environment gets dense lim-iting pollutants to disperse. Thisresults in higher AQI.

The average day temperaturea c c o rd i n g t o t h e I n d i aMeteorological Department hasdropped by 2.1 degrees Celsiusin a week.

Ajay Kumar Sharma, membersecretary of the UP PollutionControl Board, said, "We areclosely monitoring the AQI num-bers of Uttar Pradesh cities.Several measures, including fineson polluting industries have beentaken to reduce pollution. Wehave also set in place several strictmeasures to curb air pollutionin the coming days."

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Lucknow, Oct 17: The exodusfrom Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)in Uttar Pradesh continues un-abated. Former state BSP presidentR.S. Kushwaha, Sunday, joinedthe Samajwadi Party in the pres-ence of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.

Former BSP MP Qadir Ramaalso joined the party Sunday.

Two senior BSP leaders LaljiVarma and Ram Achal Rajbhar,who were expelled by Mayawati inJune this year, are also set to jointhe SP later this month at a rally inAmbedkar Nagar. The BSP has al-ready lost seven legislators to the

Samajwadi Party last year duringthe Rajya Sabha biennial electionswhen the party took support fromthe BJP to get its candidate elected.

For mer MLA SigbatullahAnsari, brother of jailed don andlegislator Mukhtar Ansari hasalready joined the SP and the in-dication is that Mukhtar and hiselder brother Azfal Ansari, whois presently a BSP MP, will also fol-low him into the SP.

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Chandigarh, Oct 17: PunjabChief Minister Charanjit SinghChanni Sunday said despite lesstime, all-out efforts would be madeto realise the dreams of peopleby fulfilling the remaining pollpromises.

Reiterating his government'sfirm commitment to ensure ho-listic development and welfare ofall sections of society, he said ju-dicious utilisation of time wouldbe done to achieve the goal forbetterment of the state.

In his address in Hoshiarpurtown, the Chief Minister said thestate was working round the clockto ensure overall development andtimely completion of ongoing in-frastructure works as urban de-velopment is a crucial componentof holistic growth.

All basic amenities will be pro-vided to the people in the urbanareas keeping in view their fu-ture needs, said Channi, addingthere was no dearth of funds forthe same.

Announcing `10 crore forHoshiarpur to be given withinnext few days, he said that thegovernment was already makingbest use of available time so astouch new heights of success andglory as per peoples' aspirations.

The Chief Minister also an-nounced Hoshiarpur would getstate-of-the-art biodiversity andsports park at a cost of `5 crore.He said that the foundation stoneof the park and the upcomingmedical college would be laidshortly.

The classes of the medical col-lege would commence from thenext session. All necessary di-rections have already been issuedto expedite the process for tenderfloating so that its constructioncould be started at the earliest,he added. He also announced afund of ̀ 1 crore for the District BarAssociation for construction ofadvocates' chambers.

Citing that the governmenthas announced a major relief towaive off arrears of electricitybills to more than 52 lakh con-sumers up to 2KW of all sectionsof society, Channi said `1,200crore had been set aside, of which`1 1 c r o r e w a s o f o n l y f o rHoshiarpur consumers.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Amritsar, Oct 17: Shiromani AkaliDal president Sukhbir Singh BadalSunday targeted the Punjab gov-ernment over the extension of theBSF’s jurisdiction, saying the chiefminister should tell ‘why he had ac-quiesced’ to the Centre’s move.

“Chief minister Charanjit SinghChanni should come clean and tellPunjabis why he had acquiesced toextending the jurisdiction of theBSF to cover nearly half of thestate during his meeting with UnionHome Minister Amit Shah re-cently,” Badal told reporters hereafter paying obeisance at BhagwanValmiki Tirath Sthal.

“It is a fact that the chief min-ister met the Union home ministerOctober 5 following which the ju-risdiction of BSF to search, re-cover and arrest was extended over10 districts in the state,” he said.

Punjabis expect decisive actionfrom Channi “to defeat the con-spiracy to establish Central ruleover Punjab through this decisionwhich is also against the principlesof federalism as well as the veryethos of democracy,” said Badal.

He said it was condemnable that“Channi had not reacted to the de-velopment with any concrete actiontill now.”

The Punjab government hadtaken strong exception to the

Centre’s move over on the issue ofextension of the Border SecurityForce’s jurisdiction dubbing it asan ‘attack on federalism’.

“I strongly condemn the GoI's(government of India) unilateral de-cision to give additional powersto BSF within the 50 km belt run-ning along the international bor-ders, which is a direct attack on fed-eralism. I urge the Union HomeMinister @AmitShah to immedi-ately rollback this irrational de-cision,” Channi had tweetedWednesday.

Badal, meanwhile, also targetedthe Congress party "for going in forsymbolism alone in appointing ascheduled caste leader as the chiefminister".

“The leader should have intentto work and the Congress shouldallow him to work also. At pres-ent both these things are missing,”he said.

Replying to a question, Badaltermed the recent lynching incidentnear Singhu border as a barbaricact, having no place in a civilisedsociety.

He sought a free, fair and speedyinvestigation into the entire inci-dent. Badal said if the SAD-BSP gov-ernment is formed in the stateafter the 2022 assembly polls, itwould establish a university in thememory of Maharishi Valmiki inDoaba region of the state.

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Chandigarh, Oct 17: Days aftersharing his concerns with Congressleader Rahul Gandhi, Punjab statepresident Navjot Sidhu Sundaymade public a letter he has writtento party chief Sonia Gandhi, say-ing this is Punjab’s last chance forresurrection and redemption.

In the letter dated October 15,Sidhu talked about mainly on jus-tice in sacrilege cases, state’s drugsmenace, agricultural issues, employment opportunities, sand mining, and welfare of back-ward classes.

“Request you to kindly give mea personal audience to present toyou the Punjab Model with a 13-Point Agenda to be part of theCongress Manifesto for the 2022Assembly elections, which is sep-arate from this by means of itslong-term vision to be implementedover a longer period of time. Havecrafted it through years of con-

sultations with academics, civilsociety, party workers and feed-back from the people of Punjab,”Sidhu wrote.

“I express with a lot of pain inmy heart that this is Punjab’s lastchance for resurrection and re-demption. The issues at Punjab'sheart as understood very well byyou, and signified by the 18-point

agenda given to the last ChiefMinister are equally relevant today.I stood for each point in that agendathrough the responsibility vestedin me of the organization, keepingthe executive under check, to beguardian of Punjab’s rights.”

Saying that Punjab is submergedunder lakhs of crores of debt dueto gross financial mismanage-

ment over the last 25 years anddiversion of public resources mak-ing a few powerful people richand having left the state debt-dis-tressed, he said it has been sup-plemented by seven years of BJPrule discriminating against Punjabwhile paying its financial duessuch as GST payments, rural de-velopment fund payments, post-ma-tric scholarship for ScheduledCastes payments, etc.

Sidhu said, “Subsequently, the in-creasing debt overhead of Punjabhas led to our financial resourcesbeing used for merely paying-off theold debt and interest upon it. While,every year we have to take newdebt to support basic developmentworks, to invest in 60:40 sharedCentral development schemes, pro-viding healthcare, education andinfrastructure needs of the State.”

“Punjab has nearly one lakhgovernment posts vacant. Due tolack of resources, government hir-ings are at lowest wages and con-

tractual, school teachers have towork on probation for four yearson minimum wages. Delays in implementation of the 6th PayCommission by five years are all due to state not having enough resources.”

“Today, I further write to your es-teemed self with priority areasamong the 18-point agenda, 2017campaign and manifesto promisesthat the state government mustdeliver upon. Beginning with theissues for justice of the soul ofPunjab, whose torch-bearer wasour leader Rahul Gandhi Ji, hav-ing left no stone unturned in fightfor justice to Punjab,” he added.

Last week Sidhu met RahulGandhi in Delhi along with seniorparty leaders KC Venugopal andHarish Rawat.

Sidhu resigned as PunjabPradesh Congress Committee pres-ident last month. However, his res-ignation was not accepted by theparty high command.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Oct 17: PriyankaGandhi Vadra will be the face of theCongress’ election campaign inUttar Pradesh, party’s newly-ap-pointed campaign committee chiefPL Punia said Sunday, asserting theAICC general secretary is the mostpopular political figure in the stateat present.

Punia, who Friday was namedas the head of the key 20-memberelection campaign committee ofthe Congress for the UP polls nextyear, noted that very rarely hasthe Congress announced a chiefministerial face and said that nothaving declared one till now will nothamper the party's chances as it al-ready has a personality likePriyanka Gandhi to lead the chargeagainst the BJP.

It is a direct contest between theCongress and the BJP in the UPpolls as both the Samajwadi Partyand the Bahujan Samaj Party have‘fallen behind’ and were ‘not inthe fight anymore’, Punia told PTI.

