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A n ugly political drama unfolded in Jaipur on Friday when Congress MLAs in the Ashok Gehlot camp sat on a five-hour dharna at the Raj Bhawan, insisting they will stay put till the Governor sum- mons a session of the State Assembly. They ended their protest after 9 pm after assurance that the Governor will convene a session of the State Assembly as recommended by the State Cabinet. But after the MLAs ended the dharna, the Governor wrote to Gehlot about his “gherao” threat and the Governor Secretariat stat- ing that there is no justification provided for holding of the Session at short notice. In his brief letter to the Chief Minister, the Governor said even before he could dis- cuss the matter with experts regarding Assembly session, you (Gehlot) publically said that if Raj Bhawan is “gheraoed” then it is not your responsibility. “If you & your Home Ministry can’t protect Guv then what about law & order in the State? What agency should be contacted for Governor’s secu- rity? I’ve never heard such statement from any CM. Is this not the beginning of a wrong trend where MLAs protest at Raj Bhawan?,” the Governor wrote. While the MLAs went to the Hotel Fairmount where they have been camping for last several days, the CM headed to his residence, where he held a meeting of his Cabinet meeting to pass a proposal to hold an emergency session of the Assembly. Later, The Governor sec- retariat said the Governor had consulted legal experts on the paper presented by the State Government on the night of July 23, to convene the session of the Assembly at very short notice. “There is no justification provided for holding of the ses- sion at short notice nor any agenda has been proposed for the same. 21-day notice is required for the session to be called according to normal procedures,” said Rajasthan Governor’s Secretariat. It went on to say that the State Government should ensure freedom and free move- ment of all the MLAs. There was no mention of the MLAs kept at Manesar in Haryana by Sachin Pilot. It also pointed out that the Cabinet note didn’t mention any specific date for convening the Assembly. Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the Rajasthan Governor must call an Assembly session to let the Congress Government prove its majority. He alleged that the BJP’s conspiracy to topple the Gehlot Government was clear. “The country is ruled in accordance with the law and constitution. Governments are formed and run based on peo- ple’s mandate. BJP’s conspira- cy to topple the Rajasthan Government is clear. This is an insult to 8 crore people of Rajasthan. The Governor must call Assembly session so that the truth comes before the country,” he said. The MLAs, led by Gehlot, arrived at Raj Bhawan in four buses from a hotel on the city outskirts around 4pm where they have been camping for the past few days. Before heading for the Raj Bhawan, Gehlot said he had requested the Governor on Thursday night to call a ses- sion of the Assembly on Monday, but the Governor had not heeded his request. . Gehlot said the Governor is the constitutional head and he could not have stopped the Assembly session from taking place “without some pressure from the top”. “Why did he not decide on Thursday? We’ve requested him again to make a decision soon. People are waiting,” Gehlot said, adding, “I am sure that the Governor will not come under any pressure, he will make a decision. We hope the Assembly session begins soon. So we are sitting here in protest. After he gives us a let- ter we will decide the further course of action.” Continued on Page 11 T he Congress on Friday launched an unprecedent- ed attack on judiciary for allegedly tying the hand of the Rajasthan Assembly Speaker for acting against the rebel MLAs with senior party leader and noted lawyer Kapil Sibal going to the extent of saying what was the point in arguing before the court if precedents are brazenly ignored. The Congress also slammed Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra for not calling an Assembly session by accusing him of abdicating his consti- tutional obligation and acting at the behest of the Central Government. The party questioned the Rajasthan High Court’s order maintaining status quo on the disqualification notice issued by the State Assembly Speaker to 19 dissident Congress MLAs, including Sachin Pilot. Sibal said the Rajasthan High Court passes status quo orders against the Constitution bench judg- ment of the Supreme Court on the power of the Assembly Speaker. He also said may be lawyers should take their robes off since High Courts are no longer bound by even the Constitution bench judgments of the Supreme Court. Continued on Page 11 T he Rajasthan High Court on Friday ordered main- taining status quo on disqual- ification notice issued by the State Assembly Speaker to 19 dissident Congress MLAs, including Sachin Pilot. The bench, in its order, said the writ petition is maintain- able and is admitted on the ground of three pleas of the petitioners. “After completion of filing of pleadings of the parties and the intervenors, Counsel for the parties shall be at liberty to file an application for early hearing of the writ petition. Till then, the ‘status quo’, as exists today viz-a-viz impugned notices dated 14.07.2020, shall be maintained,” the order stated. “The writ petition has been admitted and the court has ordered for status quo on the notices dated July 14. The mat- ter will be heard in due course now,” a counsel for the Speaker said. The Speaker issued the notice to the MLAs on July 14 after the Congress complained to him that the MLAs had defied a whip to attend two leg- islature party meetings. Continued on Page 11 Jaipur: For the first time since Rajasthan plunged into a polit- ical crisis almost fortnight ago, the state BJP has said rebel Congress leader Sachin Pilot could be the Chief Minister if the situation allowed. Backing Pilot, BJP State president Satish Poonia, said, “If the situation allows, Sachin Pilot can become the Chief Minister. In fact, he has taken a big step with this goal in mind.” Jaipur: The Rajasthan BJP on Friday demanded the Centre to deploy the CRPF to maintain law and order, reacting sharply to Congress MLAs staging a “dharna” at Raj Bhawan. Incidentally, on December 4, 1993, BJP MLAs had sat on dharna on the lawns of the Raj Bhawan. Baliram Bhagat of Congress was Governor. I ndia on Friday saw yet anoth- er massive spike in coron- avirus cases taking the total well past 13 lakh mark. In the past four days alone, the country has added over 1.82 lakh cases. The country also overtook France on Friday as the number of deaths linked to virus crossed 30,961. The number of deaths in India is now the sixth-biggest behind the US, Brazil, Britain, Mexico and Italy. Maharashtra has the high- est number of cases at 3,57,117, followed by Tamil Nadu with 1,99,749 and Delhi with 1,28,389 cases. The number of coronavirus cases in India have doubled in nearly three weeks since July 2 when the country crossed the six lakh-mark. The country’s Covid tally touched the 10 lakh-mark last Friday. Since then, around three lakh new infections have been reported. The first phase of human clinical trial of India’s home- made vaccine against coron- avirus, Covaxin, began at AIIMS in Delhi on Friday, with the first dose of the injec- tion given to a man in his 30s. Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Friday reviewed the management of Covid-19 in nine States with high active caseload and advised Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Assam to urgently ramp up testing, strictly implement containment plan, augment health infrastructure and ensure effective clinical management. The Union Health Ministry said that in keeping with the “Test Track Treat” strategy, the States were advised to ramp up testing, with special focus on containment zones. Maharashtra reported 9615 fresh cases and 278 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cases to 3,57,117 including 1,99,967 recovered patients and 13,132 deaths. Currently, there are 1,44,018 active cases in the State. Continued on Page 11 N otwithstanding the pre- vailing stalemate at the volatile Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, India and China on Friday reiterated their commitment to continue dialogue to defuse tension. They also agreed that Corps Commanders of the two Armies will meet soon to ensure disengagement and de- escalation expeditiously. These talks on the LAC may take place next week. These affirmations in the 17th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) came against the backdrop of China dilly-dallying in withdrawing its more than 40,000 troops from the front and depth areas. Incidentally, the two Corps Commanders in their last round of talks on July 14 had agreed to thin out additional troops as soon as possible as a major confidence-building measure. Giving details of the diplo- matic level talks on Friday, the Ministry of External Affairs said the Indian delegation was led by joint secretary (East Asia) while the Director General of the Boundary & Oceanic Department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs led the Chinese dele- gation. They agreed that early and complete disengagement of the troops along the LAC and de- escalation from LAC. Continued on Page 11 D espite Covid-19 pandem- ic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation from Red Fort on Independence Day with Army- police parade, guard of honour and 21 gun salute functions with social distancing norms without large people gathering. The Union Home Ministry on Friday in an advisory clar- ified that all functions in rela- tion to Independence Day cel- ebrations will be conducted across the country, including Chief Ministers’ address from the State Capitals, Ministers from district HQs and pan- chayat-level celebrations with usual Army-police parades and Guard of Honours and At- Home functions in Rashtrapati Bhavan and Raj Bhavans. In a detailed five-page advisory, Union Home Ministry directed to keep social distancing, wearing masks and avoiding large crowd gathering on Independence Day cele- brations across the country in the wake of Covid-19. “The Ceremony at Red Fort consisting of the presen- tation of a Guard of Honour by the Armed Forces and the Delhi Police to the Prime Minister, unfurling of the national flag accompanied by the playing of the National Anthem and firing of 21-gun salute, speech by the Prime Minister, singing of the National Anthem immediate- ly after the PM’s speech, and release of tri-coloured balloons at the end,” said the advisory. Continued on Page 11 T hose suffering with mild- to-moderate Covid-19 symptoms can now look for- ward to a comparatively cheap- er drug with the country’s top drug regulator approving Brinton Pharmaceuticals pro- posal to sell antiviral drug Favipiravir under the brand name ‘Faviton’ at a maximum retail price of 59 per tablet. “To be available in 200 mg tablets, the drug will be sold at a maximum retail price of 59 per tablet,” Brinton Pharmaceuticals said in a state- ment after getting the nod from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI). Emerging favourable glob- al clinical evidence suggests, Favipiravir is an effective treat- ment option in the manage- ment of mild-to-moderate Covid-19, it added. Favipiravir is given orally and thus is more convenient than medicines given through veins In India, Favipiravir was first approved by the regulato- ry authorities in June 2020 under emergency use authori- sation to treat Covid-19 patients, said the pharma firm. The medicine will be available in strips of 10 tablets and boxes of 50 tablets, which is a rational pack for the treat- ment. It has a shelf life of 90 days. Continued on Page 11 F ormer Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani recorded his statement before a special CBI court in the Babri mosque demolition case and refuted all charges of conspiracy to demolish as polit- ically motivated. “My name was unneces- sarily dragged in this case. The investigation was con- ducted under political pressure and the chargesheet was for- warded on the basis of fabri- cated evidence,” Advani told the special CBI judge SK Yadav when he recorded his statement through video conferencing from New Delhi before the spe- cial CBI court. Advani during his around 4-hour-long cross examina- tion by the prosecution denied all the charges made against him on the conspiracy to demolish the Babri mosque structure. While the special Judge asked 1,050 questions already framed for the purpose, Advani answered them very cautious- ly. He denied every allegation of conspiracy and pressed that there was no occasion to make him stand on trial. Continued on Page 11 New Delhi: The strain of the novel coronavirus in a major- ity of cases in India is the pre- dominant “subtype” found in other parts of the globe, a uni- formity that bodes well for the efficacy of a vaccine or drug developed anywhere in the world, says a top scientist. Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology Director Rakesh Mishra added that detailed gene mapping of the coronavirus also indicated that it is unlikely that it will mutate into a more dangerous strain. Melbourne: Home-made cloth face masks may need a minimum of two layers, and preferably three, to prevent the dispersal of viral droplets associated with Covid-19, according to a study. Researchers, including those from the University of New South Wales in Australia, noted that viral droplets are generated by those infected with the novel coronavirus when they cough, sneeze, or speak. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will visit Ayodhya on Saturday to review the arrangements for the bhoomi pujan for construction of Ram temple at the Ram Janmabhoomi premises by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 5. Official sources here said on Friday that the chief minis- ter would go to Ayodhya on Saturday afternoon and take stock of the preparation for the bhoomi pujan. During his stay, the chief minister would have darshan of Ram Lalla and got to Hanuman Garhi temples and hold a meet- ing with the seers and the dis- trict officials. The chief minister would also meet the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra trust members and finalise the list of the invitees for the bhoo- mi pujan.. “There is a list of 228 peo- ple but as per the Covid pro- tocol, only 200 people can be invited to attend the function. The list will be discussed with the chief minister,” a senior member of the Trust said. Meanwhile, there was good news for the Trust as Allahabad High Court has rejected a peti- tion challenging the holding of the bhoomi pujan for laying the Continued on Page 11

2020/07/25  · cases in India have doubled in nearly three weeks since July 2 when the country crossed the six lakh-mark. The country’s Covid tally touched the 10 lakh-mark last

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Page 1: 2020/07/25  · cases in India have doubled in nearly three weeks since July 2 when the country crossed the six lakh-mark. The country’s Covid tally touched the 10 lakh-mark last

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An ugly political dramaunfolded in Jaipur on

Friday when Congress MLAsin the Ashok Gehlot camp saton a five-hour dharna at the RajBhawan, insisting they willstay put till the Governor sum-mons a session of the StateAssembly.

They ended their protestafter 9 pm after assurance thatthe Governor will convene asession of the State Assembly asrecommended by the StateCabinet. But after the MLAsended the dharna, theGovernor wrote to Gehlotabout his “gherao” threat andthe Governor Secretariat stat-ing that there is no justificationprovided for holding of theSession at short notice.

In his brief letter to theChief Minister, the Governorsaid even before he could dis-cuss the matter with expertsregarding Assembly session,you (Gehlot) publically saidthat if Raj Bhawan is“gheraoed” then it is not yourresponsibility.

“If you & your HomeMinistry can’t protect Guv thenwhat about law & order in theState? What agency should becontacted for Governor’s secu-rity? I’ve never heard suchstatement from any CM. Is thisnot the beginning of a wrongtrend where MLAs protest atRaj Bhawan?,” the Governorwrote.

While the MLAs went tothe Hotel Fairmount wherethey have been camping for lastseveral days, the CM headed tohis residence, where he held ameeting of his Cabinet meetingto pass a proposal to hold anemergency session of theAssembly.

Later, The Governor sec-retariat said the Governor hadconsulted legal experts on thepaper presented by the StateGovernment on the night ofJuly 23, to convene the sessionof the Assembly at very shortnotice.

“There is no justificationprovided for holding of the ses-sion at short notice nor anyagenda has been proposed forthe same. 21-day notice isrequired for the session to becalled according to normalprocedures,” said RajasthanGovernor’s Secretariat.

It went on to say that theState Government shouldensure freedom and free move-ment of all the MLAs. Therewas no mention of the MLAskept at Manesar in Haryana bySachin Pilot. It also pointed outthat the Cabinet note didn’tmention any specific date forconvening the Assembly.

Senior Congress leaderRahul Gandhi said theRajasthan Governor must callan Assembly session to let theCongress Government prove itsmajority. He alleged that theBJP’s conspiracy to topple theGehlot Government was clear.

“The country is ruled inaccordance with the law andconstitution. Governments areformed and run based on peo-ple’s mandate. BJP’s conspira-cy to topple the RajasthanGovernment is clear. This is aninsult to 8 crore people ofRajasthan. The Governor mustcall Assembly session so thatthe truth comes before thecountry,” he said.

The MLAs, led by Gehlot,arrived at Raj Bhawan in fourbuses from a hotel on the cityoutskirts around 4pm wherethey have been camping for thepast few days. Before headingfor the Raj Bhawan, Gehlot saidhe had requested the Governoron Thursday night to call a ses-sion of the Assembly onMonday, but the Governor hadnot heeded his request. .

Gehlot said the Governoris the constitutional head andhe could not have stopped theAssembly session from takingplace “without some pressurefrom the top”.

“Why did he not decide onThursday? We’ve requestedhim again to make a decisionsoon. People are waiting,”Gehlot said, adding, “I amsure that the Governor will notcome under any pressure, hewill make a decision. We hopethe Assembly session beginssoon. So we are sitting here inprotest. After he gives us a let-ter we will decide the furthercourse of action.”

Continued on Page 11

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The Congress on Fridaylaunched an unprecedent-

ed attack on judiciary forallegedly tying the hand of theRajasthan Assembly Speakerfor acting against the rebelMLAs with senior party leaderand noted lawyer Kapil Sibalgoing to the extent of sayingwhat was the point in arguingbefore the court if precedentsare brazenly ignored.

The Congress alsoslammed Rajasthan GovernorKalraj Mishra for not calling anAssembly session by accusinghim of abdicating his consti-tutional obligation and actingat the behest of the CentralGovernment.

The party questioned theRajasthan High Court’s ordermaintaining status quo on thedisqualification notice issuedby the State Assembly Speakerto 19 dissident Congress MLAs,

including Sachin Pilot. Sibalsaid the Rajasthan High Courtpasses status quo orders againstthe Constitution bench judg-ment of the Supreme Court onthe power of the AssemblySpeaker.

He also said may belawyers should take their robesoff since High Courts are nolonger bound by even theConstitution bench judgmentsof the Supreme Court.

Continued on Page 11

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The Rajasthan High Courton Friday ordered main-

taining status quo on disqual-ification notice issued by theState Assembly Speaker to 19dissident Congress MLAs,including Sachin Pilot.

The bench, in its order, saidthe writ petition is maintain-able and is admitted on theground of three pleas of thepetitioners.

“After completion of filingof pleadings of the parties andthe intervenors, Counsel for theparties shall be at liberty to filean application for early hearing

of the writ petition. Till then,the ‘status quo’, as exists todayviz-a-viz impugned noticesdated 14.07.2020, shall bemaintained,” the order stated.

“The writ petition has beenadmitted and the court hasordered for status quo on thenotices dated July 14. The mat-ter will be heard in due coursenow,” a counsel for the Speakersaid.

The Speaker issued thenotice to the MLAs on July 14after the Congress complainedto him that the MLAs haddefied a whip to attend two leg-islature party meetings.

Continued on Page 11

Jaipur: For the first time sinceRajasthan plunged into a polit-ical crisis almost fortnight ago,the state BJP has said rebelCongress leader Sachin Pilotcould be the Chief Minister ifthe situation allowed. BackingPilot, BJP State president SatishPoonia, said, “If the situationallows, Sachin Pilot can becomethe Chief Minister. In fact, hehas taken a big step with thisgoal in mind.”

Jaipur: The Rajasthan BJP onFriday demanded the Centre todeploy the CRPF to maintainlaw and order, reacting sharplyto Congress MLAs staging a“dharna” at Raj Bhawan.Incidentally, on December 4,1993, BJP MLAs had sat ondharna on the lawns of the RajBhawan. Baliram Bhagat ofCongress was Governor.

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India on Friday saw yet anoth-er massive spike in coron-

avirus cases taking the total wellpast 13 lakh mark. In the pastfour days alone, the country hasadded over 1.82 lakh cases. Thecountry also overtook Franceon Friday as the number ofdeaths linked to virus crossed30,961. The number of deathsin India is now the sixth-biggestbehind the US, Brazil, Britain,Mexico and Italy.

Maharashtra has the high-est number of cases at 3,57,117,

followed by Tamil Nadu with1,99,749 and Delhi with1,28,389 cases.

The number of coronaviruscases in India have doubled innearly three weeks since July 2when the country crossed thesix lakh-mark. The country’sCovid tally touched the 10lakh-mark last Friday. Sincethen, around three lakh newinfections have been reported.

The first phase of humanclinical trial of India’s home-made vaccine against coron-avirus, Covaxin, began atAIIMS in Delhi on Friday,

with the first dose of the injec-tion given to a man in his 30s.

Cabinet Secretary RajivGauba on Friday reviewed themanagement of Covid-19 in

nine States with high activecaseload and advisedTelangana, Andhra Pradesh,Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh,Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, WestBengal and Assam to urgentlyramp up testing, strictlyimplement containment plan,augment health infrastructureand ensure effective clinicalmanagement.

The Union HealthMinistry said that in keepingwith the “Test Track Treat”strategy, the States were advisedto ramp up testing, with specialfocus on containment zones.

Maharashtra reported 9615fresh cases and 278 deaths in thelast 24 hours, taking the totalnumber of cases to 3,57,117including 1,99,967 recoveredpatients and 13,132 deaths.Currently, there are 1,44,018active cases in the State.

Continued on Page 11

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Notwithstanding the pre-vailing stalemate at the

volatile Line of Actual Control(LAC) in Ladakh, India andChina on Friday reiteratedtheir commitment to continuedialogue to defuse tension.They also agreed that CorpsCommanders of the twoArmies will meet soon toensure disengagement and de-escalation expeditiously. Thesetalks on the LAC may takeplace next week.

These affirmations in the17th meeting of the WorkingMechanism for Consultation &Coordination on India-China

Border Affairs (WMCC) cameagainst the backdrop of Chinadilly-dallying in withdrawingits more than 40,000 troopsfrom the front and depth areas.

Incidentally, the two CorpsCommanders in their lastround of talks on July 14 hadagreed to thin out additionaltroops as soon as possible as amajor confidence-buildingmeasure.

Giving details of the diplo-matic level talks on Friday, theMinistry of External Affairssaid the Indian delegation wasled by joint secretary (EastAsia) while the DirectorGeneral of the Boundary &Oceanic Department of theChinese Ministry of ForeignAffairs led the Chinese dele-gation.

They agreed that early andcomplete disengagement of thetroops along the LAC and de-escalation from LAC.

Continued on Page 11

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Despite Covid-19 pandem-ic, Prime Minister

Narendra Modi will address thenation from Red Fort onIndependence Day with Army-police parade, guard of honourand 21 gun salute functionswith social distancing normswithout large people gathering.

The Union Home Ministryon Friday in an advisory clar-ified that all functions in rela-tion to Independence Day cel-ebrations will be conductedacross the country, includingChief Ministers’ address fromthe State Capitals, Ministersfrom district HQs and pan-chayat-level celebrations withusual Army-police parades andGuard of Honours and At-Home functions in RashtrapatiBhavan and Raj Bhavans.

In a detailed five-pageadvisory, Union HomeMinistry directed to keep social

distancing, wearing masks andavoiding large crowd gatheringon Independence Day cele-brations across the country inthe wake of Covid-19.

“The Ceremony at RedFort consisting of the presen-tation of a Guard of Honour bythe Armed Forces and theDelhi Police to the PrimeMinister, unfurling of thenational flag accompanied bythe playing of the NationalAnthem and firing of 21-gunsalute, speech by the PrimeMinister, singing of theNational Anthem immediate-ly after the PM’s speech, andrelease of tri-coloured balloonsat the end,” said the advisory.

Continued on Page 11

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Those suffering with mild-to-moderate Covid-19

symptoms can now look for-ward to a comparatively cheap-er drug with the country’s topdrug regulator approvingBrinton Pharmaceuticals pro-posal to sell antiviral drugFavipiravir under the brandname ‘Faviton’ at a maximumretail price of �59 per tablet.

“To be available in 200 mgtablets, the drug will be sold ata maximum retail price of �59per tablet,” BrintonPharmaceuticals said in a state-ment after getting the nodfrom the Drug ControllerGeneral of India (DCGI).

Emerging favourable glob-al clinical evidence suggests,Favipiravir is an effective treat-ment option in the manage-ment of mild-to-moderateCovid-19, it added. Favipiravir

is given orally and thus is moreconvenient than medicinesgiven through veins

In India, Favipiravir wasfirst approved by the regulato-ry authorities in June 2020under emergency use authori-sation to treat Covid-19patients, said the pharma firm.The medicine will be availablein strips of 10 tablets andboxes of 50 tablets, which is arational pack for the treat-ment. It has a shelf life of 90days.

Continued on Page 11

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Former Deputy PrimeMinister Lal Krishna

Advani recorded his statementbefore a special CBI court inthe Babri mosque demolitioncase and refuted all charges ofconspiracy to demolish as polit-ically motivated.

“My name was unneces-sarily dragged in this case.The investigation was con-ducted under political pressureand the chargesheet was for-warded on the basis of fabri-cated evidence,” Advani toldthe special CBI judge SK Yadavwhen he recorded his statement

through video conferencingfrom New Delhi before the spe-cial CBI court.

Advani during his around4-hour-long cross examina-tion by the prosecution deniedall the charges made againsthim on the conspiracy todemolish the Babri mosquestructure.

While the special Judgeasked 1,050 questions alreadyframed for the purpose, Advanianswered them very cautious-ly. He denied every allegationof conspiracy and pressed thatthere was no occasion to makehim stand on trial.

Continued on Page 11

New Delhi: The strain of thenovel coronavirus in a major-ity of cases in India is the pre-dominant “subtype” found inother parts of the globe, a uni-formity that bodes well for theefficacy of a vaccine or drugdeveloped anywhere in theworld, says a top scientist.Centre for Cellular andMolecular Biology DirectorRakesh Mishra added thatdetailed gene mapping of thecoronavirus also indicated thatit is unlikely that it will mutateinto a more dangerous strain.

Melbourne: Home-madecloth face masks may need aminimum of two layers, andpreferably three, to preventthe dispersal of viral dropletsassociated with Covid-19,according to a study.Researchers, including thosefrom the University of NewSouth Wales in Australia,noted that viral droplets aregenerated by those infectedwith the novel coronaviruswhen they cough, sneeze, orspeak.

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Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath willvisit Ayodhya on Saturday toreview the arrangements for thebhoomi pujan for constructionof Ram temple at the RamJanmabhoomi premises byPrime Minister Narendra Modion August 5.

Official sources here saidon Friday that the chief minis-ter would go to Ayodhya onSaturday afternoon and takestock of the preparation for thebhoomi pujan.

During his stay, the chiefminister would have darshan ofRam Lalla and got to HanumanGarhi temples and hold a meet-

ing with the seers and the dis-trict officials.

The chief minister wouldalso meet the Shri RamJanmabhoomi Teerth Kshetratrust members and finalise thelist of the invitees for the bhoo-mi pujan..

“There is a list of 228 peo-ple but as per the Covid pro-tocol, only 200 people can beinvited to attend the function.The list will be discussed withthe chief minister,” a seniormember of the Trust said.

