12
W ith no let-up in tension on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, the Corps Commanders of Indian and Chinese armies will meet again on Tuesday. It will be their third round of parleys since June 6 to de-escalate and disengage at the volatile border with China yet to pull back its troops despite an agreement to do so. The proposed talks between Lt General Harinder Singh and Major General Liu Lin will be held on the Chushul border meeting point on Tuesday morning, sources said here on Monday. The first round was held on June 6 and the second on June 22. In both the sessions, the two sides agreed to keep all lines of communication open to defuse tension after the bloody clash on June 15 in the Galwan valley. The talks come against the backdrop of the Chinese refusal to pull back its troops from all the four stand-off sites in Eastern Ladakh including the Galwan valley, Pangong Tso (lake), Hot Springs and Gogra. Both the armies are in an eyeball to eye- ball confrontation at these points for the last 40 to 45 days since the first face-off on May 5. In the June 6 parleys, the two commanders agreed to mutually retreat in a gradual manner from the stand-off sites. India also insisted that status quo ante prior to May 5 be restored with Chinese troops going back to their positions across the LAC. The Chinese troops are reported to have intruded into the Indian territory in the Galwan valley, Hot Springs and Pangong Tso. Lately, the Chinese have stepped up their activities in the Depsang Valley, too, further heightening tension. This area saw a four-week stand-off in 2013. India has a strategically important advanced landing ground or airfield Daulat Beg Oldie here besides the 250-km long important road link from Shyok to Daulat Beg Oldie. E ven as the Indian forces are engaged in an all out effort to guard the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, signs of fresh trouble have emerged from the Galwan valley as the Chinese have erected tents and brought in vehicles in the Indian area and intruded more than 500 metres into Indian side of the LAC. The latest incursion picked up by satellites as recent as June 25 indicates far deeper than the Chinese claim line as existed in 1960, sources said here on Monday. This valley saw fierce battles in the 1962 India-China war. It was in the Galwan valley that on June 15 the Indian and Chinese soldiers came to blows leading to the death of 20 Indians, including command- ing officer Colonel B Santosh Babu. Chinese are yet to con- firm their toll. Incidentally, the Galwan valley, unlike some other parts of Eastern Ladakh, did not see any major confrontation in the last 40-45 years with both sides carrying out patrolling in a peaceful manner. However, the Chinese are now objecting to infrastructure development by India there. New Delhi: Amid the ongo- ing tensions between India and China over the stand-off at the LAC in eastern Ladakh, the Centre has banned 59 Chinese-origin mobile apps after, terming their activities as prejudicial to sovereignty, integrity, defence of the country, secu- rity of state and public order. In an official statement, the IT Ministry said it has received many complaints from various sources, includ- ing several reports about mis- use of some mobile apps available on Android and iOS platforms for “stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorised manner to servers which have locations outside India”. PNS A fter West Bengal, Jharkhand and Manipur, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Nagaland on Monday extend- ed the lockdown till July 31 amid a steady rise in coron- avirus infection. Telangana may also extend the lockdown. Assam has also imposed a total lockdown in Guwahati for 14 days from June 28. The fifth phase of the lockdown in India comes to an end on June 30. Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Telangana have reported the maximum number of cases. With 5,257 fresh cases and 181 deaths, highest in a single day, Maharashtra’s tally of coro- navirus cases reached 1,69,883, including 73,298 active cases, and the State extended the lockdown till July 31. The current lockdown was to end on June 30. An order issued by Chief Secretary Ajoy Mehta on Monday said wear- ing face covers or masks, main- taining social distancing, restricted gatherings, and other measures shall continue to pre- vail. The State Government has also advised that work from home should be followed as far as possible. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had on Sunday ruled out lift- ing the lockdown from that date. Mall, theatres, multiplexes, schools, colleges, gymnasiums, swimming pools will remain shut across the State. The essential services have been allowed across the State, while shops selling non-essen- tial services are allowed with certain restrictions in red zones. The Government and private offices are allowed to operate at 15 and 10 per cent of their workforce. M etro services, cinema halls, swimming pools, bars and assembly halls will remain closed, even outside contain- ment zones, as per Union Home Ministry’s Unlock-2 guidelines issued on Monday. While schools and colleges will remain shut till July 31, social, political, sporting, enter- tainment, academic, religious and cultural gatherings and functions will continue to remain banned. As per the new guidelines, the night curfew time is limit- ed from 10pm to 5am. The night curfew is being relaxed for seamless operation of industrial units and movement in State and on National Highways as well as bus and train movements. Shops, depending upon their areas, are permitted to take more than five persons at a time by keeping social dis- tancing norms. All Government offices will start working full fledged from July 15. Training institutions of the Central and State Governments will be allowed to function with effect from July 15. SOP in this regard will be issued by the Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India,” said the new guidelines. International air travel of passengers has been permitted in a limited manner under the Vande Bharat mission and fur- ther opening up will take place in a calibrated manner, the guidelines said. All activities, except the fol- lowing, shall be permitted out- side containment zones: Metro rail, cinema halls, gymnasiums, swimming pools, entertainment parks, theatres, bars, auditori- ums, assembly halls and similar places, social/ political/ sports/ entertainment/ academic/ cul- tural/ religious functions and other large congregations. “Dates for opening of these will be decided separately, based on the assessment of the situation,” said the guidelines which are effective from July 1 to July 31. Lockdown shall continue to be implemented strictly in the containment zones till July 31. The guidelines said the States and district administra- tion will decide the area wise definition of containment zones and will be shared with the Union Health Ministry. “States and UTs, based on their assessment of the situa- tion, may prohibit certain activ- ities outside the containment zones or impose such restric- tions as deemed necessary. However, there shall be no restriction on inter-State and intra-State movement of per- sons and goods. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation on Tuesday evening, his office said. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation at 4 PM tomorrow,” the Prime Minister’s Office tweeted. PTI A t least three Covid patients, including a 24-year-old Giridih woman suffering from postpartum sepsis, died in Jharkhand in a span of 24 hours, health officials said on Monday. The Giridih woman is also the youngest Covid victim in Jharkhand till date, officials added. The Covid death toll in the state reached 15 on Monday. Earlier on Sunday night, a 68- year-old man from Sahibganj, suffering from brain haemor- rhage, died during treatment at Medica Superspecialty Hospital in Ranchi. The Covid victim from Giridih, who tested positive on June 27, had recently deliv- ered a baby, doctors from Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) said. “She developed postpartum sepsis and was being treated for it at Medica. She was referred to RIMS after testing positive for Covid-19,” said RIMS superin- tendent Dr. Vivek Kashyap. Postpartum sepsis develops within 42 days after delivery, so doctors assume that her infant must be only a few weeks old. The third death was reported from Hazaribag. However, health officials could not disclose more details of the victim by the time this report was filed. Monday's death, however, was not the first instance of a young patient getting infected by the virus and failing to fight out of it, health officials said. Earlier this month, a 25-year-old Ranchi woman, suffering from Tuberculosis, died of Covid-19 infection during treatment at RIMS. At least 38 fresh cases of Covid-19 infection surfaced in Jharkhand on Monday, and 56 patients recovered. The total count of Covid patients reached 2426 in State on Monday. According to figures with the National Health Mission (NHM), as many as 15 people have lost their lives to the Coronavirus infection in Jharkhand so far. Out of the 15 Corona deaths in Jharkhand, four were reported from Ranchi, two each from Bokaro and Giridih, three Hazaribag , and one each from Gumla, Simdega, Sahibganj and Koderma, health officials said. All the victims were said to have comorbid conditions that aggravated due to Covid. C hief Minister Hemant Soren today said that the Central Government’s action to ban 59 Chinese Apps came too late as the damage has already been done by them (Apps). The CM, while talking to media per- sons, here on Monday said that the Central government must have banned the Chinese Apps, but these Apps must have spread the unwarranted infection just like Corona by now. “The effect of the Apps (Chinese Apps), if they are actually detrimental, should have been assessed much before. The Centre has delayed thinking about the decision. And these Apps have already spread their infection just like Corona. Lets see what lies ahead,” he said. Talking about Bihar elec- tions, the CM said that the party (JMM) is already doing its preparations and appropriate decisions would be taken. Meanwhile, following the direction of Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Deputy Commissioner Ramgarh has assured Rs 50,000 to Geeta Kumari from the CSR funds of Tata Company at Ghato, arrangement for sports training in sports center and a month- ly stipend of Rs 3,000. The CM was informed that Geeta Kumari, a resident of Bokaro, is setting up a roadside vegetable shop for living. After the information of the case, the CM directed the Deputy Commissioner Bokaro to pro- vide necessary government help to Gita and his family three days ago and inform. After knowing that Geeta was a resident of Ramgarh district, Deputy Commissioner Ramgarh took the initiative and covered Geeta Kumari with the above assis- tance and informed the CM. Meanwhile, the CM direct- ed the Deputy Commissioner Gumla to enroll two orphan children Jasman Kerketta and Jayamani, resident of Kemte, Karanjtoli, Raidih, Gumla with government support as well as enrollment in the school for education. The CM was told that Kemte, located in Gumla's Raidih police station area, has been orphaned after the death of two children Jasman Kerketta and Karanketti's father Melprakash Kerketta and moth- er of Jayamani Kerketta. Both children are now minors. After the information of the case, the Chief Minister gave the above direction. Meanwhile, CM Hemant Soren, was today given a cheque of Rs 13.65 lakh by the officers and staff of the jail administra- tion for the Chief Minister's Relief Fund. In addition to the prison and superintendent of all 29 prisons of the State, the offi- cials and personnel of the prison headquarters have deposited the amount by vol- untary contribution to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund.

ˆ !˚˚ ˛ #$ % & · 22 hours ago  · “Today our Ordnance Factories are producing indige-nously-developed arms, ammu-nitions, rifles, weapons, protec-tive clothings, battle-field

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Page 1: ˆ !˚˚ ˛ #$ % & · 22 hours ago  · “Today our Ordnance Factories are producing indige-nously-developed arms, ammu-nitions, rifles, weapons, protec-tive clothings, battle-field

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With no let-up in tension onthe Line of Actual Control

(LAC) in Ladakh, the CorpsCommanders of Indian andChinese armies will meet againon Tuesday. It will be their thirdround of parleys since June 6 tode-escalate and disengage at thevolatile border with China yetto pull back its troops despite anagreement to do so.

The proposed talksbetween Lt General HarinderSingh and Major General LiuLin will be held on the Chushulborder meeting point onTuesday morning, sources saidhere on Monday.

The first round was held onJune 6 and the second on June22. In both the sessions, the twosides agreed to keep all lines ofcommunication open to defusetension after the bloody clash onJune 15 in the Galwan valley.

The talks come against thebackdrop of the Chinese refusalto pull back its troops from all

the four stand-off sites in EasternLadakh including the Galwanvalley, Pangong Tso (lake), HotSprings and Gogra. Both thearmies are in an eyeball to eye-ball confrontation at these pointsfor the last 40 to 45 days sincethe first face-off on May 5.

In the June 6 parleys, thetwo commanders agreed tomutually retreat in a gradualmanner from the stand-offsites. India also insisted thatstatus quo ante prior to May 5be restored with Chinese troopsgoing back to their positionsacross the LAC.

The Chinese troops arereported to have intruded intothe Indian territory in theGalwan valley, Hot Springsand Pangong Tso.

Lately, the Chinese havestepped up their activities in theDepsang Valley, too, furtherheightening tension.

This area saw a four-weekstand-off in 2013. India has astrategically importantadvanced landing ground orairfield Daulat Beg Oldie herebesides the 250-km longimportant road link fromShyok to Daulat Beg Oldie.

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Even as the Indian forces areengaged in an all out effort

to guard the Line of ActualControl (LAC) in Ladakh, signsof fresh trouble have emergedfrom the Galwan valley as theChinese have erected tents andbrought in vehicles in theIndian area and intruded morethan 500 metres into Indianside of the LAC.

The latest incursion pickedup by satellites as recent as June25 indicates far deeper than theChinese claim line as existed in 1960, sources saidhere on Monday. This valleysaw fierce battles in the 1962India-China war.

It was in the Galwan valleythat on June 15 the Indian andChinese soldiers came to blows

leading to the death of 20Indians, including command-ing officer Colonel B SantoshBabu. Chinese are yet to con-firm their toll.

Incidentally, the Galwanvalley, unlike some other partsof Eastern Ladakh, did not seeany major confrontation inthe last 40-45 years with bothsides carrying out patrolling ina peaceful manner. However,the Chinese are now objectingto infrastructure developmentby India there.

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New Delhi: Amid the ongo-ing tensions between Indiaand China over the stand-offat the LAC in easternLadakh, the Centre hasbanned 59 Chinese-originmobile apps after, termingtheir activities as prejudicialto sovereignty, integrity,defence of the country, secu-rity of state and public order.

In an official statement,the IT Ministry said it hasreceived many complaintsfrom various sources, includ-ing several reports about mis-use of some mobile appsavailable on Android and iOSplatforms for “stealing andsurreptitiously transmittingusers’ data in an unauthorisedmanner to servers which havelocations outside India”.

PNS

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After West Bengal,Jharkhand and Manipur,

Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu andNagaland on Monday extend-ed the lockdown till July 31amid a steady rise in coron-avirus infection. Telanganamay also extend the lockdown.Assam has also imposed a totallockdown in Guwahati for 14days from June 28. The fifthphase of the lockdown in Indiacomes to an end on June 30.

Maharashtra, Delhi, TamilNadu, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh,Rajasthan, West Bengal,Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and

Telangana have reported themaximum number of cases.

With 5,257 fresh cases and181 deaths, highest in a singleday, Maharashtra’s tally of coro-navirus cases reached 1,69,883,including 73,298 active cases,and the State extended thelockdown till July 31.

The current lockdown wasto end on June 30. An orderissued by Chief Secretary AjoyMehta on Monday said wear-ing face covers or masks, main-taining social distancing,restricted gatherings, and othermeasures shall continue to pre-vail. The State Governmenthas also advised that work

from home should be followedas far as possible. ChiefMinister Uddhav Thackerayhad on Sunday ruled out lift-ing the lockdown from thatdate.

Mall, theatres, multiplexes,schools, colleges, gymnasiums,swimming pools will remainshut across the State.

The essential services havebeen allowed across the State,while shops selling non-essen-tial services are allowed withcertain restrictions in redzones. The Government andprivate offices are allowed tooperate at 15 and 10 per centof their workforce.

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Metro services, cinema halls,swimming pools, bars and

assembly halls will remainclosed, even outside contain-ment zones, as per Union HomeMinistry’s Unlock-2 guidelinesissued on Monday.

While schools and collegeswill remain shut till July 31,social, political, sporting, enter-tainment, academic, religiousand cultural gatherings andfunctions will continue toremain banned.

As per the new guidelines,the night curfew time is limit-ed from 10pm to 5am. Thenight curfew is being relaxedfor seamless operation ofindustrial units and movementin State and on NationalHighways as well as bus andtrain movements.

Shops, depending upontheir areas, are permitted totake more than five persons ata time by keeping social dis-tancing norms. AllGovernment offices will startworking full fledged from July15. Training institutions of theCentral and State Governmentswill be allowed to function witheffect from July 15. SOP in thisregard will be issued by theDepartment of Personnel andTraining, Government ofIndia,” said the new guidelines.

International air travel ofpassengers has been permittedin a limited manner under theVande Bharat mission and fur-ther opening up will take place

in a calibrated manner, theguidelines said.

All activities, except the fol-lowing, shall be permitted out-side containment zones: Metrorail, cinema halls, gymnasiums,swimming pools, entertainmentparks, theatres, bars, auditori-ums, assembly halls and similarplaces, social/ political/ sports/entertainment/ academic/ cul-tural/ religious functions andother large congregations.

“Dates for opening of thesewill be decided separately,based on the assessment of thesituation,” said the guidelineswhich are effective from July 1to July 31.

Lockdown shall continueto be implemented strictly in the containmentzones till July 31.

The guidelines said theStates and district administra-tion will decide the area wise

definition of containmentzones and will be shared withthe Union Health Ministry.

“States and UTs, based ontheir assessment of the situa-tion, may prohibit certain activ-ities outside the containmentzones or impose such restric-tions as deemed necessary.However, there shall be norestriction on inter-State andintra-State movement of per-sons and goods.

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New Delhi: PrimeMinister Narendra Modiwill address the nationon Tuesday evening, hisoffice said. “PrimeMinister Narendra Modiwill address the nation at4 PM tomorrow,” thePrime Minister’s Officetweeted. PTI

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At least three Covid patients,including a 24-year-old

Giridih woman suffering frompostpartum sepsis, died inJharkhand in a span of 24hours, health officials said onMonday. The Giridih woman isalso the youngest Covid victimin Jharkhand till date, officialsadded.

The Covid death toll in thestate reached 15 on Monday.Earlier on Sunday night, a 68-year-old man from Sahibganj,suffering from brain haemor-rhage, died during treatment atMedica Superspecialty Hospitalin Ranchi. The Covid victimfrom Giridih, who tested positiveon June 27, had recently deliv-ered a baby, doctors fromRajendra Institute of MedicalSciences (RIMS) said.

“She developed postpartumsepsis and was being treated forit at Medica. She was referred toRIMS after testing positive forCovid-19,” said RIMS superin-tendent Dr. Vivek Kashyap.

Postpartum sepsis developswithin 42 days after delivery, sodoctors assume that her infantmust be only a few weeks old.The third death was reportedfrom Hazaribag. However, healthofficials could not disclose moredetails of the victim by the timethis report was filed.

Monday's death, however,was not the first instance of ayoung patient getting infected by

the virus and failing to fight outof it, health officials said. Earlierthis month, a 25-year-old Ranchiwoman, suffering fromTuberculosis, died of Covid-19infection during treatment atRIMS.

At least 38 fresh cases ofCovid-19 infection surfaced inJharkhand on Monday, and 56patients recovered. The totalcount of Covid patients reached2426 in State on Monday.

According to figures withthe National Health Mission(NHM), as many as 15 peoplehave lost their lives to theCoronavirus infection inJharkhand so far. Out of the 15Corona deaths in Jharkhand,four were reported from Ranchi,two each from Bokaro andGiridih, three Hazaribag , andone each from Gumla, Simdega,Sahibganj and Koderma, healthofficials said. All the victims weresaid to have comorbid conditionsthat aggravated due to Covid.

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Chief Minister HemantSoren today said that the

Central Government’s action toban 59 Chinese Apps came toolate as the damage has alreadybeen done by them (Apps). TheCM, while talking to media per-sons, here on Monday saidthat the Central governmentmust have banned the ChineseApps, but these Apps musthave spread the unwarrantedinfection just like Corona bynow.

“The effect of the Apps(Chinese Apps), if they areactually detrimental, shouldhave been assessed muchbefore. The Centre has delayedthinking about the decision.And these Apps have alreadyspread their infection just likeCorona. Lets see what liesahead,” he said.

Talking about Bihar elec-tions, the CM said that the party(JMM) is already doing its

preparations and appropriatedecisions would be taken.

Meanwhile, following thedirection of Chief MinisterHemant Soren, DeputyCommissioner Ramgarh hasassured Rs 50,000 to GeetaKumari from the CSR funds ofTata Company at Ghato,arrangement for sports trainingin sports center and a month-ly stipend of Rs 3,000.