Punia said Priyanka Gandhihas fought for truth on all issues andwhen the Lakhimpur Kheri inci-dent happened, she immediately left

to meet the family of the victims,and was detained in Sitapur, but re-mained determined in her quest forjustice. He said she was ‘success-ful’ in her struggle and went toLakhimpur Kheri and Bahraichto meet the families of the victims.

Punia said earlier also -- be itSonbhadra, Unnao or Hathras in-cidents -- Priyanka Gandhi hadfought for justice.

“So, the people are impressedby her and currently in the entirestate, no politician is more popu-lar than Priyanka Gandhi. As faras around whom the campaignwill be centred, we are fortunate thatPriyanka Gandhi is available for

(campaigning) all the time,” hesaid. There are always demandsfrom other states for PriyankaGandhi to campaign and hold oneor two meetings, but in UP she isavailable 24X7, Punia said.

“Priyanka Gandhi ji hi humaraek chehra hongi jinke ird-girdpoora election campaign chalega(the election campaign will be re-volve around Priyanka Gandhi),”he said. Punia also said theLakhimpur Kheri incident andjustice for farmers would be im-portant issues in the elections, as-serting that the way the farmerswere ‘trampled upon’, was a con-demnable incident.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Oct 17: The Ram tem-ple in Ayodhya will be built in sucha way that the sun rays will fall onthe idol of Ram Lalla and illumi-nate its sanctum sanctorum onevery Ram Navami, said a memberof the Sri Ram JanmabhoomiTirath Kshetra Trust.

The design will be inspired by the13th century Sun temple at Konarkin Odisha, he said.

Work is underway on a proposalto design the temple in a way thatthe sun rays beautify Ram Lalla’sidol in the sanctum sanctorum onevery Ram Navami and consulta-tion with scientists, astronomersand technologists is going on inthis regard, Kameshwar Choupal,member of the Shri RamJanmabhoomi Teerth KshetraTrust told PTI.

Choupal said, “The Sun templeat Konark in Odisha is an examplewhere the sun rays reach inside thetemple. In such a situation, all the

technical aspects and state-of-the-art technology are being consideredregarding how the rays of the sunreach the sanctum (of Ram temple).”

The member said a committeeconsisting of experts from theNational Institute of BuildingConstruction, including Indian

Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi,IIT Mumbai, and IIT Roorkee, hasbeen formed to focus on the tech-nical aspects related to the con-struction of the temple.

Another senior official of thetrust said, “The construction workof Shri Ram temple is going on ata fast pace. Efforts are being made

(to ensure) that by December 2023,the construction of the sanctumsanctorum should be completedand people can have darshan.”

He informed that the first phaseof foundation has been completed,while the second phase will be overby mid-November.

During the construction of Ram

temple in Ayodhya, several aspects,including geological, geographi-cal and ecological conditions, arebeing taken into consideration, hesaid. Chaupal said according to thegeological classification, UttarPradesh is prone to earthquakes andthere is a river near the templecomplex while the entire area comesunder the Himalayan region.

“From November 15, the work ofconstruction of the plinth (the basepart of the pillar) will also start. Theconstruction of pillars and overheadstructure on the plinth is expectedto start from April 2022,” he said.

Some changes have been madein the earlier model regarding theconstruction of the temple, Chaupalsaid, adding that three floors wouldbe constructed now instead of thetwo planned initially.

Chaupal informed that the tem-ple will have a museum, archivesroom, research centre, auditorium,gaushala, tourist centre, admin-istrative building, yoga centre andother facilities.

Ram temple design will be inspired by Konark Sun temple

Last chance for resurrection: Sidhu writes to Sonia SAD chief targets Pbgovt over extensionof BSF’s jurisdiction

The Central government has amended the BSF Act toauthorise the force to undertake search, seizure andarrest within a larger 50 km stretch, instead of the

existing 15 km, from the international border in Punjab,West Bengal and Assam

Priyanka to be face of Cong campaign in UP

Govt bound to fulfillpromises despite limited time: Channi

EXODUS FROM BSPCONTINUES IN UP

Commuters wade through a water-logged road amid heavy rain in Moradabad, Sunday. PTI PHOTO

COMMUTING WOES

Air quality in UP nosedives,Ghaziabad records the worst

Two senior BSP leaderswho were expelled byMayawati are also set tojoin the SP this month

P7

nationalMONDAY | OCTOBER 18 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR

The party highcommand will

decide on its chiefminister after winning the2023 assembly polls inKarnataka and whoeverthey name, everyone willabide by itSIDDARAMAIAH | CONGRESS LEADER

The recently concluded Dasarafestivities followed by the weekend haveproved to be a boost for the tourismsector in Karnataka. Amid the fears ofCovid-19, a record number of peoplehave visited Mysuru to witness historicalDasara festivities in the last 10 days

DASARA BEATS COVID FEARS

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The Centre willprovide allpossible

assistance to thepeople of Kerala whohave been affectedby heavy rains andresulting floods

AMIT SHAH | UNION HOME MINISTER

of theday uote

Such incidents,wherever in theworld it might

be, is matter of greatsorrow. I have fullconfidence on theBangladeshgovernment and Prime MinisterSheikh Hasina. I am sure she willtake appropriate action against suchacts of fundamentalism

BIPLAB KUMAR DEB | TRIPURA CM

Ensuringhappiness andprosperity in

the life of everyneedy person isPrime MinisterNarendra Modi'smission

MUKHTAR ABBAS NAQVI | UNION MINISTER

Four babies die Raipur: Four newborn babiesdied at a government medicalcollege and hospital inChhattisgarh's Surguja districtin the last two days, promptingthe state government to callan emergency meeting ofofficials. Hospital authorities,however, said there wasnothing “unusual” about thesedeaths and that these babiesdied due to birth-relatedcomplications. The deathsoccurred at the GovernmentMedical College AffiliatedHospital (GMCH), Ambikapur,the district headquarter of theSurguja district, locatedaround 300 km away fromRaipur, officials said.

Girl rescued New Delhi: A minor girl, whowas sold for Rs 60,000, wasrescued by Delhi Police fromSikar in Rajasthan. The 15-year-old girl, resident ofHaidar Pur, Delhi, wasreported missing sinceSeptember 16 and a complaintwas registered in this regard,police said Sunday. As thecops began probe, it wasfound that the minor girl wasin regular contact with a localboy named Neeraj Sonkar.Further probe revealed thatNeeraj and one Muskan,resident of Rohini had takenthe victim to the house oftheir third associate, Sheetalin Agra, Uttar Pradesh.

Elephant founddead in AssamGuwahati: An elephant hasbeen found dead in a paddyfield in Assam's Goalparadistrict. The six-year-oldelephant was found dead in apaddy field at Shantiparaunder the jurisdiction ofKanyakuchi Reserve Forest onFriday, a forest departmentrelease said. Observing thatthe elephant might havesuccumbed to a natural cause,Divisional Forest Officer (DFO),Jitendra Kumar, said the exactreason behind the animal'sdeath can be ascertained afterpost-mortem examination.

Pilot’s bodyrecovered Jammu: The body of a co-pilotof an Army helicopter thatcrashed and sank into RanjitSagar Dam in August wasrecovered from the water bodyin Kathua district of Jammu andKashmir Sunday, ending nearlytwo-and-a-half-month-longsearch for him, officials said.The mortal remains of CaptainJayant Joshi were fished outfrom the dam around 2 pm inone of the longest searchoperations in recent history andwere later taken to Pathankotmilitary station, a police officialsaid. The Army aviationsquadron's Rudra helicopterhad taken off from Mamunmilitary station near Pathankotand crashed into the lake duringa routine sortie on August 3.

SHORT TAKES

Tourists wearing raincoats take a stroll in the rain at the Ridge, in Shimla PTI PHOTO

RAIN FUN

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Misamari (Tezpur), Oct 17: Indiahas significantly cranked up itsday and night surveillance at theLine of Actual Control (LAC) inthe Arunachal Pradesh sector usinga fleet of remotely piloted aircraftand other assets as part of a broadstrategy to strengthen overall mil-itary preparedness to deal withany Chinese misadventure, peoplefamiliar with the developmentssaid Sunday.

As tensions boiled over betweenthe two countries following theGalwan Valley clashes last year,India ramped up its overall de-ployment along the nearly 3,400-km-long LAC besides speeding upinfrastructure development to gaina tactical advantage.

The people cited above said asizeable fleet of Israeli-made Heronmedium-altitude long-endurancedrones is carrying out round-the-clock surveillance over the LACin the mountainous terrain andsending crucial data and images tocommand and control centres.

Along with the drones, the IndianArmy's aviation wing has also beendeploying the Weapon SystemIntegrated (WSI) variant of theAdvanced Light Helicopter Rudrain the region, adding more teeth toits tactical missions in the region,

they said. In an expansion of its avi-ation wing in the region, the Armyhas come out with an independ-ent aviation brigade in the regionthis year to bolster its overall op-erational preparedness in the sen-sitive region, they said.