Meanwhile, there was goodnews for the Trust as AllahabadHigh Court has rejected a peti-tion challenging the holding ofthe bhoomi pujan for laying the

Continued on Page 11

Page 2: 2020/07/25  · cases in India have doubled in nearly three weeks since July 2 when the country crossed the six lakh-mark. The country’s Covid tally touched the 10 lakh-mark last

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Laying stress on maximumCOVID-19 testing, Chief

Minister Yogi Adityanath saidthat the vision of one-stepahead of coronavirus wasnecessary to defeat it thereforean action plan should be pre-pared to ramp up testing toone lakh per day.

Presiding over the unlockreview meeting at his officialresidence here on Friday, thechief minister said that at least2,000 tests by rapid antigenmethod should be doneeveryday in the districts withpopulation above 30 lakh and1,000 in districts with lesserpopulation. Besides, he said,35,000 tests per day should bedone by RT-PCR method.

Directing officials to exer-cise special caution in the dis-tricts of Lucknow, Ghaziabad,Kanpur Nagar, Varanasi,Gorakhpur, Prayagraj andBallia, the chief minister askedthem to conduct extensivemedical screening throughdoor-to-door survey. He alsodirected officials to completeall the processes in time toensure availability of testingkits, medicines, ventilatorsand other necessary things inthe state.

The chief ministerstressed on effective medicalscreening by the surveillanceteams. “The surveillanceteams should be kept activeand their work should bemonitored properly. The sur-vey activities should be takenup on mission mode with noscope of laxity,” he said.

The chief minister saidthat necessary steps be takenby the district administrationto convert private hospitalsinto Covid hospitals. Hestressed the need of timelycompletion of all the process-es in this regard. He said theservices of NCC cadets andCivil Defence personnel couldbe taken for management of

containment zones.The chief minister said

that to control COVID-19and other communicable dis-eases, special cleanliness andsanitation drive was beingundertaken every Saturdayand Sunday. He said sanitisa-tion, fogging and other clean-liness works should be con-ducted with full dedicationduring the drive on Saturdayand Sunday and the nodalofficers should monitor it.

As weekend closure hasbeen announced on Saturdaysand Sundays, people wereadvised to not venture out oftheir homes, he said.

The chief minister issuednecessary directions to makeall arrangements to preventspread of communicable dis-eases during the rainy season.He asked officials to ensurerelief material for the affect-ed population in flood-hitareas as well as medical facil-ities and green fodder for thecattle.

Those present in themeeting included the ChiefSecretary RK Tiwari,Infrastructure and IndustrialDevelopment CommissionerAlok Tandon, AgricultureProduction CommissionerAlok Sinha, Additional Chief

.�4$�������������� ���� ������ �����������"���Lucknow (PNS): TheNational Human RightsCommission (NHRC)served notices on UttarPradesh’s chief secretary andDGP over an immolationbid by a woman fromAmethi and her daughter inLucknow and the subse-quent death of the woman.

Taking suo motu cogni-sance of media reports thatAmethi resident mother-daughter duo attempted self-immolation outside LokBhawan in Lucknow on July17 due to alleged inaction byAmethi police against com-plaint of sexual harassment,the NHRC gave four weeks’for a response calling for adetailed report and actiontaken against the guiltyneighbour on the complaintlodged by the victims alleg-ing sexual harassment.

While the mother suf-fered 90 per cent burns anddied at SPM Hospital inLucknow, her daughter with15 per cent burns is under-going treatment at Amethi.

The NHRC said thatthe report must include sta-tus of medical treatmentbeing provided to the injuredwoman, her health conditionand any relief given byauthorities to the injuredand the family.

The NHRC observedthat the recourse taken byvictims could not be justifiedbut it indicated towards thereckless attitude of theauthorities, who seeminglyfailed to take timely action oncomplaint lodged by the vic-tims levelling serious allega-tions of sexual harassmentagainst a neighbour.

‘This is a serious issue ofviolation of human rights.Had timely action been ini-tiated, the women may nothave been forced to takesuch an extreme steps,” theNHRC notice said.

Earlier, the family mem-bers of the victims alleged ill-treatment by the police anddoctors at SPM Hospital inLucknow when the son of thedeceased visited her there.

NOTICE

It is for general informationthat I, Mohammad Hassanson of Mohammad Mukarram,residing at 14/37, S.A. Tower,Flat No. 207, Civil Lines,Kanpur Nagar-208001 (U.P.)declare that name of mine hasbeen wrongly written as"MOHD. HASSAN" in my edu-cational documents. Theactual name of mine is"MOHAMMAD HASSAN"respectively which may beamended accordingly.

NOTICE

Spandan Srivastava(Adhaar-277419636617),DOB-05-03-2008 � SetuSrivastava, ����� �������� ����� ��������� �� ���� ��� SetuSrivastava �� SpandanSrivastava ����� ����� Dr.Vivek Srivastava (Adhaar-557965977197), 3/461 VivekKhand, Gomti Nagar Lucknow-226010

NOTICE

I have changed my namefrom Jitendra Kumar S/ONarain Das to JitendraManghnani S/O Late NarainDas for the last few years. Infuture I will be known by thisname. Jitendra ManghnaniS/O Late Narain Das 120/500(27) Radha Vallabh Apartment,Lajpat Nagar, Kanpur Nagar.

NOTICE

My Husband BhupendraKumar Singh Army No-2892502 N HAV in the serviceBook my name has beenmarked as ARCHNA SINGH bymistake, but other records mycorrect name is ARCHANASINGH. It should be read andunderstood correctly.ARCHANA SINGH W/oBhupendra Kumar Singh,Gram-Phulwari, Post-Tenuga,Sadar, Pratapgarh.

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Terming the spurt in crimeas the sole achievement of

the Bharatiya Janata Partygovernment, Samajwadi Partypresident Akhilesh Yadavdemanded imposition ofPresident’s rule in the state.

“Blood-letting continuesunabated in Uttar Pradeshand the Yogi Adityanathgovernment has singularlyfailed to combat the rising tideof crime. This has createdconstitutional crisis in thestate and the only remedyavailable is the imposition ofPresident’s rule in the state,”Akhilesh Yadav said here onFriday.

Yadav said that anti-socialelements, protected by theruling party leaders, werecommitting crime withimpunity and not a day passedwhen heinous crimes likemurder, loot, kidnapping,rapes were not reportedfrom every part of the state,including state capitalLucknow.

He reiterated that the dis-missal of the Yogi Adityanathgovernment and President’srule had become necessary.

The Samajwadi Party gave

an aid of Rs 5 lakh to SanjitYadav’s mother, who lost heronly son.

Akhilesh demanded that Rs50 lakh aid be given to the vic-tim’s family by the state govern-ment.

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Secretary (Home andInformation) Awanish KumarAwasthi, Additional ChiefSecretary (Finance) SanjeevMittal, Additional ChiefSecretary to Chief Minister SPGoyal, Director General ofPolice HC Awasthi, AdditionalChief Secretary (MedicalEducation) Rajneesh Dubey,Additional Chief Secretary(Health) Amit Mohan Prasad,Additional Chief Secretary(Rural Development andPanchayati Raj) Manoj KumarSingh, Additional ChiefSecretary (Agriculture) DeveshChaturvedi, Additional ChiefSecretary (MSME) NavneetSehgal, Principal Secretary(Animal Husbandry) BhuvneshKumar, Principal Secretary toChief Minister Sanjay Prasad,Secretary to Chief Minister ShriAlok Kumar, ReliefCommissioner Sanjay Goyal,Director Information Shishirand other senior officers.

Page 3: 2020/07/25  · cases in India have doubled in nearly three weeks since July 2 when the country crossed the six lakh-mark. The country’s Covid tally touched the 10 lakh-mark last

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A75-year Covid-19 patient, whowas admitted to SGPGI on July

9 and intubated on July 11 due tosevere acute respiratory distresssyndrome, was finally dischargedafter he recovered on Thursday.

Incharge of ICU-1, RajdhaniCovid Hospital, Dr Zia Hashimsaid it was a rare case of recoverybecause the patient had been on theventilator. “It is assumed that whenpatients are put on the ventilator,especially at this age, they do notsurvive. He was given new antivi-ral drug Remdesivir and was extu-bated three days back. His X-ray isnow normal and his RTPCR came

out negative. He was discharged onthe request of his son who said hewould take care of him in a privateroom at his own hospital,” DrHashim said.

He said a lot of things helpedin the recovery of the elderlypatient, including general patientcare, drugs used and monitoring.“What we have learnt from this caseis that one can put the elderlypatients on the ventilator and theycan recover,” he said.

He added that the patient alsosuffers from diabetes and hyperten-sion. “He had a lot of infection andhis chest X-ray was very bad at thetime he was admitted to SGPGI,” hepointed out.

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Astate-level workshop was organised bythe Communicable Diseases department

of Medical Health and Family Welfare onFriday. The workshop was conducted by DrSurya Kant from KGMU’s RespiratoryMedicine department as a guest speaker fortraining of chief medical officers, anaes-thetists, physicians, chest physicians, staffnurses and technicians of 75 UP districts.

DG (Health) Dr Mithlesh Chaturvediand joint director of Communicable DiseasesDr Rajendra Kapoor said the workshop wasattended at 304 centres of 75 districts.

Dr Rajendra Kapoor said the lecture byDr Surya Kant enlightened the participantson management of severe COVID-19 patientin ICUs. An interactive lecture on non- inva-sive ventilation was delivered by DG, HealthServices, Dr DS Negi.

“This pandemic has caused severe mor-bidities and mortalities across India.Currently, the infection rate is growing at analarming rate as are mortalities and severeCOVID-19 infection. In view of the currentscenario, proper training of healthcareproviders has a significant role in disease con-trol”, Dr Surya Kant said. He said one shouldnot panic about coronavirus infection asroughly 50% of infected patients are asymp-tomatic. “Among symptomatic cases, 81% ofthe patients have mild disease, 14% moder-ate to severe disease and 5% may require ICUand mechanical ventilation. There is a needto categorise the patients for early ICU man-agement,” he said.

Dr Surya Kant said the immune statusof a patient decides the severity of infection.“Patients with very good immunity willremain asymptomatic while those with low

immunity will have mild to moderate symp-toms. Those with poor immunity will havesevere infection and may require ICUadmission,” he pointed out. He said the cri-teria of ICU admission includes decrease ofoxygen saturation less than 95%, uncon-sciousness, low blood pressure etc.

He added that general ICU managementincludes supplemental oxygen, steroids, IVFluids, drugs to maintain BP, treatment ofother comorbid conditions like diabetes, spe-cific treatment by drugs like Remdesivir andTocilizumab as per expert opinion. The cri-teria for ICU step down to ward is oxygensaturation more than 95%, normal BP, con-scious patient, etc.

Dr Surya Kant also discussed variousprevention methods and lung immunityenhancement. “The population at risk hasto be prevented from infection, includingchildren, elderly, pregnant women and peo-ple with comorbid conditions. Preventionmethods such as social distancing, taking offshoes, chappals at the entrance of homes,handwashing, wearing masks while steppingout, having healthy diet, meditation, yoga,exercise and good sleep. Jaggery in place ofsugar is beneficial but it is harmful for thosehaving diabetes, obesity and heart disease,”he said. “Hot drinks like warm water, tea, cof-fee, soup should be taken frequently toincrease the immunity of upper airway. Sleepis beneficial for enhanced immunity andadults should have good seven hours of sleep.Mental peace or mental immunity promotesrapid healing by boosting immunity. Regularmeditation helps improve spiritual andmental immunity. Obesity is house of all ill-ness as it greatly reduces the immunity.Obesity is also a proven risk factor forCOVID-19,” he said.

Lucknow (PNS): Followingreports regarding residents incontainment zones not adher-ing to lockdown guidelines,Joint Commissioner of Police(Law and Order) NaveenArora conducted an inspec-

tion in Indira Nagar andGazipur police station areas onFriday and asked the cops todeal offenders sternly. Thepolice appealed through loud-speakers asking people toadhere to the guidelines and

protocol. The JCP alsoinstructed the cops to slapfines on those violating lock-down norms.

After the lockdown wasimposed in Ashiyana,Sarojninagar, Indira Nagar and

Ghazipur police station areas,there were reports that resi-dents were flouting the norms.As the issue came to the noticeof senior officials, they issuedinstructions for an inspectionand sensitisation drive.

Lucknow (PNS): UP HealthMinister Jai Pratap Singh test-ed positive for coronavirus onFriday. The minister was quar-antined at his residence inGomti Nagar and sampleswere collected by the Healthdepartment from his familymembers, including wife andtwo sons, and the staff. Hisoffice was also sealed by thedepartment. The minister saidhe would be shifted to thehospital, if required. The sam-ple was tested throughTrueNat machine at CivilHospital and after it came outpositive, it was sent to the labfor confirmation by RTPCR.

Singh said he had a slightfever on Thursday and so hegot himself tested for coron-avirus. “I am in home isola-tion and have been advised totake paracetamol for feverand check my pulse with anoximeter. If required, I canalso shift to the hospital.Currently, I do not feel it isrequired because I am asymp-tomatic,” the minister said.

“I have isolated myself ina separate room away fromthe family,” he added. When

asked from where he couldhave contracted the infectionconsidering that he was takingall the precautions, the min-ister said he might have gotinfected while meeting peopleas part of his job. “Every weekfor two to three days, I waschecking hospitals in the dis-tricts to monitor their work-ing. I was also monitoring sev-eral programmes of the Healthdepartment, which includecases of dengue, Japaneseencephalitis, malaria etc. Wealso have to monitor the non-Covid activities at the hospi-tals such as the number ofpatients coming to the OPDs.I have been engaged in theseactivities for the last one-and-a-half months and mayhave contracted the infectionin the meantime,” he added.On whether he has any co-morbidities, he said he hadnone. “I suffer neither fromdiabetes nor from hyperten-sion. Besides, I rarely takemedicines,” he said. Otherministers who have testedpositive till now are MotiSingh, Chetan Chauhan andUpendra Tewari.

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Divisional CommissionerMukesh Meshram said on

Friday that 100 per cent contacttracing is essential to contain-ment the spread of coronavirus.Issuing directions to officials ina meeting, he said all the con-tacts of the active cases have tobe tracked because they arehighly sensitive and of high-risksuspect cases.

“For effective control of thevirus, primary contacts of all thesuspect cases have to be testedbecause if any of them is left out,he or she will spread it to oth-ers and the chain of infectionwon’t be broken,” he said. Hesaid Lucknow lagged behind incontact tracing after someemployees in the CMO officetested positive for coronavirusrecently. “It was the time whenLucknow also started gettingincreasing number of cases,thus creating a backlog.However, the work is beingcarried out and we are hopefulof making up for it by tonightitself,” he added. He sternlysaid all the officials and staffinvolved in containment dutyshould work in a dedicatedmanner from 8 am to 11 pm.

District MagistrateAbhishek Prakash said the anti-gen testing will be increased andthe exercise of pasting stickersoutside homes has to be pacedup. He said if door-to-doorsurveillance is carried out seri-ously for at least one week, thechain of infection can be brokenbut it requires daily monitoring.

The DM directed BalMahila Chikitsalayas and com-munity health centres to havecollection points for samplesand gave them a target of con-ducting 500 tests per day.

Some of the BMCs andCHCs raised the issue of spacefor establishing the collection

points and the DM said thatthey can make use of nearbyschools. The DM said the move-ment plans should be made aday before teams step out forsurveillance and the presence ofANMs and ASHA workers beensured. “At least three teamshave to be sent to each of thecontainment zones,” he added.

He warned that actionwould be taken against mem-bers of the teams not turning upfor surveillance under theEpidemic Diseases Act.

“All the teams should reachthe centres at 8 am and leave fordifferent city areas at 9 am.Action will be taken againstthose who report after 9 am,” hesaid.

Meanwhile, Director-General of Medical HealthServices Dr DS Negi, who tookcharge on Thursday, said his pri-ority would be to bring downthe number of cases and containthe coronavirus spread. He saidhe would soon be holding ameeting to chart out a strategy.

“It is important that the sur-veillance is strengthened and

those asymptomatic are advisedhome quarantine while symp-tomatic patents hospitalised. Itwill make check the spread of ofdisease to an extent,” he said. Headded that patients must also beattended to sincerely.

“There have been issueslike patients not getting ambu-lances in time. My priority willbe to ensure that every patientis attended to properly andadministered treatment as pertheir requirements,” he added.

Media spokesperson ofRam Manohar Lohia HospitalDr Srikesh Singh said they aregiving ‘Remdesivir’ drug topatients in a critical conditionand it costs Rs 3,000-5,000.“Earlier, the drug was not easi-ly available, but it is no longerthe issue. We have used thisdrug which helps in the recov-ery of patients with severe coro-navirus infection,” he said.

He added that the healthworkers and staff on Covid-19duty are being givenHydroxychloroquine as a pro-phylactic. “We are also givingthis drug to asymptomatic

patients. However, it is stilldebatable whether this shouldbe given or not for treatment,”he pointed out.

Meanwhile, president ofIndian Medical Association(IMA), Lucknow Chapter,Rama Srivastava said they hada meeting with the DM and theCDO on the containment ofcoronavirus. “We are trying tomake a committee of privatedoctors who can visit or attendto Covid-19 patients in isola-tion both at the hotels and inlevel-1 private hospitals. I haveheld online meetings in thisregard with over 90 doctors ofthe association,” she added.

President of Adarsh VyaparMandal Sanjay Gupta said theyhave requested the state gov-ernment to allow sweet shopsand bakeries to exempt fromweekend lockdown on August1 and 2 in view of RakshaBandhan (August 3). “Sweetsand bakery items are boughtextensively for RakshaBandhan and if the shops areclosed, people will face a lot ofproblems,” he added.

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The spike continued as 297persons tested positive for

coronavirus in the city whileseven patients succumbedacross the district on Friday.With the fresh cases, the tallyin Lucknow climbed to 3,389and the death toll to 72. Thetotal number of persons dis-charged across the districtstands at 1,961.

A senior official from theCMO office said those whotested positive on Fridayincluded 15 from GomtiNagar, 14 from Alambagh, 11from Aminabad, 10 fromCantt; nine each from Naka,Hussainganj, Hazratganj &Kanpur road; seven each fromGudamba, Ashiyana &Hasanganj; five each fromJankipuram, Indira Nagar,Krishnanagar & Kakori; andfour each from Bazaarkhala,Talkatora, Kaiserbagh,Sarojininagar, Manaknagar,Itaunja, Kaiserbagh andMadiaon.

Giving details of the vic-tims, KGMU spokespersonDr Sudhir Singh said that a63-year-old woman from ParaColony died on Friday. Shewas admitted to the hospitalon July 21. The woman wassuffering from diabetes andshe died due to cardiopul-monary arrest,” he said.

A 57-year-old womanfrom Kaiserbagh, who wasadmitted on July 23, also diedon Friday. “She was sufferingfrom gastroenteritis and died

due to cardiopulmonaryarrest,” Dr Singh said.

Another victim was a 78-year-old man fromGorakhpur, who was admit-ted on Friday itself. “He washaving heart problems andhad a pacemaker connected tohis heart. He died due to car-diopulmonary arrest and res-piratory failure,” Dr Singhsaid. A 54-year-old man fromAlamnagar, who was admittedon July 22, also died on Friday.“He was suffering from hyper-tension and diabetes. He alsohad coronary artery diseaseand he died of respiratory fail-ure,” he said.

In the state, 2,712 per-sons tested positive for coro-navirus, including 189 inKanpur, 122 in Ghaziabad,148 in Jhansi, 147 inVaranasi, 135 in Ballia and163 in Bareilly, taking thetally to 60,939. There were50 deaths across the state,including 7 each in Lucknow& Kanpur, four in Bareilly;two each in Varanasi,Prayagraj, Meerut, Agra,Bulandshahr & Gonda; andone each in Jaunpur,Moradabad, Sambhal,Barabanki, Saharanpur,Muzaffarnagar, Ayodhya,Mathura, Chandauli, Bijnore,Unnao, Azamgarh, Shamli,Amroha, Mirzapur,Lakhimpur Kheri, Bahraichand Lalitpur, taking the tollto 1,348. Besides, 1,909 per-sons recovered across thestate on Friday, taking the fig-ure to 37,712.

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A22-year-old helper of a truckdriver died after the vehicle col-

lided with another stationary truckin Banthra on Thursday night. Thedeceased was identified as BabluKumar of Kanpur Dehat.

As per reports, truck driverRamu Singh of Kanpur Dehat,along with Bablu, was going toJhansi after unloading goods inLucknow. Around 1 am on Friday,when the truck reached Bani culvertin Banthra, a herd of stray animalsappeared on the road. Ramu appliedbrakes but he lost control of thevehicle in the process. The vehicle

ploughed into another truck parkedon the roadside. Bablu sufferedserious injuries and died on the spot.

����Thieves made off with cash and

ornaments from a house (in Chinhat)which has been locked for the lastfour months. Reports said AtiqurRahman and his family had gone totheir native house in Deoria and thehouse was locked. Rahman wasinformed by some neighbours thathis house had been burgled. Hereached Lucknow and lodged a casein this connection. He told the policethat the thieves made off with Rs8,000 in cash apart from ornaments.

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Page 5: 2020/07/25  · cases in India have doubled in nearly three weeks since July 2 when the country crossed the six lakh-mark. The country’s Covid tally touched the 10 lakh-mark last

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�� %!"&'�"��&!(���!#����" �!�� !�)"&#�&�Lucknow (PNS): The LDA boardmeeting was held on Friday andpresided over by DivisionalCommissioner Mukesh Meshram.The meeting was also attended bythe LDA VC and MunicipalCommissioner.

The board gave its nod to dis-tribution of the remaining compen-sation amount (Rs 30.42 crore) forthe Vasantkunj and Hardoi roadschemes amongst the farmers.

The board also approved thedistribution of Rs 1.12 crore amongst142 allottees whose lands in theCattle Colony were impacted byconstruction of a bandha under theVasantkunj scheme. The board gaveits nod to the adjustment of 322 plotsimpacted by bandha construction.

In a bid to prevent defaultersfrom participating in auctions ofLDA for commercial properties, theboard decided that if LDA allottedany commercial property in the pastand three continuous installmentshave not been deposited, the com-pany would be considered a default-er and would not be allowed to par-ticipate in any auction. As per gov-ernment notification, the free-holdtax charge will also be added to theestimated cost of land at the time ofauction. The board also approvedconstruction of the multilevel park-ing in the parking area of TransportNagar project and construction ofthe overbridge under PPP model toconnect the Transport Nagar Metrostation with this multilevel parking.

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Even as Chief Minister YogiAdityanath stressed on

medical screening of all jailinmates for coronavirus infec-tion, as many as 160 inmates ofBallia district jail were found tobe positive on Friday.

On Thursday, at least 120inmates of Jhansi district jailwere found to be inflicted by theviral infection during tests.

Confirming the develop-ment on Friday, JailSuperintendent in Ballia districtjail, Prashant Kumar Maurya,said that a Health departmentteam conducted tests on 594inmates, out of which 160 test-ed positive. Maurya said that awoman inmate was also foundto be positive and was admit-ted to Level-1 hospital inBasantpur.

“All positive inmates werelater lodged in a separate bar-rack and were being providedmedicines and other facilities asper government directives,” hesaid. In September, 2019, Balliadistrict jail shot into limelightwhen 850 inmates had to beshifted to other jails due toheavy waterlogging inside thebarracks following incessantrains. The Ballia jail has acapacity of 350 inmates but likeother UP it is overcrowded. Thejail building too is dilapidatedand waterlogging as a routineaffair during monsoons as it islocated in a low lying area.

Meanwhile in Jhansi,District Magistrate AndhraVamsi said that four jail bar-racks were converted intoCovid hospital and all 120inmates who tested positivewere admitted there.

“The hospital has beenequipped with all necessarymedical equipment and theaffected inmates are beingmonitored by three teams ofdoctors. If needed, the inmateswill be shifted to Jhansi med-ical college hospital for furthertreatment,” the district magis-trate said. In early July, aninmate Shripat showed symp-toms of coronavirus infectionand was put in a 14-day quar-antine. On July 9, when hiscondition did not improve, hewas admitted to Jhansi medicalcollege hospital. It is suspectedthat some jail staff might havecome in contact with Shripatafter which the infection spreadto other inmates.

Coronavirus infectionamong jail inmates in UttarPradesh has been rising by theday. Jail inmates of GautamBuddha Nagar, Ghaziabad,Agra, Lucknow, Mau, Balliaand Sonbhadra have beenfound to be infected by thevirus. With most jails of thestate housing more than theircapacity and no concrete stepsbeing taken by prison author-ities in this regard, the contain-ment of infection amonginmates seems a far cry.

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A28-year-old loader driverwas recovered from a

pond in Malihabad on Fridayand it was suspected that hewas murdered by the kin of agirl with whom he was said tobe in love. The incident cameto light after the body wasrecovered on Friday morning.Police claimed to havedetained five suspects whowere being interrogated.

As per reports, Ram Bakshof a village in Malihabad wasreported missing on July 22after he left home for somework. On Friday, some vil-lagers spotted the body in thepond on the outskirts and thenews flew thick and fast. Ahuge number of villagers,including the kin of RamBaksh, flocked to the scene.The deceased was identified byhis kin. In the meantime, apolice team reached there.

The police said thedeceased had wounds on theface and other body parts. “Itappeared he was done to death

somewhere else and the bodydumped in the area to sendacross a strong message to hisfamily,” villagers said.

Father Mahipal said RamBaksh was in love with a girland used to call her off and on.“The family members of thegirl were against their relation-ship and even opposed totheir telephonic conversation.They may have killed RamBaksh and dumped the bodyinto the pond,” he alleged.

Mahipal further allegedthe pond belongs to a closefriend of the girl’s father. “RamBaksh was stopped near thepond a couple of days backand threatened,” he said, alleg-ing that the girl’s father and hisaides killed his son.