The CM was informed thatGeeta Kumari, a resident ofBokaro, is setting up a roadsidevegetable shop for living. Afterthe information of the case, theCM directed the DeputyCommissioner Bokaro to pro-vide necessary government helpto Gita and his family three daysago and inform. After knowingthat Geeta was a resident ofRamgarh district, DeputyCommissioner Ramgarh tookthe initiative and covered GeetaKumari with the above assis-tance and informed the CM.

Meanwhile, the CM direct-

ed the Deputy CommissionerGumla to enroll two orphanchildren Jasman Kerketta andJayamani, resident of Kemte,Karanjtoli, Raidih, Gumla withgovernment support as well asenrollment in the school foreducation.

The CM was told thatKemte, located in Gumla'sRaidih police station area, hasbeen orphaned after the deathof two children Jasman Kerketta

and Karanketti's fatherMelprakash Kerketta and moth-er of Jayamani Kerketta. Bothchildren are now minors. Afterthe information of the case, theChief Minister gave the abovedirection.

Meanwhile, CM HemantSoren, was today given a chequeof Rs 13.65 lakh by the officersand staff of the jail administra-tion for the Chief Minister'sRelief Fund. In addition to the

prison and superintendent of all29 prisons of the State, the offi-cials and personnel of theprison headquarters havedeposited the amount by vol-untary contribution to the ChiefMinister's Relief Fund.

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In its response to theunprecedented health crisis

in the wake of Covid-19,XLRI-Xavier School ofManagement has come upwith a dashboard that displayskey metrics and charts for thedistrict administration to useand act upon.

The East Singhbhum

COVID-19 ManagementDashboard was launched forpeople of East Singhbhumdistrict for better monitoringof Covid-19.

XLRI has extended its sup-port to Jamshedpur districtadministration to fight againstthe pandemic. Over the lastfew weeks, XLRI professorshave engaged round-the-clockwith various government bod-

ies, local authorities, andhealthcare professionals toprepare a broad and mean-ingful strategy to manage thispandemic together.

“ In the process of devel-oping the dashboard, it wasrealised that there was anopportunity to develop anintegrated web based data cap-ture and management systemthat would ensure the follow-ing – Information flow, mirrorspeople flow, accurate reportingand thereby helping in build-ing a real time dashboard,” saidan official of XLRI.

The system ensured inte-gration of all information col-lection points, to minimize

repetition of processes, stan-dardised the inputs as much aspossible, automated reportcreation thereby freeing uptime for the data entry oper-ators and most importantlyvalidating to ensure dataintegrity.

As an initial step, XLRI hasbegun supporting localauthorities in the surveillanceinitiative with the help ofsome recent graduates ofXLRI, who are residents ofJamshedpur. The support fromXLRI enabled the team toimprove the effectiveness andefficiency of their operationsby providing better tools fordata entry and conducting

training for the team membersas well as spending time withthem on the field.

A playbook cum checklistwas developed with the sup-port of volunteers to be givento people on HomeQuarantine. This contains achecklist of items that theSurveillance team needs totake care when visiting thehouse in quarantine and alsoinstructions on procedure ofhome quarantine with a check-list to the family on what theyneed to do to keep them-selves safe.

Prof GiridharRamachandran, assistant pro-fessor (marketing area), XLRI

Xavier School of Managementsaid: “We are happy to facili-tate the local administration inan emergency which touchespeople’s lives. This crisis push-es all of us, including theinstitutions, to set a goodexample. We have alreadyimplemented some of thetasks, and will roll out more inthe coming days and weeks.We will continue to engagewith the local administrationsto assess how we can furthercontribute and make ourefforts effective and mean-ingful. I would like to salute allprofessionals working tire-lessly at the frontline in con-taining the pandemic”.

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People of the Pashtun community are being persecuted relent-lessly by the Government of Pakistan and its Army for the

last several decades. But now they (people of the Pashtun com-munity) have intensified their voice over their identity, saidIndresh Kumar, National Patron of FANS (Forum for Awarenessof National Security) and All India Executive Board memberRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

He was addressing an international webinar on “IdentityCrisis of Waziristan” (Pashtun Tehfuz Movement) organized byFANS on Sunday. The webinar was addressed by several inter-national and national speakers.

Speaking on the occasion Indresh said, people of this com-munity are now ready for sacrifice under the Pashtun TehfuzMovement (PTM). “Now this movement is gaining momentumin the entire border region,” he added.

Notably, this movement advocated for the rights of ethnicPashtuns affected by the Pakistani government and its army, wasformed in 2016 by a group of eight university students in thenorthwestern city of Dera Ismail Khan. All eight hailed from theneighbouring district of South Waziristan.

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National Doctor's Day, July01, is observed to honour

the legendary physician andWest Bengal's second ChiefMinister, Dr. Bidhan ChandraRoy whose birth and deathanniversary coincides on thesame day.

AHPI (Association ofHealthcare Providers of India)Jharkhand Chapter has pro-

posed for a Joint programme forall Hospitals and Nursing Homesof Jharkhand to celebrate the dayby organizing a get together, hon-ouring and felicitating their doc-tors with memento/by cake cut-ting etc especially for their ded-ication and contribution in thispanic situation of COVID pan-demic. Special honour may begiven to specific doctors fortheir special contributions asCOVID Warriors.

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Jharkhand Mukti Morcha(JMM) on Monday claimed

that the party is preparing tocontest on at least 12 StateAssembly Constituencies inthe upcoming Bihar Assemblyelections, which is scheduled tobe held at the end of the year.

Addressing a press meetJMM General Secretary andSpokesperson, SupriyoBhattacharya said that in lastfive years the party hasstrengthened its organisation-al base in Bihar and keeping itsorganisation base in mind inthe neighbouring State theparty is gearing up to contest at

12 State Assembly constituen-cies in the upcoming StateAssembly elections under the

alliance of Rashtriya JanataDal (RJD) and Congress.

"Since last five years the

party is strengthening its basein 12 seats- Tarapur, Katoria(ST), Manihari (ST), Jhajha,Banka, Thakurganj, Rupouli,Pranpur, Banmankhi, Jamalpur,Pirpanti and Chakai. The JMMcandidate won from Chakai inthe elections of 2005. The partyhas good hold in these seatsand it will put forward itsdemand to contest on theseseats with other partners of'Mahagathbandhan' like RJDand Congress. We are surethat we got these seats underthe alliance as we allotted sevenseats to RJD in Jharkhand andgave ministerial birth to its loneMLA," said Bhattacharya.

The party General

Secretary added that the partyhas been contesting electionson its symbol Bow and Arrowsince its inception for theupcoming Assembly electionsin Bihar, it will approach toElection Commission of India(ECI) to allot its symbol inBihar to contest the election,which the ECI had seized inBihar on objection filed byJanata Dal (United).

It may be mentioned herethat the State Assembly elec-tions of Jharkhand held in thelast months of the previous yearJMM, Congress and RJD con-tested under an alliance called'Mahagathbandhan'.

In response to a question

the party Spokesperson saidthat either the alliance partnerof 'Mahagathbandhan' allot theseats for JMM or the party willbe independent to take its owndecision and it will field its can-didate in the Bihar Assemblyelections alone.

Bhattachrya also congrat-ulated Chief Minister, HemantSoren for increasing numbersof his followers on social mediaincluding twitter and facebookand said that since last sixmonths the followers of theChief Minister increased tomore than 4 lakhs. It shows thatthe popularity of the ChiefMinister is growing rapidlyamong people, he added.

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Following the instruction of All IndiaCongress Committee (AICC) to

protest against the “exploitation of thepeople by the Central Governmentthrough increasing the prices of petroland diesel even in the crisis of Coronaepidemic”, Jharkhand Pradesh CongressCommittee (JPCC) on Monday held adharna in front of Raj Bhawan.

Addressing the gathering on theoccasion JPCC Chief, Rameshwar Oraonsaid that by increasing the prices of petroland diesel by the BJP Government at theCenter, it is exploiting people and onlythe common man of the Country are suf-fering. It is also causing problems at a

time when the entire Country is goingthrough an economic crisis due to theepidemic, the Central Government isprofiteering. That too when crude oilprices are continuously falling in theinternational market, he added.

"The Central Government is failingon every front. On one hand, thegraph of corona infection is continu-ously increasing, according to the data;India has reached the fourth position inthe world. On the other hand, on themartyrdom of our brave soldiers on theborder, the Prime Minister is mislead-ing the Country by saying that our bor-der has not been infiltrated by China.They are receiving funds for the PMCare fund from the enemy countries.

The Congress party through this agi-tation demands the withdrawal of theincrease in petrol and diesel prices andexcise duty," he added.

Attacking the Central Government,former Union Minister SubodhkantSahay said that the Modi Governmentat the Center is trying to kill people evenwhen the Corona epidemic is tor-menting people. "Inflation is at itspeak, the constant increase in the priceof petroleum products the Governmentis causing difficulties in everyday life.The BJP Government at the Center isneither able to secure the Country's bor-ders nor control inflation in theCountry," he added.

Addressing the dharna programme,

Health Minister, Banna Gupta saidthat in the Corona crisis when the farm-ers, labourers, youth of the Country arealready grappling with the problems, theCentral Government continuouslyincreases prices of petrol and diesel tothe common man. "The Country'smisfortune is that such a Governmentis ruling today, which is proving to bea profitable government instead ofworking for public welfare. TheCongress party will continue to raise thevoice of the public with vigor," he added.

MLA Bandhu Tirkey, Amba Prasad,Spokesperson Alok Kumar Dubey,Rajiv Ranjan Prasad, Lal Kishore NathShahdeo, Rajesh Gupta and RavindraSingh were present on the occasion.

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As the country observes HulKranti Diwas marking the

1855 tribals uprising againstBritish empire lead by tribalheroes Sido-Kanhu, Chand,Bhairav among others, a BJP del-egation on Monday knockedthe door of Governor DroupadiMurmu with a plea demandingjustice for the sixth descendant ofSido Kanhu.

Rameshwar Murmu, thesixth descendant of 1855 martyrSido Kanhu was killed a few daysback at Barhait in Dumka districtof Santhal Pargana. The BJPteam last week had visitedMurmu’s family members andtoday they submitted a demandto the Governor. Some of thedemands of the team includesCBI probe in the killing, death forpersons behind the murder,compensation of Rs 10 lakh tofamily members and governmentjob to widow of RameshwarMurmu.

The delegation's other

demands include that the gov-ernment should bear education-al expenses of sons and daugh-ters of Rameshwar Murmu alongwith increasing securityarrangement to the family mem-bers. The delegation was headedby BJP Rajya Sabha MP SamirOroan. “When the country ispaying remembering SidoKanhu’s martyrdom, the HemantSoren government is still idle andnot interested in giving justice tothe sixth descendant of SidoKanhu,” Oroan said.

Sidho-Kanhu, Chand,Bhairav and others were heroesof tribal uprising. More than50,000 tribals from 400 villagesof Jharkhand had revolted againstBritish Rule. The number ofcasualties was more than 20,000in this heroic episode of India’sprolonged struggle for freedom.

This movement, led by thetribals of Santhal, was the back-ground for the revolt of 1857. Themovement was led by triballeaders who fought with their tra-ditional bow and arrows against

British artillery.BJP Rajya Sabha MP and

party state vice president SamirOraon said, “Atrocities againsttribals have gone up in the Stateafter Hemant Soren came topower. In January this year seventribals were killed at Burugulikeraforest in Chaibasa district by sus-pected Pathalgadi supporters,atrocities against tribals havealso occurred in Lohardaga andSisai. More recently Ramehswar

Murmu the sixth descendent ofmartyrs Sido Kanho was killed inBarhait.”Oraon claimed thatwhile on one hand JMM andCongress claims to be well-wish-er of tribals but incidents againsttribals and moolvasi has gone up.Interestingly, Chief MinisterHemant Soren represents Barhiatin the Assembly.

While the BJP has demand-ed a CBI probe in the incident,Chief Minister Hemant Soren

had said that he is ready to rec-ommend a CBI probe in thekilling of Rameshwar Murmu.The CM said that if any probehigher than the CBI is requiredthen it can also be conducted forthe same.

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State BJP SpokespersonPratul Shahdeo on Monday

said that the Congress party hasbeen trying to befool people byprotesting on the issue of Petroland Diesel prices. “Congressshould tell that the previousBJP government had given aconcession of �2.50 in VAT onpetrol and diesel to reduce theburden on the people in theState, so why was it withdrawn

by the presentgovernment?The State gov-ernment hasalso increasedthe prices ofdiesel. In addi-

tion to Jharkhand, theCongress-ruled Rajasthan,Chhattisgarh and Maharashtrahave also steadily increasedthe prices of petrol and diesel,but the Congress does not seethat,” he said.

Pratul asked as to how didthe Congress get permission tostage a sit-in during the Coronainfection period? Social dis-tancing got torn apart duringthe demonstration, but theadministration has not takenany action on the issue yet, hesaid.

“In fact the Congress hasgot fully exposed after theRajiv Gandhi Foundation'sfinancial support from Chinahas come to light. Now,Congress is trying to divertpublic attention. Petrol-dieselprices in Congress-ruled statesare constantly rising, but theCongress is still doing a dramato protest on the issue trying toblame the Central Governmentfor it,” he said.

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The RSS has strongly backedthe Modi Government”s

line on the LAC and sought tomobilise a strong public opin-ion around the world againstChinese “expansionist moves”.

Sangh leaders have held aseries of meetings with top BJPfunctionaries on the ongoingIndia-China border escalationon the Line of Actual Controlin Eastern Ladakh.

The RSS leaders supportedGovernment”s call for its“Atmanirbhar” (self reliant)approach and reducing depen-dency on other countries-beginning with China.

The discussions in a seriesof meetings here, last week,stressed the need to “isolateChina” globally and mendfences with neighbouringNepal. The interaction wasattended , among others, bythe senior RSS leader BhaiyajiJoshi, BJP President J P Naddaand BJP General Secretary(Organisation) B L Santosh,according to sources.

RSS functionaries felt thatChina”s design should befoiled by combing diplomat-ic, armed and social pressureand creating loud awareness

about its moves in areas otherthan the Galwan Valley –which was the point of a vio-lent skirmish on June 15-16-like Aksai Chin, parts ofLadakh, Shaksgam valley,Uttarakhand and ArunachalPradesh. Awareness also needsto be created on their rapidinfrastructure expansion,sources said.

The discussion laudedGovernment”s “strategicalliances” with countries likeJapan and Australia. Both thecountries have been critical ofthe current Chinese dispensation. Japan has beeninimical to Beijing on accountof its territorial disputes andAustralia had hit-out at theChinese Government for itsopaque behaviour in not pro-

viding timely information onthe deadly coronavirus whichoriginated from China.

RSS leaders stressed thatrelationships with neighbour-ing countries like Nepal, SriLanka or Maldives could befurther improved and evolved.Nepal, they said is part ofIndia”s cultural continuity andhave deep relationship withIndia.

The Nagpur organisationstressed that its organisation-al network would make allefforts to create public opin-ion against China and seek toisolate it in the world com-munity. RSS leaders saidGovernment was on the righttrack in dealing with Chinsemoves and would get full sup-port from the organisation.

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In view of the unimpressivepast track record of the

Foreign Medical Graduates(FMGs), the Union HealthMinistry is treading cautious-ly as it remains non-responsiveto the repeated request ofaround 20,000 such degreeholders to rope in the battleagainst Covid-19 pandemic.

The graduates who com-plete their MBBS from coun-tries like China, Ukraine,Russia, Bangladesh,Philippines, Nepal andKazakhstan have to clear theForeign Medical GraduateExam to practice in India, asmandated by the MCI. MBBSgraduates from the US, UK,Australia, Canada and NewZealand do not need to writethis exam.

The Ministry strongly feelsthat it cannot set a wrongprecedent and risk the lives ofthe patients including thosesuffering with Covid-19 attheir hands only because thereis a shortage of doctors insome hospitals. The data avail-able indicates that only a frac-tion of those who write theFMG test, pass every year. Forinstance, in 2018-19, only 15.10per cent of the applicantscleared the exam.

The All India ForeignMedical Graduates Associationhas written twice to theMinistry asking to allow them

to work as doctors without themandatory bridge exam thatthey otherwise have to clear topractice in India.

They have sought licensesto work as doctors and aid inthe fight against Covid-19.

“Government wants tomaintain a certain standardwhich is why FMG cannot beallowed to practice withoutthe mandatory test. There is areason why that test was intro-duced in the first place.

“Moreover, each year, morethan 80 per cent of these grad-uates are unable to pass the test,which means they are not fit topractice,” said an official fromthe Ministry.

The Indian MedicalAssociation (IMA) also agreedwith the Ministry”s viewpoint.

“These doctors who com-plete their MBBS from othercountries come from a differ-ent kind of background anddifferent kind of discipline thatis maintained in medical col-leges. We have to know howcompetent they are, which iswhy the test was introducedand there is nothing wrong inthat,” said Dr R.V. Asokan,honorary secretary-general ofthe IMA.

Some of the FMGs, whohave written to the govern-ment, failed the test by a mar-gin while the others could notwrite the exam because it waspostponed this year due to thepandemic, said the officialfrom the Ministry.

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Unable to contain locusts’attack, the Centre has

decided to use helicopters tospray pesticides in Rajasthanand Uttar Pradesh. UnionAgriculture Minister NarendraSingh Tomar will on Tuesdayflag off a helicopter fromGreater Noida for locust con-trol operation. The helicopterwill be used for the first timefor such operations in India.The use of helicopter in Indiawill be in addition to thedeployment of drones for thispurpose. India is also the firstcountry in the world to usedrones for locust control.

According to the Ministryof Agriculture, the Bell 206-B3helicopter, having a pesticidecarrying capacity of 250 litresin one trip, will fly for Aircapacity of 250 litres in one trip,will fly for Air Force Station atUttarlai, Barmer. It”ll then bedeployed for locust controloperations in desert area ofBarmer, Jaisalmer, Bikaner,Jodhpur and Nagaur. The heli-copter with spray equipmentcan cover about 25 to 50hectares of area in one flight.

“The Helicopter firm M/s.Malhotra Helicopters has been

finalised for conduct of singlepilot operation, which cancover about 25 to 50 hectarearea in one flight. The totalcontract value is in the tune of�1.25 crore for a minimumguarantee of 100 hours in 60days and there is a incentiveclause of �10 lakh. The movecomes after the Food andAgriculture Organization”sLocust update that locustswarms that accumulate innorthern Somalia are likely tomigrate across the IndianOcean to the summer breedingareas along the Indo-Pakistanborder. In Pakistan, swarmshave already started layingeggs in Sindh and swarms arepresent in the Indus Valley.

“Aerial spraying of insecti-cides is being done by dronesin the regions of Barmer,Jaisalmer, Bikaner, Nagore, andJodhpur districts of Rajasthanto curb the locust menace,”agriculture ministry officialsaid.

According to the ministry,it has engaged five companiesto provide services of dronesfor locust control. Each com-pany will provide five drons.Till now 12 drones have beendeployed for locust control inJaisalmer, Barmer, Jodhpur,

Bikaner and Nagaur.India has become the first

country in the world to usedrones for locust control afterfinalizing the protocols. Totalamount sanctioned for deploy-ment of drones is 1.2 crore fora period of 30 days. “Use ofDrones has added one addi-tional dimension as it is effec-tive for tall trees and inacces-sible areas. One drone cancover 16-17 hectare area in onehour and in 4 hours it can coverupto 70 hectare area,” the offi-cial said.