They said though the Herondrones were first deployed in theregion around four-five years back,now the integration of surveil-lance has been significantly en-hanced under the 'sensor to shooter'concept to employ military forcesat short notice for any possible op-erational objectives.

The deployment of the WSI ver-sion of the ALH helicopters hasalso provided the Army an added ad-vantage to carry out various mis-sions in the high-altitude areas.Asked about the weapons packageof the ALH helicopters, they re-fused to divulge the details but saidit is one of the best and would be veryeffective against the adversary.

"Overall, our day and night sur-veillance capability has seen mas-sive upgrades since last year and weare in a much better position todeal with any eventualities in theregion," said one of the people citedabove. The Indian Army is alsoprocuring a fleet of Heron TP droneson lease from Israel that are capa-ble of operating for nearly 45 hoursat an altitude of up to 35,000 feet.

INDIA RAMPS UPSURVEILLANCE

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Bhopal, Oct 17: A speeding carrammed into a Durga idol im-mersion procession in the MadhyaPradesh capital, leaving four per-sons, including a head constable,injured, police said Sunday.

Police have arrested the driverand seized the car, a senior officersaid. The incident occurred on theroad outside the Bhopal railwaystation on late Saturday night whenthe procession was moving for-ward, Bajaria police station in-charge Umesh Yadav said.

Three persons were injured andone of them sustained serious in-juries and undergoing treatment ata hospital, he said. The car alsohit an on-duty police head consta-ble, who sustained minor injuriesto his leg, he said.

Yadav said after the car rammedinto the procession people startedshouting to get hold of the cardriver, who panicked and fled by re-versing the car speedily. He said acase was registered.

Deputy Inspector General ofPolice (DIG) Irshad Wali saidSunday afternoon that the car in-volved in the incident was seizedand its driver arrested. The dri-ver's interrogation is underway,he said but refused to elaborate.

Wali said the injured person,undergoing treatment at a hospi-tal, is out of danger and stable.

He sustained injuries that are not serious, Wali said citing a hos-pital doctor.

Car drives intocrowd, 4 hurt

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi, Oct 17: Twin broth-ers, both 14-year-olds, died afteraccidentally falling from theirbalcony on the 25th floor, nearhere in Ghaziabad, an officialsaid here Sunday.

The official said that the inci-dent occurred at around 1 a.m. inthe night. Apart from the twochildren, their mother was alsopresent in the house located inPrateek Grand Society, SiddharthVihar in Ghaziabad.

"We received the informationabout the incident at around 1.05a.m. after which a team of cops wasrushed to the spot," the officialsaid. The deceased identified as -- Satya Narayan and SuryaNarayan -- were studying in the 9thstandard and were from Chennai.

The police official informedthat their mother had gone totheir room at around 12 a.m. andasked them to sleep early, however,both the brothers insisted on see-ing the moon first. "After that,she went to her room and some-time later there was a thud whichwoke her up and she rushed to herkids' room," the official said whereshe saw that both her kids havefallen from the balcony. The policehave begun an investigation andsent the body of deceased broth-ers for post-mortem.

When asked about any suicideangle, in this case, the officialsaid that it is too soon to com-ment on this and they are await-ing the post-mortem report."Further probe is on," he added.

Twins fall to deathfrom 25th floor

Singhu border lynching: 3 sent to police remand CHANDIGARH: Three people allegedly involved in the lynching of a labourerat a farmers' protest site near Singhu border were remanded to six days inpolice custody Sunday as the Haryana Police set up two Special InvestigationTeams to probe the incident. So far, four people have been arrested inconnection with the gruesome killing. Narain Singh, a member of the Sikhs'Nihang order, was arrested Saturday from near Amritsar. Two more Nihangs,Govindpreet Singh and Bhagwant Singh from Fatehgarh Sahib, "surrendered"on the same day before the Sonipat Police in connection with the lynching.The three accused were produced before a court in Sonipat which remandedthem to six days in police custody. The police sought remand of the accusedon the ground that they have to reconstruct the scene of the crime, recoverweapons and clothes of the accused, besides interrogating them in detailabout the entire incident. One SIT headed by IPS officer Mayank Gupta, whois the Assistant Superintendent of Police, Kharkhoda, Sonipat, will investigatethe videos of the incident which were circulating on social media.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Oct 17: The govern-ment will take a final decision onvaccinating children and adoles-cents against coronavirus on thebasis of overall scientific rationaleas well as the supply situation ofvaccines available for those below18 years old, COVID Task Forcechief V K Paul said Sunday.

Paul, who has been playing akey role in the government's ef-forts in the fight against the coro-navirus pandemic, also cautionedthat even though infections arecoming down and the second waveis subsiding, it will not be fair nowto say that the worst is over sincemany countries have seen morethan two waves.

Currently, three vaccines --Covishield, Covaxin and SputnikV -- being administered in the coun-try are only for those above 18years of age. All of them are two-dose vaccines.

Zydus Cadila's indigenouslydeveloped needle-free COVID-19vaccine ZyCoV-D is set to becomethe first vaccine that will be avail-able in India for those in the agegroup of 12-18 years. It has re-c eived E m erg en cy Us eAuthorisation (EUA).

"We do know that several coun-tries have introduced vaccinationfor adolescents (people) and chil-

dren. We will take a final decisionbased on the overall scientific ra-tionale and the supply situationof the child licenced vaccines,going forward," Paul said in an in-terview.

An expert panel of India's cen-tral drug authority has recom-mended granting EUA to BharatBiotech's Covaxin for children andadolescents in the 2-18 years age

group with certain conditions. If approved by the Drugs

Controller General of India (DCGI),it will be the second vaccine afterZyCoV-D to get EUA for use amongthose below 18 years. The NationalTechnical Advisory Group onImmunisation (NTAGI) is lookingat how ZyCov-D should be posi-

tioned for most optimum use. According to Paul, Covaxin is a

part of the adult vaccination pro-gramme and how to provision thevaccine, if at all for children, hasto be also examined in the totalityof the requirements of the vacci-nation programme. "A pragmaticdecision (on vaccination of childrenand adolescents) can be taken (only)by balancing the supply and the po-tential eligibility," he said.

While noting it will not be pos-sible now to give a particular time-line on when COVID vaccinationwill start for children, Paul said,"The preparation for incorpora-tion of Zydus Cadila's vaccine intothe vaccination programme is pro-ceeding well, training is alreadybeing held. NTAGI advice for thebest use of the vaccine is explored.So soon, this will be rolled out".

According to Paul, children arepart and parcel of the chains ofCOVID transmission and are in-fected in large numbers.

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Mumbai, Oct 17: Notching anachievement, Mumbai Sunday re-ported zero Covid-19 deaths, forthe first time since March 26, 2020,when the Covid-19 pandemicgripped the city in a big way.

Tourism Minister AdityaThackeray, who is one of theGuardian Ministers of Mumbai,hailed the development as "goodnews" after nearly 20 months. "Keepthe mask on the face and get your-self vaccinated if you haven't yet!Help us keep Mumbai safe. We arehere to serve you!" he exhortedMumbaikars in tweets Sundayevening.

The city also recorded 367 newcases, while 518 fully recovered pa-tients went home Sunday, heart-ening the city health authorities.Presently, 5,030 active cases stillremain in the city as the harriedhealth authorities heave a sigh ofrelief over the nil fatalities.

However, Covid-19 scarred the

country's commercial capital con-siderably with 751,293 total in-fections till date and 16,180 deaths,

the highest in the country.Presently, the city's doubling ratehas increased to 1,214 days, witha recovery rate as high as 97 percent now.

Currently, there are no con-tainment zones in the city's chawlsor slums, but only 50 residentialbuildings remain under seal now,a major improvement over thetense days during the deadly firstand second waves of Covid whenthese figures ran into thousands.

COVID Task Force chief VK Paul,who has been playing a key role

in the government's efforts in thefight against the coronavirus pan-demic, also cautioned that eventhough infections are coming downand the second wave is subsiding, itwill not be fair now to say that theworst is over since many countrieshave seen more than two waves

An expert panel of India's centraldrug authority has recommend-

ed granting EUA to Bharat Biotech'sCovaxin for children and adolescentsin the 2-18 years age group with cer-tain conditions

Vaccine decision to be based on scientific rationale: Paul

Mumbai reports no Covid death

WHY FARMERS ARE SO ANGRY?ADITYA PRATAP SWAIN

F or the last few days there isunprecedented anger amongthe farmers of India which

is manifested at Lakhimpur Kheri,an obscure part of Uttar Pradesh,where four farmers were moweddown allegedly by the son of thecurrent BJP MP of the area, whois also Union Minister of Statefor Home Affairs, and subsequentretributive justice in which fourmore people were killed. The mat-ter is being investigated and issub-judice, so it will be improperto comment on the case itself. Butthis event has sparked off a bitterface off of the farmers againstthe BJP governments at the Centreand in Uttar Pradesh. It is un-derstandable that all the non-BJPparties have jumped into the band-wagon to make it an electionagenda for the UP election, to beheld in a few months hence.