The police accepted thecomplaint in which Mahipalnamed the girl's father and hisaides. “Five of the accusedhave been detained and werebeing interrogated. The bodyhas been sent for autopsy andthe scientific evidence arebeing collected,” the policesaid.

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Lab technician Sanjit Yadav,kidnapped on June 22 in

Kanpur, was killed within aweek of being held captive inthe last week of June. Thissurfaced during interroga-tion of five suspects picked upby Crime Branch personnelwho probed the case.

Addressing media per-sons in Kanpur on Friday,Kanpur SSP Dinesh KumarPrabha said that Ishu aliasGyanendra Yadav of DabauliWest, Kuldeep Goswami ofSaraimita Kachchi Basti, NiluSingh of Gajja Purwa, RamjiShukla of Ambedkarpuram(Gujaini) and Priti Sharma ofKaushalpuri were arrested fortheir complicity in the kid-napping and murder of Sanjit(27). One of aides, SimmiSingh of Gajja Purwa(Sachendi) was absconding.

Besides, three bikes(including that of the victim)and a Ford Figo car wererecovered from the accused.

The SSP said thatGyanendra and Kuldeep ear-

lier worked with Sanjit in apathology and becamefriends. He said on June 22,Kuldeep called Sanjit nearDhanvantari Hospital on thepretext of celebrating hisbirthday.

“Sanjit came fromNaubasta on his bike andmet his friends near a canal.There they boardedGyanendra’s Ford Figo while

Nilu followed them on Sanjit’sbike. On the way, they boughtsome liquor and snacks andconsumed liquor in the carnear Tatya Tope Nagar. As perplan, Sanjit was offered liquorlaced with sedative afterwhich he passed out. He wastaken to a rented room inRatanlal Nagar and heldhostage,” the officer said.

The SSP further said that

Sanjit tried to escape fromtheir custody on the night ofJune 26 when they strangledhim. “They then wrapped hisbody in a plastic bag anddumped it into Pandu river.After his death, the miscreantsdemanded a ransom of Rs 30lakh from the victim’s familyon June 29,” he said.

Amidst the raging contro-versy over the ransom beingpaid in the presence of policepersonnel, the SSP said thatthe bag recovered from theaccused did not contain anycash. But he media personsassured that a probe wasunderway to examine theveracity of the victim’s kinassertion that a bag contain-ing the ransom was thrownfrom a flyover down on railtracks, as instructed by themiscreants. The SSP also saidthat PAC divers were pressedinto service to recover thebody of Sanjit from Panduriver. Efforts are now beingmade to trace the victim’smotorcycle and mobile phonewhich were missing since hewas kidnapped.

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After kidnapped lab tech-nician Sanjit Yadav was

killed by his abductors inKanpur, Chief Minister YogiAdityanath ordered the sus-pension of 10 cops, includ-ing ASP (South) AparnaGupta and CO (Barra)Manoj Gupta, for derelictionof duty on Friday.

While SHO of Barra,Ranjit Rai, and outpost in-

charge Rajesh Kumar weresuspended two days back,sub-inspector at Barra policestation, Yogendra PratapSingh, and constablesAwadhesh, Saurabh Pandey,Vinod Kumar, Manish andShiv Pratap were handedout suspension orders onFriday. ADG (PHQ) BPJogdand was asked to probethe case and directed toreach Kanpur fromLucknow.

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Opposition parties, includ-ing Congress and Bahujan

Samaj Party condemned thekilling of the lab technicianand alleged that there was‘jungle raj’ in the state.

Bahujan Samaj Party pres-ident Mayawati in a tweet said,“In another incident duringthe jungle raj in Uttar Pradesh,the body of Sanjit Yadav wasthrown into the river by hiskidnappers in Kanpur. This isvery sad and condemnable.The state government needs toimmediately come into actionspecially in the matters ofcrime control and law andorder.”

Congress general secre-tary Priyanka Gandhi said the

law and order in Uttar Pradeshhad completely collapsed.

After taking the life of acommon man, now publicproclamations are being made about it, she said,adding that be it home, road,office, no one felt safe any-where.

“After Vikram Joshi, nowabducted Sanjeet Yadav inKanpur has been killed. Thepolice got the money paid tothe kidnappers and he waskilled as well. A new goonda rajhas come into being,” PriyankaGandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.“In this jungle raj, law andorder has surrendered beforethe goons,” she said.

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The Uttar Pradesh govern-ment cleared the second

instalment of sustenanceallowance to workers and farm-ers as Chief Minister YogiAdityanath transferred Rs 90.88crore to over 9.88 lakh workerswith the click of the mouse onFriday.

The CM also launched apre-disaster app, the IntegratedEarly Warning System, andearly flood management mod-ule named Aapda Prahari onthis occasion. “The world is fac-ing the biggest challenge in theform of COVID-19 and Indiais no different. Uttar Pradesh,home to 23 crore people, hasseen the biggest reverse migra-

tion under which over 37 lakhpeople returned to their villagesin less than two months’ time.The UP government not onlyprovided food for them but alsoensured employment for thepeople who were skilled invarious fields,” Yogi said at thefunction held at his 5, KalidasMarg official residence. Hesaid that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi provided reliefto these people by declaring freedistribution of ration for themtill November this year. “TheUP government, on its part,gave a sustenance allowance ofRs 1000,” Yogi said. This wasthe second instalment of suste-nance allowance which thegovernment gave on Friday.Earlier, on June 13, 2020, the

government had paid Rs 1,000each to over 10.48 lakh work-ers. Thus, over 19 lakh peoplehave received this allowance forthe second time.

“The government hasensured that the benefits of thegovernment schemes reach thelast man on the ladder.Employment is being provid-ed to the people through skillmapping. At present over 50lakh people are working. Someare employed in MGNREGAschemes in which they areplanting trees or digging pondswhile some are working on thehighways,” Yogi said. Besidesthis, he said, every beneficiarywas being paid Rs 2,000 underPradhan Mantri KisanSamman Nidhi and the

Ujjawala scheme, under whichbeneficiaries get free LPG con-nections, had been extendedtill September 2020. Whiletalking about the pre-disasterapp which was launched onFriday, Yogi said that moderntechnology would help in sav-ing precious lives from natur-al calamities. The integratedearly warning system andAapda Prahari App are thebrainchild of the Revenuedepartment for which theydeserve appreciation.

In Integrated EarlyWarning System, the forecast ofbad weather can be sent to54,000 gram pradhans, 24,000lekhpals, 1.59 lakh anganwadiworkers, 1.51 lakh ASHA work-ers and 35,000 policemen.

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The Uttar Pradesh government hasgiven in principle approval to pri-

vatise the Purvanchal Vidyut VitranNigam Limited, (PVVNL), one of thefive power distribution companies(discoms) which are wholly ownedsubsidiaries of the UP PowerCorporation Limited (UPPCL).

Purvanchal Vitran Nigam coversPrime Minister Narendra Modi’sLok Sabha constituency Varanasi,and Gorakhpur, the home turf ofChief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

The government has also pre-pared broad terms and conditionswhich would be finalised once themodel standard bidding document(SBD) is issued by the UnionMinistry of Energy. At present, onlyAgra has a private power distributionfranchisee run by Torrent Power.

National Electricity SupplyDistribution Company Limited, ajoint venture company floated by thePSU power generator NTPC and thePower Grid Corporation of IndiaLimited, is said to be the front-run-ner to take over the PVVNL. Theofficials of this company were alsopresent in the meeting held here onThursday.

As per the presentation, powerdistribution of only six districts,Gorakhpur, Basti, Prayagraj,Mirzapur, Varanasi and Azamgarh,would be given to the new compa-ny. Power distribution in the rest ofthe districts of east UP will remainwith the PVVNL. The districtspresently under PVVNL includeGhazipur, Chandauli, Jaunpur, Sant

Ravidas Nagar, Varanasi, Mirzapur,Sonbhadra, Mau, Azamgarh, Ballia,Deoria, Kushinagar, Gorakhpur,Maharajganj, Sant Kabir Nagar, Basti,Siddharthnagar, Prayagraj,Pratapgarh, Fatehpur, andKaushambi.

The PVVNL represents 23.60per cent of the total electricity sup-plied by the UPPCL, 29.28 per centof the total electricity consumers and19.97 per cent of the total revenue ofthe UPPCL. Of over 83 lakh con-sumers in PVVNL, 84 per cent arerural consumers and 15.95 are urbanconsumers. The AT&C losses, or linelosses, of the PVVNL stand at whop-ping 41.12 per cent. The averageaggregate technical & commercial(AT&C) loss in Uttar Pradesh is 30per cent, higher than the nationalaverage of 19.19 per cent.

According to official sources, theUPPCL is proposing to follow themodel proposed by the UnionMinistry of Energy. According to asenior official of the UPPCL, “As perthe model proposed by the Unionministry, fixed assets will remain inthe books of the PSU discom andthe investor who will be given licenceto operate the power distributioncompany for 25 years will paycharges for the electricity supplied bythe power grid.”

He added, “Cleaning of the con-sumer data base is under process andthe target is to complete it withinnext 3-4 months.”

The UP government in its pre-sentation also stated that the processof cleaning the bad debt was alsounder process.

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Prabhav Khera, a student ofCity Montessori School, GomtiNagar Campus I, performed bril-liantly at Advanced Placement(AP) examination, winning ‘APScholar with Distinction Award’.This award is bestowed upon stu-dents who excel in academics.Prabhav appeared in five subjects and achieveda perfect score of 5 in 4 subjects. CMS founderJagdish Gandhi expressed happiness overPrabhav’s success and wished him a bright future.

�������#A mural of a goddess by LMC inside Gomti

Nagar police station kicked up a row after someadvocates raised objection. The police later gotthe mural erased. DCP (East) Somen Burmasaid LMC is carrying out beautification of thecity through murals and the image of a god-dess inside the police station irked the advo-cates who found it objectionable. “It wasimmediately removed,” he said. He said no FIRwas registered in this connection.

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Aam Admi Party (AAP)expressed its concern over

the laxity being shown by theHealth department during thetreatment of a corona patientand demanded an inquiry intothe death of a resident ofPrahlad Ghat area. In thisdirection, a delegation of partyled by district incharge MukeshSingh submitted a memoran-dum to the district administra-tion here on Friday.

AAP workers said thatwhen a resident from PrahladGhat was facing breathingproblems recently, the familymembers rushed him to ShreeShiv Prasad Gupta (SSPG)Hospital, Kabirchaura, fortreatment but after examiningthe patient, the hospitalreferred the patient to Pt. DeenDayal Upadhaya (DDU)Hospital (L2) terming thepatient as corona positive.Mukesh Singh said that thepatient was diabetic and asth-

matic and was facing breathingproblems but he was referredto DDU Hospital, instead of SirSundarlal Hospital (SSH) inBanaras Hindu Universitywhere he could be given sup-port from a ventilator.

He said that on July 21, thesaid patient died and hisCOVID-19 report was receivednext day in which it is said thatthere were light symptoms ofcorona which indicates that hedied of diabetes and asthmainstead of corona and demand-ed an inquiry into the death ofthe patient. District presidentKailash Patel demanded ahigh-level inquiry and strictaction against guilty Healthdepartment officers.

He also demanded com-pensation of ��25 lakh for thebereaved family apart from agovernment job to a familymember. The AAP workershave threatened the districtadministration that if within 72hours no decision is taken inthis direction, they would

launch an agitation. The rela-tive of deceased patientPrashant Kumar Pandeyalleged that his brother-in-law died of laxity shown by thehospital during treatment.

LODGE FIR AGAINSTRUMOUR MONGERS:Taking a serious note ofrumour about the transmissionof infection by burning thebody of COVID-19 patient, theDistrict Magistrate KaushalRaj Sharma has directed themagistrate and police officerfor lodging an FIR against therumour monger under theDisaster Management Act.

It may be noted here thatafter the death of the COVID-19 patients, the bodies aretaken to the HarishchandraGhat for cremation by burningand through the electric systemin the electric crematoriumtoo. But, the communityengaged in the cremation pro-fession at this ghat, raised anobjection over the cremation ofthe bodies of the COVID-19

patients by burning at ghat andthey also denied providingwood for the same. Theyargued that the cremation ofbodies of the COVID-19patents by burning causes thetransmission of the infection.In fact, some had spreadrumours that the cremation ofCOVID-19 patients causes thetransmission of infectionand these persons came underthe influence of rumour mon-gers.

When this informationreached the DM, he took aserious note of it and directedthe Additional City Magistrate(ACM) and Station HouseOfficer (SHO) of the Bhelupurpolice station to deal strictlywith rumor mongers. The DMdirected the officers to holdmeetings with the personsengaged in the cremation pro-fession and pacify them thatthere is no transmission ofinfection by burning thebodies of the COVID-19patients.

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Main thrust of the NorthCentral Railway is on

electrification for mission 50Kmph average speed of goodstrains on sustained basis. It hasidentified electrification ofmissing links and other infra-structure works for seamlessand efficient train operations.Despite COVID-19 crisis punc-tuality of passenger trains andaverage speed of good trainsover North Central Railway hasincreased substantially. Withimpeccable maintenance ofassets and operating discipline,NCR has achieved averagespeed of 45 Kmph plus in Julyand 42 kmph upto July in cur-rent financial year thus regis-tering substantial improvementof 70 per cent over last year. Interms of volume NCR hasloaded 38.2 Lakh tonnes freightso far and has earned freightrevenue of Rs 437.55 crore.Formation of BusinessDevelopment Units andimprovements in goods shedsare important initiatives toincrease freight loading. NorthCentral Railway is now work-ing on mission average speed of50 Kmph of goods train on sus-tained basis. Besides alreadytaken measures, North CentralRailway has identified criticalelectrification projects andother infrastructure works tobring quantum improvement

in speed of goods trains.Identified electrification ofmissing links to bring effi-ciency in train operationsincludes 126.66 Kms betweenBhandai and Etawah,115.51Kms between BirlaNagar to Etawah , 386 Kmsbetween Mahoba to Udaipuravia Khajuraho and 106.29 Kmsbetween Shikohabad andFarrukhabad on North CentralRailway. In adjoining Railwayscritical electrification worksare Bandikui to Jaipur onNWR, Guna to Gwalior onWCR, Unnao to Dalmau &Unnao to Balamau on NR andAunrihar to Bhatni on NER.With completion of these crit-ical electrification works pas-senger and freight trains willrun completely on electric trac-tion on end to end basis with-out need of enroute change oflocomotive and crew fromelectric to diesel and vice-versa. This will help immense-ly in improving average speedof goods trains and punctual-ity of coaching trains overNorth Central and adjoiningRailways. Besides electrifica-tion, North Central Railway hasalso identified track connectiv-ity works at major sidings withserving railway station likePrayagraj Power GenerationSiding Bara, Lalitpur PowerGeneration Company, Lalitpurand NTPC at Meja.Completion of balance connec-tivity works at these sidings will

bring efficiency in rake han-dling and faster evacuation offreight trains.

WRIT PETITION DIS-POSED: The Allahabad HighCourt has held that a policeofficer is empowered to seize aproperty which creates suspi-cion of commission of anyoffence. ‘It is not disputed thata ‘bank account’ is a propertywhich is capable of seizure. Thecaveat attached to such aseizure is that the seizure shallbe reported by the police offi-cer forthwith to the competentmagistrate’, the court added.Disposing of writ petition filedby Independent TV Limited, adivision bench comprisingJustice Pankaj Naqvi and JusticeDeepak Verma the courtdirected that in the event, thepetitioner stakes a claim todefreeze the account in ques-tion within three weeks, themagistrate shall decide thesame after hearing the partiesconcerned in accordance withlaw as expeditiously as possible.

The petitioner had soughtdirection against SeniorSuperintendent of Police,Gautam Budh Nagar andEnforcement Directorate, NewDelhi to defreeze its (petition-er’s) current account in PunjabNational Bank, Noida forth-with. However, the AdditionalGovernment Advocate (first),Neeraj Kanta Verma, who rep-resented the state governmentopposed the petition, saying

that as per provision of section102 of criminal procedure code(CrPC) a police officer isempowered to seize a proper-ty which creates suspicion ofcommission of any offence.He further pointed out the affi-davit filed by DeputyCommissioner of Police,NOIDA, which stated that theseizure was effected, dulyentered in case diary and as perestablished procedure, the samewas submitted before theAdditional Chief JudicialMagistrate (ACJM-III) GautamBudh Nagar. The contents ofthe said paragraph remainuncontroverted, he added. Thecourt also refused to rely on ajudgment, which proceededon the premise that the seizingauthority i.e. the police isdenuded of its power to seizeunless prior permission of themagistrate is obtained.Refusing to agree to this judg-ment, the court observed, ‘Thisview runs absolutely counter tosub-section (3) of section 102of the criminal procedure code(CrPC), wherein the seizure isrequired to be reported to thecompetent magistrate after thesame has been effected. ‘Onceseizure has been reported to thecompetent magistrate, the peti-tioner may stake a claim inaccordance with law beforethe magistrate concerned’, thecourt added.

The court passed this judg-ment on July 9, 2020.

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Divisional Commissioner(DC) Deepak Agrawal has

asked the Chief Medical Officer(CMO) to take an immediatedecision in relation to the hos-pitalisation or home isolationof corona positive patients.‘There should not be any delayor negligence by the medicalteams at any stage,’ he said,specifically emphasising thatdetected patients should eitherbe admitted to Covid hospitalsor ask for home isolation with-in a day. He was holding ameeting with the Healthdepartment and other officialshere on Thursday.

He further directed theCMO that the antigen testsshould be done immediately ofall those identified with symp-toms like cough, fever orbreathing problems during therecent special surveillance sur-vey campaign conductedbetween July 5 and July 15. Hesaid that if any of them is foundcorona positive, then the sameshould either be admitted toCovid hospitals or ask forhome isolation. He laid specialemphasis on conducting anti-gen tests in groups. He also saidthat the lab technicians who

have been deployed for collect-ing sampling should start theirwork every day by 9 am andnegligence will not be tolerat-ed at any stage in this direction.

Meanwhile, in his virtualtalks with the doctors of privatehospitals, UP Minister of State(Independent Charge)Ravindra Jaiswal appealed tothe private hospitals to cooper-ate in the ongoing fight againstcoronavirus pandemic as dueto sharp increasing in number

of patients, the governmenthospitals are facing mountingpressures. He said that the pri-vate hospitals should provideLevel 1 and L2 isolation wardsfor Covid-19 patients so thatthe mounting pressures on thegovernment hospitals can beminimised and the patientscan get better health services.He further said that the govern-ment had already made it clearthat the private medical facili-ties to be used in COVID-19

treatment would be coveredunder the insurance schemes.

The virtual meeting wasalso attended by ADM(Administration), CMO andmany other doctors includingDr SP Yadav, Dr SubodhKumar Singh, Dr Ashok Rai,Dr SP Singh, Dr MadhulikaSingh, Dr Pallavi Mishra, DrManish Chaudhary, Dr PreetiGupta, Dr SK Singh, DrAlok Bhardwaj and Dr SafiqHaider.

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Ashutosh Tandon, UrbanDevelopment Minister of

UP and son of the MadhyaPradesh Governor Lalji Tandonimmersed ashes of his father inthe sacred waters of theSangam here on Friday.

He arrived here inforenoon hours with the urncontaining ashes of LaljiTandon and reached Sangamwhere former West BengalGovernor Pt Keshri NathTripathi, MP Keshri Devi Patel,MLA Harsh Bajpai, DeepakPatel and scores of BJP leadersand workers paid tribute to theMP Governor.

After the shraddhanjalisabha Ashutosh Tandonimmersed the ashes into theSangam waters amidst chanti-ng of mantras.

REPORT SENT TO DMFOR CANCELLATION OFATIQUE’S GUN LICENSE:During the investigation offormer MP Atique and hisgang members, the cops gotanother clue. Atique Ahmedalso has a double-barrel gun,whose license was issued on the

report of Dhumanganj policestation in the year 1984. In1985, three firearms, includingthe double-barrel gun, hadbeen deposited at theKhuldabad police station. One

of the guns was in the name ofMajid, a resident of KasariMasari, while It was not knownas to whom the other gunbelonged to. Atique's gunlicense was also revoked but it

was released from the policestation in 2005 following thecourt order.

Here, the affidavit given tothe Election Commission wasnoticed when the police start-ed investigating the armslicense associated with Atique.Based on the license numbergiven in it, when the policematched all the facts, it wasfound that the double-barrelgun was missing. InspectorDhumanganj ShamsherBahadur said that a report hasbeen sent to the DistrictMagistrate for cancellation ofAtique's gun license. A hunt forthe gun is also underway. TheKhuldabad police on Tuesdayrecovered Atique's rifle and pis-tol from his office.Dhumanganj police alsodeposited the rifle of Asgar, aresident of Rasulpur, close aideto Atique, at the police stationon Wednesday. Asgar's armslicense has also been revoked.Police had also deposited theweapons of both Talib andGulfull's sons on Tuesday. Thisaction is being taken after thecancellation of the arms licenseof seven people.

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In wake of the recent highly-publicised episode of Vikas

Dubey and increasing actionagainst the criminals on theinstructions of the state govern-ment, District Magistrate (DM)Kaushal Raj Sharma hasordered to confiscate propertyworth over � 2.54 crore of sixvicious criminals of the district.The DM has taken the actionunder the provisions of Section14 (1) of Uttar PradeshGangsters and Anti-SocialActivities (Prevention) Act,1986. The provision of the actsays ‘if the District Magistrate

has reason to believe that anyproperty, whether moveableor immovable, in possession ofany person has been acquiredby a gangster as a result of thecommission of an offence tri-able under this Act, he mayorder attachment of such prop-erty whether or not cogni-sance of such offence has...’

In all the DM has orderedfor attachment of total proper-ty worth � 2,54,71,945 of thesesix criminals of the district. DMordered to attach a two-storeyed house of 81.78 sqmetres located at Hasimpurworth about � 60 lakh pur-chased by Sriprakash Mishra

alias Jhunna Pandit, resident ofHasimpur Ramdattpur underLalpur Pandeypur (Cantt)police station; 93.66 sq. metresproperty at Lamahi ParganaShivpur purchased in the nameof Om Prakash Mishra apartfrom Passion Plus motorcycle,Royal Enfield Bullet and �1,00,520 recovered in search;property worth � 1,56,12,240 ofSanjay Singh alias Pappu Singhof Sanjay Nagar Colony(Pahadia) under Lalpur-Pandeypur police station whichincludes Pucca house built in600 sq. ft. in Ramrepur, three-storey house built on 0.035hectare plot in Ramrepur itself,

a TVS Apache motorcycle, aMahindra Scorpio; Scootyworth �55,000 of SaraiGovardhan (Chetganj) resi-dent Pooja Mishra; a splendormotorcycle worth � 50,000 ofVinod Kumar, resident ofBirbhanpur under Rohaniapolice station area; house situ-ated in Khajuri Nai Basti worth�36,99,430,of RajkumarMaurya, resident of KhajuriPandeypur under Shivpurpolice station and a SuperSplendor motorcycle worth �55,275 of Ajay KumarChaurasia, resident of QutubanShaheed under Kotwali policestation.

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Prayagraj reported its high-est single-day spike in coro-

navirus cases as 110 peopletested positive and the citywitnessed two COVID-19deaths late on Thursday night.The number of patients withcoronavirus is increasing rapid-ly rather than decreasing.

This number was the high-est ever because patients werestill getting in two digits only,but now the number of patientsstarted getting in hundreds.With this, the number of coro-na patients has increased to1,275 now.

The number of coronapatients in the district hasincreased very fast in themonth of July. If we look at thedata for just ten days, about 647corona patients have beenfound. Currently there are 539active cases, while 694 coronapatients have gone home afterrecovering.

On Thursday, 53 coronapatients became corona free. Ofthem, 10 patients from KotwaBani, two from RailwayHospital, two fromKalindipuram, 19 from Beliand 20 from SRN were dis-charged. With this, reports of981 samples have come nega-tive while 1,069 samples havebeen taken for COVID-19 test.Dr Rishi Sahai, the NodalOfficer for COVID-19 saidthat the number of coronapatients has so far reached1,275.

The number of covid carecentres is also being increased.Dr Sahai appealed to the peo-ple to avoid corona and statedthat one has to become awareand refrain from going into the

crowd. The number of testingcentres is being increased. Nowtesting centres are being start-ed in Naini, Jhunsi andPhaphamau as well.

The 10 day figures are asfollows—on July 13, a total of24 positive cases were report-ed. Similarly, on July 14: 21 pos-itive, July 15: 52 positive, July16: 32 positive, July 17: 67 pos-itive, July 18: 57 positive, July19: 83 positive, July 20: 55 pos-itive, July 21: 52 positive, July22: 94 positive while on July 23:110 positive cases of coron-avirus were found in the city.

LOCKDOWNS COM-POUNDING PROBLEMS:Repeated and unscientific lock-downs, both periodic and longduration, being imposed by thegovernment are severely com-pounding the problems of peo-ple, peasants, agriculturalworkers, shopkeepers, small

manufacturers, travel andtransport, school and collegestudents, clients and advocates,patients and doctors, construc-tion labour, in short all sectionsof working people. They areplaying no role and they haveno role in checking the spreadof corona as is obvious fromfacts of spread that haveemerged now for more than120 days.

The government is alsofurther complicating matters byimposing harsh and unwar-ranted fines, as the Britishcolonialists used to do, ratherthan do what is most essentialfor preventing the spread ofcorona.

The necessary scientificmeasure for implementationamongst masses is to distributemasks by activating peoples’teams, including stitching andeducating and to ensure that all

centres of mass assembly haveprovision of hand sanitisers andsoap/ water. The governmentmust ensure provision ofthese in market places, schools,courts, etc. Only the govern-ment can do so and it is its dutyto do so, but it has totally failedto do so. Physical distancingtoo is an essential componentduring long duration closedroom contact, not in openair.