The ministry claims thatcontrol operations have beendone in 2,33,487 hectares inStates of Rajasthan, MadhyaPradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, UttarPradesh, MaharashtraChhattisgarh, Haryana andBihar between April 11 andJune 28. “No Significant croplosses have been reported in theStates of Gujarat, UttarPradesh, Madhya Pradesh,Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh,Bihar and Haryana. However,some minor crop losses havebeen reported in some districtsof Rajasthan,” it said. Tostrengthen locust control capa-bilities in India, 10 groundspray equipments were import-ed from Micron, UK, duringJanuary, 2020 and 15 equip-ments in June, 2020. Additional45 ground spray equipmentswill reach in the month of Julyand Locust Circle Offices havemore than 100 ground controlequipment by July.

Presently 60 control teamswith spray equipment mount-ed vehicles and more than 200Central Government personnelare engaged in locust controloperations. According to min-istry, 55 additional vehicleshave been purchased tostrengthen the control capa-bilities.

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IIT Roorkee on Mondaylaunched a Global Network of

IIT Roorkee Alumni to establishan extensive connect with itslarge number of alumni spreadall over the world.

On this occasion, Prof AjitChaturvedi, Director IIT

Roorkee, said, “In this digital age,there is a paradigm shift in rela-tion to social and professionalnetworking. Information tech-nology has raised expectationsof alumni and students for a flatand efficient platform instead ofa hierarchical and bureaucraticprocess. They want to connectseamlessly with each other and

with the institute too.”The Network will contribute

in keeping alive the heritage andlegacy of Thomason College ofCivil Engineering to Universityof Roorkee and now IITRoorkee. It would blend the oldand new generations of alumniof this unique institute with aglorious history since 1847.

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Several north-eastern Statesincluding Assam, Sikkim,

Meghalya and eastern States ofBihar and West Bengal havewitnessed incessant rainfallssince Friday, causing floods.From June 1 to 29, Sikkim andsub-Himalayan West Bengalhave received 123 percent and22 percent rainfall, Biharreceived 91% of excess rains,and Assam and Meghalaya

received an excess rain of 29percent and 36 percent respec-tively. According to the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD), due to monsoon troughcontinues to run along theHimalayan foothills with theconvergence of strong souther-ly and south-westerly windsfrom the Bay of Bengal over thenorth-east and eastern India.

Due to this weather pat-tern, there is a possibility ofextremely heavy rainfall mea-

suring over 20 centimeters inthe next 24 hours in north-eastand eastern parts of the coun-try. Over 10 lakh people havebeen evacuated in Assam dueto flood.

According to the IMD, thecurrent weather situation islikely to cause widespread andvery heavy rain in many partsof north-east India, Bihar, east-ern Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim andSub Himalayan West Bengal inthe next four-five days. There

may be extremely heavy rain,in the next 24 hours.

Widespread rainfall is alsoexpected over Madhya Pradeshfor the next five days. With theprevalence of these weatherconditions, most places havebeen placed on a Yellow watchby the IMD.

According to the IMD,flood situation in Assam hasworsen due to heavy rainfalland around 10 lakh peoplehave been evacuated so far.

IMD says there are two reasonsfor the intense monsoon activ-ity. First, the northward shift ofmonsoon trough that runsfrom north Punjab to north-west Bay of Bengal. Monsoonrains are generally clusteredaround such troughs. Second,the coming together of strongwinds from the south andsouthwest directions carryingmoisture from the Bay ofBengal. The floods impactedfive districts in upper Assam

the most — Dhemaji, Jorhat,Majuli, Sivasagar andDibrugarh. In Sikkim, land-slides swept away portions ofMangan-Chungthang roadnear Mangan Police Stationand Lanthey Khola in NorthSikkim district following heavyrainfall.

Bihar is also in a flood-likesituation. The IMD forecastheavy rain in Bihar for the next36 hours as monsoon getsactive in the State. The weath-

er department has issued a highalert for heavy rain in theentire state especially placeslocated at north-central andnorth-east Bihar. Red alert hasbeen issued in some districtslike West-East Champaran,Gopalganj, Siwan, Araria,Kishanganj and some otherdistricts. Lighting strokedwarning is also issued in theseplaces. As per reports, Biharhas received 92 percent morerainfall this year compared to

the other years.Cherrapunji, which is

known to receive a lot of rain-fall around this time of the year,has recorded up to 55 cm in aday.

Monsoon this time coveredthe entire country on June 26– a good 12 days in advance.Usually, monsoon covers thecountry by July 8. But from lastFriday an intense monsoonphase in the north-east andeastern India started.

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The CBI on Monday arrest-ed an absconding accused

who was wanted in a fake cur-rency case and evading lawfor about seven years afterbeing deported fromThailand.

The accused KuldeepSingh Dua, resident of Distt.Navashar (Punjab) was arrest-ed soon after arrival at the air-port here.

The CBI had registered acase under Indian Penal CodeSections relating to criminalconspiracy, buying/selling ortrafficking counterfeit cur-rency and possession of fakecurrency on September 13,2012 against two accused per-sons on a complaint fromCustoms Department, IGIAirport, New Delhi.

It was al leged thatCustoms (Preventive), IGIAirport, New Delhi hadseized Fake Indian CurrencyNotes (FICN) to the tune ofRs 6,01,500 on September11/12, 2012 from a passenger(Kulwant Rai, resident ofMukatpura, Distt. Navasahar,Punjab), the agency said.

During investigation, thepassenger Kulwan Rai hadnamed another accusedKuldeep Singh Dua as theperson who handed over himthe counterfeit currency notesfor carrying the same to India.

After investigation, achargesheet was filed againstRai but Dua was continuously absconding foralmost seven years and wasnot available for investigation,and a Look Out Circular(LOC) was issued againsthim.

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Health experts have wel-comed the Delhi

Government’s decision to set upa plasma bank, a first in thecountry, saying that for the treat-ment of Covid-19 patients, plas-ma therapy may be still in theexperimental phase but therehave been encouraging results.

Moreover, given that, at pre-sent,there is no other sure shottreatment against the virus thathas infected over 80,000 in thecity, experimenting with plasmatherapy is a good move, theysaid. The doctors also suggest-ed setting up an online registrythat connects donors and recip-ients infected with Covid-19seeking the blood component.

“Almost all the countrieshave established a Plasma reg-istry with a database havingdetails about addresseses andphone numbers of the Covid-19survivors. They can be contact-ed whenever required,” said DrRahul Bhargava, Director andHead, Haematology and BoneMarrow Transplant, FortisMemorial Research Institute,Gurugram.

He advised that plasma reg-istry should also have a detail ofthe anti-body titre of each Covid-recovered patient.

“The antibody titer is a testthat detects the presence andmeasures the amount of anti-bodies within a person”s blood.The amount and diversity ofantibodies correlates to thestrength of the body”s immuneresponse,” he explained.

The donors have to be freeof Covid-19 for at least 28 daysif the disease was serious or atleast 14 days if it was mild. Theblood types of the donor and therecipient have to be the same.

Dr Nita Radhakrishnan,Assistant Professor atDepartment of PediatricHematology Oncology,

Super Speciality Pediatric

Hospital and PG TeachingInstitute, Noida too felt thateven though trials of plasmatherapy were still in experimen-tal stage, experimenting withsuch move (setting up plasmabank) is no harm when there isno treatment option and theCovid-19 scenario is deteriorat-ing across the country.

In many States likeRajasthan and Maharashtra theIndian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR), a healthresearch wing of the Ministry, isalready conducting trial for plas-ma therapy and once the resultsare out than only we will be ableto tell whether or not it is suc-cessful.

She added that plasma ther-apy has been found to be usefulin patients reporting respirato-ry complications. However, itmay not be helpful in other com-plications like thromobosiswhere clotting is formed inlungs, she warned.

In the US, an NGO SewaInternational has already set upa programme for Covid-19 sur-

vivors to donate their blood plas-ma for a therapy to save severe-ly ill patients with respiratory fail-ure.

Sewa President SreeSreenath said that the organisa-tion is working with partners inIndia to create a registry theresince the ICMR is allowing clin-ical trials of the therapy.

Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Monday announcedsetting up of the “plasma bank”at the Delhi government-runInstitute of Liver and BiliarySciences and doctors or hospi-tals will have to approach it forplasma if a Covid-19 patientneeds the same.

Kejriwal said that his gov-ernment has so far conducted aclinical trial of plasma therapy on29 Covid-19 patients and theresult was “encouraging”.

Delhi Health MinisterSatyendar Jain, who had testedpositive for the virus, was admin-istrated plasma therapy. He hasnow recovered.

Malini Asola, the co-con-venor of the All India Drug

Action Network however feltthat the Delhi Government”sresponse has been quite late.“The Government literallywatched while the private hos-pital MaxHealthcare became themain hub for plasma therapy, tothe extent that the State HealthMinister SatyendarJain, had togo to Max as well. The ChiefMinister stepped aside to let this

hospital set up its plasma bankbefore announcing aGovernment bank,” she said.

In the coronavirus plasmatherapy, blood plasma contain-ing the antibodies created to fightthe virus is taken from Covid-recovered person and inject itinto a person suffering from thedisease so that the antibodies canhelp fight the disease.

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TRA Research, a consumerinsights and brand analytics

company, released a whitepaperon Monday tracking the MentalWellbeing of citizens across 16cities between the March 23 andMay 21 lockdown period. Thestudy measured Health Worry,Economy Worry, Family Worryand Financial worry of citizensand their ability to cope withthem.

The demographic pattern ofthe Mental Wellbeing Index(MWBI) shows that citizens ofDelhi (NCR) and Guwahati dis-

play the highest mental strengthin their ability to cope with theiranxieties since the coronavirusspread started in India.Hyderabad had 87% MentalWellbeing Index score display-ing “Excellent” Mental ability.Indore and Chandigarh, both at78% are rated “Very Good” onMental Wellbeing.

In the South, though, mostcities showed greater vulnera-bility in coping with their Covidworries with Chennai having thelowest MWBI score at 43% fol-lowed closely by Kochi at 45%.Nagpur was also in the samerange with a 44% score.

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The CRPF on Mondayrecorded 58 new Covid-19

infections in its ranks even as thetally of pandemic-hit personnelin the Force stood at 1,131 fol-lowed by 21 new cases in BSFand four in ITBP.

During the last 24 hours,140 patients recovered in theCRPF which has at present 567active cases, highest amongst allthe paramilitary forces. Thefigure for recoveries in theCRPF stands at 655. The deathcount due to the novel coron-avirus in the CRPF is nine.

Likewise, the number ofCovid-19 active cases in BSF is305 and 655 patients have recov-ered till now. The death countis four plus a road accident vic-tim who was later tested to beCovid-19 positive. A total of 965persons in BSF have contractedthe disease.

The Sashastra Seema Balhas 37 active cases and 110recovered personnel.

With the four new cases,the tally of infected persons inthe ITBP is 317, including 81active cases and 236 recoveries.During the last 24 hours, 13patients have recovered fromthe pandemic.

Out of total active cases inITBP, 21 are in Delhi and the

remaining 60 are at other dif-ferent locations. Condition of alladmitted is stable, a paramili-tary spokesperson said.

As many as 19 ITBP per-sonnel hit by Covid-19 arebeing managed at CAPFReferral Hospital, GreaterNoida, one each at SafdurjangHospital and MCD Hospitalhere besides eight at Tezpur, oneeach at Gangtok and Bommuru(Andhra Pradesh), two atMadurai, five at Raipur, nine atJagdalpur, one at Jabalpur, fourat Prayagraj/ Koshambi, nine atDehradun, one at Samba, fourat Rajouri, eight in Katihar, oneeach at Shimla and Jammuand two at Guwahati. Onepatient each is admitted atShilapathar and Nahan besidestwo at Purnea.

Personnel from other para-military forces and Centralpolice organisations admitted atCAPF Referral Hospital,Greater Noida include sevenfrom BSF, 47 from CRPF, 55from CISF, seven from SSB, fourfrom NIA, one of NSG, NSG,two Intelligence Bureau staff,one each from NTRO andNDRF.

Family members of para-military personnel undergo-ing treatment at the referralhopital inlcude a total of 15patients (ITBP-4, CRPF-2,CBI-3, CISF-4, Ex BSF-2).

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CPI(M) General SecretarySitraram Yechur y on

Monday urged the ChiefElection Commissioner SunilArora to consult political par-ties before taking decisions onchange in election proce-dures. Expressing displeasureon not consulting politicalparties for allowing postalballots to covid-19 quaran-tined persons, Yechury point-ed out that the attitude ofnon-consulting political par-ties by Election Commissionis totally an unhealthy prac-tice.

“We are greatly disturbedby the media reports that theElection Commission of India(ECI) bypassing the estab-lished practice of consultingpolitical parties, is unilaterallyinitiating measures to providevoters aged over sixty fouryears, the use of postal ballots.We are given to understandthat in response to the requestfrom the ECI, the LawMinistry had earlier amend-ed the Conduct of theElection Rules to allow peo-ple with disabilities and thosewho are 80 years of age orabove to opt for postal ballotduring the general elections toParliament and StateAssemblies. Subsequently theECI had approached theGovernment to further amend the rule in thelight of the Covid 19 pan-demic.

It is further reported thaton June 19, the Law Ministryhas notified fresh change toallow those aged 65 yearsand above the option of postalballots. The amended rulesalso allow “Covid-19 suspector affected persons” sameoption of postal ballots,” saidYechury.

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CPI General Secretary D Rajaon Monday said Prime

Minister Narendra Modi’s obser-vations in the recent Mann KiBaat about the defence sector arefar from truth. Raja said that inthe radio talk Modi wrongly saidthat after Independence, Indiadid not concentrate on defencefactories and manufacturing.

“Prime Minister was farfrom truth. When the Britishersleft India, there were only 18Ordnance Factories and thearms, weapons, ammunition,etc, were manufactured based onBritish technology. AfterIndependence, the electeddemocratic government led byPandit Jawaharlal Nehru had avision and mission about achiev-ing self-reliance in defence andindigenisation of defence man-ufacturing. As a result, manydefence PSUs like HAL, BEL,BDL, BEML and others wereestablished. Today there are 41Ordnance Factories, with 23 ofthem established afterIndependence and not a singlefactory was established by theBJP government in the last sixyears.

“Today our OrdnanceFactories are producing indige-nously-developed arms, ammu-nitions, rifles, weapons, protec-tive clothings, battle-field dress,tents, parachutes, etc, for theIndian Armed Forces. India hasbeen equipped with the arms,ammunitions and other equip-ments produced by theOrdnance Factories and PSUs.How can the Prime Ministerbelittle the contribution of theIndian Ordnance Factories? ,saidRaja accusing the Governmentfor trying to privatise the defencesector by allowing 100% FDI inthe sector.

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Page 5: ˆ !˚˚ ˛ #$ % & · 22 hours ago  · “Today our Ordnance Factories are producing indige-nously-developed arms, ammu-nitions, rifles, weapons, protec-tive clothings, battle-field

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Even as the Health ExpertsCommittee appointed by the

Government of Tamil Nadu washaving a two-hour long parley withChief Minister EdappadiPalaniswami at Fort Saint George(Secretariat) about the futurecourse of action to be taken on June30, as the lock down declared infour districts and Madurai corpo-ration is coming to an end onTuesday, the number of Covid-19patients was moving upwardbreaking all previous records.

According to the medical bul-letin released by the Governmentof Tamil Nadu by Monday evening,a record number of 3,949 personswere diagnosed with Covid-19 inthe State on a single day withChennai alone accounting for 2,167 patients.

The day also saw 62 personssuccumbing to the pandemic tak-ing the death toll till date to 1,141in the State. Out of the 62 personsdied on Monday, 51 died with co-morbidities.

The day Chennai was lockeddown (19 June) 1,322 persons had

tested positive for the coronavirus.Monday’s numbers indicate thatthe covid-19 pandemic has notbeen weakened because of thelock down.

The bulletin released onMonday said there are 37,331active patients in the State while tilldate 86, 224 persons have beendiagnosed with coronavirus. Thenumber of persons dischargedfrom the hospitals fully recoveredrose to 47,749 by Monday.

Aggressive testing to identifyand isolate the coronavirus patientscontinued in the State as 90 labo-ratories tested more than 30,000patients on a single day and thistook the total number of personstested till date to 1.086 million. TheState has also tested 1.14 millionsamples till date.

The problematic districts ofChengalpet (187), Kancheepuram(75), Thiruvallur (154) continuedto be areas of concern. But resultsfrom Madurai (290), Vellore (144),Virudhunagar (77), the industrialhub of Coimbatore (65) are caus-ing anxiety among the policy mak-ers.

Dr Prabhdeep Kaur, deputy

director, National Institute ofEpidemiology, who led the com-mittee of experts told media per-sons after the meeting chaired bythe chief minister that they did notrecommend for extending the lockdown or bring more districts underlock down.

“Lockdown is a blunt instru-ment - it is not a solution at alltimes; it should be enforced whenthere is a need,” said Dr Kaur. Shesaid the State could not remainunder lock down all the time. “Wehave to assess the situation of a dis-trict or taluk based on the indica-tors given by the World HealthOrganisation or the health expertscommittee. Enforcing lockdown inall areas is not necessary,” said DrKaur.

She said in the past meetings,the committee had suggested thatthe number of tests should beincreased and the governmentimplemented that. “In Chennai,around 10,000 tests per day arebeing done. That is a good initia-tive. Similarly, across Tamil Nadu,the number of tests has improved.Nearly 32,000 tests are being doneper day,” she added.

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Three more terrorists were gunneddown by the joint teams of securi-

ty forces in village Khulchohar area ofAnantnag early Monday morning, taking the total tally of terrorists killedto 17 in back to back operations sinceJune 1 to 29.

According to police, one of the ter-rorists eliminated in the encounterhailed from Doda district. He has beenidentified as Masood Ahmd Bhat resi-dent of Doda (District Commander ofHM outfit) and other two unidentifiedterrorists are from LeT outfit.

Police claimed with the eliminationof Masood, the Doda district hasbecome 'militancy free'. Earlier, Dodawas declared militancy free after theelimination of two LeT terrorists in June2011. The landlocked district startedwitnessing terrorist related incidents inSeptember 2015. Two SPO's had joinedthe ranks of a terror outfit.

“With today’s operation atKhulchohar in Anantnag by AnantnagPolice along with 19 RR, CRPF in which

two LET terrorists including one dis-trict commander and one HizbulMujahideen commander Masood wereneutralised, Doda district in JammuZone becomes totally militancy freeonce again as Masood was last surviv-ing militant of Doda,” a policespokesman said.

According to police, the operationwas launched on a specific input gen-erated by Anantnag Police regardingpresence of terrorists in villageKhulchohar area of Anantnag. A jointcordon and search operation waslaunched by the JKP, 19RR and CRPFin the said area.

During the search operation, thehiding terrorists fired on the jointsearch party. The fire was retaliated lead-ing to an encounter. In the ensuingencounter, 03 terrorists were killed andtheir bodies were retrieved from the siteof encounter.

The dead bodies of the killed ter-rorists have been sent to Handwara fortheir last rites after conducting medico-legal formalities including collection oftheir DNA.

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The custodial death of the father-son duo of P Jeyaraaj and J Fenix

in Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi districttook a new turn as it has come outthat the policemen of SattankulamPolice Station are not cooperatingwith the Judicial MagistrateKovilpatti, who is conducting a judi-cial probe into the incident.

The Madurai Bench of theMadras High Court on Mondayordered the district collector ofThoothukudi to direct the revenueofficials to take charge of the stationas well as all documents maintainedin the office till the entire probe istaken over by the CBI.