The farmers’ agitation has beenon for more than ten months now.One should ponder why so many

farmers are on the streets and whatare they protesting against. Manymay also wonder why the govern-ment has suspended talks withthem for the last eight months. Inorder to understand all these, oneshould understand the new BJPbrand of politics helmed by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi and UnionHome Minister Amit Shah.

The farmers’ protest took off inPunjab almost immediately whenthree farm ordinances were prom-ulgated in June 2020 at the peak ofthe pandemic and later writteninto law. Without going into themerits and demerits of these laws,we should understand how the gov-ernment reacted to the farmers’protest initially and why it almostabandoned the talks.

Started by the farmers of Punjab,the protest moved to the Delhi bor-der in late November 2020 withhoards braving police batons andwater cannons during peak win-ter. When they were not allowed toenter Delhi or the government didnot agree to their demand to allow

them to protest in either RamlilaMaidan or Jantar Mantar, the farm-ers made the borders their newprotest sites and sat on roads sur-rounding Delhi. Later, many farm-ers from Rajasthan, Haryana,Western Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhandand other states joined the earliergroup of agitating farmers.

Clearly, farmers are a huge con-stituency for any political partyand no party worth its salt can ig-nore them. So the government en-tered into several rounds of nego-tiations but both sides stuck totheir ground. Then the nation wit-

nessed the chaos at Red Fort onRepublic Day, 26 January of 2021.After that there was no word fromthe government for talks and thereis also no sign of farmers relenting.

Now everybody is asking why thegovernment is not talking to thefarmers for more than eightmonths. Is the party in power notscared of the farmers’ vote bank?Here it is important to understandthe brand of politics that BJP hasmastered under the current dis-pensation. First, the governmentpanicked with the scene of hugeprotest splashed on TV screensand took some effort to have ne-gotiations. But by Republic Day,they realised that the protest islimited mainly to Punjab wherethey don’t have a stake, in parts ofHaryana and a small part ofWestern Uttar Pradesh. There wasnot much murmur from farmersin other parts of the country.Encouraged by this, the BJP gov-ernment did what it does best.Defame the farmers by callingthem ‘muthibhar kisan’ ,

‘Khalistanis’, terrorists and suchwords through their propagandamachinery. Another strategy ofthe current leadership was to pitpeople against farmers and hopedthat anger from the people whoare inconvenienced will rise againstthe agitating farmers surround-ing Delhi.

The farmers have stood againsta recalcitrant weather and theyare still going strong. If not foranything else, one should ac-knowledge the resilience of thefarmers. Never in IndependentIndia have so many people agitatedfor so long continuously.

Irrespective of what lies aheadfor the agitating farmers, one cansafely say that the present gov-ernment is not kind to agitation ofany kind, in any form, by anyone.This can be seen from the sheernumber of cases hoisted upon ag-itators ranging from students to ac-tivists to social workers to politi-cians and even performing artistesunder the stringent UAPA. Perhaps,the farmers are fortunate enough

to have escaped this draconianlaw till now. Speaking at an eventcommemorating the 109th birthanniversary of late ViswanathPasayat 10 October, 2021 retiredSupreme Court Judge JusticeRohinton Nariman implored theSupreme Court to rescind IPCSection 124A (Sedition) and theoffending portions of the con-tentious Unlawful Activities(Prevention) Act (UAPA). In hiswords: “There is a chilling effecton free speech. If you are book-ing persons, including journal-ists, under these laws that comewith large sentences and no an-ticipatory bail, people would notspeak their mind.”

But realistically, nobody expectsthat the current dispensation willlet go the draconian provisions inthe law. The ongoing farmers’ ag-itation and the apathy of the Centralgovernment towards them can beunderstood in this light.

The writer is a Supreme Courtadvocate. Views are personal

The farmers’ protesttook off in Punjab almostimmediately when threefarm ordinances werepromulgated in June2020 at the peak of thepandemic and later written into law

Tourism Minister AdityaThackeray, who is one of the

Guardian Ministers of Mumbai,hailed the development as"good news" after nearly 20months

The city also recorded 367new cases, while 518 fully

recovered patients went homeSunday, heartening the cityhealth authorities

P8MONDAY | OCTOBER 18 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR

I implore you, please,to abandon the pathof violence, which isalways a losing one,is a defeat for all

POPE FRANCIS

China’s National Health Commission haswarned of a potential “twindemic” thiswinter and it stresses influenzaprevention as flu activity in the southernprovinces has increased since Septemberwith the flu season approaching and theremaining high risk of imported Covid-19infections, Global Times reported

SHOCKING REPORT

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international

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Moscow, Oct 17: A Soyuz space cap-sule carrying a cosmonaut andtwo Russian filmmakers has landedafter a 3 1/2-hour trip from theInternational Space Station.

The capsule, descending undera red-and-white striped parachuteafter entering Earth's atmosphere,

landed upright in the steppes ofKazakhstan on schedule at 0435GMT Sunday with Oleg Novitskiy,Yulia Peresild and Klim Shipenkoaboard. Actress Peresild and filmdirector Shipenko rocketed to thespace station October 5 for a 12-day stint to film segments of amovie titled “Challenge,” in whicha surgeon played by Peresild rushes

to the space station to save a crewmember who needs an urgent op-eration in orbit. Novitskiy, who

spent more than six months aboardthe space station, is to star as theailing cosmonaut in the movie.

After the landing, which sentplumes of dust flying high in theair, ground crews extracted thethree space flyers from the cap-sule and placed them in seats setup nearby as they adjusted to thepull of gravity.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Dhaka, Oct 17: A Hindu temple hasbeen valdalised in Bangladesh ina fresh case of communal unrestamidst days of violence unleashedby unidentified Muslim bigots whoattacked the minority community'splaces of worship during the DurgaPuja celebrations over alleged blas-phemy, prompting a minority groupto announce a countrywide hungerstrike, media reports said Sunday.

Hindu-owned temples and shopsin Feni, about 157 kms from thecountry's capital, have been van-dalised and robbed during freshclashes Saturday which broke outafter an attack on demonstratorswho were protesting against the at-tacks on Durga Puja venues in sev-eral places in Bangladesh, theDhaka Tribune newspaper re-

ported.The clashes left at least 40 peo-

ple, including the Officer In-chargeNizamuddin of Feni Model PoliceStation, injured in the clashes, itsaid. On Saturday night, authori-ties deployed additional policeforces and the paramilitary force-- Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB),after several temples and busi-nesses owned by Hindus were van-dalised and robbed during clashesthat lasted from 4:30 PM (localtime) to midnight, the report said.

The report said that some mis-creants Saturday vandalised sixidols at the Daniapara MahaShoshan Kali Mandir in Rashuniaunion of Sirajdikhan upazila inMunshiganj, about 40 kms fromhere. It said that protests againstattacks and vandalism on Hindutemples during the Durga Puja cel-ebrations continued across thecountry Saturday, as did the van-dalism that led to the public outcry.

Meanwhile in the country's south-eastern port city of Chittagong,the Bangladesh Hindu BuddhistChristian Unity Council announceda sit-in and hunger strike fromOctober 23 in protest against the at-tacks during the Durga Puja cele-brations.

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Islamabad/New Delhi, Oct 17:Pakistans National Transm issionand Despatch Company (NTDC)has blacklisted a Chinese firm andbarred it from participating in alltenders process for a month, Dawn reported.

The state-owned subsidiary of theMinistry of Energ y (PowerDivision) blacklisted the firm overallegations of preparing and sub-mitting forged documents to the de-partment concerned during thebidding of a project , Dawn has learnt.

"(The Chinese firm) is herebyblacklisted and barred from par-ticipating in all NTDC bidding/ten-der process with immediate effectfor a period of one month on ac-count of submitting forged andfake documents," reads a letter is-sued a couple of days ago from theoffice of the NTDC general manager.

"However, this office order willhave a prospective effect in termshereof and shall not be applicable

on the existing contracts underexecution (if any)," the letter, titled‘Blacklisting of the Chinese Firmfor procurement of insulator hard-ware assemblies. Copies of the let-ter have also been sent to the NTDCmanaging director (MD), chair-men of the Water and Power andDevelopment Authority andPakistan Engineering Council, theMDs of National EngineeringServices Pakistan and PublicProcurement Re g ul ator yAuthority, the Central PowerPurchasing Agency-Guaranteechief operating officer (CEO) aswell as the CEOs of all power distribution companies.

AGENCIES

Tel Aviv, Oct 17:Describing Israelas one of India’s “most trusted andinnovative partners”, ExternalAffairs Minister S JaishankarSunday urged Israeli business,including from the defence sector, to invest in the country andtake advantage of its business-friendly policies.