UP committee of CPI(ML)New Democracy appeals tothe government, its advisorsand all concerned persons toreview the lockdownimposition as it is creatinginsurmountable difficultiesfor working people, studentsand patients and is leavingspace only for MNC andcorporate operations, govern-ment machinery and superrich.

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After the orders of the Yogi AdityanathGovernment, home isolation facility has also

been started in Prayagraj from Friday. Underthis, home isolation has been arranged for coro-na patients from Friday. The Health departmenthas prepared its outline. Now corona-infectedpatients, having no symptoms, can remain inhome isolation. Preparations continued forthis till Thursday night. Separate rapid responseteams have been formed for village and urbanareas.

Due to the increasing infection of corona,it was announced by the state government thatinstead of bringing the asymptomatic coronapatients to the hospital, they would be kept inhome isolation. The district administration andHealth department had been preparing for fourdays to implement this rule in the district.

A total of 43 rapid response teams have beenformed in the district, who will contact patientswishing to be in home isolation and ask themsome questions on mobile. Eg, whether thepatient has mobile or not, separate room andseparate bathroom or not etc. If the patient doesnot answer it, he will be brought to the hospi-tal. If the patient says that this resource is withhim, then his physical verification will bedone.

During this time, the patient will have to buythe necessary things like pulse oximeters,gloves. If patients are able to arrange allthese things then they will be allowed home iso-lation.

Dr. Rishi Sahai, the nodal officer forCOVID-19, said that the rapid response teamand doctors will be in contact with patients liv-ing in home isolation. If they face any problem,then the immediate team will help them.

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The day saw the biggestspike during the day on

Friday as 179 COVID-19patients have been found. Withthis sharp jump, the total num-ber of cases has crossed 1800-mark. Earlier, the highest oneday’s figure was 115 recoded onJune 20. It was the second timewhen the number of patientsfound during a day was in threefigures. With this, total num-ber of patients has increased to1,822. With one more deathearlier, the toll has increased to38. The day also saw no reliefas only the follow-up reports of25 patients were found negativeand later on, they have beendischarged from the hospitals.With this, the total number ofpatients who have been recov-ered has increased to 788, leav-ing 996 active patients. It indi-cates that even the number ofactive patient is just close to1K-mark.

According to the ChiefMedical Officer (CMO) DrVB Singh, two persons whodied during treatment earlierwere a person aged 58 who was

in government job and postedat PAC Battalion at Gorakhpurand was on duty at Varanasiand the second is also a malewho was aged 43 and residentof Tej Nagar (Shivpur). In thefirst report received by 11 amduring the day as many as 40new corona patients werefound out of 145 reportsreceived from Microbiology

department of (BHU). Tillthen, the total test resultsreceived were 26,591 and theresults of 4,252 excluding 696RTPCR samples collected aday ago are awaited. Out ofthese, 24,908 were negativereports, while 1,683 positive.The total number of samplescollected was 31,539.

Earlier, utter chaos pre-

vailed in Ballia which hasinched closer to cross 1K-mark when in the antigen test-ing, the reports of 132 prison-ers were found positive. A dayago 28 prisoners were foundpositive. The health of 594prisoners was tested and 28 ofthem were found positive a dayearlier, while 132 on Thursday.With this, separate arrange-ments for these positive prison-ers have been made. Besides, 14new positive patients have beenfound in Sonbhadra, increasingthe total number to 366 with175 active patients while 191have been recovered.

In all, during the last oneday by Thursday, the belt ofPurvanchal (eastern UP) com-prising 10 districts of threedivisions has seen an increaseof 316 patients and the totalnumber of patients hasincreased to 6,956. The day sawimprovement in recovery rateas out of the total cases, 4,109(59.07 per cent) have beendischarged from the hospitals,while 2,734 (39.33 per cent) areactive patients. The mortalityrate remained good as it is 1.61per cent with 112 deaths.

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Page 7: 2020/07/25  · cases in India have doubled in nearly three weeks since July 2 when the country crossed the six lakh-mark. The country’s Covid tally touched the 10 lakh-mark last

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Under the ‘Vriksharopan Abhiyan’ (planta-tion campaign) the foundation stone of eco

park was laid at Bina project of NCL, Singrauli,on Thursday. The park would be developed inan estimated area of about 70,000square metres and the reservoir locat-ed at Bina has a capacity of about2,10,000 cubic metres. Under the cam-paign more than 80,000 saplings wereplanted in about 80 acres of land andmore than 20,000 fruit-bearing plantswere distributed. This ambitious cam-paign organised by the Union Ministryof Coal was launched by Union HomeMinister Amit Shah. It was also attend-ed by Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs,Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi. In view of thecoronavirus pandemic the programme wasconducted through video-conferencing in whichall the projects of NCL and subsidiaries of CoalIndia were connected through e-medium.Home Minister Amit Shah laid the foundationstone of NCL’s Bina eco park by electronic means

and praised the efforts of the Ministry of Coalfor planting more than six lakh plants and dis-tribution of five lakh plants at 150 places in aday. CMD NCL Prabhat Kumar Sinha, MP ofSidhi Riti Pathak, director (Technical /Operations) Gunadhar Pandey, director

(Personnel) Bimlendu Kumar, director(Technical / Project & Planning) DrAninday Sinha, director (Finance) RamNarayan Dubey and other dignitarieswitnessed this ambitious plantation cam-paign at NCL headquarters, Singrauli.NCL has planted a total of more than 2.43crore trees in 5,854 hectares in overbur-den (OB) dumps and field areas so far.During the programme NCL managementensured the maintenance of social dis-

tancing. In order maintain ecological system ofNCL region and conservation and promotionof regional flora and fauna, traditional plants,including bamboo, neem, amla, teak, mango,guava and many others were planted apart fromdistribution of saplings of fruit-bearing plantslike mango, pomegranate, lemon, amla, papaya,guava, banana, blackberry and jackfruit.

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Halia police arrested sixmembers of an inter-state

gang of motorcycle thieves andrecovered 10 motorcycles fromthem. SO Halia Amit Singh wastipped off by an informer OnThursday regarding a dealabout stolen bikes in Banjarivillage. At this the police swunginto action, raided it, found sixsuspects engaged in illegaldealing at Sri Krishna SharanSingh Inter College. Whenthey inquired about the pur-pose behind their presencethere they could not give a sat-isfactory answer. During inter-rogation they confessed theirinvolvement in theft of motor-bikes not only in adjacent dis-tricts but in MP too. The policerecovered four countrymadeguns as many cartridges, twomobile phones, two Aadharcards and �190 in cash. Twomotorbikes which they hadwere also found to be stolenones. On further interroga-tion Anuj Dubey, a resident of

Sirawal village in Prayagrajgave information about theeight bikes at his house andhelped the police in recoveringthem. The accused were iden-tified as Jitendra Kol, Dinesh,Anuj Dubey, Om Pandey and

Asheesh Bind, residents ofPrayagraj and Satish Shukla, aresident of Rewa, MP. Thepolice sent the accused to jail.

MEETING: The UdyogBandhu meeting held atCollectorate on Thursday waschaired by DM Sushil KumarPatel. The DM took the bankersto task for tardy progress inadvances under government-sponsored schemes. He wasapprised by the deputy com-missioner, Industries, thatunder the CM’s Youth Self-Employment Scheme and

under ODOP scheme theprogress was nill. The DM wasapprised that under PM’s JobCreation Scheme six benefi-ciaries had been benefited andRs 11.50 lakh had been dis-bursed. The DM directed theLDM to take action case wiseand ask the bankers to do theneedful promptly and report tohim in next meeting.Reviewing the allotment ofindustrial sheds the DM direct-ed the deputy commissioner,Industries, to write the letter tothe allottees who had not start-ed any industries and get thosesheds vacated. The meeting wasattended by EEs, PWD andElectricity, bankers and others.

KILLED: A woman waskilled in a clash in Khodaaipurvillage under the Halia policestat ion. According to areport, two groups had ascuffle in which Prabhawati(65), wife of Lalmani Dubey,died while Lalmani and Anjanisustained minor injuries.Satyadev had been taken intocustody by the police.

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For ensuring smooth trainmovement the North

Eastern Railway the work ofdeveloping infrastructure foroperational facilities is contin-uously being carried out by theNorth Eastern Railway (NER)administration. In the sequencebetween Domingarh-Gorakhpur-Gorakhpur Cantt -Gorakhpur-Kusamhi third lineand Gorakhpur-Nakaha Jungledoubling project work is beingdone. The 21.15 km-long pro-ject was approved in the year2016-17 at an estimated cost of�186.85 crore. Under it 5.5-km-long doubling work ofGorakhpur-Nakaha forest railsection is in progress, saidChief Public Relations Officer(CPRO) Pankaj Kumar Singh.On completion of this doublingproject, rail movement willbecome very convenient. As aresult of this doubling goodstransportation from NakahJungle goods shed will get anew dimension. With thisincreasing traffic pressure atGorakhpur Junction will alsodecrease. It will be also easy toplace the rakes of trains start-ing from Gorakhpur and ter-

minating there at Nakaha jun-gle. The work of doubling ofGorakhpur-Nakaha rail sec-tion had been started inOctober 2018. Under this pro-ject three stabling lines betweenlevel crossings 3 and 4 includ-ing 1,00,000 cubic metres ofsoil work, one small bridge andtwo gate lodge are to be con-structed. Along with it theextension of platform number1 of Nakaha Jungle up to 100metres towards Maniram andraising from medium to highlevel, raising platforms number2 and 3 to a higher level, 305-metre-long new line betweenplatforms number 2 and 3towards Maniram New line, 1FOB and PP shelter and workof electrification and stablingline etc are included. So far60,000 cubic metre of soil workhas been completed. Work is inprogress on small bridge No.1.The bottom slab and wall havebeen made. The constructionof gate lodge on level crossingNo.1 is in progress. Pre-castingof RCC platform wall has beendone and fixing work is inprogress.

ENTRIES INVITED: Inorder to encourage literary tal-ent and interest of railway

employees the Railways runsschemes like ‘PremchandAward’ for story, novel, dramaand other prose literature inHindi and ‘MaithilisharanGupta Award’ for poetry/ ghaz-al collection. Entries are invit-ed for the base year 2019,CPRO PK Singh said. Onlyserving railway personnel areeligible to participate under thisscheme. The book should bethe original work of the authoror poet. The book should gen-erally not be less than 100pages. Under the base year2019 the writing or publicationwork of the book should havebeen completed between theperiod from January 1, 2017, toDecember 31, 2019. The lastdate for sending entries to theRajbhasha Department, NER,Gorakhpur, is August 14 thisyear. For any other informationRajbhasha department, NER,Gorakhpur can be contacted. Itmay be pointed out here thatmany railwaymen of NER havemade their own special place inmany genres of literature likeprose and poetry/ ‘ghazal’ writ-ing. Many of their books havebeen included under thisscheme of the Ministry ofRailways in the past years.

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Avideo conferencing wasconducted with UP Chief

Minister Yogi Adityanath onWednesday. The closing cere-mony of Groundwater Weekwas organised through a webi-nar in the state. This said byC o m m i s s i o n e rChitrakootdham divisionGaurav Dayal said while talk-ing to ‘The Pioneer’ onThursday. He said that ‘Jal haito kal hai’ (If water is there,there is future). Dayal saidthat while addressing the webi-nar CM emphasised on savingwater to ensure survival ofcreatures and human beings onearth. Dayal said that CMmade an appeal to gram prad-hans, progressive farmers,

block pramukhs and chair-men, zila panchayat, to makepeople aware of the importanceof water in their lives andencourage them to save it for

their survival. Dayal said thatDM Amit Singh Bansal, CDOHarishchandra, EEs,Groundwater and Minor irri-gation and a progressive farmerof Jakhani village Uma ShankarPandey participated in thewebinar. Dayal said that pro-gressive farmer Uma ShankarPandey interacted with CM

and told him about his effortsmade for water preservation inthe village. Dayal said thatPandey elaborated on bound-ary in the field and trees there.He also requested the CM foradoption of a similar model forpreserving water in the state.Commissioner said that CMalso discussed the declininggroundwater level and soughtsuggestions from them forincreasing it to ensure sufficientstorage of water. Dayal said thatCM had made an appeal to savewater and check its wastage byall means. He said that a unan-imous decision was taken in thewebinar to ensure quality workunder Atal Bhujal Yojana.Dayal said that CM had issuedinstructions to officials to savewater in the district.

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DRM of Varanasi division ofNER Vijay Kumar Panjiar

inaugurated a planta-tion programme in thevacant land of NR infront of Officers’Colony, Lahartara bymaintaining social dis-tance here onThursday. Apart fromDRM other officerswho also plantedsaplings were ADRMNR Ravi P Chaturvedi, ADRM(Infra) NER Praveen Kumar,

ADRM (Operations) SPSYadav, senior divisional engi-neer (Coordination) RajivAgrawal, station manager (NR,

Varanasi Jn) AnandMohan, assistant divi-sional municipal engi-neer NK Pathak andsome other officers bymaintaining social dis-tance. On the occasionabout 200 saplings wereplanted and later theofficers of NER and NRdiscussed the plan for

beautification and preservationof abandoned railway land.

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Two accused, Amit Mauryaand Radhakrishna, were

arrested by the Bansgaon policefrom Unwal town in connec-tion with an attempt to murdercase along with a pistol and acartridge late on Thursdaynight. They were produced inthe court on Friday from wherethey were sent to jail. Jitendra ofGodsaira was shot at andwounded near Bahorwa villagea few days ago. A case was reg-istered against them by his father.

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Additional Chief Secretary(Medical Education)

Rajneesh Dubey said to containthe rising number of coron-avirus cases and COVID-19deaths, the critical care supportsystem of hospitals here wouldsoon be strengthened.

Addressing the medicalofficials, the additional chiefsecretary said the hospitalwould soon get 54 Bipapmachines and 25 laser equip-ment which would help inidentifying viruses by shininga light on a disposable cartridgehaving sample from swabs.

He said more anaesthetistswould be appointed.

Dubey said the treatmentof COVID-19 by two new anti-viral drugs was being started atLLR Hospital also.

He expressed concern thatdespite several requests anddirectives given to the seniordoctors to regularly takerounds of Covid hospitals tomonitor the progress ofCOVID-19 patients, littleprogress had been made in thisdirection so far.

The additional chief secre-tary sounded a word of caution,saying that senior doctors couldnot leave the COVID-19patients at the mercy of juniorresidents. He said all seniordoctors should regularly takerounds of the hospital withoutfail.

Dubey also directed thehealth officials to increase 80beds at Rama Medical Centre,and of Level-2 Covid care cen-tres to 300. He said 30 morebeds were being increased inKanshi Ram Hospital.

The additional chief secre-tary said discussion were onwith IMA-Kanpur to strength-en the referral system with thesupport of private nursinghomes. He said currently therewere 200 surveillance teamsand their number had beennow raised to 400 so that moresampling could be done regu-larly.

Dubey said rapid antigentest was being increased and atarget of 1,500 tests per day hadbeen set.

He said all coronavirus

positive patients would now betreated with Remedesivir andTocilizumab and these medi-cines were being provided insufficient quantities.

He said currently rapidantigen test was being carriedout at 22 places in KanpurNagar and it was beingincreased to 50 places.

The additional chief secre-tary said the IMA and privatenursing homes had agreed to

provide 10 ambulances.

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Kanpur Nagar reported112 more coronavirus infec-tions on Friday. Chief MedicalOfficer Dr Anil K Mishra said112 more people tested posi-tive for coronavirus in the cityduring the past 24 hours, push-ing the tally to 3,362 cases.

Dr Mishra said with 61COVID-19 patients being dis-charged from hospitals, 1,648infected persons had beencured in the city so far. He said1,552 active cases were under-going treatment in the city.

The CMO said with sixmore Covid deaths, the deathtoll stood at 162 on Fridayevening. He said 1,378 sam-ples were collected in the city,950 from surveillance areas.

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Hundreds of Congressmen performed ‘shraddha’ and ‘tarpan’in Kanpur for the allegedly collapsed law and order and risingcrime in Uttar Pradesh at Sarsaiya ghat on Friday. Congress citypresident Har Prakash Agnihotri said the objective of perform-ing ‘shraddha’ and ‘tarpan’ was to appease the divine entities tobestow happiness on the people of UP by restoring law and orderin the state so that the citizens lived without any fear.

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The Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj University at Kanpur hasdecided to start online classes for BTech, BSc, BBA, pharmacy,health sciences and other branches through video lectures. Thelectures will be uploaded on the university’s website so that stu-dents may learn at their ease. CSJMU Vice-Chancellor ProfNeelima Gupta said the university was trying its best to makeclasses more interactive through online tools. She said the record-ed lectures would prove very beneficial for the students.

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Economic growth is an imperative for development but itaffects all of us unevenly. Some race ahead, some lag behind. Inan ideal world, the gap between those getting richer and thosenot would not increase indefinitely. But it seems that the gap isgetting wider and worrisome. Is that inevitable? How should pub-lic policy respond to it? To answer these questions, a webinar isbeing organised by IIT, Kanpur from 5 to 6 pm on Saturday.Aditya Birla Group president and chief economist Ajit Ranadewill shed more light on these debatable topics of economic growthand income inequality.

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Urban Development Minister Satish Mahana,after accepting equipment worth � 10 lakh

donated by Omega Tannery India PrivateLimited Director Md Asfad on Friday, said thetime had come for all affluent people to donategenerously, especially for the Health department,to tide over the COVID-19 disaster. The min-ister appealed to those who could afford toenquire from the medical college of itsrequirments for life-saving equipment andthen donate it generously so that lives could besaved.

Addressing a gathering at the collectorate,Asfad said it was the proper care of the med-ical authorities that he had battled between lifeand death and emerged successful. He said thecredit for this went to the doctors and para-medics.

Asfad said while struggling to get well, herealised that it was his duty to contribute in sav-ing other lives as well. He said for this it was nec-essary to equip doctors and paramedical staff towork fearlessly amidst the coronavirus positivepatients. The Omega Tannery director said hemet the GSVM Medical College authorities andasked them about their requirement so that thehealth workers could fight and save preciouslives. He said as per the medical college require-ment, V-70 (multipara monitor 12.1”), syringepump, Bipap S/TC series model N 1061x1,Ventura mask and many more equipmentworth of Rs 10 lakh were donated to the neu-roscience department of the medical college.

Others present on the occasion includedGSVM Medical College Principal Dr RB Kamal,CMO Dr AK Mishra, Red Cross SocietySecretary RK Saffad and several others doctorsand officials.

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Motivated by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s

Make in India campaign,Kanpur, which was hithertodependent on chemicalsimported from China, is all setto become self-reliant in cater-ing to the demand of localleather industry to a largeextent.

The local chemical manu-facturers are now capable tomeet around 80 per centrequirement of leather indus-try. Over 70 types of chemicalare being manufactured in thecity units, while the require-ment of a few categories ofchemicals is being met by

Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra,Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.

UP Dyes & ChemicalMerchants Association gener-al secretary RK Saffar saidthere were 40 chemical manu-facturing units in the city pro-ducing goods by strictly fol-lowing the European stan-dards.

Chemical manufacturerPrem Manohar Gupta saidwith the increase in productioncapacity, local chemical buyerswere not dependent on Chinaany more.

Chemical industrialist SKPandey said efforts were on toproduce chemical in hugequantity at cheaper cost. Hesaid chemicals were also being

exported to Africa, Europeand Russia.

Chemical trader GulshanDhupar said they were com-pelled to buy chemicals used inmanufacturing medicines fromChina. He said the problemcould be solved by invitingglobal leaders to set up theirproject in India.

It may be recalled that dif-ferent types of chemical areused to manufacture rubber,paint, plastic, textile and leatherproducts. So far, the chemicals,including titanium dioxide,berium sulphate, zinc oxideactive, heat stabliser and metal-lic stearates, were being import-ed from China.

The city industrialists were

also dependent on China forbasic chromium, basic chrome,sodium sulphide and textilefinishing chemicals. Themonthly consumption of basicchromium and basic chrome inthe city is around 400 MT each,sodium sulphide and textilefinishing chemicals is between70-100 MT each.

Prior to lockdown, localindustrialists were able to meetaround 40-50 per cent require-ment of the city. But after theboycott of Chinese products,the city industrialists haveincreased the production ofchemicals to around 80 percent, which is likely to meet 100per cent demand of local indus-try in next few months.

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The We Bankers OfficersAssociation in a statement

issued on Friday said that thecoronavirus threat was haunt-ing bankers, where they werehighly exposed to the generalpublic dealing and now a five-day week was the requirementof the hour.

The association said withthe government saying no tofive-day week the associationwas crestfallen.

Association’s general sec-retary Rahul Mishra saidanother jolt to the bankerswas the 15 per cent pact whichwas pending for the past threeyears. He said more disheart-ening was the mere rise of 2.5per cent in basic pay.

He said in the new pensionscheme the bank contributionnow had been made 14 per centinstead of 10 per cent. He saidanother anti-workers stand wasthe leave encashment whichwould now be evaluated on theperformance of the bank.

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District Legal ServicesAuthority, Kanpur Nagar,meeting chaired by DistrictJudge AK Singh conducted avirtual inspection of DistrictJail in Kanpur.

The inspection was con-ducted by DLSA Kanpur sec-retary Aishwarya Pratap Singhthrough Google meet andWhatsApp video call as the jailpremises was under wide con-tainment zone.

The DLSA secretary inter-acted with the jail superinten-dent, jailer and some jailinmates of the women andchild barracks and made themaware of the precautions to betaken for protection fromCOVID-19. The jail adminis-tration was directed to ensurethe supply of clean masks,soaps and sanitisers to theinmates and to ensure regularcleaning of the jail premises.

Singh said pamphlets werealso distributed to the jailinmates, giving them informa-tion about COVID 19 and theprecautions to be taken.

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Gardens was giving finishingtouches to its biggest lepi-dopterarium inside. The keyperson behind this was ProfPeter Swet from, ButterflyResearch Centre, Uttrakhandand soon it will have researchscholars working on umpteenprojects. The butterfly parkwas nearly ready and once it gotthe sanction from the govern-ment it would be thrown openfor the people as well.

This was informed byAssistant Director, CSAUniversity of Agriculture andTechnology, Dr Arvind Singhon Tuesday. He said the lepi-dopterarium was spread overtwo hectares of land andhoused over 3000 floweringplants. He said 25 special vari-ety of flowers which attractedthe butterflies the most werealready attracting butterlies.He said the lepidopterariumwas in fact an enclosed butter-fly habitat where hundreds ofdifferent butterfly species livedand breed in a very natural, yetcontrolled environment.

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Page 8: 2020/07/25  · cases in India have doubled in nearly three weeks since July 2 when the country crossed the six lakh-mark. The country’s Covid tally touched the 10 lakh-mark last

The COVID-19 pandem-ic has sidelined the issueof climate change. Thiscan have very seriousconsequences given that

the matter had been receiving farfrom adequate attention even beforethe virus began its global surge. Twothings have been impeding progress.First, leaders like US PresidentDonald Trump and President JairBolsonaro of Brazil are known to bedismissive of the environmentalthreat. The second is a lack of willon the part of governments andpeople to take effective preventiveaction.

A recent report in The NewYork Times, (last updated on July 15)by Nadja Popovich, Livia Albeck-Ripka and Kendra Pierre-Louis,cites a New York Times analysis,based on research by Harvard andColumbia law schools and othersources, saying that the Trumpadministration has officiallyreversed, revoked or otherwiserolled back nearly 70 environmen-tal rules and regulations. Morethan 30 other rollbacks are works inprogress.

A report by Sarah Gibbens inthe National Geographic, publishedon February 1, 2019, mentions 15important decisions by the Trumpadministration that would adverse-ly impact the environment. The list,which starts with the US withdraw-al from the Paris ClimateAgreement, includes decisions thatwould undo measures to ensureclean power and fuel, prevent airpollution and protect wildlife.Besides, the Trump administrationhas opened up public land to busi-ness and dropped climate changefrom the list of national securitythreats. Bolsonaro’s policies regard-ing de-regulation of economic activ-ity and tax cuts to encourage FDIare liable to severely damage theenvironment and devastate thelives of Brazil’s indigenous commu-nities.

As to the lack of will to take pre-ventive action against climatechange, one must begin by recog-nising that the task here is vast anddaunting, requiring basic and trans-formational changes in the patternof development followed by mostcountries since the industrial revo-lution in the second half of the 18thcentury. Whether in the form ofsteam produced by burning coal orelectricity generated by coal-basedthermal power plants, diesel orpetrol combustion, it has been dri-ven by fossil-based fuel, the burn-

ing of which has been a potentcause of air pollution. The insti-tutional structures, managementand/or administrative proce-dures, communication systemsand, in more recent times, infor-mation transfer and processing,have all been based on this formof energy utilisation.

Clearly, the pattern of fueluse has to change. Of course, theuse of fossil-based fuel cannot begiven up immediately. It has to begradually reduced and alternativeforms of energy have to be har-nessed. Hydro electricity is a safebet but its generation is limitedby the availability of dam sitesand water. The world has takenbaby steps towards the utilisationof solar and wind (throughwindmills) power. Even thoughthe potential of both are yet to befully grasped, it is doubtfulwhether they can by themselvesmeet the steady, gargantuanincrease in global energydemands that will continue.

This leaves one with nuclearenergy. It produces zero-carbonemission as it is generatedthrough nuclear fission andrequires less land to producemore electricity than any otherclean air source. The second isimportant at a time when find-ing land for establishing powerplants often prompts massprotests against land acquisi-tion, particularly in India. Againstthis, there is still a problem of

waste disposal, though technol-ogy is taking care of it throughits re-processing and re-cyclingto generate nuclear power.