A division bench of justices P NPrakash and B Pugalendhi hearing asuo motu petition told the court onMonday that they heard about thenon-cooperation of the policementhrough the Principal District Judgewho is monitoring the investigation.

When the Additional AdvocateGeneral informed the court that theprobe has been handed over to the

CBI, the judges said they were notbothered about that move as it was apolicy decision of the Government.“But the evidence has to be preservedtill the procedures to transfer theinvestigation to the CBI are com-pleted,” they said.

There are reports that Kovilpattisub-jail records stated Jeyaraaj andFenix had bleeding injuries in theirgluteal regions when the Sattankulampolice had taken them for remand onJune 20. It was from this jail thefather-son duo was taken to the hos-pital where they died.

There are reports that some of thecops of the Sattankulam Police Stationused to torment Jeyaraaj for freemobile phones and accessories.Jeyaraaj’s refusal to part with such‘gifts’ had upset the policemen whowere waiting for a chance to take onhim, said these reports but theauthenticity could not be confirmed.

It is also said that Fenix whorushed to the police station hearingabout the arrest of his father had alter-cations and even a skirmish with thecops on duty.

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Kerala reported 121 Covid-19 positive caseson Monday, with as many as 2057 people

undergoing treatment for the infection and thedeath toll rose to 23 as the sample of a deceasedman tested positive.

Of the positive cases, 78 had come fromabroad and 26 from other states and five hadbeen infected through contact.

Nine CISF personnel and three healthworkers were among those who wereinfected,Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said.

This is the 11th consecutive day thatthe statehas reported over 100 cases.

Seventy-nine people have recovered fromthe disease, Vijayan told reporters.

A man from Tamil Nadu had died on June24at the Manjeri Medical college hospital and hissample was found positive for the infection.

Giving the district wise break-up of thecases, Vijayan said Tjhrissur reported the high-est number of cases--26, while 14 cases werereported from Kannur, Malappuram andPathanamthitta 13 each, Palakkad 12, Kollam 11,Kozhikode nine, Alappuzha, Ernakulam andIdukki five each, Kasaragod andThiruvananthapuram four each.There are 118hotspots as of today.

With steep rise in Covid cases in Ponnanitaluk in Malappuram, from 5 pm Monday to July6, triple lockdown will be enforced and therewill be a lot of restrictions in the movement ofpeople.

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The Trinamool-BJP face off onPrime Minister Garib Kalyan

Yojna hit a new low with theBengal ruling party come downheavily on Union FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman for“peddling lies” for political gains.

State Finance Minister DrAmit Mitra on Monday hit out atSitharaman for “telling such a biglie” so as to gain political mileageby misleading people by suggest-ing that the Bengal Governmenthad failed to produce its district-wise data on the migrant workerswhen demanded by the Centre forearmarking funds for the centralscheme for the jobless migrantworkers of the State.

“Garib Kalyan Yojna … thename is lofty but in reality it is fullof politics… it is being used to fur-ther political gains,” Mitra said ina very hard-hitting statementbefore asserting that the StateGovernment had indeed compliedto all the requisitions and direc-tions given by the Centre toenable itself get funds for the job-less migrant workers who hadreturned from the host-spot areas.

Rattling out the dates of theCentre-State correspondence onthe issue Mitra said “We receiveda letter to the PNRT Departmenton June 23rd asking us to send dis-trict-wise data of the migrantworkers. We complied with thedirectives and sent the requisitedata by 7 pm in the evening….And I have the documents with

me. “Then on June 25 there wasyet another later this time askingfor block-wise data of such work-ers. We complied with this toowith immediate effect and yet ourname was struck out of the recip-ient states I do have copies of theentire transaction regarding theissue ….”

Alleging that the BJP was try-ing to play politics when the peo-ple of the State were languishingMitra said the “one would notexpect such a big lie from theFinance Minister of the country…I think either she is telling a likeor she has been wrongly informedabout the issue.”

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The Supreme Court on Mondayasked Ministry of Home Affairs

to clarify its stand about the statusof visa of around 2,500 citizens from35 countries, who were blacklistedfor ten years for their allegedinvolvement in Tablighi Jamaatactivities.

The top court asked the Centreto place on record whether indi-vidual notices were issued withregard to cancellation of visas of theforeign nationals. A bench ofJustices A M Khanwilkar, DineshMaheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna,which took up a batch of pleas filedby foreign nationals against theirblacklisting for hearing throughvideo conferencing, posted the mat-ter for further hearing on July 2.

The bench told SolicitorGeneral Tushar Mehta and advocateRajat Nair appearing for Centre thatif visas of these foreign nationals are

cancelled then the governmentshould explain why they are still herein India but if their visas are not can-celled then it's a different situation.

Nair, who initially appeared forthe Centre said that the copies ofthese petitions has not been servedupon them, therefore they need timeto file reply. Senior advo-cate C U Singh, appearing for thepetitioners said that they haveserved the copy of the petition uponadvocate on record and added thatblacklisting note was a generalorder for over 900 persons.

The bench said that the notifi-cation of Ministry of Home Affairssays the decision has to be taken oncase to case basis by the authoritiesand it needs to be found out whetherany such orders were passed.

Singh said that there should notbe any violation of visa norms, nowtheir native countries want themback and embassies are askingabout them.

The bench said then let theUnion of India make a statement onthe status of their visa and toldMehta to find out whether any indi-vidual orders were passed for can-cellation of visa of these foreignnationals.

At the outset, the bench askedSingh as when was the order forcancellation of visa was servedupon them, to which he replied thatit was a general order and no indi-vidual notices were given to them.

The bench said its understand-ing is that in each case separate orderneeds to be passed for cancelling thevisa. However, what is beforethe court is a press release and nospecific order, it said.

Singh contended that as far asblacklisting or visa cancellation isconcerned there was no individualorder was served on any person andeven during the hearing of bail appli-cations before the High Courts, nosuch orders were placed on record

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The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Instituteof Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) to con-

sider treating aspirants who are unable to appear inCA exams scheduled between July 29 and August16 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, as 'opt out' can-didates as the prevailing situation is not static.

It suggested that if a candidate, who has not optedout, is unable to appear in the exam due to exigencythen he or she should be given the same benefit asprovided to those who have opted out.

The apex court said ICAI should be flexible inconducting exams amid the pandemic and take careof concern of candidates.

It suggested that option for change in examina-tion centre should be made available to the aspirantstill the last week before the scheduled exams.

A bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar washearing through video conferencing a plea which haschallenged the 'opt out' option alleging that it “arbi-trarily” discriminate between the aspirants in the Maycycle of CA examination.

The bench, also comprising Justices DineshMaheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna, observed that sit-

uation is not static and continuously changing andthe ICAI should be flexible on the issues of 'opt out'and change of examination centre.

“Even if a candidate has not chosen the opt outoption and he suddenly come under a containmentzone, what will you do? You should treat candidateswho do not appear as opt out cases,” the bench said.

The top court observed that option for changein examination centre should be given till last weekconsidering the fact that an area may become a con-tainment zone due to the COVID-19 situation pre-vailing in the country.

The ICAI's counsel told the bench that theywould place before the court a draft notificationwhich would address the concerns raised by candi-dates.

The bench posted the matter for further hear-ing on July 2 and said that the ICAI should also keepin mind the guidelines issued by the Ministry ofHome Affairs with regard to exams to be conduct-ed by different boards like CBSE. AdvocateAlakh Alok Srivastava, appearing for the petition-er, told the bench that there should be one exami-nation centre per district.

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Kolkata: In a move towardsinspiring people in their fightagainst corona the BengalGovernment has come out witha novel idea of launching a“Covid Warriors’ Club” with 60members to begin with, ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee saidon Monday.

“We have come out with anovel idea that would perhaps beevaluated and followed by the restof the world tomorrow to inspirethe corona warriors,” the ChiefMinister said adding “we havecreated a Covid Warriors Clubwith ex-corona patients whohave fought and won their battles.

“Initially there are sixty peo-ple in this club and we invitemany more to join this. Therejobs will be to provide supportand serve thepatients who arecurrently ill but helping themspeak to their family members, byserving them food and other req-uisites and by giving themcourage. “They will be givensome wages for this too,” Banerjee

said adding “the first such clubhas come up in Behrampore inMurshidabad district and gradu-ally more clubs will come up inother parts of the State includingCapital Kolkata.”

Banerjee also declared July 1otherwise celebrated as Doctors’Day as a State holiday urging theother States to follow suit. “We aredoing this to commemorate andextend our gratitude for the coro-na fighters like the doctors, para-medical staff and frontline work-ers,” she said adding “I hope theCentre too would take this ideato declare July 1 as a holiday.”

Meanwhile the KolkataMetro Railways have said that itwould not be able to run its ser-vices without a green signal fromthe Ministry of Railways sayingthere was no adequate staff toensure social distancing. CPRO,Kolkata Metro Railways IndraniMukherjee said that the servicescannot be resumed before August12 given the current circum-stances. PNS

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Alarmed apparently by the continuedspike in coronavirus fatalities and

infections, the Maharashtra Governmenton Monday extended the lockdown tillJuly 31, to restrict the movement of per-sons for non-essential activities likeshopping and outdoor exercises and toenforce strictly mandatory precautions ofwearing masks, social distancing and per-sonal hygiene.

On a day when the State recorded181 more fatalities and 5,257 new infec-tions taking the total number of deathsto 7,610 and infected cases to 1,69,883 inthe State, the Uddhav Thackeray vestedpowers with the district collectors andMunicipal Commissioners to enforce“certain measures and necessary restric-tions” in “specified local areas” to con-tain the spread of the pandemic.

“It is further directed that the move-ment of persons for the purposes of non-essential activities like shopping and theoutdoor exercises, shall be restricted with-in the neighbourhood area limits with allnecessary prescribed mandatory pre-

cautions of wearing masks, social dis-tancing and personal hygiene,” the stategovernment order extending the lock-down till July 31 stated.

In a related development, theBrihanmumbai Municipal Corporation– which is waging a grim battle againstCororavirus in the country’s commercialcapital, issued a separate order announc-ing that it would impose a fine of �1,000on those not wearing masks in themetropolis. “Anybody violating thisorder will be punishable under section188 of Indian Penal Code (48 of 1860)and a fine of �1000 will be imposed foreach such offence by the police officer orthe officers appointed by Asstt.Commissioners of MCGM,” the BMCorder read.

Apart from permitting “unrestrictedmovement” only for attending place ofwork and bona fide humanitarian

requirement including medical reason,the Maharashtra government has allowedcontinuance of all essential shops, e-com-merce activity for essential and non-essential items, all industrial units, on-line-distance learning activities andhome delivery of food which are cur-rently operational All essential and non-essential shops and markets, exceptmalls and market complexes, will beallowed to open from 9 am to 5 pm.

“All Government offices (excludingEmergency, health and Medical, trea-suries, disaster management, police,NIC, food and Civil Supply, FCI, NYK,Municipal Services) to function with 15%strength or 15 persons - whichever ishigher,” the state government order said.

All private offices in MumbaiMetropolitan Region (MMR) have beenallowed to operate with 10% strength or10 people, the state government hasallowed activities related to self-employedpeople like plumbers, electricians, pestcontrol, garages, printing and distribu-tion of newspapers (including homedelivery), and barber shops have alsobeen allowed in MMR.

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Astudy by academicians fromtwo leading US universities

has recommended shutting downof red-light areas for one year, toprevent an anticipated a shock-ing 400,000 infections and 12,000deaths among red light areaworkers and residents in theevent of resumption of activities.

The study titled ‘Modellingthe Effect of Continued Closureof Red-Light Areas on Covid-19Transmission in India’, carriedout by experts at HarvardMedical School and the YaleSchool of Medicine, has project-ed that there could be over400,000 infections and 12,000deaths among red light areaworkers and residents in thenext one year if they arereopened.

Among other things, thestudy says that more than 90 per-cent of these cases and deaths incities like Kolkata, Pune, andNagpur could be prevented by

the time the epidemic wouldpeak by keeping red light areasclosed. “It is impossible to prac-tice social distancing during sex.Residents of red-light areasincluding sex workers, pimps,and brothel managers are athigher risk of infection. By keep-ing red light areas closed till thereis an effective preventive mea-sure, thousands of deaths amongresidents of red-light areas can beaverted,” Dr. Abhishek Pandey,Yale University, co-author of thestudy, said.

According to the study, WestBengal’s red-light areas will expe-rience over 2,000 deaths of sexworkers and red light area resi-dents if they reopen. WestBengal’s largest NGO workingwith sex workers, Durbar MahilaSamanwaya Committee (DMSC),has a membership that includesabout 65,000 sex workers spreadacross 50 red light areas in thestate.

Maharashtra will also be oneof the worst affected states. In

Pune’s Budhwar Peth, there maybe 4,795 cumulative cases, 688hospitalizations, and 162 deaths.In Mumbai’s Red-Light Area ofKamathipura, Grant Road, andFaulkland Road, 3,494 cases, 486hospitalizations, and 114 deaths.In Nagpur, Itwari Chowk can face1,667 cases, 236 hospitalizations,and 56 deaths.

In New Delhi, the GB RoadRed Light Area could experience2,774 cases, 386 hospitalizations,and 91 deaths.

Dr. Sahayakan, a member ofCode Red Coalition, a globalcoalition of doctors andresearchers that is advising gov-ernments on how to preventCOVID-19 spread said, “None ofthe protection measures like dis-tancing, masks, or sanitising caneffectively stop COVID-19 trans-mission during sex work. Sexwork cannot be safely practised inred light areas in India given theirnature. It can result in manycases and deaths in sex workersand citizens”.

Commenting on the report,co-author, Dr. Sudhakar Nuti,Harvard Medical School, said“The Indian government hasimplemented smart and effectivemeasures to flatten the curve, butit is unlikely for the pandemic tobe resolved until there is a vaccine.It is therefore important that redlight areas remain closed until avaccine is developed and widelydistributed to protect sex workersand the population at large”.

The study has recommend-ed that sex workers need oppor-tunities to gain skills that provideemployment in lower-risk jobs.Recent media reports show thatsome sex workers have begunexploring other employmentoptions. In Andhra Pradesh, acollective has asked for an exitstrategy for sex workers includ-ing “transitional housing, bankloans, and alternate employ-ment”. The efforts to close India’sred-light areas and help sexworkers find lower risk jobswould save many lives.

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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister EdappadiPalaniswami announced late Monday

evening that the complete lockdown in thefour districts of Chennai, Chengalpet,Thiruvallur and Kancheepuram and the par-tial lockdown in Madurai which would havecome to an end on June 30 has been extend-ed to July 31.

The decision is being seen as a followup to the two hour long meeting the chiefminister had with medical professionals con-stituting the high power committee.

All Sundays in the month of July wouldsee the State going for “Intensified and com-plete lockdown”. There would be no intra-district public and private transport opera-tions from July 1 to 15 in Tamil Nadu.

E-pass system for intra-district, inter-dis-trict and inter-State movement would con-tinue to be in place.

Travelers planning to visit Chennai orany other places in Tamil Nadu may resched-ule their itinerary to another time.

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Page 6: ˆ !˚˚ ˛ #$ % & · 22 hours ago  · “Today our Ordnance Factories are producing indige-nously-developed arms, ammu-nitions, rifles, weapons, protec-tive clothings, battle-field

With so much cominginto the publicdomain about dona-tions to the RajivGandhi Foundation

(RGF) headed by Sonia Gandhi, theCongress has launched a counter-attack on the BJP but its attempts toturn this into a slugfest between thetwo main political parties is unlikelyto bury some basic, worrying ques-tions that have cropped up in the pub-lic mind.

To begin with, the Congress mustexplain why the RGF, which like theparty is an enterprise of the Nehru-Gandhi family, took a donation fromChina — a nation that has spurnedIndia’s hand of friendship and repeat-edly challenged its territorial integri-ty for over seven decades. Even moreshocking is the Congress’ reluctanceto disclose the contents of theMemorandum of Understanding(MoU) it entered into with theCommunist Party of China (CCP) in2008. The document was signed onbehalf of the party by Rahul Gandhi,its general secretary, and by a CCPofficial in the presence of his moth-er and party president Sonia Gandhiand the then Chinese Vice PresidentXi Jinping. Despite mounting publicdemand, the Nehru-Gandhis arechary of releasing this MoU. What arethey afraid of?

Posting a picture of the MoUsigning ceremony, the noted lawyer,Mahesh Jethmalani, tweeted recent-ly and said that it was imperative forthe party to disclose the details “andget the guessing and insinuations overwith.” More ominously (for theCongress), the lawyer noted that“China was and is in Indian law, anenemy country. The CCP is an enemyassociation. It supports the occupationof the Indian territory and lays claimto other areas. Any agreement/MoUwith the CCP validates its stand andis an unlawful activity punishableunder the UAPA.” He also suggestedthat a Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) probe be ordered into possibleoffences under the Prevention ofCorruption Act and the ForeignContribution Regulation Acts of 1976and 2010.

This question becomes all themore relevant at a time when 20 Indiansoldiers have laid down their lives whilecountering yet another attemptedincursion by the Chinese in Ladakhrecently. There is also a domestic angleto the scandal involving funds flowinginto this family’s trust, which is evenmore appalling. This relates to thediversion of funds from the PrimeMinister’s National Relief Fund

(PMNRF), which is primarilymeant to lend succour to thepeople in times of naturalcalamities to the RGF when theparty headed the coalition thatran the Union Governmentfrom 2004 to 2014.

Apart from the Nehru-Gandhis, Manmohan Singh,who was the Prime Minister atthat time, must explain how heallowed such gross misuse ofpublic fund directly under hischarge. He must also explainwhy so many Union Ministries,Government departments andpublic sector undertakings gavegrants to the RGF when he wasthe Prime Minister.

The news about the dona-tion from the Government ofChina to the Congress hasstirred a hornet’s nest as it hasraised questions about the sanc-tity of the transaction and itspossible impact on India’s sov-ereignty, unity and integrity.The Congress, which was at thevanguard of the freedom move-ment, has for long enjoyed thetrust and love of the people forthe enormous sacrifices madeby its leaders to secure thecountry’s freedom.

The sacrifices of MahatmaGandhi, who was the party’sguiding light, Jawaharlal Nehru,Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose,Vallabhbhai Patel, BRAmbedkar and thousands ofothers across the land wereremembered with utmost rev-erence by the people in the ini-tial decades after independence.However, this reverence beganto fade away when, after theadvent of Indira Gandhi, the

party became a clone of a pri-vate limited company, whichwas tightly held by the Nehru-Gandhis and which allowed thefamily’s insecurities and petti-ness to permeate its activities.

Consequently, they madeIndia a de facto monarchy andwith the help of courtiers in themedia and academia, workedovertime to obliterate the con-tribution of great leaders out-side this family.

This reached such vulgarproportions that every majorGovernment scheme, publicbuilding, national institution,university, scholarship andsports event was named aftermembers of this family. Thisexercise went to such shamefullengths that even PygmalionPoint, the southern-most pointof India, was re-named IndiraPoint and a peak in theHimalayas was named RajivPeak. Union Ministers andState Chief Ministers vied witheach other to please the familyand went to such ridiculouslengths as to name a calf-rear-ing scheme in Haryana afterIndia Gandhi and a breakfastscheme in Pondicherry and ajhopadpatti (slum) footballtournament in Maharashtraafter Rajiv Gandhi.

All this shows the small-mindedness of the family butsince this exercise wentunchecked for decades, thefamily has become so brazen asto take donations from anenemy country for the family-run trust.