Speaking at the India-IsraelBusiness Roundtable soon after hisarrival in Israel on his maidenvisit, Jaishankar said there is anenormous effort of change hap-pening in India since NarendraModi took office and people haveheard bits and pieces of that change.“If you were to connect all those dots,I think, you get a picture of anIndia that is moving towards ac-quiring those deeper strengthswhich will make it more competi-

tive in terms of the world econ-omy. And that to you is of interestbecause from those deeper strengthswill come new opportunities and I'll

speak about some of them,” he toldthe gathering. While this change hasbeen going on for a few years andduring the last two years of theCovid-19 pandemic when peoplehave not been in touch physically,interestingly the change processhas accelerated, he said.

“We have had some really big re-forms, some of them might be of in-terest to you. One is called 'pro-duction linked incentive', which isto attract manufacturing to Indiafrom the birth so that anybody whois bringing in new production ca-pacities and delivering on it is in-centivised appropriately. Now thishas covered 13 sectors so far. Andmany of them are exactly the sec-tors which some of you are inter-ested in including batteries, elec-tronics et al,” he said. Later, hetweeted that a “productive meet-ing with Israeli chambers of com-merce and the innovation ecosys-tem.” During his visit, Jaishankar

would call on President IsaacHerzog, Prime Minister NaftaliBennett and Foreign Minister YairLapid. He will also be holding talkswith leading academics from allover Israel, business communityleaders and interacting with theIndian Jewish community.Jaishankar will also be visitingplaces of historical significance toIndia, demonstrating its long-termpresence in the region and con-structive role played in shapingthe history of the region. Indiaand Israel elevated bilateral rela-tions to a strategic partnership dur-ing the historic visit of PM NarendraModi to Israel in July 2017. Sincethen, the relationship between thetwo countries has focused on ex-panding knowledge-based part-nership, which includes collabo-ration in innovation and research,including boosting the ‘Make inIndia’ initiative, the Ministry ofExternal Affairs said .

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Kabul, Oct 17: Afghan teenagerAmena saw dozens of classmateskilled when her girls' school was targeted by an ISIS bomb attack inMay, but she was determined tocontinue her education.

Now, like most secondary schoolgirls in the country, she is bannedfrom lessons altogether after theTaliban's hardline regime excludedthem from returning to class one month ago.

“I wanted to study, see my friends and have a bright future, butnow I am not allowed,” 16-year-oldAmena told AFP at her home in western Kabul.

“This situation makes me feelawful. Since the Taliban arrived, I am very sad and angry.”

On September 18, Afghanistan'snew Islamist rulers ordered maleteachers and boys aged 13 and overback to secondary schools, pick-ing up an academic year already cutshor t by violence and the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, there was no mentionof women teachers or girl pupils.The Taliban later said older girlscan return to secondary schools,which were already mostly splitby gender, but only once securityand stricter segregation undertheir interpretation of Islamic lawcould be ensured.

Reports have emerged of girlsgoing back to a few high schools --such as in Kunduz province wherethe Taliban promoted the returnwith a stage-managed rally.

A Taliban leader told the UNchildren’s body that a frameworkto allow all girls to go to second-ary school will be announced soon,a senior UNICEF executive said Friday.

But for now, the vast majorityare barred from lessons across thecountry of about 39 million peo-ple, including in the capital Kabul.Primary schools, meanwhile, havereopened for all children and womencan go to private universities, thoughwith tough restrictions on their

clothes and movement.‘NO HOPE’

Amena lives just a short walk fromher Sayed Al-Shuhada High School,where 85 people -- mainly young girls-- perished in the May bomb attack."Innocent girls were killed," Amenasaid, her eyes welling up."I saw withmy own eyes the dying andwounded girls. However, I stillwanted to go to school again."Amena would be in Grade 10 study-ing her favourite subjects such asbiology, but instead is stuck insidewith a handful of books doing"nothing special".

The teenager said she dreamtof becoming a journalist, but nowhas "no hope in Afghanistan".

Imran Khanwants to a savethe person,

who was stealingelections and ballotboxes for him; whowas oppressing hisopponents; blackmailing judges toget favourable decisions; abductingjournalists; and pulling the plug on(TV) channels

MARYAM NAWAZ | VICE PRESIDENT

OF THE PML-N

of theday uote

The chief of theUN nuclearwatchdog has

vowed to continueclose consultationswith South Korea andother nations overJapan's plan to discharge radioactivewater from its crippled Fukushimanuclear power plant into the ocean

RAFAEL GROSSI | DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE

INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY

The judiciaryshould be freeof political

interference andsectarian activismamid tensions over aprobe into last year'sblast at Beirut port

BECHARA BOUTROS AL-RAI | LEBANON’S TOP

CHRISTIAN CLERIC

Bill Clinton releasedfrom hospitalOrange (US): Bill Clinton wasreleased Sunday from theSouthern California hospitalwhere he had been treated foran infection. The ex- Presidentwas released around 8 a.M.From the University of CaliforniaIrvine Medical Center. Clinton,75, was admitted Tuesday tothe hospital southeast of LosAngeles with an infectionunrelated to Covid-19, officialssaid. Clinton spokesman AngelUreña had said that Clintonwould remain hospitalised onemore night to receive furtherintravenous antibiotics.

Russia sees highestdaily Covid-19 cases Moscow: Russia is reportingits largest daily number ofnew coronavirus infections,more than 70% up on thenumber a month ago as thecountry faces a sustained risein cases. The nationalcoronavirus task force Sundaysaid 34,303 new infectionswere recorded in the previousday, compared with the 20,174reported September 19.

China launchesN-capable missileBeijing: China has tested anew space capability with ahypersonic missile, reportsaid. The report, citing multiplesources familiar with the test,said Beijing in August launcheda nuclear-capable missile thatcircled the Earth at low orbitbefore descending toward itstarget, which three sourcessaid it missed by over 32kilometers. FT sources saidthe hypersonic glide vehicle wascarried by a Long March rocket,launches of which it usuallyannounces, though the Augusttest was kept under wraps.

17 missionarieskidnapped in Haiti San Juan (US): A group of 17 US missionaries,including children, werekidnapped by a gang in HaitiSaturday, according to a voicemessage sent to variousreligious missions by anorganization with directknowledge of the incident.The missionaries were ontheir way home from buildingan orphanage, according to amessage from Ohio-basedChristian Aid Ministries.

7 killed in house fire Lahore: Seven members of afamily were killed in a fire thaterupted in their house locatedin Muzaffargarh district ofPakistan's Punjab provinceSunday, local officials said.

SHORT TAKES

Afghan girls want to return to school amid Taliban ruleTHE VAST MAJORITY OF AFGHAN GIRLS CONTINUE TO BE BARRED FROM ATTENDING SECONDARY SCHOOL FOLLOWING THE TALIBAN

TAKEOVER OF AFGHANISTAN, LEADING SEVERAL TEENAGE GIRLS TO FEEL THEIR DREAMS AND PLANS FOR THE FUTURE HAVE BEEN “BURIED”

Afghan girls attend a class REUTERS FILE PHOTO

Planes perform aerobatics during Hammond Northshore Regional Airshow, Hammond, Louisiana, the United States. Hammond Northshore Regional Airshow,which was canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, kicked off again in Hammond October 16 UNI PHOTO

TOUCHING THE SKY

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Colombo, Oct 17: Sri Lanka hassought a $500 million credit linefrom India to pay for its crude oilpurchases amid a severe foreign ex-change crisis in the island nation.

The move came few days after en-ergy minister Udaya Gammanpilawarned that the current avail-ability of fuel in the country canbe guaranteed only till next January.

The state-run Ceylon PetroleumCorporation (CPC) owes nearly$3.3 billion to the two main gov-ernment banks -- Bank of Ceylonand People’s Bank. The state oildistributors import crude fromthe Middle East and refined prod-ucts from other areas, including Singapore.

“We are currently engaged withthe Indian High Commission hereto obtain the facility ($500 millioncredit line) under the India-SriLanka economic partnershiparrangement,” CPC ChairmanSumith Wijesinghe was quoted assaying by local news website newsfirst.Lk.

He said the facility would beutilised for purchasing petrol anddiesel requirements.

The energy secretaries of bothIndia and Lanka are expected to signan agreement for the loan soon,the report quoted Finance SecretaryS R Attygalle as saying.