The major fear, of course, isof the spread of radiation throughaccidents like the ones thatoccurred at the Three-MileIsland in the US in 1979,Chernobyl in Ukraine in 1986and Fukushima Daiichi in Japanin 2011. Clearly, one has to pro-ceed very carefully and slowly ingenerating and harnessingnuclear power. Indeed, what oneneeds is a mix in generation pat-terns to cater to diverse con-sumption demands with localvariations. Solar panels, for exam-ple, have already begun provid-ing household power.

The mix will have to be dif-ferent for different countries andeven regions, depending on thenature of power demand. Thiswill require planning at the inter-national, national and regionallevels and also huge amounts ofinvestment for which the devel-oping countries would requireassistance. The World Bank hasincreased climate-related spend-ing and the United NationsEnvironment Programme(UNEP) has set climate changeas a priority in its capacity-building efforts. These efforts areconstrained, however, by fund-ing, that is not commensuratewith the scale of the challenge aswell as by deeper challenges in

the development aid model.Under former President BarrackObama, the US had pledgedthree billion dollars to the GreenClimate Fund — a global reservefund created to, among otherthings, help developing countriesinvest in renewable and low-emission technologies. A sum ofone billion dollars had alreadybeen given during his tenure inoffice. Trump has pledged nomoney to the fund.

The question of funds is par-ticularly important in respect ofthe introduction of technologiesto reduce emissions. An exam-ple is the Carbon Capture andStorage technology, whichfocusses on securing and storingcarbon dioxide emissions beforethey are released into the atmos-phere. Although it is still in itsearly stages, successful pilot pro-jects offer hope of developing andimplementing it on a large scale.Some countries are committed toimplementing variations of itand both bilateral and multilat-eral cooperation is under way.One, however, has still to waitand watch as implementing it ona large scale can be expensivebeside offering few obvious eco-nomic benefits.

Meeting the costs of imple-menting such technologies,indeed of all measures against cli-mate change, will require polit-ical will. This takes us back to thesecond factor — identified at the

beginning of this piece as imped-ing the fight against climatechange — the lack of will on thepart of governments and peopleto take effective preventive action.Governments are constrainedby groups whose incomes andprofits are going to be reduced bythe implementation of climatechange measures as well as thecompulsion of having to decideamong diverse demands on theirresources. People are generallyhostage to their existing ways oflife. This applies especially to theelite, who decide on policiesand measures in every societyand who enjoy all the comforts— like air conditioning, which ishighly polluting, and conve-niences that present technology-powered civilisation has broughtthem.

The answer lies in develop-ing and introducing non-pollut-ing technologies relating to heat-ing/cooling, transportation, cul-tivation, construction and allother human activities. Themoney and effort needed have tobe forthcoming, the COVID-19pandemic and the disruptioncaused by it notwithstanding. Itis important to recall here that theParis Agreement on climatechange, signed on December 12,2015, calls for holding theincrease in global average tem-perature to well below two degreeCelsius above the pre-industrial-revolution level and to try to limitthe temperature increase to 1.5degree Celsius above it, statingthat this would significantlyreduce the risks and impact of cli-mate change. The Special Reporton Global Warming of 1.5°C,released by theIntergovernmental Panel onClimate Change (IPCC) atIncheon, South Korea, onOctober 7, 2018, makes the chill-ing statement that at the currentrate, the global mean temperatureis likely to rise to the 1.5-degreemark sometime between 2030and 2052.

The world has alreadywarmed one degree Celsius sincethe industrial revolution. Hence,it is really a question of anotherhalf degree. Further, the reportclearly indicates that warming,even if limited to 1.5 degreesCelsius, would not reduce therisks and impact of climatechange. Sea levels will continueto rise beyond 2100, threateningcoastal ecosystems and infra-structure. Flooding, drought andextreme weather events willwreak havoc on communitiesaround the globe. Many specieswill continue to be driven towardextinction and marine ecosys-tems could face “irreversibleloss.” The is long and written onthe wall. Humankind will ignoreit at its own peril.

(The writer is ConsultantEditor, The Pioneer, and author)

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Sir — The Defence Ministry’sdecision to grant PermanentCommission (PC) to womenofficers in the Indian Army iswelcome. In effect, this meansa recognition of the sterling rolewomen have played and contin-ue to play — shoulder to shoul-der with their male counter-parts — for the security of thenation. It will now be interest-ing to see how many womenreach top positions.

TKM KumbalamchuvattilMuvattupuzha

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Sir — Many global firms haveinvested in Jio in recent months.These investments are due to tworeasons: One, the large cus-tomer base that Jio has. Two, thelack of personal informationlaw in India. Facebook,Instagram and WhatsApp arealready interconnected and nowGoogle and Jio are also connect-ed with them. All these platformshave our personal information.

We also know thatWhatsApp is going to start itsown e-payment system. Though

the Government hasn’t approvedit yet, after a while, it might givethe go-ahead.

Already, Facebook and otherfirms have been accused of min-ing users’ personal data forpolitical campaigns. No one

knows how else our personaldata will be used. It is a big con-cern. The Government shouldintroduce laws to protect person-al information.

Harshal Suresh DesalePune

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Sir — Ever since the Coronaviruspandemic has been upon us, wehave hailed the doctors as war-riors, equivalent to god. It was

shocking that in Uttar Pradesh,a doctor attempted to rape apatient who tested positive forCorona. The incident will remaina blot on the medical fraternity.

Further, this isn’t the firsttime that an incident of sexualassault has been reported froma hospital during a pandemic. InMaharashtra, a 25-year-oldCOVID-19 patient was arrestedfor allegedly raping a woman ina quarantine facility. Ours is acountry where no place is safe forwomen. Not even a hospital.

Shruti BansalVia email

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Sir — The Government hastaken the right decision to putthe Amarnath yatra on hold inview of the pandemic. In thismanner, we can at least preventfurther cases of Coronavirusand can focus on treating theexisting patients. Prevention isbetter than cure. Pilgrimage canresume in healthy times. Anddivinity is in the mind.

Jatin SinghalVia email

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Page 9: 2020/07/25  · cases in India have doubled in nearly three weeks since July 2 when the country crossed the six lakh-mark. The country’s Covid tally touched the 10 lakh-mark last

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The nation commemorates Kargil Vijay Diwasevery year on July 26 to recount the sacrificeand martyrdom of our armed forces that

brought laurels to the nation by defeating a deceit-ful and untrustworthy neighbour of ours during theKargil War of 1999. It is celebrated to honour the sac-rifices of our brave soldiers, who laid down their liveson the lofty heights of Kargil on the frontlines tosecure an unparalleled victory in the annals of mil-itary history. The war, fought mainly in the uncom-promising climate of the upper Himalayas, saw theraw courage of Indian soldiers assaulting uphill,unmindful of enemy fire and dislodging them aftera tough hand-to-hand fight. They regained our lostterritory which the enemy forces had occupied sur-reptitiously, throwing to wind the unsigned conven-tion between the two armies of maintaining statusquo in the traditional gaps along the Line ofControl (LoC). But for the raw courage and auda-cious bravery of our soldiers and young officers, his-tory would have been different as the unscrupulousenemy had succeeded in taking us by surprise. Sadlyenough, what happened in Kargil is being replicat-ed, albeit on a much larger scale, across the trans-Himalayan region in Eastern Ladakh along the Lineof Actual Control (LAC).

We were surprised then and we have been sur-prised now. Intelligence, Surveillance andReconnaissance (ISR ) remain our major weakness.Since the war was limited and the LoC was muchsmaller in length, though there were shortages, thecrunch was not felt. The amassing of Bofors guns andammunition played a crucial role in enablinginfantry assaults. The Indian Air Force (IAF), too,played a major role though it was not equipped tofight at those heights with the restriction of not cross-ing the LoC. India also successfully called the nuclearbluff of Pakistan. A determined political leadershipmade a critical difference. The higher military lead-ership and higher direction of war left many ques-tions to be answered which were subsequentlyaddressed by the Kargil Review Committee (KRC)but unfortunately no heads rolled. Our true homageto the martyrs would be to say with certainty andauthority that their sacrifices would not go waste anda Kargil-like situation will not be repeated.

While we can say with confidence that Kargil 2.0will not happen again but while achieving that capa-bility, did we ignore our other neighbour? While weconsidered Pakistan as a threat, we continued to treatChina as a challenge. Our political leadership wasconvinced about averting a conflict with Chinathrough political and diplomatic outreach. Despitethe alarm raised by the Army and other services, thepolitical hierarchy was overconfident of their capa-bility to handle China. Like Pakistan, China, too,proved to be treacherous and lulled our leadershipinto being friendly because it needed the Indian mar-ket to become an economic superpower. China allthe while wanted to be the sole power in Asia butour leadership failed to read the Chinese mind cor-rectly as it did with Pakistan at the time of Kargil.While AB Vajpayee had taken a bus ride to Lahorein search of peace, its scheming Army Chief PervezMusharraf was planning the Kargil incursions.

Like any developing nation with a large segmentof the population below the poverty line, we also facethe dilemma of butter versus barrel of the gun. EveryGovernment had to tread a very cautious path whileallocating resources for defence forces. Even duringKargil, General Malik, the then chief, had said that“my Army will fight with whatever we have.”Immediately after Kargil, unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs) and other surveillance equipment were addedto the inventory. However, post-Kargil, because ofthe Bofors scandal, all major defence contracts wereput on hold. As a result, the country’s armed forcesbegan to suffer not only obsolescence but shortagesin spares, affecting the battle-readiness of equipment.

However, the trend was reversed post-2014 andbig ticket purchases were made for enhancing thecombat efficiency of the forces. Delegation andenhancement of financial powers was also done to

enable the armed forces to meet theirimmediate and critical needs. Today, ourarmed forces are well-equipped with lat-est platforms, smart munitions, UAVs, mis-siles and so on. We have definitely madea qualitative jump but numerically we arestill short of fighting a sustained two-frontwar. Also criticality still exists in our AirDefence and the infantry weapon systems.The Navy and IAF also have critical gapswhich need to be filled. Depending on thequality of security we need, a percentageof the GDP (not below 3.5) has to be ear-marked for the defence budget.

Unlike 1999, when we had justbecome a nuclear power, today we boastof our triad capability with ICBM capabil-ity. However, in view of the looming threat,we must review our policy of “No FirstUse.” India has always believed in honour-ing various treaties and agreements butboth our neighbours have shown scantrespect for them while threatening us onthe LoC/LAC. In the case of Kargil, theplan was made as early as during the Ziaregime. We should have known about it.Thereafter, Pakistan began a proxy waragainst us. Just prior to Kargil War, it beganregular shelling of the national highway,linking Kashmir and Ladakh. Our respons-es were mainly defensive and ad-hoc. Pro-active and punitive responses were absentdue to the fear of an escalation. Pakistantook advantage of it, ignored the under-standing about “traditional gaps” andpresented us a fait accompli in the formof Kargil incursions.

It is the same with China. Despite sala-mi-slicing, we continued to appease it.Even after Doklam, we failed to wake up.The net result is the multi-point, well-planned incursions in eastern Ladakh witha definite aim of holding out and not vacat-ing. Our planners would have known thatour claim of Aksai Chin and GilgitBaltistan will definitely raise hackles inChina because both are very critical toChinese President Xi Jinping’s pet projectof the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).However, our planners, including themilitary, failed to take any preventive andprecautionary measures to thwart theChinese threat. Once again we are react-ing. Worried about escalation, we did noteven exercise the option of quid pro quo.Now it may be too late though the LAC is

quite vast and the enemy has many vul-nerabilities. The possibility of collusionbetween China and Pakistan cannot beruled out completely, though Islamabaddoes not have the capability to launch suchan offensive for the time being. Where wewere holding the entire frontage with abrigade then, now we have a full infantrydivision with well-sited and hardeneddefences along the entire length of the LoC.Similarly, compared to 1962, our defencesin eastern Ladakh are very strongly heldwith adequate reserves and a well-devel-oped road and track network. The Kargilexperience has shown us that a ratio of 1:9or 1:12 is needed in these heights to launchoffensive operations.

ISR was a weakness then and remainsso even today. Though a lot of structuralchanges have taken place like the DefenceIntelligence Agency (DIA), NationalTechnical Research Organisation (NTRO),Defence Image Processing and AnalysisCentre (DIPAC), yet the optimal has notbeen achieved. The problem does not liein the assets but in timely processing anddissemination. The permanent office of theNational Security Advisor (NSA) is meantto look into this vital aspect of nationalsecurity management but the desiredlevel of integration has not taken place. Wealso need to enhance the capability of oper-ational and tactical intelligence. In such aterrain, with unpredictable and harshweather, a multi-mode, multi-layered, all-weather, 24x7 surveillance grid is needed.We also need to develop capability to mon-itor the movement of Chinese troops andformations to the plateau or towards theLAC from the Xinjiang Military District.Mountains do impose certain restric-tions but we need to invest more in therequired means. Lack of jointness was amajor lesson from Kargil. Here I would liketo quote the first-hand experience of thethen Colonel General Staff of 8 MountainDivision, which was moved from theValley to dislodge the intruders. “Ever sincethe infamous huff between the then Armyand IAF chiefs in the initial stages of theoperations, the Army and Air Force neveroperated in unison. In the first week ofJune, the IAF recommenced OperationSafed Sagar as we were in Operation Vijay.Two standalone operations in a smallmountainous area, where the IAF had

never operated earlier. We were never con-sulted on targets and never apprised ofstrike missions. Occasionally we wouldhear aircraft north-east of Zozila and seesome puffs around some features. Though,the stories of bombs/rockets hitting ourown troops are exaggerated, it is a fact thatsometimes the munitions would land a fewridges away where our troops weredeployed. Fortunately we never had afriendly fire casualty. Equally and impor-tantly we never saw any target destroyed.

“When we were planning an attack onTiger Hill, in order to maintain surprise,the artillery was tasked to fire on distrib-uted targets but the IAF kept hitting TigerHill without consulting us. Infuriated, Hq15 Corps was informed, which also con-firmed that they had no knowledge of airplans.” This should give adequate idea ofthe absence of jointness during the last warwe fought. It would be unfair to say thatthere has been no change. Lot of changesfor the good have taken place. Joint plan-ning is quite obvious in the current stand-off. Even the idea of theatre commands isgaining currency. Post-Kargil, two jointcommands were raised as Strategic ForcesCommand and Andaman & NicobarCommand. Lately, a Special Forces jointcommand has also been raised.

Another recommendation of the KRCwas regarding border management. Oneforce per border has been implemented.But the question of command and controlstill remains an issue. Particularly, alongthe LAC with China where the Indo-TibetBorder Police (ITBP) has been deployed.There is a divided responsibility betweenthe Army and the ITBP, which has provedhighly ineffective in the current stand-off.Incursions happened under the watch ofthe ITBP and the Army had to come inwhen the crisis developed. A poor arrange-ment, particularly when we are faced witha cunning enemy on the other side. TheITBP should be placed under the com-mand of the Army following the LoCmodel.

Needless to say the situation then andnow is quite different. But some of thelessons learnt during the Kargil War stillremain unaddressed for which we paid theprice at Galwan.

(The author is a Jammu-based veter-an and security and strategic analyst.)

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The relationship between map-ping systems and healthcarehas existed for centuries. In

fact, the earliest recorded map visual-isation goes back to 1694 and theplague containment in Italy. Over thelast 300 years, the value of maps as acommunication tool for the under-standing and tracking of infectious dis-eases, be it the yellow fever, cholera, the1918 influenza pandemic or the new-age MERS-CoV, has only heightened.

A review of health geographic infor-mation system (GIS) literature hasshown that almost 30 per cent of allvolumes is focussed on infectiousdisease mapping. This is why one ofour biggest champions in the ongoingfight against COVID-19 is the use ofGIS.

COVID-19 is a challenge like noother in recent times as the virusspread strikingly fast from China to therest of the world. For comparison, onecan look at how MERS took about 30months to infect a thousand people,SARS took around four months andthe Coronavirus reached that figure injust 48 days. When a disease has thecapacity to travel so quickly, informa-tion, too, has to keep up and in fact,outpace it. This is the reason why map-based dashboards have become crucial.So much so that among the top 10

requested applications of GIS servicesas early as February was theCoronavirus dashboard. The interac-tive maps can locate as well as tally con-firmed infections, fatalities and recov-eries, along with graphs detailing theprogression of the virus.

Viewers can see the time and dayof the most recent data update fromvarious sources, which include author-itative bodies such as the WHO andthe Centre for Disease Control andPrevention. If you look at India, theNational Centre for Disease Control isthe source of authoritative data via theapplication programme interface(API). Epidemiologists are utilisingGIS to map disease occurrence mea-sured against multiple parameterssuch as demographics, environment,geographies, past occurrences and soon, to understand the origin of future

outbreaks, the spread pattern as wellas its intensity to be able to implementcontrol, preventative as well as surveil-lance measures.

It is an undeniable fact that inorder to identify at-risk populations inreal-time, public health agencies, pol-icymakers as well as administratorsneed GIS to be able to understand out-break patterns and plan targettedintervention such as the evaluation ofavailable facilities and increasing theirhealthcare capacities. Apart from this,there is also the need for effective com-munication amid all the supportingagencies as well as citizens so that therecan be a coordinated response to thecrisis. Since location is the commondenomination between all these, GISprovides the capability to create a com-mon operating picture that will allowmulti-agency collaboration.

Using GIS functionality such asspatial analytics, mapping and locationintelligence, health officials andGovernment agencies have access toconfirmed and active cases, fatalitiesand recoveries. Since COVID-19impacts demographics in a dispropor-tionate manner, such as the elderly andthose with co-morbidities, mappingcriteria such as social vulnerability, ageand other factors have been helping inmonitoring at-risk groups acrossregions. Based on the available data,agencies can take a look at the relevantarea of interest such as hospitals,location of the cases being reported,areas that have been affected, capaci-ties as well as key demographic datain order to create strategies that can aidin the descriptive, predictive as well asprescriptive stages of combatingCOVID-19.

Ranging from mapping the out-break source, site selection for treat-ment, monitoring supply chains,resource location and so on, GIS hascontributed significantly to fighting thevirus and speeding up efforts in placesthat they are needed the most.

Modern GIS technologies arebased around web tools that improvedata sharing and offer real-time infor-mation that can aid critical decision-making. A comprehensive GIS plat-form can support the entire process ofdisease surveillance, preparedness andresponse. With the world now shift-ing to a new normal, epidemiologistsexpect that outbreaks like this couldhappen more frequently in the future.Hence, GIS will continue to be crucialfor tackling viruses.

(The writer is co-founder anddirector of a technology company)

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Page 10: 2020/07/25  · cases in India have doubled in nearly three weeks since July 2 when the country crossed the six lakh-mark. The country’s Covid tally touched the 10 lakh-mark last

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Clinical trials of indige-nously-prepared Covaxin

vaccine began on Friday at theAll India Institute of MedicalSciences (AIIMS) with a Delhiresident being administeredthe first dose of the Covid-19vaccine. Doctors said no imme-diate side-effects have beenobserved so far.

He will be monitored forthe next seven days. Over 2,000volunteers have enrolled for thefirst phase of human clinicaltrial of Covaxin, said Dr SanjayRai, Professor at the Centre forCommunity Medicine at theAIIMS.

The vaccine has beendeveloped by the Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical compa-ny Bharat Biotech in collabo-ration with National Institute ofVirology (NIV) and Indian

Council of Medical Research(ICMR). AIIMS-Delhi isamong the 12 sites selected by

the Indian Council for MedicalResearch (ICMR) for conduct-ing phase I and II trials.

The first volunteer wasscreened two days ago, said thedoctor.

The clinical trials registryfor the phase 1 and 2 studies

will have 1,125 participants.Around 375 volunteers will beneeded in the phase 1 studyacross 12 sites, and 750 inphase 2.

According to the ethicalguidelines for conductinghuman trials, volunteersshould participate in the clin-ical study only after giving

informed consent, with nofinancial benefit from thesponsor.

If there was a need for trav-el, the participant will be reim-

bursed for the commute, andany cost for controlling the sideeffects will also be borne by thesponsor, one of the investiga-tors said.

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Similarities in symptoms ofCovid-19 and vector-borne

disease dengue, which is athreat now in the monsoonseason, could compound prob-lems for the health care pro-fessionals, especially, in theoutpatient settings.

Nabaneeta Dash from thepediatric infectious diseaseUnit, Department of Pediatrics,Christian Medical College,Vellore, explained that rainy andpost-rainy periods between Julyand October in India report thebulk of seasonal infections suchas dengue, scrub typhus, malar-ia and other tropical fevers.

“Dengue is widely prevalentamong all ages and known topresent with a short history ofundifferentiated fever. Whenboth dengue and Covid-19

reach epidemic proportions atthe same time, it may be diffi-cult to distinguish these two ill-nesses particularly in outpatientsettings….The implications ofpotential temporal overlap ofthese two outbreaks can befourfold,” she pointed out in anarticle published in PediatricsResearch.

However, she said thatwhile the initial clinical symp-toms such as fever, headacheand myalgia are common toboth illnesses, the presence ofrespiratory symptoms such ascough, sore throat and new lossof taste or smell may favour the

diagnosis of Covid-19.Nevertheless, she said,

“The laboratory diagnosis ofindividual infections wouldbecome a challenging task.Being a systemic viral infec-tion, diagnosis of dengue large-ly relies on serological tests.ELISA-based methods are rec-ommended; nevertheless,point-of-care card tests areincreasingly being used due toease of performance and rapid-ity of results.”

Winsley Rose also frompediatric infectious diseaseunit, Department of Pediatrics,CMC and Karthi Nallasamy,

pediatric intensive care unit,Department of Pediatrics,Postgraduate Institute ofMedical Education andResearch, Chandigarh, co-authors of the article citedrecent a report from Singaporeof false-positive card tests fordengue in two patients withSARS-CoV-2 infection whichthey said, raises serious con-cern in the reliability of thesecommercially available testsduring Covid-19 pandemic.

Also, the effect of possibleco-infection with dengue andSARS-CoV-2 or the clinicalcourse of dengue in a recently recovered Covid-19patient is unknown.

Much remains to beunderstood about theimmune-pathogenesis ofsevere disease in dengue, theyadded.

The authors have also

called for studies in infectionwith dengue virus in the context of recent or concurrent SARS-CoV-2-induced immunologicalchanges.

As if this is not enough,burden of both diseases beingborne by crowded urban areascould make the matters worse.“While we exit from the lock-down, we should have a multi-pronged approach toearly case detection, isolationand management of not onlyCovid-19 case, but also variousfebrile illnesses that visit usduring these pre-monsoon andmonsoon times.

“As physical and socialdistancing becomes a norm inthis changed world, so shouldvector control and effectivemanagement of urban andhousehold waters,” said thehealth experts.

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In the backdrop of ongoingtension at the Line of Actual

Control(LAC)in Ladakh,Defence Minister RajnathSingh on Friday urged Israel toforge closer defence ties inmanufacturing weapons here.

This message to his Israelicounterpart Bajnamin Gantzcame as India needs modernrifles for its soldiers guardingthe LAC and the Line ofC o n t r o l ( L O C ) f a c i n gPakistan. The Indian Armyrecently purchased more than10, 000 light machine gunsfrom Israel and may go in formore sniper rifles for itsSpecial Forces.

In his telephonic conver-sation with Gantz, Rajnathalso invited greater partici-pation of Israeli defence com-panies under the new liber-alised foreign direct invest-ment (FDI) regime in defencemanufacturing.

These talks took place asthe Indian armed forces arealso going in for emergencydefence purchases includingfrom Israel amid ongoingtensions with China on theborder. In May, the

Government increased thelimit for FDI in defencethrough the automatic routefrom 49% to 74%.

Giving details of the talks,defence ministry officials saidhere both the Ministersexpressed satisfaction at theprogress of s trategic cooperation between the twocountries and discussed pos-sibilities of further strength-ening the defence engage-ments. The two Ministersalso expressed satisfaction atthe ongoing collaboration inresearch and development infighting pandemic COVID-

19. Defence Minister of Israelresponded positively to aninvitation from Rajnath tovisit India at the earliest opportunity, an official state-ment added.

Sources said Rajnath alsobriefed his Israeli counterpartabout the current situation onthe LAC, the ongoing stale-mate and efforts by Indiaand China to defuse tensionthrough military and diplo-matic level parleys, sourcessaid.

Exercising discretion tobuy weapons in the backdropof the LAC situation, theArmy has already taken adecision to order anotherbatch of 12 launchers and

around 250 missiles of SpikeAnti-Tank Guided Missiles(ATGM) and additionalHeron unmanned Aerialvehicles (UAV) among othersfrom Israel through theemergency procurementroute.

The three armed forcesare likely to go procureweapon systems in the com-ing weeks to meet any oper-ational requirements.

To enable them do so, thedefence ministry some daysback granted emergencypowers to the armed forces toprocure weapons systems upto �300 crore on an urgentbasis without any furtherclearances to cut short the

procurement cycle. Similar powers were

given to them after theBalakot air strike in February2019 during which the firstbatch of Spike ATGMs wereprocured. Israel has emergedas one of the biggest armsexporters to India in the lastthree decades since diplo-matic relations were estab-lished between the two coun-tries in early 1990s.

The Israeli defence indus-try, at present, is activelyinvolved in various researchand development projectswith India besides sellingthem state of the art weapons,electronic and informationtechnology based systems.

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Responding fast to the situ-ation developing on the

hostile Line of Actual Control(LAC) by deploying frontlinefighter jets at forward bases,the IAF in the three-day com-manders’ meet here discussedbetter ways to recognise theemerging threats and takeaction accordingly.

In fact, the IAF deploy-ment in the last eight weeks orso earned laurels from DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh, whowhile inaugurating the meet onTuesday, said it sent a messageto the “adversaries.” He alsoappreciated the IAF aerialstrikes carried out in Balakot.