The sense of entitlement ofthe family is such that Sonia

Gandhi and not ManmohanSingh attended the BeijingOlympics. The Chinese playedhost to her, her son RahulGandhi, her daughter Priyankaand son-in-law Robert Vadra.Tweeting about this, ShobhaKarandjale, MP, said, “Thiswasn’t just a mockery of theoffice of the Prime Minister buta subversion of India’s democ-ratic system and ethos.”

Therefore, the unwilling-ness of the Congress to criticiseChina even after 20 Indiansoldiers sacrificed their livesdefending the country atGalwan must be seen in thelight of this donation, the MoUand the red carpet laid out bythe Chinese to the Nehru-Gandhis. Then, the jigsaw puz-zle will fall in place.

There is seething anger inthe country regarding the hege-monistic attitude of China andits perfidy after the signing ofagreements vis-à-vis patrollingand other arrangements alongthe Line of Actual Control(LAC) for maintenance ofpeace. The strong public sen-timent will compel theNarendra Modi Government totake firm measures to defendthe country’s territorial integri-ty, which the Prime Ministerhas firmly declared is “non-negotiable.” Unfortunately, theCongress is not lending himsupport. Why is it at odds withthis national sentiment? EveryIndian must ask this questionand search for answers.

(The writer is an author spe-cialising in democracy studies.Views expressed are personal.)

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Sir — The debate around theworld about herd immunityfrom COVID-19 is picking uppace. Epidemiologists are sug-gesting it as one of the solutionsfor the pandemic. The lockdownwas termed as a period forpreparation of the health infra-structure to battle the virus andnow, living with it looks like theonly option. The development ofa viable vaccine is still under wayand letting antibodies developnaturally is a big risk. If we dolet the virus spread under theguise of herd immunity, vulner-able sections will be exposed andthe mortality rate will rise.

Herd immunity is not aprocess or a technique that canbe implemented; it is a naturaloccurrence. The ideal way ofachieving immunity is througha vaccine, in the absence ofwhich the virus has to be con-tained by tracing, testing andtreating. Since India has a hugepopulation, we cannot take risks.

We are quite far fromachieving natural immunity;even the serosurvey conductedby the ICMR shows that onlyone to two per cent of people

have developed antibodies nat-urally in these three months.

Ravi Teja Kathuripalli Hyderabad

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Sir — As the world comes togrips with the “new normal”Coronavirus has wrought on us,the virus has led to an explosion

of new words and phrases, bothin English and in other languages,that have become a part of ourday-to-day communication.

Terms such as “lockdown,”“hotspot,” “community spread,”“self-isolating”, “pandemic”,“quarantine”, “contagious” and“key workers” among othershave seen a rise in usage whileneologisms are being coinedquicker than ever in the wake of

the pandemic. On the one hand, our med-

ical faculty is busy analysing,experimenting and calculatingways to contain the pandemic, onthe other, linguists are busy, try-ing to study and analyse thesenew metaphors. The outpouringof metaphors, neologisms andlexical innovations we have seenin the past few months points tothe fact that linguistic creativity

is a key part of language, reshap-ing our ways of engaging with theworld. Understanding the lan-guage surrounding the pandem-ic will be more important.

M PradyuKannur

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Sir — State Governments arecaught in a Catch-22 situation.On the one hand, lockdowncannot be enforced for an indef-inite period, on the other, the rateof infection has been increasing.Given the fragile condition of theIndian economy, prolonged lock-down is injurious to the liveli-hoods of a majority of people.Locking up people indefinitelyhas another flip side of psycho-logical stress and ailments itmay cause. The best way is tounlock cautiously, making socialdistancing norms punishablewith hefty fines. Markets must beopened on a staggered basis.Work from home must beencouraged.

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Page 7: ˆ !˚˚ ˛ #$ % & · 22 hours ago  · “Today our Ordnance Factories are producing indige-nously-developed arms, ammu-nitions, rifles, weapons, protec-tive clothings, battle-field

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Daylight was just breaking over Bhiwani inHaryana. As the sleepless Sunita watchedthe sunrise from the window of her room,

she felt a shooting pain. At once she knew thather labour pains had started. But instead of exhil-aration, Sunita was filled with a sense of sadness.She knew she would never get to see the babyshe had nurtured in her womb for nine months.Neither her husband nor his family would allowher to keep the baby. After all, she had alreadygiven birth to two daughters and there was noway they would accept the third one.

Sunita had been allowed to retain this preg-nancy only on the condition that the baby wouldbe given away immediately after its birth. Thisdiktat had been given soon after a sex determi-nation test, conducted against her will, hadrevealed that Sunita was carrying a girl child.

Meanwhile, in a distant place, a young cou-ple was waiting impatiently for the news thatSunita had gone into labour and the baby wasabout to come into this world. They had beenwaiting for the past seven months since they hadbeen told that Sunita had agreed to give her babyto them. Having tried unsuccessfully for sever-al years to have a biological child, the couple sawthis as an opportunity to bring joy into their liveswithout having to go through the long and ardu-ous adoption process.

So, neither the fact that the baby was a girlnor the knowledge that they would be circum-venting rules by whisking her away secretly, mat-tered to them. They only wanted to bring homethe baby.

In these circumstances, baby Laxmi waslucky she got loving adoptive parents who didnot care that she was a girl. If they had not beenfound, there was every chance that Laxmi wouldhave become one of the 46 million women miss-ing in India between 2013 and 2017 either dueto pre-natal sex selection or due to postnatalmortality. About 4,60,000 girls go “missing” atbirth each year in India, according to the UNFPAState of World Population 2020 report releasedtoday. The report, Against my will: Defying thepractices that harm women and girls and under-mine equality, highlights how harmful practicesdeny women and girls their rights and entitle-ments. It further states that such harmful prac-tices were at a risk of getting exacerbated due tothe economic disruptions arising from theCOVID-19 pandemic. Girls go missing not justin India. The preference for sons is entrenchedall over the world. Globally, there were 1.2 mil-lion missing girl child births every year, statesthe report. What is alarming is that the numberof missing women has more than doubled overthe last 50 years. Sadly, it is the two Asian super-powers — China (50 per cent) and India (40 percent) — who together account for about 90 percent of the estimated 1.2 million missing girlchild births annually worldwide due to gender-biased (prenatal) sex selection.

Current statistics show that at present thereare over 142 million women missing globally. Acountry’s data on sex ratio at birth helps to mea-sure the extent of gender-biased sex selection.In most parts of the world, the “natural” or nor-mal sex ratio at birth is between 105/106 malebirths for every 100 female births. This meansthere should be between 943 to 952 girls per1,000 male births in India. Any decrease in thisnatural sex ratio at birth indicates gender-biased

sex selection. The UNFPA estimatesthat this gender-biased (pre-natal) sexselection accounts for about two outof three of the total missing girls inIndia and post-birth girl child mortal-ity accounts for about one in three miss-ing girls. Equal cause of worry is the factthat India has the highest rate of excessgirl child deaths, 13.5 per 1,000 births.This suggests that an estimated one innine deaths of girls below the age of fiveis probably due to postnatal sex selec-tion.

Till 2018, Sunita’s State, Haryana,had a sex ratio at birth (SRB) below 900.Last year, it showed an increase, cross-ing the 900 barrier for the first time.The State announced that its SRB hadgone up to 923 girls for 1,000 boys. ButBhiwani, the district in Haryana whereSunita resides, still hasn’t caught up withthe rest of the State.

In 2019, its SRB was 894 girls to1,000 boys. Ironically, Bhiwani isknown to be a seat of spiritual learn-ing. Located 128 kilometres west ofNew Delhi, it is also at the centre ofregional politics, being the hometownof three former Haryana chief minis-ters. Yet, gender equality remains anelusive dream.

Eight States guilty of having a sexratio at birth below 900 include Punjab,Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan,Gujarat, Bihar, Delhi and Uttarakhand.The sex ratio at birth, in the 2016-18period, was 899 girls for every 1,000boys born according to the 2018Sample Registration System (SRS)Statistical Report. But for families likeSunita’s that had two daughters, the sexratio at birth dropped even further to708 girls for every 1,000 boys born,points out the report.

Despite a plethora of Governmentprogrammes like “Beti Bachao, Beti

Padhao” to address the decline in childsex ratio and improving the social valueof girls, gender inequality and son pref-erence remain the main drivers of gen-der-biased sex selection. The balancehas further tilted against girls with thecontinuing misuse of technology. Lawslike the Preconception and PrenatalDiagnostic Techniques Act (PCPND-TA) meant to prevent sex determina-tion have had limited success. Offenderstake advantage of technicalities toescape penal action. The best knownface against the misuse of technologyand the ugly face of gender-biased sexselection prevalent even among theurban educated families was Dr MituKhurana.

The first woman in the country tofile a complaint on sex determinationunder the PCPNDTA, Khurana foughtfor over 11 years against the doctorswho allegedly conducted an ultra-sound to illegally determine the sex ofher twin daughters, apparently in col-lusion with her husband and in-laws.Unfortunately, her complaint was dis-missed by the Supreme Court in 2017on the basis of technicalities.

Although this was a big blow,Khurana did not give up and contin-ued to raise her voice against genderinjustice. Her death in March this yearhas ended her personal battle but notsilenced her voice, say her friends andsupporters. They have created a web-site on her behalf, chronicling articleswritten on her fight to save her twindaughters.

The site also encourages dialogueand discussion on ways to sustain thefight against gender-biased sex selectionand gender inequality. They want toamplify Khurana’s assertion that unlessthere was accountability at all levels,girls would continue to die due to gen-

der-biased sex selection and no onewould care because the value of boyswas far greater than theirs.

It is an established fact that wherethere are many more men than womenof marriageable age, women are morevulnerable to sexual and gender-basedviolence. This was seen in many IndianStates like Haryana where several vil-lages, which had zero population ofgirls, resorted to buying girls from otherStates for their marriageable sons. Thegirl was usually from a poor family andwhose parents were happy to marrytheir daughter off without having to paydowry. What they didn’t realise was thatthey were pushing their daughter intoan unending cycle of sexual violence,since one bride was expected to pan-der to the sexual needs of all the malesin the family.

India was among 179 governmentsthat committed to “eliminate all formsof discrimination against the girl childand the root causes of son preference,which result in harmful and unethicalpractices regarding female infanticideand prenatal sex selection” at the 1994International Conference on Populationand Development (ICPD). It reiterat-ed its commitment at the 2019 NairobiSummit held to look back at the 25years of ICPD and look forward toaccelerating accountability.

India has also endorsed SustainableDevelopment Goal five for genderequality. However, harmful practicesand human rights violations persist.Clearly, rooting out deeply-entrenchedbeliefs and customs needs more thanjust laws. Their strict and sincereimplementation along with prosecutionand punishment can help. More impor-tant is fostering respect for women andgirls by giving them an equal status.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

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Historically, high urbanisationhas been one of the major dri-vers of economic growth. As

cities grow and offer new opportuni-ties, they become attractive to the ruralpopulation. In turn, this inflow ofworkers helps sustain urban econom-ic growth. However, the COVID-19has brought cities to a standstill and oneof the crisis’ most visible effects — theshift from an office-based system towork from home (WFH) arrangements— is likely to have spillover effects onmany sectors of the urban economy.With many firms planning long-termstrategies for WFH and reducing office

space, remote working is here to stay.For example, Infosys recentlyannounced permanent WFH for 33per cent of its employees.

Though adapting to this new nor-mal may be initially difficult, white-col-lar workers stand to benefit from lowtravel costs and the stress associatedwith travelling in a congested and pol-luted environment.

However, the effect of this shift toa WFH culture on informal workers,who largely depend on formal sectordemand, has not received much atten-tion. In India, 80 to 90 per cent of theworkers are employed in the informalor semi-informal sector. For many whowork in the cities, livelihoods areheavily dependent on demand from anoffice-based working system. So, it isclear that workers who are going to bebadly hit include cycle rickshaw pullers,autorickshaw and taxi drivers, andstreet vendors who sell food and othercommodities outside offices and Metrostations. Additionally, with the lowerin-person presence of professionals in

the workplace, offices will also requirefewer personnel for housekeeping andadministrative services. Thus, remoteworking has created long-term uncer-tainty for the informal workers.

More than 10 million street ven-dors in India are likely to be impact-ed. A common sight in most cities usedto be vendors selling a wide cornucopiaof products outside Metro stations andlarge office spaces. A significant shareof this workforce also relied on street-food vendors for their meals. However,the fear of COVID-19 exposure andnormalisation of WFH has led manypeople to switch to the more contact-less online ordering and the livelihoodsof street vendors are now in question.Many have already chosen to go backto their villages or are at the mercy ofdonations and Government aid tomake ends meet.

In order to provide relief to thesevendors, the Government recentlyannounced its scheme for the provisionof loans. However, many vendors havenot been able to avail of this benefit due

to the requirements of the associatedpaperwork and registration process.Additionally, many vendors are notwilling to take the loan scheme as it willonly put an extra burden of repaymenton them in a no-business scenario.Hence, apart from additional reformsto safeguard the livelihoods of streetvendors, there is a need to build backconsumer confidence to shop fromvendors. If demand continues to staylow, the State Governments will needto rethink how alternate livelihoodsand support programmes could be pro-vided for these vendors.

The earnings of taxi, autorickshawdrivers and other informal mobility ser-vice providers have also taken a hit,even after easing up of lockdowns. Therevenues of Ola and Uber driver part-ners have fallen significantly, andabout 2,000 drivers have been removedby these platforms till date. Those stillin business are struggling to stayafloat; many claim that their earningsare down by up to 80 per cent.

This situation is likely to persist, as

a large volume of demand for these ser-vices came from work trips. Muchbefore the lockdowns, cab driver earn-ings had already fallen due to changesin incentive schemes. Whereas a dri-ver could earn over �50,000 in the ini-tial years of cab aggregation, their earn-ings have fallen to around �20,000 inrecent years. Most are struggling toafford basics and pay rent, and the sit-uation is even worse for those who hadpurchased vehicles on EMIs.

The informal mobility servicesproviders such as rickshaw, autorick-shaw and Grameen Sewa drivers arealso struggling due to lack of demand.Social distancing measures have neces-sitated business at reduced capacity,making the trips unaffordable forshared mobility services like GrameenSewa and shared autos. These serviceswere also used heavily as a last and first-mile option, and this demand is alsolikely to remain low with Metro ser-vices shut and public transport limit-ed. Some State Governments had pro-vided monetary help to all these oper-

ators when the lockdown had begun.But this could not be availed by manydue to lack of paperwork. Now with thelack of demand likely to sustain due toWFH being mainstreamed andreduced leisure trips, these workers arestill in need of major assistance. Sincea large percentage of them also ownvehicles, shifting to alternate livelihoodswill also be difficult.

If remote working is to become asustainable strategy, there is a need tounderstand and plan for the effects ofthis on the whole urban ecosystem.While WFH may benefit companiesand foster some environmental bene-fits, it will also negatively affect otherparts of the system. The most affect-ed are from lower-income groups andthose not covered by mostGovernment safety nets. There is alsolikely to be very little scope to shift toalternate livelihoods with the expect-ed economic contraction. Many peo-ple had already invested in physicalcapital which will now no longer beable to generate the expected income,

leaving them burdened with unpayabledebts. In addition to providing furtherloans, the Government must consid-er how to provide immediate relief tothese sections of society. Immediaterelief can be provided in terms of waiv-ing penalties and permits such as chal-lans for transport service providers.Many vendors also face undue evic-tions and are forced to bribe officials;theft of property or goods is anotherthreat that their community faces.Hence, the regulatory systems need tobe strengthened to safeguard vendorsfrom such incidents.

The Centre needs to expand theunemployment claims programme toinclude the informal sector workers.They should be able to avail benefitsfor a certain number of days in a year,in case their businesses become unsus-tainable. If we can’t provide sustainablelivelihoods to them, then the actual costof the pandemic will be much higher.

(Mookherjee and Jain are ResearchAssociates, Centre for SustainableMobility, TERI)

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For months, experts havewarned of a potential night-

mare scenario: After over-whelming health systems insome of the world’s wealthiestregions, the coronavirus gainsa foothold in poor or war-torncountries ill-equipped to con-tain it and sweeps through thepopulation.

Now some of those fearsare being realised.

In southern Yemen, healthworkers are leaving their postsen masse because of a lack ofprotective equipment, and

some hospitals are turningaway patients struggling tobreathe.

In Sudan’s war-ravagedDarfur region, where there islittle testing capacity, a myste-rious illness resemblingCOVID-19 is spreadingthrough camps for the inter-nally displaced.

Cases are soaring in Indiaand Pakistan, together home tomore than 1.5 billion peopleand where authorities saynationwide lockdowns are nolonger an option because ofhigh poverty.In Latin America,Brazil has a confirmed caseload

and death count 2nd only tothe US, and its leader is unwill-ing to take steps to stem thespread of the virus.

Alarming escalations areunfolding in Peru, Chile,Ecuador and Panama, evenafter they imposed early lock-downs.

The first reports of disar-ray are also emerging from hos-pitals in South Africa, whichhas its continent’s most devel-oped economy. Sick patientsare lying on beds in corridorsas one hospital runs out ofspace.

At another, an emergency

morgue was needed to holdmore than 700 bodies.

“We are reaping the whirl-wind now,” said FrancoisVenter, a South African healthexpert at the University ofWitswatersrand inJohannesburg.Worldwide,there are 10.1 million con-firmed cases and over 501,000reported deaths, according to atally by Johns HopkinsUniversity of Governmentreports.Experts say both thosenumbers are serious under-counts of the true toll of thepandemic, due to limited test-ing and missed mild cases.

South Africa has morethan a third of Africa’s con-firmed cases of COVID-19with 138,000 as of Monday.

It’s ahead of other Africancountries in the pandemictimeline and approaching itspeak.

So far its facilities havemanaged to cope, but if theybecome overwhelmed, it will bea grim forewarning becauseSouth Africa’s health system isreputed to be the continent’sbest.

Most poor countries tookaction early on. Some, likeUganda, which

already had a sophisticat-ed detection system built upduring its yearslong battle withviral hemorrhagic fever, havethus far been arguably moresuccessful than the U.S. Andother wealthy countries in bat-tling coronavirus.

But since the beginning ofthe pandemic, poor and con-flict-ravaged countries havebeen at a major disadvantage,and they remain so.

The global scramble forprotective equipment sentprices soaring.

Testing kits have also beenhard to come by. Tracking and

quarantining patients requireslarge numbers of health work-ers. "It's all a domino effect,"said Kate White, head of emer-gencies for Doctors WithoutBorders.

"Whenever you havecountries that are economical-ly not as well off as others, thenthey will be adversely affected."Global health experts say test-ing is key, but months into thepandemic, few developingcountries can keep carrying outthe tens of thousands of testsevery week needed to detectand contain outbreaks."The majority of the places that

we work in are not able to havethat level of testing capacity,and that's the level that youneed to be able to get thingsreally under control," Whitesaid. South Africa leadsAfrica in testing, but an initiallypromising

program has now beenoverrun in Cape Town, whichalone has more reported casesthan any other African coun-try except Egypt. Critical short-ages of kits have forced city offi-cials to abandon testing foranyone under 55 unless theyhave a serious health conditionor are in a hospital.

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Pakistan’s Supreme Court onMonday rejected a plea to

stay a high court verdict thatoverturned the conviction of al-Qaeda leader Ahmed OmarSaeed Sheikh in the kidnappingand murder of Daniel Pearl in2002.