SL seeks $500mnloan from Indiafor fuel purchase

JAISHANKAR IN ISRAEL

New chapter begins inIndia-Israel relations

Pak blacklistsChinese firm

Jaishankar visited the Indian Cemetery at Talpiot in Jerusalem. Paid homage tothe brave Indian soldiers who made the supreme sacrifie during World War I

THIS IS JAISHANKAR'S FIRSTVISIT TO THE COUNTRY AS THEEXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER

JAISHANKAR BEGAN HIS VISITBY LAYING WREATH AT ACEMETERY FOR INDIAN

SOLDIERS WHO LAID DOWNTHEIR LIVES IN THE REGION

DURING THE WORLD WAR I INTALPIOT, JERUSALEM

ABOUT 900 INDIAN SOLDIERSARE INTERRED IN CEMETERIESACROSS ISRAEL IN JERUSALEM,

RAMLE AND HAIFA

Minorities call for countrywide strike

BANGLA DURGA PUJA VIOLENCE

Police clash with Muslim devoteesduring protest PTI FILE PHOTO

Russian filmmakers back after space shoot

Venezuelan govt suspends negotiations with OppnMiami: Venezuela's government said Saturday it would halt negotiations withthe country's opposition in retaliation for the extradition to the US of a closeally of President Nicolás Maduro wanted on money laundering charges. JorgeRodríguez, who has been heading the government's delegation in talks thatstarted in August, said his team wouldn't travel to Mexico City for the nextscheduled round of talks with his U.S.-backed opponents, although hestopped short of saying the government was abandoning the talksaltogether. The announcement came hours after businessman Alex Saab wasput on a US-bound plane in Cape Verde after failing in a 16-month fight toprevent his extradition to face money laundering charges in Miami. Saabwas arrested in the African archipelago while making a stop on the way toIran for what Maduro's government later described as a diplomatichumanitarian mission. Rodriguez, standing in front of a giant sign reading“Free Alex Saab,” called his arrest an illegal “aggression” by the US, whichhas been pushing for years for Maduro's removal.

PTI PHOTO

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Dubai, Oct 17: India is revising itsexisting policies and is also in theprocess of bringing in new ones toincrease industry participation inthe space sector, Indian SpaceResearch Organisation (ISRO)Chairman Dr said Sunday.

Sivan, who is Secretary,Department of Space, said this,via a video message during the in-augural session on ‘Future of Space-International Participations andCollaborations’ at The India

Pavilion, Expo 2020 Dubai.He emphasised that the recent

reforms in the sector has ensuredthat the role of the private sectorhas evolved from being just sup-pliers to partners in the process. He

also highlightedthat space is one ofthe significant areasthat India is look-ing at for international cooperation.

“I hope space cooperation will fur-

ther strengthen with commercialand technological collabora-

tions,” said Sivan, adding thatIndian industry has to play

a big role in the space sec-tor globally.

India is planning toboost the space sector inthe global market. With

an aim to make the coun-try an economic space hub

in the future, it also recentlylaunched a new industry body,

the Indian Space Association (ISpA).Sivan said that the government

is open to inviting private playersin the space sector and ISRO istying up with start-ups and in-dustries. In the recent past, theISRO has also joined hands with NitiAayog, and Department forPromotion of Industry and InternalTrade (DPIIT) to encourage spacestart-ups in the country.

However, Sivan emphasised onthe need to make outer space safeand that it is a collective respon-sibility of the government andnon-government agencies to en-sure that.

Afew months ago, IRDAlaunched BharatGriha Raksha, which

is basically a standardizedhome insurance policy thatoffers wide coverage for yourhome. Let’s spare a few min-utes to understand aboutthis product.

Bharat Griha Raksha pro-vides coverage to the build-ing, that is the structure ofyour home along with thecontents inside your home.The unique element of thepolicy is that structures likeverandah, parking space,water tank, internal roads,garage, outhouse, perma-nent fittings, and fixturesare also covered in the policy.

The general contents in-side your home are auto-matically covered up to 20%of the sum insured by thehome’s building, this is sub-

ject to a maximum limit ofINR 10 lakh. So, to give youan example, if your homebuilding is insured for INR40 lakh, your home contentwill be covered till the limitof INR 8 lakh. You have theoption to increase this sumby declaring the particu-lars, and this amount willbecome Sum Insured forcontents.

PersonalAccident providescover in the un-fortunate situa-tion of thedeath of the in-sured or theirspouse due tothe insuredrisks thathave dam-aged thebuilding orcontent of

your home. The compensa-tion amount is INR 5,00,000

per person. Underthe cover for valu-

able contents,you can insureprecious be-longings likejewellery, work

of art, silver-ware,

besides other things. The policy provides de-

fault cover against follow-ing unforeseen events : Fire,explosion or implosion, nat-ural calamities (earthquake,floods and others), impactdamage, malicious damages,

fires, missile testing opera-tions, terrorism, leakagefrom automatic sprinklerinstallations, bursting oroverflowing of water tanks,apparatus and pipes andtheft (within 7 days of andcaused due to the occurrenceof aforementioned events).Who can buy the cover?

If you are the owner, land-lord, or tenant and the build-ing is used for residentialpurpose you are eligible tobuy the policy.

Please note, if you areusing the said property fora purpose other than resid-ing, you are not eligible tobuy Griha Raksha, in thatscenario you are advised tolook for the appropriate coveras per the purpose for whichthe property is being used.

Considering the inflationinto account, the policy also

has a feature of auto-esca-lation for long-term policies.The escalation will apply atthe rate of 10% per annumon the straight-line methodfor a maximum to 100% ofthe initial sum insured. Forexample, if the initial suminsured is INR 20 lakh, itwill increase to INR 22 lakhafter the first year, to INR 24lakh in the second year, andso on without any additionalpremium. Even under an-nual policy, the sum insuredshall automatically increaseeach day by an amount rep-resenting 1/365th of 10% ofSum Insured at the policycommencement date.

Overall, Bharat GrihaRaksha is a comprehensiveand simplified product; theregulator has encouragedinsurers to enhance the prod-uct with help of add-ons.

The policy offers twooptional covers: Personalaccident cover and Cover

for valuable contents on anagreed value basis.

One of the highlights of theproduct is that you can buythe policy for up to 10 years

Another unique feature of the policy is thatunderinsurance does not

apply in this policy

P9

businessMONDAY | OCTOBER 18 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR

We are talking abouta company which will

be there for many years, whichwill specialise in handlingsurplus land and non-coreasset monetisation. We areexpecting it shortly. As soon aswe get Cabinet approval TUHIN KANTA PANDEY | DIPAM SECRETARY

Civil aviation minister JyotiradityaScindia virtually flagged off SpiceJet’sflight on the Delhi-Tirupati route Sunday,the airline said. The airline will operatethe flight three times a week till October31, according to its statement

AVIATION MINISTER FLAGS OFFSPICEJET’S DELHI-TIRUPATI FLIGHT

cmyk

cmyk

We are settingup a (battery)factory now in

Greater Noida. Thiswould be a onegigawatt hourcapacity plant...withthis about 4 lakh batteries would berolled out from this factory perannum

PANKAJ DUBEY | CEO, POWER GLOBAL

of theday uote

Now, we planto open asmany outlets

as quickly aspossible. We areintroducing moremade-in-Indiaproducts and setting our factories byJanuary-end. We have alreadyidentified suppliers and few othercompanies, which would produceour products also

ROHIT SAHNI | MD, WK LIFE

We are movingfrom noownership

model to ownership,but it will be throughleasing which meansassets will still not beon our books. So, we will try andkeep our books as light as possible

MANDEEP SANDHU | CEO, AIRLUXXIS

BoI deducts home,vehicle loan ratesMumbai: State-run Bank ofIndia Sunday announced a cutin its interest rates on homeand vehicle loans by 35 basispoint and 50 basis points,respectively. With this cut, theinterest rate on home loansstarts at 6.50 per cent againstearlier 6.85 per cent, and at6.85 per cent against 7.35 percent prior on vehicle loans,the bank said in a release. Thisspecial rate, which is effectivefrom October 18, 2021, tillDecember 31, 2021, isavailable for customersapplying for fresh loans andalso for those seeking transferof loans, it said. The lendersaid it has also waivedprocessing charges for bothhome and vehicle loans tillDecember 31, 2021.

Coal import dropsby 2.7% in August New Delhi: India’s coal importregistered a decline of 2.7 percent to 15.22 million tonnes(MT) in August this year amidthe country’s power plantsgrappling with fuel shortages.The country imported 15.64 MTof coal in the correspondingmonth last year. According todata compiled by mjunctionservices, “Imports in August2021 stood at around 15.22million tonnes...Imports inAugust 2021 were also down by2.7 percent over August 2020.”

Power consumptionup 3% in Oct 1-15New Delhi: India’s powerconsumption grew 3.35 percent in the first half of Octoberto 57.22 billion units (BU),showing recovery amid coalshortage at electricitygeneration plants, according topower ministry data. Last yearduring October 1-15, powerconsumption stood at 55.36 BU,which was higher than 49.66BU in the same period in 2019.Amid the coal shortage atpower plants in the country,the peak power shortagemoderated to 986 MW October15 in sharp contrast to 11,626MW October 7.

Dixon Tech to export5G mm phone to USNew Delhi: Domesticelectronics manufacturing firmDixon Technology has startedmanufacturing 5G millimetrewaves smartphones which willbe the first set of devices in thesegment to be exported fromIndia, a top company officialsaid Sunday. Dixon has set up amanufacturing unit with anannual capacity of 7 million 5Gmillimetre (mm) phones and issetting up another factory withannual capacity of 30 millionsmartphones in Noida.