Concluding the confer-ence here, IAF chief R K SBhadauria on Friday articu-lated Vision 2030 laying down

the milestones for transfor-mation of IAF in the comingdecade. He said it was impor-tant to recognise the nature ofemerging threats in a rapidlychanging world, officials said.

He also emphasised onthe need for rapid capacitybuilding, increase in service-ability of all assets and dedi-cated work towards effectiveintegration of new technolo-gies in the shortest timeframes.The IAF chief reiterated thatthe IAF’s long term goals forsustainable capability man-date the acquisition andemployment of niche tech-nologies and development ofindigenous platforms andweapons.

The Chief stated that sincehuman resource was the mostvaluable asset of the IAFrecruitment, training and

motivation strategies shouldkeep pace with the changingtimes.

The commandersreviewed the situation on theLAC and the Line ofControl(LOC)with Pakistan,took stock of operational pre-paredness and strategies forcountering security threatsenvisaged across the entirespectrum.

Chief of Defence Staff(CDS), General Bipin Rawat,Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS),Admiral Karambir Singh andChief of the Army Staff(COAS), General MMNaravane addressed theConference and interactedwith the Commanders as wellas the Principal Staff Officers(PSOs) at Air HQ on mattersof jointness and integratedwarfighting.

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Senior bureaucrat RajeshBhushan has been appoint-

ed as the new Health Secretaryas part of a minor top-levelbureaucratic reshuffle onFriday, according to aPersonnel Ministry order. Hewill succeed Preeti Sudan, whowas given a three-monthextension in April and demitsoffice on July 31, it said.

Bhushan, a 1987 batchBihar cadre IAS officer, is theOfficer on Special Duty in theDepartment of Health andFamily Welfare under theMinistry of Health and FamilyWelfare. He was named OSDin April this year. The HealthMinistry is at the forefront ofthe fight against the novelcoronavirus pandemic.

In another move, MinesSecretary Sushil Kumar hasbeen appointed secretary of

the National Commission forScheduled Castes under theMinistry of Social Justice andEmpowerment. Kumar, a 1987batch IAS officer of Tripuracadre, has been appointed inplace of Ram Kumar Mishra,named Women and ChildDevelopment secretary.

The AppointmentsCommittee of the Cabinet hasalso approved the assignmentof additional charge of the postof secretary, Ministry of Mines,to Anil Kumar Jain, the ordersaid. Jain, a 1986 batch IASofficer of Madhya Pradeshcadre, is secretary, Ministry ofCoal. Mishra succeeds AjayTirkey who has been appoint-ed secretary, Department ofLand Resources.

Tirkey, a 1987 batch IASofficer of Madhya Pradeshcadre, will replaceRuolkhumlien Buhril, whosuperannuates on July 31.

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Despite floods in 11 Statesthat displaced over 70

lakh population and dam-aged lakhs of hectare of cropsduring this monsoon year,the Ministry of Agriculture’sdata on Friday showed thatthere is an increase of over 18percent in kharif crops’ plan-tation on 800 lakh hectares ascompared to 675 lakh hectareslast year till date. The sowingof pulses have been recorded24 percent more while it is 18percent more for rice cultiva-tion so far.

Officials of the agricultureministry said that the higheracreage coverage also reflect-ed that there is no impact ofcoronavirus infections andnationwide lockdown forkharif crops plantation.

According to agricultureministry’s data, 220.24 lakhhectare area is covered underrice plantation as compared to187.70 lakh hectare, which isan increase of 32.54 lakhhectare areas during the cor-responding period of last year.

The maximum sowing is

reported from Uttar Pradesh(6.50 lakh hectare), Jharkhand(6.10 lakh hectare), MadhyaPradesh (5.98 lakh hectare),Bihar (5.66 lakh hectare),Chhattisgarh (3.57 lakhhectare), West Bengal (2.80lakh hectare), Telangana (2.50lakh hectare), Assam (1.63lakh hectare) and Gujarat(1.33 lakh hectare). Thisdespite Assam, Bihar and WestBengal are reeling undersevere floods this monsoon.Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Keralaand Tripura have reportedless rice plantation so far.

About 99.71 lakh hectarehas been covered under puls-es plantation as compared to79.30 lakh hectare during thecorresponding period of lastyear, an increase of 24 percentor an increase of 20.41 lakhhectare area. The maximumareas have been reported fromMaharashtra (5.32 lakhhectare), Karnataka (4.01 lakhhectare), Madhya Pradesh(3.11 lakh hectare), Rajasthan(2.13 lakh hectare), Jharkhand(1.62 lakh hectare) andTelangana (1.09 lakh hectare).

As per the ministry’s data,

about 137.13 lakh hectarearea coverage under coarsecereals as compared to 120.30lakh hectare while about166.36 lakh hectare area cov-erage under oilseeds as com-pared to 133.56 lakh hectareduring the correspondingperiod of last year.

According to the Ministryof Home Affairs data, heavyrains in Assam, Bihar, WestBengal and some other stateshave led to a severe flood sit-uation resulting in deaths anddisplacement of people. InAssam, the CWC data says12stations reported Severe FloodSituation and nine reportedAbove Normal FloodSituation. River Brahmaputrais in a Severe Flood Situationall along its course fromDibrugarh to Dhubri except inGuwahati where it is flowingin Above Normal Flood situ-ation with a rising trend.According to CWC data,Bihar is the worst-affectedstate due to the flood situa-tion. It said of 33 stationsreporting Severe FloodSituation in the country, 14 arein Bihar.

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The Election Commissionon Friday said it will

announce the schedule forholding by-elections toAssembly and Lok Sabha seatsat an "appropriate time". Atotal of 57 bypolls—56Assembly seats and one LokSabha constituency —are due.

But the Commission didnot specify whether the deci-sion has been taken for allpending by-elections. Theannouncement came after thepoll panel decided to defereight bypolls — seven assem-bly and one Lok Sabha seat --citing floods and the COVID-19 pandemic. The six-monthdeadline to hold these eightbypolls was ending onSeptember 7.

The remaining 49 bypollsare due after September. An ECspokesperson tweeted that "adecision to hold by-elections inassembly and parliamentaryconstituencies was taken by theCommission after a reviewtoday (on Friday)."

"The schedule etc. shall beannounced at an appropriatetime," the spokesperson saidwithout specifying whetherthe decision pertained to all 57bypolls or the eight deferreddue to pandemic and floods.

Considering the ongoingpandemic situation and floods,ECI had earlier deferred by-elections of eight constituen-cies up to September 7 thisyear.

“The situation of COVID-19 has not improved in sever-al parts of the country andconducting elections in this sit-uation would pose a graverisk to the health and safety ofthe citizen,” a source fromECI had stated.

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To promote skill develop-ment at doorsteps in rural

India, the Common ServicesCentres (CSC) will work withMATLAB Enabled Centres atCSC Academies that are specif-ically designed to promoteArtificial intelligence andMachine Learning in all cor-ners of life. CSC is an SPVunder Ministry of Electronicsand IT.

MATLAB is used in auto-mobile active safety systems,interplanetary spacecraft,

health monitoring devices,smart power grids, and LTEcellular networks etc.

Artificial Intelligence is theprocess of making machinesintelligent with human-likecharacteristics.

It has the ability to con-tribute to all the sectors of theindustry. It offers many possi-bilities for rural India to grow.We are seeing that implemen-tation of Artificial Intelligence in fieldslike healthcare, education,financial inclusion, digitaleconomy and agriculture.

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Seeking to empower andassociate the marginalised

potters’ community with India’squest to become“Aatmanirbhar”, Union HomeMinister Amit Shah on Fridaydistributed 100 electric potterwheels to 100 trained artisansunder the KumharSashaktikaran Yojana of theKhadi and Village IndustriesCommission (KVIC).Addressing the beneficiaries athis constituency Gandhinagarthrough video conferencing,Shah said proper marketingarrangements including tie-upwith Railways will be made forthe potters’ community to selltheir products.

KVIC Chairman VKSaxena was also present in thefunction.

Shah said the initiativewould go a long way instrengthening the marginal-ized potters’ community byincorporating technology toimprove productivity whilealso reviving the traditional artof pottery.

He also interacted withfive potters trained by KVIC inpottery making and providedwith electric potter wheels andother equipment for theirfuture endeavours.

In Gandhinagar district,KVIC has trained 100 pottersfrom 14 villages and distributed100 electric potter wheels and10 blunger machines.

The average income of pot-ters under the KumharSashaktikaran Yojana has goneup from nearly � 3,000 permonth to nearly �12,000 permonth.

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Maharashtra’s former ChiefMinister senior

Congress leader PrithvirajChavan on Friday dropped abombshell in the State politi-cal circles, as he alleged thatthe Maharashtra ChiefElectoral Officer (CEO) hadhired an advertising agencyowned by a member of BJYM,a youth wing of the BJP, tooperate its social media pageduring the 2019 StateAssembly polls.

In a letter written to thechief Election Commissioner,Chavan said: “It is shockingthat a senior of the ECI, theChief Electoral, Off icerMaharashtra, chose a compa-ny owned by a BJP nationaloffice bearer and asked him towork for him to operate theCEO’s campaign during theOctober 2019 State Assemblypolls. Chavan said that therewas “clear evidence” to estab-lish that the CEOMaharashtra’s social media

campaign in the October 2019Assembly polls was run by aBJP sponsored digital agency“Social Central” owned by aBJP officer bearer DevangDave, who is an office bearerof BJP and the NationalConvenor of the IT and socialmedia cell for the BJYM, theYouth Wing of the BJP.

Demanding an investiga-tion into the State CEO’salleged wrong doing, Chavansaid: “The ECI is mandated tomonitor social media activityof all political parties – bothdirect and proxy – duringthe elections. But, in theinstant case, the CEOMaharashtra worked with anoffice bearer of the rulingparty” “The ElectionCommission has access tovoter data bases and demo-graphics. The data is crucial intargeting specif ic votergroups. It is clear that this datawas available to the BJPthrough the social mediaagency run by the BJP,” theformer chief minister said.

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Bengal Opposition outfitson Friday slammed the BJP

leadership for preaching“obscurantist” and “supersti-tious” ideas after BJP leadersfrom Delhi and MadhyaPradesh prescribed “unscien-tific and magical ways” to fightcorona. Hours after Union

Minister Arjun Meghwallaunched a special kind ofPapad claiming it will helpfight corona and MP ProtemSpeaker Rameshwar Sharmasaid that the laying down of thefoundation stone of RamTemple at Ayodhya will driveaway the pandemic virusCongress Lok Sabha leaderAdhir Chowdhury said “by

propagating superstitious andobscurantist ideas the BJP lead-ership has taken up the respon-sibility of destroying the goodworks done by the renaissanceicons of India.”Remindinghow “Prime Minister NarendraModi upheld the example ofLord Ganesha to claim thatplastic surgery was existent inancient India,” Chowdhury said

Page 11: 2020/07/25  · cases in India have doubled in nearly three weeks since July 2 when the country crossed the six lakh-mark. The country’s Covid tally touched the 10 lakh-mark last

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Concerned over the hike in the number of patients test-ing positive for Covid-19, Tamil Nadu Government has

decided to distribute free face masks through fair priceshops across the State. All ration card holders are beingissued two masks per person whose name figures in thecard. Nearly 16 small scale units in the State are workingovertime to produce quality and safe masks, the distribu-tion of which would begin from Monday.

A senior Revenue Department official in Fort SaintGeorge said that the first consignment of 6.5 lakh maskshave been received by the department. “The masks are beingtested for safety and effectiveness before we start distrib-uting them from ration shops,” said the official.

Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami has made it ahabit to persuade people in the State to wear masks. He isin the habit of affectionately chiding media persons whodo not wear face masks.

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M Sivsankar, the former principalsecretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi

Vijayan, has been asked to be presenthimself on Monday in the Kochi office ofNational Investigating Agency (NIA)probing the gold smuggling scam that hasrocked Kerala politics.

Though the sleuths of NIA interro-gated Sivsankar for five hours last evening,the officials are not satisfied with some ofthe replies given by him to their queries.While the NIA officers remained tight-lipped about what happened during theinterrogation, news trickling out fromsources in the agency is that the IAS offi-cer told them that he was having ‘closerelations’ with Swapna Suresh, the king-pin of the smuggling racket. But he saidhe was ignorant about the smuggling mis-

sion undertaken by Swapna, Sarith andSandeep Nair.

Sivsankar denied that he had under-taken foreign jaunts without informing theKerala Government. But he broke downwhen the NIA offcials encountered himwith details of his passport which haddetails about his private visits abroad.

Similarly, he denied the contention ofthe NIA that he was having close ties withSarith and Sandeep Nair. But the digitalrecords shown by the agency sleuths abouthis presence in the alleged meetings heldby the three to execute the smuggling mis-sion came as a shock to him.

Though he was let off by 9.30 pm onThursday, the officer, who is said to be theconscience keeper of the chief minister hasbeen asked to be ready to face another vol-ley of queries on Monday at the NIA officeat Kochi.

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Last 24 hours saw Covid-19causing havoc in Tamil

Nadu as it claimed 88 livesacross the State and a recordnumber of 6,785 new personsgetting diagnosed with thepandemic.

There were 53, 132 Covid-19 patients all over the State ason Friday evening according tothe media bulletin issued byGovernment of Tamil Nadu.The State has 114 laboratoriesworking round the clock and

on Friday, 63,182 persons weretested in these laboratories.

6,504 patients were curedof the disease and they weredischarged. While 1,299 per-sons were tested positive inChennai, neighbouringChengalpet (419),Kancheepuram (349) andThiruvallur (378) continuedto have high number ofpatients.

Virudhunagar (424) andThoothukudi (313) did notshow any signs of the numberscoming down. Meanwhile Dr CV Krishnaswamy, eminent

physician , said the testingbeing done in the State needsevaluation.

“There are 114 laborato-ries across the State. But mostof these laboratories were set upafter the pandemic went out ofcontrol. Do we have a mechanism to monitor thequality of tests being done inthese centres?” asked DrKrishnaswami.

He said he was forced tocome out challenging the lab-oratories because there weremany instances when personstested positive by these labo-

ratories tested negative in otherlaboratories to authenticate theefficacy of the laboratories.

He said the unprecedentedincrease in the number ofpatients was yet another indi-cation that modern medicinealone cannot take on thispandemic.

“It is not late even now tolaunch an integrated system oftreatment protocol which weare following. But who is thereto listen,” asked the octogenar-ian doctor who still takes careof hundreds of patientsapproaching him.

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Kolkata: Amala Shankar thefamous ballet dancer, choreogra-pher, actress and writer and wifeof legendary Uday Shankar passedaway early on Friday morning. Shewas 101 and is survived by daugh-ter and actor-cum-dancer MamataShankar apart from daughter-in-law Tanushree Shankar who is alsoa noted ballet exponent.

Uday Shankar, who was theelder brother of the late sitarmaestro Pandit Ravi Shankar,married Amala Shankar then amember of his ballet troupe in1942. The marriage however failedin the subsequent years. PNS

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Jammu: After a long gap the total num-ber of recoveries surpassed fresh casesof coronavirus detected in the Unionterritory of Jammu &Kashmir onFriday.

In order to contain the spread ofcoronavirus, a 60 hour long weekendlock down began late Friday eveningacross Jammu district . The lock downwill continue till 6.00 a.m on Monday.Neighbouring districts of Udhampur,Reasi, Ramban, Samba, Kathua andRajouri are also witnessing lockdownto effectively screen local contacts offresh cases.

According to the media bulletin,“353 new positive cases were detect-ed in J&K while 508 patients weredischarged from different hospitalsafter they recovered on Fridaywhile 14 patients died due to Covid-19 taking the total tally of deaths to

296”. In Jammu, a car show room and

their workshop had to be closed downafter one of the employees workingthere tested positive. The employeesworking there are expected to bescreened on Monday. In Kathua, 26jawans of CISF, 1 CRPF personnel and1 army jawan tested positive while sev-eral local residents from Rajouri andJammu continue to report positiveraising fears among the local popula-tion.

Out of 353 fresh cases, 129 caseswere reported from Jammu divisionwhile Kashmir division recorded 224fresh cases.

According to the media bulletin,“Out of 14 deaths, 13 patients died inKashmir and one patient expired inGovernment Medical college hospital,Jammu”.

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New Delhi: The Union HRD Ministry onFriday set up a committee to form guide-lines and suggest measures to ensure thatmore students study in India and there isa smooth transition for students return-ing from abroad due to Covid-19 situation.

The committee, headed by chairmanof the University Grants Commission(UGC), is also supposed to recommenda mechanism to increase the intake inwell-performing universities.

According to officials, mechanismswill be explored for starting multi-disci-plinary and innovative programs, twin-ning and joint degree programs, cross-country designing of centres, facilitatingonline lectures by eminent faculty abroad,linkage between academia and industry,facilitate joint degree ventures and later-al entry to Indian higher education insti-tutions.

HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal'Nishank' announced the committee willpresent its report within 15 days.”Due tothe current Covid-19 situation, manystudents who wanted to pursue studiesabroad have decided to stay back and pur-sue the studies in India. There is also a ris-ing number of Indian students returningto India with concern about completionof their studies,” Nishank said at a sessionon “Stay in India and Study in India”.

“We should make all efforts to lookinto the needs of both these categories ofstudents. Initiatives needed to be taken toretain them by providing appropriateopportunities of education in premierinstitutions in India as well as concerns ofstudents returning from abroad need tobe addressed by supporting them to com-plete their programme here in India,” headded. The minister said that last yeararound 7.5 lakh students travelled abroadto pursue their studies and because of thisvaluable foreign exchange moved out ofIndia as well as many bright studentsmoved abroad.

“We should make all efforts to helpbright students to pursue their educationin India. Also, as per this government'smanifesto we have to increase seat capac-ity by 50 per cent in all premier institu-tions by year 2024 and also Institutes ofEminence should be increased to 50 by2024,” he added. PTI

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Prior to this, the court allowed an application forimpleadment of the Union of India in the list of respon-dents.

The court also rejected two pleas which sought anorder declaring that alleged actions of the petition-ers as the members of Rajasthan Legislative Assemblydo not come within the purview of disqualificationenvisaged under Para (2) of the Tenth Schedule of theConstitution. Rejecting the petitions, the court saidthey are beyond its jurisdiction. T h eCongress had sought action against Pilot and the otherdissidents under paragraph 2 (1) (a) of the 10thSchedule of the Constitution. The provision dis-qualifies MLAs if they “voluntarily” give up the mem-bership of the party which they represent in the House.

The Pilot camp, however, argued that a party whipapplies only when the assembly is in session.

The disqualification notice was challenged by thedissident MLAs through the writ petition which wastaken up by the bench on Friday last week and argu-ments were held.

The arguments continued on Monday and con-cluded on Tuesday. The court had on Tuesday said itwould give appropriate order on the writ petition onFriday.

Meanwhile, the assembly speaker moved theSupreme Court and filed a special leave petition (SLP)on Wednesday.

Pilot was sacked as the deputy chief minister andthe president of the Congress state unit after he rebelledagainst Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. PTI

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“Why should lawyers argue? Lawyers are anguished.Why this charade. Maybe, it is time for lawyers to taketheir robes off,” Sibal said at a Press conference.

“If the High Court is going to pass this kind of order,what’s the point in arguing before the court. Forget thelaw, tell the people of the country what is happeningin the country,” the former Union Minister said.

The Rajasthan High Court passes status quo ordersagainst the Constitution bench judgment of theSupreme Court and constitutional authorities act at thebehest of the Government, he said.

“This is the new definition of democracy,” Sibal said,adding that the Governor not calling the Assembly ses-sion despite the Cabinet’s recommendation is againsta five-judge order of the Supreme Court in the NabamTuki case of Arunachal Pradesh.

Whether the Congress would move the SupremeCourt against the Governor, Sibal said, “The Congresswill take whatever action it has to take in this regard.What Rajasthan Governor has done is something thatis unprecedented.”

He said one has seen the conduct of Governorsin the past, including that in Arunachal Pradesh, andalso of Speakers. “Now, one is seeing the role of theGovernor of Rajasthan,” Sibal said.

“Governors are no longer protectors of the rule oflaw, but they are protectors of the party in power,” hesaid. The Rajasthan Governor has not responded to theCabinet’s decision to convene the Assembly session, hesaid, adding that Governor Kalraj Mishra has no dis-cretion in the matter.

Congress leader Anand Sharma on Twitter said,“Supreme Court is the last hope to save Constitutionaldemocracy. India is watching whether Constitutionalbench judgements and Supreme Court settled laws onfloor tests will be honoured or not?”

The “brazen attempt” to topple an electedGovernment with a popular mandate and majority isa shameful assault on democracy, he said.

“We are witness to both Constitutional immoral-ity in Rajasthan. Judiciary is the custodian ofConstitution and must uphold it in letter and spirit,”Sharma said.

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Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewalasaid the BJP is trying to block CM Gehlot and hisovernment from proving theirmajority in the StateAssembly.

“We have a majority Government in the State andwe want to call an Assembly session for coronavirus

outbreak and public welfare.This is why the MLAs took a proposal for con-

vening the Assembly to the governor today,” Surjewalasaid.

Earlier, in major relief for the Pilot camp, theRajasthan High Court ordered “status quo” to bemaintained in the disqualification case against thenow-sacked deputy Chief Minister and 18 other dis-sidents, putting off the decision till Monday when theSupreme Court hears the case.

The order came after the court allowed the appli-cation moved by team Pilot seeking impleadment ofthe Union of India as a party to the proceedings inthe disqualification matter.

A Bench of Chief Justice Indrajit Mahanty andJustice Prakash Gupta allowed the application that wasmoved by the petitioners on Thursday.

The court then adjourned for 20 minutes. Theapplication for impleadment was moved on thegrounds that the constitutional amendment is underchallenge and, therefore, the Union of India is a nec-essary party now.

The dissident Congress MLAs led by Pilot havechallenged their disqualification notices through thewrit petition which was taken up by the bench onFriday last week and arguments were held.

Soon after the High Court ordered “status quo”,Gehlot sought an appointment with Governor KalrajMishra, whom he met last evening.

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“Our strategic intent will be to improve the accessthrough our strong distribution network that will helpmake Faviton available across all Covid treatment cen-tres and our MRP is Rs 59 per tablet,” Brinton PharmaCMD Rahul Kumar Darda said.

The company will be marketing this drug in Indiaand will also export it.

Faviton is a generic version of Avigan of FujifilmToyama Chemical Co Ltd, a subsidiary of FujifilmCorporation.

)����?E/4����Mumbai reported 1062 new cases and 54

deaths in a single day while 1158 patients recoveredand discharged. The total positive cases has increasedto 1,06,891 including 78,260 patients recovered anddischarged and 5981 deaths. Dharavi has registeredsix new cases on Friday taking the total number ofcases to 2519.

As the coronavirus cases surged following easingof curbs, civic 'janta curfew' in Nagpur city ofMaharashtra on Saturday and Sunday to check thespread of the infection.

Andhra Pradesh reported 8,147 new cases of coro-navirus in the last 24 hours, taking the tally to 80858in the last 24 hours. As many as 49 fatalities and thistakes the death toll 933 across the state. East Godavarithrew up maximum cases among these with 1,029 inthe last 24 hours, followed by Anantapur with 984 casesand Kurnool with 914 cases.

Tamil Nadu continued to witness a surge inCoronavirus cases with the biggest daily spike of 6,785fresh infections pushing the tally to 1, 99,749 cases. Thedeath toll climbed to 3,320 with 88 fatalities. OnThursday, the state reported 6,472 new cases and 88fatalities. Chennai reported 1,299 fresh cases in the last24 hours, followed by Virudhunagar with 426 cases andChengalpattu with 420 cases.

Karnataka also witnessed a biggest surge in freshinfections with 5,007 cases and 110 deaths in the last24 hours. The total number of cases in the state standsat 85,870 including 52,791 active cases and 1,724 deaths.With 2267 fresh infections, Bengaluru reported high-est number of cases in the state.

Uttar Pradesh reported 2667 new cases taking thetotal tally to 60,771 while Odisha's tally mounted to22,693 with record 1,594 fresh cases in a day, while thedeath toll surged to 120 as six more people succumbedto the disease. The State's coronavirus hotspot Ganjamdistrict accounted for the maximum number of 732 newcases, followed by Khurda with 320 cases and Cuttack136.

Odisha now has 8,148 active cases, while 14,393people have recovered from the disease so far. Delhireported 1025 cases and 32 deaths in the last 24 hours,taking the total number of cases to 1,28,389 and fatal-ties to 3777while Gujarat reported 1068 fresh cases and26 deaths.

%'11�0��/.(�(/&/.�����They also agreed to follow bilateral agreement and

protocols and full restoration of peace and tranquilitywas essential for smooth overall development of bilat-eral relations. During the talks, the fifth since the stand-offs started more than eight weeks back, the Ministrysaid the two sides reviewed the situation in the India-China border areas and the ongoing disengagementprocess along the LAC in the western sector.

The two sides noted that this was in accordancewith the agreement reached between the two SpecialRepresentatives (SRs) during their telephonic conver-sation on July 5. They agreed in this regard that it wasnecessary for both sides to sincerely implement theunderstandings reached between Senior Commandersin their meetings till date.

It was also decided that another meeting of theSenior Commanders may be held soon so as to workout further steps to ensure expeditiously complete dis-engagement and de-escalation and restoration ofpeace in the border areas.

The Corps Commanders have so far met four timessince the face-offs started on the LAC. The next roundis likely next week wherein the two sides will reviewthe pace of withdrawal by both the Armies from “fric-tion points” and thinning out of troops and sendingthem back to peacetime locations. China started a mas-sive military build-up on the border and rear areas whenthe confrontation started in early May. It forced Indiato ramp up its troops strength after China alsodeployed heavy guns and weapons in the depth areas.