Pearl, the 38-year-oldSouth Asia bureau chief for TheWall Street Journal, wasabducted and beheaded whilehe was in Pakistan investigat-ing a story in 2002 on thealleged links between the coun-try’s powerful spy agency ISIand al-Qaeda.

On April 2, a two-judgeSindh High Court bench over-turned the death sentence ofBritish-born 46-year-old al-Qaeda leader, who was con-victed in the abduction andmurder of Pearl in 2002. Thecourt also acquitted his threeaides serving life sentences inthe case.

The Sindh Governmentand parents of Pearl challengedthe high court verdict in theSupreme Court, where a three-member bench led by JusticeMushir Alam heard the case onMonday.

The Sindh Governmentlawyer, Farooq Naek, urgedthe top court to issue a stayorder but the judges refused togrant the stay in the case.

They also observed that thecourt cannot accept the pleaunless some glaring discrep-

ancy was cited in the decisionof the high court.

Justice Alam asked as tohow the apex court could sus-pend the SHC’s judgment per-taining to the acquittal of threeaccused persons without solidreasons.

Naek told the court thatunless the stay was given, theGovernment would be forcedto release the accused whowere held for three monthsunder the Maintenance ofPublic Order regulation.

Two days after the SindhHigh Court overturnedSheikh’s conviction on April 2,the Sindh Government invokedthe Maintenance of PublicOrder to keep the convicts injail. Their imprisonment wouldend on July 2.

He told the court the menacquitted by the high courtwere dangerous terrorists andwould cause problems.

The court observed thatthe provincial government wasempowered to extend theirdetention or even change lawsregarding keeping them in cus-tody.

Later, the court adjournedthe case and announced thatthe next hearing would be heldin September.

Early this month, the apexcourt refused to suspend theSindh High

Court judgment.The US had criticised the

Pakistani court for overturningthe death sentence of the al-

Qaeda leader, terming the ver-dict an "affront" to the victimsof terrorism everywhere.

US Secretary of State MikePompeo has mounted pressureon Pakistan by demanding jus-tice for Pearl.

"The United States will notforget Daniel Pearl," Pompeosaid in a tweet in early April."We continue to honour hislegacy as a courageous jour-nalist and demand justice forhis brutal murder," he said. Lastmonth, the US proddedPakistan by seeking justice forPearl.

"On the eve of WorldPress Freedom Day, we honourthe legacy of journalist DanielPearl. We appreciate the Govtof Pakistan's 4/22 appeal toreinstate guilty verdicts againstDaniel's murderers, now but-tressed by the filing of the Pearlfamily's appeal before theSupreme Court," State forSouth and Central AsianAffairs Alice Wells tweeted onMay 3.

Pearl's murder took placethree years after Sheikh, alongwith Jaish-e-Mohammadchief Masood Azhar andMushtaq Ahmed Zargar, wasreleased by India in 1999 andgiven safe passage toAfghanistan in exchange forthe nearly 150 passengers ofhijacked Indian AirlinesFlight 814. He was servingprison term in India for kid-nappings of Western touristsin the country.

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Acar bombing and mortarshells fired at a busy mar-

ket in southern Afghanistan’sHelmand province on Mondaykilled 23 people, includingchildren, a statement form aprovincial governor’s officesaid. Both the Taliban and theAfghan military blame eachother for the attack in Sangindistrict.

Details of the reportedattack could not be indepen-dently confirmed as the area,which is under Taliban control,is remote and inaccessible toreporters.

The statement from theoffice of the governor, GeneralMohammad Yasin, did notprovide further details andthere was no claim of respon-sibility for the attack.

A Taliban spokesman, QariYusouf Ahmadi, denied theinsurgents were involved in thebombing.

The Taliban claimed themilitary fired mortars into themarket while the military saida car bomb and mortar shellsfired by the insurgents target-ed the civilians.

The army also said therewas no military activity in thearea on Monday and that twoTaliban fighters were also killedwhen the car bomb detonated

at the marketplace. Livestock that the locals

were selling on the market,sheep and goats, were alsokilled.A statement from thepresidential palace said AfghanPresident Ashraf Ghani strong-ly condemned the "brutal andinhumane act," and stressedthat targeting civilians, espe-cially children and adults, isagainst Islamic and humanvalues. "The government ofthe Islamic Republic ofAfghanistan once again calls onthe Taliban to refrain from warand violence and to accept thewill of the Afghan people,which is the end of the war andthe start of negotiations,"Ghani's statement said.

The United Nations inrecent reports and statementshas asked both sides in the con-flict to be more careful of civil-ian casualties, saying they areon the increase.Still, violencehas continued unabated inAfghanistan, even though talksbetween the Taliban and Kabulrepresentatives could start asearly next month in July inDoha, Qatar, where the Talibanmaintain a political office.

One of the obstacles to thestart of the negotiations hasbeen the exchange of prisoners,envisaged under a deal theTaliban signed with the UnitedStates at the end of February.

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China said on Monday thatit would retaliate against

US moves to punish officialstied to political crackdowns inHong Kong by imposing visarestrictions on Americans itconsiders to have “performedbadly” on matters regarding thesemi-autonomous Chinese ter-ritory.

Foreign Ministryspokesman Zhao Lijian gave nodetails in making theannouncement at a daily brief-ing. It wasn’t clear if the mea-sure targeted only USGovernment officials or thosein the private sector as well.

It comes as China’s legis-latue is expected to pass anational security law for HongKong on Tuesday that criticssay will severely limit opposi-tion politics and freedom ofspeech in the city.

The US says it will respondby ending favourable tradingterms granted to the formerBritish colony after it passed toChinese control in 1997.

The Senate onThursday unanimously

approved a bill to impose sanc-tions on businesses and indi-viduals - including the police -that undermine Hong Kong’sautonomy or restrict freedomspromised to the city’s resi-dents. Zhao reiterated China’sinsistence that the law was“purely an internal affair ofChina, and no foreign countryhas the right to interfere.”

“The US side’s attempt toobstruct China from promot-ing Hong Kong’s national secu-rity legislation through the so-called sanctions will never suc-ceed,” Zhao said. “In responseto the above-mentioned wrongbehavior of the US side, Chinahas decided to impose visarestrictions on US personnelwho perform badly on HongKong related issues.”

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President Donald Trump hasdenied he was made aware

of US intelligence officials’conclusions Russia secretlyoffered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killingAmerican troops inAfghanistan.

The Trump administra-tion was set to brief selectmembers of Congress on thematter Monday.

The intelligence assess-ments came amid Trump’s pushto withdraw the US fromAfghanistan and suggestedRussia was making overtures tomilitants as the US and theTaliban held talks to end thelong-running war.

The assessment was firstreported by The New YorkTimes and then confirmed toThe Associated Press byAmerican intelligence officialsand two others with knowledgeof the matter.

There were conflictingreports about whether Trumpwas aware of Russia’s actions.

The intelligence officialstold the AP the president wasbriefed on the matter earlierthis year; Trump denied that,tweeting Sunday neither henor Vice President Mike Pencehad been briefed. Trump tweet-ed Sunday night he was justtold intelligence officials didn’treport the information to himbecause they didn’t find itcredible.

The intelligence officialsand others with knowledge ofthe matter insisted on

anonymity to discuss the high-ly sensitive matter.

The White HouseNational Security Councilwouldn’t confirm the assess-ments but said the US receivesthousands of intelligencereports daily that are subject tostrict scrutiny.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who golfed with Trumpon Sunday, tweeted a dayearl ier it’s “ImperativeCongress get to the bottom ofrecent media reports thatRussian GRU units inAfghanistan have offered topay the Tal iban to ki l lAmerican soldiers with thegoal of pushing America outof the region.” GRU is areference to the Russian mil-itary intelligence agency.

Rep. Liz Cheney ofWyoming, the No. 3Republican in the House, calledfor the White House to sharemore information withCongress, saying, if true, law-makers need to know “Whodid know and when?” and,referring to Russian leaderVladimir Putin, “What hasbeen done in response to pro-tect our forces & hold Putinaccountable?”

Democratic presumptivepresidential nominee Joe Bidensaid reports Trump was awareof the Russian bounties wouldbe a “truly shocking revelation”about the commander in chiefand his failure to protect UStroops in Afghanistan andstand up to Russia. R u s s i acalled the report “non-sense.”"This unsophisticated

plant clearly illustrates the lowintellectual abilities of the pro-pagandists of American intel-ligence, who instead of invent-ing something more plausiblehave to make up this non-sense," the Russian ForeignMinistry said.

The Kremlin on Mondayechoed that sentiment andcalled the report "a lie."Kremlin spokesman DmitryPeskov said he regretted "thebiggest, respectful and high-class international media orga-nizations have not been abovepublishing absolute hoaxes inrecent years."

A Taliban spokesman saidthe militants "strongly rejectthis allegation" and aren't"indebted to the beneficence ofany intelligence organ or for-eign country." J o h nBolton, a former national secu-rity adviser who was forced outby Trump last September andhas written a tell-all book abouthis time at the White House,said Sunday "it is prettyremarkable the president'sgoing out of his way to say hehasn't heard anything about it.

One asks, why would he dosomething like that?" Boltontold NBC's "Meet the Press" hethinks the answer "may beprecisely because active Russianaggression like that against theAmerican service members isa very, very serious matter andnothing's been done about it, ifit's true, for these past four orfive months, so it may look likehe was negligent. But, of course,he can disown everything ifnobody ever told him about it."

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At least 32 people weredrowned and many were

missing on Monday when aferry carrying over 100 pas-sengers capsized in Burigangariver after it was hit by a big-ger vessel in the Bangladeshicapital here, officials said.

“It appeared to be an acci-dent caused by the negligenceof the drivers,” an official of theBangladesh Inland WaterTransport Authority (BIWTA)told reporters.

Rescuers feared severalpassengers were trapped insidethe ferry, which sank at around9:30 am with nearly 100 pas-sengers on board in theBuriganga river along theShyambazar area of OldDhaka.

“Thirty two bodies havebeen retrieved so far. Search ison for the missing ones,” theBIWTA official said. Most ofthe dead bodies have beenidentified and handed over totheir families.

The ferry 'Morning Bird',which was coming to Dhakafrom Munshiganj, capsized inthe river after it was hit by abigger vessel 'Moyur-2' near theSadarghat launch terminal.

According to police,Moyur-2 was rushing towardsa terminal to pick up passen-gers to be ferried to centralChandpur district, while theMorning Bird lowered its speedas passengers on board werepreparing to disembark.

Following the accident, themaster and other staff ofMoyur-2, which was carryingsome 1,000 passengers, imme-diately left the scene and wentinto hiding, police said.

"We have launched a man-hunt for the master in partic-ular," a police official said.

The Morning Bird ferriespeople between Dhaka andMunshiganj on the outskirts of

the capital with most of its reg-ular passengers being ordi-nary traders and employees ofdifferent government and pri-vate offices.

Officials, meanwhile,found a CCTV footage whichshows a fast moving Moyur-2hitting the dilapidatedMorning Bird from behindand capsizing it in less than aminute.

"What it appears initiallyfrom the CCTV footage, itcould be a staged event...Aplanned massacre," junior min-ister for shipping KhalidMahmud Chowdhury toldreporters.

He said an investigationhas been ordered into the inci-dent and if the probe finds it asa deliberate accident, punitiveaction will be taken against theculprits for planned murders.Navy and coast guard diversjoined the fire service rescuers,while a BIWTA salvage shipwas deployed to retrieve thesunken Morning Bird.

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ABritish judge said Mondaythat WikiLeaks founder

Julian Assange must attend hisnext court hearing unless he

can provide medical evidenceto support his absence.

Lawyers for Assange saidhe could not attend the latesthearing on his US extraditioncase by video link from prison

for medical reasons.DistrictJudge Vanessa Baraitser setanother hearing date of July 27and said Assange must appear“unless there is medical evi-dence” to explain his non-attendance.

The 48-year-oldAustralian has been indictedin the US on 18 charges overthe publication of classifieddocuments. Prosecutors say heconspired with US army intel-ligence analyst ChelseaManning to crack a password,hack into a Pentagon com-puter and release secretdiplomatic cables and militaryfiles on the wars in Iraq andAfghanistan.

Last week the US JusticeDepartment added a new,superseding, indictment that

alleges Assange conspired withmembers of hacking organiza-tions and sought to recruithackers to provide WikiLeakswith classified information.

The indictment does notadd any new charges, butbroadens the allegations againstAssange.

Assange was arrested lastyear after being evicted fromthe Ecuadorian Embassy inLondon, where he had soughtrefuge to avoid being sent toSweden over allegations of rapeand sexual assault.

Assange was arrested lastyear after being evicted fromthe Ecuadorian Embassy inLondon, where he had soughtrefuge to avoid being sent toSweden over allegations of rapeand sexual assault.

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Page 9: ˆ !˚˚ ˛ #$ % & · 22 hours ago  · “Today our Ordnance Factories are producing indige-nously-developed arms, ammu-nitions, rifles, weapons, protec-tive clothings, battle-field

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Jaipur: During the last threemonths of varying degrees ofrestrictions on movement andeconomic activity, one of thebiggest challenges faced by theState Government - apart fromthe public health challengeposed by COVID-19 - hasbeen to ensure food security forstate’s population - millions ofwhom have had their incomeswiped out or drasticallyreduced leading to a curtailedability to afford food.

FCI has to provide ade-quate quantity of food grains allover the State under the NFSAand PMGKAY so that there isno shortage of food in any cor-ner of the Rajasthan. The FCIhas fulfilled its responsibilitywith dedication. So far, 07.136lakh metric tonnes of Wheat[under PMGKAY and theAtmanirbhar Bharat package]have been issued to the State.About one thousand employeesand workers of FCI have beenengaged in this effort whichensured that food grainsreached to the beneficiaries.

New Delhi: During the lock-down, Metro Railway has takenup extensive maintenanceworks of Rolling Stock, variousdifferent passenger amenityitems and safety items.Accordingly, maintenanceworks of CCTV camerasinstalled at 24 North- SouthMetro stations have also beendone in this period.

Special emphasis has beengiven to lens cleaning work ofthese cameras as well as testingtheir efficiency. These mainte-nance works will help MetroAuthorities to ensure enhancedpassenger safety at Metro

premises once Metro servicesresume.

New Delhi:Dinesh Bhagat ,has takencharge asA d d i t i o n a lZonal Manager,Northern Zonecomprising ofDelhi, Haryana, HimachalPradesh, Jammu & Kashmir,Leh, Punjab, Rajasthan andUnion Territory of Chandigarh.Prior to this, he was holding theposition of Zonal Manager(Incharge) of Eastern Zone,Kolkata comprising of the stateof West Bengal, Assam, Sikkim,Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram,Manipur , Nagaland,Arunachal Pradesh and Unionterritory Andaman & Nikobar.

Mr. Dinesh Bhagat joinedLIC in 1985 as a Direct RecruitOfficer of the 14th Batch. He isan Honors Graduate in the fieldof Finance/Commerce fromthe University of Delhi.

During his illustrious stintin LIC, he has extensively con-tributed in the area ofMarketing for almost 26 Years.Being a self motivated andresult oriented marketing pro-fessional he has largely con-tributed in key areas ofMarketing, Pension & GroupSchemes, Personnel and has acomprehensive knowledge ofMarketing and HumanResource Development.

New Delhi: NaveenGulati (IRSEE, 1986)has taken over as thenew Additional GeneralManager (AGM) ofNorthern Railway (NR).He succeeds Ms.Archana Joshi (IRTS)who has been trans-ferred to Railway Board.

Naveen Gulati, B.Tech(Electrical) is a Gold Medalistfrom IIT BHU. He has exten-sive experience in designingand production of railwaycoaches. He was associated

with the project forredevelopment ofNew Delhi RailwayStation as WorldClass facility. Whileposted at CRIS(Centre for RailwayI n f o r m a t i o nSystems), he was

instrumental in setting-up theData Centre. An IT enthusiast,he has contributed to creationof several IT applications forIndian Railways. Prior to join-ing as AGM NR he has workedas DRM Chennai.

������ �1�./

The Indian stock marketdeclined on Monday,

although the indices trimmedmajor losses by the end of theday’s trade.

At the end of the session,BSE Sensex was down 209points and had to settle belowthe psychological mark of35,000 points. Earlier in theday, it lost as much as 509points to touch an intra-daylow of 34,662.06.

The fall was in line with theAsian markets, where investor sentiments weakenedamid the resurgence in newCovid-19 cases.

Rahul Sharma, MarketStrategist, Equity99 Advisors,said: “Selling pressure in metal,technology, auto and bankingstocks dragged the markets down today. Tradersrefrained from building newpositions on weak clues inother Asian markets.”

He added that the risingnumber of Covid-19 casualtiesworldwide is hurting investorsentiments globally and noclarity of vaccine has also cre-

ated nervousness in the markets.

Sensex closed at 34,961.52,lower by 209.75 points or 0.60per cent from the previousclose of 35,171.27.

It had opened at 34,926.95and recorded an intra-day highof 35,032.36 points.

The Nifty50 on theNational Stock Exchangeclosed at 10,312.40, lower by70.60 points or 0.68 per centfrom its previous close.

The top gainers on theSensex were HDFC Bank (up1.97 per cent), HindustanUnilever (up 1.30 per cent) andKotak Mahindra Bank (up 1.27per cent). On the other hand,the major losers were AxisBank (down 4.78 per cent),Tech Mahindra (down 3.47per cent) and State Bank ofIndia (down 2.87 per cent).

����� ��������

Automobile industry bodiesSIAM and ACMA on

Monday expressed concernover import consignmentsfrom China being subjected tomanual inspection, saying thatinordinate delays in clearanceat ports could lead to disrup-tion in vehicle manufacturingacross the country.

The industry bodies saidsuch act is best avoided as thesector is limping back towardsgrowth.

The auto sector has beentrying to recover from the set-backs of a prolonged slowdownlast year and the impact ofcoronavirus pandemic inducedlockdown.

“Inordinate delays in clear-ance due to congestions atport could eventually impactmanufacturing of vehicles inIndia,” Society of IndianAutomobile Manufacturers(SIAM) President RajanWadhera said in a statement.

He added, “The industry ispiecing itself together as growthis limping back; any further dis-ruption at this juncture is bestavoided.”

Earlier in the day autocomponents makers bodyACMA had sought timelyclearance of imports fromChina, saying that delay inclearing such items could leadto disruption in vehicle man-ufacturing across the country.

According to theAutomotive ComponentManufacturers Association ofIndia (ACMA) import con-signments from China werebeing subjected to one-hun-dred per cent manual inspec-tion resulting in inordinatedelays in clearance.

“The automotive valuechain is a highly complex, inte-grated and interdependent one;non-availability of even a sin-gle component can, in fact, leadto stoppage of the vehicle man-ufacturing lines,” ACMAPresident Deepak Jain said.

Some of the items import-ed from China are criticalcomponents such as parts ofengines and electronics itemsfor which the domestic autocomponent industry is yet todevelop competence, he added.

Post the lockdown, pro-duction in the componentsindustry is gradually picking upin tandem with growth in vehi-cles sales, it is therefore in thebest interest of the industry andthe economy that any furtherdisruptions are best avoided,Jain said.

He said the auto compo-nent industry in India is com-mitted to the ‘’Atma-nirbharvision’’ of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

The entire automotivevalue chain in the country isaround USD 118 billion ofwhich import of auto compo-nents is USD 4.75 billion, 4 percent of the total auto industryturnover, Jain noted.