SHORT TAKES

All you need to know about Bharat Griha Raksha policyTHE UNIQUE

ATTRIBUTE OF THE BHARAT

GRIHA RAKSHAPOLICY IS THAT IT

COVERS YOURVERANDAH,

PARKING SPACE,WATER TANK,

INTERNAL ROADS,GARAGE,

OUTHOUSE, PERMANENT

FITTINGS, AND FIXTURES

TA Ramalingam, ChiefTechnical Officer, BajajAllianz General Insurance

Industry-led policies in space sector soonIndia is

focussing oninternational

collaborations,including bilateraland multilateral

partnershipsK SIVAN | CHAIRMAN,

ISRO

PESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Oct 17: FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharama’'smeetings with US businesses andinstitutions continued at a feverishpitch, including talks with two keyinvestors asking them to broadentheir world view and look at Indiafor investment.

Opportunities galore are there inIndia for all investors and industrystakeholders with the current resetin the global supply chain and clearheaded and committed leadershipin the country, Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman has said.

“With the current reset in the

global supply chain and clearheaded and committed leadershipin India, I see opportunities ga-lore in India for all investors andindustry stakeholders,” MsSitharaman said during her ad-dress to global business leadersand investors at a roundtable or-ganised here by industry cham-ber FICCI and the US-India StrategicPartnership Forum Saturday.

Startups in India have growntremendously and many are nowraising money through capitalmarkets, she said.

The role of technology in the fi-nancial sector is enabling pushingthe frontier of financial inclusionand fintechs are playing a key rolein this area, she said at the round-table, the Finance Ministry tweeted.

Following his meeting with MsSitharaman, Mr Banga said India ison a “great pathway and trajectory”

with its continuing reforms and hecan see great momentum. “I amparticularly impressed by the pro-duction linked incentives that havebeen put into place,” he said, addingthat they can make a big differenceto the way that labour intensive in-dustries in India can develop.

Subramaniam said FedEx busi-ness in India is growing strong.“We are looking forward, we arevery bullish on where potentialfor India is, the fastest growinglarge economy and growing tradeenvironment.”

Fraser said Citi has a “veryproud and very long history” inIndia. “We are delighted to seethe strength of the recovery that’shappening on the ground there.Obviously there’s a lot of con-cerns around supply chain dis-ruption at the moment” but it’saround the world.

Opportunities galorefor investors, says FM

US-INDIA STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP FORUM

Sitharaman metMastercard ExecutiveChairman Ajay Bangaand Mastercard CEO

Michael Miebach, FedExCorporation Presidentand Chief Operating

Officer Raj Subramaniam,Citi CEO Jane Fraser andIBM Chairman and ChiefExecutive Officer Arvind

Krishna

FPIs pull out net`1,472cr in Oct

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Oct 17: Foreign port-folio investors (FPI) have turned netsellers in the capital markets inOctober so far, reversing the trendof net investments in the previ-ous two months, due to deprecia-tion in the rupee and global factors,experts said.

According to the depositories’data, FPIs have pulled out `1,472crore from capital markets on a netbasis in the current month so far.

A trend reversal was witnessedin the debt segment in Octoberfrom the big buying in the previoustwo months when FPIs had invested`13,363 crore in September and`14,376.2 crore in August. In Octoberso far, they pulled out ̀ 1,698 crore.

“This trend reversal in debt in-vestment is due to the INR depre-ciation in October,” said VKVijayakumar, chief investmentstrategist at Geojit Financial Services.

In equities, FPIs invested `226crore on a net basis. FPIs who weresellers in banking stocks in the firsthalf of September turned buyers inthe second half. But they were sell-ers in software services throughoutSeptember. The strong perform-ance by IT companies like Wipro,Infosys and Mindtree is likely toattract more flows into the segment,going forward, he added.

Himanshu Srivastava, associ-ate director - manager research,Morningstar India said that asmarkets touched all-time highsand valuations soar, FPI wouldhave preferred to stay on the side-lines, adopt a wait and watch ap-proach and continue to book prof-its along the way.

On the future of FPI flows,Shrikant Chouhan, head - equityresearch (retail), Kotak Securitiessaid that Brent crude oil prices aretrading at elevated levels and a sharpincrease in energy prices can be akey headwind for the equity markets.

In addition, any increase in therate by the US Fed Reserve in thenear future, would also act a keyheadwind for overall flow in theemerging markets. Hence, FPI flowsare expected to remain volatile inthe emerging markets.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Bhubaneswar, Oct 17: Revenue col-lection from Odisha’s mineral in-dustry grew by a whopping 221 percent to over `18,841 crore in theApril-September period of the cur-rent fiscal, exceeding the budget-ary estimation of receipts fromthe sector in FY22.

The revenue generation fromthe sector was at ̀ 5,870.74 crore inthe year-ago period and at ̀ 5,221.91crore in the first half of the 2019-20 fiscal.

“As against the state’s budgetestimation of ̀ 13,700 crore as min-eral revenue for the 2021-22 fiscal,Odisha has already collected`18,841.54 crore by September 30,”a senior official of the finance de-partment said.

The state government is ex-pecting to mop up around `36,000crore revenue from the mineralsector by March 31, 2022, he said.

Noting that the rise in collectionfrom the mineral sector is some-how linked to the amendment ofthe Mines and Miner al(Development and Regulation)Act in 2015, mining expert S KMohanty said, “The increase ismostly due to auction of blocks asper the revised norms which al-lowed the government to grant amining lease through biddingprocess only. An upward move-ment in mineral prices in the in-

ternational market also con-tributed to it.”

The state government conductedauctions of nine major mines be-tween July and September, the of-ficial said. With “unexpected rev-enue generation from the mineralsector”, Odisha’s non-tax receiptreached ̀ 19,922 crore till September30, as against the annual target of`20,000 crore for the current fis-cal, he said.

Odisha’s excise revenue in the pe-riod under review also registereda 103 per cent growth as the statecollected over `2,402.84 crore bythe end of September.

This apart, the collection ofGoods and Services Tax (GST)in Odisha is also “satisfactory”and in September, it registered a4 8 p e r c e n t g r ow t h , s t a t eCommercial Tax and GST direc-tor S K Lohani said.

State revenue from mineral sector risesby 221% in Apr-Sept

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Oct 17: The domesticsponge iron industry might reporta negative growth in the ongoingDecember quarter if the shortageof coal is allowed to continue, ac-cording to apex industry bodySIMA.

Sponge Iron ManufacturersAssociation (SIMA) ExecutiveDirector Deependra Kashiva saidIndia is expected to report a 60 percent quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) fallin its sponge iron output during theJuly-September 2021 period, amidthe ongoing coal crisis.

As per the JPC data, the spongeiron production growth in April-June 2021 was 70 per cent, com-pared with January-March 2021.This is expected to come down by60 per cent to a level of 10 per cent

in the second quarter endedSeptember 30, 2021, due to the coalcrisis, he said without providingany figures.

If the situation is allowed to con-tinue...If the shortage of coal isallowed to continue then I am ex-pecting that in Q3 (October-December), the growth will be neg-

ative, Kashiva told PTI in a tele-phonic interaction.

The Joint Plant Committee(JPC), under the Ministry of Steel,is the only institution that col-lects and maintains data on theIndian steel and iron sector.Speaking further on the situation,he said Coal India Ltd (CIL) re-

cently announced to give coal toonly thermal power plants.

They have said that except for thepower sector, we are stopping sup-ply to all industry users, and spongeiron and cement are the two bigconsumers after the power sector,the Kashiva said. He added thatthe industry consumes about 40million tonnes of coal annuallyand has provided three lakh directand indirect jobs.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Oct 17: Gold imports,which have a bearing on the cur-rent account deficit, zoomed toabout $24 billion during April-September 2021 due to higher de-mand in the country, according todata from the Commerce Ministry.

Imports of the yellow metal was$6.8 billion in the corresponding pe-riod last year, the data showed.Gold imports during Septemberthis year too rose to $5.11 billion asagainst $601.4 million in the samemonth last year.

A significant jump in the gold im-ports has led to record widening ofthe country’s trade deficit, differ-ence between imports and exports,to $22.6 billion during September

this fiscal as against $2.96 billionin the year-ago period.

India is the largest importer ofgold, which mainly caters to the de-mand of the jewellery industry. Involume terms, the country imports800-900 tonne of gold annually.

S h a r i n g s i m i l a r v i ew s,Federation of Indian ExportOrganisations (FIEO) DirectorGeneral Ajay Sahai said that thedemand primarily is pushinggold imports.