In the latest round of WMCC talks, the two sidesalso agreed to maintain their ongoing engagements bothat the diplomatic and military level, including throughthe meetings of WMCC.

However, India is not taking any chances and thesecurity establishment is constantly monitoring the fast-evolving situation, sources said.

The Armed forces were on high alert all along the4,000 km long LAC from Ladakh in the west toArunachal Pradesh in the east.

&?0���?��?����%1�(�������The officials clarified that presence of school chil-

dren from selected schools will be decided later. The circular on the celebrations on August 15 from

Red Fort to State, District and Panchayat level, direct-ed the authorities to adhere to the Home and HealthMinistry directions and also suggested for digital trans-mission of events to reach out to public, who are notable to participate. The advisory also asked the Statesto invite Covid-19 warriors like doctors, health and san-itation workers and persons cured from Covid-19 atState, district and Panchayat level celebrations.

“However, in view of spread of Covid-19 pandemic,while organising various programmes activities for theIndependence Day celebrations, it is imperative to fol-low certain preventive measures such as maintainingsocial distancing, wearing of masks, proper sanitiza-tion, avoiding large congregations, protecting vulner-able persons, etc and follow all guidelines related toCovid-19 issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

“Therefore, all programmes should be organisedin a way that large congregation of people is avoidedand technology is used in a best possible manner forcelebration befitting the occasion. The events organizedcould be webcast in order to reach out people at largewho are not able to participate,” said the advisory issuedby MHA.

The MHA suggested to States to invite health andsanitation workers and cured persons also for the State,district and panchayat level functions. “It would alsobe appropriate that Covid-19 warriors like doctors,health workers, sanitation workers etc are invited inthe ceremony as recognition of their noble service infight against Covid-19 pandemic. Some personscured from Covid-19 infection may also be invited,”said MHA, adding that it would be appropriate to invitethem at At-Home functions also.

The advisory also suggested that recorded versionsof police military band performances may be displayedthrough large screens. “Performance of police/militarybands may be recorded at places of historic importanceassociated with Independence movement and record-ed versions thereof may be displayed through largescreen/digital media, during public functions and onsocial media,” said the advisory to States.

The advisory also suggested to conduct other func-tions conducted on Independence Day celebrations likeplanting tree, debates-poetry- patriotic song compe-

titions in schools and colleges with all social distanc-ing norms. It also suggested that theme of “AatmanirbhaBharat” is suitably spread and publicised amongst themasses through various activities/messages in the func-tions and on social media during the IndependenceDay celebrations.

�0E�.���/4&��$��4(/����As the judge narrated to him the version of cer-

tain video clippings, newspapers and other evidencerelating to the incident 1992, Advani denied the chargessaying the evidence was totally false and the same wereproduced in the court due to political influence and ide-ological inclination.

As the Judge indicated the evidence towards hisprovocative speeches to Karsewaks, BJP’s veteranleader said the evidence was false and the investigatorsincluded the video cassettes and newspapers in theprobe for political malice and under influence.

The judge described to him the evidence furnishedby the CBI witness on the basis of an English news-paper published news on October 24 , 1990 about hisarrest a days before with title “Advani arrested inSamastipur”. The edition carried news relating to callsfor Bharat Band by the leaders of Vishwa HinduParishad and other organisations in protest to his arrest.

The edition carried Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray’sstatement that “bandh will be peaceful”. Even then someKarsewaks succeeded in climbing on the disputed struc-ture and damaged it. Some Karsewaks lost their livesin police firing on October 10, 1990 during “Karsewa”.On completion of this description, the judge askedAdvani online as to what he had to say aboutthis.“Except the fact of his arrest, other depositions arefalse and the same had been included in the investi-gation due to political malice and ideological differencesgiving the facts a colour,” Advani replied.

Advani’s deposition began at around 11 am onFriday as he appeared in the court online from Delhialong with his lawyer Mahipal Ahluwali. He denied allthe charges of conspiracy and told the court he wouldfurnish his defense at the appropriate stage of the trialproceedings. As his statement ended, the Judge askedits office to send the copy of statement to CBI’s Delhioffice which would get Advani’s signature on it and sendit back to the court.

The CBI had chargesheeted Advani, along with oth-ers, in the case. But the Allahabad High Court had dis-charged him from the case holding him innocent. Buton a CBI petition, the Supreme Court in 2017 direct-ed him to face trial of the charges of conspiracy. TheBJP leader alleged that all the charges were made dueto political reasons.The statement was made under sec-tion 313 of the CrPC in the court of Special CBI judgeSK Yadav.

Advani was the 29th accused of the total 32 torecord his statements in the Ayodhya demolition case.Another accused Satish Pradhan would record his state-ment on July 28 while one of the accused Om PrakashPandey is absconding.On Thursday Dr Murli ManoharJoshi appeared through video conferencing fromDelhi to record his statement and he too said that hewas innocent.

Dr Joshi said he was not present there at the timeof the demolition and he was politically implicated inthe case. He refuted all charges of the prosecution andeven said the evidences against him were fabricated. Healso said the video presented against him was doctoredand he will present evidence of his innocence later on.

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foundation stone for a Ram temple duringCOVID-19 pandemic.

A bench of Chief Justice Govind Mathur andJustice SD Singh dismissed the plea filed by Mumbai-based social activist, Saket Gokhale, on Thursday.

Gokhale had filed the petition seeking the court’sdirection to restrain the ‘bhoomi pujan” for laying thefoundation stone of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, con-tending that the proposed action would breach theCentral government’s anti- COVID-19 protocol.

The High Court said that guidelines of the Covid,including social distancing, should be followed

The Ram temple bhoomi puja will last for threedays starting on August 3. On August 5, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stoneof the Ram temple at 12:15 pm. The bhoomi pujawill be performed by Vedic scholars and acharya pan-dits of Kashi, Prayagraj and Ayodhya.

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Driven by extreme povertyand lack of work during

the Covid-19 crisis, a migrantlabourer in Assam sold his 15-day-old daughter for �45,000but police rescued the baby,officials said on Friday.

The man and two womenhave been arrested on thecharge of human trafficking.

Dipak Brahma, a residentof Dhantola Mandaria, a forestvillage in Kokrajhar district,had recently returned fromGujarat, where he worked as alabourer. He was jobless andfinding it hard to support hisfamily, according to an official

of an NGO working againsthuman trafficking.

After his return, the fami-ly started living at the house ofhis in-laws in KochugaonPatakata village in the same dis-trict. The family still lived ahand-to-mouth existence.

During these tough times,Brahma’s wife gave birth to thegirl, their second daughter,Nedan Foundation chairmanDigambar Narzary said.

“With almost all doors toearn a living closed, Brahmadecided to sell the newborn,” headded.

The man sold his daughterto two women for just Rs45,000 on July 2 but kept his

wife in dark, Narzary said.Brahma’s wife and villagers

lodged a complaint atKochugaon police station afterthey came to know about itlater.

“On receiving the com-plaint, police swung into actionand rescued the baby from thetwo sisters. We also arrested theman (Brahma),” police said.

During interrogation, thetwo women claimed that theyhad bought the baby for achildless couple related tothem.

“We are really thankful tothe police for rescuing thebaby. But the issue is of veryserious nature. Because of the

lockdown, poor people do nothave any work. The situation isgetting worse for those living inforest villages,” Narzary said.

Lakhs of labourersreturned to their homes inAssam from large cities outsidethe state after they became job-less during the lockdown.

Though the StateGovernment had announcedthat it will create job opportu-nities for them through variousinitiatives, including under theMahatma Gandhi NationalRural Employment GuaranteeAct (MGNREGA), theCOVID-19 outbreak has badlyhit most economic activities inthe state.

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The kidnapping of the 8-year-old son ofa big business family of Gonda from

near his house sent the police into a tizzy.The kidnappers have reportedly

demanded Rs 4 crore as ransom for therelease of the boy.

The Special Task force (STF) has beendeployed to trace out the boy.

Sources in the police said that threemen with their faces covered by masks wentto the house of Hari Kumar Gupta inColonelganj police station area around 1:30pm on the pretext of distributing sanitis-ers and asked his son Namo to accompa-ny them for getting it.

The trio kidnapped the boy and laterhis father received the ransom call.

Police registered a complaint on anapplication given by Hari Kumar Gupta’sbrother Mahesh Kumar Gupta andlaunched a massive manhunt to nab thekidnappers.

Page 12: 2020/07/25  · cases in India have doubled in nearly three weeks since July 2 when the country crossed the six lakh-mark. The country’s Covid tally touched the 10 lakh-mark last

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Beijing: China on Fridayordered the US to close downits consulate in Chengdu inretaliation to Washington’sdecision to shut the Chinesemission in Houston, furtherstraining the already tensebilateral ties.

A statement by the ChineseForeign Ministry said the USEmbassy here has beeninformed of the Chinese gov-ernment’s decision to with-draw its consent for the estab-lishment and operation of theUS Consulate General inChengdu, the provincial capi-tal of southwestern Sichuanprovince.

The consulate, establishedin 1985 and currently havingmore than 200 staff, some 150hired locally, is seen as strate-gically important because itallows the US to gather infor-mation on the sensitive regionof Tibet, where the followers ofthe Dalai Lama have beendemanding meaningful auton-omy.

At a regular press confer-ence on Friday, Chinese foreignministry spokesman Wang

Wenbin accused staff in theChengdu consulate “of inter-fering in China’s internal affairsand harming China’s nationalsecurity interests.”

Wang said that closing theUS mission in Chengdu was a“legitimate and necessaryresponse” to Washingtondemanding that the Chineseconsulate in Houston be shut.US officials have made similaraccusations about Chinesediplomats acting beyond their

duties and engaging in espi-onage related activity.

Earlier, the ministry, in astatement noted that on July 21,the US launched a “unilateralprovocation” by abruptlydemanding that China close itsConsulate General in Houston.

The US move seriouslybreached international law, thebasic norms of internationalrelations, and the terms of theChina-US ConsularConvention, the foreign min-

istry statement said.“It gravely harmed China-

US relations. The measuretaken by China is a legitimateand necessary response to theunjustified act by the US. Itconforms with internationallaw, the basic norms of inter-national relations, and cus-tomary diplomatic practices”, itsaid.

“The current situation inChina-US relations is not whatChina desires to see, and theUS is responsible for all this.We once again urge the US toimmediately retract its wrongdecision and create necessaryconditions for bringing thebilateral relationship back ontrack”, it said.

Chengdu is one of six USforeign missions, including theembassy in Beijing, in main-land China. The US also has aconsulate in Hong Kong.

The US ordered the closureof the Chinese consulate inHouston, a move it said wasaimed “to protect Americanintellectual property and pri-vate information.”

Top American officials

have accused the Chinese con-sulate in Houston of beingpart of Beijing’s espionage oper-ation in the US.

US President DonaldTrump on Wednesday said hemay order the closure of moreChinese consulates in the coun-try. The Chinese consulate inHouston was one of five in theUS, along with the embassy inWashington DC. It has con-sulates in New York, SanFrancisco, Los Angeles andChicago.

Relations between the USand China have taken a turn forthe worse in recent monthsover Beijing’s handling of thecoronavirus pandemic. Freshconcerns over China’s crack-down of its Uygur Muslims inXinjiang and Beijing imposinga controversial national secu-rity law in Hong Kong havealso raised bilateral tensions.

In a major speech on theTrump administration’s Chinapolicy on Thursday, Secretaryof State Mike Pompeo called theChinese consulate in Houston“a hub of spying and intellectualproperty theft.” PTI

Portland (US): A federal judgespecifically blocked US Agentsfrom arresting or using physi-cal force against journalistsand legal observers at protestsin Oregon’s largest city wherePresident Donald Trump istesting the limits of federalpower.

Federal agents appearedto deploy tear gas early Fridayto force thousands of demon-strators from crowding aroundthe federal courthouse.

Protesters had projectedlasers on the building andattempted to take down a secu-rity fence that had been rein-forced to keep demonstrators ata distance.

The protesters moved awayas clouds of gas rose from thearea and flash grenades couldbe heard.

US Judge Michael Simon

made his ruling late Thursday,a day after Portland’s mayorwas tear-gassed by federalagents while making an appear-ance outside a federal court-house during raucous demon-strations.

Protesters have been keptup in the city for nearly two

months since George Floydwas killed in Minneapolis.

Simon had previouslyruled that journalists and legalobservers are exempt frompolice orders requiring pro-testers to disperse once anunlawful assembly has beendeclared. AP

Geneva: Protesters and jour-nalists in US cities, includingPortland in Oregon, must beable to take part in peacefuldemonstrations without riskingarbitrary arrest, detention, theunnecessary use of force orother rights violations, the UNhuman rights office said Friday.

Spokeswoman Liz Throssellof the Office of the HighCommissioner for HumanRights noted reports that somepeaceful demonstrators inPortland had been detained by

unidentified officers. “That is aworry, because it may placethose detained outside the pro-tection of the law, and may giverise to arbitrary detention andother human rights violations,”she told reporters in Geneva.

Throssell said authoritiesshould make sure that securi-ty forces who are deployed are“properly and clearly identi-fied and use force only whennecessary” — proportionate-ly and in line with interna-tional standards. AP

�� ���������E(�����"������ ��"���� ���� ��

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Washington: Upping the anteon China over its expansion-ist policies and alleged cover-up of the COVID-19 out-break, US Secretary of StateMike Pompeo has pitched fora new “alliance of democra-cies” to counter the challengesposed by the authoritarianChinese regime.

Echoing President DonaldTrump that the US has had“enough” with China, Pompeoannounced “distrust and ver-ify” as US’ new rules ofengagement with the ChineseCommunist Party and calledon all nations to insist on rec-iprocity, transparency andaccountability from them.

Pompeo’s remarks at theNixon Library on Thursday,titled “Communist China andthe Free World’s Future,” castaspersions on Beijing and itsrelations with Washington,

nearly 50 years after PresidentRichard Nixon became the firstUS president to travel to China.

The top American diplo-mat formally announced areversal in the decades-oldChina policy, which nowwould be more of confronta-tionist in nature and organis-ing the rest of the free worldagainst the authoritarianChinese regime led byPresident Xi Jinping.

Today China is “increas-ingly authoritarian at home,and more aggressive in itshostility to freedom every-where else,” he said.

“Let’s not repeat the samemistakes of the past. The chal-lenge of China demands exer-tion from democracies…those in Europe, in Africa, inSouth America, and especial-ly those in the Indo-Pacificregion. This isn’t about con-

tainment. It’s about a complexnew challenge we’ve neverfaced before: The USSR wasclosed off from the free world.Communist China is alreadyhere, within our borders,” heinsisted.

“So we can’t face this chal-lenge alone. The UN, NATO,the G7, the G20, our combinedeconomic, diplomatic, andmilitary power is surelyenough to meet this chal-lenge, if directed properly.Maybe it’s time for a newgrouping of like-mindednations…a new alliance ofdemocracies,” Pompeo said.

He said that if the freeworld did not changeCommunist China, the latterwill change them.

There can be no return topast practices just becausethey are comfortable, or con-venient, he noted. PTI

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Washington: The UnitedStates accused Russia of test-firing an anti-satellite weaponin space, warning that thethreat against Washington’ssystems was “real, serious andincreasing.”

US Space Command saidit “has evidence” that Moscow“conducted a non-destructivetest of a space-based anti-satellite weapon” on July 15.

“Last week’s test is anoth-er example that the threats toUS and Allied space systemsare real, serious and increas-ing,” the Thursday statementcontinued.

“Clearly this is unaccept-able,” tweeted US nuclear dis-armament negotiator MarshallBillingslea, adding that itwould be a “major issue” dis-cussed next week in Vienna,where he is in talks on a suc-

cessor to the New STARTtreaty.

The treaty caps the nuclearwarheads of the US and Russia— the two Cold War-erasuperpowers.

Commenting Friday onthe accusations, Kremlinspokesman Dmitry Peskov saidRussia supports “full demili-tarisation of space and not bas-ing any type of weapons inspace.”

The US Space Commandsaid the test consisted ofRussia’s satellite called Cosmos2543 injecting an object intoorbit.

Russian state media hassaid that Cosmos-2543 hadbeen deployed by anothersatellite, Cosmos-2542, whichwas launched on 25 ofNovember 2019 by the Russianmilitary. AFP

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Moscow: Russia on Friday dis-missed accusations from theUnited States and Britain thatit had tested an anti-satelliteweapon in space as “propa-ganda”.

Moscow responded afterthe United States SpaceCommand on Thursdayaccused Russia of test-firing ananti-satellite weapon in spaceand warned the threat againstUS systems was “real, seriousand increasing”. The RussianForeign Ministry insisted onMoscow’s “commitment toobligations on the non-dis-criminatory use and study ofspace with peaceful aims. AFP

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Astatue of ChristopherColumbus that drew

chaotic protests in Chicago’sGrant Park was taken downearly Friday amid a plan byPresident Donald Trump todispatch federal law enforce-

ment agents to the city.Crews used a large crane

to remove the statue from itspedestal as a small crowdgathered to watch.

Several work trucks wereseen in the area but it wasunclear where the statue couldbe taken. AP

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Kolkata: Manoj Joshi, GeneralManager, Metro Railway helda high -level meeting with RailVikas Nigam Ltd.(RVNL) offi-cials at Metro Rail Bhavantoday (24.07.2020) to reviewthe progress of different on-going Metro Projects in thecity.

In this meeting, he wasbriefed about the progress ofworks of Noapara-Dak hineswar Extens ionProject. Shri Joshi also took

stock of the present status ofKavi Subhash to HemantaMukherjee Station stretchof New Garia- AirportMetro project as well as Jokato Majerhat stretch of Joka- Esplanade Metro Project.General Manager instructedall to complete all the pend-ing works within the stipu-lated time.

Senior Officers of MetroRailway were also present inthis meeting.

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Gross non-performing assetsof all banks may jump to

12.5 per cent by the end of thisfiscal under the baseline sce-nario, from 8.5 per cent inMarch 2020, according to theFinancial Stability Report (FSR)released by the Reserve Bankon Friday.

The resilience of Indianbanking in the face of macro-economic shocks was testedthrough macro stress testswhich attempt to assess theimpact of cumulative shocks onbanks balance sheet and gen-erate projections of gross non-performing asset (GNPA)ratios and capital to risk-weighted assets ratio (CRARs)over a one-year horizon undera baseline and three adverse -- medium, severe and verysevere -- scenarios, the reportsaid.

“The stress tests indicatethat the GNPA ratio of allscheduled commercial banks(SCBs) may increase from 8.5per cent in March 2020 to 12.5per cent by March 2021 underthe baseline scenario.

“If the macroeconomicenvironment worsens further,

the ratio may escalate to 14.7per cent under the very severe-ly stressed scenario,” the reportshowed.

The baseline scenario isderived from the forecastedvalues of macroeconomic vari-ables such as GDP growth,combined gross fiscal deficit-to-GDP ratio and CPI infla-tion among others, the reportsaid.

As the asset classification inMarch 2020 could have beeninfluenced by the regulatorymoratorium in the face of theCOVID-19 pandemic, the pro-jections for this exercise arebuilt up using data from June2011 up to the quarter endedDecember 2019 (instead ofMarch 2020), it said.

“Given the fact that impactof moratorium is still uncertainand evolving, the exact natureof how the same will play outon the quality of banking assetsis difficult to ascertain accu-rately,” it said.

The report said that theregulatory dispensations thatthe pandemic has necessitatedin terms of the moratorium onloan instalments and defermentof interest payments may haveimplications for the financial

health of banks, going for-ward.

Under the baseline sce-narios, state-run banks’’GNPA ratio may increase to15.2 per cent by March 2021from 11.3 per cent in March2020. The GNPA ratio ofprivate banks and foreignbanks may increase from 4.2per cent and 2.3 per cent to7.3 per cent and 3.9 per cent,respectively, over the sameperiod.

The report said systemlevel CRAR is projected todrop from 14.6 per cent inMarch 2020 to 13.3 per cent inMarch 2021 under the baselinescenario and to 11.8 per centunder the very severe stressscenario.

The stress test results indi-cated that five banks may failto meet the minimum capitallevel by March 2021 in a verysevere stress scenario.

The common equity tier I(CET 1) capital ratio of banksmay decline from 11.7 percent in March 2020 to 10.7 percent under the baseline sce-nario and to 9.4 per centunder the very severe stressscenario in March 2021, itshowed.

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The Indian economy willstart recovering complete-

ly by the fourth quarter of thecurrent fiscal and could growby 6 per cent in the next finan-cial year as green shoots are vis-ible in many sectors wherebusiness is back to pre-COVIDlevels, Niti Aayog ViceChairman Rajiv Kumar said onFriday.

Kumar also expressed hopethat COVID-19 will begin totaper off from the metros andtheir economic activity will benormal in the coming quarter.

“I expect the economy tostart recovering completely bythe fourth quarter.... Andachieve a positive growth.

“And next (fiscal) year, itwill be about 6 per cent on alow base,” he said in a Twitter

live session.Several economists, bro-

kerages and multilateral agen-cies have forecast a deep con-traction in India’s economicgrowth, triggered by theCOVID-19 outbreak and sub-sequent lockdowns.

The Niti Aayog vice chair-man noted that green shoots ofrecovery are already visible inmultiple sectors.

“If you notice, in 15-16 sec-tors, businesses are comingback to pre-COVID levels,” hesaid.

Kumar pointed out that forIndia, the timing of theCOVID-19 pandemic wasvery unfortunate as the econ-omy was bottoming out in thelast quarter of 2019-20.

“Our economy was bot-toming out in the fourth quar-ter of 2019-20 after seeing a low

of 4.5 per cent growth but theoutbreak of COVID-19 result-ed in significant negativeimpact in the first quarter ofthis fiscal. “And that downwardmomentum could not bereversed because of COVID-19,” he observed.

Quoting the finance min-ister, Kumar said there is alwaysa possibility of another stimu-lus from the government to

boost demand. “The finance minister has

said there is always the possi-bility of the government com-ing up with another round ofstimulus. Problem is going tobe on the demand side. Thegovernment may look at astimulus again to revive invest-ment spirit and boost demand,”he said.

Kumar also pitched for

asset monetisation of publicsector undertakings (PSUs) asa large number of them areeither under-utilised orunutilised.

“Government holding inland can be brought in as equi-ty and private players can beroped in to do projects in PPP(public private partnership)mode,” he noted.

Kumar also said states canmobilise resources by eitherborrowing from internationalagencies or internally througheffective tax collection.

He said the RBI has donea commendable job by pro-viding liquidity and regulato-ry support to banks and otherfinancial institutions.

“The problem is now indemand and the private sectorwill have to expand capacity,”Kumar emphasised.

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The Government’s endeav-our has been to further

simplify the Direct Tax lawsand has brought in a majorreform by giving option totaxpayers to opt for a new sim-pler tax regime, FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamansaid on Friday.

In her message on the160th Income Tax Day, theMinister also lauded thedepartment for being respon-sive to the needs of the tax-payers during this pandemictime by relaxing various com-pliance requirements andaddressing their liquidity con-cerns.

Appreciating its continu-ous efforts towards makingthe tax administration taxpay-er-friendly, transparent andgeared towards facilitating vol-untary compliance, she saidthere has been a paradigmshift in its role in recent years,from being just a revenue col-lecting organisation to becom-

ing a more citizen-centricestablishment. “ O u rendeavour has been to contin-ue the initiative of simplifica-tion of Direct Tax laws. In linewith the same, we brought in amajor tax reform by usheringin a new simpler tax regime forour taxpayers, who now havethe option of remaining in the

old tax regime or moving to thenew simpler regime,”Sitharaman said.

She said the Governmenthas reduced corporate tax ratesby phasing out exemptions,while encouraging businessesto start manufacturing which isin tandem with the clarion callof Aatmanirbhar Bharat givenby PM Narendra Modi.

She said that the depart-ment has effectively deployedtechnological tools to facilitatehonest tax payers and alsoplug revenue leakage.

“Confident that thedepartment will not only con-tinue to play a critical role inthe growth and prosperity ofthe nation, but will also striveto keep improving and set newstandards of professionalism,”the Minister added. She laud-ed the dept for keeping pacewith the fast changing eco-nomic landscape and adaptingto the concomitant challenge ofensuring that tax revenuesgrow commensurate with thepace of economic growth.

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The Government has noti-fied new rules for e-com-

merce companies, includingmandatory display of ‘countryof origin’ on their products,and said any non-compliancewill attract penal action.

The ‘ConsumerProtection (E-Commerce)Rules, 2020’ were notified onThursday. The new rules willbe applicable to all electron-ic retailers (e-tailers) regis-tered in India or abroad butoffering goods and services to

Indian consumers. The vio-lation of the rules will attractpenal action under theConsumer Protection Act,2019. According to the newrules, the e-commerce playerswill have to display the totalprice of goods and servicesoffered for sale along with abreak-up of other charges.

They are also required tomention the ‘expiry date’ ofgoods offered for sale and the‘country of origin’ of goodsand services that are neces-sary for enabling the con-sumer to make an informed

decision at the pre-purchasestage. Under the rules, e-commerce players have todisplay details about return,refund, exchange, warrantyand guarantee, delivery andshipment, and any otherinformation that may berequired by consumers tomake informed decisions.

Sellers offering goods andservices through a market-place e-commerce entity willhave to provide the abovedetails to the e-commerceentity to be displayed on itsplatform or website.

Page 13: 2020/07/25  · cases in India have doubled in nearly three weeks since July 2 when the country crossed the six lakh-mark. The country’s Covid tally touched the 10 lakh-mark last

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Born in Jashore in 1919 as AmalaNandi, noted Indian danseuse

Amala Shankar died on Friday atthe age of 101. She was sufferingfrom age-related issues, familysources said.