Amid heightened bordertensions with China, Indiancustoms officials have startedphysical inspection of all consignments coming fromthe neighbouring countrybased on intelligence inputs,official sources had told PTIlast week.

Sources further said thatalthough physical inspection isresulting in delayed clearanceof goods, in current situationthe customs officials would have to work in coordi-nation with other intelligenceagencies.

Mumbai: The auto exportsplunged 73 per cent last monthto $230.3 million (about Rs1,736 crore) as compared to theyear-ago period with ship-ments to key markets like theUS and Mexico registering asharp decline owing to supply-chain issues due to lockdown,EEPC India said on Monday.

The exports of auto com-ponents, too, suffered a majorsetback during the month withimportant markets includingthe US, Mexico, Germany andJapan reporting “de-growth inthe range of 34-68 per cent”, theEngineering ExportsPromotion Council (EEPC)India said in a release.

“COVID-19 public health

crisis has taken a massive tollon exports of India’s automo-biles in May 2020 with asmuch annualised erosion as 98per cent and 65 per cent inshipments to key markets likethe US and Mexico, respec-tively,” it said.

The exports to the US lastmonth in value terms stood ata mere $1.37 million as against$79.82 million in the samemonth last year while ship-ments to Mexico dropped to$42.50 million from $122.98million, the Council said.

“Supply chains broke downdue to mobility restrictionsand the wave of postpone-ment of foreign orders in thesector led to such a massive

drop in exports. Out of 33 engi-neering panels, 28 panelsrecorded negative growth inexports during May this yearvis- à-vis May 2019,” EEPCIndia chairman Ravi Sehgalsaid.

In the April-May period ofthe ongoing financial year, theexports dropped by 83 percent to $281.1 million from$1,632.7 million in the year-agoperiod, it said.

The total export of autocomponents and parts record-ed 65.5 per cent decline at$163.2 million during May2020 from $473.6 millionexports in the same month lastyear, it said.

PTI

Mumbai: Nearly a fifth of the45 lakh small businesses iden-tified by the government tobenefit from a credit guaranteescheme have low credit rank-ings, and banks should priori-tise the remaining 80 per centwhile extending loans underthe Rs 3 lakh crore package, astudy by Transunion Cibil saidon Monday.

The GuaranteedEmergency Credit Line(GECL) facility is applicable toall MSME (micro, small andmedium enterprises) borrow-ers with industry-wide aggre-gate credit exposure of up to Rs25 crore and industry-widedelinquency less than or equalto 60 days as of February 29,2020.

The government is target-ing to ensure that the MSMEsector gets fresh credit of overRs 3 lakh crore by October2020 through the scheme asagainst the Rs 2.8 lakh croreachieved in 2019-20.

The Rs 3 lakh crore pack-age is a significant part of theRs 20 lakh crore COVID-19stimulus announced by thegovernment.

As per the government,there are 45 lakh MSMEs in thecountry who have been iden-tified as eligible for the scheme.

The largest difficulty seemsto be in the category classifiedas “medium”, with 38 per centof the companies marked outas “sub-prime” borrowers,while the lowest risk seems to

be with the “micro” segmentwhich has only 18 per cent ofthe borrowers in the same seg-ment, it said.

Eligible MSMEs can bor-row up to 20 per cent of theiraggregate credit exposure. Theloans have four-year tenor withthe first 12 months of principalcovered under moratorium tofurther assist MSMEs benefit-ting from the scheme, a state-ment from Transunion Cibilsaid.

The credit informationcompany relied on its MSMEranking solution and went intoresults of it as of February 29to identify the companieswhich should be prioritised bybanks.

PTI

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The board of directors ofTata Power will consider

raising funds through equityshares, debt securities or otherinstruments on July 2(Thursday), the company saidin a regulatory filing onMonday.

The board will look intoraising funds through “one ormore instruments includingequity shares, convertible secu-rities of any description orwarrants or debtsecurities,through preferential issue, pri-vate placements, rights issue orany other methods or combi-nation thereof as may be per-mitted under applicable laws,”it said.

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Artist Maitreyi Nandi put upcollages/paintings on can-

vas that went beyond riveting.One look was enough to knowher depth, density of thoughtand ability to weave metaphorsand allegories that flit back andforth through time’s tapestry.

Her first painting — ItDoes not Die, depicts a foetuswithin a womb. The womb andthe detailings are sensitivelyintricate and deeply inchoate interms of resonance and rever-ie. Redefining the notion ofhybridisation, Maitreyi con-flates the symbols of Easternand Western art historical tra-ditions and political events toexplore the intersection of indi-vidual experience and broadermanifestations of culture. Thiscollage is based on personal

experience and the trauma andgrief of losing her son.

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It is her construction andcomposition that endears, itsalmost as if we are looking at animage of the earth. She has con-structed small and detailedreplicas of historic architectureof nature’s intensities. Maitreyiemphasised the earth as a shel-ter and space as a vessel for life.

Its almost an explorationthat unfolds like a series inwhich various creatures andcharacters emerge. She expandsupon this theme with magicalrecreations. When we lookclosely at her little vines andcreepers and forms that sur-round the little baby, its almost

as if we are looking at fertilebasins from which culturesprings. In her second image,Fleeting Feet again, we see aniconic structure of two feet withbangled thorns.

����������This one is fascinating.

She quotes Frida Kahlo: “Feetwhat do I need you for when Ihave wings to fly?” Maitreyi isa voracious reader. You can’tcreate such works of deepthought and substance withoutliterary associations. She placesher feet on lush aqua flora:planting them with a variety offoliage, as well as a foregroundof scaly biological exotica; it’salmost as if she reimaginesthese seedbeds for a morepeaceful life, but in effect ren-ders them inert. The branchesthat ensue on top of the feet aremore about the earth’s soil andwhat lies above the horizon. Butshe draws our attention to theanklets of thorns. Tied down bydespair and sorrow such aFrida Kahlo moment.

Maitreyi is like a muteplanter, her symbols of sorrowand deep grief grow into ruinedrelics, as creeping vines cover

the façades of her canvas. Herworks continue to subvert tra-ditional modes of thinking andcultural stereotypes. She extolsthe virtues of experience whichteaches that even if there arescars, they give us sombrereveries drowned in melancho-lia.

Sadness gives us time tothink; Maitreyi has an uncan-ny ability to dissect cultural andaesthetic creations on canvasand create seemingly distinctjuxtapositions which unfoldinto nuanced takes on history,natural identity, and artisticpractice.

She tells us, “My earlierworks were soft, soothing andhappy, but things changed aftera life-altering event. At somepoint we have all faced it.Whether it be the death of aloved one, a serious illness orsome experience that remindsus of what really matters in life.In the blink of an eye, every-thing can change. Often, theselife experiences can teach usvaluable lessons, help us discov-er inner strength, and help usrealise what is truly importantin our life...I lost my son in2014. He was only 22 years old.

Being a single mother, lifehas taught me a lot! I’ve learntthat the only real thing in thisworld is our consciousness.Physical matter is all a holo-graphic illusion... Life haschanged me this way and theseconcepts reflects on my paint-ings too…”

And once again Maitreyibrings back the unforgettablewords of Frida Kahlo. “I neverpainted dreams. I painted myown reality.” For this, Maitreyifrom Gurugram is a rare artistwho transcends her real worldto enter into the meanderingislands of surrealism, conjoinedto Mother Earth. Her realityconsists of herself, her familyand those experiences thatdesigned her destiny, to influ-ence her surrealism — agonisedpoetry on canvas.

The lockdown and the growingemphasis on hygiene have given anew twist to the beauty industry,

simply because it has made people realisethat there are many essential items that canbe found in their kitchen, which can helpthem deal with their grooming and looks.Recently, many brands, which have lost outon shelf sales and pickups by salons andparlours, are therefore rolling out DIY kitsfor replicating salon-like experiences athome.

Given the realities of working fromhome, following all the precautionary mea-sures such as social distancing and manda-tory wearing of the masks, the desire towear make-up and fragrances is declining.As a result, along with the rise in DIY treat-ments — which had increased evenbefore the pandemic hit — users are log-ging online to buy grooming kits thatinclude products such as eyebrow shapersand tweezers, face massagers and hairtrimmers. The next most sought afterproducts are those that work on your skinroutine.

Whether you want to make your ownscrub or a home-made manicure at thefraction of the cost of your usual one, thereare all sorts of kits in the market. VibhaKhanna Rastogi, Director of SawadheeTraditional Thai Spa, shares the reasonwhy customised kits are the way for thefuture, now more than ever. She says, “DIYtreatments are on the rise right now as alot of people are working from home andhave more time on their hand than usualto experiment with ingredients easilyavailable. Earlier, they had the luxury ofstepping out of their homes to grab a pro-fessional service. Now they don’t have thatliberty. Many beauty brands are also reg-ularly sharing tips and tricks for easy DIYmethods, encouraging more people toindulge in them.”

Dr Blossom Kochhar, founder andchairperson of the Blossom KochharGroup of Companies, tells us that since thelockdown started, she herself has beenteaching her clients to do DIY treatmentswith kitchen ingredients as they are nat-ural and can work wonders for the skin.

There will be more clamour for buyingDIY products online, notes ShahnazHusain, founder and chairperson and MDof The Shahnaz Husain Group. She hasalso been planning to launch her newrange of herbal sanitisers soon.

In view of the global health crisis,debates and conversations around build-ing immunity and inner wellness havereached the zenith. “At-home experi-ences like facials, face-masks (sheets), haircolour are on the rise. Brands are doingtutorials to create a salon-like feel at homeusing the same products available at a salonor a spa. It’s amazing to see people prefer-ring lasting wellness over instant gratifi-cation,” says cosmetologist Seema Nanda,founder of Estetico — The Facial Bar.

Companies have suddenly redirectedtheir pitches to express that their productsare still relevant. Now, they have been tar-geting consumers by promoting variousmake-up routines on how to look yourbest while attending virtual meetingsand video conferences. Also, they are pre-senting “skincare” as a calming ritual thatoffers a quick breather from the lockdown-induced anxieties. Recently, L’Oreal Indiashared that they were engaging withusers online to help them colour hair at

home. “It might be time to take eyebrowgrooming into your own hands,” reads aline on an Instagram post of a makeupbrand, Revlon, telling consumers that theycan turn themselves into a pro. “You aredoing your part by staying in, so we atSchwarzkopf want to help you feel likeyour best self at home,” reads another cap-tion on an Instagram post by the haircolouring brand. They recently shared tenfoil methods to achieve the fully highlight-ed effect in order to help address con-sumers’ concerns of limiting time outsideof their homes. The ads and campaignsplay up products in tune with the timessuch as skin, eye care and home hair-colouring kits. These are largely played outon social media instead of using televisionas a media.

The beauty industry has been resilientin the past but could this pandemic havea different outcome? And also, will thishave a long term effect as people mightstart getting comfortable with the DIYsand avoid repetitive visits? Let’s find outwhat experts have to say. “We believe peo-ple go to a luxury spa or salon, not just forthe treatment but for the experience atlarge. DIY treatments have existed longbefore the pandemic hit us but people were

still preferring to go out as it’s much morerelaxing and done by a professional. Thewhole experience is very calming and reju-venating and that cannot be substituted byDIY treatments,” says Vibha.

Dr Kochhar and Seema add on thatDIYs are great. With the products thatbrands are now offering, they can help youin taking care of yourself but what a pro-fessional service can do is way different.“It involves proper techniques, machinesand the right kind of environment to givethe right effect. May be off for a fewmonths, people might not come for repet-itive services but once they feel comfort-able about the hygiene standards practisedat the salons, they would be interested tovisit,” says Seema.

“The current DIYs that are trendingare the use of seasonal fruits like papayaand watermelon for face packs and scrubs.Also, rice flour for scrub, honey and aloevera for moisturising, banana and glycer-ine for hair nourishment are really pop-ular when it comes to making packs athome,” shares Dr Kochhar.

Singer Sona Mohapatra has a construc-tive message on the ongoing discus-

sion on the music mafia.In the midst of the raging discussion

around nepotism and music mafia in theindustry, Sona put out a candid video onher social media which is heading to amillion views with a thumbs up fromviewers and musicians alike.

Known for her outspoken views,Sona believes that the whole musicaleco-system needs to be re-hauled fromthe ground up. The Indian music indus-try is merely an extension of the filmindustry and hence places too muchemphasis on film music and mirrors thesystemic problems of the film industrytoo. This has created a chronic lack ofvariety, quality and cultural influence,while strangling the chances of forth-coming talents.

She believes that almost everyone inthe entertainment industry, seems tohave a ‘struggler’ mindset. They refuseto feel secure enough to be able to lookout for others. This has led to a myopic,short term view of the future of theindustry because that can only happenby nurturing new, genuine talent oftomorrow.

The gatekeepers and tastemakers ofthe industry would only benefit byadopting more inclusive practices thatwelcome diversity. The gender dispari-ty itself is telling, there are not more thaneight odd songs in female voices forevery 100 released in the mainstream.This, from the industry that spawnedtitans like Lata Mangeshkar & AshaBhosle. While the world has progressed,our industry has regressed in that sense.

Elaborating her stance, she says,“The fact that we don’t have a real musicindustry in a country as big as Indiashould bother all of us. It’s a mere sub-set of the film industry with a few inter-connected families calling the shots.There is more talent and love for musicfor us to have built a thriving indepen-dent industry. Music sells almost every-thing in this country including election

campaigns, toothpaste, sporting eventsand bid budget films but is sadly themost undermined commodity in themedia landscape. Mainstream musiciansgo through a miserable and humiliatingrejection and ragging process whilemaking a soundtrack. The creator of asong doesn’t even have the right to casta singer and that itself is so disrespect-ful to the process of creativity. It is thereason why so many people are dubbedfor ‘scratches’. My belief is that ultimate-ly, the song suffers. It is akin to it being‘flogged’ in a sense.”

She adds that while it is critical tohave a discussion about music labelmonopolies and the lopsided clique dri-ven power structure in the film indus-try, it is equally time for all of us to selfreflect. It is important that audienceaspire for world class standards inentertainment which comes from beingmore demanding of authenticity andintegrity from our entertainers.

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Brain tumour is the tenth leading cause of morbidity in India.The incidence of this deadly disease is rising and different

kinds of tumours manifest at different age groups. As per theGlobocan 2018 report, issued by the International Associationof Cancer Registries (IARC) associated with the World HealthOrganization (WHO), in India over 28,000 new case of braintumour were reported annually. Around 24,000 patients lost theirlives battling this neurological ailment.

A brain tumour is a collection, or mass of abnormal cells inthe brain. These tumours can be cancerous (malignant) or non-cancerous. When a benign or malignant tumour grows, they causeimmense pressure in the skull. This can lead to brain damageand it can be life-threatening.

Symptoms and signs of brain tumour depend on the size andlocation of the tumour. Some tumours can directly affect by invad-ing the brain tissue while some cause pressure on the surround-ing brain. Major symptoms of brain tumour include:

�Headaches (worsens in the morning).�Vomiting�Blurred vision or double vision�A change in mental functioning

�Seizures�Weakness of a limb

or part of the face�Difficulty in physical

movementsThe risk factors of brain

tumour include:Family history: As per a

recent study, only five to 10 per-cent of cancers are geneticallyinherited, or hereditary. It’srare that brain tumour can beinherited but if you have fam-ily history of the disease thenyou should get health screen-ings done at regular intervals.

Age: Though the frequen-cy of this disease is likely toaffect people above the age of55 years, but many such caseshave also been seen in childrenin the age bracket of three yearsto 15 years of age, irrespectiveof the gender.

Exposure to radiationsand chemicals: People whohave been exposed to ionising

radiations and chemicals have an elevated risk of developing braintumour.

Endoscopic surgery can help Endoscopic brain tumour surgery is minimally invasive treat-

ment procedure that allows neurosurgeons to find and treat theconditions that are deep within the brain or access them throughthe nose.

During this surgical method, thin tubing that transmits thevideo images of the brain is inserted through one or two smallincisions in the skull or through an opening in the body. Thistube like instrument is called an endoscope which contains a smallcamera that allows the neurosurgeon to see the problem area ofthe brain. The ultimate goal is to remove tumour without caus-ing damage to healthy parts of the brain.

Early treatment can prevent complications that can occur asa tumour grows and puts pressure on the skull and brain tissue.If experiencing any symptoms then one should consult the doc-tor immediately.

Endoscopic surgery is also commonly used by the surgeonsin case of treating pituitary gland tumors, skull base tumors orthose tumors that are deeply seated.

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����� �The look of thefruit itself is beckoning. Thenthere is the taste — the sweetjuicy flesh on a not sumer dayis sure to cool the body. Butthis is not all, the fruit packs apunch when it comes tovitamns and mineralsespecially Vitamin C.

The fruit hasantioxidantpropertiesand plays a vitalrole in formingcollagen.Collagen acts asthe supportsystem for theskin, promotingwound healing andenhancing skinstrength.

A cup ofdiced peach provides 319 mg

of potassium; a cup of dicedpeach also has 0.42 mg ofiron, which accounts for atleast 2.3per cent of an adult’sdaily iron requirement,depending on age and sex.

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The entire nation has collective-ly been battling the deadlyCoronavirus that has claimed

millions of lives globally. The pan-demic has changed the course of oureveryday life and has demandedattention towards revised hygienepractices. As India grapples with thepandemic, the threat of vector bornediseases has also been emerging.While it is difficult to navigate theway forward, what can be said with-out doubt is that there will have tobe comprehensive safety protocols inplace to ensure overall protection.

The months beginning fromMay to September are those thatwitness a rise in mosquitoes.According to the data provided bythe National Vector Borne DiseaseControl Program (NVBDCP) allover India, there have already been29,340 cases of malaria reporteduntil the month of March, 2020. Thestates with the highest number ofmalaria cases are Chhattisgarh with10,929 malaria cases, followed byOrissa with 8,381 malaria cases,Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh have2,037 and 1,959 cases respectively,and lastly Maharashtra is at 1,533cases of malaria. Although in thepast two decades, cases of malariahave reduced, this year there hasbeen a clear acceleration in thenumber of cases. Around this timelast year we had not more than twomalaria patients, however this year,there have been close to 10 cases inthe span of just one month.

With the monsoons just aroundthe corner, there is possibility of asurge in mosquitoes owing to thewidespread availability of breedinggrounds. As the country has beenfocusing on the pandemic, we needto ensure that vector borne diseases

are not neglected in the bargain. Asfumigation practices had witnesseda hindrance owing to the lockdown,it is crucial to take precautionarymeasures at an individual level anduse repellents like Goodknight,HIT, etc., to avoid further spike incases. This is especially importantbecause even if the fumigationpractices resume, fumigation willonly eliminate the adult mosquitoesand not the ones that are breedingin stagnating waters.

Children are more susceptiblefor contacting vector borne diseases.In accordance with the guidelinesstipulated, although children goingoutdoors to play has reduced, wecannot restrict them for too long.When children start to go out toplay, we recommend that they wearfull sleeved clothes to reduce thearea of exposure for mosquito bites.Secondly, children can be protect-ed from mosquitoes with the use ofrepellents that can be applied onclothes that are made available byreliable brands such as GoodknightFabric Roll-on and patches, as it isbetter to have repellents applied onclothes than on the skin. Apply theseon the back so that there is no directcontact with the skin and there is nothreat of the child putting it in themouth.