Coal crisis to hit domestic sponge iron sectorGOLD IMPORTS JUMPMULTI-FOLD TO $24 BN

All the business leaders talkedabout the positive impact India’sreforms, in particular the PLIschemes, will have on labour intensive sectors in the country

IBM indicated its interest in India in the areas of hybrid cloud,automation, 5G, cybersecurity,data, and AI

SHE SAID THE DIGITISATION THAT INDIA HAS DONE IS “TRULY IMPRESSIVE” AND“IT WILL BE ONE OF THE MAJOR HUBS OF DIGITAL TRADE AND DIGITAL SERVICES

IN THE WORLD AND A STANDARD-BEARER GOING FORWARD”

As per the JPC data, thesponge iron productiongrowth in April-June 2021 was 70 per cent,compared with January-March 2021

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/2011/371591

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MONDAY | OCTOBER 18 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR

Indians shineHobart: India's Shafali Verma(57, 50b, 6x4) struck a halfcentury and Radha Yadavdismissed two batters inSydney Sixers’ five-wicket winin the Women’s Big BashLeague (WBBL) but PoonamYadav's effort did not yield adesired result as her teamBrisbane Heat lost theirmatch Sunday. Shafali’sinnings helped Sydney chasedown the victory target afterHobart made 125 for nine.Sydney scored 129 for five in19.3 overs. Richa Ghosh (46)batted well for Hurricanes,but failed to prevent theSixers from winning.

Lakshya losesAlmere (The Netherlands):Defending championLakshya Sen of India lost toSingapore’s Loh Kean Yew inthe men's singles final of theDutch Open 2021 hereSunday. The World No 25 andtournament top seed Senwent down to the 41st-ranked Yew 12-21, 16-21 inthe final, which lasted forjust 36 minutes. Sen lookedcompletely jaded and madea number of unforced errorsto go down tamely instraight games.

Yuvi arrested Hisar: The Haryana Police saidSunday that cricketer YuvrajSingh was arrested andreleased on bail in an allegedcasteist remarks case incompliance with a high courtorder. Yuvraj was accused ofmaking casteist remarksagainst another cricketerduring an Instagram chat lastyear for which he hadimmediately apologised. SP(Hansi) Nitika Gahlaut saidover the phone, “We only madea formal arrest and he wasreleased on bail bond incompliance of the orders of thePunjab and Haryana HighCourt.” The complaint was filedby lawyer Rajat Kalsan at theHansi police station. AGENCIES

SHORT TAKES

AGENCIES

London, Oct 17: Harry Kane scoredas Tottenham Hotspur defeatedNewcastle United in a thrilling en-counter Sunday. The other goalsfor the Spurs were scored by TanguyNdombele and Son Heung-min.Callum Wilson score the onlyNewcastle goal while the other camefrom an own strike by Eric Dier.

Earlier Saturday managerThomas Tuchel saluted EdouardMendy as the Chelsea goalkeeper’ssuperb display sealed a hard-fought1-0 win Saturday at Brentford. Thewin enabled Chelsea to regain theirtop spot in the points table and

Ben Chilwell’s fiercely-struck goalin first half added on time wasenough to give Chelsea their sixthwin in eight league games.

But Chelsea had to rely on a se-ries of fine saves from Mendy to getall the three points.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Dubai, Oct 17: All-rounder HardikPandya’s form and few batting slotswill be foremost on captain ViratKohli’s mind as India look to makethe most of the two T20 World Cupwarm-up matches here. The firstof the two will played Mondayagainst England.

All the Indian players are com-ing straight from the recently-con-cluded IPL-2021. So match practiceisn’t a problem for Kohli and his menbut getting the perfect combina-tion on the park before the high-pro-file opening game against PakistanOctober 24 is a priority.

Ag ainst England andWednesday’s game versus Australia,the Indian team management wouldlook to give the players who arestill not automatic choices in theplaying XI, more overs to bat orbowl to get a better idea about theircurrent form.

Vice-captain Rohit Sharma isa certainty at the top but it wouldbe a tough choice between IshanKishan and KL Rahul as his open-ing partner. However, chancesare that India would go in withRahul because he is in good nickat present. He has scored 626 runsin the IPL.

The other question doing the

rounds is the form of Hardik Pandyaand whether he will bowl at all.Hardik did not exactly shine withthe bat in the second leg of the IPL.So there is a chance that India mightuse Kishan at No.6 keeping in mindthat he is also a good finisher.

Ravindra Jadeja is a certainty forthe spinner/all-rounder slot. Indiain that case will have to decide be-tween Varun Chakravarthy, RaviAshwin and Rahul Chahar. Kohlihas recently praised Chahar forthe pace and bounce he extractedfrom the slow UAE pitches. So theskipper will certainly want to tryhim out and see how he goes inthe warm-up games.

Scotland stunlistless BanglaAGENCIES

Al Amerat (Oman), Oct 17:Scotland sprung a huge surprisein their inaugural match of theT20 World Cup defeatingBangladesh by six runs hereSunday. Chris Greaves (45 and 2/19)was the star of the show as he inspired a Scottish triumph.Scotland after being put in, scored140 for nine and then restrictedthe opposition to 134 for seven.

In an earlier match played in theday, Oman thrashed Papua NewGuinea (PNG) by 10 wickets afterrestricting the latter to 129 for nine..Ludhiana-born Jatinder Singhsmashed an unbeaten 73 (42b, 7x4,4x6) to take his side to victory.

AGENCIES:

Male, Oct 17: Talismanic skip-per Sunil Chhetri played a pivotalrole in India’s eighth SAFFChampionships title triumph byscoring five goals in the tourna-ment. However, he credited theyoung brigade for team’s title tri-umph. The goals also helped Chettribecome the second joint highest in-ternational goalscorer in the worldwith Lionel Messi.

“Look at the youngsters – it feelsgood for all of them. It’s all due totheir hard work. We were here for20 days till the final, staying onan island, riding the waves everyday for practice sessions andmatches,” Chhetri said in a re-lease from the All India FootballFederation (AIFF).

“We made it special as wewere not so good in the first twogames. It was tough from thereto come up and play the way wedid,” added Chhetri after histhird triumph in the SAFFChampionship as a player. He

was referring to the matchesagainst Bangladesh (1-1) and SriLanka (0-0) in the group stage.

“We didn’t start like we shouldhave, but ended exactly how wewanted to. Proud of this bunch

and the way we got things on track,”Chhetri later said in a tweet.

India beat Nepal 3-0 in the finalSaturday. Chhetri got one, butwas all praise of the other twoIndian goal-getters – Suresh Singhand Sahal Abdul Samad. He as-serted that the two youngstersshould make it a habit of scoringgoals in every game they play. “Itis not always possible, but eventhen they should try for goals inevery match. Make it a habit,”said the captain.

Head coach Igor Stimac, whowas banned from the dugout inthe summit clash after being redcarded in the earlier league matchagainst Maldives, let the playerstake centrestage. “The boys havebeen magnificent,” Stimac stated.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Oct 17: Amid reportsthat Rahul Dravid is set to takeover as the coach of the Indianmen’s cricket team, the Board ofControl for Cricket in India (BCCI)invited Sunday applications forthe role of head coach, battingcoach, bowling coach, fieldingcoach with Team India. The post ofHead Sports Science/Medicinewith the National Cricket Academy(NCA) was also advertised.

The BCCI issued a releaseSunday in which it said that ap-plications for the position of headcoach should be submitted by 5pm(IST) October 26. Applications forall the other roles will have to besubmitted by November 3.

In the media release, the BCCIsaid that it has invited applicationsfor the following posts. They arehead coach (Team India – SeniorMen), batting coach (senior men),bowling coach (senior men), field-ing coach (senior men) and Head,Sports Science/Medicine with NCA.

There had been reports a coupleof days back that Dravid had agreedto become the next India coachafter Ravi Shastri's tenure endsfollowing the upcoming T20 WorldCup. However, BCCI wants to goabout the selection of the coachin a professional manner. That isthe reason why applications havebeen invited. Dravid will also haveto appear in front of a special com-mittee for an interview. Kohli in the dark

India skipper Virat Kohli how-ever, is still in the dark aboutDravid’s appointment as head coachof the Indian team. Kohli wasSaturday asked about the ap-pointment of Dravid. “No idea ex-actly what’s happening on thatfront. No detailed discussion withanyone yet,” he had said.

It should also be stated here thatDravid’s annual salary will be morethan Kohli’s annual contract withthe BCCI. As a Grade A player,Kohli gets ̀ 7 crore annually. Dravid’sannual salary will be `10 crore,sources said.

Chhetri lauds youngsters

STILL GOING STRONG: Sunil Chhetri accepts the man of the match trophy froma dignitary Saturday after the final against Nepal PHOTO AIFF TWITTER

Youngsters motivateme and that keepsme going. I still havesomething left in thetank for Team India

SUNIL CHHETRI

BCCI seeks headcoach, support staff

AD ISSUED TO APPOINT DRAVID IN PROPER MANNER

LOT TO PLAY FOR TEAM INDIA EYE PROPER COMBINATION AHEAD OF PAK GAME

Spurs beat Newcastlein thrilling encounter

Skipper says winning SAFF title was special after 2 back-to-back drawn games

Edouard Mendy