Wife of legendary dancer andchoreographer Uday Shankar, she

was a great practitioner of exper-imental and modern Indian dance.

In 1939, when she was with adance group in Chennai, one nightUday came to Amala and proposedher for marriage. They were mar-ried in 1942 and had two children— Ananda, who went on to

become a reputed compos-er and dancer, and daughterMamata, who is also anactor and dancer.

A sister-in-law of latemusician and composerRavi Shankar who died in2012, she was the mother ofthe late musician AnandaShankar and actor MamataShankar.

“Today, my thamma(grandmother) left us at theage of 101. We just celebrat-ed her birthday last month(June). Feeling so restlessthat there is no flight fromMumbai to Kolkata.Heartbroken. May her soulrest in peace. This is the end

of an era. Love you thamma.Thank you for everything,”her granddaughterSreenanda Shankar tweeted.

She also played the leadrole along with Uday inKalpana (1948), a film byUday about a young dancer’sdreams of setting up a danceacademy, a reflection ofShankar’s own academy,which he founded atAlmora. It was the first filmto present an Indian classi-cal dancer in the leadingrole, and was entirely shot asa dance ballet and a fanta-sy.

She also graced the redcarpet at the Cannes Film

Festival.In 1991, Amala was

conferred the PadmaBhushan. She won manyother recognitions and pres-tigious awards for her extra-ordinary feat in the field ofdancing.

She was also awardedBanga Vibhushan by WestBengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee in 2011for her contributions to theart.

Expressing her condo-lences, CM Mamata saidher demise is an irreparabledamage to the world ofdance.

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When two people meet in achance encounter and instant-ly have a connection, we often

attribute it to luck and discredit the beau-ty of a conscious choice leading to thatepiphany. Filmmaker Aarti Neharsh’sdebut short film, The Song We Sang, pro-duced by Green Chutney Films, exploresthe idea of such choices. Would youregret them or would you considerthem as transformative moments? Twostranger women, Krishna and Alia(played by Serena Walia and AyushiGupta), meet on a festive night ofNavratri. Romance blossoms betweenthem as they walk the night in the lanesof Ahmedabad, exchanging mythologytrivia, laughter, street food and experi-ences of life only to realise it could leadto more.

�Recently, you had said, “Two womenfreely roaming the city, sharing a safespace in the absence of a patriarchalgaze and falling in love was somethingthat I’ve longed to see on screen. Thiswas a very instinctive thought for thislove story...” What did you want toshowcase through this simple yet pow-erful vision?

I majored in film and TV in college.One day, one of my friends, who was alsostudying with me, showed me somebeautiful pictures that he had taken ofPune at night — the empty streets andthe glaring lights. I had just bought a newDSLR then and I remember being real-ly motivated to try my hand at streetphotography for the first time. So whenI was in Mumbai, I took my DSLR outand decided to spend two days walkingdown the lanes of the city without adefinitive plan, taking pictures (I hadmapped out an itinerary of the locals Iwas going to take to make good use ofmy time). But when I actually got downto doing so, I didn’t find it as fulfillingand liberating as I had hoped it to be. Ifound myself looking back every fiveminutes, pulling down my shirt every-time I bent to take a photograph, avoid-ing dark lanes and quiet corners and pri-oritising my safety over a good shot. Itresonated deeply with an Americanpoet and novelist Sylvia Plath’s words:“Yes, my consuming desire is to minglewith road crews, sailors and soldiers, bar-room regulars — to be a part of a scene,anonymous, listening, recording — allthis is spoiled by the fact that I am a girl,a female always supposedly in danger ofassault and battery. My consuminginterest in men and their lives is oftenmisconstrued as a desire to seducethem or as an invitation to intimacy. Yes,God, I want to talk to everybody asdeeply as I can. I want to be able to sleepin an open field, to travel West, to walkfreely at night...”

In this film, I tried showing an idealversion of this reality — one where thecity is a safe space for love, a dreamworld(which hopefully becomes a reality)where two women can immerse them-selves in their conversations and justenjoy their night the way they wish to.

�You said that while writing the film,your co-writer Chintan Bhatt and youwere conscious of the nuances of thegenre. How did you rein everything in?

Conversational films were alwayssomething that both Chintanand I have been drawn towards,especially when it comes to lovestories. We’ve been huge fans offilms where dialogue has led theway for two people to cometogether. To do justice to thisgenre, it was important that weunderstood the heart of the film.The chemistry between Krishnaand Alia was always central and weapproached every conversation,trying to make sure that they seemboth magical and believable at thesame time. This set-up of a first-meet romance automatically gave usa structure that we could play with-

in — one where they go from awkwardsilences, getting to knowing each otherto gradually stripping down their guardsand becoming vulnerable. We used ele-ments like stories, anecdotes as well assome powerful songs in their conversa-tions such as ‘Kai Baar Yuhi Dekha Hai’from Rajnigandha and ‘Na Jaane Kyun’from Chhoti Si Baat to give a warm andnostalgic mood to it. Also, people havecommented on how this was an ode to

Basu Chatterjee’sfilms. I want to

take thismoment tomention thatthis was actual-

ly a homage to

the stunning Vidya Sinha who played thefemale lead in both the above-mentionedfilms. She, unfortunately, passed awaylast year while we were making this film.

�Keeping in mind the mood and thecultural backdrop that form the textureof the film, how does the Navratribackdrop connect with the storyline?

Having my roots in Ahmedabad,Navratri has always been that time of theyear when this otherwise stiff cityloosens up a little and comes to life. I wasnever a good dancer and so I was usu-ally more drawn to what happened out-side the loud garba grounds. People likeme are usually out on the streets, laugh-ing, flirting and eating without any time-bound commitments. There is a sense ofliberation during these nine nights of thefestival (very much contrary to the cel-ebration of the unflawed “divine femi-nine” that Navratri originally stands for).Considering this film is about an instantconnection between two women and anight of romance, this cultural set-up fitreally well. Also, I am a sucker for pret-ty ghaghras so maybe that might havesubconsciously played a role.

�Do you think films around the queercommunity still provoke debates andcontroversies despite attempts to nor-malise conversations?

I am a huge fan of conversationalfilms, especially when it comes to lovestories. But I wouldn’t say I chose a topicto tell this story. It stemmed more fromchoosing a genre that I was keen onexploring as my first film. I don’t thinkthat creative endeavours are always dri-ven by thoughts like what ignites con-troversy and what doesn’t. Of course,there is the politics of the film, which ispretty apparent in what the story is andhow it is told. But I think ultimately, forme and my team, this was an honestattempt to explore a love story in a worldthat was closer to ours. It was an initia-tive to bring something fresh on screenby exploring our understanding of thecraft of filmmaking.

Having said that, it was a consciouschoice to show a queer love story, nor-malising the relationship by not contrast-ing their love with any external backlash.The protagonists are not seeking soci-etal approvals or trying to convince theworld of their sexual orientation, but areunapologetically walking the city andjust breathing in the night of romanceand comfort.

�Chance encounters have been a com-mon leitmotif in films. What wasyour approach while exploring thisidea?

Both Krishna and Alia have livedvery different pasts. The fears that theyhold today, their hopes and desires, toa large extent, have been shaped by thechoices they have made so far. We areafter all a product of our choices — beit conscious ones or even the ones thatmight have seemed inconsequential atthe moment. These two characters arenever passive receivers of their surround-ings but are constantly making choices.Their decision to ditch the garba eventand choosing to roam the streets witheach other is in itself a way of makingthem responsible for this time together.I believe that is what makes the nighteven more special and romantic. Besidesthis, there are also certain choices theymight not be aware of, which have ledthem here. We have tried to explorethose possibilities not just in the narra-tive of the film but also in its structure.

�Since it is a short film, exploring thewarmth of an instant connection,heartbreak and choices, how do you

think they make an impact on themasses?

When has duration not been aproblem? (chuckles) The best reactionswe have gotten on the film so far havebeen that it has made them feel some-thing — be it warmth of an instant con-nection or a heartbreak that made theireyes moist. Like I mentioned, while writ-ing and even while editing the film, ourone truth was the chemistry betweenKrishna and Alia. From writing everyconversation that leads to something big-ger to maintaining the pace and rhythmof the story, choosing small moments,glances, reactions in the edit — every-thing was choreographed keeping inmind the one aim to make these twocharacters and the energy they sharecome alive. It was actually interesting tonot have my editor (also the co-produc-er of the film), Manan Bhatt on set andalso, to have him step in creatively onlywhen the film was at its post-productionstage. This helped in giving it a fresh andunbiased perspective in the edit —something that is always the hardest fora director because you are just soattached with every good moment cap-tured that you just don’t want to let themgo! So to pull all of it off in 20 minuteswas definitely a challenge but a fun one.

�How do think the streaming plat-forms can impact the short film space?

Streaming platforms can hugelyimpact the short film space as I thinkshort films are where the next crop ofcinematic storytellers will emerge. Andjust how streaming platforms are nowrelieving feature films of various limita-tions, dependencies and length bound-ations, they can really help budding pro-duction houses by providing them afinancially-viable model for short films.This will also allow young and indepen-dent filmmakers to focus on the craftitself.

Being a debut film for me and myteam, it has been challenging becausesuch a model for short films is unfortu-nately still close to absent but I am veryhopeful that it will improve in the com-ing years with OTTs and so manystreaming options.

�Such an issue might not find a placein the mainstream cinema. How do youthink short films are the right medium to present such ironies to the audience?

I humbly disagree to the claim thatsuch films might not find a place in themainstream cinema. I believe and hopethat our understanding of mainstreamcinema itself will evolve with the adventof not just new-age filmmakers but witha healthier competition between plat-forms and theatrical releases. Our coun-try has so many different pockets of peo-ple with such varied stories to tell. It isa matter of time that with the tremen-dous exposure to world cinema and for-eign content, which is accessible so eas-ily now, there will be a surge of demandfor feature films which are unique on ourshores as well.

Having said that, like I mentioned,the short-film space is an importantavenue that needs an equally strongmodel to sustain, especially consideringthe digital age and the changing needsand modes of watching films.

�Were there any stereotypes that youhad to hear?

Stereotypes exist in every field andin everything that one does. Isn’t it? ButI think identifying those stereotypes pre-sents an opportunity to pave somethingunique. It is important that we realisethat stereotypes are not norms but aremeant to be identified rightly and bro-ken. One way of doing that is by creat-ing something that challenges thatthought.

(The film will have its India Premiereat 11th edition of Kashish MumbaiInternational Queer Film Festival.)

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Page 14: 2020/07/25  · cases in India have doubled in nearly three weeks since July 2 when the country crossed the six lakh-mark. The country’s Covid tally touched the 10 lakh-mark last

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The eagerly-awaited IndianPremier League will start on

September 19 in the United ArabEmirates (UAE) with the finalslated on November 8, IPLChairman Brijesh Patel told PTI onFriday.

While the event’s GoverningCouncil will meet next week tochalk out the final details andapprove the schedule, it is under-stood that the BCCI has informal-ly intimated the franchises aboutthe plan.

“The GC will meet shortlybut we have finalised the schedule.It will run from September 19 toNovember 8. We expect the gov-ernment approval to comethrough. It is a full 51-day IPL,”

Patel confirmed the developmentafter PTI reported the dates onThursday.

The IPL has been made possi-ble by the ICC’s decision to post-pone the October-November T20World Cup in Australia owing tothe COVID-19 pandemic due towhich the host country expressedits inability to conduct the event.

Patel said that the StandardOperating Procedure to combat theCOVID-19 threat is being pre-pared and the BCCI will formallywrite to the Emirates CricketBoard.

“We are making the SOP andit will be ready in a few days. Toallow crowd or not depends on theUAE government. Anyway socialdistancing has to be maintained.We have left it for their govern-

ment to decide on that. Will alsobe writing to the UAE board for-mally,” Patel said.

There are three grounds avail-able in the UAE -- DubaiInternational Stadium, SheikhZayed Stadium (Abu Dhabi) andthe Sharjah ground.

It is learnt that the BCCI willbe renting the grounds of the ICCAcademy for training of the teams.

The ICC Academy has twofull-sized cricket grounds alongwith 38 turf pitches, 6 indoorpitches, a 5700 square foot outdoorconditioning area along with phys-iotherapy and medicine centre.

As per the current health pro-tocol in Dubai, there is no need tobe in quarantine if people are car-rying a negative COVID-19 testreport, but if they are not, they will

have to undergo a test.While there was speculation

that the IPL will start fromSeptember 26, the BCCI decided toadvance it by a week in order toensure that the Indian team’s tourof Australia is not jeopardised.

“The Indian team will have amandatory quarantine of 14 daysas per the Australian governmentrules. A delay would have sent theplans haywire," a BCCI official saidon conditions of anonymity.

“The best part is that 51 daysis not at all a curtailed period andbroadcasters will be happy with fullseven-week window,” he added.

While the original schedulehad five double-headers, Patel saidthe new one will feature around 12double-headers which means twomatches each on both Saturdays

and Sundays.The Indians are set to play a

four-match Test series againstAustralia starting December 3 inBrisbane after the IPL.

It is expected that with eachand every team needing at least amonth’s time to train, the IPL fran-chises will be leaving base byAugust 20 which gives them exact-ly four weeks time to prepare.

The cash-rich event was orig-inally scheduled to start at the endof March but the COVID-19 pan-demic and the travel restrictionsthat were put in place to containthe virus, led to an indefinitepostponement.

However, BCCI PresidentSourav Ganguly had always main-tained that the event will be heldsome time this year.

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Juventus missed a chance to clincha record-extending ninth straight

Italian league title as it lost 2-1 at rel-egation-threatened Udinese.

Ilija Nestorovski canceled outMatthijs de Ligt's opener and SekoFofana grabbed the winner in second-half stoppage time to keep Juve's cel-ebrations on ice.

“We lost order, even after thedraw, because we wanted to win at allcosts,” Juventus coach Maurizio Sarrisaid.

“In this way we took the game toa dangerous level, and after the 90thminute, we lost it.”

Juventus remained six pointsclear of second-place Atalanta and cansecure the title with a win overSampdoria on Sunday.

It could even be crowned earlier,if Atalanta loses at AC Milan onFriday and Inter fails to win at Genoaon Saturday.

“In this period we are physically

and mentally tired, and it is a prob-lem common to all,” Sarri said.

“For this reason, being aggressiveis something more tiring and, there-fore, now what matters most is order... It is difficult to keep it throughout

the match and sometimes, like today,we lose it.”

The points could prove crucial forUdinese as it went seven points clearof the relegation zone, with threerounds remaining.

Juventus knew a victory atUdinese would secure the title as theBianconeri hold the tiebreaker overAtalanta courtesy of a better head-to-head record.

It seemed to be going to plan forJuventus when it took the lead threeminutes before halftime. A defensiveheader out came straight to De Ligtand he took one touch before firingpowerfully into the bottom left cor-ner.

However, Nestorovski leveledseven minutes after the restart whenhe headed in Ken Sema's cross.

Both sides struggled to createclear scoring opportunities but, justas it seemed headed for a draw,Fofana burst downfield from near thehalfway line and slotted past WojciechSzczesny.

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The lesson of “forwardpress against fast bowlers”

from Sachin Tendulkar and atip from head coach RaviShastri to stand outside thecrease led to his transforma-tion as a prolific Test batsmanafter a disastrous Englandtour in 2014, feels India cap-tain Virat Kohli.

Kohli had a nightmare ofan England tour where hefailed in 10 successive inningsbut came back later in theyear against Australia scoringfour tons in four games,including two in Adelaide.

In a chat with MayankAgarwal for 'bcci.Tv', theIndian skipper decoded histechnical changes post thatEngland tour.

“The 2014 (tour) will bea milestone in my career. Lotof people take good tours asa milestone in their careersbut for me 2014 will be amilestone,” Kohli toldAgarwal in the show ‘OpenNets with Mayank’.

“I came back fromEngland and spoke to SachinPaaji and had a few sessionswith him in Mumbai. I toldhim that I am working on myhip position. He made merealise the importance of bigstride, a forward press againstfast bowlers,” Kohli explained.

“The moment I starteddoing that with my hip align-ment, things started falling inplace nicely andthen theA u s t r a l i atour hap-p e n e d ,”said Kohli.

H eexplainedwhat wentwrong inEngland andhow herealised it.

“My hipposition was anissue during thatEngland tour. It wasbasically not adjustingto the conditions anddoing what I wanted todo. So being rigiddoesn’t take you any-where. It was a longand painful realiza-tion but I realized it,”he said.

The opening ofhip limited his shotmaking abil ity,Kohli realized.

“One thingstood out, right hipopens or closes toomuch you now you arein trouble. Keep thathip position nice and

side-on and balanced so thatyou can play through both offside and leg side with equalcontrol is very very impor-tant,” he said.

Anderson was taking himout mainly with outgoingdeliveries.

“I was too worried think-ing about the ball that mightcome in. I was opening up abit too early so the ball thatwas going away I was gettingout to it every time. I justcouldn't get past that confu-sion,” he admitted.

However with the tweakin technique also came atweak in his stance, which wassuggested by Shastri (TeamDirector in 2014-15) justbefore the start of 2014-15Australia tour and the rest ishistory.

“He (Shastri) told me onething, to stand outside thecrease. He explained themindset behind it. 'Youshould be in control of thespace you are playing in andnot giving opportunities tothe bowler to get you out’.”

Shastri also explained thelogic that by standing outsidethe crease, so many dismissalsget taken out.

“So I started practisingthat the same year and resultswere unbelievable.”

He also credited formerIndia coach Duncan Fletcher,someone with vast knowledgeabout batting.

“I made my stance biggerafter a conver-

sation withD u n c a nF l e t c h e r ,

who has amaz-ing understanding

of the game. He onlyasked one question,‘Will I be able toplay the short ballwith a forwardpress and thatbase (widenedstance)’. I said Ican.”

T h e r ewas anotherinterestinglittle chatwith Shastri

which wasan example ofKohli's deter-

mination.“Ravi bhai

asked me that ifI was scared ofshort ball,” Kohli

laughed.“I said I am

not scared and Idon’t mind getting

hurt but I don't wantto get out,” the India

skipper added.

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Former West Indies T20skipper Carlos

Brathwaite feels Englandpacer Jofra Archer is the“do-it-my-way” type ofplayer which every teamneeds and also has thepotential to be a futureleader of the side.

The 25-year-oldArcher was included inthe England team forthe third Test after beingdropped from thesecond game forbreaching theside’s COVID-19 bio-secureprotocol. Heapologised forhis action ofvisiting hishome whilethe team was ina bio-secure envi-

ronment.“There is the tradi-

tional English way of doingit by the book, but all goodteams need the X-Factor. Ithink he (Archer) bringsthat X-Factor and I thoughtKevin Pietersen broughtthat X-Factor,” Brathwaitetold BBC Sport.

“While you’re hop-ing that the majority ofthe team are 75 percent consistent andthey do everything by

the book - they arealways early, theyeat right, they dothis and they dothat - you do needthat rogue.

“I am notsaying thath e(Archer)

is that, butevery team needs

that rogue, that X-Factor,that doesn't play by therules of the book and ‘do itmy way’ type of character.”

Brathwaite cited theexample of star all-rounderBen Stokes, who has court-ed trouble in the past butemerged as one of the mostconsistent performers forEngland in the last twoyears. He also led theEngland team in the firstTest in the absence of JoeRoot.

Brathwaite sees aleader in Archer and wantsEngland to support him indiscovering his leadershipqualities so that he canserve English cricket for along time.

“If you think about it,Stokes not so long ago, wasseen as that type of charac-ter. Now he’s seen as aleader,” Brathwaite said.

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Veteran South Africa spinner Imran Tahirheaped praise on Pakistan white-ball skipper

Babar Azam and referred to him as one of the bestin the world.

Over the years,Azam has been oneof the most consis-tent Pakistan bats-men across formats.He holds the topspot in ICC rank-ings for batsmen inT20Is, third spot inODIs and sixth in Tests.

Tahir also lauded Azam” leadership skills andstated he is perfect for young Pakistan cricketersto follow.

“The current team led by Babar Azam is veryyoung and I wish him all the best because I believehe is one of the best players in the world today,”Tahir was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.

“He is surrounded by youngsters. Young play-ers put a lot of effort into the game. My experi-ence tells me that they will do well in the futurebut at the same time they should be prepared tonot give up if they lose some games,” he added.

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The last time the Olympics happened in Tokyo,Harbinder Singh realised his dream of winning

a gold and the former Indian hockey center-forwardis hoping that Manpreet Singh and his men willrecreate history when the Japanese city hosts theGames next year.

Indian hockey has a rich history in theOlympics, having won an unprecedented eight Goldmedals, besides one Silver and two Bronze medals.

But India’s last success at the quadrennial eventcame 40 years ago in the 1980 Moscow Olympics,where they won the last of their eight Gold medals.

Singh, who also won bronze medals at the 1968Mexico games and the 1972 Munich Games apartfrom the coveted gold at the 1964 Games, said nextyear’s Olympics is an opportunity for the Indian teamto again achieve the highest honour.

“Now after more than half a century, theOlympics is again taking place in Tokyo where I sawmy dream come true with the Indian Team winningthe Gold Medal,” the 77-year-old wrote in a columnfor Hockey India (HI). “I feel it would be a greatopportunity for our team to repeat this history inthe same place by winning a Gold Medal and makeit as memorable as it was for us in 1964.”

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England’s truncated battingdepartment fell cheaply as dis-ciplined bowling by the West

Indies reduced the hosts to 131-4 bytea on the first day of the deciding testat Old Trafford on Friday.

Ollie Pope (24) and wicketkeep-er Jos Buttler (2) were aiming torebuild the innings in Manchester,with only a long tail left for Englandafter the dismissals of Ben Stokes andRory Burns in the second session.

Stokes - promoted to No. 4 soEngland could squeeze in another fastbowler - was bowled by a beautythrough the gate by Kemar Roach for20, having added 13 runs to his scoreat lunch.

Burns reached his sixth test half-century but departed soon after for57, wafting at a ball from spinnerRoston Chase that was too close tohim and finding an edge that wastaken one-handed - and brilliantly -by Rahkeem Cornwall at slip.

England is crawling along, scor-ing 65 runs at a rate of 2.5 per overbetween lunch and tea.

Before lunch, the West Indiessnared Dom Sibley in the first overand captain Joe Root - to a run-out- near the end of the session afterputting England into bat under grayskies.

England's batting lineup has beenweakened after choosing to select fourfast bowlers as well as a spinner forthe test. Stokes, the star of the secondtest won by England inManchester, is struggling for full fit-ness and unlikely to bowl, so isbeing used as a specialist batsman.

West Indies paceman ShannonGabriel started for the third straightmatch this series and spent some timeoff the field with an apparent ham-

string strain after pulling up duringhis fourth over. He returned, though,to the relief of captain Jason Holderand is back bowling.

Roach has 2-28 off 12.4 overs, andneeds one more wicket for 200 intests.

The series is tied at 1-1 and the

Windies, who won the first test inSouthampton, are looking to capturea test series in England for the firsttime since 1988.

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Indian football team assistant coachShanmugam Venkatesh feels constant

monitoring and exposure could help in find-ing a worthy successor for talisman SunilChhetri who continues to dazzle with hisincredible game.

At 35 and after over 15 gloriousyears of international football, Chhetriremains the mainstay of the nationalteam, regularly finding the back of thenet while creating chances for players thatlook up to him.

Venkatesh, a former Indiacaptain himself, said Chhetri isone of the few top footballerscomfortable with both left andright foot.

“We played together andSunil has played under mycaptaincy. His beauty isthat he is comfortablewith both feet. That Isaw after a long time,”Venkatesh said duringan All Indian FootballFederation (AIFF) Instagram Live

session."He works so hard, he is not only a great

scorer but can also create chances, and canplay in three positions," he added.

Venkatesh was also full of praise for for-mer stars and teammates IM Vijayan andBhaichung Bhutia.

Among the current lot, he believedSandesh Jhingan is ready to play outsideIndia and also mentioned AnirudhThapa as a special talent.

“Jhingan is a big fighter, the leaderat the back,” Venkatesh said of the

stopper who has been nomi-nated for the Khel

Ratna by the federa-tion.

Venkatesh is moti-vated by AIFF general secretaryKushal Das' recent assertion thatthey want to have an Indian coach-ing the national team within thenext five years.

“It’s a big motivation forIndian coaches but I must add thatit's not easy. It's a big challenge,update is very important forcoaches.”

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Top Australian cricketerAlyssa Healy has

expressed disappointmentat the cancellation of theIndian women’s team’s pro-posed tour of Englandowing to the COVID-19pandemic.

The Indian women’steam was originally slated toplay a bilateral series com-prising three ODIs and asmany T20Is againstEngland in June which gotpostponed due to the coro-navirus outbreak.

But the UK sojourn wascalled off earlier this week.

“Would be sad to see itnot happen especially withthe hope of a WC (WorldCup) early next year,” Healytweeted in response to apost by Sydney-based crick-et writer Rick Eyre.

The ICC Women’s

World Cup is scheduled tobe played in New Zealandfrom February 6 to March7 next year.

Healy’s remark is signif-icant as she is one of the topfemale cricketers of notonly Australia but theworld.

Eyre wondered why it’sso difficult for the women’steam to tour England evenas the BCCI plans to goahead with the rescheduledIPL in the United ArabEmirates.

His tweet read, “Why isit harder to send the Indiannational women’s team toEngland than it is to sendthe entire IPL to the UAE?”

A challenging tour ofEngland would have helpedimmensely in the Indianteam’s preparations for theWorld Cup, reckoned a fewfrom the cricket communi-ty after the cancellation.

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