To evade what could be yetanother wave of diseases, someprecautionary measures will have tobe observed at individual capacity.It begins with the check of your sur-roundings to see if water has beenstagnating anywhere. It is importantto regularise checks of water tanksto ensure that our surroundings donot become breeding grounds formosquitoes. To prevent this fromhappening, get your water tanks

examined by professional authori-ties to ensure that they are clean andcovered. With the unprecedentedlock-down upon us and the lack ofhouse help, people might forget

about cleaning their garages, bal-conies or terraces where there is apossibility of water stagnation.

For an overall protection, it isimportant to ensure that you areprotected from mosquitoes bothindoors as well as outdoors.Contrary to popular belief, mosqui-toes don’t only arrive during thenight. We are used to employingrepellents late in the evening or atnight however, malaria mosqui-toes are active between the hours of9 pm to 5 am whereas dengue mos-quitoes peak biting periods areearly in the morning and in theevening before dusk. This is why itis important to ensure protectionthroughout the day even while youare indoors with mosquito repellentformats such as liquid vaporisers,coils and incense sticks. For thosewho use incense sticks to repel mos-quitoes, it is important to be awareof which ones to use. The markethas spurious incense sticks that areharmful for health and cause sever-al problems because of their pesti-cide laced formulations. It is impor-tant to use branded products that arelegally approved so that you don'tharm yourself while repelling mos-quitoes. If you are using liquidvaporisers, it is important to useeffective ones that ensure eliminat-ing mosquitoes from all corners ofthe room.

It is crucial to understand thatwhile we focus on individualhygiene measures such as washinghands at regular intervals or wear-ing masks to contain the spread ofthe pandemic, we have to extendthese measures to our surroundingsas well so that we are protectedagainst vector borne diseases.

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In life, we come across all kinds of peo-ple. Some contribute to our growth, help

us become a better person and provide ussupport and sometimes we come acrosspeople who instead of contributing to ourgrowth, in certain ways may hamper it.The way to identify them is that either therelationship could be unhealthy, unsup-portive or abusive in nature and ratherthan them bringing peace and support,this relationship does the opposite.

In such cases, it is important to ensureyour well-being and cut ties with such asso-ciations as these not only impact your rela-tionships but also your mental health in thelonger run.

Some of the ways to do so are:Be in awareness: Be aware of how you

feel around these people, if they bully you,make you feel bad about yourself, constant-ly criticise or drain you, then you mustknow it’s not the most contributing relation-ship/friendship.

Set firm boundaries: As opposed towhat many of us believe, setting boundariesis actually one of the most healthy thingsyou can do in a relationship and also foryourself. Until we learn to honour our spaceand time, we truly cannot expect others todo so.

You do not always have to be nice:Many of us pick being a placater, the goodperson in our early years of life and keeptrying to please people by going out of ourways, but if someone is causing you moredistraught than happiness, it’s good to befirm and take a step back

Understand that their opinion aboutyou is a projection and not who you are:Often times, such people project their storedinsecurities and traumas on other peopleand may lead you to believe there is some-thing wrong with you but it’s very impor-tant to know the distinction between whoyou are and what others are projecting toprotect your mental and emotional peace.

Focus on your good qualities and lov-ing yourself: Most of the time when you letgo of toxic people, they may make you feelbad about yourself or make you feel as if youare doing something wrong, please con-stantly remind yourself that there is noth-ing wrong with you and it is okay to main-tain your space and distance whererequired.

Do not feel guilty as you take stand foryourself: Already due to various reasons,one has so much stress in life to take careof, so to protect your energy if it requiresyou to cut ties allow yourself to do so with-out attaching any guilt.

While it may be difficult for us to some-times take stand for ourselves, speciallywhen we are used to being the giver/pleas-er in a relationship but it is essential to iden-tify, have clarity and set boundaries accord-ingly as this not only helps you with main-taining your space but also contributes toyour emotional and mental health.

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Now is the best time towork on your skin.Since COVID-19 is

keeping most of us home-bound, it is time to dig intosome of the kitchen ingredientsthat can help one to get ridof the blemishes andstubborn marksthat refuse to goeven with med-icinal creams.

U s u a l l ylemon and itsjuice is recom-mended for askin whiteningagent. But someskins are sensitiveand lemon may irritatethe skin. A good alternative isto mix a teaspoon of honeywith yogurt with a pinch ofturmeric. Make a smooth pasteand apply it on the face. Leaveit for 15-20 minute. wash off.Pat dry face. Apply alo vera gel

on the face, if you have andleave it overnight. Dependingon how dark the marks andblemishes are, it can take any-where between four to sixweek for good results to be

seen.Another option

is to use just rawhoney. Applyit over theb l e m i s h e sand leave iton for five to10 minutes.Wash off. Do

this daily tillblemishes dis-

appear.Make a scrub of

coffee powder, sugar in equalparts and a couple of tea-spoons of olive oil or purecoconut oil. Apply gentle onthe face and scrub. Do thistwice a week till marks disap-pear.

Not all of us are blessed with aglowing and smooth skin. But fret

not, a few simple kitchen ingredients can do the trick.

ROSHANI DEVI shares homeremedies that one can use for that

perfect tone

����������

The Coronavirus pandemichas reformed the learning

process of a child. This crisis hasnot only impacted our regularhabits and livelihood but alsoleading to new eye health issuesfor our little ones.

The main reason behindthis issue is the paradigm shiftof the education sector acrossthe world following COVID-19related restrictions. Online edu-cation has now become neces-sary. The merging of technolo-gy and learning has led to someunprecedented changes makingchildren spend a considerableamount of time in front of dig-ital devices such as mobilephones, tablets, laptops anddesktops.

Now the textbooks havealso been replaced with onlineassignments.With very littlechoices left the current situationhas forced the parents to engagetheir kids with electronicdevices to prevent any outsideexposure.

Children these days often

complain about itchiness, irri-tation, redness in their eyes andthe reason behind this issue isexposure to blue light or junklights emitting from the digitalscreens. Blue light is a particu-larly intense light wave emittednaturally by the sun, and arti-ficially by digital devices likesmartphones, tablets and com-puters and even from the indoorLED lighting systems. It doesnot really matter if your kidshave an eye power or not. It isadvised to wear blue light pro-

tective lenses while using digi-tal devices as it can help themto prevent eye strain or eye irri-tation. Additionally as blue lightglasses act as filter for your eyesit actually helps in eye relaxationeven when one is exposed todigital screens for a prolongedtime.

Since blue light filtersensures that eyes are protectedfrom unnecessary strains it isimplied that using blue light fil-ters can help you in combatingyour sleep disruption cycle.

Apart from digital eyestrain, all these digital shifts inthe lifestyle impacts a child’svision and subject them to therisk of developing other issueslike myopia, dry eyes and earlysetting of macular degeneration.

It is extremely important totake preventive measures tocheck such fate among childrenby adopting a few simple steps:� Making them use the rightset of glasses/spectacles whileusing any electronic gadgets ordigital devices.� Maintaining a minimum dis-tance of 50-60 cm between thescreen and the eyes� Controlling the brightnesslevel of the device� Discouraging usage of digi-tal screens two hours beforebedtime � Eye exercises as suggested byyour eyecare practitioner� Mandatory annual eye check-up for every school going chil-dren. +�������������;�(�%���������*���������

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Page 12: ˆ !˚˚ ˛ #$ % & · 22 hours ago  · “Today our Ordnance Factories are producing indige-nously-developed arms, ammu-nitions, rifles, weapons, protec-tive clothings, battle-field

������ Jurgen Klopp hasurged Liverpool fans to cele-brate “in a safe way” during thecoronavirus crisis after chaot-ic scenes marred the club’sPremier League title celebra-tions.

Thousands of Liverpoolfans gathered at the Pier Headfor a second night of celebra-tions on Friday after the clubbecame champions of Englandfor the first time in 30 years.

Police said officers weresubject to violent confronta-

tions and had glasses and bot-tles thrown at them as the cel-ebrations continued in the citycentre into the early hours.Klopp, in an open letter to fansin the Liverpool Echo, said he“did not love” the scenes thattook place at Pier Head.

“I am a human being andyour passion is also my pas-sion, but right now the mostimportant thing is that we donot have these kind of publicgatherings,” wrote Klopp.

“We owe it to the most

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Pep Guardiola believes it iseasier for Manchester City

to focus on cup glory for therest of the season as the hold-ers reached the FA Cup semi-finals with a 2-0 win atNewcastle on Sunday.

City will face Arsenal at anempty Wembley in the lastfour next month after theGunners beat Sheffield United2-1.

Kevin De Bruyne’s penaltyand a stunning strike fromRaheem Sterling got City backto winning ways on Tynesideafter a 2-1 defeat at Chelsea inmidweek crowned LiverpoolPremier League champions forthe first time in 30 years.

“In the Premier League weare struggling to focus,” admit-ted Guardiola. “Now the Cup

and Champions League itis a little bit different.”

City were utterly dom-inant in the first half buthad to wait until GabrielJesus was pushed by JavierManquillo inside the boxeight minutes before half-time

for De Bruyne to break the dead-lock.

“We should score more butwe played really well and creat-ed enough chances to score a lotof goals,” said De Bruyne.

“We know it is really weird(to play behind closed doors), itis not something that I enjoy, butwe are professionals and we needto keep going. We wanted torespond in a good way. We arehappy we are in a semi-finalnow.”

Newcastle had a gloriousopportunity to equalise whenDwight Gayle somehow firedover Allan Saint-Maximin’s

cross.However, City possess

plenty of firepower at theother end and moments laterSterling cut inside to curl intothe bottom corner from out-side the box to kill the tie as

a contest.

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Alessandro Bastoni completedInter Milan’s late turn-

around as they scored twicein the final six minutes to beatParma 2-1 on Sunday, whileAtalanta made it three winsin a row since the Serie Arestart.

Gervinho gave Parma a first-half lead at the Stadio EnnioTardini but Inter, who concededa last-gasp equaliser at home toSassuolo in midweek, foughtback with headersfrom Stefan de Vrijand Bastoni tosnatch a vital win.

Inter stay eight pointsadrift of leaders Juventusand four behind Lazio insecond with 10 rounds ofmatches remaining.

“I thought it was amore than deserved vic-tory. Thoroughlydeserved,” Inter assistantCristian Stellini told SkySport Italia, with coachAntonio Conte forced towatch from the stands as

he served a touchline ban.Atalanta consolidated their

grip on fourth place thanks to twostunning goals fromLuis Muriel, who cameon as a second-halfsubstitute in their 3-2victory at Udinese.

The Colombiainternational put his

team back ahead with a magnif-icent 71st-minute free-kick,after Kevin Lasagna had lev-elled for Udinese in the 31stminute following DuvanZapata’s early opener foraway side.

Muriel then put Atalantatwo goals ahead with a

superb volley that ensuredLasagna’s second three minutesfrom time made no differenceto the result.

Also in Naples, Napoli beatbottom side SPAL 3-1.

Gennaro Gattuso’s side, whohave already won the Italian Cup

this season, came out on top atthe Stadio San Paolo thanksto goals from DriesMertens, Jose Callejon and

Amin Younes.

-��������� �Cricket South Africa (CSA) hasreceived the go ahead from the country’s SportsMinistry to resume players’ training.

Espncricinfo reported that CSA will be meet-ing on Thursday to discuss the road ahead forresumption with the focus being on getting themen and women’s national teams back to train-ing.

Last week, CSA had to postpone a three-teamexhibition event as it had not got the Ministry’sapproval to train or play.

Cricketing activities in South Africa have beensuspended since March 15, when the domesticone-day event was in progression. Around thesame time, the men’s national team was touringIndia for a three-match ODI series, which had tobe suspended after the rained off opener due tothe pandemic.

CSA is hoping that India would tour SouthAfrica for three T20s in August but it seemsdoubtful as the Virat Kohli-led team is unlikelyto resume training anytime soon with cases ris-ing rapidly in the country.

However, the board has also made provisionsto host the series early next year. PTI

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The Boxing Federation of India’s planto resume the national camp for

Olympic-bound pugilists in Patiala isexpected to materialise in the next cou-ple of days as the “requisite permis-sions” are “finally coming through”.

The BFI wanted to start the camp

on June 10 originally but had beenwaiting to secure permissions from thestate Government and the SportsAuthority of India (SAI).

“The camp will be held in Patiala.Permissions are likely coming in thenext couple of days and this time itseems, things will work out. By July 1,the boxers can start assembling, fol-lowed by quarantine and testing andthen resumption of training,” a top fed-eration official said.

“The paperwork is almost done,the logistics are a work in progress,” headded.

The nine boxers, who have quali-fied for the Tokyo Games are AmitPanghal (52kg), Manish Kaushik(63kg), Vikas Krishan (69kg), AshishKumar (75kg), Satish Kumar (+91kg),M C May Kom (51kg), Simranjit Kaur(60kg), Lovlina Borgohain (69kg), andPooja Rani (75kg).

The BFI will be conducting a jointcamp for both the men and women,whose training base has been thenational capital since 2017.

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The West Indies cricketerswill sport a Black Lives

Matter logo on the collars oftheir shir ts during theupcoming three-Test seriesagainst England to protestagainst racism in sports.Skipper Jason Holder, whohas voiced his support to thecause that has once againcome to the forefront after thekilling of American GeorgeFloyd, said in a statement onSunday: “We believe we havea duty to show solidarity andalso to help raise awareness.”

The ICC-approved logo,designed by Alisha Hosannah,will be the one which featuredin the shirts of all 20 Premier

League football clubs sincethe sport’s resumption earli-er this month.

“This is a pivotal momentin history for sports, for the

game of cricket and for theWest Indies cricket team,”Holder was quoted as sayingby ESPNcricinfo.

“We have come toEngland to retain the WisdenTrophy but we are very con-scious of happenings aroundthe world and the fight forjustice and equality. “As agroup of young men, weknow of the rich and diversehistory of West Indies crick-et and we know we areguardians of the great gamefor generation to come.”

Holder, who wants racismto be treated at par with dop-ing and corruption, said theyarrived at the decision towear the logo after muchthought.

“We did not take ourdecision lightly. We knowwhat it is for people to makejudgments because of thecolour of our skin, so weknow what it feels like, thisgoes beyond the boundary.There must be equality andthere must be unity. Until weget that as people, we cannotstop,” he said.

“We have to find someway to have equal rights andpeople must not be vieweddifferently because of thecolour of their skin or ethnicbackground.”

The West Indies playersare likely to wear the shirts forthe first time in this week’sfour-day warm-up match atEmirates Old Trafford.

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Karim Benzema deliveredanother moment ofmagic on Sunday as Real

Madrid took a two-point leadover Barcelona at the top of LaLiga by beating bottom clubEspanyol.

Benzema’s volley againstValencia could be goal of theseason and he might now havea claim to best assist too afterhis brilliant backheel teed upCasemiro to finish for a crucial1-0 win.

Madrid’s advantage in thetable, coming after Barca’s drawaway at Celta Vigo on Saturday,is their biggest since Februaryand puts them within sight oftheir second league title ineight years.

“It’s a very important win,”said Benzema. “I can’t say wedon’t look at Barcelona, ofcourse we do. But we’re focusedon our own league. There arenot many games left and everygame now is a final.”

By the time his side play athome to Getafe on Thursday,they might even have thechance to move further clear, ifin-form Atletico Madrid avoiddefeat on Tuesday at CampNou.

Barcelona certainly havethe harder run-in, with a resur-gent Villarreal side to followAtletico and then local rivalsEspanyol, who have shownthey might yet finish strongafter a determined performanceunder new coach FrancisoRufete.

Rufete, who was previous-ly the club’s sporting director, isEspanyol’s fourth coach of theseason after the sacking ofAbelardo Fernandez on

Saturday.His task is now to make up

a nine-point gap between histeam in 20th and Celta in 17th.

They were undone by apiece of instinctive brilliancefrom Benzema, who has beenthe catalyst for Madrid sealingfive wins out of five since LaLiga restarted on June 11.

SENSATIONAL ASSISTSBenzema’s backheel came

on an afternoon of sensationalassists after Villarreal’s SantiCazorla earlier set up GerardMoreno with an incredible,cushioned touch in their 2-0win over Valencia.

“I have to give huge creditto Karim,” said Casemiro. “Itwas an incredible assist. We’reused to how good he is, I knowthe quality he possesses so I wasexpecting something. He heardme asking for it and he played

it in a brilliant way.”Madrid, though, were

scruffy and ponderous at theRCDE Stadium, this perhapstheir least impressive win overthe last three weeks.

But solidity and steelensured they came throughunscathed and it was no sur-prise that defensive midfielderCasemiro, arguably the team’sbest player this term, wasnamed man of the match.

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E�! ���������.�� ��+�&������� �Club legend XaviHernandez spoke about theprospect of taking over thecoaching job at Barcelonawhere he spent all his Europeancareer, winning numerous tro-phies between 1998-2015.

Xavi spoke about his ‘hope’of becoming the coach of theCatalan giants at a time whenreports have been emergingfrom the Camp Nou that all isnot well within the club.

“The biggest hope I havenow is to be Barca coach andget Barca back to winningways. Not me but these playersand Barca triumphing. And asa consequence, our technicalstaff, who are preparing for ita lot and it makes us reallyexcited,” Xavi said during asvideo conference as per sport.es.

“I’m a club man. I wouldlike to return at the rightmoment to start a project fromzero. I’ve said it a lot of timesbut I want to take footballingdecisions at Barcelona.

“It’s clear that after theelections the stage would be set,of course. I’m not ruling any-thing out. They came for me inJanuary, we were speaking. Itold them the circumstancesand timing weren’t right,” headded.

Reports in Spanish mediasuggest that talisman LionelMessi and other senior mem-bers of the team aren’t happywith current manager QuiqueSetien’s coching style that hassaw them fall two points behindClasico rivals Real Madrid inthe LaLiga title race. IANS

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>�����'����������������������������� � ManchesterUnited manager Ole GunnarSolskjaer is looking forward totheir semi-final clash againstChelsea at Wembley.

“We’ve had lots of gamesat Wembley against them and,of course, we’ve had quite afew cup games against them inthe last couple of seasons aswell,” Solskjaer told MUTV.

“They’re a team that willknow a lot about us and

they’re a team we know a lotabout too. We’re looking for-ward to being at Wembley, anyteam who you draw therewould be a top team anyway.I can’t wait, it’s been a while,”he said.

This will be the 17th timethe clubs have met in the FACup, with United winningnine times, Chelsea on fiveoccasions and there have beentwo draws. AFP

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vulnerable in our community, tothe health workers who havegiven so much and whom wehave applauded and to the policeand local authorities who help usas a club not to do this,” headded. Klopp said fans shouldcelebrate in a safe way in privatesettings to avoid spreading thedisease.

He added: “If things weredifferent I would love nothing

more than to celebrate togeth-er, to have a parade that wouldbe even bigger than the one afterwe won the Champions Leaguelast year so that we could allshare this special moment but itjust is not possible.”

The German boss urgedfans not to let efforts to fightCovid-19 go to waste. “Whenthe time is right we will cele-brate,” he said. “We will enjoy

this moment and we will paintthe city red. But for now, pleasestay at home as much as possi-ble.”

INGS SHINE IN SAINTS WIN6����� Watford managerNigel Pearson warned his side ofthe perils of relegation if they donot stop “gifting” points awayafter a 3-1 home defeat bySouthampton on Sunday.

Danny Ings produced twofine finishes to further his casefor the Premier League GoldenBoot as Saints realisticallysecured their top-flight status foranother season by reaching 40points.

“We were second best fortoo long,” said Pearson. “Youcan’t concede goals like gifts toyour opponents, it makes the jobeven harder.” AFP